Topic: An EDE Retro Review: Silver Age Titans Archives and Showcase!
Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
Yeah. I have to agree. There are some nice stories, but you have to wade through a lot of mediocrity to get them.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
EDE RETRO REVIEW: Teen Titans #11
THE PLOT
So, it's still summer, and Speedy shows up in Titans lair, desperate for a summer job to help support his growing drug habit. Fortunately, the Titans have a mission that he can tag along on, as boy genius Willie Gregson, who has a summer job working for a famous scientist, has written the Titans asking for help! Even though Kid Flash thinks the kid must be a total nerd to spend his summer fooling around with test tubes, the Titans go investigate.
As it turns out, Willie is being blackmailed by crooks to steal the plans for "Project X" from Dr. Finley. So the Titans have to stop the blackmailers and fight their giant seamonster.
THE GAY TITAN ALERT! DEPT.
Is it just me, or does Aqualad find every excuse he can to either ride on the backs of or give a ride on his back to his fellow Titans? Oh well, Speedy seems to really enjoy it as well.
COOL VILLAIN GADGET DEPT. You gotta love the old telephone disguised as a fishing pole trick!
THE WEIRD FLIRTATION SCENE DEPT.
Kid Flash: "Wonder Chick, you're the most! Hey Speedy, have you got a "love arrow" in your quixotic quiver?
Speedy: "If I did, I'd use it to play Cupid for myself! She turns me on, too!"
SUMMARY
Actually quite a bit better than the previous couple of issues. I kind of like it when the Titans are taking on spies. And Speedy is actually a nice addition to the team.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
New reviews coming soon!
Er... actually, did I do all of volume 1? I may have to finish those reviews first!
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
TEEN TITANS #12
“Large Trouble in Space-ville!”
THE PLOT
The Titans are baffled when DJ Deejay, the first DJ in space, starts sending coded messages regarding crimes involving the stealing of famous Earth monuments over his worldwide broadcast. Investigating, they thwart a couple of attempts to steal said monuments and rescue Deejay from the aliens who are holding him prisoner and forcing him to do their bidding.
WONDER GIRL’S LESSONS IN HIP LINGO DEPT.
Wonder Girl discovers Deejay’s hidden messages by noticing that his rhythm is off:
Wonder Girl: “Hear that--?”
Kid Flash: “Sounds like the same crazy chatter he always spouts, W.G.!”
Wonder Girl: “Don’t be dense, twinkletoes! Something’s wrong with D.J.! His chatter isn’t right—it hasn’t got his usual rhythm!”
THE “HEY, ISN’T KID FLASH SUPPOSED TO BE FROM THE MIDWEST?” DEPT.
Okay, so I get the point that he’s supposed to be the jock of the group, but shouldn’t he freakin’ know where South Dakota is?
THE CONVOLUTED VILLAIN PLOT DEPT.
So, why exactly do the villains need to broadcast coded instructions to their Earth agents over Deejay’s broadcast? Surely they have some means of communication with them that isn’t being overheard by countless teenagers all over the globe?
THE “ISN’T THAT SPACE CAPSULE WAY TOO SMALL?” DEPT.
Well, isn’t it? It doesn’t seem to me one could really hold that many records in it. And poor Deejay, having to spend days in that cramped position. But the dude I really feel sorry for is the alien whose job it is basically to float in space outside the hatch of Deejay’s space capsule and point his gun at him for several days.
SUMMARY
This issue is at least quite a bit of fun, if nothing special at the end of the day.
[ November 29, 2007, 04:40 PM: Message edited by: Eryk Davis Ester ]
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Eryk Davis Ester: THE GAY TITAN ALERT! DEPT.
THE WEIRD FLIRTATION SCENE DEPT.
Kid Flash: "Wonder Chick, you're the most! Hey Speedy, have you got a "love arrow" in your quixotic quiver?
Speedy: "If I did, I'd use it to play Cupid for myself! She turns me on, too!"
Sounds like some overcompensating going on here.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
Jeepers! Two years since I've retro-reviewed a Titans story?
Well, good news, fanatics! Because I just read Teen Titans #13, in which the Titans battle evil recyclers!
Review coming soon!
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
TEEN TITANS #13
THE PLOT
One cold winter’s night the Titans are hanging around HQ reading comic books, except for Robin who just happens to be reading Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. Well, by complete coincidence wheelchair bound Tiny Tom, whose father, Bob Ratchet, works in the junkyard owned by Ebeneezer Scrounge, contacts them asking for help. It seems that Bob Ratchet has discovered that Scrounge has secretly been selling junk imported from overseas to a gang led by Mr. Big. Mr. Big then uses some sort of ray to turn the junk into expensive new stuff that can be sold in America, thus avoiding tariffs! Bob Ratchett is afraid to go to the police, since if he loses his job he won’t be able to afford the expensive new electric wheelchair that Tiny Tom need. Anyway, this leads the Titans to concoct a scheme of recreating Dickens A Christmas Carol in order to get Scrounge to turn against Mr. Big.
THE ODD MENTOR MOMENT DEPT.
For some reason, while all the other Titans read comics featuring their mentors, Kid Flash reads a Superman comic.
