Sunday, December 26, 2010

Teen Titans: Cold Case #1

Review: Before we start, it's kind of important to know that this is a flashback issue from back when the Teen Titans comic was still a good read! Time-wise, this is right after Infinite Crisis/One Year Later. Okay, with that out of the way, let's begin. This story opens with Tim Drake(Robin)reliving his father's death from Identity Crisis in a nightmare. Tim wakes up with a start, and discovers Ravager in his bed trying to comfort him... Man, she just can't take a hint, can she? Tim throws Ravager out of his bed, and by this time the rest of the Titans(in this case, Wonder Girl, Cyborg and Kid Devil)walk in the room to see what the commotion was all about. WG is upset that her boyfriend(at the time)was laying nearly naked in his bed with a equally unclothed Ravager on his floor and storms away before Tim has a chance to explain. Angry about the whole situation, Tim lashes out at Ravager, Kid Devil AND Cyborg before storming away. Ravager heads outside and discovers a hologram of her father, Deathstroke the Terminator. Deathstroke seems to be aware of Ravager's Tim-troubles, and tells her he has something that would give Robin some closure, as well as get Ravager back in Tim's good graces. This mystery item seems to be locked in a suitcase... Before Ravager can get any further answers, Deathstroke shuts down the hologram, and Ravager heads off to one of Deathstroke's safe-houses. Upon entering, she discovers a mirror that appears to be a portal to... somewhere, and is prepared to hop in, before Kid Devil reveals that he followed Ravager. Kid Devil tells Ravager that he was there to assist her, but warns her that the mirror portal would indicate that Deathstroke was working with Mirror Master, and perhaps the rest of the Flash's Rogues. Ravager, being Ravager, ignores all that nonsense and leaps into the mirror, followed by Kid Devil. The two Titans pop out of the mirror right in the middle of a poker game between Capt. Cold, Mirror Master and Trickster. The fight is relatively even until Ravager notices a suitcase in a display case, along with Capt. Boomerang's costume. This distraction proves costly, as the Rogues manage to defeat Kid Devil, and then capture Ravager as well. Back at Titans Tower, Tim is feeling badly about how he treated Ravager and tries to talk to her, but discovers that both her and Kid Devil were gone. After checking out the security cameras, the Titans learn that Ravager was talking to Deathstroke(actually his hologram)outside, and figure she had kidnapped Kid Devil for her evil father. Since Tim had placed a bug on Ravager, the heroes know that she was in the Flash Museum in Central City, which is naturally where they decide to go. Meanwhile, the Rogues speak to Deathstroke through one of Mirror Master's mirrors, and we find out that Capt. Cold was willing to trade Ravager to Deathstroke, provided Deathstroke told the Rogues the location of Capt. Boomerang(not that fat, old, bald, useless one, but the second one, Owen Mercer). Before the villains can complete their transaction, the Titans manage to discover their whereabouts, via a broken mirror in the Flash Museum. The heroes arrive at the Rogues base, but learn that the trio of villains had reinforced their numbers by calling in pretty much every single Flash villain out there! After an extended battle, Cyborg manages to get his hands on Mirror Master's gun, and after tinkering with it creates a portal for the Titans to escape through, since it was apparent the Titans wouldn't be able to defeat THAT many villains. The Titans escape, with Ravager managing to snag the suitcase before she made good her escape as well. Back home, Ravager gives Tim the suitcase, and he opens it and finds... a gun. Most likely the gun his father used to kill Capt. Boomerang before his own death during the Identity Crisis x-over. Tim takes the gun and contemplates his past, and future, and this issue comes to a close with Deathstroke talking to the mounted head of his old friend Wintergreen, telling him everything had worked out for the best, and that one day Ravager would take her rightful place by his side again.

Thoughts: See, THIS is the Teen Titans the way I want them to be... Tim, WG, Ravager, even Kid Devil. That's the team I enjoyed, before the bottom fell out. This comic was such a welcome read, pretty much containing everything I'd have hoped for... A Tim-heavy story, Deathstroke and Ravager, the Rogues, and a story that tied in nicely with the past, as well as the Titans Tomorrow storyline. I guess if I HAD to state a gripe, I'd say that the ending, with the Rogues stupidly losing the suitcase to Ravager, was a bit disappointing, but other than that, I really can't find anything to complain about... This was the Titans the way I like them.

Score: 9 out of 10.Sheesh, some women just can't take a hint!

26 comments:

  1. Dude, Tim should have just gone for it. Who cares if she's crazy and only has one eye?

    I'm kind of sad that I passed this up now that I know a lot of the other rogues were in the issue. Thanks for reviewing it X!

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  2. Eh, since Ravager had no connection to Superboy, a Tim/Rose hook-up just was not to be...

    Pretty much ALL of the Rogues were in this one, Kello! I probably scored this comic a tad too high, but I really enjoyed this period of the DCU(you know, before GEOFF Johns went insane!), so I couldn't help myself. I THINK JT picked this one up but didn't review it... Maybe he'd be more unbiased with his score. Me? I loved nearly everything about it.

