THE TITANS 1-50: Grayson, Faerber & Peyer - 09/24/05 09:33 PM
So I know a lot of fans were left cold by this run, and once Grayson left, I was too.
But I recently re-read the entire run to determine wether or not I wanted to keep it or sell it.
I decided to keep it.
I already knew I liked Devin Grayson's run; I liked all the stuff the DC Board fans were hating on. I thought it made sense that Starfire would disintegrate Addie's brain-dead body; I thought it quite probable that Cyborg would hesitate in battle when tempted with the ability to get a fully-human body back; I thought it quite sensible that Donna would be uncomforable around Wally after his memories restored her; I also thought it made sense that Donna would hook back up with Roy to explore her "bad-girl" side; I was fascinated that Donna alone could not get into Goth's Hell; plus you had to love Grayson's take on Lian, Jesse Quick and Damage. They were just likeable.
Yeah, Goth was kinda silly but I didn't mind. The HIVE were made fairly ineffectual but that was okay. The villain-team Tartarus was a pretty cool idea. I was also a BIG fan of Buckingham's art and loved his fill-in artist Justiniano even more. Adam DeKraker's fill-ins were quite good too.
So then Jay Faerber came along... started off well enough with a "Who Is" Donna story featuring the Teen Titans of Kingdom Come. But even then, cracks in his storytelling were visible-- like ummm... Nightwing (or anyone ELSE for that matter) not figuring out or knowing that Nightstar was Tamaranean. Hello? That was pretty lame.
Then the runaway DEO kids/Epsilon nonsense. I hated it at the time but upon a straight-through re-read it was okay. Even more than okay sometimes.
Faerber gets points for bringing in characters like Rose Wilson (who became Lian's nanny), Flamebird and Dolphin (Garth's wife) but gets demerits for not really doing anything interesting with them. And his utter trashing of Jesse Quick's (and also Liberty Belle's) character is inexcusable.
Paul Pelletier, whose art I normally like, was substandard for him. And I wasn't a big fan of Peter Grau's fill-ins. But then along came...
Barry Kitson! So the art took a turn for the better. Kitson finished off Faerber's run and was there for the coming of Tom Peyer as writer.
So, Peyer's writing: I'm still waiting for him to do something unforgettable that will make me a fan. That certainly isn't the case with his brief TITANS run, although he gets points for doing weird stuff (the Titans on a totally drug-addicted planet; the Titans vs. alien ghosts; Starfire, Donna & Jesse with aluminum foil on their heads) and some of it is also amusing. Not Giffen/DeMatteis funny, but worth a chuckle or two.
So I decided to keep the whole run. I guess on the whole, I liked it more than I didn't. Plus this run also contains The JLA/TITANS mini, which re-inserts Duela Dent into Titans continuity (BLESS you Devin & Phil!!), plus the BEAST BOY mini (Justiniano art!!) which revitalizes Flamebird. Then the annuals and Secret Files (more Justiniano, Duela, Flamebird and Titans L.A).
Whew. That may be my longest post ever.
I'm curious as to others' opinions of this run, so do tell. Wether you loved or hated it, and why.
But I recently re-read the entire run to determine wether or not I wanted to keep it or sell it.
I decided to keep it.
I already knew I liked Devin Grayson's run; I liked all the stuff the DC Board fans were hating on. I thought it made sense that Starfire would disintegrate Addie's brain-dead body; I thought it quite probable that Cyborg would hesitate in battle when tempted with the ability to get a fully-human body back; I thought it quite sensible that Donna would be uncomforable around Wally after his memories restored her; I also thought it made sense that Donna would hook back up with Roy to explore her "bad-girl" side; I was fascinated that Donna alone could not get into Goth's Hell; plus you had to love Grayson's take on Lian, Jesse Quick and Damage. They were just likeable.
Yeah, Goth was kinda silly but I didn't mind. The HIVE were made fairly ineffectual but that was okay. The villain-team Tartarus was a pretty cool idea. I was also a BIG fan of Buckingham's art and loved his fill-in artist Justiniano even more. Adam DeKraker's fill-ins were quite good too.
So then Jay Faerber came along... started off well enough with a "Who Is" Donna story featuring the Teen Titans of Kingdom Come. But even then, cracks in his storytelling were visible-- like ummm... Nightwing (or anyone ELSE for that matter) not figuring out or knowing that Nightstar was Tamaranean. Hello? That was pretty lame.
Then the runaway DEO kids/Epsilon nonsense. I hated it at the time but upon a straight-through re-read it was okay. Even more than okay sometimes.
Faerber gets points for bringing in characters like Rose Wilson (who became Lian's nanny), Flamebird and Dolphin (Garth's wife) but gets demerits for not really doing anything interesting with them. And his utter trashing of Jesse Quick's (and also Liberty Belle's) character is inexcusable.
Paul Pelletier, whose art I normally like, was substandard for him. And I wasn't a big fan of Peter Grau's fill-ins. But then along came...
Barry Kitson! So the art took a turn for the better. Kitson finished off Faerber's run and was there for the coming of Tom Peyer as writer.
So, Peyer's writing: I'm still waiting for him to do something unforgettable that will make me a fan. That certainly isn't the case with his brief TITANS run, although he gets points for doing weird stuff (the Titans on a totally drug-addicted planet; the Titans vs. alien ghosts; Starfire, Donna & Jesse with aluminum foil on their heads) and some of it is also amusing. Not Giffen/DeMatteis funny, but worth a chuckle or two.
So I decided to keep the whole run. I guess on the whole, I liked it more than I didn't. Plus this run also contains The JLA/TITANS mini, which re-inserts Duela Dent into Titans continuity (BLESS you Devin & Phil!!), plus the BEAST BOY mini (Justiniano art!!) which revitalizes Flamebird. Then the annuals and Secret Files (more Justiniano, Duela, Flamebird and Titans L.A).
Whew. That may be my longest post ever.
I'm curious as to others' opinions of this run, so do tell. Wether you loved or hated it, and why.