Titans #20 Review and *SPOILERS*

This Is Your Brain On Drugs

Written By: Dan Abnett

Art By: Paul Pelletier, Andrew Hennessey, Adriano Lucas, Carlos M. Mangual 

Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 14, 2018

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Now that the Titans have disbanded, we saw in the previous issue that Roy has continued crime fighting on his own and is going up against Intergang and a new drug called Bliss.  Which may prove to be too much for our recovering addict, but from where we left off last issue, Roy might not get the chance to fall off the wagon because it looked like Intergang filled him full of holes.  Let's jump into this issue and see how Arsenal is doing.  Let's check it out.

Explain It!:

Our issue begins with me being a little pissed because where it looked like there was no way that Arsenal could have lived in our previous cliffhanger, here he's fine and just looking for an opportunity to make his move against the Intergang goon squad.  It seems that his opportunity arrives in the form of his ex-girlfriend Cheshire, who like Roy is on the hunt to take down whoever is distributing Bliss in the streets of New York.  With the two working the same case, they decide to team up and finish off Intergang's knock off version of the drug and also take their sample of the Bliss to make sure that they can't manufacture anymore. 

It's during these team ups that Roy starts feeling those old feelings for Cheshire again and goes full bore when he decides that his calls to Donna Troy, who's stuck up in the Justice League Watchtower until they determine whether or not she's actually a threat, are actually making her time up there worse.  With that thought in mind, he tells her that he won't call anymore and with that act, he really severs his anchor that kept his mind occupied on something other than drugs........ and taking drugs off the streets.

In the end, Arsenal and Cheshire find the pure sample of Bliss while taking down another Intergang factory and go to celebrate with a little love making, but when Roy wakes up, Cheshire is gone and he can't remember what happened the night before and it looks like Cheshire might have dosed him with a narcotic........ and with Roy's condition, that can't be anything good.  As our issue closes, we see why Cheshire would have done this when we discover that she was working for The Brain and Monsieur Mallah to recover the Bliss so that they don't have any competitors in their dealings.

That's it for this issue of Titans and while I think that last issue's cliffhanger to this is a cop out of what should have gone down, I like the majority of this issue in how it's going pretty dark in dealing with Roy's addiction and how the separation from his friends is going to affect that.  While I personally hate Cheshire because she killed me in Green Arrow #21, I thought that her involvement here might be something of a redemption, while also adding to Roy's character going forward.  Yeah, I was wrong and if I didn't hate her before, I certainly do now because goddamn, that shit is pure evil.  I really enjoyed the art in this issue and hope to see more of these tales of while the Titans was disbanded because it finally gives individual characters time to shine, but even if we don't I'm happy that Arsenal is front and center here.

Bits and Pieces:

Roy continues his solo mission in this issue and is driven pretty far into the dark that he constantly strives to stay out of and while I love the Titans together, I'm really digging Arsenal on his own here and really look forward to next issue after the reveal of who's really behind the drug Bliss in this arc.  

7.5/10