Teen Titans #20

Only Begotten

Scott Lobdell Writer
Eddy Barrows and Patrick Zircher Penciller
Beber Ferreira and Patrick Zircher Inkers
Alex Sinclair and Pete Pantazis Colorists
Travis Lanham Letterer
Barrows, Ferreira & Sinclair Cover
Anthony Marques Assistant Editor
Mike Cotton Editor
Eddie Berganza Group Editor
Superboy created by Jerry Siegel
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family

Our cover shows an evil Red Robin standing triumphantly over his fallen teammates. And the "X" on his cowl is reminiscent of Red X from the Teen Titans cartoon. Exciting, right? Well ... turns out this cover is as empty and hollow as the Red X character that never got a backstory. Nothing remotely close to this scene happens this issue. And I have a sneaking suspicion we're going to quickly drop the whole "evil Red Robin" plot. However, I will actually compliment an ad on the cover for once. This Man of Steel ad is sleek and unobtrusive — essentially the exact opposite of those old Arrow ads.

A word of warning as we begin this story: I had so much whiplash, I went back to issue #19 six times to see if I missed anything. And I can only conclude that Scott Lobdell failed to go back to issue #19, even though we have a rare editor's note urging us to go back to last issue. So, if things feel out of place, don't blame me!

Our story begins in the chaotic Times Square in New York City. Trigon is gone (he apparently vanished in a tiny flash of light I missed in the background of the final panel of last issue). Psimon is no longer unconscious and Raven is no longer evil. In fact, she's joining the Titans in berating Psimon for killing two dozen soldiers. But Solstice's words carry more weight than Raven's, and Psimon tries to kill her, prompting Kid Flash to nearly beat him to death.

Bizarrely, Red Robin decides that Raven is good now, completely overlooking the fact that mere minutes ago, she was ordering Beast Boy to capture and nearly kill them. A news copter soon shows up, but Raven somehow obscures the media's vision to make up for the grief she caused. Beast Boy wakes up and recognizes the Titans as the ones who saved him from Harvest.

Without warning, Raven attacks Wonder Girl, spouting off Trigon's creed. But a single punch seems to knock her back to her senses, and Red Robin says he also feels like he hasn't quite been himself lately. He's then interrupted by the arrival of Trigon's three sons, who all look like him, but are human-sized.




The bulk of this issue details Trigon's and Raven's backstory, but I don't care about that. Kid Flash has been waiting 20 issues for his origin, but whatever. This series sucks. Plain and simple. When the writer and three editors don't care about what happens from issue to issue, why should I?

Channel 52 talks about the Green Team and Superman's fight with Orion.

Next time, we will review the one and only appearance of this version of Bart Allen in The Flash.