So at SDCC Scott Lobdell, the writer of Teen Titans and virtually the only writer handling Tim Drake , announced that in Teen Titans #0, we’ll see Tim’s origin (which he said was basically the same, Tim Drake finds out who Batman is, becomes his sidekick, and there’s some updates added) and find out that he went straight to becoming Red Robin instead of Robin in the DCnU.

Now, obviously people panicked. They assumed that meant all the comics where he was Robin never happened… yet, no one’s said that at all. It could very much mean all that stuff happened, he wore that red and black costume, he was Batman’s main sidekick for a while, he just had the word “red” attached to his name.

I mean, look at that. That was in Teen Titans #1. Later in the issue he says he was Robin. Batman #1 said he was a Robin, and in Batman and Robin #1 Damian says “all the other Robins” (implying more than two), and in the current arc Tim has been included in several “all you guys were Robin” type statements. Now yes, the DCnU is RIDDLED with continuity inconsistencies, but I’m just saying that so far it all looks like it stands.

What does adding the word “red” to his name really detract from who he is as a character? I mean, he still has “Robin” in his name for God’s sake. He’s a Robin, he’s just the red one. It’s not much of a stretch to think of him as sometimes being referred to as simply “Robin” like how Green Lantern is sometimes called “Lantern” and Green Arrow is nicknamed “Arrow”. It’s basically the exact same role and almost the same name and costume, so why not? He wanted to stick out and his red and black costume kind of always reflected that.

It’s a change that could be done without, yes, but it might legitimately simplify things for newbies in the future. I remember hardly being able to keep all the Robins’ names straight when I was breaking into the fandom. He’s the Robin whose costume had lots of red. So he’s RED Robin. Easy to remember. Red Robin could be changing as a persona, it still sets him apart, but he’s still part of the same legacy. There’s a lot of people who hate Damian being Robin, so I think it wouldn’t be a big stretch to imagine them both being Robin at the same time now. There’s multiple Earth Green Lanterns, so why not?

So my point is, lots of people are jumping to conclusions without any solid proof. That’s kind of what I’m doing, this is all speculation, but as usual I’m just trying to represent what little remains of the optimistic fans. If people can assume things are bad, why can’t I assume things are good? You can choose to take all this with a grain of salt, but the comic isn’t out yet, we hardly know anything, so calm down and let’s see what’s going on. But one thing’s for sure, I’ll love Tim Drake whether his name has three extra letters attached or not.

Also, stop blaming Lobdell. These things are editorial, and it’s not his fault for “opening his mouth”. Would you rather he kept it a secret or lied? Honestly.

ACTION COMICS #9

Decent art, great characterization for this Superman who is very likeable, a nice self-contained crazy adventure, would’ve liked it to be less rushed-feeling, could have benefited from the main story taking 10 extra pages rather than the backup.
7.8/10

ANIMAL MAN #9

Good replacement artwork, fun characters, chilling story as usual. Not much else to say.
7.8/10

EARTH-2 #1

Really, really, really great artwork! Nothing wrong with the interpretations of the Trinity, but I’m upset about what happens to them considering how important they were marketed to be. Same goes for Batman’s true identity. Really clumsy and awkward inner monologue, there’s a slight lack of focus. This is definitely a Justice Society book and I’m looking forward to continuing the origins of Jay and Alan.
7.5/10

TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #1

Missed Brett Booth’s art incredibly since the last underhwelming issue of Titans, but this MORE than made up for that issue’s shortcomings. Writing is fun and the cheezy dialogue is kept to minimum (not gone, but there’s very little of it here), and the art is beautiful. Love the concept of The Culling, this issue was very enjoyable.
8.9/10

Hm… Batman Incorporated, Andrew Bennett, and the Teen Titans.

An army of Batmen, one of the most powerful vampires ever, and a powerful team of metahumans who I’m sure I don’t have to explain.

THE APOCALYPSE IS CANCELLED.

