Powers Play
Written By: Dan Abnett
Art By: Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Andrew Dalhouse, Corey Breen
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 8, 2017
*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*
Now that the Titans are in Manhattan, it doesn't look like they'll have time to relax after their big move because the Fearsome Five have setup up shop in New York with a new meta power company that promises to help people with powers and if needed, take them away. This is what we saw in the previous issue, where Mal and Karen Duncan have gone to Meta-Solutions in order to look into Karen's new powers. It's also here where we learn that Mal has already gone through with the process and had his powers removed because after dealing with the events of Titans Hunt, he doesn't ever want to do anything "Super" again. Too bad Mal didn't do all his homework before having this procedure done though because after he sees Mammoth walking the halls of the building, he freaks out and calls his former team in for help and now it's time to see what the Fearsome Five are up to and if Karen has become one of them or not. Let's jump into this issue and check it out.
Explain It!:
Our issue begins with our heroes facing down the Fearsome Five, but to my surprise........ things stay pretty damn tame here.......... even though Garth just wants to punch someone. It seems that the Fearsome Five are no more and all but Psimon and Gizmo have given up their powers because they realized the error of their ways and wanted to create Meta-Solutions so that they could help people who might go down the wrong path with their powers like they did. Obviously, once Karen finds out that Mammoth is one of these jerks, she decides that Meta-Solutions might not be the way to go, but as we find out later on, it also seems that she might have left the place because of the guilt over what Mammoth did to her husband and what good wife would go hangout with the guy that kicked their husband's ass?
Once we get back to Titans Tower, the team discusses whether or not the Fearsome Five could have reformed since they were just going toe to toe with the Justice League a few weeks back and while Roy is all about giving someone a second chance, since he knows what it's like to fuck up and strive to be redeemed, he also knows that no one recovers as fast as they say they have and with that, Wally and Dick decide to do a little covert checking out of Meta-Solutions.
In the end, we find out that a lot of Meta-Solutions is shielded and since the rest of the team can't get into contact with Dick and Wally, they decide to go to the building themselves as backup and while Mal was off making coffee, Karen decides that she needs to do a little looking in on the company as well because she's not about to let the Titans get hurt because of something she did. As we leave this issue, we see that the Fearsome Five are indeed still active and not only siphoning off people's powers, but giving them to others. That's right, they have themselves a little superpowers leasing office and the key to upping their game apparently lies on acquiring Bumblebee's powers.
That's it for this issue of Titans and while this is a really quick issue, with not a lot going on other than the Fearsome Five lying to our heroes about their intentions and then our heroes talking about whether or not they were lying to them that led them to get caught in an ambush in Meta-Solutions, this wasn't that bad of an issue. Yeah, not a lot going on, but I love the interactions of our heroes in this series and the art like always looks great. I'm not a huge Herald or Bumblebee fan, but seeing what we did of Karen here actually gets me excited to see where this story takes her and while I don't really care about Mal, I would like to see him overcome his fear of Mammoth and kick the big lug's ass. None of that is here though, but like I said, this isn't a bad issue.
Bits and Pieces:
While not a lot goes down in this issue, I still found myself having a decent time with it and that's probably because I love the interactions of our heroes in this series and because the art is always top notch. So yeah, while not a lot goes down here, it does setup what looks like a hell of a story and a fight going forward.
