Teen Titans #19

(w) Scott Lobdell and Tony Bedard     (a) Eddy Barrows

I don't even know where to start.


** SPOILERS AHEAD **


What a mess of an issue. Seriously. Was Scott Lobdell just trying to throw everything that came into his head directly into Teen Titans #19? It's got the full team (minus Skitter, whom I'll remember but Lobdell certainly wont), plus appearances by Psimon, Raven, Beast Boy, and the evil demon, Trigon. Yes, it makes sense for Raven to be floating around seeing as she's Trigon's daughter, but beyond that, nothing in Teen Titans #19 has any semblance of cohesion.

Let me back up.

The ONLY good part about this issue is the revelation that Wonder Girl's father is none other than Lennox from the pages of Wonder Woman. It makes sense, and it finally makes a decent connection between Cassie Sandsmark and the Olympians. But it's only one panel, and it's not really a revelation because Cassie can't see Trigon's imagination. So basically, the audience now knows who Cassie's father is (if you've been reading Wonder Woman and shame on you if not), thereby achieving some fairly freshman-grade dramatic irony.Oh-la-la. Also, Scott Lobdell's inexplicable obsession with inner monologue is tempered quite a bit by Tony Bedard's co-scripting. Thank you, Tony.

Now let's talk about the bad.

First, we get a guest appearance from Beast Boy after the events of The Ravagers #12. For those of you who haven't read that particular issue, don't worry; it hasn't been released yet. So basically, disregard Beast Boy because his inclusion is based on events that haven't technically taken place yet, and he's not all that important to the story anyway.

Next, let's talk about Psimon. He's was a B-list villain (at best) before the 'New 52', but now, he's more like a flunky because Scott Lobdell has turned him into a sniveling, angst-ridden teenager who gets pouty when everything doesn't go his way. I suppose in an unintentionally metafictional sense, Psimon is a great interpretation of a teenage super villain, but that doesn't change the fact that he's just an asshole and all I wanted to do was get past any time he was in-panel. Oh, and there's a part where Beast Boy and Psimon battle until their powers "cancelled each other out" which makes no sense because one has mental psychic abilities while the other has physical shapeshifting. In what world do those two things coincide? My brain hurts.

None of this is to mention Scott Lobdell's dialogue, which I (think I) know is his because it's so much more awkward sounding than the stuff Bedard wrote. Like when Kid Flash is a huge prick after saving Superboy and says, "The words you're looking for are 'thank' and 'you'!" It's a minor complaint, but when has Kid Flash ever used more words than necessary? He's a speedster that gets things done quickly. Or the gem from Raven; "Why do humans visit such harm upon their children?" Well, first off, that's terrible diction. Visit? Sure it works, but it just sounds really dumb. And that's not even taking into account that fact that humans, technically, really didn't do any of this to these kids. It was Harvest, REMEMBER?!?!?! So why is the human race being judged?

Teen Titans #19 is another issue of terribleness from Scott Lobdell. Tony Bedard's co-scripting helped out, but there's little to be achieved by putting duct tape on a giant engine made of random parts that barely works and is constantly on the brink of completely falling apart.

Oh, and Red Robin is still being a huge dick for no reason whatsoever.

GRADE

3/10