Superboy has been taunted by the secrets of his DNA-—that he’s a clone created from Superman and Lex Luthor. But who cloned him, and why? Meanwhile, the Titans and the Outsiders are rocked to the core as they face two of the most powerful villains in the DCU in an all-out war to destroy the young teams! Alliances will change and bonds will be broken as the teams face their greatest challenge to date. Collects Teen Titans #20-26, #29-31 and Outsiders #24-25.
Geoff Johns originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in Media Arts and Film. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s in search of work within the film industry. Through perseverance, Geoff ended up as the assistant to Richard Donner, working on Conspiracy Theory and Lethal Weapon 4. During that time, he also began his comics career writing Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and JSA (co-written with David S. Goyer) for DC Comics. He worked with Richard Donner for four years, leaving the company to pursue writing full-time.
His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.
Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.
The character work is still pretty good, but the plots in this volume are so-so. First, Doctor Light attacks the Titans (tying in to Identity Crisis). Then Superboy’s origins come crashing into the present as his purpose is revealed. This one actually has some good moments, calling back to earlier seeds Johns planted and foreshadowing Infinite Crisis. Speaking of which, the latter part of this volume ties in to that event as lots of things that happen in other titles (return of Donna Troy, Red Hood, change in Titans roster, Kid Eternity) appear here. Accordingly, this volume doesn’t read best in isolation and requires you to at least know about this other stuff. It is what it is, but as a single volume, this doesn’t completely work.
Então, chegamos ao terceiro e, possivelmente, último volume dos Titãs do Johns e a coisa não melhorou. A edição começa com uma mini em 6 edições sobre o Logan deixando de ser Titã e tentando voltar a ser ator em Hollywood. Sim, é tão ruim quanto parece e deve se passar antes do início desse volume dos Titãs, mas tem a Flamebird - Labareda por aqui - que sempre pareceu um conceito interessante e totalmente desperdiçado pela DC. No mais temos muito sobre a precoce carequice do Superboy e a influência maligna das famílias Luthor e Brainiac nos Titãs e nos Renegados e a cada edição, cada um dos Titãs que ficam malvados no futuro decide se afastar da equipe porque foda-se o aviso do futuro para permanecer juntos. Além disso há outros dois fatores que complicam a situação: os eventos se passam entre as mini séries que levam à Crise Infinita, inlcuisve a Crise de Identidade, o que deixa tudo meio confuso; e os personagens com maior destaque - Robin, Superboy, Guria Maravilha - passam por desenvolvimentos em outros títulos que são simplesmente jogados por aqui, deixando tudo ainda mais confuso. Eu achei bem ruim. Especialmente a edição em que o Capuz Vermelho usa botas de Robin debaixo das botas de Capuz Vermelho e surra o coitado do Tim porque o Johns precisa reviver todos os personagens dos anos 80 e destruir os que substituíram os "clássicos" fazendo com que o senso de história e legado do Universo DC fosse irremediavelmente apagado.
God the hype for Infinite Crisis back in 2005 was all too real. This volume is really interesting, the first few issues collected are mired in post-Identity Crisis continuity with Tim Drake (ugh) but there was never an editorial panel to check it out? I guess it did happen to be one of the biggest comics of its year that you could reasonably assume everyone reading monthlies from DC had read it or been familiar with it. The Insiders was a great arc and I'm gonna check out The Outsiders next. I liked the 3 issues it ended on that built up hype for Infinite Crisis, Wonder Woman executing Maxwell Lord played a bunch all over the pages and all sorts of characters react to it, added some nice verisimilitude to the piece, seeing people react to news in real time, that's broadcast on every channel. I'm guess the stuff with Kid Devil is setting up him to appear in later titans issues which geoff did not write so are not collected, the backups with Captain Carrot were great too, always a treat for him to appear.
Teen Titans continues to be fun and profound under Geoff Johns. This collections has a ton to enjoy. We get a ton of Superboy drama, a crossover with The Outsiders, a battle with a more dangerous Dr. Light, and more. I enjoyed the introduction of Speedy as well. Johns clearly loves these characters. The art was decent but unspectacular. Overall, a really good read if you're a DC fan.
I generally liked this volume for the most part, but it lost major points with for having multiple "___ Crisis" tie-ins from Identity to Infinity. I got nervous when the story started to vere towards the Events, and unfortunately they were too specific for plausible deniability in letting me pretend they don't exist.
Jason Todd is such a drama queen. What do you mean he breaks into Titans tower to fight Tim Drake and wears an adult Robin costume? Did Jason take sewing lessons just so he could be extra? That’s my head cannon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.