{"id":142,"date":"2008-08-27T07:00:04","date_gmt":"2008-08-27T11:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/?p=142"},"modified":"2010-08-02T01:20:08","modified_gmt":"2010-08-02T05:20:08","slug":"teen-titans-61-review-the-red-the-blue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2008\/08\/27\/teen-titans-61-review-the-red-the-blue\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen Titans #61 Review &#8211; The Red &#038; the Blue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a title=\"Teen Titans #61 at DC Comics\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dccomics.com\/dcu\/comics\/?cm=9686\" class=\"broken_link\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"float: right;\" src=\"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/images\/teen_titans61.jpg\" alt=\"Teen Titans #61\" width=\"275\" height=\"413\" \/><\/a>Since Geoff Johns left &#8220;Teen Titans&#8221;, I&#8217;ve felt this was a book looking for direction.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve toyed with the idea of dropping the title from my monthly pull list, but the characters themselves have been interesting enough for me to hang around.\u00a0 I find the make up of this incarnation of Teen Titans to be quite fascinating:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Robin<\/li>\n<li>Wonder Girl<\/li>\n<li>Miss Martian<\/li>\n<li>Kid Devil<\/li>\n<li>Ravager (off the team right now, but will be back in about six months I&#8217;m sure)<\/li>\n<li>Blue Beetle<\/li>\n<li>and assisted by Marvin &amp; Wendy (yes, Marvin &amp; Wendy from the classic &#8220;Super Friends&#8221; cartoon)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On this blog yesterday, I talked about how I felt the X-Men weren&#8217;t really taking any chances with their roster.\u00a0 Well, here you have almost the complete opposite.\u00a0 Besides Robin &amp; Wonder Girl, none of these characters would qualify as &#8220;classic&#8221; Teen Titans.\u00a0 I feel selecting these particular D-list heroes was a very brave choice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This particular incarnation of Teen Titans started during the &#8220;One Year Later&#8221; storyline towards the end of Geoff Johns&#8217; tenure on the book.\u00a0 Since then, Sean McKeever has been guiding these characters.\u00a0 While there hasn&#8217;t been any major shake-ups on McKeever&#8217;s watch yet, he has been trying to develop the characters further.\u00a0 For the most part, the character moments is where I&#8217;ve been finding my fulfillment from this book.\u00a0 The overall plots and adventures haven&#8217;t been terribly compelling to me.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Now we get to issue #61 &#8211; The Red &amp; the Blue&#8230; SPOILERS AHEAD<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I found myself pleasantly surprised by this issue.\u00a0 From early solicitations, I knew they were going to try and popularize the pairing of Kid Devil with Blue Beetle (in the mold of Booster Gold &amp; Blue Beetle).\u00a0 I wasn&#8217;t expected to enjoy this quickly-manufactured relationship, but after reading issue #61 I&#8217;m warming to the idea.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The basic premise of this story is that Kid Devil is trying to hunt down the supervillain Shockwave in an effort to prove himself an asset to the Teen Titans.\u00a0 Kid Devil enlists Robin&#8217;s help in honing his own detective skills, rather than asking Robin to be involved in the search for Shockwave.\u00a0 Kid Devil then fails to uncover a pattern to Shockwave&#8217;s attacks, but is able to confront the villain after seeing him on a live news broadcast.\u00a0 Blue Beetle also shows up to confront Shockwave.\u00a0 The chip on Kid Devil&#8217;s shoulder prevents him from willingly accepting Blue Beetle&#8217;s assistance.\u00a0 The two heroes bicker and basically get in each others way, thus allowing Shockwave to escape.\u00a0 Kid Devil eventually accepts Blue Beetle&#8217;s help begrudgingly as BB&#8217;s team figures out the pattern to Shockwave&#8217;s attacks.\u00a0 All the attacks are taking place at former Kord Industries locations.\u00a0 With that uncovered, Blue Beetle now feels vested in the hunt for Shockwave (as the former Blue Beetle was Ted Kord, owner of Kord Industries).\u00a0\u00a0 Shockwave attacks again and our heroes finally work together to stop him.\u00a0 During the battle, Kid Devil&#8217;s frustration allows him to unlock the full might of his demonic powers; including teleportation and transfer of intense heat through touch.\u00a0 After the fight, Blue Beetle and Kid Devil talk.\u00a0 Once Kid Devil is made aware that Blue Beetle isn&#8217;t romantically interested in Ravager, he&#8217;s more than willing to be pals with BB.\u00a0 During the wrap-up, Blue Beetle accepts full membership on the Teen Titans.\u00a0 Finally, feeling that he&#8217;s earned his place on the team and has truly mastered his powers, Kid Devil takes on a new name and costume&#8230; Red Devil!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As I mentioned, I found myself pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this issue.\u00a0 Some of the reasons come from the story itself, while other reasons come from the character backgrounds:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was a small story (not epic) featuring a small cast with lots of character moments.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">I like both Blue Beetle and Kid Devil individually.\u00a0 I thoroughly enjoy the current Blue Beetle monthly series.\u00a0 And I&#8217;ve been interested in the exploration of Kid Devil in Teen Titans (i.e. the impending consequences of his pact with Neron, and the glimpse at the future version of himself).<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">I found that the pairing of Kid Devil and Blue Beetle worked.\u00a0 They bounced off each other well and I think this partnership has potential.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">I&#8217;m an old school fan of Blue Devil, which is where Kid Devil originated.\u00a0 It was cool to see Kid Devil ask Robin for help with detective skills this issue.\u00a0 Back in the 1980s when Kid Devil was pretty much comedy relief, he spent time working with Robin (Jason Todd, I think).\u00a0 So I felt this was a nice nod to that old story.\u00a0 Additionally, Shockwave is an old Blue Devil villain (his first appearance was Blue Devil #2).\u00a0 It was satisfying to see Shockwave going toe-to-toe with Blue Devil&#8217;s former prot\u00e9g\u00e9.