Isaac Magaña Comic Reviews

Once again I find myself laughing along at the antics of Rocket Raccoon but also being drawn into the adventure and action of the Guardians. For being a rag-tag team, they sure know how to play the part of heroes well and some know how to fake it well enough. If you’ve thought about jumping into the Guardians don’t wait because you’ve been missing out.

Nova has evolved as a character and this volume brings that forward. It shows that Nova has grown as a person but also as a protector. He knows his limits but has the human characteristic of never giving up even with great odds against him. I find each issue of Nova entertaining and exciting. There are no dull moments where I wanted to set the book down. It was a fun ride and now I’m looking forward to the next trade to follow the rest of Nova’s story.

The book had a good introduction to the characters and I found myself absorbed into Scott’s world. While the story is supposed to exist in a very realistic world the creative license taken by Bryan was done in such a way to bring humor and personality into the story which I found very entertaining. The only shortfall was the ending. It was deliberately meant to set up the next volume and I don’t have it which left me wanting more. I guess it’s a positive and a negative.

Overall, I was content with the issue. I was able to follow the story and not become distracted by the quantity of characters in the book. Some moments felt flat to me but I believe that was mostly because of my lack of familiarity with the characters. The only one I really know is Blue Beetle. I’m going to try to stick with this team book and see how it goes. Right now, this book is not a must-read for me, but I hope something comes along soon that might change that for me. Plus, I’ve jumped on at the creation of a new team so in a sense I’m in at the ground floor. The only direction left to go is up.

McKeever wrote an impressive issue. I didn’t read parts one and two, but was still able to follow along in this issue. The only hiccup was the involvement of a character that was never identified by name, but was in a few pages and had speaking parts. I’m not aware of his significance and not sure I would by this issue alone. I guess that is one of the traps of reading only certain issues in a crossover. Teen Titans is finally going somewhere and I am glad to see it moving in that direction. I look forward to the next issue and where this team is going next.

Overall, I walked away interested in this story. This issue seems like a necessary change of pace for this book. While there were some repeated elements in the story there was a touch of something new in the plot that came organically. The plot elements did not seem forced and the scene changes were nice and fluid. I look forward to the next issue to see how Miller writes this team and if he can write them so I stay interested in them.

The quality of this story is something I can really support. While it’s not the greatest material, it is better than the issues before it. All the previous issues just never seemed to sit well with me. All the characters seemed flat and two-dimensional as opposed to this issue where the featured characters have dimensions to them. There is action and well placed dialog in this issue, which really balanced it out. It’s not superb, but it is entertaining. I’m looking forward to the next issue.

I had expected Bryan to be the ongoing writer for this series and was kind of surprised to learn he was only doing this arc. Next month we get a brand new writer, but hopefully a consistent team. I’m ready for the Teen Titans to quit wallowing in self doubt. I’m ready for them to be the team they are so badly meant to be. I’m ready for them to be heroes.

As a newbie reader to Teen Titans I am somewhat disconnected to the past incarnations of the team. My lack of familiarity hurt my comprehension of certain plot elements which hurt the score of this book. Other than that it was a good read. I look forward to seeing how Henderson handles this team and how she handles the characters I do know.

I thought I would get lost in this issue due to the focus on a character with whom I was not familiar but Krul was able to craft a nice story in which I was immediately drawn into the lives of the characters. I found myself inferring the emotional stress being placed on the character due to the history outlined in the beginning of the book. The ending left me somewhat shaky because it deals with another character not properly addressed in the monologue. I hope it’s better addressed in the next issue. This was a good read and I look forward to the next.

This was a good issue and could have been considered a throwaway due to the focus on characters that are not a part of the current Teen Titans line up. Krul was able to utilize some old characters and create a story that I was interested in and found very entertaining. I’m actually hoping some of these threads will be picked up in a future story and with any luck it will be written by Krul.

Overall I found this issue to be very generic. Nothing was really amazing or impressive and it just seemed to be very predictable. I’m looking to be impressed and amazed with these characters but finding myself being just going through the motions with this story. Felicia was able to surprise me and if she can keep doing that, I may stick around. Otherwise I may just stick this book at the bottom of my pile.

I was not completely impressed with this issue. The story pacing went well and I enjoyed the character moments between Beast Boy and Wonder Girl but I found myself confused by the sudden 180 degree turn of Holocaust’s character. He’s portrayed as this nice guy helping his city but at a moments notice he’s a villain again. I find the look into Static’s background interesting but I’m not finding myself caring about the non-Teen Titan characters. I hope Henderson is able to turn this around in the next issue because I’m really interested in Static and really don’t want this arc to bring down his character.