Entering the hypergenius state!
Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Abnett
Art: Paul Pelletier, Andrew Hennessy
Colors: Andrew Lucas
Letterer: Josh Reed
What They Say:
“TITANS APART” part two! Arsenal hits rock bottom when he is betrayed by his closest ally and left for dead, and to make matters worse, his oldest friends, the former Titans, don’t seem to trust him anymore. How far will Roy Harper go to discover the truth behind the conspiracy that no one else can see? And will the truth set him free…or will it destroy him?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The fractured nature of the Titans Apart arc is something that, while it can is being done fairly well, just isn’t going to really hit with me in a big way. The whole team comes together and falls apart thing from outside forces and manipulation is useful in a lot of ways but after reading comics as long as I have it just feels weak, even under some good movements from Dan Abnett. This issue and arc also works out well for the shift in artwork as Pelletier and Hennessy are good for this as it’s a lot more dialogue oriented than action and trying to frame it like past arcs have been done under the previous artists just wouldn’t work well at all here. Pelletier lays things out well and the flow of all the dialogue and all the background elements has a solidly rich design to it that makes it all feel lived in and accessible.
There’s a dual storyline approach applied to this issue that’s also standard and works well, though for me it’s where I kind of wince for part of it as Josh Reed has to work with some familiar and problematic (particularly on the digital front) reading with the lettering. We get a lot of pages focusing on Mallah and the Brain as their plan is underway to bring the Brain to hypergenius status with some subtle and underhanded methods. It’s not entirely clear how this is being pulled off just yet, or the details are lost on me, but I love the continued relationship that exists between these two – especially as Mallah feels more and more left behind as the Brain becomes more of a hypergenius and focused on what he can achieve at this point, reducing Mallah’s role all while trying to soothe her feelings.
The other half of the book focuses on what Roy’s up to after the forced high that he had which has shown him something of what’s going on. Unfortunately, his attempts at getting Donna onto the same page doesn’t go well as she just thinks he’s using again and the image that they have of him because of bad choices in the past are reinforced – to the point where she gets Dick and Wally to help since she can’t and they’re just full of assumptions. While Roy doesn’t make anything easy in his approach to this, they’re not handling it well either and it leads to a decent action sequence the reminds us how easily Roy can take down some folks with proper planning and just how much he knows Dick at this point. But what really resonates is the intense dialogue between those two when they fight as we get more of how each view themselves and the other in relation to their mentors and the deeply ingrained feelings that causes certain reactions and overreactions.
In Summary:
Titans has a solid enough issue here with what it’s doing as we get the second part of Titans Apart but it also has certain little things that just frustrate me. These aren’t dealbreakers but it slows the flow and keeps me from feeling fully invested, from some problematic lettering to all too familiar tropes playing out once again. Abnett works in some solid character material between Dick and Roy and I really liked how Pelletier handles much of the layouts in this, especially as the action shifts to Roy’s place and we get a good feeling for how he lives and how a tight space fight plays out.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 14th, 2018
MSRP: $2.99