Graphic Novels - Teen Titans Vol. 1: A Kid's Game

This installment of Graphic Novels is brought to you by Prestone.

I don't know what to do next. I started writing up one post for Flash: Rebirth, and suddenly it hit me: How about I go in order when dealing with Geoff Johns' stuff? So, now I going to hold off on Flash: Rebirth and try to go in order from Teen Titans to Blackest Night (something else I'll eventually cover). This means I have to go through that certain major crossover Infinite Crisis (ugh).

Now, it's not a bad story. It's what got me into the DC Universe as a whole. The problem is that it's just so all over the place, ya know? Many story lines, many characters, IC is just ........another DC crisis. Well, before I even cover that "thing", I will go over the rebooted Teen Titans, starting with the tpb A Kid's Game.

So, I was walking through Hastings one day, and I see this book that was real cheap when compared to most tpb's. So I get it, and then read it. I thought it was great. It was so great I decided to get that run. The characters are great and diverse, which is something that's required for team books. First, I go over the creative team:

Geoff Johns - You all know about him. Moving along...

Mike McKone - McKone is the main penciller for the book. He pretty much does all of the main story arcs for the book. He's a good artist. Unfortunately, I don't know much about him outside of this.

Tom Grummett - Grummett does the fillers issues for the book. I've seen some of his work on Superman and X-Men Forever.

The basic premise of the Teen Titans in this reboot is this: The former Titans (namely Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy) want to train the next generation of heroes after a catastrophe happened. The new ones are:

• Superboy/Conner Kent - the clone of Superman and someone else who shall remain nameless for now. Has most of Superman's powers and also has some telekinesis.
• Robin/Tim Drake - the third Robin, and probably the best Robin to me
• Impulse/Kid Flash/Bart Allen - the young speedster from the future and all-around funny guy
• Wonder Girl/Cassie Sandsmark - the new Wonder Girl who got her powers from Zeus

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, on to the story:

Issue 1: The Beginning
We start out in Smallville where Superboy, in his secret identity of Conner Kent, is having his first day of high school. Of course, Conner thinks he's "too cool for school, Man!" and skips class to fly off in the fields of Smallville. Unfortunately, Superman ruins his "fun". They start a conversation about him joining the TT. He's hesitant about joining because the last time he and his young friends got together, some people died, including Donna Troy, the original Wonder Girl. Supes tells him to consider it. He also tries to help him in doing that whole "secret identity" thing since before this, Conner never really had a secret identity.

In Gotham City, Robin is helping Batman beat up a few thugs. He's also hesitant about joining the Titans. Batman, being nice for once in his life, tells Tim to go be with his friends.

In Keystone City, The two Flashes, Wally and Jay, are talking about Bart/Impulse. Wally thinks Bart isn't Titan material, as well as Flash material, while Jay is being more understanding and hopes Bart will turn out okay. Bart shows up. They converse for a second and it comes out that Bart can remember everything that he reads, which is a first for the Flash folk. He leaves, and Wally and Jay go back to talking. Wally says he doesn't know if he can believe in Bart. Bart unfortunately hears this and is a little depressed.

We then cut to Gateway City High School, where Cassie is getting expelled. Wait, what?.....(reading)......Okay, I see now. Apparently, the principal is scared that Cassie would be a liability to the school since she has no secret identity. Plus, she's teaching the kids pagan rituals (Can't explain that). Cassie's mom tries to keep her daughter in school, but an super outburst by Cassie puts and end to that. She runs to the bathroom, where she runs into two other girls and have that whole drama stuff. She also gets a visit from a strange figure in the bathroom mirror, but then she is distracted when Starfire also show up in the bathroom.

DDDAAAANNNGGGG!!!! (Okay not really. This is a drawing of course.)

They talk converse about how younger heroes are mistreated, about Wonder Woman refusing Cassie to join the TT, and about the fallen Titan, Donna Troy. When all is said and done, Cassie decides to leave with Starfire and head to San Francisco.

I'll just let this speak for itself: Click Here.

They land at Titans Tower, the headquarters of the TT. They then run into Beast Boy, and we see him being the ready comic relief. Cassie and Starfire talk some more about the building and the original Teen Titans. We then get to the reason that she and Vic (Cyborg) have allowed all these young heroes to come here:

We then see the rest of the new recruits show up and well, I'll just say it's not a happy reunion for them. The last time they hung out, someone got killed.

Uncomfortable is an understatement.

