Teen Titans #4 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Will Pfeifer
Art By: Kenneth Rocafort
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: November 19, 2014

Kansas City Shuffle

Last issue of Teen Titans, we saw our young heroes take on the mechanical menace that is Algorithm.  The fight began at the nightclub where the Raven tribute band plays and after Raven began rocking out too hard to the music inspired by her.... Well everyone in the club wanted to hang with the daughter of Trigon and as it turns out, so did Algorithm.  The two clashed for a bit and eventually the rest of the Titans showed up and finished off the nanobot nightmare.  So now it's all cheers and pancakes as the Titans head off to breakfast and Red Robin decides to check up on a clue he discovered that led him to STAR Labs.  Too bad that Algorithm had put herself back together again and the clue left behind was really a trap to get our once Robin isolated and I guess....... eventually dead.  Let's check out what this issue has in store for us and see if we get the fun time that we had last month.  Let's check it out. 

Explain It!:

Our issue begins exactly where we left off last issue, with Red Robin getting the ever loving shit kicked out of him.  Eventually though, Tim hits Algorithm with a electric batarang, giving him the chance to escape since Algorithm needs a few seconds to reboot.  Yes it seems that this robot monster has taken control of STAR Labs and it's only now that Tim can access a door to make a some what escape.  Now I want to remind everyone that the head of STAR Labs Advance Ideas Division is none other than the villainous Manchester Black, who we've seen throughout this series being the puppet master pulling Algorithm's strings and he has himself a prime seat to watch the show......... Where hopefully our hero doesn't get his head smashed in.

So Red Robin has a minute head start on our villain and he uses it to shut down the security system to make him harder to track and it's actually a really fun scene because Algorithm can't understand how she's having such a hard time with the one Teen Titan that doesn't have any powers.  So now that Tim has a couple minutes to himself, he hacks the STAR Labs systems and finds out that there's a super secret subbasement in the facility that might just have some top notch BFGs to take out this robot once and for all............ only problem is that he has to get there and Algorithm still has control of....... well everything.  So here's what our hero does.  He leads Algorithm to an elevator that he's "mistakenly" cornered himself in and when this Terminator reject tries to make it his tomb by releasing the brakes, our hero quickly gets himself above the elevator leaving a few bombs behind so when the lift smashes into the basement floor, it explodes creating a way for Red Robin to get to the super secret weapons locker.  

At this point Tim decides to call in for backup and the weary Teen Titans are forced to go after their fearless leader.  But first we have a bit of......... well something going on in front of Cassie's apartment building.  If you remember from last issue Cassie's mother was waiting out in front of her building and then she was approached by those strange Wonder Girls, who have been prowling the streets with baseball bats taking on the low grade criminal element.  Now I say something's going on because I don't really know.  It seemed last issue that Wonder Girl's mother might get the shit kicked out of her for some reason, but here we see that the Wonder Girl Gang is simply standing around, like they're waiting for Cassie to get home.  Now is Wonder Girl broadcasting where she lives and if this is some sort of coincidence then she better start looking for new apartments because those gals clearly saw her give her mother her keys and tell her to go upstairs to wait for her to get back.  Then it's off to save Red Robin and none of this made any sense to me.  I hate when that happens.  Seriously though, what the hell just happened here?

So back to Red Robin and the stuff that makes sense.  Even though our teenage hero made it down to the kill all robots room, it doesn't really matter because Algorithm swats the gun out of our hero's hand and knocks him out.......and somewhere out there Batman facepalms.  

Now here's the Shyamalan twist.  Now that Algorithm is all ready to kill Red Robin, Manchester Black tells her that she's not allowed to.  It seems that Algorithm was made purely for Manchester Black to get to this point of his plan and now that she's achieved her goal, she's to shut herself down.  Now I don't know if this was part of the plan as well, but Black sure makes it look like it is............ The machine refuses to shut down and then goes to kill Manchester Black.  Algorithm teleports to his voyeur room and he begins calling out for help, bringing the now conscious Red Robin in with a chance to use his robot killing gun.  Right before our hero finishes off Algorithm the machine that thought it was a killer girl realizes that all the cameras in STAR Labs are on her and her attack on Manchester and that this was a part of his plan all along........... Then she dies.

In the end, Manchester Black tells Red Robin that STAR Labs built Algorithm, but somewhere along the way she became corrupted and is grateful that the Titan was able to save his life.  He's so grateful in fact that he offers Red Robin and his Titans a chance to work with STAR Labs......... So you know a HQ, high tech devices and all the things a young superhero would want.  On the final page we close the issue with the rest of the Titans finally showing up and Red Robin announcing to them that Manchester Black and them have work to do, allowing the villain to completely pulling a Kansas City Shuffle on our heroes............. Again, somewhere Batman facepalms.  

That's it for this issue of Teen Titans and man was I not whelmed.  Now this could just be me being bias because I grew up with Tim Drake being my Robin and to see him here in an issue where the majority of it he's getting his ass kicked and then being completely fooled by the bad guy....... Well that just pisses me off on a "awful fanboy" level.  So with that bitch fit over let's start a new one, what the hell was up with the confusing Wonder Girl moment here?  It made absolutely no sense and really accomplished nothing besides for the possibility that she'll now have stalkers at her door and a mom that's none too happy with her daughter's current occupation.  It just really doesn't feel like it was needed and maybe should of been put off to go with another story because it really did nothing for me here.  See you next month as we continue our adventures with the Titans and maybe find out why Tim's being a numb skull and what's going on with Wonder Girl.  See you then.

Bits and Pieces:

Kenneth Rocafort continues on art this month and if you are a fan of his style, then there's nothing to complain about because it screams Rocafort.  I'm kind of weird when it comes to his art though because something I really dig it and other times I don't.  That's right I'm an asshole, but for long time lovers of the style, you'll get everything you want right here.  Pfeifer on the other hand concludes this story in a strange way.  Yeah it opens up doors for future Titans stories, but to get there he left a trail of confusion in his wake and making one of my favorite characters look like a knucklehead.  So this series continues to give me ups and downs to the point where I'm still not convinced if I like it or dislike it.

6/10