Titans Rebirth Vol. 1: The Return of Wally West (Rebirth #1, #1-#6)

2/5

After being lost outside of time and space, Wally West (the original Kid Flash), finally returns home in the events of DC Rebirth thanks to the help of Barry Allen. However, a bigger power has taken away 10 years from their world and any memory of Wally. That doesn't stop Kid Flash from finding his friends, though, and through the magic of the speed force, Nightwing, Aqualad, Omen, Donna, and Arsenal are a team once again now called the Titans.

That's the summary for the first issue in this volume and it's certainly a heartwarming read. It was this one-shot issue that really made me think that this was going to be a fun series to get into.

I was wrong.

After that solid 4-star issue, Dan Abnett decides to take the grand mystery of how Watchmen's Dr. Manhattan is related to the Flashpoint event into his own hands by reviving the villain Kadabra. Abnett writes that it was Kadabra who sent Wally outside of time and space as an act of vengeance, leading to underwhelming results of the whole Rebirth mystery. To top it off, Kadabra's character is rather flat and uninteresting, making this opening story to the Titans series start with a bang and then fall into a drawn-out whimper.

The villain the the plot points aren't the only weak parts of the story. Though Wally is definitely the lead here, the other Titans are merely along for the ride. Execution-wise, I see this as a missed opportunity because each of these characters suddenly have memories and a whole life with Wally they never knew about and Abnett should have taken a chance and focus on a different character each issue. Instead, everyone else on the team is merely background noise with a few segments of friendly banter between them (kind of disappointing considering how much I'm enjoying the Nightwing comics).

But, as much as I can criticize the writing, the Brett Booth's art is also to blame here. I've seen his work in the New 52 Flash series and my opinion on his art still stands: His speedster action sequences are fun, but his wacky page layout doesn't work anywhere else. A slow scene shouldn't have panels tilting 45 degrees and it actually ruins the flow of reading. Plus, when a scene gets emotional, his art is difficult to take seriously. The best of his work I've read was the graphic novel adaption of Jim Butcher's Storm Front, where he kept a normal page layout.

So though Titans Rebirth #1 was a solid read full of heart, the following issues in this volume pale in comparison. Hopefully this series picks up soon.

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