Teen Titans #28

Without You

Written by Scott Lobdell
Breakdowns by Scott McDaniel
Pencils by Tyler Kirkham
Inks by Art Thibert
Letters by Travis Lanham
Cover by Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund & Andrew Dalhouse
Steampunk variant by Jason Pearson
Asst. Editor: Anthony Marques
Editor: Mike Cotton
Group Editor: Eddie Berganza
Superboy created by Jerry Siegel
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family

The digital copy of this comic doesn't include the steampunk variant, and since Kid Flash isn't on it anyway, I won't bother grabbing it from a third-party source. Our main cover shows Bar Torr being found guilty, which would be shocking if he didn't declare himself "guilty as hell" last issue. Or if he hadn't already confessed to his crimes and been placed in witness protection before this series even began. So that makes this a rather anticlimactic cover. I don't know why Bar is crackling with energy when he's standing motionless. And I have never understood his romance with Solstice. Why do they like each other?

Our story picks up somewhen in the late 30th century at the Echo Station, where Bar is leading a rebellion against the Functionary, with the Teen Titans caught in the middle. Even though Red Robin and company were horrified at the thought of Bar killing anyone in this war, nobody seems to notice Fake Superboy dragging two of Bar's men out into space and tossing them in a sun.

During the chaos inside, Red Robin has given his team the unhelpfully vague order of "keep them from killing each other." Bar wraps Wonder Girl up in her own lasso, admitting he doesn't want to hurt the Titans, but he also can't let them stop him from taking down the evil government body that killed his family for the crime of believing in religion. Solstice attacks Bar from behind, declaring Bar's war against an oppressive government unjust. Bar is hurt by this betrayal, but when he tries to attack his girlfriend, she counters him by saying he's not faster than light (or her reaction time, apparently).

One of Bar's men tells Red Robin the Teen Titans should be on his side, but Tim believes there has to be a better way to fight a war than attacking and killing people. Brain 3 comes to Red Robin's aid, but he's also slightly critical of her massively evil government. Unfortunately, this debate is far too sophisticated for Lobdell, so we quickly cut to Fake Superboy randomly lifting Kid Flash out into space. And I say "randomly" because last issue, Fake Superboy couldn't stop thinking about how he wanted to kill the Teen Titans. So why doesn't he do that right now, using the chaos of the battle as cover?

Anyway, Bar suddenly gained the ability to breathe in space, and he and Fake Superboy have a fairly lengthy conversation, which escalates to Fake Superboy threatening to tear off Bar's head unless he calls off his men, and Bar threatening to vibrate Superboy's bones to dust. Suddenly, a gigantic ship teleports out of thin air right next to our bickering boys. Bar says, "It ... is a starslayer ... the deadliest ship in the Functionary's armada. It has one setting. Annihilation." (I hate this dialogue!)

A platform emerges from the starslayer, revealing Bar's "little" sister, who looks 20 even though she's supposed to be 10. Shira says she's been ordered to terminate ever sentient creature within a hundred thousand miles, which I find unlikely, considering the important judges and politicians currently fighting for survival in the Echo Chamber. Fake Superboy wants to call Shira's bluff and continue the fight, but Bar doesn't, and knocks out the imposter with a headbutt. Shira then tells Bar that their parents were justly killed in a brutal manner because it was wrong of them to believe in "an imaginary god." If Lobdell could maintain a shred of consistency from issue to issue, that line would have sent Bar into a murderous rage. Instead, it's time for the story to end, so Bar surrenders sorrowfully.

The next day, Bar's trial resumes in the partially destroyed courtroom. Shira actually asks for mercy on Bar's behalf, but the judges turn her down. Bar is sentenced to a life of hard labor on the planet Tekron-Galtos with no hope of parole. Bar accepts this sentence, but Solstice, Red Robin and Wonder Girl suddenly object, contradicting all their talk of accepting the government's decree, no matter how corrupt. Bar tells his former teammates to stand down, giving a sappy speech about how he loved being Bart Allen for those few brief moments, and, more practically, how the Functionary will continue to hunt them down through time if they fight for him.

Red Robin agrees to respect Bar's wishes, but Solstice doesn't. She demands to be banished to Tehran-Galtos with Bar, but the judges refuse, pointing out that she has committed no crimes. Bar gives Kiran and unbearable speech, and she responds with an even sappier one about how she can't live in a world without Bart Allen. Suddenly, she kills one of the judges and demands to be sentenced with her boyfriend.




In case you couldn't tell, I absolutely hate this story. Lobdell was completely unable to keep straight the motivations of Bar Torr, Fake Superboy and Raven. Not to mention all the things this creative team kept forgetting. Remember that one issue where Bar's speech bubbles alternated between red and green, depending on "evil" he was feeling? That was actually cool! But then it was dropped the next issue and never came back. But the biggest thing that gets under my skin is the message that believing in religion is not only stupid, but justifiable cause for the government to brutally murder you. Everybody in this story was horrified by Bar's actions, but no one, not even in the slightest, batted an eye at the murder of Bar's parents. It's basically, "Bar, your parents were idiots, get over it." And, "Being in a war is no justification for killing people! ... Unless I want to be with my boyfriend, then I'll totally commit cold-blooded murder!" This series can't end fast enough.

Channel 52 talks about Superman and Wonder Woman battling General Zod.

We also get a new feature, the DC Comics All Access page, which fulfills the same purpose of Channel 52, but in a less cheesy way. This edition talks about Supergirl fighting Lobo.

Next issue: Don't miss the penultimate issue of Teen Titans!