Comic Book Review: Teen Titans #48

It appears that we have the obligatory tie-in issue headed out way with Teen Titans #48. We shall be dealing with the events from the Amazons Attack storyline. I have no idea what is going on with the Amazons Attack story nor do I have any interest in getting that mini-series. So, I’m sure that Teen Titans #48 will be pure filler and largely a waste of time and paper. Let’s go ahead and do this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Adam Beechen
Penciller: Al Barrionuevo
Inker: Bit

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Supergirl and Wonder Girl arriving at an internment camp where women with suspected ties to the Amazons are being held. Evidently, Wonder Girl’s mom is also being held at this camp. The soldiers guarding the camp tell Supergirl and Wonder Girl to leave immediately.

Wonder Girl refuses to leave without her mother. The two girls square off against the soldiers. The Teen Titans then arrive on the scene. Robin tells Wonder Girl he wants to help her and that she is their family. Wonder Girl responds that Robin doesn’t care about her. If he did then he wouldn’t keep Match around knowing what he does to her and Robin won’t even talk about what happened between the two of them. Robin says they do need to talk, but there is a time and place for everything.

Robin tells Wonder Girl to stand down. Robin asks the commanding officer if he can contact his superiors to see if they can negotiate something. Wonder Girl storms off and catches the image of Ares in a mirror of an army jeep. Ares tells Wonder Girl to stop wasting her powers. That there are things more important to the world and to him. Wonder Girl says that she can choose to use her powers however she wants. Ares responds that no one can make Wonder Girl do anything except maybe her true family.

Supergirl spouts off telling Miss Martian that Supergirl is way out of her league. The commanding officer then tells Robin that his superiors have told him that there will be no negotiations. Furthermore, that the officer has now been ordered to arrest Wonder Girl and Supergirl. The soldiers then start firing on Supergirl and Wonder Girl.

Supergirl and Wonder Girl then attack the soldiers. Ravager tells Robin that they need to stop Wonder Girl so she focuses her powers on them and not the soldiers. Robin grudgingly agrees.

Miss Martian flies up to engage Supergirl. Supergirl once again retorts that Miss Martian is not in Supergirl’s league. The two girls start brawling. Miss Martian starts slapping the spit out of Supergirl. Blondie suddenly realizes that Miss Martian is most definitely in Super Barbie’s league.

Wonder Girl fights with Ravager, Kid Devil and Robin. During the fight, Wonder Girl tells Robin that she is going to do whatever she can to free her mom. Wonder Girl kicks Robin and he flies through the fence surrounding the internment camp. Robin then lands smack on top of Wonder Girl’s mom.

Wonder Girl rushes to her mom’s side. Her mom says that she is all right. Wonder Girl’s mom says that Cassie cannot do this. That she will only make people fear her more. That if she fights then innocent people will get hurt. That Wonder Girl has to leave her mom here and find another way. That Wonder Girl and Supergirl have to make them listen but not by fighting.

Wonder Girl agrees to do what her mother says. Robin approaches Wonder Girl and tells her that the Titans will help her figure out what to do. Wonder Girl snaps that Robin has already shown her how he helps when she needs it. With that, Supergirl and Wonder Girl flies off. On their way out, the two girls destroy the Titan’s ship so that they can’t follow them.

The soldiers then turn all their guns on the Titans and inform them that they are under arrest for the crime of associating with known threats to the United States.

We cut to Wonder Girl and Supergirl arriving in Washington D.C. and meeting with Queen Hippolyta. Wonder Girl asks Hippolyta to make peace. That innocents are being harmed like her mother. Wonder Girl asks if Hippolyta has spoken with the President yet. Hippolyta comments that the President is hiding from her in his plane. Wonder Girl says what if she brought the President to her? Would she speak to the President then? Hippolyta agrees that she would.

Wonder Girl then tells Supergirl to come with her. That they are going to pull the president out of Air Force One and bring him back to talk to Hippolyta. The two heroines fly off.

