Review: Teen Titans Vol. 1- It’s Our Right to Fight

Quick Summary

Pros: The story is solid and gears readers up for the future. The characters are diverse, well written, and interact well together as a team.

Cons: The narrative is slightly chaotic at times. In a few places, the dialogue is a bit strange.

Overall: The first volume in this new series preforms well as both an introduction and as a standalone volume. Here, readers get to see a group of fun and interesting characters come together in a way that allows them to be even more fun and interesting. In addition, the story gets the series off to a good start and does a solid job in setting it up for future success. The book has a few flaws but not too many to distract from the positives. Anyone looking for a book about youthful heroes may want to give this volume a try.

Story

Teen Titans Vol. 1: It’s Our Right to Fight, by Scott Lobdell, is a decent and entertaining introduction to a new team of Teen Titans. It takes a great cast of characters and tosses them together in a way that allows them to excel as a team. This team feels organic and realistic, using amusing dialogue and measured humor to produce interactions that drive forward interest in the book. There are a few moments where things don’t exactly work out, but the volume, as a whole, is still fun. It will be exciting to see how this series develops in the future but, for now, things seem to be off on the right track.

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As far as stories go, It’s Our Right to Fight does an alright job overall. It successfully introduces each member of the Teen Titans, peppers in tantalizing mysteries for the future, and manages to be consistently exciting while doing so. There are a few moments where the story dives into a lull or where the pacing seems a little chaotic, but these moments are outshone by the otherwise entertaining nature of the storytelling. The end result is a solid narrative that entertains in the present and gears readers up for more in the future.

However, the book’s biggest highlight is the characters themselves. Each Teen Titans member is well written and charming in their own way. Their personalities are distinct and they all bring something unique to the team dynamic. This diversity makes the team more interesting and easier to form an emotional connection with, since it is likely that readers will have something in common with at least one of the characters.

This factor is then enhanced by Lobdell’s realistic take on dialogue. Characters go back and fourth with each other on nearly every page, trading insults or witty banter depending on what exactly the situation calls for. While this speaking tactic can definitely be a bit much at times, such as with the Thrice character, it typically works out well and ends up feeling more organic and true to life than a lot of other books out there. In the end, it helps this volume and makes the Teen Titans a more entertaining cast of characters.

Another personality element that makes these characters entertaining is the use of humor. It’s Our Right to Fight isn’t a full out dive into ridiculous comedy, à la Deadpool or Harley Quinn. Instead, it is an otherwise serious book that occasionally uses humor to lighten the mood, like what would happen with a real group of teenagers. This is just one more small element that helps make the cast feel more realistic and more entertaining.

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Art

It’s Our Right to Fight is a book filled with youthful energy and intense action, which the art does a great job in reflecting. Brett Booth’s pencils and Norm Rapmund’s inks create a book that is dynamic and full of life. Character depictions constantly seem ready to jump into action and the world around them constantly seems ready to accommodate this action. It also helps that the book is filled with detail, as both characters and backgrounds look great. There are a few moments where the art falters, specifically when drawing faces with intense emotion, but these flaws are few and far between. Overall, this is a solid looking book that does well in showing the story being told.

Continuity

Teen Titans Vol. 1: It’s Our Right to Fight starts the Teen Titans New 52 series. This means that this is the first volume in a brand new continuity, presenting an entirely fresh take on the Teen Titans. This makes it a great starting point for new fans.

The story here continues in Teen Titans Vol. 2: The Culling (Review).

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

• In the first chapter, Red Robin’s computer shows a number of different events taking place. One of these shows a woman looking for a young girl with dark hair. This girl is Raven and she disappeared at the very beginning of Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger Vol. 1: A Stranger Among Us (Review).
• There are a number of significant crossovers between this volume and the first volume of the Superboy series, Superboy Vol. 1: Incubation (Review). Superboy’s origin and his actions between Teen Titans appearances all happen in Incubation.
• Virgil Hawkins’ heroic exploits are shown over in Static Shock Vol. 1: Supercharged.