Teen Titans #24

By Scott Lobdell & Angel Unzueta

The last time we saw the Teen Titans they were being sent, supposedly, somewhere else in time by Johnny Quick. One could assume that the team was being sent to the future to deal with Kid Flash’s origin story. Instead, Teen Titans #24 is an overwritten, schizophrenic mess.

The concept of touchstones isn’t uncommon when it comes to stories where characters are stuck in a time-stream of sorts, but the problem here is that there is so little focus that any semblance of a beginning-to-end story is lost. The focus isn’t on just one or two members of the team either. It could go from a scene with Red Robin for a few pages, then has him pulled out of the touchstone only to see him already prepared and waiting for Wonder Woman and Superboy to appear in the next touchstone. This leads to a confusion of when each member is experiencing each touchstone, and, aside from a scene with Kid Flash, what was the point to them visiting these specific touchstones over others?

Writer Scott Lobdell doesn’t let the reader do any thinking of their own during the issue either. Every single scene, action, and thought is overwritten. Lobdell doesn’t let the reader do any thinking for themselves anywhere in the issue, even the smallest and most obvious details are explained through dialogue or thought boxes.

The art by Angel Unzueta takes a hit from the overwriting as well. Lobdell doesn’t let Unzueta tell any bit of the story through the art, which in turn hurts the storytelling. The movements of the characters have an awkward, stiff look to them on a few panels, especially when it comes to Kid Flash.

Teen Titans #24 doesn’t have a lot to offer in terms of a fun comic book story. It has the skeleton of a fun story, but its quick hops through time and broad focus on all the characters rather than just a few make the flow of the book a choppy mess.