Titans Annual 2025

I know, I know. I don't post much, anymore. I spend too much time on social media, watching videos, playing games on my phone. But I'm still reading comics and sometimes, I have to post about them. This is one of those times.

I've been catching up on my stack of unread comics, and Titans Annual 1 (2025) looked good enough to save for last. And I was right. It's an absolute treat. Donna Troy has typically been the focus of some of the best stories featuring the Teen Titans/Titans ("Who is Donna Troy?" "Who is Wonder Girl?"). In "Limitless," writer/artist Phil Jimenez shows what's possible when a writer not only knows, but truly understands a character that's been around for decades. All the Titans shine in this, but Donna is center stage in what is, essentially, a retelling of her life so far.

This isn't a quick read. There is a lot of text to go with the gorgeous art, which together bring Donna and her friends and family to life. We've read the story before of how Donna had been been orphaned, Diana and the Amazons took her in, how she'd become Wonder Girl and joined the Teen Titans, and her ill-fated marriage. All that and more is in this tale in which Jimenez fills in the gaps, including the story of Donna's biological father. I was truly moved by this story and it's on my list of favorite comics I've read this year.

Titans Rebirth

I love these new character designs for the Titans! I'm really looking forward to this.

Titans 23

Spoilers.

Uh, who are these people? In some panels, they're definitely the Teen Titans of old, but in others, I'm not so sure. Because, as well written this is (when compared to Cry for Justice, which admittedly, wouldn't take much skill to achieve), there's a whole lot of retconning going on. And for this longtime (as in 45 years or so) Titans fan, it was disconcerting to say the least. The group didn't know about Roy's addiction until after the fact. I'm at work and can't root through my comics boxes, but there was a panel in the revival of the TT book in which one of them says that GA mentioned Roy's "trouble" at a JLA meeting (as I recall). And Roy took up heroin because Ollie pretty much abandoned him to travel the country with Hal. So, yeah, retcon in Donna rejecting him (and he would've been around 16 then, though various estimates put that time in the 14-17 age range) as a contributing factor, but Roy had a lot of other problems back then. There was one flashback, I think in a Titans book, showing him being obnoxious at TT headquarters and Dick (probably) giving him hell, but never was there a sign he was shooting up.

I also never got the sense that Roy went into rehab. That's such a modern-time concept. I suppose since he's not really in his 40s or 50s now, we have to move the timeline up a few decades, but he kicked cold turkey with Dinah's help and then went out on his own. I had the sense of a character as independent and stubborn as Ollie. I had the sense that Roy was not someone to go into rehab. He'd kicked heroin and he figured he was in the clear, that he could keep fighting the urges on his own.

And while Roy and Wally had their differences, I never got the sense that Roy and Dick had strong disagreements. Different temperaments and goals, but those weren't causing antagonism between them. Wally and Roy were competing for Donna, while Dick was never really more than a brother to her.

The Titans, the original members, were about family. They admitted as much in the revival of the Titans book. That's how Devin Grayson wrote them and that's the version that felt right. To keep putting in "revelations" about past problems in their relationships is just piling more crap on the crap pile of Cry for Justice.

Yet, Donna saying that Roy wanted family was dead on, because if there's one constant in Roy's life, it's that he's continued to lose family. Also, Wally rushing home to hug his kids was a nice touch, something much missing from the Rise and Fall Special last week.

The art didn't stand out. Not awful, not all that interesting. Serviceable. The present-time was better looking than the flashbacks/dreams which just made everyone look weird with squared or angular jaws. The cover was nice, however.

Bottom line: I have no idea why this needed to be written, other than to slam the door, again, on a past, that gets revisited and reworked every decade, if not sooner. It didn't further the storyline and it didn't evoke much emotion in me. And that's a shame.

Reviews Weekly

Well, it seems as if I'm doing this by the week, not the day, anymore. I've had a nasty cold this week, but it's starting to get better. Anyway, here's what I read the last week or two. And I'm going to stop commenting on Trinity unless something super great or something I don't like happens, because it's been a nice, steady little weekly book and I rarely have anything interesting to say about it.

Titans 11
This has gotten rather tiresome. I buy it because Roy is in it. The whole day in the lives of the Titans seemed rather old, even as written by McKeever. And I didn't like the bickering between Roy and Donna. I don't like when she's written as meddling, even with people she cares about, and I don't like Roy sniping at her. If I thought this was going to build into something solid, like maybe them getting back together, fine, but I get no such sense. All it feels like is a hit-and-run bit among other hit-and-run bits of supposed character development. Sure, Donna can be a Mother Hen with her closest friends, but she's also been shown in the past resenting when they keep coming to her with their problems, which leaves her as a rather wishy-washy character and she isn't. Actually, this felt like a "let's mention Lian instead of actually showing her" kind of scene. Maybe a scene with Donna joining Roy and Lian at the park and having the discussion about leadership on the team might've been more interesting. Ah, well, we did get a glimpse of Lian in bed, so that's something. Meanwhile, the whole Raven/Gar relationship or non-relationship has me both confused and bored.

