This month’s installment of
TEEN TITANScontinues with the foundation provided from its introductory issue. Tim Drake (AKA “Red Robin“) is travelling the world to track down newly emerging metahuman teenagers in order to form a group for good before the evil organization N.O.W.H.E.R.E. gets to them first. With that basic premise, issue #2 slowly introduces us to a few more potential members of this team.
Tim and Cassie (AKA “Wonder Girl“) are on the lookout for Nowhere agents, but for some reason, they haven’t tried to capture them since their last encounter. That “reason” is Superboy -- who is still in a lab somewhere, biding his time for the perfect moment to strike. Meanwhile, Tim gets the chance to get a look into Cassie’s personal life, and we learn just enough of her backstory to make me curious as to what’s in store for the character.
Later, Tim continues his search for meta-teens and discovers that there’s someone who’s been dubbed “Skitter” who has been spotted around Hollywood. He’s able to track the girl/bug creature down, but encounters a pair of freelance Nowhere agents with the ability to teleport. They get to Skitter before Red Robin does, but she takes the agents out and is about to attack Tim until Cassie saves him. Then, Wonder Girl quits the still unformed team (for some mysterious reason), leaving Tim with an unconscious Skitter.
And in the end, we learn that Kid Flash has been captured by Nowhere agents directly following his blunder of an “astonishing debut” from the last issue. However, he’s able to make his escape pretty quickly before encountering Solstice -- another meta-teen who seems to be having some…problems…with her powers. There are also a few hints scattered about the issue in regards to the remaining Teen Titans members left to be discovered.
I suppose one problem that I’m having with this series is that I’m just not caring much about these “second-tier” members of the team. Red Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, and Superboy are interesting enough -- I’m not sure that crowding the team with three additional members has much merit. Still, writer Scott Lobdell is handling these characters better than some of the other New 52 team-up books (I’m looking at you, JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL).
Again, the best part of this title is Tim Drake. His characterization is spot-on and he continues to be the focal point of a series that could very easily lose its focus otherwise. While I still have my reservations about where this title will go in the future, there’s definitely enough good content here to keep me intrigued for the time being.
SYNOPSIS: A strange creature haunts the streets of Los Angeles... and because of this creature's age, both Red Robin and N.O.W.H.E.R.E. are racing to find her – but neither side is prepared for the horror known as Bugg! Meanwhile, Superboy is on a collision course with the team, and Kid Flash plots his escape from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. with the most unexpected of allies!