… UNTIL I SAY SO.

TEEN TITANS #8:

Good ideas ruined by bad execution, bad/excessive/redundant dialogue, crappy artwork, still enjoyable in other areas such as fun characterizations. Weakest issue so far by large margin. Love the temporary costume-changes for the team, though.
5.6/10.

AQUAMAN #8:

Gorgeous art, engaging plot(s), great character moments, love the expansions made on Aquaman’s past. Quick but outstanding read.
9/10

THE FLASH #8:
Great art, I like the way Barry is written, the changes made to the speed force and a couple Flash villains (The Top = Turbine?) are interesting, But I also feel slightly wary.
7.9/10

THE SAVAGE HAWKMAN #8:

Nice art, Hawkman’s depth as a character is explored via inner monologue, he is overall written very well. The plot is pretty pointless and quick, but it’s still an interesting issue. Sad to know I’ll be dropping this good book because of Liefeld next month.
7.7/10

Now, it’s hard to think of a solid judgement I have for this book. I like the ideas and the plot, and the characterizations are fun as always, and we have some great art, and it’s easy to get excited about these characters and what they’re doing. On the other hand, this is probably the weakest issue thus far. Too many questions raised, too much Silver-Age style dialogue/monologue, not enough context or information is given on events, and overall, I just don’t know what to say.

Right from the get-go, we have character exclaiming obvious things at… no one, really, and it’s a waste of my time to read when I can clearly see what’s going on. And in one instance, a character is explaining the circumstances in-depth to a character who CLEARLY KNOWS IT ALL FROM EXPERIENCE. It’s exposition, but it either could’ve been summed up in a sentence or two, or they could’ve chose a better way to get that information across to the reader. There’s a “new” “Titan” whose powers, heck, his entire nature makes no sense to me, and it’s just a really dumb idea to me. It’s like something a kid would come up with. There’s a fight with Templar that is way too short and way too easy, and it… comes out of NOWHERE (pun not intended). It says the beginning of this confrontation was in Superboy, but I didn’t buy that issue, and this scene doesn’t stand alone all that well. There’s also a scene where Red Robin makes a controversial decision (we’re not given 100% clear specifics, sigh), and in a very important panel, I literally had to guess what happened. Also, another classic example of “WHERE THE HECK DID HE COME FROM?!?!” at the end of the issue.

Despite thaose gripes, the humor is entertaining, and I like the way these characters are written (except Skitter, she’s like a bestial R2-D2 dialogue-wise), and the action is fun. It’s great to see this team work together. Also, I love the “T” badges on each character’s shoulders, it looks nice, and it’s a good substitute for a “team uniform”. Tim, Bart, Bunker, Superboy, Cassie… they were handled really well here, and I really like each of them (except Skitter and “Danny”). Tim’s big decision here was very “Batmanly” (at least what we know of it), and it’s another big tally-mark for “Tim Drake’s badass moments in the New 52”. It was written well, too, with the exception of that one panel and the missing details.

So, overall, this issue had a lot of problems, but there was much to be enjoyed about it. That’s the only real final verdict I can make on this issue.

TEEN TITANS #6

Now, I realize this series gets a lot of flack for some reason. But this is one of those comics that I just can’t help but love. Comics these days feel a little too dark and gloomy, and we don’t get enough lighthearted, superhero-y fun and that’s what I’m getting from this series. In bucket-loads. The interactions between the characters are great, and it’s fun seeing this team get stuck in all these situations. This issue is mostly down-time with some action and urgency thrown in, with the team, and Kid Flash especially, recovering from the beatdown they recieved from Superboy last issue. This issue really does a good job of making each character distinct and true to their nature (especially Tim Drake). Also, we see bits of the Legion Lost/Superboy/Titans crossover start to come into play, and some hints dropped about Bart’s past. The art’s good as usual, but in this issue, I noticed, Brett Booth is giving everyone… “black-lips” for lack of a better term. It looks odd. Tim Drake shouldn’t look like a black guy with white-face makeup, let’s say. Anyhoo, I was surprised at how Static, the guest star, is actually increibly smart. Then again, I have zero experience with the character. And another thing I noticed that was detrimental to the issue was the dialogue during action sequences. THERE’S TOO MUCH. AND THE CHARACTERS ARE EXPLAINING WHAT WE CAN SEE CLEARLY IN THE PANELS. It’s like the silver age! Then again, as usual, the series kind of points out its own flaws and makes fun of it, but it was still annoying. But I guess it was done out of parody. Whatever. Oooh, and I really love Kid Flash’s new outfit (aside from the red eyes). So overall, I enjoyed this issue a lot.

