Teen Titans Annual

[snah]

You know...there was a time I would have taken a bullet for Geoff Johns.

I loved his writing. Getting the comics he wrote each month was an anticipated experience. Things were always interesting, with a good blend of character development and action.

He was the reson why I started collecting this new version of the Teen Titans.

Then there was the two issue nightmare that was penciled by Liefeld and written by Simone (of which I still believe was written by Liefeld because it was just THAT bad).

I was so unimpressed by DC antics to put out two such impressively sub-par issues, I stated here on these boards that I was dropping the title. Clearly DC was more concerned about sensationalism and putting a piss-poor, but very controversial artist on one of their stronger titles, as opposed to putting out something that rewards their customers for putting their money down for the comic.

yeah...that was a run on sentence.

I don't get alot of private messages on this forum, and I was surprised to see I had one after writing the posts that i had about those particular issues.

Much to my regret it was from a clown with the username "Geoff Johns". After reading the note, it stated that he would send me the next two issues of Teen Titans in the mail, to encourage me to get back on track with the Titans. I was a bit blown away by this, and inquired as to if this was a joke. His response was that it wasn't a joke, so I dutifully sent him my address, thanking him for his generosity and commending him for his offer to take care of a customer, as well as a fan.

Yeah...so needless to say, I haven't received the issues. I bought both of them a month ago just to "complete" the run. My faith in Johns had slipped some, but he was still one of my favorite writers and I stayed true to buying his titles, including Infinite Crisis.

I never bothered to send him messages afterwards because...well...he's Geoff Johns. He's got a few more important things to do than send a fanboy comic books, but it would have been nice for him to follow through with what he offered.

Although...it has occured to me that some spaz is just using the username and isn't really Geoff Johns...stranger things have happened.

Crisis had me for the first few issues. Then the Superboy Prime punching reality came out, and the world went ape-____, and all the heroes were saving innocents from earthquakes and tidal waves and...bleh. I'm not a big fan of the cosmic-cluster-____ that the Infinite Crisis has turned into. As many fan boys there are that are gushing about it, I think it's spiraled to an unmanageable level and it's pretty silly now.

Silly much like the Teen Titans Annual.

The heroes of the planet are rallying together to save the denizens of the planet, and Superboy is polishing the floor with Wonder-girls a$$.

It's commendable. As a guy I can respect the need to knock boots with late teen, early twenty-year old uber-hot amazon, but even through that I can't help but think...

"Hellooooo...worldwide disaster going on...some people might need some other people's help? Some people that might be needed to help might be Superboy and Wonder-girl?"

It's forced character development and poorly timed. Not to mention the fact that I already learned from Titans #33 that Superboy and WG got up close and personal.

DC is losing it...and they're losing it bad...

I think they have Johns on too many titles or something because his story-telling is getting more and more unenjoyable.

I'm done with the Titans, and I'm a hair away from dropping the Infinite Crisis. We'll see.

Writing - D minus

Pencils - B

[KramarDanIka]

Marv Wolfman - Plot <> Geoff Johns - Dialogue

In case you didn't read the credits.

[snah]

Ah...well...the cat got top billing on the cover, so I thought he was doing the writing.

Well...that explains some things then...

They need to put Wolfman out to pasture.

[urbanhunter]

re: We interupt this Crisis for a 'booty call';

For all the earth shatterring, universe destroying storylines that occur in the DCU, it's about time somebody took advantage of the old 'let's do it because we may not have another chance' line to get some. And hey, if Superboy Prime going off the deep end can be explained by raging hormones, Conner and Cassie should be commended for finding a less destructive way to work out the call of the wild.

[gwangung]

Originally posted by snah
Ah...well...the cat got top billing on the cover, so I thought he was doing the writing.

Well...that explains some things then...

They need to put Wolfman out to pasture.

Well, there goes another comic veteran that should be honored by the current comics industry....

[Zechs]

I loved the issue. I mean this was the eventually um a... climax of the Connor/Cassie love story. In any case, what I enjoyed mostly about this annual was the beginning with Lex Luthor.

I know we saw this whole origin of Superboy talk of his during the Insiders but I loved the scene where Lex is actually acting like a father to Connor and going back to the origins of Superboy.

Plus the part where he yells at the Titans, "He wasn't there. WHERE WAS HE? WHERE WAS SUPERMAN?!" I know some might think of it odd but I liked that little moment with Lex and the Titans.

Also the clean-up of Bludhaven was alright. Least we have some additional story. This to me felt like the true end before OYL hits for TT. The issue that came out last week to me felt like IC #4.5 a nice little prelude to IC #5.

