Titans Vol. 2: Made in Manhattan (Rebirth)

Dan Abnett really knows these characters. There's some great moments for everyone here.

Story: It starts off with a one shot of Arsenal, Donna Troy, Nightwing, and Wally trying to bring down a giant meta human. After they manage to incapacitate him, Superman shows up from hearing the commotion, and he says it's nice to see Wally "again". Superman and Wally end up racing to a wheat field or something, and Wally learns that this Superman is the one he remembers from the previous universe. Superman and Wally have a great heart to heart about losing one's life, and starting over with Linda because it's all worth pursuing again. They then agree to a rematch. Meanwhile, Donna and Roy hang out and there seems to be some sort of blossoming romance between the two. I like how Abnett wrote Roy in this book. Hard for me to describe it, but it's like a guy who's blunt, flirtatious, but not great with women, yet due to charm and the benefit of already being friends and teammates, manages to have Donna's approval (with a kiss). We also have Titans Tower being constructed and finished on the shore of the East River. Part of me was disappointed in the relatively conservative design of Titans Tower. It more or less doesn't really look to grandiose, but in comics things can afford to get a little grandiose. So, Nightwing is the one who's mostly having to fill out legal papers from the lady who's helping them set up this building. I don't really like that Abnett wrote Dick as saying Wally's name out loud as he approached in front of this lady who's not a part of the superhero community. It seems a little distasteful for Dick to reveal what I'm guessing is a secret identity. Granted, no one outside the main superhero community even knows who Wally West IS, but it just seems out of character for Dick to yell a masked crimefighter's real name out loud in front of someone who isn't in the know. We move onto the main arc where we meet up with Mal and Karen Duncan. Mal is taking his wife to "Meta Solutions", a business that helps metas control or eliminate their powers. Karen's only had her powers for a short while now, and Mal reveals he actually already had Meta remove his "Herald" powers some time ago behind Karen's back. Mal seems like a good guy who is totally supportive of his wife's decision if she decides to keep her powers. While Karen is taking a tour, Mal recognizes Mammoth, and in great mental distress, Lillith and the rest of the Titans come to the rescue. They bust through the doors of Meta to find the company is run by the Fearsome Five, who had tangled with the JL only weeks before. Psimon insists that Lillith read his mind to assure the Titans that the Five have reformed, and Lillith believes it so, and thus confirms it. But, Karen, who realizes that these people are the ones who hurt her husband, loses it, and storms out the building. After a sobering talk from Arsenal about addiction, recovery, and reformation, the Titans decide to investigate Meta after hours and discover that they are not as reformed as Lillith had originally thought. We get a great, big battle, but I felt as though the Titans were a little to easily beaten by the Five. Based on a hunch that something has gone wrong, Karen dons her suit and goes out as Bumblebee to Meta and well...quite honestly...the whole situation of the Titans being defeated so easily seems solely set up to make Bumblebee look REALLY good as she pretty much single handedly takes out the Five, using her speed and ability to shrink down to insect size, and the power of her sting, until Psimon manages to fry Karen's brain and take some important memories. Lillith has to punch out Psimon, making use of some close quarters combat that Garth was helping her out with earlier. There's literally no point in Mal busting through the door in pseudo Guardian like gear. He has nothing to do by that point. I feel as though he was wasted in that opportunity. It would have been an awesome ending if Mal in that Guardian like armor could have punched out Psimon instead, not only saving his wife, but also signifying a return to the superhero life. What a wasted opportunity! Once the Titans get back to the Tower, Dick and Wally break down what was happening there, and what purpose Meta was serving in stealing, and dealing in metahuman power sets. It all gets traced back to some old Titans villains. Meanwhile, the Titans don't realize they're being spied on from under a pier by one of their most dangerous adversaries!! We move onto the Annual which involves the people on the cover of the book all finding themselves in a mysterious location, not sure if any of the other people are real, or if they are who they say they are. They begin trying to work out where they are, if they can escape, and if any of them can be trusted. They do fight some simulations of Metallo and some parademons, but this doesn't help to establish trust. One thing I really liked about this issue is that Nightwing brings up a very good point. The Titans present are able to better trust each other than the JL members can trust them because the Titans aren't simply comrades in arms, allies, or a collection of strength. They're family. True family. Nightwing criticizes the JL for not having the family element that the Titans share. I think this is a wonderful examination of the nature of a super team, and friendship and family. There's certainly an aspect the Titans have that the JL lacks, and the sidekicks or "proteges" have to bring it out. Batman uses some Parademon goggles to scan for organic matter and discovers that Donna Troy doesn't register how everyone else does. The Leaguers want to tie her up, but Wonder Woman intervenes and has to tell everyone about Donna's true origin, which causes a great amount of mental distress. Lillith is able to detect this and her and the rest of the League go to rescue their teammates. Batman is able to deduce that they're being watched by someone, and using the Parademon goggles is able to instruct the hard hitters to bust through a wall revealing The Key, who had hoped to siphon off energy from these superheroes in order to release his master. We never find out who his master is, but Key's failure apparently doesn't bode well for him. Nighwing reaffirms that they will take care of Donna. Overall, this was a fun read, with some great dialogue and character moments, but I'm left somewhat disappointed by the fact that we don't get a full on Titans vs. Fearsome Five showdown. Two Titans are already out and captured by the time the big battle starts, and the remaining Titans are all defeated too easily, and Bumblebee is made too overpowered and takes down the Five too easily. I kinda feel as though the men in the story had nothing to do and served no importance. Almost like Abnett made beta male cucks out of all of them. Almost. But, I suppose if you're going to introduce a new superhero to the fold, then the narrative requires that that hero be the one who defeats the threat. So, I guess it makes sense from a narrative point of view that Bumblebee be the one who takes down the Five so that she can be seen as a legitimate edition to the superhero community. Just wish Abnett would have had Mal punch out Psimon.

