Teen Titans Go! is a series with a variety of opinions surrounding it. You have many fans of the original Teen Titans TV show (which is very good) who seem like they hate the show no matter what because it dared to be a different tone from the original. Now, you also have the opposite end of that spectrum: kids who grew up with the show who are now gaining access to the internet and voicing their opinion that it is one of the funniest things put on screen. I like to think I’m somewhere in between. I’ve not religiously followed it, but I’ve caught an episode here and there. It’s alright. The movie was pretty great, though. However, can that success be seen in its comic book? Let’s find out…
T-e-e-n T-i-t-a-n-s
When I read this, it but me in mind of a series I reviewed a while ago, The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries. Looking up the credits of both the artist and writer on this issue, I was not surprised to find out that they had both worked on the other series. Both are series that carry over from TV series whilst not adapting but aiming to keep some artistic consistency. They are also quite similarly enjoyable.
Nobody reading this is going to expect a genre-defining comic. It certainly has its flaws. For example, some of the characters’ voices are a bit inconsistent. At the beginning of the issue, Starfire says “he is” instead of using “he’s”. Not a big deal, and it seems like something this Starfire would do. I can imagine the voice actor from the show saying the sentence. Which is why the use of the word “kinda” is all the more annoying. It’s not an enormous issue, but when you’re using pre-established versions of the characters, you’ve got to get their habits and ways of talking down pat, or you’ll break the illusion.
As far as the writing goes, it’s a pretty standard TTG adventure. Somebody, in this case, Cyborg, has gone missing. So, Robin dons the outfit of a hardened detective to get to the bottom of the case. However, the book has a reference in it I really wasn’t expecting. To get to the bottom of the case, Robin has the remaining Titans each tell their version of the story of when they last saw Cyborg. Each person being an unreliable narrator, we find the truth by taking a little bit of the story from each party involved.
Teen Titans, let’s go!
If any of you are familiar with the work of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, this may remind you of his film Rashomon: a film about a group of people trying to figure out the events that led up to the murder of a samurai with each people telling the story somewhat reliably, from which they can find the truth. You may be thinking, “But Chip! This is Teen Titans Go!. A comic book for kids. This has obviously got nothing to do with Japanese cinema.” Normally, I’d agree with you, though they reference the movie in this issue. Raven picks it to watch during movie night. So I have to respect it at least somewhat for doing that.
The art here looks like how the show would look if it had more time and money given to it. Obviously, for a Saturday morning cartoon, the production isn’t going to be super in-depth, and I think it’s fair to say that TTG’s art style isn’t anything to write home about. Erich Owen manages to give it a bit of a facelift lift though. You get some more detailed shadowing and shading, facial expressions and character appearances than you’d normally expect. Not brilliant, but not sub-standard.
Recommended If
- You like the show, it’s pretty much just an extension
- Series like Batman/Scooby aren’t cutting it, and you need something fresh
- Rashomon is your jam
Overall
Like I say, it’s alright. I was neither thrilled nor disappointed. Making it an homage to Rashomon is a pretty cool thing to do in a comic designated for younger people. I suppose it’s very much like the show in that way. Very silly and goofy, but with the occasional reference to something that you really don’t expect. Besides, anything that gets people into comics at a young age is pretty cool, no matter what, in my opinion.
Score: 6.5/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.
English (US) · 