Titans #28

[flint_marko]

This is from Titans #28 by Eric Wallace and Fabrizio Fiorentino.

The Titans are hired to break the Mad Hatter out of Arkham. A guard is helping them sneak in in exchange for money.

Slade leaves Osiris alone with the guard, telling him to make sure they have an escape route. While they're alone, Osiris asks the guard why he's helping them.





The lightning hits the guard's remote, setting all the inmates free.





Meanwhile, Ray Palmer is helping Ryan Choi's girlfriend Amanda look for him.

Comments

[pyrotwilight]

Ah, thinking someone is someone else is always fun.

Raven: Ahhh! *magic attack* Away Demon!
Kid Devil: OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

[sun_man]

never like osiris

[hoey]

Never much liked, or got the point to, the Marvel/Black Adam family.

[jaybee3]

The Marvel Family (the "good" ones) have a very clear appeal (one that sold millions in the 40s/50s) - old fashioned wish fulfillment. Ordinary kids next door types (to the point where Mary Marvel was originally modeled after young Judy Garland) are granted literally god-like powers (and age to adult when they do so) which enables them to defeat aliens, evil scientists and Nazis.

The Black Adam Family was supposed to be the flip-side. But because people at DC (aka Geoff Johns and Dan Didio) love Black Adam and love blood/gore and darkness, Black Adam has suddenly become the main Marvel and Billy, Mary, Freddy have faded - which dilutes the whole premise of the franchise's mythos in the first place.

[flint_marko]

The Black Marvel family were good guys in 52, with Isis and Osiris helping Adam become a better person.

[jaybee3]

Yeah but they were created in order to be killed so Black Adam would get all angsty and go all genocidal and start a World War. Seriously that was originally their whole point. Later on they brought Isis back and she killed people and now they've brought Osiris back and HE'S killing people. This is what DC thinks of the Marvel Family franchise.

[starwolf_oakley]

Sometimes it seems like the Power of Shazam drives everyone crazy. Billy Batson and Freddy Freeman might be the only exceptions, and maybe in their cases its just a matter of time.

[flint_marko]

Mary's craziness was caused by Eclipso, though.

And I think a lot of Osiris's mental state is due to his circumstances.

[biznizzonpeyote]

Morrison tried to blame it on a demonically possessing Dessad.

Am I the only one who remembers that?

[flint_marko]

I think that only applies to the Mary in FC, who acted differently than the Mary in Countdown and JSA.

[jaybee3]

Morrison didn't even bother to acknowledge what the Countdown Mary was like [thank goodness!], and his explanation (that her body was possessed by DeSaad/Darkseid) would have removed the taint from Mary's actions - if Johns and Ordway hadn't just reused "Black Mary" again right after Final Crisis was over.

It's more of a matter than DC didn't care how she got that way, they just wanted an evil Mary Marvel (much like the Evil Cassandra Cain explanations didn't bother to come until long after Beechan was finished with her.)

[flint_marko]

Except it wouldn't make any sense to say Desaad was possessing her in Countdown, since we saw Mary's POV the whole time. And Desaad was elsewhere in Countdown, dealing with Piper and whatnot.

Also, Morrison had Mary ripping people in half, where the Mary in Countdown never killed anyone.

[jaybee3]

You're right of course. My point was the Countdown Mary and the Morrison/FC Mary didn't even attempt to match up. It's as if the DC writers didn't know what they were doing - only that Mary should be "evil".

And yes the fact that Mary killed someone (cutting the female Atomic Knight in half) in FC was the worst part for me of the already horrible way she was presented (the rest of it could easily be retconned/forgotten away). I think that was the first time any of the "good" Marvel Family members (Billy, Mary, Freddy) had killed anyone in DCU continuity and the fact that it was Mary and that Morrison did it so casually is very, very sad.
It didn't help that Mike Carlin (who edited the second half of Countdown and who also edited the Power of Shazam series) when confronted by the criticisms of Mary's behavior in Countdown at the end (when she makes the deal with Darkseid) said in defense of the way she was written "well at least she hasn't killed anybody so it's not that bad" KNOWING as he said it that Morrison had Mary kill someone in FC#3 which would come out 3 months later. He really had to go there.

[darkknightjrk]

"Except it wouldn't make any sense to say Desaad was possessing her in Countdown, since we saw Mary's POV the whole time. And Desaad was elsewhere in Countdown, dealing with Piper and whatnot."

Yes, because Morrison ignored Countdown, because he's smart.

[flint_marko]

No, because he had the story planned out before they did Countdown.

[karthzon]

Because he's smart.

[flint_marko]

If he was smart he wouldn't have had Barda killed.

