DC Comics reviews 3/23/22 – Action Comics #1041, Robin #12

Teen Titans Academy #13

There’s a reason this installment of Teen Titans Academy was better than most of the recent issues. Red X wasn’t running around like a character cheat code and the focus was on the original Titans for a change.

Writer Tim Sheridan has largely focused on the Academy students and pet project Red X. It’s been to the detriment of the original Titans, who were largely cast as incompetent long winded killjoys. Yet with so much focus on the students, they’ve mostly felt interchangeable.

This issue is the fourth chapter of the War for Earth-3 crossover. Rick Flag wants help to stop Amanda Waller’s army and seeks Nightwing and the Titans’ help. Sheridan still can’t help clowning the original Titans as Nightwing and Starfire have trouble subduing even the doofus Captain Boomerang.

Meanwhile the asinine plan to merge Cyborg and Beast Boy as seen in Future State still seems inevitable. This is of course a terrible idea to take one of DC’s most visible black characters off the board for no good reason.

Tom Derenick provides the art this issue. Derenick is a reliable and consistent artist, which the title has desperately lacked. The action scenes are clean and easy to comprehend and Derenick lays out the dialogue heavy scenes in an captivating manner.

The rollout of War for Earth-3 has been enjoyable so far. Sheridan still creates a way for his favorite younger characters to take part in the war, which is somewhat concerning. At least this issue had a greater focus despite the shoddy treatment of the legacy Titans.

Rating: 7 out of 10