Weekend Warriors: Teen Titans #16

Welcome to our Weekend Warriors, where we do reviews in a similar way to how we do our Collective Consensus reviews. The staff do a review of one book, that we didn't get the chance to cover during the week. The book would be a one-shot, start of a new series or the start of a new arc, just so that anyone can jump into the book. The multiple reviews allows readers to get a wide range of opinions and the sense of how the book is.

DC Solicitations: A unseen villain has taken over the citizens of San Francisco with one target in mind...Starfire! Can Kory and her teammates figure out a cure for the masses before they lose control of their minds and bodies forever? 

Writer: Marv Wolfman
Artist: Tom Derenick
Colorist: Jim Charalampidis
Publisher: DC Comics

Stephen
I felt somewhat lost reading this issue. I’m not familiar with the Teen Titans team with the exception of a few episodes of Teen Titans Go. I did have to re-read a few pages throughout to get a better understanding of what was going on and the team dynamics.

This was certainly an action-packed issue concentrating on the Starfire character. It seemed like a one and done type issue so I’m curious whether regular readers found it to be a filler type issue. To me, it didn’t seem to move along an overall storyline or really add anything to the characterization.

As a first time reader, I’d say it didn’t do anything to grab me. It didn’t draw me in to want to continue pursuing the title. The artwork and colours were nice to look at but the story was just an average action sequence extended into a full issue.

Nathan
This issue was my introduction to all of the characters in this series and I actually think I found something here that I liked. Starfire is a really fun superhero to read about and her fighting panels look great. The storyline has a little backstory that is explained in the issue and I found it to be really interesting. Starfire’s history with the Psions was complicated but in a way that I enjoyed, which also made me enjoy their battle here in this issue.

The action panels are probably my favorite part of this issue. It is so detailed and colorful that it makes the scenes almost theatrical. The dialogue however is kind of silly in my opinion, but that is what I expect from DC and Marvel superhero comic books so it didn’t necessarily bother me. I also felt like the climax to this issue fizzled out way too quickly. The buildup was fun but the action was finished a little abruptly. Overall, I don’t immediately want to make it a habit to start reading Teen Titans comic books, but I enjoyed this issue just enough that if I pick up the next issue and enjoy it as well, I may adopt it as another one of my monthly reads. 

Batmanaruto
As someone who does regularly read Teen Titans this was a change of pace and breath of fresh air. The one-shot was written by the legendary Teen Titans writer Marv Wolfman and it was nice to see him return to the book. He focuses on the characters that he is used to and I do think that this is for the better. This is a Starfire focused issue which addresses how she is much older than the rest of her team and uses the Psions as villains to highlight how the character is out of place. I found the story to be fun, and the dialogue to be really great. This issue was only elevated by the art work.
 

Summary
Those are all our reviews of Teen Titans #16! There are mixed opinions however the general attitude is very positive. All of our staff seem to be able to agree that one of the main highlights of the book is the fantastic art. What do you think? Tell us below, on Facebook, or on Twitter!!!