Teen Titans #9

First Blood

Written by Geoff Johns
Pencilled by Mike McKone
Inked by Marlo Alquiza & Norm Rapmund
Colored by Jeromy Cox
Lettered by Comicraft
Assoc. Editor Tom Palmer Jr.
Editor Eddie Berganza

I think Mike McKone is getting better with his covers. I'm still not a fan of the faces he's drawn, and Beast Boy and Wonder Girl look more like they're making out than cowering in fear, but beyond that, this is a pretty good cover. Kid Flash going on a joy ride reminds me of the early days of Impulse with Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos. But this time, he's driving a Batmobile, while outracing a bleak black-and-white world filled with swarming ravens. I prefer covers that show us what the inside story is about, as opposed to the many collages McKone has done for this series.

Our story begins in a dark cavern filled with blood, smoke and a bunch of people dressed in red cloaks. Raven, shaved bald, is chained to a wall. She's approached by a young man named Sebastian, who has pasty white skin and a ... dragon skull? ... on his head. Sebastian's mother tells him that despite Raven's baptism and rebirth, the influence of Trigon is still on her. Sebastian threatens to remove his mother's tongue and says that Raven's flesh will save the world. He tells Raven to stop running and he bites off the gem on her forehead. This causes quite a bit of blood, and Sebastian says the taste of Raven's blood makes his powers grow.

We then return to San Francisco at 9:30 p.m. on Friday. After learning about the history of Raven, Beast Boy has taken Robin, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash out on a mission. But Bart wasn't paying attention to the debriefing and has to ask everybody what they're doing.

Bart explains that he was busy thinking about Dostoevsky while Cyborg explained the mission, so Beast Boy asks why he even bothered following them out there. Bart says Wonder Girl always knows what she's doing, so if she goes, he goes, too. Perhaps encouraged by this flattery, Cassie explains to Bart that two hours ago every fortune teller on Haight Street suffered some kind of seizure and went into a coma. They were all taken to St. Luke's, where Doctor Rovin, who oversaw Bart's knee surgery, contacted Cyborg. And now the Teen Titans are investigating, believing this has to do with Raven.

Bart then complains about Beast Boy's choice to transform into a rat, citing all the different diseases rats carry. Cassie suggests they have Bart run them all over to the hospital one at a time, but Robin says it'll be easier to drive over together. Instead of bringing back the forgotten Super-Cycle, Robin opens a secret garage to reveal his own Batmobile. Apparently Batman has given Robin a "batarang budget" that is large enough to include shipping a Batmobile to San Francisco.

Bart geeks out over all the car's features, including a blue button that Robin tells him to never push. He asks Robin if he can drive, saying that even though he doesn't have his learner's permit, he has driven before and read over 200 books about cars. Beast Boy tells Robin to let Bart drive, just to shut him up, so they all pile in.

The Batmobile is soon airborne and going 110 miles per hour, which Bart feels is too slow. He gets the car back on the ground, but it promptly flips over and skids to a halt on its roof. Conveniently, our heroes ended up right in front of St. Luke's General Hospital, although upside down. Beast Boy turns into a cobra and threatens to bite Bart's jugular. Cassie blames Gar for letting Bart drive, and Bart says Beast Boy was the one who pushed the blue button. Suddenly, Batman's voice comes over the intercom, asking Robin why one of his Batmobiles is in San Francisco and why all its systems are off line.

Superboy, meanwhile, is back in the tower doing his homework. I don't know why he bothered traveling to San Francisco if he had so much homework, but whatever. He's struggling with a 2,000-word essay on the history of religious wars and he considers asking Bart to write it for him. Krypto shows up, begging for Conner's attention. Conner is too slow to respond, so the super dog blasts through his window and out into the garden. Conner follows, but is unable to prevent the dog from tearing up Starfire's garden, which makes her pretty upset.

In Phoenix, Arizona, Ravager and Deathstroke are finally getting some information from the red-cloaked people. Apparently they people who took Raven want to strengthen the bloodline that's always passed from father to son. Together, they will cleanse the Earth of all non-believers and Brother Blood will take his rightful place. Deathstroke lectures Ravager for killing their witnesses too quickly, saying they still could have learned more from them. He also reminds her of their mission — to kill Raven to make sure Jericho doesn't come back.

Back at the tower, Superboy chases Krypto back inside and follows the dog down to Cyborg's room, where Vic has taken himself apart piece by piece for cleaning and maintenance. This freaks Conner out, but Cyborg explains the process in great detail and puts himself back together. Krypto suddenly starts barking like crazy, and a bunch of ravens fly out of his mouth.

At the hospital, Dr. Rovin leads our heroes down the hall, explaining that he wants to keep this quiet to avoid the attention of the D.E.O. or other people. Kid Flash asks if there's anything out of the ordinary with the patients' vital signs, and Dr. Rovin says their vitals are fine. The odd thing is that all of the fortune tellers are floating several inches above their beds and are surrounded by a black shadow in the shape of a Raven.

The patients' eyes all open and glow purple once the Teen Titans enter the room and they address the Titans in unison. The shadows leave the fortune tellers and converge into one swirling cloud. A voice calls out for help amidst the cloud, which descends on Beast Boy and enters his mouth. There's an explosion, everyone is knocked out, and Beast Boy turns into a raven, saying, "The Raven belongs to Brother Blood."



It seems like Geoff Johns made a concerted effort to including more humor in this issue. Problem is, none of this humor appealed to me. Superboy getting yelled at by Starfire and Cyborg for not taking care of his dog. Robin getting yelled at by Batman for stealing a Batmobile. Kid Flash recklessly crashing said Batmobile. This isn't funny. This is just teenagers being irresponsible and laughing off the consequences. True, some humor would be welcome to cut through the heaping pile of angst this series is loaded with, but these jokes feel rather jarring being put right next to this creepy story of Brother Blood and Raven.

Next: Teen Titans #10