Titans #1 - DC Comics

TITANS No. 1, July 2023

Ingeniously hooking his audience straight from the start by penning Wally West’s mysterious murder, Tom Taylor’s script for Issue One of “Titans” certainly appears to live up to the ongoing series’ prepublication hype of Dick Grayson’s friends being the “new premier superhero team” in the Dawn of DC Comics’ relaunched universe. Indeed, Garfield Logan, Princess Koriand'r and Donna Troy’s impressive dismantling of a King Kong-sized Titano just outside a nuclear power plant, strongly suggests the upcoming protectors of the Earth are more than “ready for the big leagues.”

Happily however, the “New York Times bestselling author” doesn’t simply pit “the no-longer-teen heroes” against a villainous giant gorilla, but also provides them with a worthy adversary who theoretically should be working alongside them for the greater good of Humanity. The Peacemaker has arguably always been something of a controversial character, considering Charlton Comics’ original creation is essentially a “deadly vigilante who would kill at the slightest provocation”. So his presence representing the President of the United States of America immediately grabs the reader’s attention, especially once he starts feuding with Batman’s protégé; “The existence of the Titans is antagonistic. Do you honestly believe we will allow so much unchecked power to operate freely?”

Similarly as beguiling is the aforementioned death of the Flash to an unknown assassin who shot him straight through the heart from behind at point-blank range. Whether the “Fastest Man Alive” is going to be able to recover from such a terminal wound tantalisingly remains rather murky throughout this “landmark” twenty-four-page periodical, courtesy of the Scarlet Speedster desperately attempting to use the Cosmic Treadmill to change his fate before his lifeless corpse is shockingly found in Bludhaven. Yet many a bibliophile will doubtless become ensnared enough to pre-order this title’s subsequent instalment from their local comic bookstore, so as to find out more.

Ably assisting Taylor in his storytelling are Nicola Scott’s extremely lifelike layouts, whose detailed pencilling, particularly when it comes to the cast’s facial features, appears a far cry from the zany cartoon caricatures seen on the small screen as part of the (Teen) Titan’s 2009 American animated television series. In addition, the Sydney-born illustrator does a fantastic job of imbuing Peacemaker with some almost palpable testosterone when he swaggers out from inside a military helicopter to aggressively confront Nightwing and unsuccessfully lay down the law of the land.

Writer: Tom Taylor, Artist: Nicola Scott, and Colorist: Annette Kwok