Hearts, Homes, And Demons — Reviewing ‘New Titans’ #37

People repeatedly voting against their own best interests, the ‘devil they know’ sort of thing, is not a new occurrence. This happens frequently in both the real world and fictional ones.

As the Titans try to come to grips with their new home situation, demons and poor votes bring them to a confrontation in New Titans #37. The next chapter in this new run comes from Tate Brombal, Marcus To, Adriano Lucas, and Tom Napolitano.

Deciding how many parts a story needs to be, especially in a monthly format like comics, isn’t easy. Sometimes it can be too many parts, where things feel like they are just kind of dragging or swimming in place for too long. Other times you blink and everything is over, leaving you uncertain where you stand. It’s the latter situation that best explains this two-part arc.

I appreciate what Brombal is trying to do here. There are nuggets that are very interesting had they been given more time to stew. Voters picking a literal demon because they are mired in a past long gone has airs of reality which could have been mined. Instead it’s over pretty quickly, with the demon Nebiros being kind of a pretty simple thing to knock aside. The new Titans trying to bond and figure out if this is home now is another nugget that could have been given some more space to breathe.

This feels like two smaller arcs mashed together. That’s not even counting the Cyborg hiding the Heart of Apokolips and Terra being in on the secret now.

Reading Batgirl monthly shows that Brombal knows quite well how to write character beats and mine the past without it being an anchor. There are elements of that in this piece, chiefly how the past of Red Devil, Nebiros, and the recent DC K.O. event are referenced without having to over explain. Here, it just feels like with a team title Brombal is trying to do too much at once rather than give it the space to grow more naturally.

Part of the utilization of the past comes from the great work that To always delivers as an artist. He really showcases the various eras that Red Devil would be part of, including the 2000s era Teen Titans run that was part of my return to comics as an adult. I would love to see To have a nice run on a title like this again, cause his artwork just works so well for superheroes and the fantastical. It’s very smooth with a lot of inherent tangible kinetic energy as things feel dense, detailed, and lively in every panel.

This is not news to anyone that has read my reviews; I’m a fan of paneling that eschews that standard side by side boxes. To utilizes that so well as we have panels sliding over each other, vertical rectangles, and more that not only break up the pace but allow the art more space to breathe. It gives everything the ability to take up the space it naturally should without sacrificing anything else.

In those aforementioned flashbacks, there is a really nicely done red filter over everything. That’s a fitting choice for it being Red Devil’s memories, a touch that Lucas adds to the whole affair. Since the title began, Lucas has been there to bring his rich color palette sensibilities to everything. He gives it that slick and bursting colorful look that screams heroes and fantasy. This fits right into the perfect space where the vibrant, the more neutral familiar, and denser colors mingle together harmoniously.

Really key to setting scenes is how they are overall lit and the atmosphere the colors create. Utilizing the same color set and style throughout is fine. It just means everything, no matter where it’s set, feels the same. Not here. No, Lucas is one of those that can use the same overall style but with shifting color tone scales to give spaces their unique and more accurate appearance. The cave under the new Titans home is very hot and fiery and the colors reflect that compared to the more natural and familiar qualities of the Happy Harbor area.

Similarly, character voices and the world itself have sounds and qualities that can and should be unique. We always get that with Napolitano’s work where the characters voices are full of emotional depth and range while still reflecting their particular beats. There are some spaces where some of the dialogue feels a bit overwritten, chiefly around Nightwing, but not in a bad way. On his end though, Napolitano makes it work in the space and keeps things flowing even when the moments might bog or feel too quick from a storytelling angle.

New Titans #37 is now available from DC Comics.