Princess, Warrior, Friend: Reviewing ‘Tales Of The Titans’ #1

What is a princess? Or to be more precise, what does it mean to be the “alien princess” amongst humans? That’s a pretty great question, and Titans member Starfire, or Princes Koriand’r, is going to answer it.

At long last, the Titans are the top team of the DC Universe. With the Justice League disbanded, it’s the team created by former JL member sidekicks and wards that will protect everyone. That’s what is happening over in the main Titans series (which I also review). In this series, though, we get to peel back the curtain and have deeper, more intimate adventures with some of the members. With Cyborg, Flash, and Nightwing currently starring in their own books, the four-issue series turns its eyes to the other four members of the team.

Oh, how I’ve missed books like this. We got a big, long (30 pages to be exact), classic feeling story focused on Starfire. As the resident alien on the team, one known for being emotional (after what was done to her by the Psions), it’s natural that Starfire is still trying to figure herself out. She found a team and a family as a teenager and they have had their ups and downs since, and disbanded more times than one can easily count. Yet, they are still together and a family.

Shannon and Dale Hale do a fabulous job of tapping into Koriand’r’s mindset and character. They give us a tale that bounces to numerous places but is overall one big overall story that has a satisfying conclusion. It starts with questions and assumptions made about Starfire and ends with her having come to peace with who/what she is. Taking the term princess and defining it in a way that she feels comfortable with and wears like a badge of honor.

Blending a fun classic type stop the ‘monster’ adventure story with a deep character study is top tier. Not all comic stories can be that way, and I wouldn’t want them to be, but this sure hits a nice, sweet spot for me. I love comics like this and the Hales signed and delivered exactly what I was hoping for.

That sort of classic comfy feeling isn’t just from how they approach these familiar characters. It comes down to how Javier Rodriguez draws/colors the work and how Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou handles the lettering.

Visually, the artwork feels old school yet modern at the same time, hitting notes of the past through the lens of today. All the characters are deep and recognizable, and there is a ton of deep detail and weight that is more familiar to modern comics. Overall, their appearance is realistic but has a very animated feeling to it to bring that familiarity.

Even though it has that whimsical fun appeal, there is still danger and heaviness everywhere. The Gordanian Tentacle Mines are colorful and bright but still dangerous and terrifying. All the colors are so warm and bright, vividly popping all over the place, creating a colorful feast for the eyes. It makes sure the story feels sufficiently superhero and alien at the same time. Darker colors and shadows are mixed in to tone some elements down a bit, to keep that heavier element in play.

I love how Rodriguez panels things here because it’s so unique. Negative space/gutters are used to border some spaces. While in other panels take up all the space full of depth, and others are stripped back to basics with tons of white space brought into the mix. No two panels nor pages look alike, and it all flows smoothly.

All the same could be said about the lettering. Otsmane-Elhaou is one of my favorite letterers. Everything he does has such a personality and clear care for the art. If I were to hold up his lettering work here and compare it to the work he does in Poison Ivy it might not appear to be from the same person. Yet there are little flairs of style that connect them, even if they are vastly different to cater to the characters or book tone.

Things are a lot more heroic and alien here compared to Ivy’s eco-horror appeal. Here we get tons of big colorful caption boxes or shifting colorful fonts. As well as bubbles that take on different shapes to depict the volume or quality of voices. One also can never forget the variety of personality-filled SFX that dots the pages and bring us even more into the world at large.

I expected certain things when approaching a series of this nature, and the intro issue met and exceeded those expectations. Cannot wait to see what the other three issues will bring.

Tales Of The Titans #1 is now available from DC Comics.