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  3. Lmao @ you implying that Tim is gay for Superboy AGAIN. That never gets old to me. Ad I actually did pick this up but I've yet to give it a read, I'll drop a score over on this post whenever I do get around to reading it.

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  4. Implying? I'm not implying anything! It couldn't BE more obvious!!! I personally just wish they'd have Tim come out of the closet and be done with it. I doubt DC would EVER actually do it(Marvel, maybe), but it's like the ultimate unwritten Tim Drake-ism...

    Looking forward to your score, JT. I'm still thinking I scored this one a tad high.

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  5. Haha, I think Fabian is trying to remedy that by having Tim be such a ladies man. Funny thing is if Tim did come out he'd be the highest profile gay character in comics.

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  6. LOL to the other comments!
    Did anyone else notice that Ravanger's thong has Robin's symbol on it? STALKER! I'm not sure what's sadder, the fact that it's there, or the fact that I noticed it. Hey X, I loved this period of Teen Titan's history too, but things don't add up. When the team only consisted of Robin, Cyborg, Wondergirl, Ravanger and Kid Devil, and not Miss Martian, Cassie was still mourning the death of Superboy and so she couldn't have been dating Tim. I remembered that they tried it twice, with one the times being after the Titans Tomorrow storyline, but I know that the first time was well after Superboy's death. Opinions?

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  7. Is Tim really being THAT much of a ladies man though, JT? Even when that Lynx chick kissed him, he freaked and pushed her away, which is pretty much what Tim does EVERYTIME a girl kisses him. Trust me, I know! After reading almost 200 issues of Robin, it's almost NEVER Tim who instigates the kiss, it's ALWAYS the girl, which leaves Tim standing there looking surprised, before he pushes her away. Yep, he def would be the highest profile gay character, but there's NO way DC would turn such a high profile character gay, no matter how obvious it may seem!

    Hmm... Well Cole, I do thing I remember that Cassie and Tim hooked up pretty soon after the One Year Later event(after Cassie found Tim trying to clone SB in that secret lab), so I'm not sure if they weren't dating at the time this story would have been told. As for the absence of Miss Martian, that can easily be explained away by saying she was on vacation, at school, or a dozen different things. I don't really have a problem with the timing in this issue, but I also can't claim to remember who was where and who was dating whom either... You could very easily be correct. Maybe if I get bored enough during my vacation I'll dig out those Teen Titans to see how quickly Cassie and Tim hooked up... I still think it was pretty soon into the One Year Later storyline, but I very well could be wrong!

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  8. I think Tim is supposed to be chivalrous, and that's why he doesn't play the field as much as he could/should. I do remember that he kissed Spoiler when he found out she was alive.

    I honestly wish Tim would just get with Tam Fox already though.

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  9. Yes, and true, I do think that's the vibe most writers go with Tim... But the fact that the ONLY girl he ever actually tried to sleep with was Cassie, and this was right after SB slept with her, does raise some alarms in my head. Besides that, his reaction to SB's death was so much more devastated than the deaths of both his father and Spoiler also added more credence to the "Tim is gay" theory. I mean you can go all over the Net and find plenty of people who feel the same thing. I sometimes wonder if some writers(Sean McKeever and to an extent, Geoff Johns himself)really played up Tim's ambiguity for fun too.

    If not Superboy :P I wish Tim would hook up with Batgirl/Spoiler. IMO he should definitely be with one of those two.

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  10. Lmmfao @ one of those two.I say Tim and Steph should be together, they're the next Babs and Dick, and I want a Tim/Steph, Jason/Huntress, Babs/Dick team up, then I can die happy.

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  11. Ahh poor JT... You'll probably be waiting forever for the Jason Todd/Huntress relationship... :P

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  12. I know, meaning I'll be forced to die all miserable! Lol

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  13. Just finished reading this, It was cool but I hated the art, especially how Cassie, Rose and Tim looked. Oh and Slade looking like an old hobo annoyed me. I also thought this was a two-parter, not a one-shot but I guess I was wrong. Anyway, art aside the story was okay but nothing great. Tim was very out of character, even after everything he'd been through. I can't see him slapping Rose with a comic book. I'd give this a 7.5/10.

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  14. I LOVED when Tim threw the comic in Ravager's face! :P I thought it was a two-parter as well... Didn't the title even say something like "part 1"? That was definitely weird. As for the art, you know me! If it isn't great or awful, I don't notice it, and I can't remember thinking anything about the art. Hmm... Maybe my 9 was a tad too high then...

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  15. Haha I thought it did say part one of two. Maybe they changed it for some reason? Either way I know I'm not crazy now.

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  16. No, you're still crazy, just not for that. :P

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  17. Maybe I'm just crazy for befriending a guy like you! :P

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  18. That's probably ONE of the reasons. :P

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  19. More like the ONLY reason! Bwahahahaha

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  20. Well still, that's reason enough! :P

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  21. Damn you X... you clever son of a gun, you.

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  22. Thank you, thank you very much! I'll be here all week!

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  23. In that case, I'll be back next week. :P

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  24. Sorry for the necro, but can you SPECIFICALLY tell me when does this story happen "after Infinite Crisis" ?

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