Artemis approaches Hippolyta and tells the Queen that she is wise to parlay for peace before more blood is shed. Hippolyta sneers and says forget about parley. That if the girl succeed then they will be handed the prisoner they need to win this war.

Comments
The Good: You know, for an obligatory tie-in issue to a big story event, Teen Titans #48 wasn’t that bad. Why? Well, because it moved along at a fast pace making it a quick read and delivered plenty of good action. If I’m going to have to suffer through a tie-in issue to some big event that I could care less about, at least give me tons of fighting. And we certainly got that.

It was great to see Miss Martian beating the hell out of a snotty Supergirl. This automatically made Miss Martian my new favorite Titan. The fight scene showed the reader that Miss Martian is definitely a force to be reckoned with. There is no doubt that this new addition to the Titans’ roster is already one of their heavy hitters.

We also got some pretty good drama between Robin and Wonder Girl. There are numerous unresolved issues between these two characters. Between Conner’s death, keeping Match around Titans Tower, the kiss and Robin’s avoidance of talking to Cassie about all the above have lead to plenty of tension.

And it looks like this issue just made the strained relationship between these two even worse. I’m interested to see if Tim and Cassie are able to finally have that heart to heart talk to patch up their relationship. I still have this feeling that Cassie and Tim are going to hook up.

We also got a pretty decent hook ending with the Titans being place under arrest by the U.S. Army and Hippolyta revealing that she has no intention of negotiating with the President. Wow, has Hippolyta always been so nasty? Wasn’t she the original Wonder Woman with the JSA? I mean, Hippolyta is one manipulative and evil bitch.

I have no idea what is going on with the Amazons Attack storyline so maybe it is consistent with Hippolyta’s character as of late. It certainly seems that DC has selected a rather bold and new direction for the Amazons.

And was Beechen taking a playful shot at Marvel’s Civil War with this issue. Beechen makes a point by having Cassie’s mother give a long speech on how what Cassie and Supergirl is doing is the wrong way to respond to the various women begin rounded up who have suspected ties to the Amazons. Cassie’s mother points out that Wonder Girl’s fighting with the U.S. Army would only serve to make your average person afraid of her and that such fighting would only lead to innocent people getting hurt and simply exacerbate the matter. That there are much better ways to go about fighting the detainment of these women with suspected ties to the Amazons.

Cassie’s method of dealing with the detainment of the suspected women is the same as Captain America’s method of dealing with the Registration Act. Maybe Beechen is poking fun at Marvel by showing how Captain America’s reaction to the Registration Act was irrational and the incorrect method to employ in that situation. Or maybe not. I’m probably just reading waaaaay too much into this issue. I probably am since I don’t find the Amazons Attack storyline particularly interesting and I’m trying to find something compelling about this story.

I was impressed with Barrionuevo’s effort on this issue. I have always thought that Barrionuevo was a solid artist. I was first exposed to his work on the Martian Manhunter mini-series. My biggest criticism of his artwork was how he drew the faces of the characters. His characters tended to have very blank and cold faces that looked more like mannequins than living breathing people.

Well, Barrionuevo has clearly been working hard at his craft continually trying to get better and better. I noticed that he has changed his style a little and has really made great strides with drawing much better faces. The faces of the characters in this issue look much more human with lots more warmth and emotion.

The Bad: If the point of this tie-in issues was to get me interested in the Amazons Attack storyline then it failed miserably. I still have no interest at all in the Amazons Attack storyline. I don’t even understand why the Amazons are on this rampage. This seems like a bit of a lame story.

In the end, Teen Titans #48 is nothing more than an advertisement for the Amazons Attack mini-series. This issue really slams this title into neutral since absolutely no Titans related plotlines get any advancement at all. To be sure, Teen Titans #48 is pure filler.

Overall: Teen Titans #48 was exactly what I expected it to be: just an attempt by DC to shill for the Amazons Attack mini-series. This issue is nothing more than filler and will not deal with any of the current plotlines that we had brewing on the Teen Titans. Readers can easily skip this issue and not worry about missing out on anything Titans related.