No more monkeybuisness
A new month a new issue of Teen Titans and now one month closer to everything getting the Flashpoint Makeover.
Story-wise, this is a big fight issue that will conclude in the next issue where the Teen Titans and Solstice will face off against Rankor, demon king of hindu myth, his army and his walking chair. If it was a movie, you could say its like the Two Towers preceding the Return of the King. So maybe this issue isn't supposed to be read for all the interpersonal relationshipping that's been going on the last two of this arc and instead focus on the fight.
But it is a little confusing to me how someone like Beast Boy can deal out more damage than someone like Superboy, unless the realm they are in are siphoning off SB strength there really isn't an explanation how Beast Boy can clock out the same demon as a Grizzly Bear. While Superboy is as vulnerable as Superman when it comes to magic, it is not Kryptonite or red sunlight. (Superman for example doesn't get nauseous or dizzy around Fate, Zatanna or even Etrigan does he?)
Now, as can be expected from the cover, this is very much a Beast Boy centered issue where we get into his head and read his thought and what he thinks of himself and why he doesn't usually have a problem being regarded as a joke by others, while he knows he is not and cant really be the funny guy when mentoring a team. Also during this issue we see him take on the more 'special' aspect of his powers that fans/readers cant decide are a part of them or not as he takes on the form of a huge yeti-like ape. Personally I don't get why he should be limited to ordinary creatures when DCU has Wonder Woman and Dr. Fate fight all sorts of very real monstrosities when he can morph into creatures that have mostly been dead for millions of years that we can only speculate how they moved and such.
Also this issue will see Solstice play damsel-in-distress for a moment before boldly refusing to not help the Titans.
Most of the other Titans are pretty much there without much impact, except Raven letting the demon/solstice-vibe get to her again.
Art-wise this issue is a bit of a bummer really as Scott is only doing some of the art this time, leaving it to Jose Luis (did some work on Henderson's Titans) to fill in for her. Sadly Scott have some pretty big boots and Luis isn't quite there as some of the lines aren't as well defined as Scott's would have been. But considering the next two months will be double shipping Titans to reach the magic #100 by august, it's understandable that even gifted artists can do more than twice their normal work in half the time.
Future potential; there are a lot of questions still hanging up there after this issue; why did everyone get picked off so easily? Why didn't Rankor just swamp them if it was that easy? What is up with Raven? Why does Krul's run has to end so soon when Johns could pull 50 issues? And how battered will the team be at the end of #97 when they are this battered now? Hopefully next month will tell.
Should you buy it?
Well if you want to save stuff before the world of Old DC falls off its axis at the end of August, then definitely, but you'd buy all things DC then.
You should buy it if you want to see Beast Boy kicking butt, because he certainly does that here, but again you probably should since he's, at the time of writing, not been announced to be anywhere in the new DCU. (Neither he, Raven, Ravager or Solstice has.)
Arts a bit dodgy and the story points noted above are a bit weird, but it all ultimately works.
Finally, it is not the best Krul issue i have read, but you need to read this if you want to know how they got from #95 to #97.
