Dream A Little Dream Of Titans Tower — Reviewing ‘New Titans’ #33

A new era begins and poses what seems to be a simple question. When does a dream become a nightmare? Perhaps it’s the moment when things become terrifying or horrible like a horror movie. Maybe instead, it’s the moment where all the happiness that surrounds us begins to feel wrong.

There’s no question though that the Titans are in quite a bind as New Titans #33 rebrands the series with the brand-new creative team of Tate Brombal, Sami Basri, Adriano Lucas, and Tom Napolitano.

— Spoilers Follow —

I’ll be honest. I wasn’t sure what to even expect jumping onto this series now.

I was here for the beginning of the volume of Titans that this rebrand sprung from. Once the original team left, I lost interest as the series really fell into a nostalgia hole with Deathstroke and others. This cover and the solicited premise seemed like it was going to start off with this new group of Titans.

Instead, Brombal offers up an intriguing situation wherein the Titans (at least Nightwing for certain) are living out a warped Groundhog’s Day scenario. It was basically reliving the same day again but with a rotating (and merging) cast of their “greatest hits” of foes. How and why this is happening isn’t the question in the moment, but whether he or they can break through is paramount.

Coffee being the seeming evil key to this control made my coffee loving heart go “Hey now!” and then chuckle.

Basri is an artist that I really enjoy seeing doing more stuff at DC Comics over the years. The style that he employs is perfectly light but still dense with such a depth of focus and energy to it. This allows the characters and the spaces they inhabit to feel authentically to scale, even though they are still two-dimensional renderings.

The art style is just the right amount of slick and flashy to be a superhero book with a dash of whimsy sprinkled into the mix. It has reminiscent beats to what many consider “house style” in some respects but has an energy and life all its own.

Much is new about this series at the moment. From the switched title (and technically new volume number) to the upcoming cast to most of the creative team. Not so new is Lucas, who delved into coloring quite a few issues during the first run on the title that ended with the 15th issue.

I’ve greatly enjoyed the coloring work that Lucas brings to any book, after first coming across the name with Nightwing years ago. This showcases a great ability to blend the color palette perfectly to the artistic style on the page no matter the genre or tone. His colors really pop and give the overall space a lively and energetic atmosphere, even in the darkest or hardest of times.

Crafting each voice and environmental sound with such care is Napolitano. This letterer always hits just the right notes to infuse everything with all the emotional energy required to convey so much. Each of the voices is fully unique and resonates in every scene. Even the sing song bits of the illusion world have their own bold energy and are ringing in my ears still.

New Titans #33 is now available from DC Comics.