Secret Six 7
Wow. Gail really delivers with this story and this book. While I've found her run so far on Wonder Woman uneven, ranging from incredible to merely good, her work with this team has always been topnotch. This quirky band of villains and sometimes villains who may or may not give a shit about each other makes for entertaining reading and real emotion in her hands. And I think Tarantula nailed it when she theorizes that Lawton betrayed the team to save them, no matter his protestations otherwise. Lawton is definitely not a hero, but he's no villain, either. Like Catman, he's a complicated character who skirts the law for his own reasons. The climatic battle did not disappoint, nor did Scandal, at the end. And Scott and Hazlewood make for a super art team.

Green Arrow and Black Canary 18
I'd probably enjoy this more -- and the story is intriguing -- if Ollie wasn't acting more like a jerk than usual. Dinah's look of fear/horror on the cover didn't help, either, giving her the image of the "helpless female." Horror, fine. But anger and determination would've been better than fear. Actually, the whole pose of her and Ollie embracing with the body there made for a bizarre image that didn't fit the characters. I'd really hoped for more from this book. At least Judd got the banter right.

Booster Gold 18
This book continues to deliver the goods. Booster and Booster made for a potent team and the matter of having saved Michelle by pulling her out of the timestream is about to have its repercussions because there always are repercussions and I'm glad that hasn't been forgotten. Michelle now knows she was supposed to die and how. If ever a creative team knows how to keep readers wanting more, this is the team. Jurgens packs in the emotion without overdoing it, and his cliffhangers are neither melodrama nor stunts. They're simply compelling. And we get Blue Beetle as a back-up feature in an extended version of this book soon. I can't wait!

Brave and bold 22
Aside from Ollie's screwing up, he made up for it, and Hal and the Stranger did their part, and the ending was moving. I really cared about Cora and the resolution was a good one.

Green Lantern 38
Still setting up Blackest Night, but the exploration of Carol's character was much appreciated. Meanwhile, Hal's not himself. heh Anyway, I'm ready for the big event to begin. More than ready.

Supergirl 39
Real emotion in this title. Finally. The new direction has been great and really tying Kara in with the Superman characters and books, as she should be, given she's Kal's cousin. When she tells Lana that she wished her mother had been the one to die instead of her father, I felt that emotion. Well done. It's a helluva admission for a daughter to make, but one that, given the circumstances, rang true. And Lana, in providing support and comfort, finally gives this version of Supergirl a strong supporting cast, or at least, the start of one. Along with Jamal Igle, the regular penciller on the book, Talent Caldwell is also credited for that chore as well as sharing the inking with Jon Sibal, which might explain the wide variation in Kara's face, especially in 3-4 pages near the end with her mouth and eyes looking like an entirely different character, or one being drawn by a different artist in the middle of the story. In one panel, her lips seemed to be twice the thickness as the rest of the panels on that page, and in another panel on the following page, when she's looking at a picture of Superwoman, she looks like she was drawn by someone else entirely. It's rather disconcerting, but if Igle needed help to get the book out on time, I'm okay with it.

Jack of Fables 30-31
Such lovable lunacy with a point in a story where reading for your life is an imperative. Truly, comics don't get better than this.

First Reviews of the Week

Countdown to Final Crisis 3
Jimmy is in deep shit, but then, thanks to Ray, he turned the tables on Darkseid. That was cool. Actually, Darkseid's scheme using Jimmy was pretty clever, too. Now we're down to the big battle, I guess. I hope Mary Marvel sees the uh, light.

Green Arrow and Black Canary 7
I knew there was more to those "aliens" than met the eye. The banter might be a bit silly, but it made me chuckle and the plotting might be a bit over the top, but it moved along nicely. And while Ra's al Ghul's involvement is not a real surprise, things built to it well, I thought. I'm still enjoying this book.

Wonder Woman 19
Bernard Chang does not do Diana justice. And after a great opening arc, Gail delivered a rather ordinary two-parter, IMO. I'm looking forward to things picking up with the next issue, especially Aaron Lopresti's art.

Simon Dark 7
I love this creepy, unsettling book. Simon is such an odd character, strong and vulnerable at the same time. And there's some nasty evil taking hold of Gotham City. As medical examiner Beth says: "This is Gotham City. A lot of strange stuff goes down."

Titans 1
I'm glad to finally see this. I am not happy that Roy was missing from the ads and his hand is missing from the cover. I was happy to see him in the book. Some other random thoughts on the issue:

• Nice Nightwing butt shot while he's hanging on to the building after the explosion.
• Kory still at the Bakers' home, but has her powers back, so this must take place just before she left there at the end of Countdown to Adventure 8. Churchill and Rapmund drew a gorgeous Kory.
• Why is Raven showing the most skin in the shot with the other girls in school? Isn't she still somewhat modest? Have they changed that? I did like how she put down the other girls, though, telling them that they don't like her and she's fine with it. No playacting for Raven!
• Has Gar been reading X-Men? He's got a real Wolverine look going on with those sideburns. And that old-fashioned phone? What's with that?
• By the time we saw Donna, I realized Churchill is one of those artists who draws all female faces pretty much the same way.
• Wally in the shower. Beefcake to even up the cheesecake shots of Kory in the pool. Woohoo! Although, I would've preferred to see Roy that way.
• Batman shows up. Batman shows up in a full page panel that was awesome. I love the sweep of his cape.
• The Teen Titans are there. Power Boy is still dead. That's a plus.
• Donna changed to a new costume. I'm not quite sure where this book, which came out a bit late, fits into the Countdown timeline, because Donna started out in the book with Kyle.
• Trigon is back. That can't be good, for the Titans, but it usually makes for good stories.

