Teen Titans #36

Some fall out after Djinn was trapped in her ring and Crush was taken by her dad.

SPOILERS AHEAD


Glass is leaving the book after the next arc and that makes me all the more annoyed with the flaws in this title. I could excuse some of them if I thought there was a chance of him addressing them but with his departure it doesn't look like there will be follow ups or proper closure. For me this is a huge problem in regards to how Damian is written and the crimes the team are getting away with.

Roundhouse is put in the cells with chains wrapped around him and asks Kid Flash to lie to his mom on his where abouts with the implication that the team never intends to free him. He was injured by Crush but it doesn't look like he received any medical attention. The chains seem like a mean way to rub in his imprisonment to me. He's either too weak to escape or he could easily leave but doesn't because of his guilt. Either way it makes the Titans look like jerks that don't care about a former teammate, except for Kid Flash being upset by the betrayal.

Look, even if Billy was working for the Other (which he claims he's not) and had bad intentions (which I don't see so far) he was still right. The team did do messed up things and while he didn't approach it right he's still trying to better himself through therapy. Sure he lost his temper with Damian and trapped Djinn in her ring but he regrets his actions. I have not gotten a single hint since he confronted them that any of the other Titans truly regret their actions. Now it really feels like they were just playing along with him to get free last issue. Despite knowing everything Damian has done, that Billy was right and that Damian holds some responsibility in his sister's death...no one cares. Are these guys really supposed to be heroes?

I don't care about whether Emiko and Wallace have a potential romance, the Damian/Djinn/Crush triangle or even Lobo in general. Above all else I want this drawn out plot about Damian and the team losing their way to mean something. If they continue to get away with their behavior it's pointless. Billy underlined last issue that Damian is trying to do all of this to show up his dad. Since Billy seems to be the most insightful person I'd wager he's spot on in his assessment even if he is biased. Yet nothing has come from all of this since this team started down this path. Maybe the identity of the Other will bring about some change but having Damian have zero conflict over last issue (except over Djinn) is a great disservice to his character. Except for the Deathstroke crossover he's barely felt conflicted at all and part of that stemmed from his annoyance that Slade ruffled his hair (literally.)

Crush is used against her will to hurt people for Lobo and easily defeats the team and hands them over to the Other. While this could lead to some good character development for Crush it's hard to see how the writer change will deal with this. The Other hasn't been built up well so I don't know what to expect except a possible Al Ghul connection. I'll probably drop this series after this arc completes until I know who the next writer is. I don't expect the annual with Red Hood to ever be addressed again much less getting an answer about the McGuffin box. I'm pretty disappointed with this series as a whole.