Aqualad and Wonder Girl, they have a thing going on. When Garth turns up at Donna’s New York apartment one morning and a stranger answers the door, he fears Donna has a thing with someone else too. He needn’t have worried.
It’s not Donna who’s smitten by Mal – Bumblebee Karen Beecher is positively swooning. She doesn’t get much time to get to know him, though, as the quartet’s hanging out session is interrupted by Teen Titans business. The social media network for kids needing help from heroes put together by former Golden Eagle Charley Parker summons the kids to what looks like a haunted house.
On entering the house, a trio of Titans find they’ve passed through a doorway to nightmare.
And what did Donna face? If you’re a veteran Titans fan you may think you know, given the similarities of the basic situation to the classic Teen Titans #38 from the Seventies – if you don’t know it, read it on DC Infinite. Suffice to say, Donna’s dread concerns her Amazon status, which she lovingly references at the start of the issue.
Ah, so that’s how Donna started as a photographer! I love the way writer Mark Waid nods to old Titans continuity while mixing it up a bit. So in the current legend, Bumblebee is a Titan before Mal. Psychic go-go dancer Lilith and recovering caveboy Gnaark have a detached duty status. As for adult mentor Mr Jupiter, the richest and therefore most trustworthy man in the world (copyright the Teen Titans Wasteland podcast), he’s nowhere in sight.
Mr J could show up later, mind, as the story here chimes with the very early Teen Titans tales, before they met. Then again, it also nods to the spooky era that followed, when Mr Jupiter was very much a presence. I’m so confused!
In a good way. This second issue of what I’m assuming is a mini-series is as great as the first, making the subplots as important as the presumed A-plot. Here the spotlight falls mostly on Wonder Girl and Aqualad, showing their strengths and vulnerabilities and hinting that their odd couple romance is coming to a natural conclusion.
One aspect of last issue’s story that isn’t followed up on this time is the final page mystery figure forming their own Teen Titans… or is it?
Emanuela Lupacchino’s art is again easy on the eye, the storytelling extremely assured. I especially like how stylish she makes the man and woman on the street, which may be something to do with Lupacchino being Italian – Europeans dress so much better than we ordinary mortals. Partnering our penciller is colour artist Jordie Bellaire, whose choices I especially love in a flashback of Lilith’s.
Perfection.
Letterer Steve Wands is also on form, giving us fun touches such as Karen’s heart-shaped speech bubble… and I’m not surprised, the body language Lupacchino gives him just screams ‘adorable‘.
I wasn’t exactly gushing in my praise for Chris Samnee’s cover last time. I like this one, coloured by Matheus Lopes, even less. It’s too much like a felt tip pen con sketch for a comic with such vivacious, sharp interiors. It’s a bit odd, I’ve always loved Samnee’s art.
Never mind though, Samnee is a wonderful talent, he’s simply trying something here and it doesn’t resonate with me. I loved this comic – edited by Chris Rosa and Brittany Holzherr – and I’ll take it with whatever image is on the front. How about you?
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
I think this series will really appeal to teens and young adults. The art is very nice and so is the script. I was thrilled that the action took place in Chapel Hill, not only my old college stomping grounds (I’d have made this a story about a young collegiate, since the town is known for UNC) but just ten or so miles from me, but the artist gives the haunted house a Victorian look more natural to, say, Maine. The true famous CH haunted house is Gimghoul Castle, which looks like a stone keep done on a budget. Nitpicking. I was glad not to see Donna shave her head because she had weird hangups about her femininity. It was a relief to see that someone at DC is capable of writing a single-issue plot. (Even if it did read like a “very special episode.”)
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I’m sixty-two (on Monday) and I’m in the group this appeals to as well. The way garth saved the day had tears in my eyes that haven’t dried yet.
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Fascinating, I never realised Chapel Hill was real, and with a spooky reputation too!
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Am I the only one who never noticed that Lilith is 99% Marvel Girl? The hair, color scheme, and power set are there and I can’t believe I never caught it. Maybe it’s the lack of horrible characterization for once?
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Oh good grief, you’re right! Mind blown, etc.
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If you look at her first appearance, Lilith seems to have had been created script-wise as an east-Asian character. She’s from the Far East, she’s “spicy, spicy” (forgive the quotes; I’m not looking at the issue), etc. I guess orange hair and green eyes are more colorful/hip than black and brown. Still, it would have been nice…
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Gosh, I was looking at her debut only the other day and that ‘enigma of the east’ but passed me by… the first encounters I had with her was Lilith riding around hillbilly USA looking for psychics with red hair who would therefore be relatives, so this is a real surprise. ‘Spicy, spicy’ – a little bit racist, then.
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Also Speedy calls her “a dish of sukiyaki!” in that same panel. I never noticed this before, but it’s 100% clear now.
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Someone will go back to that one day and give us a story about Lilith’s dual-heritage… hmm, did Mr Jupiter ever say who her mother was?
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I love this silver age/bronze age mash up series! It’s got the right tone (both for storytelling today, but also in capturing the voice of the stories to which it is paying homage)… it’s got the character personalities down! The art is lovely!
In particular, with this issue, I really enjoyed how Waid took the “Aqualad is useless” trope which seemed to be the *only* story for Garth until… maybe the mid-nineties? and turned it on its ear. Loved loved loved it!
I would be thrilled to hang out in this little corner of the DCU for as long as they want to explore it.
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I agree re: Garth, it’s always good to be reminded what a hero he is.
The Titan Up the Defense podcast looked at this issue in their show this week, it’s worth a listen.
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I’ll have to give it a listen. Thanks for the heads up.
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Oh, man, I really liked this issue. I love the parallel to the older story with three Titans facing their fears, and I love how Aqualad is the key to solving the problem. And my god, the art. Luppacchino is insanely good at both big and little details — look at how Aqualad’s fear reflections emphasize his eyes! — so this book is just heaven to look at.
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Excellent points about Garth… hopefully we’ll get another issue this week or next.
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