Teen Titans has faced with some ups and downs early on in its life. The last issue wasn’t the biggest highlight as it acted as more of a transition between the Teen Titans conflict with the Demon’s Fist and Damian Wayne gaining the acceptance of his new team. Now that things are moving forward with Damian going to meet his grandfather, Ra’s Al Ghul, things for the Teen Titans should pick up once again. Will the reunion be a happy family one? Or will the leader of the League of Assassins have something even more sinister planned for his grandson? Let’s find that out now with Teen Titans #4.
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Khoi Pham
Inker: Wade Von Grawbadger
Colorist: Jim Charalampidis
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Robin kneels before Ra’s Al Ghul. Robin asks his grandfather to call off the Demon’s Fist and to spare the Teen Titans.
Ra’s picks Robin up by his neck and tells his grandson that it won’t be that easy. Ra’s drags Robin to his palace while telling his grandson that if he wants Ra’s to forgive him he’ll have to prove his loyalty.
As the palace doors close Beast Boy transform back to his original self after having followed Robin as a small fly. Beast Boy is stunned at what he just saw take place with Robin and Ra’s.
Inside the palace Ra’s reminds Robin how much time he dedicated train Robin to be his successor, much more time than Batman ever gave him, and that Robin just threw that away. He then has Robin look into the Mirror of Truth and asks him what he sees. While Ra’s sees Robin becoming himself Robin sees Batman as his reflection.
Robin brings up that he did what his grandfather wanted and once again asks that he spare the Teen Titans. Ra’s says that Robin can make that order himself.
The Demon’s Fist enter the chamber that Ra’s and Robin are in. Mara takes off her mask and says that the scar he gave her has been her motivation to train to in order to kill Robin.
Mara goes to attack Robin but stops when she sees that he isn’t defending himself. Robin says he will only fight Mara in a Trial By Combat with the conditions being that if Robin wins the hit on the Teen Titans is called off and if Mara wins than that means Robin is dead just as she wanted.
While the other members of the Demon’s Fist don’t like that they may not be able to kill their targets Mara reminds them that she is their leader. Ra’s interjects and says he wants to see the outcome of this Trial By Combat.
Elsewhere Beast Boy is able to get to where the Teen Titans are hiding out underwater in one of Batman’s jets. Inside Beast Boy fills the others in on what he discovered. While Kid Flash doesn’t buy the story, Starfire says she is impressed by Robin’s decision. She goes on to say that while he has his flaws, like a mushroom from her planet, Robin is a good person. Raven backs Starfire up by saying that Robin isn’t that much different from most of them with their own screwed-up histories.
Starfire asks Beast Boy what he thinks. Beast Boy hesitates at first but then admits that he blames himself for not being able to save Red Robin (Tim Drake) from dying. He goes on to say that they may lose another Robin if they don’t do something. The rest of the Teen Titans agree with Beast Boy and decide to save Robin together.
In his room, Robin is doing some solo training before the Trial By Combat, doing his best to psyche himself up in the process. Ra’s enters the room and tells Robin it is time for the fight.
On a stone bridge that is over a pool of lava, Robin and Mara get ready to fight. Mara tries to get in Robin’s head by saying that his parents abandoned him but he quickly brushes off the insults.
Robin and Mara clash with their swords and fight throughout the cave they are in while avoiding falling into the pool of lava. Mara is able to get Robin on the defensive but he soon turn things around by throwing his sword at a rock that lands into the pool of lava. The splash from the rock causes some lava to hit Mara on her mask. She takes of her mask before it burns her to death. Robin uses this opportunity to pin Mara to the ground.
Robin does not kill Mara, instead he demands Ra’s to declare him the winner and to call off the hit on the Teen Titans. Mara gets back up and throws a knife into Robin’s back. Mara calls Robin a mere sidekick that everyone will be better off not being around. Ra’s displays his disappointment with the outcome.
On the shore of Infinity Island the Teen Titans quickly knock out the League of Assassins member guarding the front entrance.
The Demon’s Fist, without Mara, drop Robin off in a cell. They all share their disappointment over Mara’s selfishness leading only to her being the one to graduate. They are also angry with Robin for his betrayal by leaving their group, though they think he was a better leader than Mara. They then leave Robin chained to the floor and throw a dying bat next to him.
