Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "damian-wayne"

Teen Titans, Volume 1: Damian Knows Best by Benjamin Percy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Teen Titans Rebirth and the first five issues of the new version of Teen Titans with Damian Wayne leading a team that includes Starfire, Raven, Kid Flash (New 52 Wally West), and Beast Boy.

To be honest, I began reading this book with trepidation because I’ve never really cared for the Damian Wayne character. He always seems like a bit of a jerk in the stories I’ve seen him with his actions in the Teen Titans: Rebirth issue being representative as he kidnaps eac h proposed member of the Titans in order to recruit them into the team. That’s a heck of a way to get started, but the fact is the Titans may have little choice but to join together as a highly trained team of young wannabe members of the League of Assassin want to earn their membership by killing each member of the Teen Titans.

The threat is credible and the the Teen Titans are well matched up to create a good challenge. The art is solid, but it’s mostly the character arc that makes Damian is relatable without betraying who the character is. He may be tough and arrogant, but he’s also lonely and socially awkward. I found myself sympathizing and connecting with this character in a way I hadn’t before. The way he proves himself to the team and gives it a sense of identity after the awkward start is what make the book a worthwhile read.




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Titans: The Lazarus Contract by Christopher J. Priest

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


In this three way crossover between Deathstroke, The Teen Titans, and the New Teen Titans, Deathstroke determined to go back in time to prevent the death of his son. To do that, he kidnaps both Wally Wests (the pre-52 one who is the Flash for the Titans and the New 52 one who is Kid Flash on the Teen Titans) and it’s up to our two teams of heroes to stop them.
The most positive thing that comes out of this story is young Wally’s growth as a character and a hero. He takes a journey and at the climax makes a key choice that changes the outcome of the story.
On the flip side, Damian Wayne’s character is hurt as he is constantly unwaveringly insufferable. Most books I’ve read in which he’s appeared such as Superman, Super Sons, and Nightwing have tried to humanize him. Here he’s at his absolute worst as he not only cuts down anyone who makes a mistake but takes an action that heaps more misery on Old Wally.
Actually except for Deathstroke, the two Wallys, Dick Grayson, and Damian Wayne, everyone else is forgettable. This felt like a crossover for the sake of having a crossover. Most of the time it wasn’t bad, although I will admit to still being confused what it was that was promised in the titular contract. I also couldn’t help thinking that Deathstroke might appreciate this more. Overall, another forgettable crossover to add to a long list.




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Teen Titans (2016-) Vol. 2: The Rise of Aqualad by Benjamin Percy

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This collects five issues of Teen Titans and centers around a new Aqualad and his quest to join the team as the team has two story arcs involving sea based villains, the first involves King Shark and the second has Black Mantis who has a special interest in Aqualad.

Overall, most of the characters receded into the background. Robin (Damian Wayne) was irritating. His problem as team leader is that he believes every single member of the team needs to fight and do everything to the smallest detail in the way he says it. While I had some empathy for him in the first volume, here he's irritating and in the later story, he effectively has a quiet inter-team Coup launched against him.

Most of the other characters didn't stand out to make room for the new Aqualad, who was essentially a paint by numbers outsider. The only character who stood out was Starfire, who subtly took charge of the team later in the book.

Overall, not a bad book, but not a series I'll be continuing.



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Robin, The Boy Wonder: A Celebration of 75 Years by Bill Finger

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book celebrates the 75th Anniversary of Robin in 2015 by dedicating a section to each Robin. My thoughts on each section below:

1) Dick Grayson:

This section leans heavily into using Robin stories that have been repinted over and over again. Including his origin, the time that Bruce Wayne lost costudy of him to scheming relatives, and that type he behaved like a jerk to a girl who wanted to be a crimefighter, and the bicentenial issue where he teamed up with Batgirl to fight a demonically powered Benedict Arnold. These aren't bad, but I've read them all before. There are two exceptions. The Golden Age Robin Solo story, "The Barton Brothers" is a nice little story where he rounds up three criminal brothers with different hooks and gimmicks. Then there's the "Robin" chapter from Nightwing Year One which is actually kind of dreadful.

2) Jason Todd:

Wa get a look at the start of Jason's post-crisis origin and we get the second half of the comic that ended with a 900 number people would call to vote whether he would die. In between, there's a story where Batman and Robin are dealing with a diplomat's son who has a nasty way of treating women and we're left question how far this Robin might go. It's a bit light and incomplete, but Todd's era was short.

3) Tim Drake:
We get the issue where Drake first put on the costume of Robin, a downbeat Robin story by Chuck Dixon, and a team up between Robin and Nighwing that allows the characters to interact.Then there's a Superboy/Robin team up in the pages of Superman/Batman that's high on action, low on character development. These arent bad, but I think you start to see the challenge of putting modern comics with a book like this. The one-shot is rear and comics are written "for the trade." So of the four stories, we have one issue plucked out of multi-part story, and two other one-shots that aren't particularly remarkable and also written by people who didn't write Tim Drake.

4) Damian Wayne:
We get the issue where Damian comes to the Batcave and thinks he's going to claim his inheritance. He's surly and insufferable, but then again, that's Damian Wayne for you, particularly in the early days. We have an issue from Superman/Batman where there's a team-up with Supergirl, which works quite well. And then we have Batman and Robin Annual #1 from 2013 by Peter Tomasi in which Damian gets Batman to take a vacation in Europe and lays out a trail of clues leading him to reconnect with his family heritage while Damian dons the cowl in Bruce's absence and tries to hide it. I actually love this story the most. It does a great job showing how Damian's developed and the complicated relationship between father and son. It's great work anda reminder that I really need to check out Batman and Robin by Peter Tomasi.

5) Other Robins:
This is a big fault I have with this book. To most people, Robin is either Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, or Damian Wayne. Throwing in some alternate Earth versions is kind of silly and I think it would have been better to feature more stories with these characters.

"The Super-Crisis that Struck Earth-Two" barely features the pre-Crisis Earth 2 Robin and is actually the first of a two part story no tincluded in the book.

"The Dark Knight Triumphant" is a classic dark piece of comic writing from Batman: The Dark Knight by Frank Miller, but the alternate Robin barely features amongst people talking on cable news.

"Head Games" is a throwaway story about some future robot "Robin the Toy Wonder" from the DC One Million Event.

"A Life More Ordinary" is the most defensible story for inclusion in the book as its about Stephanie Brown becoming Robin for a brief time. Even here, I think it doesn't make as much sense or carry as much weith without the context.

Overall, if you've not read a whole lot about Robin, this isn't a bad collection to check out, and there are some good stories in here, but there are also a few stories that are thrown in and some of this that just feels like its being too cute by half with its selction critera.




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