THE NEW TEEN TITANS #23 & 24

"KIDNAPPED!" | "CITADEL STRIKE!"
Co-Creators: Marv Wolfman & George Pérez | Embellisher: Romeo Tanghal
Letterers: Ben Oda (#23) & Todd Klein (#24) | Colorist: Carl Gafford
Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: While the Titans speak with the District Attorney about their assault on Baron Blood, Blackfire arrives in orbit of Earth and sends her slavers to attack New York. Starfire is captured and the aliens escape, but the Titans capture one of their ships. Using it with the long-dormant ship that brought Starfire to Earth, the Titans head into space to rescue their teammate.

But no sooner do they board Blackfire's ship, than her defenses get the best of them, and she jettisons them into space before leaving Earth's solar system. The Titans are rescued, however, by Superman, who is aboard the Justice League's satellite headquarters. But when Robin urges the Man of Steel to head out and stop Blackfire's escape, he admits that he can't, as he's recently suffered a drastic decrease in power.

My Thoughts: The story continues organically from the Brother Blood chapters, as we pick up with the Titans in voluntary custody for their meeting with the D.A. We also learn that Bethany Snow, an antagonistic reporter introduced last issue, is a member of Blood's church and seems to be running a deliberate smear campaign against the Titans.

In other revelatory news, it is noted by the D.A. that Blood publicly "resurrected" himself following the events of the previous issue. This seems a peculiar occurrence to take place between issues, but perhaps Wolfman and Pérez just couldn't find a good way to work it into the story at hand.

The District Attorney, by the by, is named Adrian Chase. I know that later on, the Titans will gain a junior member by the name of Danny Chase, who seems to be much hated by the fandom at large. I'm guessing Danny is the D.A.'s son, but I suppose only time will tell -- if he even shows up during the run of issues I'm covering here.

Besides the above continuity bits, this issue is mostly just a transitional chapter, bridging the gap between Brother Blood and Blackfire. I tend to like issues constructed this way, as they remind you that a superhero's life is rarely dull, and adventures tend to bleed one right into the next.

Oh, there's one other cameo appearance this issue besides Superman -- Aqualad retrieves Starfire's crashed ship from the ocean floor for the Titans. Robin extends him a invitation to rejoin, even as a "reserve" member, but he neglects to answer either way here, other than to decline joining the team in space due to the lack of water out there.

Finally, on the subject of Superman: he woefully informs the Titans that, per recent issues of ACTION COMICS, his powers have been halved. That's all well and good, but it seems kind of a flimsy excuse to have him unable to save Starfire. I'm no expert, but I can't help feeling that a pre-CRISIS Superman, even with only half his power, should be more than a match for a ship full of slavers, plus Blackfire. Nonetheless, I appreciate his appearance here, as he was notably absent when the Titans met the JLA way back in issue 4.

The Plot: Superman introduces the Titans to his new friends, the Omega Men, who come from Starfire's galaxy. They allow the Titans to come with them to wage war against the Citadel, the group of slavers which have kidnapped Starfire. The group heads for the planet Okaara, where both Starfire and Blackfire trained in the art of battle.

Meanwhile, Blackfire brings her sister back to the Citadel's homeworld, where she meets with Citadel leader Damyn and plots to overthrow him. The Citadel decides to kidnap the "living goddess" X'hal, and mounts an assault on Okaara, where she resides.

During the ensuing fight, Changeling transforms into a Gordanian, one of the citadel slaver races, and brings Robin and Cyborg aboard a Citadel ship as his "prisoners". But a slip of the tongue blows his cover, and Citadel troops hold him at gunpoint.

My Thoughts: There's a lot of story in this issue, but it feels very slow moving. Perhaps due to a dearth of sub-plots, or perhaps because I don't find the Omega Men very interesting, but in any case, "Citadel Strike!" doesn't do much for me, storywise.

Artistically, however, this has to be one of George Pérez's best-looking issues yet. He deftly draws everything from snowy alien vistas on the Citadel's homeworld to hi-tech starship interiors aboard the Omega Men's craft to an underground temple on Okaara. As usual, it's a pleasure to watch Pérez's continued evolution into one of the premier pencilers of his era.

Otherwise, the final notable thing here is the fact that, although I've been describing her as such for a while now, Starfire's sister, Komand'r, officially adopts the codename Blackfire after briefly dueling Starfire aboard her spacecraft.

While this issue isn't exactly my cup of tea, I feel that almost anything would've suffered a bit following the fantastic Brother Blood story and its epilogue/this storyline's prologue, as seen in the past few installments. The real test will be whether Wolfman and Pérez can win me back over for the remainder of this star-spanning epic.

Incidentally, knowing that the X-Men went into outer space in 1982 as well, I decided to take a look at their series to find out when the so-called "Brood Saga" took place. Imagine my surprise to find that UNCANNY X-MEN 162, the first installment in the merry mutants' extended voyage away from Earth, was cover dated October 1982 -- the very same month as "Citadel Strike!" It's easy to see why NEW TEEN TITANS and UNCANNY X-MEN were considered to be cut from the same cloth around this time.