Review: Teen Titans Vol. 3- Death of the Family

Quick Summary

Pros: The characters are all interesting and watching them develop is one of the volume’s biggest draws. Red Robin’s origin story and the volume’s final chapter are entertaining.

Cons: The story is boring in a few places. Numerous preludes for future story arcs clutter the narrative in a few places.

Overall: Compelling characters and a decent storyline bring life back to a series that just went through a big rough patch. The biggest draw here comes from the characters, whose personal growth might be the best element in this entire series. Though this isn’t the greatest volume of all time, it does well in delivering a solid crossover while minimizing the number of negatives. All in all, this continues to be a series for those who are more interested in compelling characters than compelling stories.

Story

While the previous volume was a bit of a mess, Teen Titans Vol. 3: Death of the Family, by Scott Lobdell, sees the series start to get back on the right track. In this volume, relationships and power dynamics are tested, allowing the young heroes plenty of moments to show off their abilities. In addition, character development is handled very well, in a way that makes me even more confident in the future of the series. The volume’s biggest problems come from the plot, which is a bit boring in some places and a bit messy in others. This series is getting better but has not quite reached its potential yet.

(spoilers start here)

Death of the Family starts out with a Red Robin origin story. This is essentially a reboot of the classic “A Lonely Place of Dying” arc that originally introduced Tim Drake. As far as modernizations go, this one is on the better side of things. It streamlines Tim’s origin while also reintroducing his backstory for newer readers. Plus, it makes him a more three-dimensional character and shows that he has cares outside of the Teen Titans.

The rest of the volume primarily focuses on the Joker’s return. Half of this story follows Red Robin and Red Hood, who have been captured by the Joker and are forced to fight one another. This storyline is pretty average; it has a few exciting moments and a couple a neat twists. However, the real positives come from seeing the two former Robins interact with one another. Their brotherly relationship is unique and seeing it stressed by the Joker only makes it more interesting.

The other half focuses on the rest of the Teen Titans. This story fails to really build much excitement, since the “villain” is a nebulous virus that never feels that threatening. In addition, random preludes to Red Hood and the Outlaws storylines distract from the reading experience and make the storyline more chaotic overall. Luckily, the solid level of character development helps make up for these faults. Watching the Teen Titans fumble without Robin and then come together as a team is a very entertaining spectacle. Though not the best story out there, the characters make it worth it.

Compelling characters remain a major draw in the volume’s final chapter, which deals with the aftermath from the Joker’s attack. This chapter features some major decompression and allows the Teen Titans to have a moment to simply enjoy one another’s company. It also manages to sneak in some conflict for the future, as Red Robin’s actions are clearly a prelude to a larger story arc.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork throughout Death of the Family is pretty good, with a few small exceptions. Brett Booth’s pencils still provide the majority of the art for the series, which is definitely a good thing. His bombastic style and attention to detail fill the Teen Titans with life and make the book look good overall. In addition, chapters from Eddy Barrows and Greg Capullo look fantastic as well and really fit the content they depict. The only real problem is that the Red Hood and the Outlaws chapter, drawn by Timothy Green II does not look nearly as good and does not fit in well with the rest of the volume. Luckily, this does not have a huge effect on the book as a whole, meaning the volume is still a visual success.

Continuity

Teen Titans Vol. 3: Death of the Family continues the story from Teen Titans Vol. 2: The Culling (Review).

The story here continues in Teen Titans Vol. 4: Light and Dark (Review).

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• Jason Todd’s death is brought up a few times. This story is told in Batman: A Death in the Family.
  • In addition, his return to life and subsequent crime spree are also brought up. This story is told in Batman: Under the Red Hood.
• The beginning of this volume is a tie-in to the events of Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review). The events in this volume of Batman are mentioned a number of times.
• Red Robin mentions that Batgirl has more of a reason to hate Joker than anyone else. This is because of what happened in Batman: The Killing Joke.
• Red Hood and the Outlaws make an appearance in this volume. This group’s adventures began in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: REDemption (Review), which also explains Jason’s additional training. Their journey back to Gotham City is told in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review).
• Raven previously appeared in Trinity of Sin- The Phantom Stranger Vol. 1: A Stranger Among Us (Review), where she was given to her father, Trigon.