Art: I didn't care for the covers I saw Lee Weeks do for other titles, but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of his interior art. I like his thin, crisp lines. His style very much reminds me of George Perez, and that issue had an older, classic feel to it that felt nice. Brett Booth is a great artist and I love his style. I probably noticed it before, but never gave much mind to it: he draws a lot of guys with arched backs and cocked hips in the same fashion as a female character. Guys just don't position their bodies that way! I covered up Nightwing's upper body and it looked like his lower body could belong to a woman because of the arched back and cocked hip. Basically, I'm saying that Nightwing, Wally, and Roy's bodies in select few splashes or spreads looked ever so feminine! Anyway, Booth still did a fantastic job otherwise. Minkyu Jung, I believe is the person's name, finishes the book with the Annual. Their art is fine too. Not too excited about Jung's boring design of Metallo though...

Overall: After having one of the best three volume 1s of Rebirth, I feel that Abnett still has gold here, but I was let down by the seemingly useless men in the final battle. There is a lot to love here, like the overall premise, the first issue, amazing art all around, the use of the Fearsome Five, the reflections on addiction, recovery, and redemption, and the nature of family and friendship over simply being comrades in arms. I'd still recommend this for anyone who enjoyed volume 1.

This volume collects issues #7-10 and Annual #1 of the Rebirthed (and no longer Teen) Titans.

Once upon a time, this was a team of sidekicks, who had small adventures as befitted their standing and audience (I was there!). Then they grew up and found their own place in the world (I was there again!). Then the world went away (several times) and eventually the Titans went with it (and so did I!).

Then I came back, and found the New 52. Then somebody finally realised what they had been doing wrong, and so we had a Rebirth, and suddenly everything is more or less working properly again (apart from Green Arrow and Supergirl, but that’s a different story).

Anyway, this volume sees Wally West finding his feet – and that ‘his’ Superman is here as well, and that other forgotten Titans are reappearing, as are their villains. This is a team-building (and a building gets built) story, for the heroes and the villains. It is well-scripted and illustrated, and while being ‘now’ also manages to pick up some of the feel of the good old days.

The Annual has a full-length story that sees four Titans and their “mentors” from the Justice League kidnapped and held is a prison together, and put under psychological pressure by the mystery villain. The grown-ups are not necessarily the oldest people…

An enjoyable mingling of classic characters from the DC universe. I've been reading Titans in one form or another since the 80s. I found this book to be well-plotted and it brought back some memories for me as a comics reader. I read an advance review copy.

Not every issue in the book is Brett Booth art, but still decent.

Revisioning of the Titan's story with Wally's return from the past. Loved the mentor-protege issue.

I am loving the return of the OG Titans! I missed these characters in the DCU. The stories have been good so far. Can’t wait for the next installment.

Titans volume 2 picks up where the previous volume left off, with Wally now trying to find his palce in this changed world. I’ve not really read a lot of Titans in the past, so I don’t know a lot of the history between the group, but I didn’t feel too lost…and I’m a massive Nightwing fanboy so all was good on that front.

It’s really cool to see the way the dynamic works between the Titans and I loved seeing Dick Grayson take the lead. He’s so much like Batman in a lot of ways and yet so different in others.

The book finishes up with a New Years Eve story that is very heartwarming and really highlights the friendship and team dynamic between the characters.
Overall Score 4/5
The mystery of the Titans lost history is still very intriguing and I’m very keen to learn more.

Ees very goood!

Great!

Good tpb. love the titans always