The Good

The first thing that jumped out at me this issue was the sense of team camaraderie. That's something that has been slowly building and the different stories and crossovers ('The Culling') have almost prevented the relationships from developing further.

What we see is an immediate call to action when Wonder Girl is in trouble. There isn't any explanation as to what is really going on with her. Tim simply gets things moving, putting a lot at risk, in order to help her out. The scenes with Tim, Superboy and Wonder Girl give us a little reminder to how things used to be and could possibly be once again.

What's interesting in this issue is we're finding out more about Wonder Girl. While she is still essentially the same character as before, we're seeing that there are some big differences from that girl first introduced in John Byrne's run in WONDER WOMAN. What's odd is these changes aren't bothering as much as the possible changes we'll be seeing next issue. Of course it's a matter of who the character is that can make a difference. Seeing Cassie with a different and mysterious past has kept us guessing. We don't know much about this Diesel guy that has suddenly shown up and that's part of the fun here, seeing how it's going to come into play.

Brett Booth's art captures the action nicely. He has to convey the feeling of inner struggle with Wonder Girl and her armor. Along with the colors by Andrew Dalhouse, we clearly have a nice 'superhero' feel that makes each page feel lively.

The Bad

Who is this Diesel character? I mentioned the good aspect of having a mystery but his arrogance immediately makes him an unlikable character. Of course we're not supposed to like him but not liking a character, even a potential villain, makes it hard to get excited to find out more.

As the struggle to help Cassie unfolds, Tim had previously told the other members to stand down. Cassie, in this form, was too dangerous for them to try to take on. You would think getting as much firepower as possible to subdue her would make sense but it was likely more a case of Tim trying to make a less aggressive plea to Cassie to fight from the inside. If so, that's great but it left the other characters sitting around waiting for something to happen.

We also only get fifteen pages of the main story along with a five page back up that continues Fabian Nicieza' story from last week's DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS with Kid Flash. It gives an odd feel to the comic and is bound to cause frustration for readers that did not pick up last week's issue. I wasn't thrilled with the characters Bart had to deal with (Dino-Kids) and wasn't too interested to see more of them.

The Verdict

The mystery surrounding Wonder Girl's past continues to deepen. We will find out more but will have to wait until after next month's zero issue. With Cassie's struggle over her armor, we get to see Red Robin and Superboy work together to try to help her. This gives a stronger sense to the fact that they are part of a team, even if we haven't seen a full blown acceptance by some of the members about the team. We get to see a new character that will clearly pose a huge threat for the team in the future. This may not be the Teen Titans we had before the New 52 but seeing them work together is making the team more appealing. It was just unfortunate that we had a shortened main story with a back up that continued the story from last week's DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS. At least we know everyone will be talking about this series after the zero issue.