‘Marooned’ Leaves Titans #29 Feeling Aimless
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
In escaping from the Ocean Lords, the Titans’ Boom Room was damaged. Worse yet, Steel was forced to make the jump without setting destination coordinates. Consequently, they have no idea where they are when they land on an alien planet. The atmosphere is breathable, but all plant life and water is toxic. Miss Martian was injured in the transit, but she still flies into orbit to check the stars to help locate where the Titans have landed. However, her injures take her, and she falls back to planet, injuring herself worse. Beast Boy struggles to maintain control of his powers, Donna Troy is losing faith in the team, and Steel is struggling to repair the Boom Room. Is this the end of the Titans?
Titans #29 throws the team into even further chaos. Every member of the team is injured, shaken, or damaged now in some manner, they are still without Nightwing, and they are lost in the vastness of space.
If the team felt a little aimless after the big post-No Justice shakeup, it is well and truly without direction now. Nightwing was the driving force, but he’s Detroit PD now I guess. Donna Troy is more the de facto leader now, but she is being written as ready to leave the group herself. The character aimlessness is translating into narrative aimlessness too, and it leaves the book without an identity. The current story, “Marooned,” feels a bit like a holding pattern, and, until the book finds its direction, we are left with a group of 20-somethings bickering with each other.
Minkyu Jung gives the book a great visual treatment at least. The artwork keeps an excellent high quality throughout, and it does a good job of keeping the characters facially distinct whether it be through sheer detail or angling. The monstrous Beast Boy we see looks quite cool too. John Dell does a good job on the inkwork too, and Adriano Lucas keeps a balanced and dynamic color palette throughout. The vibrant colors of the alien world look especially gorgeous.
Titans #29 has a decent story, but the aimlessness of the book post No Justice is really starting to catch up with the quality. The characters are disjointed, and the drama is wavering into melodrama. While the artwork is excellent, I can’t quite give this book a confident recommendation. If you’ve been engaged by Titans even after the No Justice changes, then you will likely enjoy it. However, I can’t think of much reason to stay aboard if you haven’t enjoyed the most recent issues.
Titans #29 comes to us from writer Dan Abnett, artist Minkyu Jung, inker John Dell, color artist Adriano Lucas, letterer Dave Sharpe, cover artist Brandon Peterson, and variant cover artist Yasmine Putri.