Titans #4

Written by: Dan Abnett

Art by: Brett Booth

Coloured by: Andrew Dalhouse

Lettered by: Carlos M. Mangual

In the previous issue, having managed to fend off Kadabra for the time being, the Titans stop off for dinner while discussing what they plan to do next. Realizing that Wally still cares about Linda Park despite the fact that she still has no idea who he is, Kadabra begins to formulate a new plan to finally get his revenge. Lilith joins the meal, having calmed Linda down and made sure she was safe, but Wally runs off anyway, concerned about her. Reaching Linda, he apologizes for having gotten her involved, and tells her that he wil leave her alone if that's what she wants. Taking this opportunity to interview a hero, Linda starts asking him questions about who he is and where he is from, but they are interrupted as Kadabra pops out of a portal behind her, abducting her right in front of Wally.

This issue starts with the Titans having arrived on the scene. Wally blames himself for everything going wrong in the Titans' lives, and Lilith blames herself for having having accidentally brought back Kadabra in the first issue. After a quick pep talk from Nightwing, however, the team is back in better spirits, and Lilith uses her powers to locate Kadabra, who has disguised his actual location among three possible locations. The Titans split up into twos, each arriving at a different location and encountering enhanced versions of their doppelgangers from before. Over with Kadabra, he reveals his plan to Linda; he will make Wally run so fast that he once again loses himself to the speedforce, unable to return without Linda to act as his grounding rod. Kadabra appears before Wally and shows him his companions, all having lost the fight against the doppelgangers and in imminent mortal danger. The issue ends as Kadabra taunts Wally that he can't save them all, and Wally begins to run. This issue once again does a good job at pushing the team aspect, this time focusing on Nightwing as a leader. His reassuring words, while simple, have a dramatic effect on the morale of the team, Wally going so far as thinking that just hearing him talk at all has a reassuring effect on the team.

The artwork remains a bit of a mixed bag, with interesting panel layouts and backgroundis fine in alms spoiled by poor character artwork. Wally shifts back and forth between fine and comical expressions, Linda is consistently off, but Lilith is fine in almost any scene she's in, and Garth is usually drawn well also, but for some reason his doppelgangers expressions are constantly off. It's just a bizarre lack of consistency that makes the good artwork appear to be more of a serendipitous occurance rather than the poor artwork being a mistake.

Overall, I thought the issue was good, but it certainly had several flaws, namely in the artwork and focus on Kadabra constantly spouting nothing but exposition at Linda. Additionally, Linda herself barely even matters to the story, contributing absolutely nothing to the overall plot other than giving someone for Kadabra to monologue at. The plot for Wally's defeat was set up with the other Titans as the pawns, so having Linda there as well, especially when she barely says a word the entire issue, just seems like overdoing it. Ultimately, while I did enjoy the issue for what it was, I really hope that future issues tighten up the storytelling and artwork a bit, because there's a lot of good here, but it's unfortunately covered by several missteps.