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A review by czamorad
Titans Vol. 6: Into the Bleed by Dan Abnett
3.0
Ever since "No Justice", the Titans book lost its direction and, sooner than later, it marked its cancellation. Too bad, because we lost the original Titans again.
As much as I love Dan Abnett's writing, I think he did never get what the Titans were about. The ties that bound them together and the complexity in their relationship as friends and teammates. It wasn't about letting them hug every other minute, it was way beyond that, it was about a shared history, a common goal and ideals, about love and some bits of jealousy here and there, you know, as with real friends.
When the team got stranded in a another planet, they got this huge opportunity to explore who they were, but odd as it was, they all had this crazy guilt trip... Talk about missed opportunities.
Too bad the book closed when there was so much energy put into it when it was launched after Titans Hunt. And the timing couldn't be worse. I mean, the Titans TV series was powerful enough to deserve its comic book counterpart.
When the original cast of the Titans got dropped after "No Justice", they tried to copy the Wolfman/Pérez formula once again. They had Nightwing and Donna Troy, then the "second-generation" Titans with Beast Boy and Raven, and they added Steel (as Cyborg's counterpart) and Miss Martian (as Starfire's). Well, it just doesn't work that way. Some characters may look the part, but they aren't the same and can't be replaced that easily.
I guess the deadly wound came when Nightwing left the book and got replaced with Kyle Rayner (yeah, they look similar, too-- that just made me roll my eyes). This is not how things work.
Pretending an odd pack of characters with no history together care about each other this much never worked in a book that was based precisely on long-lasting friendship. They never had the chance to hang around a bit other than saving the world. They needed to have some pizza, swim in the pool, fool around a bit. You know, they needed to bond. A book about close friends doesn't work without close friends. It's that simple. And thus, this new direction basically killed the vibe and in time, the book as well.
It's a shame, because the last story at Unearth was quite charming.
*Read as single issues.*
As much as I love Dan Abnett's writing, I think he did never get what the Titans were about. The ties that bound them together and the complexity in their relationship as friends and teammates. It wasn't about letting them hug every other minute, it was way beyond that, it was about a shared history, a common goal and ideals, about love and some bits of jealousy here and there, you know, as with real friends.
When the team got stranded in a another planet, they got this huge opportunity to explore who they were, but odd as it was, they all had this crazy guilt trip... Talk about missed opportunities.
Too bad the book closed when there was so much energy put into it when it was launched after Titans Hunt. And the timing couldn't be worse. I mean, the Titans TV series was powerful enough to deserve its comic book counterpart.
When the original cast of the Titans got dropped after "No Justice", they tried to copy the Wolfman/Pérez formula once again. They had Nightwing and Donna Troy, then the "second-generation" Titans with Beast Boy and Raven, and they added Steel (as Cyborg's counterpart) and Miss Martian (as Starfire's). Well, it just doesn't work that way. Some characters may look the part, but they aren't the same and can't be replaced that easily.
I guess the deadly wound came when Nightwing left the book and got replaced with Kyle Rayner (yeah, they look similar, too-- that just made me roll my eyes). This is not how things work.
Pretending an odd pack of characters with no history together care about each other this much never worked in a book that was based precisely on long-lasting friendship. They never had the chance to hang around a bit other than saving the world. They needed to have some pizza, swim in the pool, fool around a bit. You know, they needed to bond. A book about close friends doesn't work without close friends. It's that simple. And thus, this new direction basically killed the vibe and in time, the book as well.
It's a shame, because the last story at Unearth was quite charming.
*Read as single issues.*