Teen Titans #18

To Belle and Back

Written by: Scott Lobdell
Pencils: Eddy Barrows (pages 1-16) and Rodney Buchemi (pages 17-20)
Inks: Eber Ferreira (pages 1-16) Rodney Buchemi (pages 17-20)
Letters: Travis Lanham
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Asst. Editor: Anthony Marques
Editor: Mike Cotton
Group Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover by: Barrows, Ferreira, & Sinclair

Our cover shows this series has once again fallen prey to an external event elsewhere in the DC Universe. The past 17 issues of Teen Titans never acknowledged the existence of Damian Wayne, even during Death of the Family. But now it's forced to pay tribute to Damian since he died. The rain and lightning is a bit melodramatic and cliché, but the most perplexing thing is Tim's face. It doesn't look like he's mourning at all.

And the black-and-white variant makes it even more clear that Tim Drake is not upset by Damian's death, but is actually quite gleeful. At least that's the impression I'm getting — who knows what new artist Eddie Barrows is intending. On one hand, it makes a little sense, considering the insane and evil Tim we met last issue.

Of course, this cover completely contradicts the first five pages of this issue. Tim seems to genuinely be distraught over Damian's death and has a touching conversation with the memory of Damian, before being comforted by Alfred. So I really have no idea what's going on.

One week later, Superboy rejoins with the Teen Titans on their new yacht in Pier 22, New York City. But Superboy's back to wearing his stupid Harvest/Tron uniform, and he flies down onto the boat from the sky in broad daylight, putting everyone's secret identities at risk.

Look closely at this page. It's a perfect example of Barrows' incredible sloppiness. Kid Flash starts running from the bottom of the page to the top, but his speech bubbles flow from the top to the bottom. So did he speak backwards while running, or was he just randomly running backwards? Ugh. Don't worry, the next page displays the sloppiness of our three editors. Superboy tells everyone about his experience during H'el on Earth, and there's an asterisk in his speech bubble, but no accompanying editor's note referring us to those specific issues. So there's lots of sloppiness to go around.

Anyway, Tim tells Kon he's welcome to stay as long as he likes, and he tells everyone to suit up. Five minutes later, our heroes head five floors below to what Superboy stupidly calls the "Fortress of Attitude." It's just the monitor room that Tim didn't let anyone in last time, so I don't know why everyone's so excited. Nor do I know why there's a giant image of Damian Wayne on the main monitor. Nor do I understand what Tim is talking about in his opening statement: "In the time since we started the Teen Titans, at least four superpower teenagers are either dead or missing." Does this include everything that occurred during the Culling? Because that story kept implying that tons of teenagers were being killed left and right (even though we really only saw Artemis die) and even more disappeared without a trace, like Skitter — remember her? Scott Lobdell doesn't.

During Red Robin's briefing, there is no mention of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. or Harvest or Skitter. Only a teenager named Tabitha Munse, shown fighting the guy who secretly "boosted" Solstice's and Kid Flash's powers during Death of the Family. Solstice recognizes this guy, but for some idiotic reason chooses not to tell anyone this. Tim says Tabitha is being held by the government, while three separate agencies try to figure out how to weaponize the metagene (how many secret societies are doing the same thing as N.O.W.H.E.R.E. but aren't part of N.O.W.H.E.R.E.?). Red Robin creepily launches the boat before anyone has a chance to agree to the plan, prompting Kid Flash to remark how this feels like a kidnapping.

Our heroes ride the yacht to Hoboken, where a helicopter waiting for them takes them to Belle Reve Prison, which is apparently only 72 minutes away. The Teen Titans break into the prison and are immediately attacked by three members of the Suicide Squad — Deadshot, Harley Quinn and King Shark. Red Robin confronts the unfortunately slimmed-down Amanda Waller, while the rest of his team essentially fights the Suicide Squad to a standstill. At one point, Deadshot is standing over Kid Flash, saying, "You're not so fast when you're paralyzed, eh?" But I have no idea when or even if he paralyzed him.

Before the fighting gets too out of hand, Waller calls the Squad off, and tells Red Robin he's going to regret the deal they just made. Kid Flash asks him about the girl they were supposed to save, but Tim admits there never was a girl, promising to explain on their way back.




The good news is Brett Booth is gone. He'll come back a bit later to do some covers, but I don't think we'll have to suffer through his interior art anymore. The bad news is Eddy Barrows is not an improvement at all. It's a bland, uninteresting style, and for some reason Tim Drake is combing his hair like the 1950s Robin. It's also a shame that we're still stuck with Scott Lobdell as writer and this ineffective editing team that can't keep anything straight, let alone bother answering any of the questions that have been raised. Instead of tracking down Harvest or Skitter, we're jumping into a Trigon story in an obnoxious, roundabout way. And how is nobody calling out the drastic change in Tim's personality?

Channel 52 talks about Vandal Savage and Flash getting trapped in Iron Heights Prison.

Next time, we'll visit the clunkily titled Justice League of America's Vibe.