Titans #13

This is the penultimate issue of the "Deathtrap" storyline. Hopefully this issue will FINALLY shed some light onto exactly what Jericho's evil plan is!

-This comic opens with Jericho taking the entire Hamilton Grande Hotel hostage in an effort to lure the Teen Titans and the Titans to him. Jericho rigs the place with explosives and shoots a hostage on TV to show he means business.

-The two Titans teams arrive and Jericho explains that if he lets go of the trigger he was holding the place would explode. Jericho has the Titans stand near the hostages, who are now wired with explosives so he can kill them all. Jericho explains that after he kills the Titans, he'll kill his father and be crowned the world's greatest assassin.

-Ravager tries to talk sense into Jericho, but he leaps out a window, sets off the bombs and jumps into the body of a cop he tied up earlier.

-All of the Titans appear to be dead, except for Cyborg who was out of commission due to Vigilante earlier in the x-over. Cyborg wakes up and charges out of the hospital screaming for Jericho.

-Vigilante also begins to stalk Jericho, tracking him to Central Park.

-Jericho himself continues to lose his mind as he believes the Titans are asking him why he killed them. From there he imagines Deathstroke taunting him, to which he tells the faux Deathstroke that he intends to kill him. At that moment, the real Deathstroke arrives on the scene and tells Jericho to give it his best shot.

I'm glad that we finally get to see Jericho's plan in action, although it all seemed kind of anticlimactic. Blowing the Titans up in an explosion? It just seemed kind of impersonal to me. Plus, would an explosion even cause someone like Donna or Wonder Girl to miss a beat? The whole thing seemed a bit ill-conceived. Of course I'm glad Deathstroke finally shows up, but I can't help but feel that he should have shown up a bit earlier in this x-over.

For a score, I'll give this issue a 7 1/2 out of 10. This issue was the best one of the entire x-over by far, but with that said, there was still plenty wrong. My money is still on Vigilante killing Jericho as this x-over concludes, but I really don't see what exactly that accomplishes. I guess Deathstroke would then be hunting for Vigilante. Unless something totally unexpected happens to end this x-over, I have to say this whole thing just seemed purposeless.