Written by: Mark WaidArt by: Emanuela Luppachino
Colors by: Jordie Bellaire
Letters by: Steve Wands
Cover art by: Chris Samnee, Matheus Lopes
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: July 11th, 2023
World's Finest: Teen Titans #1 visits the early days of the Teen Titans when the team struggled to act as a well-oiled machine under their new leader - Robin.
Is It Good?
Before I say anything else, yes, World's Finest: Teen Titans #1 has unofficially claimed the top spot as the best Titans book available... by a very wide margin. Do you want a Titans comic that hearkens back to the glory days of the team under Perez and Wolfman? This issue is as close as it gets.
Borrowing from Mark Waid's motif of setting World's Finest stories in a slightly separate continuity, World's Finest: Teen Titans #1 finds the newly-formed team of sidekicks working together to handle emergencies or threats the Justice League isn't available to handle. However, it's not all hot pockets and fizzy pop when Batman's training on leadership starts creating friction with Speedy's self-taught ideas about leadership. Drama ensues.
Drama is half the fun. Nobody likes a team where everybody is friends without even the slightest hint of disagreement getting in the way of constant validation. Mark Waid doesn't create ridiculous levels of animosity, but there's enough age-appropriate head-butting and differences in priorities to make even simple missions significantly complicated.
In keeping with the timeline ambiguity, the team looks like the old-school TT from the Perez/Wolfman era, but modern touches abound. Bee uses social media to establish a network of eyes and ears to call for help. The costumes, particularly Robin's, have modern updates. And Speedy is the teammate most eager to engage in live streams and selfies to up the team's branding. It's a classic team with modern flourishes to create classic-yet-relatable problems.
Is this version of The Titans all about high school drama? No, a big bad makes his shadowy presence known on the last page, so a challenge is looming on the horizon, but this issue is firmly focused on establishing each team member, their voice, their motivations, and the baggage they bring to the team through their respective mentors. As a setup issue, World's Finest: Teen Titans #1 is as good as it gets.
How's the art? This is the second Mark Waid-penned issue this week that doesn't use Dan Mora's art, and it's hard to ignore Mora's absence. Emanuela Luppachino's art is bright and cheerful but doesn't have Mora's eye for detail and visually impactful panel angles. In fairness, this issue has very good art, so enjoy it for what it is.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Borrowing from Mark Waid's motif of setting World's Finest stories in a slightly separate continuity, World's Finest: Teen Titans #1 finds the newly-formed team of sidekicks working together to handle emergencies or threats the Justice League isn't available to handle. However, it's not all hot pockets and fizzy pop when Batman's training on leadership starts creating friction with Speedy's self-taught ideas about leadership. Drama ensues.
Drama is half the fun. Nobody likes a team where everybody is friends without even the slightest hint of disagreement getting in the way of constant validation. Mark Waid doesn't create ridiculous levels of animosity, but there's enough age-appropriate head-butting and differences in priorities to make even simple missions significantly complicated.
In keeping with the timeline ambiguity, the team looks like the old-school TT from the Perez/Wolfman era, but modern touches abound. Bee uses social media to establish a network of eyes and ears to call for help. The costumes, particularly Robin's, have modern updates. And Speedy is the teammate most eager to engage in live streams and selfies to up the team's branding. It's a classic team with modern flourishes to create classic-yet-relatable problems.
Is this version of The Titans all about high school drama? No, a big bad makes his shadowy presence known on the last page, so a challenge is looming on the horizon, but this issue is firmly focused on establishing each team member, their voice, their motivations, and the baggage they bring to the team through their respective mentors. As a setup issue, World's Finest: Teen Titans #1 is as good as it gets.
How's the art? This is the second Mark Waid-penned issue this week that doesn't use Dan Mora's art, and it's hard to ignore Mora's absence. Emanuela Luppachino's art is bright and cheerful but doesn't have Mora's eye for detail and visually impactful panel angles. In fairness, this issue has very good art, so enjoy it for what it is.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Bits and Pieces:
World's Finest: Teen Titans #1 sets the high bar for the best Titans book on the shelf. Waid creates a team that likes each other and can get the job done but still, butts heads as headstrong sidekicks just coming together should. If you're hungry for a return to Perez/Wolfman-era Titans, this issue gets very close.
8.5/10
Wait this and World's Finest are supposed to be outside continuity? But the first storyline in World's Finest continued into Batman vs. Robin which is in continuity so how does that work? Either way, I liked this issue but it seems DC is negating the Titans history I love. First Cyborg now the original team. So now Bumblebee was a Titan before Lilith and Mal? Even though she didn't join til the second incarnation in the late 70s.
ReplyDeleteit's a side continuity with Waid grabbing some things and not others and putting stuff together - different from the teen titans books that are coming out that show the origins of the team that leads to the Taylor Titans book
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