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Saturday, July 03, 2010

Teen Titans #84 - Aug. 2010

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Comics Weekend "It's A Wyld Wyld World" by Felicia D. Anderson, Jose Luis, and Mariah Benes.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned how I missed seeing the "new" Aquagirl in current comics, and Tegan of The Unofficial Aquaman Website told me that Lorena is a member of the Teen Titans and regularly appears in that book.

So I made the effort to pick up the newest issue of the series, #84, which does indeed feature Aquagirl in a major role. Yay!

And since tomorrow is July 4th and the Shrine won't be doing a Comics Weekend recap in observance of the holiday, I thought I'd double up today and do two. So let's get started!

This issue opens with two different aircraft, over two different oceans, dropping members of the Titans into the water below. One group consists of Superboy (can I call him that?), Beast Boy, Kid Flash, Static, and Wonder Girl, and the other Aquagirl and Bombshell(I think). who are on a mission to open a mystical portal deep in the Atlantic so their teammates can rescue their fellow Titan Raven:
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The other Titans enter "Wyld's World" and run into all sorts of trouble, including quicksand and killer tumbleweeds(!).

Meanwhile, back under water, Aquagirl and Bomshell have time to relax before having to reopen the portal. They chat about their respective levels of comfort, and Lorena admits for the first time that she's actually more comfortable living down below:
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Later, Aquagirl notices something's wrong--the portal seems to be moving! They give chase, and Lorena pins it to the ocean floor with her trident.

Bombshell notices a cute little fish and steps in before its gets eaten by a bigger fish. Big mistake:
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Meanwhile, back at Titans Tower, Miss Martian arrives to say that if she doesn't make it to Wyld's World immediately, all her friends might be stuck there forever. To be continued!


Teen Titans
comes with a back-up feature, Coven of Three, that I am similarly unfamiliar with. That means the main story was only twenty pages, and half of that was spent away from the Aquagirl sequence. So, not a whole lot of Lorena for my $3.99.

That said, I really enjoyed seeing her again--I really love the character, and while I'd prefer to see her back with Aquaman, I can see why she was taken and used by other writers while her erstwhile mentor was...er, dead and a zombie (in that order).

Not having read the book before, I didn't really know what was going on, and had only a vague knowledge of some of the characters, but of course that's not the book's fault. I can't say I'm going to keep buying Teen Titans just to catch up with Lorena every month, but its nice to know I can find her if I want to!

6 comments:

David J. Cutler said...

I'm really hoping after brightest day we're left with a solidified Aqua-family of characters in Aquaman, Mera, Aqualad II and Lorena. Always had a soft spot for the character as well. And Arthur Joseph is still dog paddling around somewhere, too.

Wings1295 said...

I agree with David, I hope we have a sort of reunion of the Aqua-heroes!

Aquamariner! said...

Did it bother anyone else that Aquagirl seems to pull her trident out of nowhere?!!?! What is it magical or something that it appears out of the blue?! I checked. it wasnt there!!!

Joe Slab said...

Teen Titans is one of the worst books on the market...casing point: the suddenly appearing trident which Lorena has never used before and didn't have in the first several panels. JT Krul is taking over the book in the fall.

Brandan E said...

That's not necessarily a good thing though Joe. JT Krul just wrapped up an even worse book(Rise of Arsenal). With a new Aqualad, I sadly wouldn't be surprised to see Lorena go the way of other "legacy" characters...

David J. Cutler said...

Teen Titans is a book where minor legacy or teen characters are routinely gutted and tossed aside to add gravitas to a bad story, You are absolutely right about that, Brandan E. Not really a safe place to be for someone as obscure as Aquagirl. But, gotta hope for a better world, right? hahaha...