Titans #8 - DC Comics

TITANS No. 8, April 2024

Debatably penning the titular characters as the actual antagonists in Issue Eight of “Titans”, at least in the eyes of “newly established Bureau of Sovereignty” member Sergeant Steel and an utterly ungrateful nameless member of the American public, Tom Taylor’s narrative should most definitely raise the blood pressure of the super-team’s fans. In fact, for some bibliophiles it’s probably difficult to imagine a more enraging tone to a comic as the anti-hero hysteria which permeates this twenty-page-periodical’s plot; “Yeah. I watch the news. We know exactly who you are, and we know exactly what he is. Get the hell away from my kids, Beast!”

Equally as engrossing as this palpable ingratitude towards the group who literally saved the world from the Necrostar’s attack, is the Australian author’s sub-thread depicting Raven as a covert thrall of her utterly evil patriarch, Trigon. This treacherous subterfuge does not bode well for a band of crime-fighting champions already struggling with their public image following the “Beast World” multi-title event, and also hints at some mouth-watering demonically-flavoured fights yet to come should Rachel Roth somehow manage to escape the soul gem within which her horned parent holds her.

Perhaps therefore this book’s sole frustration probably lies in the creation of “the new T-Jet”, which sadly smacks of elements taken from both the Avenger’s Quinjet and the X-Men’s famous Blackbird. Of course the Teen Titans have always been “widely thought of” as DC Comics' “answer to the increasingly popular Uncanny X-Men from Marvel Comics”. But it’s arguably still a little ‘right on the nose’ to see Nightwing piloting so similar a stealth fighter, even if this version can instantaneously travel to its destination via Cyborg’s Boom Box technology.

Ably adding to this publication’s storytelling is Stephen Segovia, whose pencilling of Trigon the Terrible and his dark-hearted daughter is simply ‘spot on’. Sure, the Filipino artist’s somewhat doe-eyed depiction of Sergeant Steel, Melinda Grayson-Lin and their television host somewhat jar the senses. However, such a minor quibble doesn’t long break the book’s overall visual spell, especially once matters move on to Tempest stopping a large flotilla of sea-going vessels from an almighty rogue wave, and the unfounded open hostility etched upon an ungrateful father’s face when a gorilla-shaped Garfield Logan attempts to save his frightened children from a deadly flood.

The regular cover art of "TITANS" #8 by Dan Mora