6.8/10
By posting this comment I know that it will be misinterpreted as hate and whining but I'll proceed anyways. So far, I enjoy the Titans book more than I expected I would with Abnett who is an astounding writer and Booth's great art. There are things I wish would be different like Garth having back his sorcery and blast vision, Lilith using her telekinesis and pyrokinesis, Roy showing off his high intelligence as weaponsmith and technician and Karen not losing her past memories as a Teen Titan and become the new chick in the club. I'm a little bit annoyed with the fact of how Mal behaves. Back in the 60's Herald wasn't a wimp neither a macho bully but rather normally brave. Now he acts like a silent movie parody where the black men used to be depicted like coward fools and changed their color to white when they got afraid and only the black women were the bossy intimidating ones who stood up for them. This doesn't mean that I don't like the vendetta that Abnett has created between Herald and Mammoth and I approve of having Mal mellowed out after he bacame a film composer and father.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to prejudge anything about the Lazarus Contract crossover, however it seems to me a feeble try to make excuses for the horrible, unwatchable Judas Contract animation that is out and is not a faithful adaptation of the original source material. It is a bit of a stretch to say that the oncoming crossover is a rehash of a twisted animation but the Church of Blood involvement in Judas Contract has never happened in the comics. Also I'm not fan at all of the idea to mix or have the Titans and new Teen Titans teams interact very often because they are so different teams with clashing personalities and backgrounds which makes it hard to enjoy. What alarms me the most is that new Teen Titans might leech off of the villains pool of the Titans, which isn't very vast to begin with. Unless they improve classic Teen Titan enemies and create new for the Titans, the problem will grow bigger. Duela Dent as bitter enemy to the Titans and revised villains Glen Murakami created exclusively for the Teen Titans show is a good start. I can't help it to see Titans and Teen Titans as antagonists and frankly I like them separated.
As a big fan of Herald I want him to regain his powers ASAP!
DeleteFor the first part of your thoughts I don't see any implication where Mal is shown as a coward. It is mentioned countless times by Omen when she scanned his mind that he suffers from PTSD after his encounter with Mammoth. Let's not view everything through the lens of identity politics, it's comics and this is a scenario to progress the story and serves as a direct link to the story of Titans Hunt.
DeleteMy opinion is that Mal suffered worse in the hands of Mr.Twister and maybe that's why he wants to shed his super-hero identity so he can protect himself and his family. No matter he will soon get his powers back.
I don't know much about Omen's powers but Garth is shown to still have his blast vision although I don't know about his magic and the case with Karen's membership written off is unfortunate but I think it has to do with how short were her adventures as a Teen Titan. Roy is still a nerd genius I believe, he didn't have the chance to prove it yet.
For the second part I don't know where to begin. I doubt Lazarus contract is a sugarcoating agent for the flop that is the animated Judas contract version. I could be wrong, however it looks the Lazarus event ties right into the events of the proper story by Wolfman. The film showed nothing about Wintergreen and Ravager's backstory and I agree on the Church of Blood comment.
Titans and the new teen titans are separate, individual franchises. It is the reason they have their own books. The crossover thing is to create hype and invigorate the sales by playing the nostalgia card of a Judas sequel. And I don't see how Teen Titans are stealing away the Titans villains when they already have introduced many enemies of their own in their comic.
I'm not against the revamp of old classic villains because Abnett has done wonders with Mr.Twister, Mad Mod, Fearsome Five, DDD and Honeybun. But wherever Duela Dent appears disaster and cancellation follows. I swear Joker's Daughter is the black cat of DC Comics take that as advice from a superstition expert!
I want Mal to get his powers back as well...unless Psimon uses them to become the next pop star sensation!
DeleteI hope this isn't some ironic remark on Mal's powers because I follow this blog for a very long time and I love what you people do. Mine is not some case of SJW trolling. It pains me to see classic original characters of color to be treated like trash while companies and Hollywood clamor for more diversity and look like double standard hypocrites by blackwashing white and asian heroes.
DeleteMal must be celebrated by DC as the first ever black hero in its history since year 1970 before Black Lightning had made his debut in 1977. Honesty is the best policy and comics have to follow that rule. I'm ashamed on their part for reading cheap knock-offs like Etta Candy and Kanye West instead of more newly created like Duke Thomas and Zalika. I try to be entertained but these problems prevent me.
When anybody messes with the existent people of color in comics (pink, white, blue, black, brown) I'm with the loyal opposition.
FYI Mal Duncan is the cast on which Marvel based their Luke Cage.
It was actually a bit of a dig at the Titan's Hunt bit where Dick Grayson kept singing and wanting to hear Mal's songs...I used to laugh at it on the podcast.
DeleteIt seemed that that's all Abnett wanted to push with Mal instead of developing his character...even this issue seems as if he really doesn't respect him as a character
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