Titans #28 Review and *SPOILERS*

A Book Without A Story

Written By: Dan Abnett
Art By: Clayton Henry, Marcelo Maiolo
Letters By: Dave Sharpe
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 24, 2018

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

The last issue of Titans was a damn mess. It was completely reliant on the audience to be reading other books at the same time. Now, I don’t like to judge a book by its cover, but this issue seems to have an issue that hints at the fact that this may not be a great stand-alone book on its own. You know, the run of Titans that started with Rebirth was far from perfect but at least we were getting full stories and characters that can properly develop. However, ever since the No Justice event, Titans has become more of a DC Universe Companion book than a Titans book. I don’t know who’s to blame for it but let’s just jump right in and see where this takes us.

We start the issue with the Titans and Tempest in the Boom Room on their way to face off with some aliens of some kind. We get a mountain of inner dialogue explaining what is happening. There is some kind of invading force that is causing the oceans to rise rapidly to drown the world. In addition, there is some kind of infection that they are spreading that turns people into crazy fish monsters. The Titans have boarded one of the ships and are going to find a weakness. However, as soon as they land, they are met with a small army of angry fish monsters. The group fight for a while and even though they are outnumbered, the Titans seem to be holding their own.

We flashback to the Hall of Justice only ten minutes prior. Garth is trying to convince the Titans to do something but Miss Martian is saying no. They get into a small argument before Garth walks away with Donna Troy. The other members discuss a possible strategy when Miss Martian is suddenly teleported away. Without Miss Martian’s dissenting opinion, it doesn’t take much convincing for the group to leap into action. We jump to the present and the Titans become dominant in the fight against the fish monsters. During this time, Donna reflects on her time with the original Titans. She also reflects on her time with Garth and how their backgrounds are similar.

They defeat the small army and go further into the ship. Garth and Donna talk and Garth encourages Donna to lead the new team in Nightwing’s place. He makes some good points before the group finds themselves in front of an engine. Steel scans it for schematics and the group decides to run back to the Justice League to give them this invaluable information. However, just as they are about to leave they are interrupted by some kind of bearded James Cameron Avatar man. He fights with them and easily handles the entire group. However, once Garth begins to use his magic, he finds that he can hold him off. Garth does so for the Titans to get away and then get thrown through the ship til he is falling toward the earth. The group then gets to the Boom Room with Miss Martian who appears right at the end. In order to get away, they have to boom away as soon as possible. This is where the issue leaves us.

This is a ridiculous excuse for an issue of this comic. Once again, the book is completely derailed in order to tie-in to a storyline that hasn’t been set up at all in this book. We jump into a book that is basically one long fight scene that is broken up with moments that set up the big fight scene. We get a little character development for Donna Troy but the rest of the team is completely put to the side in exchange for this storyline. This book has great art in it so I don’t want to criticize it too heavily but it is frustrating to want a book with an ongoing storyline and to constantly get tie-in after tie-in. I like this team, I’m usually a fan of Abnett, and the art was great. Then, the book had to compensate for other events happening in the universe and now we are here. It’s a real shame.

Bits and Pieces:

Titans takes us on another tie-in issue that doesn’t move the story along for this book at all and only slightly gives Donna Troy more character moments. The rest of the team is completely shelved for this issue to the point that one of them is literally taken away with no explanation. This book is one long fight scene that isn’t even that eventful. Thank God that the art in this issue is great or this would be a monumentally low score which is saying something considering where it is now.

3.0/10