Teen Titans #7: OK, this issue is more like what I thought we would be getting in this title. Maybe it's because Kid Flash and Superboy banter in a way that reminds me of the old "Teen Titans." Maybe it's because Bunker quotes "The Princess Bride." Maybe it's because they fight as something like a team for the first time. Maybe it's because I'm reaching. But, I enjoyed the fact that this title finally felt like "Teen Titans." I'm not saying that it's all good. I still have serious concerns about the way that Lobdell portrays Tim, to the point where I wonder if Lobdell isn't confusing him with Jason. Tim has always been a tactician, but I've never seen him portrayed as cold, as Lobdell does here in Tim's conversation with Solstice. Tim exists as a character because he was more emotionally centered than Batman, who needed him to stay on an even-keel after Jason died. But, Lobdell continues to portray him as keeping himself removed from people, a mini-Batman, dedicated to the cause but not to the people. He feels like Superboy does to me, a character I used to know but now have to accept is someone different, despite the fact that, in both cases, I'm still having trouble doing that. But, hopefully, the apparent addition of Superboy to the team is going to accelerate the process of the Titans becoming friends, and, in a few issues, we might start to see the guys we used to know. Hopefully.
Superboy #8: I think I'm going to have to re-read "Superboy" #7, because it seems like that issue and this one take place after "Teen Titans" #7. Grunge attacked Superboy at the end of last issue, implying that he had already been sprung by the Titans by then. (You'd think they would've managed to order these issues correctly.) At any rate, the battle with Grunge is interesting, mostly because it forces Superboy to learn how to use his powers. Grunge is also fun, in an arrogant, good-looking kind of way, and he serves as a better foil for Superboy (who's also fun in an arrogant, good-looking kind of way) than any of the nemeses that we've met so far. I'm a little worried that this "Culling" cross-over event sound like a poor man's "Hunger Games," but I guess we'll see. I'm really quite over the Fairchild and Rose stories, because I still have no idea where Lobdell is going with them. I get that Fairchild coddled Superboy, but has she decided to turn completely against N.O.W.H.E.R.E.? I vaguely remember her or someone else implying that she was working undercover to take down N.O.W.H.E.R.E. from the inside, so maybe her anti-N.O.W.H.E.R.E stance makes more sense than it initially did when I read this issue. Looking at Rose, she doesn't seem to be motivated by undermining N.O.W.H.E.R.E., but, after eight issues, I'm still not really sure what motivates her. Basically, I'm eager to see this book transition to supplementing Superboy's appearances in "Teen Titans." I'm OK with Fairchild and Rose being part of that (though I'm assuming that they'll leave to take up the soon-to-be-launched "Ravagers" series), but we need to spend more time focusing on them and their back stories for that not to feel like an unnecessary distraction.
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