Teen Titans #13 Review

Fade to Black

Written by: Will Pfeifer
Art by: Ricken, Paolo Pantalena, Noel Rodriguez, Trevor Scott, Johnny Desjardins, Scott McDaniel
             and Tony Avina
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: November 11, 2015

Should I start this review by telling you how much I want this book to kick ass?  Maybe I can make a plea to Will Pfeifer to put on his boots get his lunch pail and get to work making his run better than what it's been so far.  Or I can tell everyone to sit tight in the trenches and wait it out until February when Greg Pak rides in on his white horse to save the day.  I think I will take all of the above for $1000, Alex.  At least this issue is a little more traditional than the previous and features most of the team.  Is it good, though?  Let's find out...




The issue opens in the M.A.W. with Hannibal Lecter  Dr. Psycho as he taunts Bunker while breaking through his purple brick wall.  Bunker steps up to the plate, creates a giant brick construct of a superhero and...gets his ass kicked by Psycho!  Funny thing is, he's not even interested in Bunker after all.  No, he has his mind set on Raven.

Meanwhile, Manchester Black has gathered most of the Elite and is barking out orders.  Power Girl senses somethings not right, but Black just discounts her and tells her to follow orders.  Things are not hunky dory in Elite Land.

Away from the M.A.W., Red Robin, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl are in the Chamber of Harvest trying to figure things out.  Bart may still be a real prick towards Tim, but Cassie seems to have turned a new page.  I guess dealing with Harvest and seeing Kon explain himself and then desert them all made her take a walk, have some hot superhero gal thinking time...  I love these three characters and would like nothing better than to tell you that this scene was awesome, but it's far from it.  The dialogue (especially Cassie's) was pretty horrible and Bart is just a jerk.

Back in the M.A.W., Dr. Psycho turns Beast Boy from a Rhino to a hummingbird and then puts him to sleep so that he can work on Raven.  Wait, is this a rerun?  Maybe Psycho is messing with my head here.  Dr. Psycho finally enters Raven's mind and it's not all pinatas and RC Cola for him.  In fact, it's a trap and before you can say "Trigon", Psycho is spitting out blood and passes out.  I like Dr. Psycho and with he could have been used more if not better.

While I can't say that anything going on this issue is terrible, it isn't good either.  The problem is Pfeifer's insistence to jump between scenes without allowing the time for any of them to make an impact on the reader.  Things just happen and then we move along.

Speaking of moving along, Red Robin conveniently figures out how to hack Harvest's teleporter and the him, Bart and Cassie are suddenly in the M.A.W. with everyone else.  Raven tells them there is no riot (it was Psycho making them think there was) and Bart flip flops and now protects Tim Drake with hi life.

If you can't guess from this recap, this issue is all over the place.  Seriously, can a comic book be diagnosed with ADD because I have a prime candidate.  Maybe there are just too many characters to keep a sharp focus, but it really hurts everything in this issue.

It continues as Manchester Black goes demon hunting and finds what he came for in the first place...Despero!  I put the exclamation point there because if Black can convince Despero to join him against the Teen Titans, there may not be a team for Greg Pak to take over come February. Thankfully (I guess), it was a trap set by Chimera and Power Girl and while it felt too Clayface like, if it gets rid of Black, I'm in.

It doesn't, not yet at least.  We still have some ridiculousness to deal with.  Manchester Black grabs Tanya and finds out that nobody puts Power Girl in the corner.  She gets mad and when Power Girl gets mad, she grows really tall?!?  When did this happen?  Manchester Black tries to explain it by saying he put drugs in her food, but I'd rather she just yells "Inukchuk" and goes all Apache Chief.

She then goes hog wild on Black and if he's not dead, he's hurt real, real bad.  Cassie let's us know that he is basically done being this book's villain just as a new one arrives.  Everything in this issue was just pure nonsense so when Alpha Centurion jumps over from his awful stay in Doomed, it made sense in a nothing makes sense kind of way.  Remember, if nothing makes sense, everything makes sense.  Now I'm talking nonsense.  If you've been reading the solicits, you know that Alpha is only here to get Doomed in this book and knowing that doesn't make his appearance any worse because it's awful already.

This issue is utter nonsense.  What I understood, I hated, what I guessed at, I hated because everything I read, I hated.  Fans of the Teen Titans deserve better as do readers of the English language.

There is a ton of people on the art team, but I didn't mind the art at all.  Maybe it's because the story was so awful, I didn't pay much attention to the pretty pictures, but it looked okay.

Bits and Pieces:

 Do yourself a favor and stay away from this issue.  While the art is surprisingly good despite having more people on the art team than onstage at an Earth, Wind and Fire concert, the story was a mess. Greg Pak will be here soon to save the day and hopefully rescue the Teen Titans from their biggest villain right now...Will Pfeifer.

3.9/10