Review: Teen Titans Vol. 4- When Titans Fall

Quick Summary

Pros: There are moments of excitement throughout the book. The final chapter is heartwarming and emotional.

Cons: Most of the volume is uninteresting and fails to truly grab one’s attention. Throughout the collection, there are a few small moments that feel strange.

Overall: Though this volume is better than most of its predecessors, it still ends up being a rather mediocre affair. It jumps from story to story without a clear goal and only has brief moments of excitement. The final chapter give the series a nice conclusion but it isn’t quite enough to fully make up for the rest of the collection. Overall, this volume might be worth it for those interested in seeing how the series ends but isn’t really worth it for anyone else.

Review Notes

Most of this collection is comprised of comic issues from the Teen Titans Vol. 5 series. However, this collection also includes a preview issue of the Teen Titans Vol. 6 series, which is the series that immediately follows this one. For this reason we will not be discussing this one issue and will instead discuss it in our review of Teen Titans Vol. 1: Damian Knows Best (Review).

This review will cover issues #20-24 and Annual #2 of Teen Titans Vol. 5.

Story

Teen Titans Vol. 4: When Titans Fall isn’t a terrible volume but it also isn’t a good one. Most of this comic is devoted to a series of disconnected storylines where the Teen Titans face one threat after another. These storylines have their fair share of excitement but fail to develop into anything meaningful. Instead, readers watch plotlines form and then quickly dissolve in a way that simply does not build interest. The only thing preventing this volume from being downright bad is the final chapter, which is a solid sendoff to this series as a whole. All in all, this collection does not offer much but has enough going for it to avoid being a complete failure.

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The majority of When Titans Fall features the Teen Titans taking on a random series of threats. Each new chapter opens the door to a new enemy, who is typically dealt with soon after being introduced. These battles contain some fun action and even a moment or two of neat strategy, which provide the positives for this portion of the collection.

However, this revolving door of battles leaves the volume incapable of creating any larger or more meaningful storylines. Seeing a random enemy rise and fall over the course of a few pages can provide a modicum of excitement but doesn’t give readers a reason to keep reading. If there were significant moments of character development going on in the meantime, this problem might not be as significant, but this simply is not the case. In the end, these stories end up feeling weak and unremarkable.

This problem is further exacerbated by a number of strange details littered throughout the collection. These details range from incredibly awkward memes to Tim Drake’s bizarre solution to dealing with the H.I.V.E. Queen. Details like these disconnect the story from realism and make the reading experience slightly worse. When viewed separately, these problems are small but when added up they start to have a larger effect on the collection as a whole.

The volume’s saving grace comes from its final issue, which deals with the aftermath of Detective Comics Vol. 1: The Rise of the Batmen (Review) and sees this iteration of the Titans split up. This issue is emotional and focuses on the friendship that has formed between these teammates, something that has been lacking for the majority of this series. It doesn’t fix the volume as a whole but does help alleviate some of the negatives.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork throughout When Titans Fall ends up being just as unremarkable as the story. It never ends up looking offensive or bad in any meaningful way, yet it also never ends up being memorable in any significantly positive way either. Character depictions end up being the strongest element of the art, especially in chapters drawn by Ian Churchill. However, even this positive is disrupted by some poor perspective. Overall, the artwork here isn’t bad but it also isn’t anything to write home about.

Continuity

Teen Titans Vol. 4: When Titans Fall continues the story from Teen Titans Vol. 3: The Sum of Its Parts (Review).

This Teen Titans series ends with this volume. However, a new Teen Titans series begins with Teen Titans Vol. 1: Damian Knows Best (Review). In addition, a comment from Raven implies that her story continues in Raven.

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

• The H.I.V.E. Queen’s previous attack on Metropolis is mentioned here. This attack took place throughout Superman Vol. 4: Psi War (Review).
• The final chapter references something that recently happened to Tim Drake. This happened at the end of Detective Comics Vol. 1: The Rise of the Batmen (Review).
• A number of events from the previous Teen Titans series are mentioned here.
  • The Teen Titans got a boat back in Teen Titans Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review).
  • They faced Trigon and added Raven to the team back in Teen Titans Vol. 4: Light and Dark (Review).
  • Tim and Cassie kissed back in Teen Titans Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review).