Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Abnett
Art: Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund
Colors: Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: Corey Breen
What They Say:
“THE LAZARUS CONTRACT” part one! When Deathstroke discovers that Wally West’s return holds the key to bringing his son back from the dead, he’ll stop at nothing to do just that! Don’t miss the debut chapter of the epic crossover event that you’ve been waiting for!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I knew it was only a matter of time before the crossover side hit with the Titans book and this issue kicks off the small run with the Lazarus Contract storyline. With it tying into other ongoing series with Teen Titans and Deathstroke as well as the Teen Titans Annual, this is my only actual involvement in it as I’m not exactly racing off to pick up the other books at this stage. Thankfully, the main team is working on this chapter to get it underway, picking up threads from the other books, and launching everything well. That’ll leave me to coming back to the next issue of this in a month or so and getting the wrap-up by then hopefully and moving forward with more adventures here. Crossovers are a necessity with a lot of shared world comics but I’ve long been burned out on them so this doesn’t do much for me.
The story here is one that’s certainly interesting even as it deals with some odd threads because of the way the post-Flashpoint world operates with its compressed timeline and other changes that are being explored through the Watchmen angle. Here, Deathstroke has gained a new donor eye that lets him see again and after his drug induced fever and hysteria in getting that fixed he’s now intent on correcting something from his past. When his son Grant died three years ago as the Ravager thanks to what HIVE did to him in order to take down the Teen Titans, he’s held a grudge to be sure but now has a plan in motion to save him from death. The arrival of this Wally West into the continuity has mucked with a few different things and Slade sees using him as a way to travel back in time, contrary to what Wally believes is right, and to save Grant. He even makes a sweet deal with him that he’d stop being Deathstroke if he can get Grant back.
Yeah, I don’t see that happening.
Anyway, there are some good scenes between the two as Slade has really set things up to get what he needs out of Wally and it’s fun to see how prepared he is with it. At the same time, Wally was grabbed in broad daylight amid a mission with the Titans and that has them uncertain of what happened and unable to find him. There are clues that Dick’s honing in on, and lying to Lil about, but mostly there’s just that sense of dread coming about him that the others aren’t quite picking up on yet, hence Garth being almost playful in thinking outside of the box in what happened to Wally. The book handles this subplot stuff well but part of it is that you just want to smack Dick so that he actually talks about the past, gets it out there so everyone is on the same page, and start thinking creatively about what might come and who might be involved. There are clues and obvious answers but it’s a holding pattern here for now.
In Summary:
Titans puts a pretty interesting storyline into play but it’s one that I have little investment in, even considering my own reading of the original Judas Contract material ages ago and the enjoyment I get from the characters involved here. I’m not following the other two books and just have no interest in picking them up for this. Abnett puts it all together well here as it introduces all the right things and provides the context needed to launch into the event proper. All while giving Booth and Rapmund plenty to work with as I continue to love the dynamic that Booth works into the layouts and general energy of it. Here’s to seeing what’s on the other side of this arc and how well Abnett makes it accessible for those of us not falling into the crossover trap.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 10th, 2017
MSRP: $2.99