Teen Titans (2003) by Geoff Johns #8-19 Review

[Teen Titans : Raven Rising]

• Teen Titans #8 - "Family Lost" = History lesson! This chapter was a lot of fun, and I'm all in for this series now that I've gotten used to the cast. The Raven backstory was much needed, but it was the Tim Drake sequences that stood out the most in this issue. I loved Tom Grummett's pencils, they bring a Perez-esque quality to this book that McKone's didn't seem to have (no hate on McKone, his art is dope). There were some wonderful tid-bits in this: Alcatraz reopened, Gizmo and Mammoth, Batman/Starfire foreshadowing about Raven, + Deathstroke and Ravager on the move is fun as well, but I wonder how we get to modern Rose Wilson from this.
• Teen Titans #9 - "First Blood" = Out for blood! Fasten your seatbelts everyone, we are getting into grimdark territory for the Titans! Was having Brother Blood rip the gem out of bald Raven's forehead with his teeth truly necessary? One of my main concerns with this issue is the fact that it suffers from Act I syndrome: a bunch of stuff is thrown at you in a short span of time, you feel overwhelmed, but that's the point. These mystery-boxes will be clarified (hopefully) by the time the story arc ends. The schematics of the ritual + cryptic deliberations by the cult members are the biggest peeve, while the grey energy possessing Beast Boy and Krypto spewing ravens does entice some intrigue. The Conner/Krypto stuff was fun, but that Cyborg page was awesome, hats off to McKone.
• Teen Titans #10 - Raven Rising, Part I : "New Blood" = Great opening, loved the page of the huge mass of birds over the San Francisco bay area as well as the giant skeletal Trigon they had to fight. The grey energy bringing out the paternal insecurities was also a huge plus, and Ares snapping Cassie out of hit was a great way of reminding us about that plot point. Although I do want unity, the split between the YJ leftovers and the Wolfman titans brings a fun dynamic to how this fledgling team is operating; of course Tim is going to be skeptical about Raven and plan for the worst! It's stuff like that, the small character moments, that really holds a team book together: putting characters in tough situations and having them act like they would to solve the problem. The main issue with team-books these days is the mundane characterization, rarely do I get super invested in a character compared to some older runs like Joe Kelly's JLA or Johns' JSA. Besides that, I care very little for the edgelord Brother Blood, though I thought it was pretty funny when he revealed his age.
• Teen Titans #11 - Raven Rising, Part II : "Soul Survivor" = Loved this! The Raven pathos really did a whole lot to carry this issue, very compelling in it's ramifications to her character history as well as relation to this hostage marriage. Cyborg and especially Beast Boy get some great moments, with Gar and Raven having the best scenes. Can't deny that the Starfire and Tim stuff was fun too, and I'm eager to see how that relationship evolves. Deathstroke and Ravager as the wilds cards get more spotlight, and act as a great segue into the final pages. Rose must be under some kind of mental hold, because her dialogue is comically two-dimensional. Best moment: Blood getting sniped by Robin's birdarang.
• Teen Titans #12 - Raven Rising, Part III : "Titans Together!" = Hello wtf? This Wilson-Family plot thread is soap storytelling on god damn meth. That last page was stupid as mess and I honestly thank god that Priest actually gave Slade and Rose personalities in the Rebirth run, because anything is preferable to whatever the heck this is. The finale was fun and I enjoyed Beast Boy turning into a parasite and Cyborg clapping up OP Jericho with the freaking task manager application. I'm guessing Brother Blood is in one of the rings of DC Universe's version of Hell; I hope his return holds a better plan than this absolute failure, I don't know why he would bank everything on Raven acting against his will.

[TEEN TITANS : Beast Boys & Girls]

