Titans #1

By Dan Abnett, Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund and Andrew Dalhouse

Teen Titans has been a franchise that has struggled for quite some time. To find the last decent run, you would have to go all the way back to 2003. Since then there have been several more reboots, some new first issues and a revolving door of cast members. With DC Rebirth, they are doing things a lot simpler; they’re bringing back many of the original crew and restarting the book under the name Titans. This seems like a great way to bring back old fans as well as usher in fans who love those characters and didn’t get the chance to see their team dynamic.

Dan Abnett is trying his hand at bringing some life to the franchise, and he’s off to a decent start. The first few pages were a bit of a bore though, because they essentially just repeat what readers know about Wally. Once we get past the redundancy, we start to see how Abnett handles the characters. His take on Wally seems to be off to a good start, as he picks up where the other Rebirth issues left off. He’s a meta-human trying to figure out what went wrong. Roy also comes off as one of the better written characters in the book. If you’ve read any of the Red Hood and the Outlaws series from the New 52, this seems like he didn’t skip a beat. Abnett also takes a few pages to give us a monologue from Linda Park. This may not seem like a big deal, but it’s nice that she is getting some early attention. While this isn’t a huge sample size so far, it seems like Abnett is getting the Titans on a decent track back to becoming a good series.

The pencils this issue are handled by Brett Booth with colors by Andrew Dalhouse and inks by Norm Rapmund. Brett Booth has been around for quite a while, and he’s pretty much known for his work on Teen Titans. His pencils are helped tremendously by the smooth inks of Norm Rapmund this issue. Booth has an in-your-face action scene involving Roy that looks nice. It’s set up well and it looks like he’s coming right off the page at you. Booth is a fine artist and his work in this issue is very clean and stable. He uses a lot of diagonal panels throughout the book, which comes off kind of cool. The colors by Andrew Dalhouse are excellent. They’re very bright and immediately draw your attention. Seeing Wally glowing in a yellow Flash suit as he approaches Linda is a wonderful sight with Dalhouse’s intense colors.

Titans #1 is a step in the right direction for a series that has had a very rough stretch lately. Dan Abnett is very capable of writing a good team book and this is a series that needs an architect. The art is very good and is handled by professionals in every aspect. If you’re craving a Titans book that will satisfy your thirst for the classic story telling style, this should be able to at least get you excited.