The New Teen Titans #27

I reviewed an issue of this arc before and hoped to get the begininng of it. I missed the mark as this still isn't isn't it. Blood has Raven and Nightwing while the Titans (Donna, Kory, Jason, Gar, Vic and Joey) try to find them while taking on the Brotherhood of Evil.

OLDER SPOILERS AHEAD


The Titans fight the Brotherhood of Evil which doesn't work out so well for the heroes. They have to retreat leaving Jericho and Cyborg behind. Joey is mentally tortured via a twisted nightmarish version of his parents who hate him and kill each other. Kory doesn't like having to wait to attack again but Donna points out they need to make a plan first. Cyborg wakes up in pain while the BOE has search parties go out to find him. Only able to walk a short distance he soon passes out in front of a couple of villagers that save thim in order to pay Brother Blood back for taking their daughter.

Brain contacts Donnas' group to tell them to surrender or Jericho will die as a lightning rod. They briefly debate what to do with Kory telling them not to give up like her father did. She convinces Donna to change her mind but Donna decides to go alone while the others go to take on Brother Blood. Since Brain is dying he wants to use Bloods' pool of blood to make himself immortal. A biker looking woman working with the BOA called Twister/Theresa finds Cyborg and happens to be the daughter the villagers lost. Their surprisingly accepting of her mutanted appearance and just want her back. Cyborg thinks he should attack her now that she's connecting with her family and flees. Twister tells the rest of her team no one hid him to keep her family safe.

Donna frees Jericho then gets herself knocked out and he takes possession of her to make sure they escape. Gar, Kory and Jason show up at one of Bloods' churches for information just as most of the BOE arrive. They work well together and Cyborg shows up to lend a hand. Plasmus goes after Jason who can only climb up a tree to avoid being burned...only Plasmus decides to set the tree on fire. Kory takes on Plasmus by herself figuring she can give him too much power to absorb while Gar saves Jason. Plasmus takes off but the effort almost completely drained Kory. Twister is the only one left and says she won't fight them unless they go after Blood. For some reason Kory wants to take her on while their all together in a vulnerable position forcing Twister to "twist" reality to escape. (Much like Proteus from X-Men.)

Cyborg takes information from the computers and sets Bloods' church up to explode right when Brain is trying to become immortal.



Overall: The dialogue can get on your nerves since the characters explain what their doing while their doing it. That's just how a bulk of comics were back then. The French accents are likewise a little distracting when they talk like "Zis." Having the word "still" being replaced with "steel" is a little annoying. Twisters' mostly incoherent speech was the worst part.

It's odd that Kory gets beaten up by Mallah and Donna gets knocked out by lightning. Maybe their abilities were improved upon later on? I couldn't tell if Donna made sure Joey landed in a way that wouldn't kill him or it was just dumb luck.

Jason doesn't do much besides a little fighting and a few comments. Of course a lot is going on just within this issue. Still I continue to find it rather sweet how the Titans look after him. This issue also gives me another reason to roll my eyes at Johns Jason issue in TT where he shows no attachment to Gar and Vic. Gar looked out for him here and made sure he didn't get hurt.

Kory was more impatient since she's worried about Dick but it was only mentioned a couple of times. While it is nice to have so much story in one issue I wish some unneeded dialogue was edited out. Or Twisters' speech was written differently. I'm guessing it's to reflect her "twisted" state it's just jarring to read.



Did You Notice?: Not only does Jason like Aliens he also Ghostbusters and Garage Pail Kid stickers.

Say What?: I appreciate Vic's sentiment but the phrasing of not realizing how good things are while their being forced down your throat is awkward.

I don't think Mallah and Brain were together yet but calling him a fool is kind of nasty and dumb when he's trying to save your life. If this was anyone else they could have tossed the Brain away and let him die. Mallah does mention the fact he could easily crush him.