New Titans #34 – Tate Brombal, Writer; Sami Basri, Artist; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Tate Brombal took a big swing last issue, kicking off his new Titans run with…the old Titans. Last issue found the iconic characters from the Taylor and Layman runs in an odd loop, playing out the same patterns from the last few decades of comics. Dick is caught between Barbara and Starfire, Raven occasionally goes evil, and Terra constantly betrays the team. It was only Nightwing who realized something was wrong, somehow traced it back to the coffee – and was then surprised when he snapped out of the illusion and was met with a new Titans team of Jon Kent, Stephanie Brown, Yara Flor, and Kid Devil. But at first it seems these new heroes are attacking – killing several Titans right out of the gate. The illusion slowly starts to unravel, and it becomes clear this is all an illusion created by the most powerful Titan, Cyborg. Cyborg – but not Victor Stone.
This isn’t the first time Cyborg’s tech half has gone out of control, but this is a new wrinkle. Darkseid’s cosmic energy affected all the heroes who fought in the DC KO tournament, and in the case of Cyborg it gave him his full human body back. But it also created a fully autonomous, living cybernetic entity as Cyborg, and it’s got its own ideas of what needs to be done. Vic created the new Titans as a fail-save, and we have yet to see how they were recruited or what their role is supposed to be. But while Cyborg is the core of this issue, Terra is surprisingly the heart. We saw what her role was “supposed to be” in the illusions, but the character is ultimately a victim who has been manipulated by powerful figures her whole life. How she goes from where we last saw her to a member of this new team will be very interesting. This run continues to play its cards close to its chest, but it’s an intriguing start.
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