• Teen Titans #13 - Beast Boys & Girls, Part I : "Concrete Jungle" = Now that's how you open an arc! Great premise; I'm assuming that somehow these kids have been infected with Sakutia while Gar's power have been negated. Could this have been caused by Doctor Register, the scientist in the flashback sequence? Maybe infecting these kids with the disease helps immunize them in a different way, Gar mentions that he's never been sick since he was 6, and Register is trying to help children in his own twisted way? This is a pretty big leap for a first issue, but we'll see what ends up happening. The Raven/Cass interaction was dope, and it appears that Raven used her empath powers to sap her sadness away? Stephanie Brown Robin makes a fun appearance, though I wonder how far out from War Games we are in the timeline. Tom Grummett's art is like a Jim Lee/Paul Pelletier mashup and I loved every page.
• Teen Titans #14 - Beast Boys & Girls, Part II : "Wild Life" = We love accurate predictions! Horrifying opener, but the lightspeed pacing of societal collapse as the Titans try to hold everything together is fun as mess. Loved the sense of urgency paired with Gar's internal turmoil due to his return to normalness vs the loss of the Beast Boy persona. The Conner/Tim stuff was easily the highlight of this issue, and I admire how Johns was able to drop the fill-in exposition for those who aren't reading the Batman/Robin runs at the time. Great continuity weaving, and it all fits with what's going on in Tim's story throughout this run so far as well. Very interested to see what Ares agenda with Cass is, and I loved how she calls him a pedo.
• Teen Titans #15 - Beast Boys & Girls, Part III : "Changelings" =God dammit Johns! Stop with the anti-climax deus ex machina! At least Tom Grummett's art was here to add a nice coating to this flimsy arc. Loved the Cass/Ares sequence + possible Conner death foreshadowing during IC!? Aquaman + Lorena Marquez cameo was a little out of place, Tim is back, Raven is going to high school (but it makes sense because her new body is a teen?). The Legion sequence at the end was great, but I have no idea what is going on with Legion chronology at this point (I believe Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning are working on it at this time).

[TEEN TITANS : The Future Is Now]

• Teen Titans #16 - Superboy & The Legion, Part I : "Wherever Tomorrow Takes Us" = Spotlight Legion! Loved the feeling of being overwhelmed by the overly-complicated and bombastic nature of the LOS future, the monstrous amount of members and an absolutely fascinatingly rich landscape: this kind of possible tomorrow is so much more interesting than any of the dark Kingdom Come/Dark Knight Returns worlds. So I take it that our Superboy was dropped off in the 31st Century as a result of his future self coming back to the past? Or could it be that he was taken to the future by something else? Loved the Fatal Five hundred reveal, and excited to see how this transitions into Titans of Tomorrow. 
• Teen Titans/The Legion Special - Superboy & The Legion, Part II : "Future Is Foreshadow" = Temporal shenanigans turned up to eleven! A wonderful little two-parter to revamp our Legion, get the Titans where they need to be, and cap it off with a smooth though not so subtle layers of foreshadowing! Ivan Reis' art is a blast, and Geoff blows a silver age load all over the book; you can 100% tell he loved every second of this book. The Kid Flash stuff was a lot of fun, along with Superboy's whole arc coming in full circle. I loved the little snippets we got of each Legionnaire, and I am eager to get into some of their runs in the future to familiarize myself with those characters (besides the basic ones like Brainy, Lighting Lad, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl).
• Teen Titans #17 - Titans Tomorrow, Part I : "Big Brothers and Sisters" = World-Building! Exposition! In Your Face! Johns flourishes when given the opportunity to write anti-heroes, these dark titans from the world-to-be are doused in 2000's edge! I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this, spoon-fed lore introducing us to a grimdark prison for our heroes, the gods are gone, it's Tartarus for the Titans! Joker's Daughter is easily the most creatively bankrupt concept ever, but at least she had a mouthful of lead for her last supper. Interested to see what Tim's plan is regarding the present titans as well as if Slade ends up making it through the night.
• Teen Titans #18 - Titans Tomorrow, Part II : "Tales of the Titans" = It's really obvious that Johns and the other architects of the DCU at this time are radically shifting the polarity of continuity towards this edgy grimdark BS, with this storyline being a pseudo-commentary on that while simultaneously shifting itself in that direction: criticism while creating more grounds for that very criticism = hypocrisy? Tomorrow-Tim is literally wearing the N52 Batman costume 7 years before Flashpoint! Overall, not as good as the first chapter, but the Tim stuff was interesting while Slade jerking around was hilarious. How did the Titans East split off? Where is Starfire?
• Teen Titans #19 - Titans Tomorrow, Part III : "East Meets West" = DANG! Great final sequence, great issue overall. Enjoyed the glimpses of hope in the tomorrow-verse with Cyborg and the East-coast gang maintaining the status quo on the other half of the country. Foreshadowing is always fun and we got Star + Dick ships, Bette Kane + Ra's Al Ghul, Ravager/Bart, and endless mentions of the Crisis. Funny that this whole arc was an engine for the Titans to finally embrace each other as a team. I think it's fascinating that Johns really had them stick it out with tension post Graduation Day; it's nice to think that it would take this long after Donna's "death" while doing a lot of service to the importance of her character.