THE FLASH #6

This is a lot better than previous issues of the series. But it still kind of feels like it’s the same quality. I dunno. But it was good. The art seemed better than usual, but that may just be because Manapul is drawing things that are more fun to look at. What I love about this series is how it finds REALLY, REALLY cool and creative ways to use super-powers, and add some science to it, just like a Flash story should. These guys are working on the right series. They did a great job establishing Captain Cold as a threat, and I’m loving what they’re doing with him. I like the outfit, I like the powers, and I like seeing him actually kick Flash around without any help. Now, I’m still getting used to this more youthful Barry Allen’s voice, but when he’s in the Flash costume, he feels like Barry Allen. However, Cold kind of feels… less badass. I apologize for the unintentional pun, but… he’s not keeping his cool. Then again, it can be atributed to the circumstances of his confrontation with Flash. The story also kinda bounced around a lot, but it worked. It was just a TEENY bit harder to follow than a normal comic. But The Flash proves once again to be another book worthy of being on my pull list.

SUPERMAN #6

This book’s major flaw can be summed up in one word: rush. The writing felt very rushed, and I felt like I was in a rush to finish the book. Which is bad. But… the art was nice. And the action was cool. And seeing Supergirl was cool. But… I dunno. I can see what Perez was going for, and it was a brilliant idea, but the execution was sloppy. This issue felt very out-of-place with the rest, and I can only imagine how trade-readers would feel reading this storyline. But it WAS an improvement over the last few issues. The stupid newscast narrations are still present, but they’re much fewer in number. And the “bad-guy” of the issue was just basically summed up in a cliche “AH-HA! I’M THE HERO AND I’VE FOILED YOUR PLAN! AND I’M GOING TO EXPLAIN EVERY DETAIL OF YOUR PLAN TO YOU DESPITE THE FACT YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS, BUT WHAT THE HECK, HERE’S SOME DRAWN-OUT AND RUSHED EXPOSITION!”. It just kinda comes outta nowhere… but overall, the way I feel about this series is no different than I did in issue 1. It had SO MUCH potential, and there’s things to be loved… but it’s basically a 5.5/10 comic. Here’s hoping the new creative team does better.

AQUAMAN #6

I don’t know what to say. It was good. A fast read. But it was good. However, Ivan Reis doesn’t do the art. No, he does breakdowns here. It fools you into thinking it’s his art, but you eventualy discover a lesser artist is trying to trace his outlines and completely raping the quality of facial expression. Seriously. Lots of character’s faces are unnaturally shaped and looks really long, awkward, and a couple panels it looks like their faces are like alien parasites attached to the front of a blank head and they’re desperately trying to leap off. But art aside, it was just… good. It’s Aquaman! Even if this issue stars Mera. I honestly think reading this after Superman was a mistake, it messed with my enjoyment of this issue somehow. I felt really impatient and just breezed through this one. Also, Mera’s awesome and all, but… I want more Aquaman.

And no, my store did not have a copy of BATMAN VS BANE :(

PICK OF THE WEEK: … Hm. When it comes to pure enjoyment, it’s mostly a toss-up between Teen Titans and Flash. I honestly can’t decide. So I’ll choose them both!