Convergence: Titans #1 (2015)

February 25, 2017 Chris

Convergence: Titans #1 (June, 2015)
“Try for Justice, Part One”
Writer – Fabian Nicieza
Penciller – Ron Wagner
Inker – Jose Marzan, Jr.
Colorist – Chris Sotomayor
Letterer – Carlos M. Mangual
Assistant Editors – Brittany Holzherr & Michael Kraiger
Editor – Marie Javins
Cover Price: $3.99

Another weekend in the Convergence… because, why not? This time we’re going to discuss one of the titles I was most excited for… for two reasons. First, it was a Titans book, and second, it was written by Fabian Nicieza. My Titans’ fandom goes without saying at this point., but Nicieza, along with Scott Lobdell, are responsible for some of my favorite (and fandom-formative) X-Men stories of all time. I’m actually surprised that I haven’t yet discussed either fella on the blog. We’ll have to fix that.

Anyhoo… into the void.

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We open with a tour down Roy Harper’s memory lane. He remembers his time with the (original) Teen Titans, his (sadly character-defining) heroin addiction, his tryst with Cheshire and resultant daughter Lian… and that daughter’s tragic passing, which I believe happened during Justice League: Cry for Justice. Also, when he lost his arm. He wakes up in a sweaty panic.

He thinks back to a year ago when a dome covered… get this… yet a-freaking-nother Gotham City. Super-powers were nullified… and somehow, Roy’s cybernetic arm quit working… ooookay. He speaks of Gotham’s resilience, just making things work in their “new normal”. Roy spends his time at a community center, or orphanage named “Lian’s Place” after his daughter.

And then, THE SPEECH.

Roy calls Donna Troy, who as luck would have it is in the middle of a photo shoot with Starfire. They discuss THE SPEECH, and notice that not only is the dome gone… but they’re no longer on Earth. Now, if this is pre-Flashpoint Gotham City… shouldn’t Superman be there too? Anyhoo… Starfire feels that familiar tickle on her skin… and starts to fly, Donna begrudgingly (at first) joins her.

Roy decides that the time is right to do a sweep of the city… and so, he enters into a top secret bunker. After passing a retinal identification scan, we enter the arsenal of… Arsenal.

Donna and Kory continue their joy-flight when they notice some explosions in the distance. THE SPEECH wasn’t kidding, there’s gonna be some fighting goin’ down. The Titans’ enemies… the Extremists! Yawn.

The ladies enter into battle… and appear to be outgunned. Arsenal is in his… arsenal, watching the events transpire. Deciding it’s time he got involved, he reattaches his cybernetic arm.

Moments later, Roy joins Donna and Kory in their battle with the Extremists. He points his cybernetic arm blaster directly at Dreamslayer… however, before he can pull the trigger (as it were), the baddie makes him an offer he may not be able to refuse… the life of his daughter, Lian.

All’s he’s gotta do is… kill Starfire and Donna. He considers it for a moment… then re-aims his arm blasters toward his teammates… and Kra-Koom. Uh-oh.

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Ya know… before I get into the book, I gotta say… maybe I overreacted on the length and invasive-ness of THE SPEECH. I suppose it’s helpful that I’m only reading one of these a week right now… rather than reading a dozen-or-so sorta-kinda similar issues over the course of a day or three. Here, THE SPEECH lasts less than a page… I gotta wonder if I’ve misjudged these… at least in that regard.

The book… ehh. I remember when the Convergence tie-in solicits hit, there were a handful of books I couldn’t figure out why they were publishing… Titans was definitely not one of those books, however, after reading it… I really don’t have any idea why this was a story DC felt they needed to tell. It just feels so pointless… which kinda sucks.

I suppose it’s unfair of me to judge this critically based upon my hopeful expectations. I mean, I think we all want every book we read to be a great one… but, this was a Titans book. In the five-odd years of the New-52!, we Titans fans didn’t have a great time. This (and the New Teen Titans tie-in) were our only hope… gotta say, this was not the story I was hoping for.

Was it bad? I really can’t say… I can say that I was disappointed, that I expected more than a weird Arsenal story… but, I’m not sure I can say it was bad. It wasn’t my cup of tea… neither was the art, if I’m being honest. Overall… can’t really recommend tracking this one down. Maybe if you’re a die-hard Arsenal fan… I dunno.

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(Not the) Letters Page: