Teen Titans 1

 
 
Teen Titans 1
Blinded by the Light
DC Comics

2015
 

 

I have a friend who I read Teen Titans comics with, and she recently bought a new batch and reactivated her public library card, so expect to see more posts like this in the near future.

 

Blinded by the Light is the first volume of a Teen Titans run from an unnamed period in between DC's New 52 and Rebirth initiatives. The Titans this time around are Tim Drake Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, Cassanda Sandsmark Wonder Girl, and someone named Bunker who I haven't see before. They're also joined by a new Power Girl about halfway through.

 
In this storyline, Manchester Black works for STAR Labs' internal security. He secretly sets up a fake terrorist attack on the Labs that the Titans thwart, which lets him offer them a team-up between the Titans and the Lab. 

 
While they're considering the offer, some bored rich kids get ahold of science drugs that basically turn them into an evil Fantastic Four. Somehow this convinces them to accept Manchester Black's offer.

 
MB reveals that he wanted the team-up because he thinks someone is going to try to steal STAR Labs' cache of doomsday devices. This immediately happens, and the bad guys use a device to stop time while they do some set-up, MB explains what this means, then they stop time again, and for some reason Raven isn't affected this second time, so she defeats them.

 
The pacing is pretty weird, since there are 6 issues of build-up and then the whole giant heist and all the extended exposition needed to make sense of it happend in one issue. I also can't tell if Manchester Black tricked the Titans to stop a real heist, or if he set this up too, and it's all part of his plan. That seems more likely, but I guess we'll see.

 
This volume also introduces the Titans grappling with their fame. Wonder Girl has inspired a mob of teen girl vigilantes, and Raven has a goth singer immitating her style and trying to incorporate her spells into her music. Neither of those plots are resolved. Also the Teens are semi-obsessed with their coverage on Twitter. I'm not sure if this is going to be a realistic look at contemporary fame, or if they'll 'learn a lesson' about the dangers of social media eventually.