Written by Judd Winick.
Art by Ian Churchill; Joe Benitez; Julian Lopez; Norm Rapmund; Victor Llamas; Andy Lanning; Jon Sibal; Prentis Rollins; Sandra Hope; Derek Fridolfs; Joe Weems; Oliver Nome; Rodney Ramas; Edgar Delgado; Comicraft; Travis Lanham; & Rob Clark Jr.
Collection Cover Art by Ethan Van Sciver & Brad Anderson.
SUMMARY:
Released by DC Comics in 2008, this 200-page hardcover reprints 2007’s Titans East Special one-shot followed by 2008’s Titans # 1-6. Having recruited a new generation of Teen Titans, Cyborg finds his former teammates declining to make themselves available as fellow mentors. During a training exercise, tragedy ensues as the squad dubbed ‘Teen Titans East’ is ambushed and near-annihilated by an unknown predator.
Unable to protect the rookies, Cyborg is among the badly injured survivors. Both the current Teen Titans and adult ex-Titans (Nightwing, Starfire, Beast Boy, Wally West’s Flash, Raven, Red Arrow, & Donna Troy) are simultaneously targeted by supernatural forces.
The re-assembled ex-Titans enlist the Justice League’s aid to protect their fellow alumni, including Argent, who have also been targeted for extermination. Realizing that Trigon and, by extension, Raven’s mysterious male siblings, intend to destroy them all, the Titans must strike back in force. Meanwhile, Beast Boy & Raven’s possible teen romance begins while Starfire & Nightwing evidently resolve their own troubled romantic future.
Even if the team survives their ordeal against Trigon’s heirs, another former Titan unexpectedly resurfaces in someone else’s body. Storyline segments are entitled “The Fickle Hand, Parts I-II;” “Family Affair, Parts I-III;” “I Know Your Heart Because I Know Mine;” and “Together. Together Forever.”
Note: This title has also been released as a paperback.
REVIEW:
As demonstrated by his Outsiders run, Judd Winick can be an upper-tier comics scribe. One would then logically expect assembling DC’s best Teen Titans alumni (i.e. future Justice Leaguers) that Winick’s scripting here would be of a similar caliber. With Titans: Old Friends, however, such promising talent fails to materialize. Harvesting a vengeful return of Trigon (and now his demonic offspring) to justify this Titans reunion, Old Friends instead delivers a disappointing sleaze-fest.
Case in point: Winick’s reliance on sexual innuendo (even among the new recruits), nude scenes, and the Titans’ rude and generally bratty antics conveys how low DC Comics has already sunk in the 21st Century. More so, DC essentially lets Winick thumb his nose at Marv Wolfman & George Pérez’s critically-acclaimed work with these same characters. Playing up implied smut, if only for shock value, is a hallmark for the lazy, self-satisfied scripting Winick resorts to. Why Old Friends’ content didn’t merit a parental advisory from DC Comics is utterly irresponsible.
Though the artistic style fluctuates at times, the visuals are generally excellent. However, the art squad is by no means innocent in this collaboration with Winick. Far too often, the art squad resorts to soft-core porn, i.e. scantily-clad women; close-ups of Starfire & Donna Troy in unnecessary pin-up poses with impossibly scrawny waistlines; and, most blatantly, several shower and swimming pool sequences to ogle as much feminine skin as allowable. Not being totally sexist, the art team briefly allots Wally West and Dick Grayson similar opportunities. Still, such visual diversions can’t disguise Winick’s low-grade, exploitative script.
Old Friends squanders DC’s latest effort to re-establish the ex-Teen Titans as adult mentors for the next generation, along with resuming their own celebrated history. Subsequent issues in this 2008-2011 title’s short run offer better (and less risqué) reading, but this opening storyline, unfortunately, peddles glorified trash.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
In a full-page format, the covers (and an alternate cover) precede each issue. The cover artists are: Ian Churchill, Norm Rapmund, & Rod Reis (Titans East Special # 1 and Issue # 4 ); Ian Churchill & Rod Reis (Issue # 1); Ethan Van Sciver & Brad Anderson (Issue # 1’s variant); Joe Benitez, Victor Llamas, & Edgar Delgado (Issues # 2-3 and # 6); and Benitez, Oliver Nome, & Delgado (Issue # 5).
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 2 Stars
