Review: Titans Hunt

Quick Summary

Pros: The original Teen Titans return in an event that brings their existence back into continuity. The story here is compelling and enjoyable. There are a lot of fun references here for long time Titans fans.

Cons: Newer readers may end up confused or frustrated due to references to Teen Titans history. Most of the references in this book are to the Silver Age Teen Titans rather than the better series, New Teen Titans.

Overall: This story has a mission, to correct history and establish the original Teen Titans again. Not only does it do this in a rather convincing manner, but it also tells a fun action-mystery along the way. It is a good story built upon the shoulders of the past, while setting up for the future. If you are a fan of the Teen Titans, then this is a book for you.

Collection Notes

The collected edition of Titans Hunt includes all issue of the Titans Hunt miniseries, Justice League #51, and Titans: Rebirth #1. For this review we will be covering everything here except Titans: Rebirth #1. Though Titans: Rebirth #1 is a direct follow-up to the events of Titans Hunt, it makes more sense to cover it in our future review of Titans Vol. 1: The Return of Wally West.

Story

When the New 52 started, one of the worst things about it was that the Teen Titans had apparently never existed. A new group of Teen Titans showed up with none of the original members. Decades of history and acclaimed comic book stories were lost in continuity with a lesser version created to replace them.

Titans Hunt starts to correct this mistake, while also telling a pretty interesting story on its own. It digs into the history of the Titans to discover why they broke up and why no one can remember them anymore. It does exactly what Rebirth is trying to do, respect DC Comics history while setting up its future. Though the heavy degree of past references may hamper the experience for some, this is otherwise a great story and a fun comic book all around.

(spoilers start here)

The main story here is a mystery, why did the original Teen Titans not remember each other and why are they starting to remember each other now? It turns out that they forced themselves to forget each other in order to stop a villain who was intent upon using their team in order to conquer the world. It is a good mystery that slowly unravels as the story progresses, never revealing too much but still telling enough to keep readers interested. It is also well handled and blends well with the established continuity of the New 52.

Alongside this mystery is the actual mission of the Titans, to defeat Mister Twister and save the world. This part of the story is where readers can get their action and adventure fix. The Titans have to team up and go head to head with a couple of villains before reaching Twister. Then, after getting to him, they have a great moment of final character development in order to beat him. It is a worthwhile conclusion to a solid story.

In addition to the story, one of the best parts about this book is how it combines past and present stories in such a fun way. Bringing back the classic Titans roster would have been enough for most fans, but this story does more. It heavily references the first ever mission of the Teen Titans and even uses that story to build their new origin. Things like these are clear fanservice to longtime readers and are greatly appreciation.

The negative side of this positive is that not everyone will appreciate or enjoy these continuity callbacks. Readers with no Teen Titans experience will not derive anything from Nightwing namedropping “Robin, Wonder Girl, and Aqualad” or get excited over the return of Bumblebee. In fact, some aspects of the story may actually end up being more confusing; new readers will have no idea why Dawn was not an original Titan or who the original Dove was. For these reasons, this may not be a book for everyone, specifically those with little Teen Titans experience.

In addition, it was somewhat odd that Dan Abnett chose to use the original Teen Titans as the base for this story, rather than the more popular and critically acclaimed New Teen Titans series. New Teen Titans was the series that fans truly loved as it had some of the most memorable storylines in Titans history: “The Terror of Trigon,” “Who is Donna Troy,” and “The Judas Contract.” While what they did in this book was fine and enjoyable in its own way, it just feels like there was a much better option left on the cutting room floor.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in this issue mostly rotates between Paulo Siqueira and Stephen Segovia, with Paul Pelletier stepping in for the final issue. Together, these artists produce a pretty consistent final product; it is almost hard to tell that there are multiple artists working here. This product looks nice overall but does not really do much of anything special. Meaning that there are not any places where the art is bad or unappealing, however there are not many moments that stand out either. All in all, the artwork ranges from pretty good to average.

Continuity

Being somewhat of an event comic, Titans Hunt does not have any definitive starting point. It does not even really have any sort of catalyst outside of its main series. This means that all readers need to do in order to understand what is going on here is be familiar with the Teen Titans from before the New 52 and be familiar with the characters

If you want to know the story behind each individual member of these new Titans, the following lists their last major appearances. These are not necessary to read before enjoying this book, especially since the book itself does a good job in introducing each of them. However, we will be still be putting this list for those interested in knowing extra information.

• Dick Grayson is currently an agent of Spyral and has just been through the events of Grayson Vol. 3: Nemesis (Review).
• Roy Harper recently broke up with the Red Hood and the Outlaws gang in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 7: Last Call (Review). Currently he is still hanging out with Red Hood and has just gone through the events of Red Hood/Arsenal Vol. 1: Open for Business (Review).
• Hawk and Dove were last seen in Hawk and Dove Vol. 1: First Strikes. However, their appearances since then have been very minimal.
• Donna Troy was introduced in Wonder Woman Vol. 7: War Torn and, most recently went through the events of Wonder Woman Vol. 8: A Twist of Faith.
• Garth played a small role in Aquaman Vol. 7: Exiled.
• The rest of the Titans have either not appeared in the New 52 or have only made very minor appearances.

This volume also makes some references to more specific events in DC Comics history and continuity. These are listed here:

• Much of this volume is an homage to the first ever Teen Titans comic series, which ran from 1966-1978.
  • Each of the ten Titans in this story was a member of the Teen Titans at some point during this initial run of the series (though Dove was Don Hall instead of Dawn Granger).
• • The costumes worn in the flashbacks are almost the same as those worn by the Teen Titans in this run.
• There are some very specific references to the first ever comic book with the Teen Titans in it. Both stories feature the young Teen Titans coming to aid the Teen Club in protecting their city of Hatton Corners. They also both involve Mr. Twister attacking and having a giant “twister” shaped tower built. Even the mayor’s son, Eddie Corliss, appears in both. This first appearance of the Teen Titans happened in Brave and the Bold #54, which can currently be found collected in Teen Titans: The Silver Age Omnibus or Teen Titans: The Silver Age Vol. 1.
• In the Justice League story from this book, Green Lantern does not want to call Zatanna because he is afraid of ending up “with a memory blank.” This is a reference to Identity Crisis.
• The Justice League mention their defeat of Darkseid. This happened in Justice League Vol. 1: Origin.