Wally truly must be the patient zero.
Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Abnett
Art: Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund
Colors: Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
What They Say:
“The Return of Wally West” part 3. The Titans receive word that Karen Beecher-Duncan-a.k.a. Bumblebee-has been kidnapped! Is there a connection between a shadowy new foe and the intergalactic demon that stole their memories?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With Titans getting a bit further underway now that we’re in the third (or fourth, depending) issue of the series, the balance is starting to feel a bit better. The book does really just feel very “90’s” in a way and while I’m enjoying that I’m also hoping for some forward progress and reveals to hit sooner rather than later. I don’t mind things taking the time as long as it feels like a good investment of my time. So far, Abnett is throwing a lot at us in a quick fashion but without a whole lot of meat just yet. The thrill continues to be the way Booth and Rapmund put together this book visually as it just crackles with energy as it should. The result is that even simple dialogue pieces between two people, such as Wally and Linda toward the end here, has a lot of energy about it.
The use of Kadabra definitely worked for me the last time around as you can see him as the kind of villain that’s so full of himself that he can be easily used by others for their own greater agenda. His creation of the clone type younger versions of the Titans made for some good action the last time around but that’s less of a thing here as it’s shifting focus toward Kadabra himself. He’s certainly throwing down a lot on Wally here after taking out Garth with the blast that he gets and it’s fun to see how Wally is trying to piece all of this together since Kadabra knows who he is and reveals that he was the one that plucked him from the timestream. There are likely things further seeded into the dialogue that don’t make too much sense at the moment but it’s moving well and even though it doesn’t give us too much meat. The teases are just right for the moment in context of what the Titans and Wally learn versus what Kadabra reveals.
The fun that we do get comes from the quieter moments in this installment. Kadabra’s time with the clones has him pulling out what they learned from the fight and we get him adding some context about how involved he’s been in the larger scale of things. You pretty much wait for the clones to get wiped out of existence but Kadabra’s need to be adored, especially by variants of those that are his enemies, and it’s the right kind of fun. Similarly, seeing Wally and the others spending time getting some food and working through their discoveries good even if they don’t have a ton of information to go on. It leads to a decent sequence for Wally as he tries to smooth things out with Linda, a hellishly difficult thing to do in general when you consider how their lives have gone, so the awkwardness is well handled even if I want to get back to what I knew from years ago.
In Summary:
Titans is still holding back on some of the key reveals that will cement whether this is worth following or not but it’s doing it in a way that keeps it fun and engaging. Abnett’s got the characters fairly well and I like that we get a good bit of downtime that helps to showcase that more. While I don’t expect it for a bit considering what the characters are dealing with, I really want an issue where they all just hang out and catch up with everything. There are some good smaller moments here, such as Roy and Donna and some curiosity with the two pages we get from Bumblebee, but the big scene stealer continues to be Brett Booth’s artwork. Great stuff all around with him and the team in making this feel so much more energetic than a lot of other books on the market.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: September 28th, 2016
MSRP: $2.99
