Polite Dissent

“Titans East! Titans West! And Never(?) The Titans Shall Meet!”

Teen Titans #51 begins shortly after the events of the preceding issue, with the Titans West relaxing in a fast food restaurant. Lilith is warning the others that more calamities will occur, but the group doesn’t believe her. Hawk and Beast Boy leave in disgust but encounter the very calamity Lilith warned them about: an office building launching into space. With the help of the rest of the Titans West, they mange to keep the building on the ground. All the time they are wrestling with the building, they are being watched by a mysterious villain named “Mr. Esper” who casually reveals to the reader that he has “tapped into Lilith’s powers.” As the Titans recuperate after their struggle, Lilith’s caveman boyfriend Gnarrk shows up and tries to pick a fight with Hawk and Beast Boy.

Over on the East Coast, Captain Calamity and his men are still threatening the buried airplane. In a brief fight, the Titans East capture the entire gang, including the calamitous Captain. Returning to the Titan’s secret disco base they encounter Aqualad, who announces he is going to quit the team — basically because his powers are wimpy. Meanwhile, the Titans discover that Long Island is drifting out into the Atlantic Ocean. With Captain Calamity in jail, Robin wonders who is really behind this latest incident. At that precise moment, the Titans West stroll into the Titan’s secret disco base and announce that the person who is to blame…is Lilith! To Be Continued Next Issue…

The art by Don Heck seems sketchier than the previous issue. I suspect this is mostly due to inker Frank Chiramonte’s lighter lines. The action scenes are fine, but the personal scenes suffer the most from the art this issue.

The story by Bob Rozakis is the second of the three chapters of the Titans East/Titans West saga. It has more action than the previous chapter, but that’s because it doesn’t have as many characters to introduce. The introductions that do occur — Mr. Esper and Gnarrk — are not handled particularly deftly. Overall, the story reads like a middle chapter. All this issue does is push the plot along enough so that the two teams of Titans meet. Sure hope the payoff is worth it.

Notes:

1. In this issue, Hawk reveals where he and Don have been for the past two years (the “comic book time” that passed in the four years since their last appearance): Don went to college and Hank joined the Navy.
2. Since Hawk and Dove can only be in costume when danger is present, why are they still in costume in the fast food restaurant? I suspect they were ahead of the curve when it comes to the dangers of fried foods.
3. I have never seen less original puns and quips during a fight than in this story. “Have a nice trip…see you next fall.” Gee, that’s original.
4. I just have to type it one more time: secret disco base. It has quite a ring to it, doesn’t it?