Titans #1 - DC

Finally! After all the hype and build-up! Finally . . this book has come out. I thought it was everything I expected it to be. I thought Judd Winick turned in a great story. This issue is actually a prelude. We see how someone is attacking, and killing, anyone who's ever been associated with the Teen Titans. Of course our first guess is Slade. But, we really don't know anything yet. But, I thought Judd did a fantastic job setting up this story. This story actually picks up right after the Titan's East Special. Remember when Vic's attempt at putting together a Titan's East team met with disaster? Well we still don't know who did that. Power Boy was the only member actually killed, but all of them, including Vic, were seriously maimed or injured. With everything that's been going on in their lives, Bruce is just now telling Dick about it. Also all the members of the New Teen Titans have also been attacked, but they've been resilient enough to evade capture or bodily harm. This is the group that I feel was the greatest. Wally, Dick, Donna, Kory, Garth, Roy and Raven have all been put back together again. Dick feels that there were some magical influences to these attacks. So their guess is . . . Trigon. Another fantastic part of this book was Ian Churchill's amazing pencils. I really like his take on all of these characters. The action sequences with Dick being attacked were amazing. The scenes where he depicted Kory sunbathing by Animal Man's pool were sexy as hell. And I really like the look that he gave Garth when he was attacked in the Doom Patrol castle. We even get a scene showing our current team being attacked by something that, I think, either looks like Terra's work, or the Anti-Monitor's. I thought the book was incredible . . and a fantastic set-up. My only negative about this whole thing? You just know that Ian's not going to be on this book for that long. It's negative, and sad . . I know, but the reality is, Ian's such a huge talent that I'm sure he's being made all kinds of offers all the time. How do you pin a guy like that down on 1 book, for any length of time? They already have Joe Benitez listed as the artist for the next 3 issues. Ian's still doing the covers though. I'm not going to say anything negative about Joe. He's a talented guy too. But . . I wish it could've been Ian. Anyways, putting that aside, I thought it was an incredible book. Even if you're not a Titans fan, you should pick this one up. It had everything you could ask for in a great book, and I think it's only going to get better. Titans Together!