Teen Titans #37 Review

The Man Behind The Mask

Written By: Adam Glass, Bernard Chang

Art By: Bernard Chang, Scott Hanna, Marcelo Maiolo, Rob Leigh

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: December 18, 2019

In the last issue of the Teen Titans we saw our heroes beaten to a pulp by their mind controlled ally, Crush, who's Papa Lobo is calling the shots thanks to an offer from Lex Luthor.  With this new power, Lobo has taken up a new bounty contract with The Other, where he's supposed to deliver the team to their biggest bad of this series, who's been hiding in the shadows this whole time.  Let's jump into this issue and see if the identity of The Other has been worth the wait.  Let's check it out.

With this issue we see our heroes defeated, humiliated, but not dehydrated, as we see that Kid Flash, Crush and Red Arrow have been chained up in a dungeon filling with water, while Damian is confronted by The Other himself.  As for the identity of the villain, I'm not going to spoil who it is, but for all the wait and wonder about who this character could be, this reveal doesn't really do much for me and the way that it's described that this villain came to be just doesn't work for me either.  Everything seems way too convenient and just doesn't work all that well in my mind by the end of the issue.

Yeah, maybe long time Damian Wayne fans will be happy with this reveal and like the explanation given, but it just seems a bit sloppy to me, while the real story seems to be playing out in the background when it comes to Roundhouse breaking out of the Mercy Hall dungeon and going and talking to his mother about what it means to be a hero and whether or not she loves him as much as his dead sister.  While I would love to say that this part of the story hit me hard with emotions, I actually expected a bit more out of it, but still thought it was fine for what it was and got our boy Roundhouse back on the idea that he should be a Teen Titan, which gets our story moving for the next issue. 

All in all, the art is really strong this issue and the colors really pop when it comes to Robin confronting The Other, not to mention that the flashbacks are played out really well with a washed out look.  Yeah, I can't say that I think the story behind this reveal or what we saw in these flashbacks works completely, but I'm sure there's someone out there that will be hyped for who The Other really is, it's just that the background team building was something that felt like it worked better to me and felt more important.  Hopefully, even with The Other being the big bad in the background this whole time, we can move past him pretty quick and get back to having our team actually acting like a team again and with that seemingly starting here, I can't wait.

Bits and Pieces:

We have a supposed big reveal here with the identity of The Other finally being shown, but with the way that it plays out and the actual identity, I was left wanting more and cared way more about what was happening in the background with our different Teen Titan members.  The art was great and the colors were poppin', but this issue just wasn't worth the wait for the reveal.

6.5/10