Review: Titans Vol. 3- A Judas Among Us

Quick Summary

Pros: The mysteries and suspense running through the book are effective. The progression into and majority of the book’s final battle is wonderfully exciting. The artwork looks good in most places.

Cons: The volume heavily focuses on relationships, many of which feel over-the-top and unrealistic. The book’s final battle has a poor conclusion.

Overall: This collection slightly changes the appeal of this series in a way that might not work for everyone. This volume significantly highlights relationship drama in a way that ends up feeling ridiculous in a few places. There is still plenty of well-written action and suspense but about half of the volume is mostly focused on relationship tension. For readers who enjoy this kind of drama, the volume will be great, for those looking for a more measured take on young adult heroes, this volume will have far less appeal than before.

Story

Titans Vol. 3: A Judas Among Us, by Dan Abnett, is good in some places but has far less universal appeal than its predecessors. The volume still has action, suspense, and encouraging moments from the members of the team. However, this particular volume places a far more significant emphasis on relationship drama, particularly when it comes to romance. While some readers may end up liking this change, I found it to be a bit too dramatic, to the point where it felt childish at times. In addition, the main story arc’s conclusion is lackluster. In the end, this volume still has good pieces to it but, for readers who don’t care for over-the-top drama, it is not as nice of a read.

(spoilers start here)

The opening chapters of A Judas Among Us dive into the relationship drama right from the start. A romance officially begins between Omen and Tempest, Arsenal struggles to admit his feelings for Donna, and the Flash and Donna unexpectedly decide to kiss. Meanwhile, premonitions of the future indicate one of the Titans may be a traitor and the entire team is unsure who they should trust. While I can see some readers seriously enjoying all of this chaos, to me, it felt too much like the unrealistically blown up drama from teen-focused 90s programming rather than a serious take on young adult lives. Though the whodunit plotline was alright in some places, the romance plotline had characters declaring their love for one another after only dating for a few days and had heroes debating love-triangles in the middle of a fight with real villains.

However, the quality of the storytelling becomes more universally appealing as the main story arc progresses. Once the team discovers there was no traitor and begins to deal with their own emotions, the narrative becomes more focused and less dramatic. It allows the volume to move into its endgame, where the Titans are forced to prevent a powerful entity from wreaking havoc on the world.

This portion of the read is the highlight of the book. It depicts a climactic battle with plenty of action, has Wally nearly sacrifice himself to save Dick Grayson, and reveals that the comic’s big bad is an alternate future version of Donna Troy. All of this helps create a finale that is tense and unexpected, with the reader never quite sure what will happen next.

The problem here is that the big bad is eventually defeated by a single blow from Donna Troy. I had to reread this piece of the book multiple times because I was sure the Titans’ final triumph couldn’t have been as simple as that, yet it was. This takes away a bit of the finale’s otherwise effective punch.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Though the quality of the story in A Judas Among Us may have fallen from where it was in previous volumes, the quality of the artwork remains consistent. The majority of the book’s visuals come from Brett Booth, keeping visual consistency between this volume and the previous few. Booth’s work is bold and dynamic in a way that matches this collection’s penchant for sudden bursts of action and highly emotional exchanges. This volume also contains beautiful chapters from Kenneth Rocafort and Minkyu Jung. Rocafort’s chapter uses expressive faces and chaotic page structures to highlight the drama taking place within, and Jung’s chapter uses tight visuals to cleanly depict an awesome battle. The only downside here is that jumping between Booth’s work and work from these other artists is a bit jarring, especially since Jung’s chapter comes at a pivotal moment in the volume’s storytelling. Overall though, the artwork in this collection looks nice and will work for most readers.

Continuity

Titans Vol. 3: A Judas Among Us continues the story from Titans: The Lazarus Contract.

The story here continues in Titans Vol. 4: Titans Apart (Review).

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• The Titans’ fight against Mister Twister and his impact on their memories is mentioned. This is explained across Titans Hunt (Review).
• A new king took over in Atlantis in Aquaman Vol. 8 #24, collected at the conclusion of Aquaman Vol. 3: Crown of Atlantis (Review).
• Donna Troy’s origin as a weapon likely refers to the origin presented in Wonder Woman Vol. 4 #37, collected in Wonder Woman Vol. 7: War-Torn (Review).