Call me a sucker for some character development and a love story but I fell for it hook line and sinker.

Story: A+
Art: A+

[snah]

Originally posted by gwangung
Well, there goes another comic veteran that should be honored by the current comics industry....

Know what?

I didn't say that what he's doing now should obliterate what he accomplished in the past.

Perhaps I should have clarified more effectively.

Much like a large percentage of people think Claremont was revolutionary with his writing of the X-Men, and the fact that his writing style or ability to tell a story hasn't evolved at all since his heydey, Wolfman is very similar.

There are plenty of "fantastic" and "out-there" stories in comics these days. Some of them are enjoyable...this one is rapidly becoming unenjoyable. But different strokes, man...

See...I wasn't paying attention to who was doing the plotting. I should have been because then I wouldn't have been in the middle of reading the last two issues of Infinite Crisis as well the Titans Annual thinking that this was complete garbage and it's almost a mirror image of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Now I know why it's very, very similar. The same guy is writing it.

With Johns getting top billing on the cover of the comic, I assumed that he was the one in charge of things. My fault for not reading the credits.

A little bit like if they had Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee listed as the artists. With Lee getting top billing and drawing just the faces, and Liefeld drawing everything else.

When CoIE came out...I was young...I loved it. I also used to love acid wash jeans and Taylor Dane when I was that age. Now? Not so much.

I was fully expecting Infinite Crisis to build itself ontop of the CoIE story, but I wasn't expecting the same "cosmic", "galactic" nonsense to occur.

It started out great. The villains were finally using their heads. They could have done the entire Infinite Crisis storyline about heroes battling villains. Like Identity Crisis...it was about the heroes...and the villains. Things were definitely fever-pitched and it was all on a level that people could relate to.

Now they're battling earthquakes and really lame graphic images of planets layered atop one another.

Oh...and Alexander Luthor. A guy with a ronald mcdonald afro, dealing with powers on a level beyond comprehension.

Something I highly doubt Batman is going to resolve with a well-placed batarang, or Supes will fix with some heat-vision.

So...yeah...when I said Wolfman needs to be put out to pasture, maybe I mean just that. Just because a comic book company drives a dump truck full of money up infront of your house, doesn't make a writer suddenly come up with something creative and original.

/end rant.

[omnislash405]

i thought the issue was alright. i have to agree that the recent issues have been somewhat weaker than previous, save for the jason todd one. this annual did well in filling in a little detail with regards to the overall crisis. and as for taking the time to show cassie and connor get it on, if i read correctly, they actually did it during all the chaos because they thought if it was the end of the world, and they would never get another chance. i think a lot of supposed 'end-of-the-world' situations can occur like that in films and stuff, so i wasn't too pissed about it.

i liked this issue, and really want to see titans get better with one year later, given the good reviews that the other OYL titles have been getting lately. my biggest complaint i suppose was that this issue got released after #33, and was therefore spoiled.

[longshot7]

Originally posted by Zechs
I loved the issue. I mean this was the eventually um a... climax of the Connor/Cassie love story. In any case, what I enjoyed mostly about this annual was the beginning with Lex Luthor.

I know we saw this whole origin of Superboy talk of his during the Insiders but I loved the scene where Lex is actually acting like a father to Connor and going back to the origins of Superboy.

Plus the part where he yells at the Titans, "He wasn't there. WHERE WAS HE? WHERE WAS SUPERMAN?!" I know some might think of it odd but I liked that little moment with Lex and the Titans.

Also the clean-up of Bludhaven was alright. Least we have some additional story. This to me felt like the true end before OYL hits for TT. The issue that came out last week to me felt like IC #4.5 a nice little prelude to IC #5.

Call me a sucker for some character development and a love story but I fell for it hook line and sinker.

Story: A+
Art: A+

I agree. I thought it was terrific.

[uva1]

Well, I thought the issue was just OK-- the plot was fair, but overall the issue was too much like a romance comic book- clearly the status quo for Superboy and Wondergirl will change after Infinite Crisisl.

I too, am feeling Crisis fatigue. Over in IC, the lateness, the jarring change in art, (same as with this issue) it just breaks the story and reminds me I am reading a comic book, rather than a graphic novel.

Look DC has got a LOT of things right in the last year-- Identity Crisis, Supergirl relaunch, the Legion, even Superman was readable for a while, but they are losing me now-- Those Liefield TT issues were just CRAP. Bart's missing (if he comes back aged as the new Flash...grrr!!!) and I dunno-- tired of ranting, but OYL is a good opportunity to weed my pull-list.

