Blasting Too Much From The Past: Reviewing ‘Titans’ #17

Memories. They’re tricky things that reveal where we’ve been and often build a path to where we’re headed. Mix them with time and that’s a whole other can of worms.

Too bad for Blüdhaven’s resident hero team that there is a villain willing to mess with both on their doorstep in Titans #17. Time is not on their side in this tale from John Layman, Pete Woods, and Wes Abbott.

In the review for issue sixteen, I was a bit tough on the new direction for the series. Surely, I can’t be similar with this next one?

What a silly question. Of course I can be. While I don’t wish to be, unfortunately I’m going to have to be. Because, dear reader, this was not the step up that I was hoping for.

If there is one thing that is killing the creative fields, it’s corporate greed.

If there are two things that are killing the creative fields, they would be franchising just about everything, trying to build that homogenous cinematic universe.

Somewhere on the list of the top ten things that are a threat to the creative fields rests nostalgia, one of the tools that various industries are using to beat creativity to death. On its own, nostalgia is not inherently a bad thing. In fact, there are plenty of creators that can reference or use bits of the past from various long-running franchises to actually inform the future as well as tell creative new stories within the space.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a perfect example. Playing in the space of the old-school original Star Trek series, including characters from there, but through a very modern and more progressive lens that finds new fun and wild stories to tell.

In the case of this issue and the apparent direction so far, Titans is not a good example of nostalgia. Essentially this whole issue is Clock King capturing the Titans, hooking them up to silly machines, making them relive altered memories to try and find out their secret identities. It’s old school silly comics and because of that it feels dated and silly, but not in the good way.

Even the reveal at the end of the mastermind villain is pure old-school nostalgia that got a sigh rather than a gasp. Also, it immediately beyond predictable at the beginning of the reveal scene who this mystery person with an axe to grind would be. No matter what, they keep coming back in more and more ridiculous ways to come after the team and it’s old.

I get what Layman was trying to do here, but it’s just kind of… well  boring. I hate to say it, but it really was. Just a bunch of montage scenes with the characters, and a whole unnecessary thing with Donna being able to see through it, just to “justify” her as the new leader.

There is no reason that any of these characters should have been able to be held down by their fears from a silly foe like the Clock King by now. They’re hardened, seasoned, adult heroes that were just the replacement Justice League recently (a fact that at least is mentioned by the revealed villain).

While there is montage after montage, at least they look great.

Woods does solid work here to make the issue work from the visual side. It’s got good flow and the spreads are lively and detailed, with plenty of emotional and overall energy to spare. So many full-page and double-page spreads is a bit tiring here as it makes them have less impact but none of that is because of the work that Woods is doing here.

Everything has a very shiny color palette which goes for a more neutral sort of stable of colors where most of it is in the more toned-down range, creating a good background and foreground dynamic. This allows the moments with the more vibrant poppy colors to stand out a bit more and strike as they are meant to in the moment.

As usual, Abbott has a good handle on the lettering and allowing character voices to really resonate. In a few spaces, the choice of gray bubbles against white backdrops was not the best one as it becomes almost invisible and a bit distracting. Perhaps some darker border lines would have helped. Overall, it all flows and fits, even if there is a high amount of exposition going on that kind of drags things.

Two issues into this new era of Titans and already my interest in this team is beginning to wane quickly. Not something I wanted to have to say about a group of characters I love, but I’m completely over nostalgia at this point in my life. Bring me new, not the vibes and plots that were more at home in the 1980s or ’90s.

Titans #17 is now available from DC Comics.