Teen Titans #5 Review – Ooooh, Someone’s Getting Grounded…
And the arc of “Damian Knows Best” (spoiler: he doesn’t) has finally come to a close. As expected, the new Teen Titans (not to be confused with The New Teen Titans) rescued Damian from Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins and escaped. We all knew that was going to happen from the beginning, before his friends barged into his prison cell. That’s not the twist, if indeed there always has to be a plot twist.
It’s how they were able to escape that kept things interesting, and most importantly to me, kept it humorous. What’s the point of teenagers banding together (never mind that three of them aren’t teenagers) if you don’t have that fine balance of action, dark stories, and humor? At the very least, we have to have something that counteracts Damian’s screwed up sense of self and how the world should work.
The issue before, Damian’s cousin kind of hacked off the rest of her team when she unilaterally canceled everyone else’s graduation ceremony for her own revenge. They’re left guarding Damian while she is literally digging her own grave to cross into the League. They aren’t too excited about stopping the rescue, but they do it, begrudgingly, because they want to eventually become members of the League.
But they weren’t expecting Damian to fight with his mouth instead of his fists. He let each and every one of them know exactly how they were brought into the League, and it wasn’t because their parents gave them to Ra’s as babies in the name of the cause. Seriously, who would give Ra’s a baby? Ra’s stole them. Every single one of them taken for his own purposes. They didn’t take too kindly to the news. The two opposing teams called a brief truce to fight their way out of the League together.
As such, we were treated to the following gems:
It was heartbreaking to see their reactions when Ra’s confirmed they were indeed kidnapped, but not as heartbreaking as the look on Mara’s face when she realizes that Ra’s never wanted her to succeed. He always wanted Damian, he never cared about her, and he finds her as useless as he does her father. With family like this, who needs enemies?
You’ve suddenly realized your own Thanksgivings aren’t so bad, are they?
Oh but the fun isn’t over yet. Remember that Damian is only 13, and he’s been gone from his home for awhile. He may think that his own father doesn’t care about him, but he didn’t think about Alfred or even his pet giving him away. Batman does do the fatherly thing and show up at the end, chastising Damian for not asking for help and telling him it’s time to go home. The rest of the team quickly clears out, as though they’re afraid Batman will ground them all too.
Hardly. Batman helps them set up their own Titans Tower in San Francisco. Seems we officially have a Titans West and Titans East.
Our Rating: YUS
Author: Benjamin Percy
Artists: Khoi Pham, Wade von Grawbadger, and Jim Charalampidis
Publisher: DC Comics
Publish Date: 02/22/2017
Acquired via Purchase
