Titans Vol. 1: The Return of Wally West (Rebirth)
Spinning directly out of the events of the smash-hit DC UNIVERSE: REBIRTH #1, witness the rebirth of the greatest team of young heroes in history in TITANS VOL. 1: THE RETURN OF WALLY WEST! They were heroes, yes, but more than that—lifelong friends. There was a special spark that held them together. It was a rare thing, like a lightning strike. You couldn’t make it happen. It just did. Then it became a memory. And then the memory faded. Taken. Stolen. Ripped apart. And only one person remembers. His name is Wally West. Once upon a time, he was Kid Flash. Now a refugee from a lost universe, it’s up to him to reawaken his former friends and reforge the bond that made them great. Nightwing. Donna Troy. Beast Boy. Arsenal. Lilith. They must come together and defeat the enemy who destroyed their memories—or be destroyed themselves. This great new jumping-on point for comics fans of all generations, written by Dan Abnett with art by Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund, is the long-awaited reunion that collects TITANS #1-6 and TITANS: REBIRTH #1!
After finishing this I felt like it was an example of some of the best DC has to offer when it comes to characters and writing talent. Dan Abnett developed the characters quite well in this story arch and it was fun seeing our classic team back in action except for the fact it did feel a bit like this was more of Wally West story than one about the Titans as a team. But I’m a West fan so I was fine with the extra attention. I did like the friendship depictions that were developed and of course reading this so close to Valentine’s Day it was nice to get some romance in. What can I say? I like cliché romance stories this time of year where you see the good guy fight for love in his life.
Regarding the art. I’ve seen some complaints about Brett Booth’s designs but I don’t get it. I found his work to be intricate, detailed and adeptly able at bringing Abnett’s words to life. The characters look like what you’d expect and the color palette is vibrant breathing life onto the pages. I thought there was just a slight sophisticated touch to it that brought some maturity to a teen story.
Overall this was well worth my time as the stories were easy to read, full of enough action scenes to keep your attention and it made me glad to see Wally West back at the helm!
Thank you to Netgalley and DC Comics for allowing me to review this book.
*synopsis and pic from amazon.com