After all the "uncomfortablity"(?), Conner and Tim talk about why they all came to the tower. That gets interrupted when Tim gets an email from someone about Superboy. The email contains information on his genetic structure. It turns out that Conner is the clone of Superman.......and Lex Luthor. Uh oh.

Part Two: Child's Play
We start with Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke, the TT's greatest villain as well the villain with a somewhat cool name. He's getting ready for battle and talking to Wintergreen, his associate. We then see that not all is as it seems when we turn the next page.

Ew.....

We cut to a bright Saturday morning at Titans Tower where Conner is taking a swim. Tim shows up doing "the Batman" and they talk about the email Tim got. Conner tells Tim that it's a sick joke and not to tell anyone. After Conner leaves, Tim decides to play detective and gets a hair from Conner's towel.

We then get a little humor from the BB and Bart as they fight over the TV remote. Eventually, Momma Starfire puts an end to it all. We then find out that Cassie is calling it quits and is leaving. Bart goes to talk her out of leaving, and they talk some. Eventually, the rest of the team show up and throw some encouraging words into the mix. Suddenly, we get a BABOOOOMM. By the way, who comes up with these sound effects?

It turns out that an explosion has broken out at Alcatraz, which has become a tourist attraction. The Titans then go and do what they normally do: save people. Cassie joins them. As they are saving people, someone is watching the Titans through a sniper scope. Superboy gets the idea to use his telekinetic powers to break a water main. It turns out it a gas main and he makes it worse (Darn lead pipes!!!). It's all going bad until finally Cyborg shows up in cool fashion and puts out the fire.

Who's the bad brother who's a literally a machine to everyone? Cyborg! Dang Right.

Bart goes back into the building to look for more survivors. Suddenly, he's hit with a dart that stops him from moving. Deathstroke shows up and decides to send the message "Kids shouldn't wear costumes" by....shooting Bart in the kneecap. Yeah. Brutal.

Showing Bart cradling his knee just doesn't feel right, so I'll show the idiot who did it.

Part Three: A Kid's Game
We are still in San Fran. This time, we're at a hospital. People from the explosion are coming in to get treated and suddenly, Cyborg comes in carrying an injured Impulse. His knee is healing, but not correctly, so the doctors have to operate fast if they're going to save his knee. Before they start, Bart tells Vic to not tell Wally he messed up.

While Cyborg and Beast Boy sit wait are at the hospital with Bart, Starfire takes the rest of the team back to Titans Tower where she fills them in on Deathstroke. The new recruits, of course, would rather be out hunting Deathstroke and exacting revenge for what he did to their former Young Justice bud. The only thing standing in their way is Starfire, who then decides to show them the Hall of Dead Titans:

We get some info on some of the dead like Golden Eagle, Dove, Donna Troy, and Jericho, Deathstroke's son. Anyway, Superboy and Wonder Girl are wanting to leave but Starfire stops them. And then we get this nice part from Robin:

Robin: Starfire's right.
Superboy/Wonder Girl: What?!
Robin: We haven't faced Deathstroke. We should stay in the tower. I'm going to get on my computer. See if I can find anything to help track him down.
Superboy: Get on your computer?
Starfire: Thank you, Robin.
Robin: Just doing my part.
(Superboy and Wonder Girl follow Robin to his room.)
Superboy: Robin!? You roll over for all of Nightwing's ex-girlfriends--or just the pretty ones?
Wonder Girl: What are we supposed to do here? Surf the web like you? Play Wonder Teen Detective?
Wonder Girl: Tim! I'm talking to you!
(Robin begins laser-torching the window in his room.)
Superboy: What are you doing?
Robin: I'm getting us out of here. We're going to see Bart--Then we're going to find Deathstroke.
Wonder Girl: ...wait a second... You just lied to Starfire?!
(pause)
Robin: I lie to Batman.

Robin lies to Batman?? Oh snap!

Meanwhile, at the Church of st. Sebastian, a secret ritual is taking place. It's a ritual that calls for a lot of blood. The worshipers call for the "Daughter of the Eighth Devil" to come forth. And she does. Hold up. Can it be? No way! It's......it's.....RAVEN!!!!

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Cyborg and Beast Boy have an encounter with Deathstroke himself, and they don't hold back the hurt on this Captain America-like villain. He tries to talk to them like they were once friends or something like that, but they don't listen. His mask is ripped and we get an explanation on why Deathstroke's doing this. It turns out that Deathstroke is being possessed by.....JERICHO!! Nooo!!!

