Titans #28 review

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel… bored.

Last week DC KO #1 told us Darkseid is coming and Earth will become a suburb of Apokolips. You know the kind of thing, hot, lots of demons. While heroes and villains battle in Skartaris, the not-so-lost-world-of-the-Warlord, to become the champion who gains enough power to take on Darkseid, Earth is being evacuated, just in case.

In charge are the Titans, as none of them, bar Cyborg, have been deemed candidates for godhood. And leading the Titans is Donna Troy. An actual demi-god. As we join the team, she’s been working on evacuation plans, several of which involve teleportation via the likes of Boom Tubes and Zeta Beam.

And, more surprisingly…

Titans headquarters old and new, turned into space arks by Mr Terrific and Cyborg. Well, they’ve had a week…

The old base that’s last to shoot off into parts unknown – I’m not kidding, nowhere in this comic are we told where billions of Earth folk are heading – is the Mercy Hall hangout used by Damian Wayne’s shortlived team. Occasional Titan Bumblebee, one of DC’s legion of all-purpose scientists, is in charge when Raven drops by to see how things are going. Bumblebee – aka new mum Karen Beecher-Duncan – is happy with progress, but wonders what’s to become of the traitor Titan currently being held in stasis there. So, Raven drops into Terra’s head for a chat.

In Chicago, we see that not every citizen is happy to take the word of the superheroes that it’s time to go.

Clever Beast Girl, we know, can influence the amygdala, bringing calm; that includes sleep, I guess. But do we know that Beast Boy Gar can fly when not in suitably soar-some animal form?

While things are going well overall, at Command Central – the old JLA Watchtower on the moon – Donna is feeling stressed. Happily, longtime flirting partner Roy Harper, aka Speedy/Arsenal/Red Arrow/Who Can Keep Up knows just what to aim for.

Her lips.

What’s Superboy Jon Kent doing there? Helping with the evacuation because he has expertise in…no idea, actually, but he’s thrilled to finally meet the Titans, despite one of his parents commenting a few months back that he was off on a mission with the Titans.

I’d love to have seen Donna aided by a handful of Amazon scientists, and sundry DC boffins such as the Metal Men’s Doc Magnus and the Chief from Doom Patrol, but it seems Jon and a few Superman robots are all that’s needed on the moon.

At the very least, someone should be there to correct Jon’s grammar.

The full-colour art of Pete Woods is exemplary, A treat for the eyes – most of the story is talking heads, but we never come close to boredom. I do like that Terra page particularly, and Beast Girl is ridiculously cute, while the final image promises great things next time.

When did Raven get that jewel on the side of her mask, making her cowl look like a backwards crow? It’s the business.

And Woods’s cover is tremendous.

Wes Abbott letters with pleasing precision, extra marks for digging up the old Terra logo.

All in all, this is a decent read, if not especially diverting.