Titans #3 Review

Kadabra has been giving the recently rejoined Titans a run for their money. He’s from the future and has some tricks that have made them literally face themselves. That story continues this month, but is it good?

Titans #3 (DC Comics)

Kadabra has shown up from the future using his techno-magic to create copies of the Titans for them to fight. All he wants is to win against Flash, but every incarnation he’s fought he has lost to. Poor soul. Meanwhile, Flash has become unstuck from time and he’s attempting to get his team in order so as to stop an upcoming threat.

Why does this book matter?

Dan Abnett is good at dialogue and characters. Brett Booth is good at sharp, muscled superhero art. Together they make for a primo team.

Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?

That’s a beautiful double page spread.

Booth doesn’t get enough credit for the animated and excellent facial expressions. Kadabra looks downright silly, funny, and wacked out throughout this issue which is a lot of fun. Flash looks fantastic with all his lightning and muscles (with great colors by Andrew Dalhouse) and the opening double page splash has all sorts of energy and action to ogle. I’m a sucker for Booth’s twisty turny layouts that curve panels in all sorts of ways to convey the kinetic energy of the page.

Kadabra steals the show for me in this issue. Abnett focuses on him in a quieter scene as he discusses his enemy’s weakness with their doppelgangers. He’s got that classic villain charm in part because he’s bad just because he likes being bad. His expressions and attitude are all over the place which help convey his insane nature.

Beyond him, Abnett is building up Linda and Flash’s relationship and it’s a unique sort of buildup given Flash knows they were in love and Linda doesn’t. Red Arrow and Donna Troy’s budding are-they-or-aren’t-they relationship is also touched upon in this issue, which is one of the highlights.

It can’t be perfect can it?

I had a hard time caring about the actions taken in this issue mostly because it has a basic superhero feel with very little work down to express the stakes. The character work is rather light too, which doesn’t help the reader care all that much. Much of this issue involves the characters standing around and talking about what they’ll do next and not actually doing anything, which isn’t the most entertaining type of material. Though I do enjoy Kadabra, his whole schtick is a little too flat for my tastes. He’s bad just because and it’s unclear why he cares so much.

Is he a rapper? What an exit!

Is It Good?

This will be a tough sell for anyone looking for a story that offers anything better than a superhero slugfest. The characters do a lot of talking, but to not much gain.