Reaching a whole new level.
Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Abnett
Art: Paul Pelletier, Andrew Hennessy
Colors: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
What They Say:
“TITANS APART” part three! As Arsenal follows the trail of a conspiracy that no one else can see, he finds himself at the mercy of Cheshire, who’s both a deadly assassin and his ex! Only Donna Troy takes Roy at his word, but she’s trapped in the Watchtower…and must escape to save the man she loves!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Titans Apart storyline has had some interesting things going for it even though I’m not a fan of splitting up a team to explore things in general. What’s kind of dragging it down a bit for me is that it halfway feels like a Justice League book more than a Titan book, particularly with this issue. The control they’re exercising feels out of place to me though Dan Abnett is handling it fairly well for the most part. The way he’s got Batman talking down to Donna just rubs me completely the wrong way, however., On the plus side, once again Pelletier and Hennessy are putting together a great looking book that Lucas is bringing to life just right with his color work and it’s definitely a fun and busy read with what it tries to accomplish here.
The three threads that are playing out across this issue largely have their good points to it and it’s all wrapping together nicely, even if you can mostly see the end point of it, just not the actual nuance and details of it. Roy’s fight with Cheshire has him receiving quite the beating at this point, understandably so since he’s been forced onto the Bliss drug. What shakes that event up is having Donna escaping from the satellite while everyone there is distracted and bringing some help against Cheshire. It’s a pretty good fight there though Cheshire knows the buttons to push with Donna and it requires Roy to step in and finish her off, for the moment, as Donna is trying not to become the big bad that the future self was. It’s not a bad storyline but Donna’s really in a bad place for much of it as she’s neutralized and uncertain and it’s resulting in everyone else taking actions for her.
The League is fun to watch here as Abnett has most of them running around the world trying to deal with the fluctuations causing environmental problems of significant scale but unable to find a common thread. Batman’s just in that dumbfounded place as he has no clue at all and is struggling hard with it, which is why Donna’s able to get away after first trying to help. The problem is that the Brain has worked hard to ensure that everything that’s going on is designed to stymie the League and someone who’s not in the League would be ideal. It does continue to feel like the Brain will be his own undoing as he’s pushing the hypergenius state further than he should at this point as even Mallah is feeling like they’ll be left behind or just become a pet to him. It’s not exactly the sturdiest of stories in a way as there’s not much detail to it but I like the way the Brain basically networked a whole lot of people through the Bliss drug to help send him to a whole other level.
In Summary:
The Titans Apart storyline is moving along pretty well and fairly predictably but it’s hitting some decent moments along the way. My main frustration is that it halfway feels more like a League book and I dislike how Donna has been treated since the end of the previous arc. The Titans are kept to just Donna and Roy with this one so we don’t know what the rest are up to at the moment but bringing them into it would be too cluttered as the Brain and Mallah have their own side of the story and the League is taking up a good bit of space, though that’s mostly Batman focused with a smattering of the rest. It’s a solid and familiar story that’s not bringing any real surprises to the table and that has me hopeful that Abnett is going to pull something out at the end that changes things and gives it a bit more reason and purpose.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: April 11th, 2018
MSRP: $2.99
