Titans #1

Written by: Dan Abnett

Art by: Brett Booth

Coloured by: Andrew Dalhouse

Lettered by: Carlos M. Mangual

Coming directly off of the Rebirth issue, Wally West has returned and restored the memories of himself to the Titans. Informing them that not only have ten years been stolen from their lives, but purposefully to weaken them by an unknown entity, the Titans decide to attempt to find this entity and stop whatever it has planned together. It was a great start to the series and a great follow-up to the ideas presented in the DC Universe Rebirth Special itself. So, can they keep this pace up and deliver another amazing issue, or will it start to slow down a bit as it settles into a rhythm?

This issue opens directly after the end of the Rebirth issue, with the Titans determined to figure out just who tore them apart in the first place. Realizing that the answer may lie in Wally's subconscious, Lilith suggests that she read his mind to try and find it. Unfortunately, Wally's mind keeps returning to one name: Linda Park, his wife from the previous universe who no longer remembers him. Undeterred by this failure, they decide to hunt down leads the old fashion way, and on the assumption that Mr. Twister from Titan's Hunt was in some way connected to the entity, decide to hunt down someone else who was in his thrall, Mammoth. As the Titans leave to hunt him down, however, Lilith reveals that she sensed something in Wally's mind, another mind connected to him, something powerful and evil that she thinks that she may have unwittingly awoken back into their world.

The art remains great, with the occasional hiccup. The mysterious villain revealed at the end of the issue's eyes look odd, and Linda Park occasionally has a weird look on her face, but nothing major. On the other end of the spectrum, some of the backgrounds are stunning. One specifically, an image of the Sun rising over the Earth as seen from the Moon, was amazingly done.

All and all, I thought that this was a good issue, but was a little disappointed because the issue that it followed was even better. Not a lot happened, the front was loaded with some good scenes from the Rebirth special as well as Flash Rebirth to get new readers up to speed, and it didn't really have the same touching, heartfelt moments like the Rebirth issue did. While I'm interested in seeing where the story goes from here, I hope that future issues can bring back some of the magic that the Rebirth issue had, dealing with the Titans relationships and showing them to be more than a simple super hero team, and more of a family.