TALES OF THE THE TEEN TITANS #48 & #49

"THE RECOMBATANTS!"
Co-Creators/Co-Editors: Marv Wolfman & George Pérez | Writer: Marv Wolfman
Guest Penciler: Steve Rude | Guest Inker: Al Gordon
Penciler (epilogues): George Pérez | Inker (epilogues): Mike DeCarlo
Letterer: Todd Klein | Letterer (epilogues): Ben Oda | Colorist: Adrienne Roy

The Plot: A group of genetically engineered artificial teenagers named the Recombatants escape from a Dayton Industries facility near Las Vegas. In New York, Cyborg mulls over some new procedure S.T.A.R. Labs is developing which could change his life, but is soon summoned to Titans' Tower.

Nightwing, Starfire, Cyborg, Wonder Girl, and Jericho head to Nevada to round the Recombatants up. The Titans bring the Recombatants back to the lab, where the scientists who created them explain their intention to destroy these "prototypes". The Recombatants make a run for it and the Titans pursue, but the teenagers choose to take their own lives, destroying the power core that would have allowed the Dayton scientists to create more Recombatants, in the process.

Back in New York, Changeling shows Jillian around Dayton Manor and is reprimanded by his stepfather over his offering Donna and Terry the use of the house for their wedding. Meanwhile, Terry receives word that his ex-wife wants to speak with him and worries about her intentions. At Titans' Tower, Jericho attempts to visit Raven but she forces him to leave.

STAR WARS: THE MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS, volume 1

No "Unboxing" for March. For the first month in a long while (like, years), I received nothing new in the mail! So instead, let's take an in-depth look at a book I received last month: Marvel's STAR WARS: THE ORIGINAL MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS, volume 1.

I've never read Marvel's STAR WARS series, but I've wanted to check it out for years. I missed Dark Horse's original trade paperbacks, as they came out long before I became a collected editions fiend. Dark Horse later did their own "Omnibus" versions of the series in a group of five volumes, and I considered picking them up many times, but I could never bring myself to do it since they were printed in a little tiny trim size smaller than the original comic book dimensions. I never understand this. I know many comic book readers have fond memories of digests from their younger days, but I've never been on board with that format. Even as a kid I thought it was silly to shrink a comic book down to a smaller size. The art becomes tiny and cramped-looking and the letters are harder to read. I'll go a little bit smaller than the original dimensions, say for reading a comic on my iPad -- which I love -- but anything beyond that is a non-starter for me.

THE UNBOXING - FEBRUARY 2015

Three items arrived this month; two of which I've awaited for quite a while, for varying reasons.

But first is AME-COMI GIRLS, volume three from DC. Some may recall that I reviewed volume one last year, and I received volume two a few months ago. I was originally going to cover the second volume soon after I got it, but ultimately decided to do both it and three in two consecutive weeks once both were available. So watch for that very soon.

THE NEW TEEN TITANS #11 & #12 AND BEST OF DC (BLUE RIBBON DIGEST) #18

"WHEN TITANS CLASH" | "CLASH OF THE TITANS"
Co-Creators: Marv Wolfman & George Pérez | Inker: Romeo Tanghal
Letterers: John Costanza (#11) & Ben Oda (#12)
Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: The Titans travel to Paradise Island, home of the Amazons, in hopes that their "Purple Ray" might save Changeling's life. While Wonder Girl, Starfire, and Raven remain with Changeling, Robin, Cyborg, and Kid Flash depart to search for Changeling's long-missing stepfather, Steve Dayton.

Meanwhile, in the underworld realm of Tartarus, the elder god (or titan) Hyperion awakens and returns to Earth over Paradise Island. Wonder Girl heads out to intercept Hyperion, but he enthralls her and brings her back to Tartarus so he can free his fellow titans, all of whom have been imprisoned with him for 30,000 years, courtesy of Zeus and the second generation of Olympian gods.

Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons, leads a war party into Tartarus, accompanied by Starfire and Raven, to recover Wonder Girl. But Hyperion succeeds in releasing his brethren and when the Amazons arrive, Wonder Girl announces that she's joined the titans. She departs with Hyperion and the others. Then, a mysterious figure appears to aid Hippolyte.

My Thoughts: The hits just keep coming. This is yet another excellent issue, and it doesn't even suffer from any of the logical inconsistencies that have plagued recent installments. I had hopes since issue 7, but now I think it's safe to declare with certainty that THE NEW TEEN TITANS has hit its stride. The characters are consistent, the stories are engrossing, and the continuity and sub-plots are strong enough to hold a reader's interest from issue to issue.

BATMAN BY MIKE W. BARR & ALAN DAVIS: DETECTIVE COMICS # 572, 573, 574

"THE DOOMSDAY BOOK"
Writer: Mike W. Barr | Pencilers: Alan Davis, Terry Beatty, Carmine Infantino
Inkers: Paul Neary, Dick Giordano, Al Vey | Colorists: Adrienne Roy, Carl Gafford
Letterers: John Workman, Todd Klein, Romeo Francisco | Editor: Denny O'Neil

"THE MAD HATTER FLIPS HIS LIDS" | "...MY BEGINNING...AND MY PROBABLE END"
Writer: Mike W. Barr | Penciler: Alan Davis | Inker: Paul Neary
Colorist: Adrienne Roy | Letterer: Richard Starkings
Editor: Denny O'Neil

Art by Mike Kaluta

DETECTIVE COMICS #572 is a "jam" issue, celebrating the title's fiftieth anniversary, and starring three of the book's regular featured characters of decades past: Batman (of course), the Elongated Man, and Slam Bradley, who I had never heard of before. Upon looking him up, I've learned that he starred in DETECTIVE #1, and has appeared sporadically in the DC Universe since.

Beyond the above group, the story also stars Sherlock Holmes, who, it seems, is a real person in the DC world. Watson's chronicles of Holmes' cases are treated here as works of non-fiction, and everyone views Holmes as a well-known historical figure. It's a conceit I enjoyed, and it fits just fine into a shared universe like this one. However, Barr goes overboard with the idea here, revealing in the story's finale that Holmes is still alive and fairly spry at well over a hundred years of age, due essentially to nothing more than clean living.

IRON MAN #122

"JOURNEY!"
Writer: David Michelinie | Pencils: Carmine Infantino | Inks: Bob Layton
Letters: John Costanza | Colors: Ben Sean | Editor: Roger Stern
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
Based on the original story by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber and Don Heck

The Plot: Iron Man and Namor part ways with the U.S. Naval forces that came to their aid last issue. As Iron Man flies home, he reflects on his origin, back in Vietnam: he was there as Tony Stark to demonstrate and perfect new weaponry for the army when he was mortally injured and kidnapped by the warlord Wong Chu. Wong Chu ordered Stark to spend the final week of his life constructing weaponry with the aid of another prisoner, a physicist named Professor Yinsen.

But instead of following Wong Chu's orders, Stark and Yinsen constructed a suit of armor that would keep Stark alive and allow him to overthrow Wong Chu. Yinsen sacrificed himself to allow Stark's escape, and later that night Stark, now as Iron Man, defeated and killed Wong Chu.

Back in the present, Iron Man finishes his reminiscence as he passes over Montauk Point, New York. Justin Hammer is informed of Iron Man's whereabouts, and orders a third test of his ability to remotely control our hero's armor.