Okay, so for my first 'alternative' comic, I decided something still pretty much mainstream, so I don't throw you right into the deep end. I just picked some lesser known characters to spotlight first. Admittedly I don't follow or read Teen Titan books, so maybe for a Titans fan this is as mainstream as it gets. And if so, I apologise. Anyway, without further adieu let's dig into the first two issues of this six part mini series.
The first issue of Terror Titans opens in Los Angeles with a group of Titans meeting up. These are seemingly some form of secondary team. Apparently something called 'The Dark Side Club' has been abducting teen metahumans and putting them into some sort of gladiator arena where they fight one another.
Suddenly they are attacked by the Terror Titans, our headlining heroes...or well villains. The Terror Titans are made up of, Deadbolt (whoever he is), Persuader (whoever she is), Disruptor (whoever she is) and Copperhead (I actually know someone!). We get a long and bland fight sequence coupled with bad dialogue and in the end the Terror Titans win, killing one of the Titans along the way.
We are then taken to the Dark Side Club where Spar-Spangled Kid, one of the Titans beaten in the previous scene is being what I guess is meant to be...brainwashing...and is then sent into an battle with Fever in the arena. Once again, the action sequence is fine, I just find the artwork kinda bland and uninspired. For all of Liefeld's problems, at least he had an actual style.
We are then introduced to our main villain, The Clock King. And I guess our second major villain, Ravager. Who I'm guessing is Deathstroke's daughter (another character I don't follow) and apparently is or once upon a time a Titan herself.
Star-Spangled Kid gets beaten by Fever but his life is spared by the eccentric 'Chairman Vundabarr', who is I guess there to complete the whole gladiator feel. After the battle finishes Clock King and Ravager discuss the tackiness of the Dark Side Club.
Elsewhere we see the Terror Titans arguing amongst themselves because their leader is angry that 'Persuader' a member of the team killed one of the Titan's in the earlier scene. Why? Hell if I know, I thought they were super villains. This also gives us some backstory on our heroes...well villains. Ravager then appears and takes down one of the Terror Titans with ease, she's really mardy...for some reason.
The next scene shows us the Dark Side Club is flagging due to the lack of headline heroes, all ready? Did I miss something? Is this already established in the Titansverse?
Anyway, Clock King then lecturers the leader of the Terror Titans about the fact his team don't fear him enough and if he really wants to lead the team, he has to kill his supervillain Dad. We then get another bland action sequence as Ravager pummels Fever and the Director orders Ravager to kill Fever. She refuses but someone shoots Fever anyway.
The first issue of any comic is in many ways the most important of all issues. It's the one that is supposed to capture the readers and draw them into picking up the rest. And I will be reading all the six since I've already started this review but honestly this was just...a boring comic. I think if I was just reading this casually, I wouldn't bother picking up the other six. The art isn't bad, but it's bland. The dialogue isn't bad, it's just kinda bland. That's the problem, it just functions. Hell something as awesome as the concept of a Metahuman Gladiator Arena should be almost impossible to screw up. And they don't screw it up as such, they just make it boring.
The second issue opens weirdly, Dreadbolt, our protagonist gets a flashback to his childhood. It literally has a title at the top saying 'A brief history of the life of Terry Bolatinsky' - we get 8 identically sized panels running down the page. He grows older in each one and there is no dialogue. So from the images I see err... he really likes special effects on scifi movies and grows up to make special effects for scifi movie's until the Clock King walks into his life? I don't know...
Anyway after that weird scene finishes we can get on with the rest of the comic. Dreadbolt is guarding some meeting as other guards parade heroes past him, along with the dead Fever from the last issue. Which leads into some long scene which I honestly didn't really understand. Ravager got Fever killed which sent the schedule off script, making the Dark Side Club lose a lot of money. Clock King says they never make much any way and then some other character says none of this matters because the real agenda of the Dark Side Club is just to get teen heroes killed. Paving the way to some Godhood, or something. After they argue about this, the Clock King gets bored and kills the men with shuriken ball things. This is actually a really cool scene, made even cooler by all the characters 'HOLY SHIT!' facial expressions.
From there, we go to more action, as the Terror Titans train and get their asses handed to them by Ravager again. They also discuss about how the Clock King was screwing them and how Ravager is gonna get vengeance for someone or something, I don't know....
After that the tournament does truly begin, even if it says it begins on the cover of the issue and yet we're 8 pages in and NOW it starts, but never mind. And to be fair, this fight is actually pretty good. The main problems with the other fights is they were messy, there'd be no less than like 6 people fighting per two page spread and normally no less than three per panel. Now the artist has time to concentrate on a one on one match, the artwork really shines. Tnteena using her explosive powers manages to pummel Ravager, however thanks to plotpower Ravager cuts off Tnteena's fingers and wins the fight. Apparently Disruptor users her powers to get Tnteena to kill Ravager and this makes Clock King really mad, or something.
After that fight we then get three fights on the same page with some of the Titans, amongst others including a guy called 'The Face' who is just a big face with muscular arms and legs (awesome!), from the last issue.
We blend this then into the fact that our Terror Titans are bonding over some Snes Mortal Kombat rip off. And I must say, the ladies are looking pretty hot here, I'm really warming to this artwork. Anyway Disruptor and Ravager has some pissing contest and then Clock King drops in to plotdevice it up. Clock King sends Dreadbolt and Persuader on another hunt for a teen metahuman and takes Copperhead to some kind of workshop.
Copperhead gets all emo because he's the only member of the team who isn't a Legacy hero. A legacy hero is a hero who has taken up the mantle of another superhero who is now either dead or just not active for some reason. Like for example, Robin has had what, four incarnations now, five? There is the original Robin and all others are legacy heroes. Anyway Clock King needs Copperhead's help to make chaos, whatever that means.
We then get back to the tournament with more fights over in quick succession. I don't know who most of these characters are, the fights are given two panels each, so I fail to really care. Or rather, it fails to make me care.
We then go to the mission Dreadbolt and Persudaer were sent on as they discuss exposition and back story. Why they didn't just put that in boxes and left them moving silently, I don't know. But it just makes the dialogue feel weird. Dreadbolt does admit that if he truly wants to take up the mantle of 'Bolt', the supervillain that is his father, the original Bolt, will have to be non active. Hence him not taking the name of his father and calling himself something else. And so if he truly wanted the mantle, he'd have to kill his father. This then leads in, in the same way you open a door with a freight train to Dreadbolt's father to show up and end the issue on a cliffhanger.
So I must say, the comic is improving. But they tried so hard to fit in as much content as they could this time round, whereas it was kinda lacking in the first issue it actually kinda degrades the quality. Although I much more enjoyed the artwork this time around.
Anyway, tune in...I guess tomorrow for when the comic really starts to slip into suckhood.
Think About It!
-Locke.
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