[karthzon]

Point.

[shadowpsykie]

very lovely Red X's

[shadowpsykie]

Meanwhile, Ray Palmer is helping Ryan Choi's girlfriend Amanda look for him.

Wait... isn't Giganta his Girlfriend? last time we checked they were still dating....

[flint_marko]

http://www.comicvine.com/amanda-turner/29-56812/

[shadowpsykie]

sooo ex girlfriend... she was only in 4 issues? Gail's wonder woman arc was after Atom finished right? and in liek issue... 4 of that series Giganta was set for a date with Ryan... (also last time we saw ryan... not dead, didnt he still mention being with Giganta...)

[shadowpsykie]

oh also in one of the latest Secret Six Issues Giganta tells Dwafstar that she is dating Ryan (unaware he is dead, and that Dwafstar issued the contract, SERIOUSLY can NOT wait for that.)

[auggie18]

What are you talking about? Panda never got married and had a kid. The Atom's run ended when Gail left the book.

THAT IS MY STORY AND I'M STICKING TO IT.

[auggie18]

...her? But Ryan never dated her. She had a crush on him, but it never lead to anything. Unless that was in the RR run on Atom, which we all know never actually happened.

[sweettart1823]

Over all this was a pretty pointless issue I thought. Nothing happened I was bored, I hope Dick steals away with Roy next issue and kicks some sense into him, Cheshire can help him since she didn't seem to happy about realizing that Roy was high . . . .

[nezchan]

"Kicks some sense into him." Yeah, I suppose he could do that too...

[sweettart1823]

Well he needs to do that before they can do anything else..

[nezchan]

True. We saw from the whole Cheshire thing he likes hard role-play.

Well, Roy's evil clone does, anyway. I wonder when the real one and the real Lian will get back from their holiday. They'll be pissed at what their doubles have been up to.

[sweettart1823]

They told them to lay low, but evil clones, they never listen. Sigh.

[nezchan]

They'd stop using them (hell, look what happened with Ryan Choi's clone), but they're so cheap when you buy in bulk.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Osiris had to kill the guard then and there why exactly? Because it seems like he's inviting a clusterfuck for the sake of having a clusterfuck.

[jaybee3]

Wallace has turned Osiris from a would-be hero who overcame being tortured and abused by the Religion of Crime into a whining douche who others feel safe disrespecting (which makes him either a wussy or the other members of Slade's team stupid - who would think it wise to mock Black Adam's beloved brother-in-law who also shares his power?)

The writing makes no sense. And this is the writer who is going to be handling Billy and Mary in January (and perhaps after that?) At this point I don't think any Marvel Family fan should hope for anything good.

[biznizzonpeyote]

Am I the only one who thinks this title isn't so bad? Then again, I pretty much... liked(?) Cry For Justice as well, except for the editorially mandated Lian death (wouldn't have minded if Robinson wanted to do that on his own, tho) and a good portion of the ending. Also, I thought that the entirety of "Fall Of Green Arrow" event was okay. It brought ME on as a G.A. reader at least...

[flint_marko]

IDK. I'm sort've okay with Osiris's storyline so far, but I'm worried about what the end result will be.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Wait a minute - the Titans were HIRED to break Mad Hatter out? I know I haven't been following the books lately, but since when are they A: for hire and B: on the other side of the law?

[flint_marko]

It's a team Deathstroke formed. He's calling them the Titans, but they aren't related to the superhero group.

They first appeared in the Titans: Villains for Hire one-shot and then took over the Titans title starting with #24.

There's Deathstroke, Tattooed Man, Cinder (a new character), Cheshire, and Osiris. Red Arrow joined the team later on, but he's really working with Cheshire to kill Deathstroke.

[psychopathicus_rex]

So it's an in-name-only franchise branch-off. I see.

[flint_marko]

Well, Deathstroke and Cheshire are both big Titan characters. And Red Arrow and Osiris were both Titans before (though for Osiris it was only a short time).

[psychopathicus_rex]

*ponders* Hmm. So it's a tangentially-related-but-morally-flip-flopped franchise branch-off capitalizing on the success of its predecessor/competitor. How's that?

[thebigapricot]

It's like the Secret Six! Well, if the Secret Six sucked.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Except the current Six isn't simultaneously coexisting with another Secret Six - as far as I know, the others who've laid claim to that name are all either dead or retired. Other than that - yes, very similar.

[zechs80]

Why is this book still continuing on? WHY!?

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Because you touch yourself at night and make angels cry, that's why!

[stig]

And I thought I'd never enjoy a comic with Titans in the title.

[nezchan]

I love a comic with Titans in the title.

Cover says "1980" on it.