Wednesday, September 5, 2012

A Very Average Beginning, Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game Puts Geoff Johns In The Driver’s Seat.


The Good: Adequately sets up the characters, Good voice, Generally decent artwork
The Bad: Little development in this volume, Very limited plot, Character conflicts are too quickly resolved.
The Basics: Geoff Johns being attached to the Teen Titans was the impetus for me giving Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game a fair shake and I found it to be on the underwhelming side of average.



The last superhero team I began whose works I began reading without any conception of who they were or what they stood for was Barbara Gordon’s Birds of Prey. The all-woman team appealed to me, but it was largely the fact that Gail Simone – who had written many of the Wonder Woman graphic novels I enjoyed - had written the series that I gave Birds Of Prey a chance. Having exhausted all of that series I could find through my local library system with Blood And Circuits (reviewed here!), I had been casually looking for other graphic novels to read while I waited for my library to get me in more Flash books.

I picked up Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game largely because Geoff Johns was the author, not because I had any particular interest or knowledge of the characters, though Bart Allen had been prominently featured in many of the Flash books I have read as part of my Flash Year. Bart Allen, like Cassie Sandsmark (who was much, much younger in the Wonder Woman books I read that had her in them!), is present in Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game and Bart actually has more of a character arc than the other characters in the book.

So, it was Geoff Johns’ name that got me to pick up and read Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game and coming in with no expectations and no history, Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game is okay. Johns is starting at the beginning with Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game . . . only it’s not a beginning, it’s a new beginning. As a result, the character mix is new and the concept is that this is the first time this particular incarnation of the Teen Titans has been brought together, but there is a history to the Teen Titans and villains motivated by that past that makes Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game a little less accessible than I would have liked (I like true beginnings).

That said, Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game is not bad and it is an interesting beginning at the very worst.

Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game opens with the essential crew being introduced. Superman, disappointed at how Connor is slacking off at school, encourages Superboy to join the Teen Titans as a weekend activity, while Batman encourages Robin to join the Teen Titans so he will have a positive social outlet and actually make friends. Wally West and Jay Garrick see Bart joining the Teen Titans as a way to give the boy who has been Impulse a sense of focus and give the Garrick’s the weekends off. When Wonder Woman refuses to deliver the invitation to the Teen Titans to Cassie Sandsmark (Wonder Girl), Starfire makes a personal appeal to the girl. Exploring the Titans Tower in San Francisco, Cassie continually feels the ghosts of Donna Troy and is resistant to joining. But as the young people debate who might stay and who will go, Deathstroke the Terminator shows up to leave a message (by shooting out Bart Allen’s kneecap) that the Titans should not reform.

The hunt for Slade Wilson and the attempt to stop him quickly takes a turn for the weird when it appears that Deathstroke is actually possessed by his dead son, a former Teen Titan who Wilson killed. While Robin and Connor work to discover who Connor’s human DNA belongs to and Cassie tries to move out from under the legacy of Donna Troy, Bart reforms himself as Kid Flash and reads an entire library. Guided by Cyborg and Gar, the new Teen Titans confront Deathstroke, aiming to put an end to his conflict with them and let Jerico rest!

Following the tussle with Deathstroke, the heroes converge upon the Titan Tower because Wonder Woman is annoyed at Starfire for bringing the offer to Cassie. Wonder Woman’s annoyance only grows when she learns that Wonder Girl’s lasso comes from Ares, her immortal enemy. When the Justice League intervenes, they establish boundaries between the two hero teams.

Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game closes with the story of Clark Kent giving Connor his Kryptonian dog, Krypto.

Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game is very much an establishing story, so while it establishes the heroes, it does very little to develop them. Of course, because it is a beginning, Geoff Johns has to lay the framework for the stories that will follow and he does that with both the Robin/Superboy and Wonder Girl/Ares subplots. Within Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game, Bart Allen has a pretty solid arc as he makes the transformation from Impulse to Kid Flash, in the process maturing more than he did as Impulse. Geoff Johns does create an intriguing mystery with the revelation of Connor’s genetic origins and with Ares expressing an interest in Cassie Sandsmark.

More than any of the other reboots or early ventures from DC Comics that I have read, Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game featured decent artwork. Most of the reboots I have read so far seem to have a break-in period where DC is not investing their top artistic talent, but Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game had solid artwork and a decent sense of coloring to it.

Even as a beginning, Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game lacked a hook or punch to make me truly care about what came next. Johns does a decent set-up, but it is a set-up that feels like what it is. As a result, despite the quality of the artwork, Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game is thougher to recommend on its own and is much more average than it is extraordinary.

For other works by Geoff Johns, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Blackest Night
Justice League, Volume 1: Origins
War Of The Green Lanterns
The Flash: Wonderland

4.5/10

For other graphic novel reviews, be sure to check out my Graphic Novel Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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