Review: Teen Titans Vol. 1- Damian Knows Best
Quick Summary
Pros: The charm and chemistry of the Teen Titans as a team is nearly perfect. The villains are original and compelling.
Cons: The story focuses heavily on Damian over the other Titans.
Overall: This is the Teen Titans fans have been waiting for. Damian Wayne gathers together the perfect group of young, lighthearted, and fun individuals to balance out his infamous bad attitude. What follows is an enjoyable story about a group of very different people coming together to fight some surprisingly compelling villains. Any fan of more upbeat and playful stories should definitely pick this up.
Story
Throughout nearly the entire New 52, the Teen Titans were in trouble. They never seemed to be able to find a grove as poor writing and generic storytelling plagued them constantly. Now, with DC’s Rebirth promising a fix to all that was broken, the Teen Titans have another chance.
In Teen Titans Vol. 1: Damian Knows Best, writer Benjamin Percy presents a new group of Teen Titans. This new mix allows for some great chemistry as the young heroes really feel like a team. It also allows for some great storytelling as they are pitted against a brand new cast of villains who prove to be surprisingly compelling, considering how recently they were introduced. All in all, this is what a Teen Titans comic should be, and we’re especially happy since things are only looking up for this series.
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The beginning of this collection is incredibly well done. It starts with Damian Wayne seeking out and neutralizing each member of the future Teen Titans in order to gather them together. This narrative process allows each member to be introduced in their home setting and allows readers to learn about their lives before joining the team. It basically shortens what could have been a lengthy series of introductions into a fun story about Damian being the lovable jerk that he is.
After this, Damian explains to them that they need to team up in order to take down Ra’s al Ghul’s “Demon’s Fist,” a group of young initiates in the League of Assassins. However, they are attacked by the Demon’s Fist first and barely make it out alive. Before the do though, it is revealed that Robin used to be the leader of the Demon’s Fist.
This is the part of the book that was a little iffy for me. The action and fight sequences were great and gave the book a nice adrenaline injection. However, the Titans reaction to Damian’s past was a little odd. They barely know Damian and yet act as if he committed a large betrayal of their trust. It feels like a minor issue that is blown up in order to introduce some conflict within the team.
Luckily, this moment does not last for long as things get back to normal almost immediately. The Titans have a chance to bond and learn a little bit more about each other. It is probably one of the best parts of the story as it is where the young heroes really start to feel like a team of friends. This inevitably leads to Damian’s next move, an attempt to sacrifice himself to Ra’s al Ghul in order to save his new friends.
Damian doing this causes the rest of the Titans to go head to head with the Demon’s Fist in order to save him. Yet, in a clever twist, this does not mean a big fight breaks out. Instead, they are able to convince the members of the Demon’s Fist that Ra’s doesn’t appreciate any of them and that they should turn on him. It was a well executed instance of creating sympathy for villains, including the only member of the Demon’s Fist not to turncoat, Damian’s cousin Mara. Hopefully these characters will return in future storylines as they all turned out to be surprisingly interesting.
Outside of all of this, one of the only other problems with this book is that it feels like a Damian Wayne story rather than a Teen Titans one. Though each member of the team gets some spotlight, the plot itself revolves around Damian. While not an optimal situation, this is a somewhat understandable decision for the book to make. After all, someone has to bring the Titans together and that person would most likely form the center of the team’s story. Hopefully making Damian the center of this story is a sacrifice that will allow the rest of the Titans to receive development in the next volume.
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Art
This book starts out with two issues of incredible art from Jonboy Meyers. Characters and objects have an almost cartoonish quality that really puts the “Teen” in “Teen Titans.” It also gives the book a charming and comfortable visual style throughout in a way that perfectly matches the tone of the story. Meyers’ artwork also just looks great in general and is both detailed and sharp.
The next issue sees Diógenes Neves take over and present a remarkably similar visual style. Though not as well done as Meyers’ work, Neves’ art still looks great and is certainly not a disappointment in any way.
The last few issues though are simply not that great. Khoi Pham presents a similar artistic style but just does not look as nice. Characters and backgrounds are not nearly as detailed. Specifically, character’s faces suffer with foreheads ranging from somewhat too short to way too long. It is definitely a step down from the previous two artists and something that somewhat brings down the quality of the book’s conclusion.
Continuity
Teen Titans Vol. 1: Damian Knows Best is the first volume of the Teen Titans Rebirth series. Rebirth is not a continuity reset at all; it is more of just a good jumping on point for readers. This means that, although there are stories that come before this, an in depth knowledge of the Teen Titans’ past is not really required to enjoy this series.
The story here is continued in Teen Titans Vol. 2: The Rise of Aqualad (Review).
The story still references previous stories so we will still be listing them below.
- Multiple mentions are made to Tim Drake’s (Reading Order) current condition. This is explained by the events of Detective Comics Vol. 1: The Rise of the Batmen (Review).
- Damian talks about the failures of Tim Drake’s Teen Titans (Reading Order). These Teen Titans began their journey in Teen Titans Vol. 1: It’s Our Right to Fight (Review) and concluded it in Teen Titans Vol. 4: When Titans Fall (Review).
- Starfire’s island based lifestyle can be explained by Starfire Vol. 1: Welcome Home (Review).
- The destruction of Central City by speedsters is explained in The Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice (Review).
- Kid Flash brings up his father and his past deeds. The backstory behind this is mostly detailed in The Flash Vol. 4: Reverse (Review).
- Damian (Reading Order) was last seen blowing out candles in DC Universe: Rebirth (Review).
- Robin talks to Goliath about the “Year of Atonement,” his adventures in this year are detailed in Robin: Son of Batman Vol. 1: Year of Blood (Review).