Review: Teen Titans Vol. 3- The Sum of Its Parts

Quick Summary

Pros: The book’s second half is a major improvement and tells one of the best stories in the series thus far.

Cons: The book’s first half is chaotic. This portion of the book is constantly jumping from storyline to storyline without ever developing any plot point in a significant way. The opening chapter features some very poor art.

Overall: This book features a very even split between good storytelling and terrible storytelling. The first half of the book is poorly plotted and offers very little in terms of positives. However, the book’s second half has a great story centered around Wonder Girl. In the end, these positives make the book potentially worthwhile for those looking for a good Wonder Girl/Teen Titans story from this era.

Story

Teen Titans Vol. 3: The Sum of Its Parts is a true mixed bag when it comes to quality. The opening half of the volume continues the chaotic and uninspired storytelling from the previous volume. This half of the book is downright bad and has very little going for it. However, the second half contains some of the best material in this series thus far. This half still isn’t fantastic, but it is such a refreshing rise in quality that it helps redeem some of the earlier blunders. This odd mix of good and bad give this book one of the best and one of the worst stories from this section of Teen Titans history.

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The first half of The Sum of Its Parts, written by Will Pfeifer, is just as strange and disorderly as Rogue Targets (Review). This portion of the book sees the Titans jump from situation to situation while on the run from the police.

The biggest problem here is the way in which this storyline jumps around and fails to develop any plot point in any significant way. This volume starts out by ditching the Manchester Black and Superboy plotlines, leaving unanswered questions and unresolved issues from the previous volume. Then, it goes on to focus on the Teen Titans escaping the police, their role in a Gotham City conflict, and then a fight against aliens. Villains and problems rise and fall so quickly that readers have no time to become invested or interested in what is going on.

These problems are then amplified by portions of the story that are introduced only to be completely ignored a few pages later. This can be seen with Brother Blood’s introduction, with sets up some story that never happens, or the Teen Titans’ involvement in the city of Heaton, which is never mentioned again. Watching storylines dissolve with such frequency does not inspire readers to become more involved with what is going on.

Luckily, the second half of the book, written by Greg Pak, is a lot better. Though it still starts out with a jarring leap in storytelling, this initial rough patch is the three-chapter storyline’s only chaotic moment. The rest of the chapters tell a coherent story about Wonder Girl’s origins. This allows for a great exploration of her character and a wholesome spotlight on her connection to her teammates. All of this is a wonderfully satisfying change of pace from the petty infighting and unnecessary misunderstandings of the previous volume, giving a breath of fresh air to those who have stuck with this series for this long.

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Art

The artwork throughout The Sum of Its Parts, is average in most places. Ian Churchill’s work in the book’s second half and in the Robin War (Review) chapter make up some of the collection’s most significant highlights. His work is detailed and structured well, making the characters and locations both look good. These chapters really only look average, but still manage to succeed in telling the story they are trying to tell.

The biggest negative is the book’s opening chapter. This single issue kicks this off an a very poor note, with misshapen characters and strange proportions. The art here even contains a number of details that conflict with one another, such as a reporter doing a livestream on her phone on one page and then talking into a camera on another. Luckily, this is only one chapter in an otherwise decent looking collection.

Continuity

Teen Titans Vol. 3: The Sum of Its Parts continues the story from Teen Titans Vol. 2: Rogue Targets (Review).

The story here continues in Teen Titans Vol. 4: When Titans Fall (Review).

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

• A movement against teenaged vigilantes is brought up a number of times. This movement is the central focus of Robin War (Review).
  • This volume also contains a tie-in issue with Robin War (Review). See our “Robin War Reading Order” for more information.
• Kid Flash’s connection to the future is explained in Teen Titans Vol. 5: The Trial of Kid Flash (Review).
• The young version of Doomsday appearing here has his origins in Doomed.
• A number of elements from the Wonder Woman series are referenced in the later half off this collection.
  • Wonder Woman and Lennox’s connection to the gods is explained in Wonder Woman Vol. 1: Blood (Review).
  • Cassandra’s connection to the First Born is explained in Wonder Woman Vol. 3: Iron (Review).
  • Lennox’s current situation is explained in Wonder Woman Vol. 4: War.