Part Four:Breaking the Rules
We are back at the streets where Deathstroke has been revealed to be possessed by Jericho. Jericho had the ability to take over someones body by making eye contact with them. It turns out when Slade killed Jericho long ago, Jericho was able to get into his father's body at that last moment and has now gained full control of his father. When he found out that the TT were getting back together, he felt it was necessary to stop the kids from crime fighting by any way possible. BB and Cyborg, of course, don't believe them at first, but after Cyborg is taken out and JeriStroke (Deathstroke and Jericho) talks about the reasons he's doing this, BB tries to talk to his friend now turned villain. It doesn't work and BB is knocked out.

Meanwhile, Bart is still in surgery, without anesthesia no less, thinking about the fact people don't take him seriously. At the tower, Starfire finds out that the others left without telling her. She's peeved.

We catch up with the jailbirds as they're going to see Bart and check on his status. They get to the hospital, where they find some startling news. The doctor tells them that after the surgery, Bart new kneecap was working well and then he tells them that Bart asked for directions to ....the LIBRARY (yeah, shocking.)!

We then get a page of Raven running from her hooded cultists. Unfortunately, she doesn't escape.

The team makes it to the library, where there is a ruckus (A ruckus I say!). People think there's a ghost in the building when it's actually Bart moving real fast so now one can see him. They wonder what Bart is doing, since he really isn't all that serious about stuff like reading. Cassie separates from them when she hears a voice. She goes outside to an alley with a mirror there. We then see who the strange figure from Part One is: Ares, the Greek god of War. They talk, mostly about why he is here talking to her. Afterwards, Ares gives her a magic lasso much like Wonder Woman's. He leaves and the mirror breaks.

The boys find her ask her what she is doing when suddenly, a small bomb drops out of nowhere and blows up, knocking everyone out except Robin. (Hmm....so the guy without powers is fine while the superpowered teens are knocked out, with one of them being half-alien and one being powered by Zeus? I guess I can except that.) The bomber is DeathIcho (trying out names for this combination) and he's here to press his mission by killing Robin. Robin gets one hit in, but that's all he gets. DeathIcho (I like this name better) shoots the gun when suddenly a figure catches the bullet. The figure then takes apart DeathIcho's gun in no time while giving some info on the gun. It turns out it's Bart, in his new costume and a codename to boot: Kid Flash.

Part Five Clash of the Teen Titans
We catch up on the old members. Starfire checks up on BB and Cyborg, who is doesn't look too well, but is ready to kick some butt. They tell her about Jericho doing what's doing, and she tells them about the others leaving to find Deathstroke.

Meanwhile, Kid Flash is beating up DeathIcho while listing off the laws he's broken. We find out that Bart has spent about twenty minutes (about a year and a half to him) reading books and learning how to think. Apparently, it's doesn't do him too well because then DeathIcho kicks the little speedster in the ribs. Robin uses an R-shaped shurkien to cut DeathIcho's mask to where his good eye is exposed. Conner and Cassie come on the scene and lay the hurt. Cassie even uses her new lasso, which actually can electrocute people (Shocking.). Jericho knows he can't use his father's body anymore after all of that, so when he makes eye contact with Conner, he jumps into Connor's body. He, in Conner's body, tries to hurt the rest of the team. He even uses heat vision, something that Conner can't even do yet. The older members then show up to stop Jericho. Jericho then jumps into Kid Flash's body and does some damage. He then jumps into Starfire's body and tries to kill BB. Gar and Starfire (the possessed person can still talk) try to talk Jericho down.

Suddenly, Raven appears from out of nowhere and this happens:

Yeah, I'm confused too.

After Jericho's essence (I don't think it's a soul since he didn't actually die) disappears, a portal opens up and Raven is once again taken y her captors. The team is left there, wondering what the heck is going on and wondering is this a win.

At the tower, Tim and Bart talk about Bart's recent changes: getting shot, reading books, changing his name and costume. Bart tells him that he's been ignoring the future and that he tired of everyone treating him like an impulsive idiot. He also tells him that he will inherit the mantle of Flash one day. Tim is impressed.

Meanwhile on the CW, Conner and Cassie finally talk. He tells her about his new secret identity, and about how living on a farm sucks (Hey!!). Cassie talks about the fact that she never told her mom where she went (Oops.). After all of that talk they kiss, and then are interrupted by Wonder Woman.

I hope I don't get thrown off a building after kissing my woman.

