Yes & Yes!
Um, why aren’t Bryan Q. Miller and Joe Bennett the regular creative team on Teen Titans?! And why aren’t Sean McKeever and Yildiray Cinar working on a solo Ravager series, rather than a back up feature?! This three issue story arc has been phenomenal and I can’t remember in its five year history when I’ve enjoyed this series so much! While this conclusion to “Child’s Play” wasn’t my favorite chapter, it was great seeing the team led by Wonder Girl, naturally using teamwork, and some members defeating their opponents of the new Fearsome Five in very humorous fashions (see Miss Martian telepathically manipulate Mammoth into thinking he’s a teletubby - it doesn’t work quite how she planned it). I was also impressed with the conjuring Gorgon spell Traci 13 cast against the more powerful sorceress, Jinx!
I hope we see more of Traci, despite Blue Beetle wanting his girlfriend to keep her distance from the Titans Tower to protect her from the unfortunate, but truly heroic fate that befelled* Well, I won’t give the Titan’s name away, but Titans fans had his death pegged months back and although he was a minor character in the Titans lineup, past writers had done a superb job building up his role from superhero sidekick to true Teen Titan. Back to Traci, she needs to stick around, if only to knock some sense into the trampy Aquagirl who’s trying to put the moves on Blue Beetle! Aquagirl is a bit of an enigma to me - she’s powerful, sure of herself, and a great team player, but her conduct of the rules between women is something to be desired. I almost feel guilty being a fan of Lorena’s. Hopefully the new writer of Teen Titans will roll with this and flesh the character out a bit more. I’d also like the less self assured Blue Beetle so stand up against Aquagirl and up for his relationship with Traci.
Another great scene was seeing Wonder Girl’s adversary among the team, Bombshell, actually make Cassie face the truth that the trap laid for the team these last few issues and the death of a teammate was not her fault. Cassie’s growing into her role as team leader and accepting that she’s not nearly as perfect as she wishes she was. This is vaguely remincisnt of what Cassie’s idol, former Wonder Girl, Donna Troy went through, when she was leader of the Teen Titans years ago. I was disappointed that neither Wonder Girl, nor any other Titan, gave mention of the missing Kid Eternity who remains a prisoner of Calculator, the manipulator of these recent events.
The Ravager back up story continues its tale of self discovery for Rose who is trying to separate herself from her controlling father’s abusive ways, but begins to understand that there are parts of his destructive personality that carry on through herself. The lacking action of last issue is made up here and we’re given a taste of just how powerful and skillful Ravager is, even in her worst condition (thanks to her drug addiction). I liked that readers are given a definitive rating of her speed, something comic geeks like myself enjoy knowing (like how strong or smart a superhero is compared to another). It makes sense for a young woman such as Rose who’s been trained by a master like her father, Deathstroke, to know their upper power limits – let’s find out more! And also keep this quality level of storytelling for the entire book for years to come!