And speaking of super-teen "relations" no way did Superboy-Prime and Alex Luthor not get it on in that dimension, unless, you know, Alex only has anti-matter where his nads should be. Superboy-Prime's rage is all repressed anger from "the bad touch."

[bluebird]

well, wolfman and johns seem to work weel together. I found it odd Wolfman did the plot and Johns the dialogue though, since the "plot" is pretty much just a continuation of elements Johns put in IC. What exactly did Wolfman come up with?

the sex was subtle...I wouldn't even know they got past second base if Superboy didn't explicitly mention it in the monthly.

I like the Robin taking charge stuff and the bit with Lex, as stupid as he looked. And it was nice to finally get some resolution to the clone subplot, the romance subplot and to see some acknowledgement that yest, Bart and Superboy don't seem very much like the characters they were for years (prior to Johns's TEEN TITANS launch).

Best part was all the off-the wall references and cameos from the likes of Skyrocket and Loose Cannon though...it doesn't feel like an event until you get such random cameos.

[Jeff-2]

Well, I guess in a time of Crisis a 'booty call' can be of great comfort...

[Impulse2k1]

Okay what's wrong with a love story and you have to remember these are suppose to be teens. Now ask yourself, your 16 the worlds coming to an end your girlfriend is at your house. You already almost died.... come on saving the world is the last thing on your mind! And for everyone complaning about the supposed continuity problems in IC #5 and TT #33 this issue to me filled every gap. Hence why they waited to release the issue till march.

Writing A-
Art A+

[Impulse2k1]

Originally posted by Impulse2k1
Okay what's wrong with a love story and you have to remember these are suppose to be teens. Now ask yourself, your 16 the worlds coming to an end your girlfriend is at your house. You already almost died.... come on saving the world is the last thing on your mind! And for everyone complaning about the supposed continuity problems in IC #5 and TT #33 this issue to me filled every gap. Hence why they waited to release the issue till march.

Writing A-
Art A+

And if your upset about teens doing it.... then don't read Ultimate X-men this week either....

[Johnny Triangles]

You know, a "Geoff Johns" poster did the exact same thing to me last year. He offered to send me a book and asked for my address. He never sent it. I wonder if it was some kind of scam.

[Mega Gear X]

Originally posted by snah
The heroes of the planet are rallying together to save the denizens of the planet, and Superboy is polishing the floor with Wonder-girls a$$.

It's commendable. As a guy I can respect the need to knock boots with late teen, early twenty-year old uber-hot amazon, but even through that I can't help but think...

"Hellooooo...worldwide disaster going on...some people might need some other people's help? Some people that might be needed to help might be Superboy and Wonder-girl?"

It's forced character development and poorly timed. Not to mention the fact that I already learned from Titans #33 that Superboy and WG got up close and personal.

Superboy was just rescued from the holding tank and was severly depowered. Wondergirl's power's were blinking on and off. A super weak Superboy and an unreliable Wondergirl would be a hinderance. Enough Titans have died in this thing. And given what's been going on in the DCU and their helplessness, I could understand why they spent the night together.

[bluebird]

I dropped Ult. X-Men a long, long, long time ago--after the Gambit and Rogue run away together arc--but I'm curious. Who's doing it over there?

[Impulse2k1]

Originally posted by bluebird
I dropped Ult. X-Men a long, long, long time ago--after the Gambit and Rogue run away together arc--but I'm curious. Who's doing it over there?

Here just read this thread (http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=63069)

[snah]

Originally posted by Johnny Triangles
You know, a "Geoff Johns" poster did the exact same thing to me last year. He offered to send me a book and asked for my address. He never sent it. I wonder if it was some kind of scam.

I'm thinkin it's a scam. I just got another private message from "him".

Very polite, and actually apologetic for forgetting.

But...that still doesn't prove anything.

Hmmm...that actually gives me an idea.

Stay tuned...

[Supreme Convoy]

I loved how Lex compared Conner's current shirt to the memorial armbands from Death of Superman. Clever!

Interesting read... but not really that neccessary for the mini-series unless there's a huge moment between Conner and Cassie in #6 or #7.

[Kenn-El]

Best issue of 'Smallville' so far!

[Excelsior!]

Originally posted by snah
The heroes of the planet are rallying together to save the denizens of the planet, and Superboy is polishing the floor with Wonder-girls a$$.

Mirth-tastic! Bravo!!

:D

Heard a similar thing just a few hours ago - I wuz in a bar with a few mates, when a ridiculously good-looking girl walks in. One guy turns to me, and comes out with this gem - "Man, she is just achin' for some snakin'!".

Priceless, if just a tad icky. ;)