Review: Teen Titans #22

Writer: Adam Glass

Artist: Bernard Chang

Colors: Marcelo Maiolo

Letters: Deron Bennett

Review by Steve J. Ray

Summary

“SET IT OFF”: PART THREE. After Roundhouse’s heroic sacrifice to save his team and city last issue, the Teen Titans are all coming to terms with his tragic demise in their own unique, strange and even hilarious ways. Has this new team met it’s demise so soon after forming? Will the surviving members rally, grow and learn from their loss? All these questions and less may not be answered by the end of this issue.

Positives

A sterling script, gorgeous art, action, pathos and humor… what’s not to like? Any misgivings I had about writer Adam Glass’ take on these characters were eradicated by the end of his second issue. After reading Teen Titans #22 they’ve been left so far behind me, that they are nothing but a speck in the dust in my rear-view mirror. Every character, old and new, in this series has a personality and rationale that has been so well thought out that it’s very easy to care about, or despair for, each and every one of them. That’s pretty impressive work, considering he’s only been writing this book for one special and three regular issues.

If you’ve read any of my reviews for Batman Beyond you’ll know that I’m a massive Bernard Chang fan. His work on this series is only making my appreciation for his work grow. His layouts, facial expressions, action and energy are infectious. There are painters that work in comics, some of them producing art worthy of any art gallery. Bernard Chang can (and has) given us some beautiful painted covers in the past, but what I love him for is his pure storytelling genius and honest, classic comic-book art. He’s one of those amazing talents that gives you clean pencils AND inks, smooth, flowing draughtsmanship and also – if you look really closely – levels of detail in his drawings that you have to stop and just drool over sometimes.

Negatives

I think that this particular heading is redundant for most of the titles that I’m fortunate enough to review. The only fault I could find with this issue is purely personal and was actually resolved in a way that I couldn’t have expected by the end of the issue, so I won’t dwell on it because… spoilers.

The color art of Marcelo Maiolo is – as always – wonderfully eye-popping and works alchemically with Bernard Chang’s art. Check out the pages attached to see what I’m talking about.

It was lovely seeing Deron Bennett’s letters in this issue. I was really sad when the previous title I reviewed that he worked on (the late, lamented Batwoman) ended. Once again his work flows with the story and I love his personalized captions and word bubbles for each character. Lovely.

Verdict

This book is just so much fun to read. The art and writing work hand in hand to give us a good, old-fashioned (in the best way possible) humorous and action packed romp. Usually comics cliffhangers have me pulling my hair out with angst and agony, but the final page of this issue left me grinning from ear to ear. Great stuff.

Images Courtesy Of DC Entertainment

(This review was originally published on the DC Comics News Website on September 19th 2018)