THE TRYING REALLY HARD TO MAKE AQUALAD USEFUL DEPT.
There’s an oil spill that the crooks slide in, but Aqualad doesn’t because “He must be half eel!”
THE CONVOLUTED VILLAIN PLOT DEPT.
Okay, so you've got a device that can turn junk into stuff that's as good as new. Why not just use it on American junk, and you probably wouldn't even be doing anything illegal? Heck, if you lived forty years later, you'd be pioneers of "green technology"! I thought for awhile that maybe the way it worked is that the villains disguised imported goods as "junk", then imported them, and changed them back, but since Scrounge uses the device to change Tiny Tom's wheelchair into a better one at the end, that can't be the way it works.
THE LOOSE ENDS DEPT.
So the Titans scheme is in part inspired by the fact that they interrupt Scrounge's old partner, Jacob Farley, who has broken out of jail to get revenge on him for making him take the rap for some crooked scheme or something. At the end, Scrounge promises to do what he can to get Farley's sentence reduced. I hope somebody informs Farley of this, since he is still on the loose and planning on killing Scrounge for revenge!
SUMMARY
Okay, so this issue has two things that I really love: junkyards and adaptations of A Christmas Carol. That said, it was a pretty so-so issue. I found a lot of the artwork hard to follow, especially in black and white.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
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Yes, yes, and yes.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
TEEN TITANS #14
“Requiem for a Titan”
THE PLOT
Okay, so I think Robin’s been hanging out with Speedy too much, because this story is like one bad drug trip. So, there’s this pedophile named the Gargoyle, and the story opens up with him in a graveyard with the names of the Titans on the various graves. And he’s making Robin strip in front of him. When Robin doesn’t want to take off his mask, evil ghostly versions of the other Titans show up and make fun of him. So he takes off his mask, turns into Two-Face and then Solomon Grundy. And this is just the opening to the story. Then there’s this flashback about the events leading up to this, which is all about the Gargoyle planting doubts about Robin’s sexuality, er… honesty, in the minds of his fellow Titans so he could transport them to limbo and turn them into evil ghostly versions of themselves. And then we find out that Robin was faking the whole agreeing-to-striptease-thing to save his fellow Titans from a life of being limbo-sex-slaves to this Gargoyle fellow. Or something like that.
CATTIEST REMARK OF THE ISSUE DEPT.
There’s actually several contenders, but my vote goes to when the Titans are trying to figure out which former villain the Gargoyle could be, and Wondy says, “He’s certainly not Ding-Dong Daddy… he’s not fat enough!”
SECOND CATTIEST REMARK OF THE ISSUE DEPT.
Robin to evil ghostly Wonder Girl: “I wouldn’t hit a lady! But then, you’re not a lady, are you? You’re just a phantasmic hunk of…” <catty remark interrupted by evil ghostly Wonder Girl’s fist!>
THE GREAT FROGS AUDITIONS DEPT.
Kid Flash and Aqualad consider forming a band, with songs like “I wanna hold your mask and cape” and “Junior Super-Hero Blues”!
THIS SOUNDS LIKE A REALLY BAD IDEA DEPT.
So, apparently the Titans have this deal with the local TV station so that anyone can get five-minutes on the air if they have a message for the Teen Titans. The Titans themselves pay for it. Is it just me or does it seem like a lot of people would abuse that rule? I bet there’s a lot of “We now interrupt your regular programming for yet another teenybopper confessing her love to the Boy Wonder!”
SPEAKING OF TEENYBOPPERS DEPT.
This bit of dialogue stood out:
Robin: “We make like Santa Claus, and the scene from the roof, so we don’t get stomped by a crowd of teeny-boppers.”
Wondy: “As a Teeny-Bopper myself, I’d resent that, if it weren’t absolutely true!”
THE MAKING ROBIN COMPLETELY USELESS DEPT.
Apparently, without the other Titans, Robin is so helpless that he gets beaten up by common bandits! I assume he's off his game, due to his friends being apparently killed and the Gargoyle's planting doubts about his sexuality and stuff!
THE CLEVER EXPLOITATION OF A VILLAIN’S FETISH DEPT.
After being transported to limbo, Robin promises to “spank the blazes” out of his fellow Titans! This is good move, as the Gargoyle is confused into thinking he’s still just going along with his sexual fantasies, instead of taking out the evil ghostly versions of his friends! This keeps Gargoyle out of the fight until after Robin has dispatched the rest of the Titans!
SUMMARY
Well, this issue’s just kind of weird. It’s got a really groovy cover, however!
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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EDE, I'm surprised to read that you found the art in the Christmas Carol story hard to follow. I love the Nick Cardy art on this story. I first read it in one of those giant tabloid size DC Christmas specials. This is a definite example of the limitation of the Showcase format. The story loses a lot without the color. Wonder Girl's all red Christmas outfit really stood out, and I always assumed was the inspiration for her later taking that color for her new uniform.
-------------------- No regrets, Coyote.
From: Missouri | Registered: Oct 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
Yeah, I think the black and white may have been the problem. But there were quite a few scenes where I had to look at several times before I figured out exactly what was going on.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
My theory of the underlying drug inspiration in TT #14 is confirmed in the next story, when the Titans become hippies!
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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