Wonder Woman: Cassie, I am disappointed in you. I'm so disappointed in you I will look somewhere else awkwardly!

Part Six: War and Peace
We start out with Tim and Bart telling Vic that the youngsters don't want to sit on the sidelines and that they don't want to be treated like inferiors. Vic agrees. They are soon interrupted by somewhat flustered Superboy.

Meanwhile, Cassie and WOnder Woman are having words about Cassie being there. Things go from bad to worse when Starfire shows up on Cassie's side. Kory and Diana soon go from words to fists as they begin throw down! Oh yeah! The rest of the Titans come outside to see all of the commotion. Suddenly the rest of the JLA show up on Diana's side since she didn't want Cassie to joins the TT. Kid Flash goes off after the two sparring ladies and Flash follows him. Wally and Bart talk some while running, mostly about Bart's change. Superman and Superboy exchange some words, with Superboy accidently heat-visioning Superman's cape. Oops. Batman and Robin end up squaring off against one another, and Cyborg and Beast Boy take on Green Lantern John Stewart.

While helping Starfire, Cassie uses her new lasso on Wonder Woman and shocks her up.
Kid Flash tries a new move on his mentor and it doesn't work out. Superman and Superboy catch the two and Conner is apologizing to Supes about his cape. Batman and Robin are still sparring and have words about Jason, the dead Robin, and Green Lantern is glad there is no "Teen Lantern". All the fighting ends when that BMS Nighwing shows up and talks everyone down. Both teams then discuss about Cassie as well as about what happened to Donna Troy. Ultimately, everything gets settled and the JLA leaves the tower.

After Cyborg shows the League the door, Superboy and Robin have a private conversation. Robin tells Conner that he ran a DNA test on him and can confirm that one half of his genetic code belongs to Lex Luthor. Superboy is troubled at the news, but Robin tells him that he'll help him out. The new recruits then leave since being a Titan is a weekend thing. When Tim gets back home, he talks to his dad for a bit until he leaves to go to his room. Tim jumps on the internet and the guy that contacted him about Superboy sends a message. We then see the messenger: Lex Luthor! Duh duh duh!!!

Me: Mr. Luthor?

Lex: Yes?

Me: Why are you talking to teenagers over the Internet?

Lex: Well....Now look. I know I'm the bad guy, but I'm not that bad.

Me: Okay, Okay. I'm just sayin'.....Man, first Ares with his "You interest me" speech to Cassie, and now this.

Part 7: Wednesday
Nothing much happens here. We just see the Titans and a couple others living out through the week.

We see Deathstroke over the grave of his friend Wintergreen. He's thinking about how he's gonna take his revenge on Jericho.

We mostly follow Conner's day. He's in detention (apparently skipping school gets you there for some reason). Afterwards, he runs into Clark, who's probably in town trying to get that cape of his fixed by Ma. They both change into their respective costumes. Throughout all this time, Conner wants to tell Clark about the whole "I have Lex Luthor's blood going through my veins!" thing but he doesn't. It turns out that Clark has a suprise for him: Krypto! Yay! Of course, Conner isn't too impressed, but what can you do?

We see Kid Flash chasing down a villain in a car. He thinks about an assortment of things while he literally takes the villain's car apart. Wow.

We catch up with Tim in school. It's Pick a Career Day, and Tim doesn't know what to do. He's knows that he doesn't want to be Robin or a superhero for the rest of his life. So, his part ends with him wondering what career choice he'll make.

Cassie is trying to get enrolled into another school, but is having some resistance. Eventually, it all works out and she's in. Yay for Amazonians everywhere!

Meanwhile, Gar is off thinking about things, which everyone in this issue does, and runs into Cyborg. He's trying to find Raven and Jericho. Finally, we see Starfire tending to her her garden.

It all comes full circle when we get back to Deathstroke. His daughter, Ravenger (more on her next time), comes and they go off together to also search for Raven and Jericho.

. . . . .

And that's all I have to say about this tpb. Is it good? Yes, it is. It has everything you would want in a team book: Action, good characterization (except Wonder Woman. She just came off a little too annoying for my tastes), and even a little of angst(which sucks sometimes most stuff but it's fine here). The art here is pretty good. The writing is well, and the story is good too, with Johns trying to bring back that "New Teen Titans" feel. All in all, it's good.

Next time: Raven, Ravenger, and Blood (No, not Jason Blood).

Also, Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Don't eat too much turkey.