DC Comics reviews 12/14/21 – Wonder Girl #6, Robin and Batman #2

Teen Titans Academy #9

Writer Tim Sheridan is at a perilous place with the title. Red X’s return has shifted too much of the focus on this mysterious character who remains capable of doing anything.

At this point, Damian Wayne is really the only acceptable answer as to Red X’s identity as he’s long been established as a semi-spam character capable of overcoming every odd.

Sheridan gets stuck trying to balance the return of two founding members of the Titans, which really warranted more page time, and Psimon recruiting a new Fearsome Five from some of the disgruntled Academy members.

This marked the first issue where it felt like Red X’s identity is known to the cast and Sheridan is deliberately holding this info back from the readers. It’s reaching a point where this reveal is going to be underwhelming based on the amount of time devoted to it.

A legacy issue with the title has been Sheridan essentially forced to write three titles in one. Some group whether the founding Titans, the most recent team or the Academy members is going to get shortchanged. Sheridan actually writes a meta problem with the title in that too many of the characters are indistinguishable. Some are visually distinct, but too many just blend in.

Mike Horton’s artwork looked a little rough particularly compared to regular artist Rafa Sandoval’s style.

Teen Titans Academy seems like it’s on a precipice and in danger of losing all of its positive momentum earned over recent months. My interest is waning, but I’m hopeful Sheridan can make this a title worth being excited about again.

Rating: 6 out of 10