Monday, January 27, 2025

I was more excited to see "Mystery in Space!" on the cover, than anybody else that's on there.

There's an Adam Strange cover that used "Misery in Space!" I'm a sucker for whenever DC uses this or a variant of it. From 1994, New Titans #111, "The Extra Mile!" Written by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Matt Thompson, inks by Rus Sever.
At first glance, I thought this was from the much later Dan Jurgens/Young Atom era of the Titans: nope! It's Arsenal, Changeling, Pantha and Kid Wildebeest on the cover; but none of them are the main focus inside. In South America, Dick Grayson has found Starfire, who has apparently been living with the natives, and doesn't seem to recognize Dick. But no time for love, as her adopted village is attacked from space, by a satellite controlled by the "Teraizer." Or Teraizers, that might have been the group's name: they were extortionists running under cover of being environmentalists. The other Titans were there in a LexCorp shuttle, and after Starfire takes a hit, Russian member Red Star risks flying out to save her.
Back on the ground, Dick shakes it off, and falls back on Batman's training to help rescue villagers. The Teraizer leader increases his demands to earth's governments, and one of his underlings worries that he's overplaying their hand, when the Titans bust in. The Teraizers are of course no match for the Titans, and Starfire refrains from killing them to make an example of them: she asks "green boy" to turn the cameras back on, to tell earth a story...At a glance, Starfire would regain her memory next month, then an issue of Dick working through his Bat-issues, just in time for a big line-up shake-up for Zero Hour. They also seem determined that Arsenal is a marquis name, and I don't see it.

1 comment:

Mr. Morbid said...

I kinda have a soft spot for this era of the Titans, mostly due to nostalgia and me getting older, but I can definitely see why it’s mostly forgotten or ignored considering how much of a tiny blip it is historically compared to other eras. I mean I even unironically like Roy’s Arsenal name & look here, even if it is VERY generic-looking. Maybe if it had a different color scheme? Like his old red & yellow or red & black?

Starfire’s speech here has never been more timely & relevant to today’s current climate…and also never more largely ignored by those who could help fix things but instead prefer to line their pockets instead to the deteriment of all of us.