The Four Color Media Monitor

In this CBR interview, hack writer Scott Lobdell, whose resume has little to recommend, lets know that his redo of the Teen Titans is going to go the angsty route, and Mr. Terrific won't be the only one sporting tattoos soon:

With an organization targeting super-teens, Wonder Girl as a thief and a tattooed Superboy, the tone of "Teen Titans" seems darker than before. Are you going for an edgier feel?

It is so interesting whenever I hear that word "edgy," or "edgier" -- anyone who knows me knows there are fewer people on the whole planet that are less edgier than I am! [...]

Let's talk about the changes to the characters on the team. We have Tim Drake leading and Wonder Girl as a thief -- is this Wonder Girl a Cassie Sandsmark gone bad or a new character?

I'd have to say neither. I don't think she's really much different from the Cassie Sandsmark who originally "borrowed" the Sandals of Hermes and the Gauntlet of Atlas for her first adventure. I think some people read the word "thief" and think she's being re-imagined as a female Gambit -- that is not the case at all.

Other than obvious tattoo, how does your Superboy differ from the pre-September one?

He's a work in progress, where the pre-September Superboy was more firmly established. Even when he was first introduced he was pretty much fully defined. The exciting part about this Superboy is we see him honing his T.K. [tactile telekinesis] powers in a way we've never seen before. I love Conner, he's a great character, and Karl [Kesel] and Geoff [Johns] and Jeff [Lemire] have done some great stories with him. I just want to look at him from a different angle and see what that reveals about him to us.

How did we get to the point where punk subculture this tasteless suddenly became such a big thing with these hacks? Even if it's their own logos they're using as tattoos, that's still in poor taste, and if Cassie is being reinvented as even a reformed pickpocket, that's still pretty lame.

And as for looking at Connor Kent from different angles, I'm afraid that's just what they're doing - making him look almost like a biker punk. Instead of making them wholesome kids who can appeal to plenty, it's just more political correctness run amok. On top of all that, Lobdell is a writer who thudded out a decade ago, and is hardly what I'd consider a draw writer-wise.

Labels: dc comics, dreadful writers, Titans