‘Teen Titans #31’ (review)

Written by Adam Glass
Illustrated by Bernard Chang
Published by DC Comics

“Ya really should be thanking me. All those years I wasn’t around. Messin’ you up.  But don’t worry, there’s still time, doll.”

Wow. Lobo really is a Bastich.

I mean we all know that he is, obviously. That’s his brand. One that Adam Glass does not shy away from even a tiny little bit. Just the opposite really.

Intergalactic Bounty Hunter. Gun for Hire. Toe to toe with Big Blue. Everything for a price, and anything for a good price.

And one really seriously big distraction.

It works well. Glass could have gone softer with this one, but I’m so glad he didn’t, both for the sheer joy of the characterization on the page, and because also, it fits.

There’s no hold back on Lobo here, and as it becomes clear to everyone that after all, he’s already killed off every other one of his other children (that he’s ever known of, anyway), we all begin to realize just how serious this situation actually is.

And how much trouble the team is in.

Crush is up for it of course. In spirit anyway. I mean, she’s been training for this. So, there’s plenty of brawling. And even some pretty good teamwork. (Liking how he did that there.)

But even Crush manages to exercise some restraint on her most extreme impulses. (Something we’re hoping she comes to by nature – human nature, possibly?)

Lobo has no restraint. He’s out to end this. Done, and done. Brutal. With a red-eyed glint and a grin. Doesn’t hurt he’s being paid triple for his services.

See, somebody set Lobo on his daughter and her team. And that someone, not surprisingly, is the Other.

So, we’re barreling down pretty rapidly to somewhere here folks, and Glass is indicating that he knows it. But how quickly we get there, what exactly we’re getting to, or just how completely to it we manage to get… all remains to be seen.

In the meantime, we have at least one more issue of serious problems with Lobo. Because he’s that large, his threat is too relentless, he’s just too front-and-center. That Lobo – he’s a damn showboat, is what he is.

For now though, it’s working. The comic is great fun to read, an action-filled issue of revelations and intrigue and action, action, action. Bracketed on one end with one excellent cover by mssrs. Bernard Chang and Marcelo Maiola, who then pack out the pages that follow with more of the same greatness.

Adam Glass meanwhile just generally has a ton of fun letting the Main Man out of his usual pens to stomp, and holler, and stir up a ruckus – one of… pretty serious proportions.

Good thing our team is pretty tough all on their own. Heck, some are even downright super-resilient.

But hearts always break. Here’s hoping Crush can rise above the tragedy she now must fight through just to survive the night. Good thing she’s been obsessing for this moment. Like, obsessing a lot.

That’s good, right?

Let’s find out!

Everything turns up the dials past 11 this month, and it will be very interesting indeed to see where it all shakes out, when Glass finally let’s everything be known… and we find out finally who exactly it is that has the biggest daddy issues, after all.

Maybe.

Next Up: More Daddy-Daughter moments. After Crush wakes up. Wake up, Crush!