Teen Titans #24 // Review
The Teen Titans have been at each other’s throats as secrets and deceit keep pulling them in other directions. As they try to move forward, some of them find it harder than the others. Teen Titans issue #24 is written by Adam Glass, drawn by Bernard Chang, with colors from Marcelo Maiolo, and letters from Rob Leigh.
Last seen, the Teen Titans were reunited with Roundhouse, whom they believed sacrificed himself to stop a bomb, and are now chasing down the criminal Lady Vic. After Lady Vic eluded the Teen Titans, she was later found in an empty building pinned to the wall with a message written across her in blood, simply saying “BOOM,” leaving the team as sitting ducks for an explosive turn of events.
The Teen Titans are trapped under the debris of a skyscraper, with each of the members suffering from their own wounds as Robin tries to call out to find each of them. The team struggles with each other and the wreckage, as they only have a limited amount of air left to breathe, and each movement could cause more debris to come crashing down. Robin, as the leader, must strategize a plan that’d work best to save the lives of him and his fellow team members.
Adam Glass has confined the Teen Titans in this issue, and, in being secluded, the team confronts the very apparent problems they have with each other. Glass tells a more emotion-driven story, focusing on the members troubles with each other and how they are still not as close together or well oiled as previous iterations, showing plenty of room for the team to grow. Though, in the end, each of them sort of suck it up and soldier through to find a way out, it feels as though the conversation was almost pointless, as they quickly let bygones be bygones in order to try and escape. Now the conversation could be something that’s touched upon more later or is serving as a setup for sewing in the seeds of chaos for this team. A strong focal point came when Red Arrow confronts Djinn alone, and the two have a rather sinister standoff that, in turn, begs the question of whether or not these two will find peace with each other.
The art provided by Bernard Chang was relaxed and flowed well, but was rather minimal and lacked a bit of fine detail to the setting and, most of the time, the characters as well. However, Chang does provide strong moments with the more explosive scenes of the issue. The colors by Marcelo Maiolo were rather dark, which did seem tasteful, as the team was bound in a bleak setting, but aside from the colors of the Teen Titan members and explosions, it was rather dull to look at. The art seemed to blend together, with not much standing out individually throughout the issue.
All in all, the issue seemed to try and make a point of releasing pent up tension between the team, and it didn’t really do that. The characters fell back into their normal routine. Perhaps this issue will prove to be a turning point later in the series.
