Teen Titans #17

The story of the Teen Titan continues in issue 17, written by Benjamin Percy and art by Scot Eaton. The team was dealt a devastating blow at the hands of Savior, a future version of Tim Drake who sought to change his future by killing Superboy. During the battle, the Titans Tower was destroyed, leaving the team without a base of operations and some without a home. Beast Boy, who feels uneasy with the team’s current instability, decides to go solo and meets a group of outcasts that seem to promise to ease his troubled mind.

It's good to see the aftermath of the last arc, although it's not as large in scope as it probably should be. After the battle, because of some choices made by half the team, tensions seemed high between everyone. This teased a possible schism, but for now it seems to only affect Beast Boy. Garfield (Beast Boy) is the main focus of this story and it's interesting to see how the world at large sees him, as he’s a somewhat well known internet celebrity, as well as a superhero. Since the beginning of the series, Garfield has had trouble melding with the team, letting his nostalgia of the old team keep him from connecting with this new one, especially with Damian as leader. The secondary story is not especially compelling: a group of free thinking inventors involved in a plot to inject other outcast with tech. Beast Boy is inducted into this group and, if the last panel is any indication, Teen Titans may be retreading a story similar to Red Arrow’s battle with drugs. The rest of the team get involved in typical superheroics and their dynamic is surprisingly smooth for just having potentially lost a teammate and dealing with trust issues. When Garfield, who is visibly distraught, storms off, none of the others make any attempts to go after him and make sure he’s okay. That’s really the problem with this issue; it barely scratches the surfaces of possibilities with inner-team turmoil.

Scot Eaton, Wayne Faucher, and Jim Charalampidis handle penciling, inking and coloring, respectively, and they do decent job here. The colors are bright and the characters are emotive. There is good detailing in the wreckage of the Titan’s Tower and Beast Boy’s transformations. All in all, its a safe, house style.

While Teen Titans #17 offers a real follow-up to the Savior arc, it doesn’t fully capitalize on the interesting narrative hooks that arc left dangling. Like other books in DC’s lineup right now, Teen Titans seem to be spinning their wheels until the “No Justice” storyline which will probably layout a new status quo for the team. Hopefully Teen Titans gets its gears rolling soon and gets back to what made the series compelling.

Grade: C+