\u00a0 Finally, Kid Devil&#8217;s new costume (Red Devil) is very reminiscent of Blue Devil&#8217;s original costume.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a title=\"Blue Devil cover gallery\" href=\"http:\/\/www.comics.org\/covers.lasso?SeriesID=2832\" class=\"broken_link\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/images\/blue_devil19.jpg\" alt=\"Blue Devil #19\" width=\"275\" height=\"426\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">There is a subtle linkage between Kid Devil and Blue Beetle through an artist by the name of <a title=\"Paris Cullins\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Paris_Cullins\">Paris Cullins<\/a>.\u00a0 In the 1980s Paris Cullins was the artist that launched both the Blue Devil monthly series, and then the Blue Beetle monthly series two years later.\u00a0 He was a phenomenal artist with a really great style.\u00a0 I wish we saw more of his work nowadays.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a title=\"Blue Beetle cover gallery\" href=\"http:\/\/www.comics.org\/covers.lasso?SeriesID=3142\" class=\"broken_link\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/images\/blue_beetle12.jpg\" alt=\"Blue Beetle #12\" width=\"275\" height=\"426\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">So at the end of the day, I enjoyed this issue more than I have the last several issues of Teen Titans.\u00a0 I admit I am biased about these characters, so it&#8217;s possible I&#8217;m giving this particular issue more leeway than it deserves.\u00a0 I guess next issue will help me determine whether Teen Titans is steering towards greatness, or if I simply read this issue through rose-colored glasses.\u00a0 Next issue features Wonderdog, so it could go either way.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Tell the world about ONCE UPON A GEEK:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-142\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2008\/08\/27\/teen-titans-61-review-the-red-the-blue\/?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a 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drawing","date":"June 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I had plans for today, but I'm still reeling from the amazing Father's Day gift I received.\u00a0 Go back and look at yesterday's post again.\u00a0 It's still the awesome! So today will be nice and easy.\u00a0 Check out this really cool Kid Devil\/Red Devil (from Teen Titans) original sketch by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;art&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/onceuponageek.com\/images\/kiddevil.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1117,"url":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2009\/06\/04\/favorite-blue-devil-covers\/","url_meta":{"origin":142,"position":1},"title":"Favorite Blue Devil Covers","date":"June 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"BLUE DEVIL WEEK continues here at Once Upon a Geek! Today we'll be spotlighting\u00a0some of my favorite comic book covers related to Blue Devil. Also, be sure to come back tomorrow for a 90-minute audio interview with the creators of Blue Devil and Amethyst, Dan Mishkin & Gary Cohn! As\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;art&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/onceuponageek.com\/images\/blue_devil_01.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1055,"url":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2009\/06\/01\/blue-devil-week-sympathy-for-the-devil\/","url_meta":{"origin":142,"position":2},"title":"Blue Devil Week: Sympathy for the Devil","date":"June 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s BLUE DEVIL WEEK here at Once Upon a Geek! In the grand tradition of FLASH WEEK and AQUAMAN WEEK, we'll be exploring another of my top five favorite superheroes this week.\u00a0 And to finish it off on Friday we'll feature an exclusive ONCE UPON A GEEK interview with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blue Devil&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/onceuponageek.com\/images\/blue_devil_ww85.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":792,"url":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/07\/teen-titans-year-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":142,"position":3},"title":"Teen Titans Year One","date":"April 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I love me some classic Teen Titans.\u00a0 I love me some Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash,\u00a0Aqualad, and Speedy. I love me some YEAR ONE books.\u00a0 I love me some BATMAN: YEAR ONE, JLA: YEAR ONE, ROBIN: YEAR ONE, and NIGHTWING: YEAR ONE. However, this is a case where\u00a0two great tastes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;comic books&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1076,"url":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2009\/06\/02\/blue-devil-the-best-of-the-best\/","url_meta":{"origin":142,"position":4},"title":"Blue Devil: The Best of the Best","date":"June 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"BLUE DEVIL WEEK continues here at Once Upon a Geek! Today we'll be spotlighting some of my favorite stories and supporting characters from Blue Devil. Don't forget, on Friday we'll feature an exclusive ONCE UPON A GEEK interview with the creators of Blue Devil! Great Stories The earliest Blue Devil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blue Devil&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/onceuponageek.com\/images\/blue_devil_preview.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":580,"url":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/06\/blue-devil-advertisement-june-1984\/","url_meta":{"origin":142,"position":5},"title":"Blue Devil Advertisement &#8211; June 1984","date":"March 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is an awesome advertisement from Blue Devil #1 (June 1984).\u00a0 I've mentioned it here before, but Blue Devil is one of my top five favorite superheroes.\u00a0 I think this ad really captures the fun of the series.\u00a0 All the facial expressions are smiling and cheerful, Blue Devil is leaping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blue Devil&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/onceuponageek.com\/images\/blue_devil_ad.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3965,"href":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions\/3965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}