Lobdell write more garbage
Ok, last month, I gave Teen Titans #7 a harsh review, but I stand by it, and re-reading it has not changed my opinion: The overall story is good, and is definitely something I'd like to read, but it was HORRIBLY executed, and a confusing mess, since it never explained key things that kinda need some kind of clearing up, as well as some poor dialogue (which has been plaguing all of Lobdell's books) and a tendency to show, and not tell. Superboy has many similar problems, and while it's not as bad in some areas, it has a whole new batch of problems going for it that really makes Lobdell probably the writer at DC with the worst track record these past 2 months.
First of all, everything Is too word-y. Never are we left with a scene where you can just absorb what's happening based on what is drawn, which is a huge shame because the art is otherwise good. It's not as bad as Teen Titans, where we had kid-flash announce that he was hurt every time a blow struck him, but it's still pretty bad. Now, it would be easier to swallow if the dialogue was in any way well written, but unfortunately that isn't the case. Tom Defalco scripted this issue, and some of the lines are just laughable and cliche-ridden. Here's a few examples.
"Can't let him kill me. Not while I'm still learning to live!"
"You don't have to return to the darkness, the choice is yours."
"the fate of too many lives, and worlds, depends on Caitlin Fairchild"
"How do I beat someone... who laughs at my power?"
Wonder why I didn't add a spoiler warning? Because nothing will make sense anyways. I don't know what went wrong here, but there's so much unexplained that happened that you will have no idea where thus story is going. At first, I thought the story would go from from Superboy to Teen Titans to Superboy to Teen Titans, but instead, we go from superboy to Teen Titans, to this months issue of Teen Titans (not out yet) to this issue of superboy. So we now have a two issue gap we have to read just to have any kind of idea about what exactly is happening in this title, and that is just the worst thing you can do as a writer. Entire scenes are missing, and what I was just left with a confused expression as things are being thrown at me that made no sense whatsoever, in and out of context.
Villains are just awful, as usual. Lobdell is just inventing throwaway characters, and that's gonna bite him in the *** because we're supposed to have these guys appear in the ravagers next month. All of his antagonists have names I've already forgotten, and no personality other than spouting exposition like an unsubtle bond villain and being cocky douches. Apparently, both Lobdell and Defalco think that making a book for teenagers means dumbing down the dialogue. It doesn't. At least he's not throwing out references to I-phones.
But nothing got me angrier than the last page. Full spoilers, but I don't think anyone should really care at this point. Terra and Beast Boy are in this book. and they are apparently captured by nowhere, and from what I can infer, they probably never had any interaction with the original New Teen Titans. My god. It's bad enough Lobdell did some pretty heavy damage to Starfire that he's only barely started to make more tolerable, but now these two show up and have the possibility of sullying perhaps one of the most beloved DC titles from the 1980's? Insert a steady stream of curses here. Now, I am assuming that it's the same beast boy and Terra from the Teen Titans, which I may be mistaken about since there has been multiple people with those names (for Terra at least) and Beast Boys coloring is off, so I may be wrong, but this is just.... Garbage. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Roy Harper imply in Red Hood number 1 that Garth was a part of the team with Dick Grayson and Starfire? I may be mistaken, but if that's the case... then Lobdell is basically contradicting himself with his own work...
This was awful, Teen Titans last month was awful, and this has shattered any hope I had for this series as long as this creative team is still attached. The art is pretty, and Lobdell knows how to come up with a decent concept that will pull people in, but when you are so crappy at the execution, there's really no point in writing at all. I'm done with these two books, and after last months bad issue of Red Hood, I don't think I'm sticking around much longer.
