Teen Titans #2 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Will Pfeifer
Art By: Kenneth Rocafort
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: August 20, 2014

Bunker and Beast Boy #1

Last issue we saw the relaunched Teen Titans take down a terrorist group that hijacked a bus of children and planned on driving the bus now full of explosives into the New York STAR Labs.  Pretty much the issue felt like a weak start to the series.  Yeah the team saved the day, but they only took out masked mooks and the head of the terrorists got away in the end.  After reading this issue it seems that the only thing that really mattered to last issue besides the planned attack on STAR Labs, is that Bunker threatened a homophobic asshole at the end of the issue and the DC interwebs went nuts with people uploading and re-chirping the video.  So let's dive into this issue and see if our heroes have a more super heroic feel than last.  

Explain It!:

Our story begins with Bunker still brooding about the homophobic asshole he threatened last issue and Beast Boy trying to cheer him up.  This is mostly a way for us to see that Bunker has developed a new technique for his powers.  He creates a teeny tiny brick and shoots it into your ear, in this case Beast Boy's ear and this meek green Beast Boy doesn't seem to care at all.  What happened to you Beast Boy?  When did you stop being connected to the Red and become this tiny green elf like character that let's his roommate shoot things into his ear?  Also with this train of thought, I like to bring up another point.  While Beast Boy is trying to be a good friend and cheer Bunker up, Bunker has the audacity to claim that Beast Boy hasn't gone through what he has.  Now I know gay bashing is nothing to dismiss, but Beast Boy was kidnapped, experimented on, and put into a Hunger Games scenario where the only way to survive was to kill.  But again, Beast Boy just let's Bunker walk all over him and doesn't say anything but "I'm sorry".  Nonsense.  

Elsewhere it seems that one of the terrorists that Wonder Girl severely screwed up last issue is in intensive care and Red Robin is getting some more information out of him about what the terrorists had planned and where he can find their leader.  All we really get is that all the terrorists were hired and that the attack on STAR labs was only the beginning, before his morphine machine from STAR Labs malfunctions and kills the man.  Curiouser and Curiouser.

Talking about Star Labs we'll head over to their Governor Island facility that's still under construction where one Manchester Black is trying to convince a high ranking STAR official that they should move all their facilities there.  You might remember Manchester Black from Superman Vs. The Elite and if you do, you know he's up to no good.  The conversation is put on hold though because they see that their downtown facility has just erupted in flames.  It's a good thing that Bunker and Beast Boy live downtown and get there in a hurry.  Beast Boy saves the scientists that were trapped and Bunker goes to take out the fire, when he comes into contact with the leader of the terrorist group from last issue.  The two tussle and ultimately we find out that the leader is not exactly a she, as much as she's a she-bot.  Yeah once Bunker realizes that she's a robot he uses that new technique to blow her head off her shoulders.  So the people are saved, the bad guy is defeated and Bunker gets some decent press for once.

Elsewhere we see that some girls have gotten together and formed a team of their own based off of Wonder Girl and are roaming the city for criminals to kick the shit out of with baseball bats.  So yeah, that's happening.  Do you know what would be better than Wonder Girl...... Girls?  Actually seeing Wonder Girl in this issue.  This is really not feeling like a team book.  

Okay what else un-team like things can we talk about here?  Oh yeah instead of you know fighting evil and all that with her teammates, Raven has apparently become the lead singer for a goth punk band called Dark Mistress and that's about all we see of her  (Correction:  It was brought to my attention by a reader that I totally missed the whole Raven band scene.  As it turns out, Raven is NOT the lead singer of a goth punk band, but was attending a concert of a Raven tribute band.  Looking back now I have no idea how I missed this and I apologize.  Look here.

Also, if this wasn't enough for me to notice...........

So I apologize for not catching this and I swear it's not my first day of reviewing.  I just happen to be a big blind idiot.  Thanks @Outside_85 for the correction, but the score will stand because instead of Raven being featured as a hero, she's still simply catching a concert.

In the end we see that Manchester Black was behind the robot terrorist leader who's name is apparently Algorithm and after her head is reconstructed by nanobots, we learn that he wants her to kill a group of STAR Labs interns to prove a point that STAR Labs should move to Governors Island.  Also he holds up a Dark Mistress poster and talks about her running into an old friend.  So somehow this She-Bot knows Raven.  I don't know.  So Teen Titans relaunch status is as follows.  Bunker's a dick, Beast Boy is green, Raven is a singer watching a concert and Red Robin and Wonder Girl don't matter.  I can't believe I actually miss the old series.

Bits and Pieces:

As I've stated, I'm not a fan of this relaunch so far.  Besides for stopping a bus in the first issue, there doesn't seem to be any semblance of a team here at all.  The characters all seem to have gone their separate ways and have become shells of their former selves.  I love the Teen Titans and I hope this relaunched series does well, but so far I can't recommend this to anybody.

5.8/10