TEEN TITANS #38

[ DIE OR BUY ]  

There once was a boy called Wayne, who had a pain in his pulmonary vein. So what did he do? He didn’t have a clue! Until he cured his pain with cocaine! Want to know more? Then please ignore the following adventure created by Adam Glass, Bernard Chang, Scott Hanna, and published by DC Comics in February, 2020.

TO QUOTE John C. Maxwell: ‘When your dream is bigger than you are, you only have two choices: give up or win big at casinoza online casino’.

THE STORY:

At the end of last month’s episode, we saw The Other capture Damian Wayne so he could ask him one simple question. ‘Will you take my place?’, he said, ‘Come on, take my place and rule the underworld as you've always wanted to. Otherwise, you and your friends will die here and rot for all eternity’. 

So, what should he do? What should Damian do to get everyone out of this mess? I mean, should he accept this offer? Because if he does, The Other will release Djinn from her magical confinement. Or should he tell him to go f#ck himself? Which is what the rest of the team implies when they suddenly show up, ready for a fight, Ka-Pow! Well, if you want to know the answer, then please feel free to pick up issue 38 of the Teen Titans today. In the meantime, though, here, check this out…

THE REVIEW:

Before we begin, please allow me to make one thing perfectly clear. Major spoilers lie ahead because there’s no way I can review this issue in another capacity. So, with that said, let’s get down to business with the following Q&A…

1) So what was this story all about? Well, in no uncertain terms, it’s about the team coming together and beating the bad guy. Or in other words, it was a good, solid, story, which progressed in three simple stages. Stage One, for instance, re-established the pretext (escape from The Other) and informed us about the status of each character (prison, ring, etc). Whereas Stage Two, on the other hand, mainly dealt with Damian and Djinn discussing their diabolical dilemmas (Do or die). And as for Stage Three? Well, in this case, resolutions were made (oh!), battles were fought (slap!), and a conclusion was finally put to bed in a fairly obvious fashion (thud!). Keeping in mind that when Roundhouse turned up at the end of last month’s episode, it wasn't much of a surprise that he would join his team-mates and save the day this month. Come to think of it, I wasn’t too surprised by Damian’s choice either. Which reminds me...

2) Did Damian do the right thing? Yes, I like to think he did, otherwise, he would have ended up being the bad guy, and none of us truly wants to see that. But then again, it would make a certain amount of sense for him to accept The Other’s offer. Not only because of his direct connection with Ra’s al Ghul and The League of Assassins, but in addition to this, he’s also a somewhat surly sod who’s known for his extreme behavior (Such as his prison idea, for instance, as well as his plan to wipe the minds of the criminals he captures). Either way, it was nice to see that Damian is starting to evolve as a character and grow as a human being, so to speak, as it goes to show that people can be redeemed, but only if they put their minds to it. Here’s hoping the trend continues from this moment onwards. 

3) Did we find out anything new about Djinn or the rest of the team?  No. Not really. Apart from the fact that Djinn and Roundhouse want to be redeemed (like Damian), Crush has a forgiving side (the left), and Kid Flash and Red Arrow will one-day shag (allegedly). So, more or less, the Teen Titans appear to be in fairly good shape. Mentally, at least. But even so, I’d still like to know more about The Book of the Damned and what’s going on between Djinn, Damian, and Crush. I mean, who will Djinn choose to be with? Bat-boy? Lobo-lass? Or none of the above? Well, whatever the case may be, I’m sure these dilemmas will be resolved sooner or later, because Adam Glass is leaving this book at the end of the next-episode so he can concentrate on his Netflix shows: ‘The Chi’, ‘Criminal Minds’, ‘Cold Case’, and ‘Supernatural’. So, with a little luck, touch wood, I’m sure he’d partly resolve these situations before he jumps ship.

4) Has the artwork improved this month? Yes, I thought it was better, but only because there seems to be a bit more synergy between Bernard’s pencils and Scott’s inks. Aesthetically, the two of them have tightened their tone and made things look cleaner upon the page, which visually appears a lot sharper, livelier, and more dynamic to follow. Well, just take a look at their sinister rendition of The Other’s face-mask (see picture provided), as it's Druid motif is bolder and more imposing than it was before (and obviously suits this brand of malevolent overlord). I was also impressed by the way they occasionally gave each character a Clint Eastwood styled squint as it expressed emotion in a very direct fashion. Having said that, though, I wasn’t a big fan of Bernard’s close up work because his panels sometimes appeared cluttered,  messy even, and not up to his usual high standard of larger, bolder, and grander illustrations.

All that aside, though, and I would just like to say that overall this episode was a fairly decent read because it was exciting in places, emotional in others, and satisfying to a fault.

THE MUSIC:

For this month’s musical match-up, I’d like to align this adventure with the song by Black Sheep, ‘The Choice is Yours’, because...

THE COMPARISON:

... to some extent, this issue is about making choices, the correct choices, which to me, personally, implies a vocation that now no longer exists. A careers guidance counselor. 

Comparison made.

THE CONCLUSION:

At the end of this issue, we're reintroduced to the Teen Titans' next opponent. So, out of the following eight options, let’s see if you can guess who this person is? I mean, could it be…

• Lobo: Crush’s Father.
• Shado: Red Arrow’s Mother.
• Elias: Djinn’s Brother.
• Iris: Wally’s Aunt.
• Ra’s al Ghul: Damian’s Grandfather.
• Albert: Roundhouse’s postman who loves to place his bets at bestusacasinosites.com. So go on, click on the link and see if you can hit it big.

Nuff said.