Teen Titans #30

What will the team do in the aftermath of the attempted prison break and Red Arrow's actions.

SPOILERS AHEAD


The shot with Red Arrow mopping up the blood of the man she killed behind the reverse "MERCY" sign was nicely done. It's the kind of piece that can really stand on it's own to tell you the story. I'm also a big fan of the shots through the headquarters as they fight. It reminds me of older comics where they'd do similar shots to give a better scope of the battle and a lair. The out of portion head on Djinn in one of the opening page was off putting but the art was mostly excellent. And I've had moments when pages don't work out great so I'm sympathetic as an artist. It happens.

The team comes together to discuss half of the team recently discovering the prison Damian has and Deathstroke's killing. Emiko might have regretted telling Wallace that he's their moral compass as he's the one that basically leads the others when they confront Emiko and Damian. I don't mind this role but I do find it ironic that a Flash is shown as the moral center given what happened in HIC.

It's such a small detail but I like the moment of solidarity between Crush and Roundhouse when Billy expresses his disbelief that Kid Flash kept a secret after meeting his mom. The two bonded in a previous issue when Billy told her to let Djinn know how she feels. So it's not a "tough girl dislikes the class clown" sort of relationship. Her reaction implies that despite being a badass family connections ARE important to her (small wonder since her adopted parents were killed) and she shares in Billys' view.

Damian kind of throws Emiko under the bus by saying that her actions aren't right and not even acknowledging the fact it happened because Slade was trying to make Damian kill him. I haven't read much about Emiko so I'm obviously missing some information but something about this seems off. Did she only kill Slade to prevent Damian from doing it (even though he didn't pull the trigger) or was there a deeper reason she's not revealing? Sure she sounds like she's just being overly defensive.

Djinn reminds me a lot of Starfire in personality and her views of imprisoning others reflects this. She thought Damian understood things that were important to her after she told him about her past. Now she realizes that he's not the person she thought he was.

I'm glad that after years of Damian doing many cruel actions he's being called out on it. Mostly because he has a habit of getting away with everything with barely any fallout for his behavior. This arc (and potentially the annual) have raised the stakes and shown him that what he does has consequences.

Unlike a lot of team fights I've read this feels earned when Crush finally snaps. The Damian/Djinn/Crush triangle comes into play with Djinn losing faith in Damian and giving Crush the excuse to lash out when he won't back off. Needless to say she's not thrilled with Emiko or Wallace either. It quickly escalates from there with Kid Flash losing his cool and Roundhouse returning the favor.

Wasn't Emiko depicted as sort of the team mom in the annual? Her willingness to aim an arrow at the others so quickly after killing a man doesn't paint her in the best of lights. At least with Djinn she has a deep seated fear of her already. I'm wondering if Wallace is being set up as the new team leader. He's the one ready to tell Damian he's no longer in charge before Lobo interrupts.

The subject of the traitor never comes up and it's likely for the best given the team dynamics. I do think the traitor plot has been overused within TT lore but I'm genuinely interested in this one. Three of the suspects are new characters that can plead ignorance to knowing about the prison making their involvement seem slim. If it's the more established characters they might be unknowing sleeper agents or mind controlled. Since the newer characters only need to protest what happened there's not much to say about one of them being the traitor.

But if it's one of the other three their behavior in this issue could raise some read flags. Like Kid Flash almost taking command away from Damian or Slade's killing used as a means to take him out before he can help uncover the traitor. Damian might even take extreme measures because of the Other. But for now that's all pushed aside for the Lobo/Year of Villain stuff.

This was a surprisingly well done crossover that I enjoyed and makes me want to stick with the series. This was nicely paced with good art and a solid plot. I do wonder how long it will be until certain plot threads come together but I'm invested in these characters. Hopefully none of the series linked with YOTV will be messed with too much. At present I have little to no interest in that event