The Four Color Media Monitor: Some very violent Teen Titans trades

Every Day is like Wednesday has provided some reviews and insight into some recent compilations of the current Teen Titans volume (Hat tip: Titans Tower Monitor), providing descriptions for some of the most skin-crawling acts of violent shock tactics to litter the series ever since DC went seriously downhill with Identity Crisis. These include:

- A full-page splash detailing the horrific wounds Kid Devil suffered while being gang-beaten by the Terror Titans

- Ravager beating Copperhead II’s face into a bloody pulp

- Miss Martian about to be raped in a bathroom stall by two men

- Adult supervillain Clock King in bed with his teenage girlfriend

- A gory spread in which a supervillain version of Miss Martian shows the superhero version images of her killing the Teen Titans, including choking Wonder Girl with her own lasso, tearing out Blue Beetle’s spine, putting a sword through Ravagers head and ripping Kid Devil’s head in half by his horns

- Kid Devil being tortured on-panel

- Robin being stabbed and his face beaten into a bloody pulp

- “Wonder Dog” killing Marvin before stalking a terrified Wendy through the halls of Titans Tower and mauling her

- Bombshell unconscious in a morgue, her throat slashed and bloody…three panels before an image of Wendy, scarred and bandaged, unconscious in a hospital bed

- Wonder Dog exploding, showering the team with gore

- Kid Devil’s desiccated corpse

- Brother Blood ripping someone’s arms off

- Short-lived character The Face being impaled

Much of this certainly has what to do with editorial mandate, but it would be ill-advised to let the assigned writers off the hook. Especially when you consider one of them happens to be a senoir editor now. I think I'm going to need some aspirin after reading this.

And if there's nothing like human interest stories (example: combatting drug rackets, and even examining race relations, like Wolfman/Perez did a few times during their famous run in the 80s) to counterbalance the gorefest flooding this new volume, that's one more reason why all these horrors become little more than cheap sensationalism.

As is mentioned in the topic, these books actually turned up in a public library among the few superhero titles they have, in the sections for teenagers. Parents are going to have to check that their own local libraries aren't screwing up this badly, because no matter what excuses apologists for this kind horror might say, it is possible for younger children to check them out. If they could pick up an issue of Playboy and leaf through all those centerfolds, and if they could watch a video of Nightmare on Elm Street, is it not possible for them to check out something as awful as Johns/McKeever's wretched works too, were such comics left around on a living room table unguarded?

Labels: dc comics, dreadful writers, misogyny and racism, Titans, violence

http://www.indyplanet.com/store/

Tons of normal cool comics there, including age appropriate ones clearly marked as such. :)

There really still are tons of great comics, people just need to drop Disney and Warner comics and look to the indies! :)

J

Posted by #6 | 1:25 PM

My local library has Final Crisis *facepalm*

Posted by Kory Stephens | 4:30 PM

Mine actually has the graphic novels away from all the book, including the children's section, where you'd only find them if you knew to look there. That might be too far the other way, and if they weren't doing the tax reviews on that floor, I wouldn't have thought to look there. At least they're away from the kids, but I don't remember what titles they had besides the obligatory Watchmen

Posted by ShadowWing Tronix | 5:29 PM

Same with Kory. While I should criticize my library for having it, it was good for me, as it allowed to catch up on the series without actually paying for it. Although, it's on high shelves and, like Shadow said, you have to know where to look.

It's all horrible, though, the Clock King one amuses me, for some morbid reason.

Did the writers forget about the '03 show, as it had major appeal to kids and curious about the original comic format? Or, they didn't care about curious kids, seeing what the older versions of their favorite superheroes are up to, these days?

Posted by John K. | 9:07 AM

Oh, what about Tiny Titans, or did they forget that, too?

Posted by John K. | 9:08 AM

There was a comic based off the TV show, Teen Titans Go, but that's been replaced with Tiny Titans.

Posted by ShadowWing Tronix | 2:42 PM

I am almost to the point where I am starting to think nearly all of the people writing comics today are sociopaths.

Posted by Thnunumber6 | 3:38 PM

I like a good horror/dark story now and then, but some of this stuff is just geeeeee-rosss! Do these people have some sick violence/ rape fetish?

Posted by Degu, armchair shrink | 12:01 PM

Hey, Avi. Heard about Cry for Justice#7?

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/Cry-For-Justice-Spoilers-100303.html

Posted by Kory Stephens | 5:09 PM

Oh no. I knew this could happen. I'll try to write about it tomorrow after my brain's had some rest.