Robin is left to sulk alone but he doesn’t have to do for long as the door to his cell is blown open. Robin thinks that it’s Mara there to kill him but it is actually the Teen Titans there to save him. End of issue.
The Good: After four issues of the team arguing if they should all be working together we finally see the Teen Titans come together to unite under their new team leader. Reaching this point was not the smoothest but Benjamin Percy is able to make this sense of unity feel like a big move forward for everyone on the Teen Titans. In turn, this makes the conflict with Ra’s Al Ghul and Demon’s Fist pick up some much needed steam.
As much as Damian Wayne’s story has been about his struggle between his past training under the League of Assassins and his current desire to prove himself as Robin and future Batman it’s a story that has not gotten old. Percy is able to tap into what makes this part of Damian’s character such an interesting hook. And with Teen Titans #4 he is able to use Damian’s history to establish how much he has changed, especially with his choice not to kill Mara at the end of their Trial By Combat. Now it is just going to be about Damian accepting that he has changed from how he used to act that’ll be the next major step he takes in his evolution as Robin.
Bringing Ra’s Al Ghul to directly address this internal battle that Damian has between his past and present made the story even stronger. Ever since he debut it has been rare to see Damian and Ra’s interact without Batman or Talia around. So because of that it was very interesting to see how much pride Ra’s has in the training he provided Damian before he left and how even in disappointed that he left Ra’s still wants him as his heir. This speaks to Ra’s own hubris that Percy does well in tapping into.
Ra’s and Damian’s interaction provided an added layer Robin’s conflict with the Demon’s Fist, with Mara in particular. While it has been mentioned in previous issues Teen Titans #4 does drive home how Damian really did abandon everything he was raised to become and choosing to become Robin. This sense of abandonment gives Mara even more incentive to drive how much she hates Damian. Her speech about the scar that Damian gave being her motivation for training made it believable that she could defeat Damian, even though we know Damian would win.
This personal conflict between Damian and Mara also helped to give us more insight into the rest of the members of the Demon’s Fist. Percy was wise to play up how they felt betrayed that Mara put her own goals ahead of what is best for the team she is supposed to lead. This made the dig about Damian being the better leader has greater impact. At the same time I liked that even with the Demon’s Fist saying all this they still hate Damian even more because of his choices.
While Damian’s conflict with the League of Assassins took up the majority of the issue the other members of the Teen Titans got the right amount of screen time to develop their side of the story. After having spent so many issues on the members coming together and arguing if they should actually be a team this change was actually a good thing. This allowed Percy to use what he established before with each character and get right into how they have to stop wasting time arguing in order to save Robin.
Beast Boy and Starfire acting as the key voices to bring them together was a big step forward for both characters. Beast Boy’s speech specifically was the best dialogue the character has been given in a long time. Having him come to accept that his regret in not being able to save Tim Drake was something Percy has been building towards since launching this series and I’m glad he made this step forward before this story arc ends.
Khoi Pham is the right artist for this series. He provides this series with a lot of youthful energy and Teen Titans #4 shows this from beginning to end. With the focus being so heavy on Damian’s conflict with the League of Assassins Pham was able to flex his action muscles. I especially like how he is drawing each of the Demon’s Fist’s as they all have very unique designs compared to the normal members of the League of Assassins.
The Bad: It may annoy some people that Damian continues to get the bulk of the attention with this first story arc. As I mentioned earlier, the other members of the Teen Titans were not in a lot of this issue. As the series moves forward Percy will need to find a way to balance the development of all the Teen Titans while also developing the main conflict with their villains.
Overall: Teen Titans #4 is exactly the issue that this story arc needed to move forward with. The main conflict between Robin and his grandfather, Ra’s Al Ghul, added further depth to the fight between the Teen Titans and Demon’ Fist. This depth made the fight between Robin and Mara have a greater impact to the overarching story Benjamin Percy has crafter. And while the other Teen Titans didn’t get a lot of screen time Percy did maximize how much of them we saw and give some much needed character development for Beast Boy. Now with the Teen Titans united the conflict with the Ra’s and the Demon’s Fist should only intensify.
