The End.
So it is here, the issue that closes out this volume of Titans history. Some a thrilled, some are sad, but we all know the Titans will return sooner than we expected.
So, what do we have in this final issue?; We have art by Kenneth Rocafort and a Teen Titan story by Scott Lobdell. And it's about what you can expect from the duo, but with a twist.
Possible spoilers ahoy!
The Story:
The story continues from the last of the regular issues' where the Titans got back to the present, only to find Bunker and Beast Boy fighting a pair of tools from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. After beating those, Skitter shows up again with her 'mom' in tow and a rather ham-fisted explanation for her disappearance, plus letting us all know she's a borderline super-scientist ala Static. Raven suddenly finds out Trigon's lost his grip on her. And to top it all off, Grymm, the saw-mouthed nutcase from waaay back shows up and blows up the boat.
Very much like the last of the normal issues, this story primarily seems to set out to tie up nearly every last plot thread thats been left behind over the last 2.5 years. If this whole volume had been planned out so everything came together now, then it could have been great, but it's neither. Characters and threads come and go, just to show that they are either still around or to get closed out and it just doesn't gel. It's a bit like Lobdell wrote this with a list next to him detailing all the things he'd left behind, and subsequently ticked each of them off when he managed to squeeze them into these last two issues.
As needlessly as it is, with the book being relaunched in 2-3 months, there is an epilogue narrated by a dead guy who's now become... no, you really need to read what he's become. Which again reminds us where Lobdell made his name.
The Art:
Well there is not so much to say about it, it's Kenneth Rocafort, some will say that is a great thing. Me? He's not my kind of artist, and lets leave it at that. All this issue really does for me is confirm how big a mistake Rocafort made when he over-designed Raven's outfit, not even he gets them all.
Between the lines:
Ok, this is a little odd because this issue opens up with a couple of pages where I believe Lobdell is going very meta on us bitter readers who never warmed to his interpretation of the Teen Titans. And he has Red Robin apologizing for his team not being what people wanted. To me, that's a nice gesture... especially as Lobdell said in an interview he couldn't bring himself to apologize for the run.
The Future:
Now, I am going to assume the next version of the team is not getting as obliterated as September solicitations suggested with the 5 year jump. So where does this book leave the members?: Well the team formally disbands for a while and... it's weird, a couple of them go back to square one where we picked them up in issue 1 with a little more weight under their wings, two head in a direction that appears to be a dead end already, two are still running for their lives while declaring their love for one another... and one appears to have found a greater calling.
So that is is for this run, personally I am happy it's over, it's not been an easy ride. But at least it doesn't leave a bunch of things behind the next writer will have to deal with. Hopefully he decides to tune the characters a bit more into the people they used to be.