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Mild Mannered Reviews - Teen Titans Comics

Teen Titans #26 Teen Titans #26

Teen Titans #26

Scheduled to arrive in stores: December 31, 2013

Cover date: February 2014

"You Can't Go Home Again"

Writer: Scott Lobdell
Penciller: Tyler Kirkham & Scott McDaniel
Inker: Art Thibert & Dan Green
Cover: Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund & Dalhouse

Reviewed by: Adam Dechanel

Click to enlarge


Kid Flash is hooked into a machine that is exposing hidden memories of his past while his Teen Titan team mates watch on mesmerized by the web of lies.

We view Altros Prime, a planet in a far off galaxy. The Functionary 'government' ruled over Altros and used thugs known as Purifiers to maintain control by killing off the rebel society of people called Creationers. Amongst them were the Torr family. A mother, father, Bar and baby sister Shira lived in the rebel community. A terrified Bar watched as his parents and neighbors were murdered for their religious beliefs and made a run for it to live in the shadows with his sister.

Bar turned to crimes of all magnitude to live and protect his sister as they grew up, but a time came when he could no longer care for his sister and he had to leave her in the care of a church. As the Purifiers grew stronger and moved across the galaxy, trafficking contraband, Bar also found himself traveling until he found the Purifier base, a bar, filled with scumbags he loathed. Too young to kill them all now, he joined their ranks as a pilot.

The skiff they sent their new mule on was pathetically shielded from radiation and had the most minimal of functions, its purpose was to transport goods, the pilot was expendable.

Bar did countless criminal shipments until one day the skiff malfunctioned and crashed. Bar should have died but due to repeated radiation exposure or perhaps a latent meta gene, Bar gained super speed and the final piece in his plot for revenge.

The Purists came to collect the skiff's cargo after a month missing and Bar took the opportunity to kill the crew and return to base. The bar at super-speed is evacuated of non Purists and then using their own gunship the vengeful teen destroys the base and all the Purists inside. Bar then enlisted all the creationaries and civilians into a rebellion to destroy the Functionary. The rebellion slowly destroyed the Functionary one planet at a time until the war took them back to Altros Prime.

During a fateful battle a young woman was almost killed by Bar's own rebellion but when Bar realized the young girl was his own sister Shira, now grown up, he chose to turn himself in for his crimes. Turning on his own rebellion army placed Bar in mortal danger and the authorities placed him into witness protection for his aid in shutting them down.

The witness protection program placed him out of time and space to hide him. He lost his identity as Bar Torr and became Bart Allen, Kid Flash and though his memories were wiped and his personality altered he could never shake the feeling he had to do good to make up for something.

As the video screen Bart is hooked up to fades out he begs his Titan team mates to think of all the good he has done as Bart and how much he has changed since he was Bar. The team however are more than a little uneasy...

To Be Continued...

3Story - 3: The witness protection placement is a neat twist but the rest of the story just seemed unnecessary and I found myself sympathetic to Bar which obviously was not the intention of the book. I find the book a mess for many reasons, mainly its mis-characterizations across here and the Superboy book, which don't marry up correctly at ALL. I can accept Christianity spreading across the galaxy but how did Bar know it was Shira he wounded if he even admits he hasn't seen her since she was a youngster - picky but it just seemed a deus ex that was forced. The story itself is solid and engaging so I'd like to see where this goes before the book ends in issue #30.

4Art - 4: The art is very energetic and keeps pace with the story very well. I liked the designs for 'dark' Kid Flash and the story playing out worked with the great composition with a cinematic styling.

4Cover Art - 4: A nice cover depicting a very emotive scene in the book. I know we're supposed to see Kid Flash as a monster here but I can't help feeling sympathy for him...

Mild Mannered Reviews

2014

Note: Except for digital first releases, the month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2014

February 2014 March 2014 April 2014 May 2014 June 2014 July 2014 August 2014 September 2014 October 2014 November 2014 December 2014

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