Teen Titans #5

By Will Pfeifer, Scott Hepburn and Dan Brown

Last month in Teen Titans, Red Robin was offered a partnership with S.T.A.R. Labs by Manchester Black. This month picks ups as Red Robin talks about the proposal with most of the team. We also have a crew of individuals taking drugs that allow them to have powers. The difference is that these drugs give powers at random, so one time you could have super strength and another time you could have super speed. We also get more of the story involving Cassie and her mother, who are still being followed by Cassie’s super fan club.

One of the things that Will Pfeifer does on this title that other writers missed, is he grounds the Titans. They come off as more real and human. As Red Robin asks Beast Boy to sneak into S.T.A.R. Labs to get any dirt on them, Gar says he’s been working on new shapes and would be happy to do it. It’s great to hear Gar say he’s been working on new forms. This makes him more relatable because he just doesn’t magically know everything about his power, he has to work at it. Pfeifer has also done a very good job fleshing out Bunker as well. This issue he comes off as very confidant and cool and not just a gimmick character. The conversation between Cassie and her mother is also well done. Sometimes in comics parents come off as dumb, but Pfeifer allows the characters to have an intelligent conversation.

The art duties this issue were handled by Scott Hepburn with colors by Dan Brown. This was a decent issue art wise, it wasn’t great, but there were some good panels. The problem with it is that there isn’t anything that distinguishes it from any generic art. While Hepburn doesn’t do anything terrible, he fails to have developed much style. Having said that, he has a cool panel where Gar is a piece of lice on a workers head. It was one of the only risky panels in the issue. That aside, everything else is pretty standard stuff. Dan Brown’s colors are solid as well, he uses lighter colors this issue, which makes the issue feel more cartoony then the regular Kenneth Rocafort work. This isn’t a bad thing as it does compliment the pencils fairly well.

Teen Titans has definitely become a better book since Will Pfeifer took over. He brings realism and an identifiable feel to many of the characters he writes. The art by Scott Hepburn is fine, but he could use a bit more style in his work. Teen Titans has certainly done a 180 and it’s the best it’s been since Geoff Johns was on the book.