Overall, I'm happy.

Four Reviews and a WTF?

First, the four, fairly quick, reviews. And there are people who don't think I can be succinct.

Green Arrow Year 1 5
Still enjoying this. I chuckled when Ollie said he planned to make a habit of coming back from the dead. His resourcefulness in this reworking of his origin has been inspiring and I love the whole feel of the book. I'd love to see more of this Ollie. He's the one I can see leading up to the version Denny O'Neill wrote.

(In)Justice League of America 13
No Roy. *sniff* Now, I get that those badass villains teaming up could take our heroes by surprise and capture them, but this seems so damn easy. I thought the good guys would put up more of a fight. And will everyone get to be tortured next ish? And while the banter about Jeff's bald head was cute, it went on rather long and seemed out of place.

Meanwhile, I missed seeing Benes' art. The art by Benitez and Llamas was nice enough, but Batman's chin made him look like Jay Leno's mysterious brother and there were some exaggerated mouths and wide eyes that looked ridiculous. One panel in particular of Black Canary might haunt me for a while. If these were actors, not drawings, I'd say they were overdoing it.

Countdown 31
Basically, this issue moved Jimmy Olsen, Mary Marvel, and Holly Robinson deeper into trouble.The book does lose something when Piper and Trickster are off panel.

Wonder Woman Annual
This answers the question, finally, "Who is Wonder Woman?" Considering I've already forgotten the first chapters to this story, and we've seen who Wonder Woman is, this had a very anti-climatic feel to it. I was left with 2 questions. Why was Donna wearing her old, old Wonder Girl costume, not her black starfield one which she's wearing everywhere else? And why, in the backup story, did Nemesis look like Brad Pitt?

The Department of WTF?
I picked up the latest Wizard along with my comics. Now I realize a lot of people think Wizard sucks, but I like it for the interviews, news (which may or may not be accurate), and the pictures which often include previews. The WTF? moment came when I reached the article: "Titans Together." And interview with former Titans co-creator George Perez and upcoming Titans writer Judd Winick. Say what?

"...Cut to the present where Winick, along with artist Ian Churchill (Supergirl), launches the classic Wolfman/Perez Titans roster out of a Titans East Special one-shot in November [I checked, it's in the solicits] and into the ongoing series simply titled Titans, beginning in December [I didn't see this listed on DC's site]."

The lineup is given as:

• Nightwing
• Flash
• Donna Troy (Geez, she needs a codename)
• Red Arrow
• Starfire (Wonder if she and Dick will patch things up, sheesh.)
• Cyborg
• Beast Boy (I much prefer the name Changeling.)
• Raven

Both Perez and Winick gave their take on the characters. George said of Red Arrow, "Robin with a quiver," then laughed, which reinforces what I'd heard, that he didn't like Roy and that's why Roy wasn't in the original Titans lineup. I don't recall Marv's opinion of Roy, but it was probably as low.

Winick, who has written Roy fairly well, said this about him:

"The story of Roy Harper coming into his own continues."

D'uh, yeah. In the Justice League, where he's been accepted by the older generation, made one of them. I have a few problems with this whole scenario. Does this mean both Wally and Roy will leave JLA or would they really continue in both books, on both teams? How is this more of Roy coming into his own?

I'm all for nostalgia and the Wolfman/Perez Titans was among the best DC has ever published. But much as I see this group as family, especially the original 5 Teen Titans, I don't want to go backward. They've grown up, made new lives for themselves. Let them get together for picnics and barbecues or something, but not reform an old team. If I want to continue to read about my favorite character, Roy Harper, will I need to buy this book? Why, of all the characters in the DCU, do these keep getting moved around and screwed? Why can't anyone just find a place for them that works and let them do their heroic deeds like every other character in the DCU? Because they can't individually support their own books, I guess, and the mix of teens and older Titans didn't work. Since I don't read the Teen Titans, I have no idea what's going on there, anymore.

I love Roy in the JLA. I do not want him deciding, Hey, it's been fun and I will never forget how you guys showed such faith in me, but I'm quitting so I can be with my boyhood pals. See ya. Because, I'm getting tired of Roy bouncing around the DCU like a tennis ball.

Please, someone, tell me this is a hoax.

Update: It's no hoax. However, Comic Shop News lists the lineup as: Nightwing, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy. Hmmmm..... That wouldn't be so bad. Dick needs people to lead and Roy, Wally, and Donna can continue to lead their grown-up lives.