So the first issue wasn’t bad, but still nothing great. Granted, my opinion may be a bit bias as I’m upset still volume 3 history is erased for the Titans and maybe even ALL Teen Titan history, depending if all of DC can get on the same page for this relaunch. Which, by the way, Lobdell apparently thinks there is previous Teen Titans history at least.
SPOILER WARNING!
Putting aside my annoyance that the last group of Teen Titans (volume 3) had their history completely erased… Well this issue is pretty darn good.
Spoiler Warning!
Looking into issue 50-54. Issue 50 is a collaboration between McKeever, Johns, Wolfman, and Dezago. This is also Johns’ last work on Teen Titans and after this issue, McKeever takes over by himself for a while.
I’ll be looking at the One Year Later stuff now with issues 34-49. And I’m going to say now that some of these issues have to be Johns’ worst in this series.
So another Retrospective dealing with issues 29-33, TT Annual 1, Robin 146-147, and Infinite Crisis 5 and 6.
Continuing on with another Retrospective with issues 20-26, and while last retrospective contained some of my favorite story arcs, this one has one of my favorite moments. Part of this ties in with Identity Crisis.
I’m continuing my Retrospective for the Teen Titans with the Teens Titans/Legion of Superheroes crossover and issues 16-19 (collected in trade as The Future is Now). Handling a lot with these issues, so I’ll try to keep it from being too long. I do want to state though that these issues are some of my favorites of this Teen Titans group and Johns is joined by writer Mark Waid for the Legion cross over.
Superboy #1 is rebooting Superboy from scratch. That and answers from Scott Lobdell in a Comic Vine Q/A session also points that despite the new Universe having a Teen Titans, that the last incarnation of the team is having their history completely erased. So with that in mind, I’d like to continue with my retrospective taking a look at issues TT 1/2, and 8-15 (also collected currently in trade form Family Lost and Beast Boys & Girls).
I’m a fan of the Teen Titans, especially the latest incarnation that went from 2003-2011 and as this relaunch makes it seem their entire history may be erased, I wanted to give them a farewell starting with issues 1-7 (also collected in trade form as “A Kid’s Game” or the soon to be released Teen Titans Omnibus 1). Like usual, beware of spoilers.
Well, I could pretty much copy my intro from last year’s FCBD coverage. I did pretty much the same thing. I didn’t go to the comic book store, instead spending my time with boxing, beer, and babes. I got my free comics early, so I can still review these things.
Wednesday Comics is here! While DC often struggles to stay relevant in the fact of a vastly more trendy Marvel Comics, it’s had a few successes in recent years. One such success was their year-long event, 52, a weekly with an absolute powerhouse of a writing team that managed to gain both critical and fan acclaim – no small feat for an event comic largely lacking Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman. After that, of course, DC felt the urge to repeat their success story with the watered down Countdown and then again with Busiek’s Trinity. Still, three years in and the weekly format, once a fresh revival, had begun to seem stale.
That all changed with the announcement of their next weekly, Wednesday Comics, a 12 week long project, packaged as a newspaper, in which superstar creative teams would be given continuity-free reins on a vasty supply of DC characters to tell their stories… one page each week. There were a lot of risks, obviously, but the announcement of the creative teams was where they had it: Gaiman, Busiek, Allred, Azzarello, Risso, Gibbons, Pope, Baker and many more, all getting involved in the project.
So, with all that expectations, how does the issue stack up?
Very well. Very well, indeed.
It’s tough to review due to the grab bag nature of the book – Caldwell’s Wonder Woman, for example, is gorgeous and surreal, while Kubert’s Sgt. Rock and Easy Co. on the very next page is about as bland as can be. I toyed briefly with the idea of reviewing each story, but the simple fact is this: these stories stand together or fall together, but the strength of an Azzarello/Risso Batman doesn’t necessarily offset the slow start of the Berganza/Galloway Teen Titans. You buy one, you get ’em all.
And, as a collection, it works. This, this is traditional super-hero comics done right. For those yearning for a set of simple, gorgeous stories, Wednesday Comics delivers. Not every story will be a hit, but #1 offers a number of strong starts and relatively few missteps. I eagerly await seeing where it will go.
As a note, however, the stand-outs of the issue for me were Batman, Kamandi, Supergirl, Metal Men, and The Demon/Catwoman, with Superman and Wonder Woman having okay starts but gorgeous art. The only pages I didn’t really appreciate at all were Teen Titans and Sgt. Rock and Easy Co., so the bulk of the issue was, for me, a hit.
Grade: B+
– Cal Cleary
read/RANT! 
