Titans Issue #31, published by DC Comics, is written by John Layman, with art by Pete Woods and lettering by Wes Abbott.
Last month, I heavily criticized Titans #30, which was the entry for the team into "fight month," for feeling extremely lazy and poorly written. It took a potentially fun and interesting matchup of characters, only to do nothing with it, lacking any enthusiasm. Coming into issue #31, I hoped that the poor writing was due to a limitation of imagination for a mandated tie-in issue. Was it? Well, sort of. I will say, issue #31 definitely feels like it had more enthusiasm and passion behind it, but I just cannot help but find it incredibly boring and uninspired.
We pick up this issue following the events of issue #30, in which Wonder Girl and Arsenal investigate why the King Omega tournament is beginning to turn Earth into Apokolips. They hope to stop it, only to discover the daughter of Darkseid, Grail, waiting for them.
We also see Nightwing and Raven on Gemworld trying to help the populace. There, they encounter an old acquaintance in the mythos of the Titans, Terra. Meanwhile, Starfire travels back home to her homeworld.
Talking About The Plot
As readers can probably tell, I was not super hot on this issue. In my opinion, it largely felt very by the numbers and uninspired. It is quite sad when a creative team cannot make me care about a group of heroes of whom I am typically a big fan, especially since being exposed to the early 2000s Teen Titans cartoon and having read a large amount of the comic book backlog for the team.
This issue is largely split between following Wonder Girl and Arsenal as they battle Grail in a pretty uninteresting battle. The most noteworthy aspects are Grail and Wonder Girl discussing the Amazonian origins of Grail mid-battle, and the comic does not really explain it any further. If this is your first exposure to Grail, you would be extremely confused. The fight is largely quite uninteresting, with characters merely throwing each other into walls and Arsenal largely sitting the battle out.
The other portion of this issue follows Nightwing and Raven on Gemworld, as previously mentioned. However, it focuses mostly on Raven. For most of their part of the comic, she is talking with a reunited Terra about aiding them in defeating the Queen of Gemworld and saving Nightwing, who spends the comic getting pummeled. You do not see what this has to do with DC/K.O.? Yeah, me neither.
Now, I do not think this comic book is outright bad like issue 30, but I do think it is extremely mediocre and forgettable. I even dreaded reviewing it a bit. I think the problem largely comes down to the comic book feeling like it is just going through the motions and trying to fill up the agreed-upon tie-in issues with very little effort. In fact, this issue read to me like nothing more than a middle act in which we are starting to wind down to the lowest point for the heroes, which we will likely get in the next issue.
I can understand a lack of enthusiasm when you have been put on a title you have dreamed of, then being forced to make arbitrary tie-in issues for the big summer event, which does not really drive inspiration. However, I believe you should really give the reader the worth of their money when comic books are as expensive as they are. I am really hoping the creative team starts to shine once this event is over.
Talking About The Roster
I think a large aspect I dislike about this issue is that half of the main cast in both stories are out of action, with Arsenal being down and Nightwing being held down. This could have been fun to see, but the writer does not devote any time to it, which feels like a missed opportunity.
The characters that fill out the comic are not really expanded upon in any interesting way either. The dialogue and motivation of Grail are extremely formulaic. If this was your first exposure to her, I do not think you would come away very excited about her. Meanwhile, I feel that the interactions of Raven and Terra feel a little predictable and safe, as if the writer did not want to step on any toes or was afraid of shaking up the mythos of the Titans at all.
The character with the most page presence, as she narrates much of the book, is Donna Troy. She sounds like a great team leader in her dialogue, but she does not command her team at all to prove that to the reader. The only fun moment we really see from her leadership is on page one, where we see the entire team together and using their team call.
Talking About The Art
The art in Titans #31 is quite good in my opinion and definitely matches the tone of the plot as well as the writing of the book. I like how the characters are depicted by the artist. It reminds me a great deal of the mid-2000s Geoff Johns era of Teen Titans, for which I am personally very nostalgic, as it was my first Teen Titans comic run.
I do not think the artist really gets a chance to shine as much as they could, however, as it is a very dialogue-heavy issue and there is very little action. I believe they were also the artist on the "fight-month" issue of last month, and the action was depicted quite poorly there, in my opinion.
I am looking forward to seeing how the artist draws more of the roster of the Titans in future issues and, hopefully, gives them much more to do than simply stand around and talk. I definitely enjoyed the art much more than the writing in this book.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, I believe Titans issue #31 is a pretty forgettable comic book, with the details of it already fading from my memory less than a day after reading it. Here's hoping the series' mediocrity is purely down to DC/K.O., and an interesting comic book run is on the horizon.