Teen Titans #7

Assault on Project 13

Story by Scott Lobdell
Pencils by Brett Booth
Inks by Norm Rapmund
Colors by Andrew Dalhouse
Letters by Dezi Sienty
Cover by Booth, Rapmund & Dalhouse
Assistant Editor Katie Kubert
Editor Bobbie Chase

Our cover shows Superboy being blasted in the chest by a green laser, courtesy of the organization known as N.O.W.H.E.R.E. (we still don't know what that acronym stands for, though). The Teen Titans are coming to Superboy's aid, and Kid Flash is fittingly everywhere at once. This cover has an ad on it, which I almost always hate, but it's an ad for a charity, so it's hard to get mad at. This issue also is our first with the new DC logo, which truthfully should have debuted alongside the launch of the New 52, but then again, this whole reboot was hastily conceived and poorly executed. However, I actually do like this folded-over DC logo. It was time for a change, and this was something sleek and interesting.

The black-and-white variant is even messier than the main cover because you lose the depth provided by the coloring. Yeah, I guess I did just give Dalhouse a compliment. And I'll follow that up with one more compliment for the whole art team. This is their seventh consecutive issue without missing a deadline or needing guest artists to fill in. And in this day and age, that's a rarity.

Our story begins right with the action taking place on the cover. We've ditched the generic, omniscient narrator, and turned those duties over to Kid Flash, who acknowledges that Superboy isn't the nicest guy in the world, but he does need the help of the Teen Titans. Kid Flash redirects the lasers to hit all the scientists in the room, but unfortunately the guy in the yellow suit has psychic powers and can knock Kid Flash down with a wall of psionic energy. As Kid Flash gets back on his feet, he reflects on the set of circumstances that brought him here.

So we go back in time one hour, to Red Robin insisting Kid Flash test out his powers on Brooklyn Bridge. It feels like the Teen Titans have spent the past few days living in Tim Drake's penthouse, getting to know each other and embroidering the letter "T" over their right shoulders (which is pretty dumb), but we don't know for sure how long it's been since last issue. Anyway, Kid Flash isn't in the mood for any serious training, so he messes with Red Robin by stealing the plaque on the Statue of Liberty before quickly returning it two seconds later.

Suddenly, Brooklyn Bridge transforms into a cobblestone street, and Red Robin explains that this is Danny the Street, a teenaged metahuman, who has been working with him by posing as a prisoner of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Kid Flash finds it hard to believe that the Danny who was in the cell next to him was actually the mystical street that transported him and Solstice from the Antarctic to Tim's penthouse. But Red Robin points out that a living street can't be too weird for a kid who can run to the Statue of Liberty and back in less than .04 seconds.

Red Robin then asks Danny what's up, warning him about breaking cover. And even though Danny was able to speak to Kid Flash in the cell, he now seems to only be able to communicate through his store windows, which suddenly display the Superman symbol on a black background, turned upside down. Luckily, Kid Flash's thoughts go directly to Superboy, instead of Superman, and he interprets the positioning as a call of distress, like a flag turned upside down. Red Robin speculates that N.O.W.H.E.R.E. has turned against Superboy, and says they need to meet up with the rest of the team at the penthouse.

Twenty minutes later, everyone is all gathered together, examining blueprints of the Arctic N.O.W.H.E.R.E. facility Danny provided Red Robin. Tim starts to lay out a plan to rescue Superboy, but Kid Flash asks why they're going on a suicide mission to help someone who tried to kill them. Tim argues that this is a necessary step in their war against N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and part of their mission to protect all metahuman teens, but nobody is convinced by this. It's only when Red Robin begins to head out alone that the others decide to join him. And so, with Danny's help, the Teen Titans teleport to the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. facility, but they didn't all arrive in the same room.

And that brings us back to the beginning of the story. As Kid Flash gets back into the battle alongside Bunker and Skitter, everything suddenly goes quiet and he sees a strange vision. A young man wearing an odd black-and-blue uniform, wielding a futuristic baton, urges Kid Flash to quite "gaffing off" and help them bludgeon a group of people cowering on the street. This throws Kid Flash for a loop, who can't tell if this is an image from someone else's mind, or his own.

But the vision disappears as quickly as it came, and Kid Flash immediately gets back to work, wondering if that was the result of N.O.W.H.E.R.E.'s psychics attacking him, or some side effect from his new suit. Deciding to worry about that later, Kid Flash frees Superboy, who is pretty weak and quite surprised to see the Teen Titans helping him after what he did.

Wonder Girl, meanwhile, fights a man called Zaniel Templar, and Solstice is upset by Red Robin's choice to download files instead of participating in the fight. Red Robin explains that he needs proof to build a case against N.O.W.H.E.R.E., but Solstice becomes even more upset to learn that Red Robin knew of the kidnappings long before he acted against them, referencing not only her trauma but all the teenagers she saw killed by the organization. Red Robin refuses to apologize and coldly walks away from Solstice.

Kid Flash coaxes Superboy into pushing all the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. troops aside with one big, telekinetic blast. Even though it only lasted two seconds, that was more than enough time for Kid Flash to whisk Superboy, Skitter and Bunker out to the door of Danny's street. Wonder Girl quickly joins them, followed by Red Robin, who tells them all to enter the street, while he waits behind for Solstice. Kid Flash refuses to leave without Kiran, and Wonder Girl and Bunker agree with him. But before they can locate their missing teammate, they're attacked by a dark figure with large, black wings, calling himself Harvest, creator of N.O.W.H.E.R.E.




This actually wasn't a bad issue. I'm thrilled to finally be able to talk about Danny the Street, a wonderfully wacky creation of Grant Morrison. But I am sad that the usual continuity issues continue to plague this series (I'm looking at you, editor Bobbie Chase!). If Danny could talk before, why can't he talk now? And does N.O.W.H.E.R.E. have secret bases in both the Antarctic and Arctic, or is this the same base? Anyway, we are continuing the slow, and tedious process of having some questions answered. It would be a lot nicer if Kid Flash was a part of the Flash world, so he'd have some more comics to explore his backstory. But all we can hope for at this point is a random page or two each issue, scattering a few crumbs here and there.

Next issue: The Teen Titans trapped in the Colony ... under the psychic scalpel of the sadistic woman known only as ... Omen!