Divergence: Teen Titans
Will Pfeifer Writer
Kenneth Rocafort Artist
Dan Brown Colorist
John J. Hill Letterer
Jeremy Bent Assistant Editor
Mike Cotton Editor
Eddie Berganza Group Editor
In May 2015, DC's big, reality-altering event was called Convergence. It launched a bunch of two-part stories that combined different versions of DC's heroes and villains. Sadly, none of these stories involved any version of Bart Allen. Until this Sneak Peek story. The second part of these Convergence stories included a brief story showing a glimpse of what the post-Convergence world looks like, or, in other words, the resulting Divergence. So this isn't really a comic. It's not available on Comixology or the DC Universe app, but you can read it for free here: https://www.dccomics.com/reader/#/comics/363531
The "cover" really isn't a cover. It's actually just the last page of the story darkened slightly, with a random Red Robin head popping up behind the turned page corner. It's Rocafort art, so it's fine, but not spectacular — I've said in the past that he does better on covers than interiors. Anyway, before we get into the story, I must confess that I skipped the issue that officially contained Bar Torr's return to the 21st century. It was in the Teen Titans Annual, and he only showed up on the last page and didn't say anything, so we're really not missing anything.
Our story picks up right where that annual ended, with Wonder Girl and Kid Flash anchoring a new team in opposition to the Teen Titans. The cause of schism is Superboy, whom Wonder Girl believes to be a mass murderer, who needs to be brought to justice. Beast Boy, Raven, Bunker and a shape-changing alien named Chimera support Red Robin's efforts to protect Superboy. Wonder Girl, however, has joined with the aforementioned Kid Flash, the Guardian, Klarion the Witch Boy and a new hero named Power Girl, all working under a man named Manchester Black and S.T.A.R. Labs.
With Red Robin's team on the run, Wonder Girl's team is training. We don't know how or why Bar Torr returned to this planet and this era, but he does seem to imply that he chose to come back. There is no mention of his girlfriend, Solstice.
The rest of the brief story details a phone call between Tim and Cassie. They basically both just reiterate their irreconcilable differences and promise a fight when they meet next. Manchester Black tried to track the location of Tim's phone, but Red Robin had covered his tracks and sent the S.T.A.R. agents on a wild goose chase.
This was an interesting sneak peek, to say the least. Teen Titans got a new creative team and the numbering was reset after Scott Lobdell left, but this still feels so much like a continuation of his convoluted storytelling. Yeah, Beast Boy is now green, but all the old characters are back. And as far as I can tell, this is the real Superboy — not the Fake Superboy from Bar's trial. Even Kid Flash is back. Inexplicably, unexpectedly back. I hope Pfeifer doesn't wait 25 issues to get to the bottom of this mystery.
What makes this feel most like a Lobdell story is the unbalanced attempt at a sophisticated argument. It's a really neat idea to have the Teen Titans split over ideological differences. I just wish that debate wasn't so blatantly unbalanced, though. First is the inconsistency of Wonder Girl singling out Superboy for mass murder, while readily allying with convicted war criminal Bar Torr. There's a chance that Convergence changed Bar's violent past, but until we're explicitly told that, we must assume it's still the same. But the second, and biggest flaw is the involvement of Manchester Black. All long-time readers know he's a villain with mind-control powers. So maybe Wonder Girl is under his control right now. Which makes for a fine story, but this was not presented that way. It was a lengthy conversation between Tim and Cassie, debating philosophy and loyalty and all that jazz. If Cassie was brainwashed during that entire conversation, then it completely negates everything that was said.
As nice as it is to see DC remember Bart Allen (or alternate versions of him), I'm quite skeptical of him suddenly escaping that prison planet without explanation and his girlfriend. But I do like seeing Klarion the Witch Boy here. I don't like his blue skin, but I do love his gothic look. And it makes sense for an entity of chaos to occasionally be a good guy. Or is he a good guy here? I don't know, and it's rather intriguing. So I guess this Sneak Peek succeeded in giving me one hook to hang onto, even though the story itself didn't add anything to that annual issue.
Next time, we'll take a quick look at the conclusion of Convergence and try to spot our old pal Impulse.
No comments:
Post a Comment