Teen Titans #15

Super Sons of Tomorrow Part 3 Tomorrow is Never Promised

Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason – Writers
Ed Benes & Jorge Jimenez – Pencillers
Ed Benes, Richard Friend & Jorge Jimenez – Inkers
Dini Ribero & Alejandro Sanchez – Colorists
Corey Breen – Letterer
Francis Manapul – Cover
Chad Hardin & Alex Sinclair – Variant Cover
Brittany Holzherr – Associate Editor
Alex Antone – Editor
Brian Cunningham – Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our main cover shows the Titans of Tomorrow contrasted with the Titans of ... well, today. It's a nice cover, but slightly awkward, in that Manapul was forced to give the Titans of Tomorrow unnaturally neutral expressions. It hasn't been revealed yet whether they are good or bad, and unfortunately the cover suffers because of that. Otherwise, it is very pretty and artistic.

Our variant cover also suffers from the same problem. Bart, Conner and Cassie all have the blandest, most boring expressions on their face. In contrast, the Teen Titans have the most ridiculous, over-the-top expressions. Starfire was unfortunately covered up by the top left info box, although in general I absolutely love the design of those boxes. So yeah, this cover is fine, but it could have been a lot better.

Our story picks right up where we left off last time. Superboy lost control of his powers, creating a large energy blast that knocked out the Titans, destroyed a chunk of the tower, and sent the unconscious Jon Kent into the San Francisco Bay. Damian quickly confirms his teammates are still alive, then leaves them a note asking for time and fishes Jon out of the water with a submersible. The future Tim Drake, meanwhile, repairs his destroyed Batman suit with some prototype equipment kept in the Tower's basement. And he insanely takes this opportunity to come up with a new identity for himself — Savior.

Damian tells Jon that he's encountered this future Tim Drake before, and he can attest to his murderous nature. He tried to call their dads, but neither of them are responding. Jon suggests they go to the Batcave or Fortress of Solitude, but Damian points out that Tim knows their secret identities and would look for them in those places. Jon is understandably worried about his power outburst, and Damian is able to explain that it seems similar to the solar flare Superman had at the end of the New 52. Regardless, Damian has taken it upon himself to be Jon's personal protector through this crisis.

We then cut to the Titans of Tomorrow headquarters, which is the same old Tower the team is currently using, complete with old statues of the founding members. Now that Tim has repaired his suit, his teammates have now lost track of him. Cassie says they could try to triangulate his position, but there's a chance they'll miss him by a few years — a margin of error that is too high for Bart's standards.

Conner points out that Tim has been obsessed with the timeline of other worlds lately, and Cassie observes that the timeline seems to be trying to pull Tim back at random intervals. She worries that this could have an adverse effect on Tim's mind, and Bart realizes that all they can do is wait till the next interval to pull Tim back ... and hope he doesn't screw up the time continuum.

Back in the current time, Savior meets with the remaining Teen Titans and tries to make the case for him to kill Superboy. All the Titans are naturally opposed to this, but Beast Boy and Raven are both open to the idea of helping Savior track down Superboy, so long as he doesn't kill him. Starfire, Aqualad and Kid Flash, however, think even that action is too extreme, and believe they should trust their leader, Robin.

As they debate, Savior's hand suddenly becomes enveloped in blue energy and disappears. In the Titans of Tomorrow HQ, they see this hand appear in their big time portal, and Bart immediately grabs hold of it. He tells the others that if they hang on, the hand will draw them right to Tim. Savior warns the Titans that other people are coming for him and they don't have time to keep debating. Raven and Beast Boy agree with him, so Raven teleports the three of them away. Starfire, Kid Flash and Aqualad are left behind, but Aqualad connects to the water to locate Superboy's energy signature.




The story has taken a rather complicated turn with so many groups of characters in motion with different goals. But it's still fun and intriguing. The jury is still out on the Titans of Tomorrow being good or evil, although Tim Drake has clearly been shown to be insane. Sane people don't put on a black trench coat, wield two guns and call themselves Savior. But his insanity doesn't fully reveal his teammates' motivations.

I was quite pleased to see one of my favorite artists, Jorge Jiménez, on this book. Sadly, he didn't draw the whole issue, but the pages he did draw were great. His style works so well with any version of Bart Allen. I wish we could get more. In the meantime, let's look at the new ads:

The Corps faces the Kryptonian killer! Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps.

Happy Holidays from DC, featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Kid Flash, Superboy and Robin all crammed together on a sled.

Next time, believe it or not, it's already time for another Year in Review before we can continue this story in Superman #38.