Thursday, August 27, 2020


I've been doing this a while, and I feel like I know a bit about comics, right? But two things outside of my wheelhouse: proper care of loose fancy cover books, since this one has curled up like a Frito; and Titans continuity. From 2018, Titans #27, "One Life" Written by Dan Abnett, pencils by Brent Peeples, inks by Matt Santorelli. Shiny cover by Clayton Henry, for some reason. Sure, somebody might be dead, but c'mon.

The issue opens with a woman--I think that's Donna Troy, but you're gonna have to give me a hint, comic--visiting Roy Harper's grave; but that was "days ago." I couldn't even hazard a guess as to how dead Roy was; I feel like he faked his death on occasion, but I'm probably thinking of Arrow. Today, Beast Boy discovers everyone's pretty depressed at the Hall of Justice (really! I expected the big T-tower) because news just broke that Nightwing had been shot. (Circa Batman #55, if that does anything for you; it gets a full page here that makes it seem like he should be extra-dead.) Raven is worried that with the damage, Dick may never be the same; Donna tells the group he'll be fine, guys like them come back all the time. True, but there's a sense she's trying to put on a brave face, and later we see her knocking back shots while the injured and emotionless Raven envies her pain.

Beast Boy had more bad news for what was left of the team: Tyler Baines was dying. He had been exposed to Source energy and had been in a coma for some time, and was circling the drain. Desperate, Steel (Natasha Irons) comes up with a possibility: exposing Tyler to more Source energy, in the hopes of stabilizing him. Miss Martian doesn't think they can experiment on a live subject, but Raven and Donna argue they can only try to help. The treatment fails, and Tyler passes; leaving the team at their lowest and wondering how they could go on, as an underwater swimmer is presumably making his way to them. The next issue blurb teases the return of Tempest; but I wasn't familiar with his look, if this was him...

I don't know that this issue did a good job explaining who Tyler Baines was or why his death guts the heroes; but his death was going to stick and Roy and Dick were of course going to be back. I don't envy Titans/Teen Titans creative teams, since it seems to be deeper in the same fix the X-Men are in: does anyone have any idea what that fanbase wants? Teen Titans Go-style silliness? Grimdark meat-and-potatoes superhero work? Shipping, shipping, shipping? It doesn't help when Roy and Dick both get taken out in other comics; that has to throw a wrench in long-term plotting.

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