Teen Titans Special: "The Lazarus Contract, Finale"

[laughing_tree]

My pitch for this (I’ve been pushing for it for nearly a year) was to revisit “The Judas Contract,” Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s defining story arc of the New Teen Titans. We were going to J.J. Abrams the thing in order to build a firewall around the original story–so it can never be retconned or ignored–while re-telling it with the post-Rebirth continuity.

But the old continuity was just a mess. Cyborg was never a Titan. Starfire, Raven– it was terribly difficult to sort all of that out. My preference was to not bother; just show blocks of the original story with the original cast without explaining why Cyborg is now a founding member of the Justice League and never a Titan.

As I see it, both DC and Marvel (but especially DC) wastes way too much time on process stories. I’m tired of reading process stories– stories that explain why this character is now wearing a red hat instead of a yellow one. Who cares. Entertain me.

Comics fans aren’t idiots and, sadly, they aren’t kids anymore. Rather than go through the whole Rebirth thing, and what seems to be endless process stories being written ever since, I’d simply have had Batman turn to camera, breaking the fourth wall, and be honest with the DC comics fan: “We fucked up.” Now, on with our show.

Comics should be Good Stories Well Told. That’s it. Personally, am not entertained by all of these comics that invest multi-issue story arcs explaining the red hat/yellow hat thing. I don’t care. I’m 56 years old, I understand things have changed.

Somewhere along the way we’ve stopped entertaining and gotten morosely engaged with this continuity stuff. Continuity exists to serve the stories, not the other way around.

Ultimately, because of the varying events both past and upcoming, it proved impossible to do the JJ thing, so editor Antone came up with the next best thing. “Lazarus…” walks right up to the Judas Contract and knocks on the door, but we don’t fully go there because, honestly, we couldn’t.

-- Christopher J. Priest

The main story, scripted by Priest, penciled by Paul Pelletier:











The Titans and Teen Titans follow Deathstroke back in time and run into the past Titans:



























"Aftermath," scripted by Ben Percy, penciled by Khoi Pham:



"Damage Report," scripted by Dan Abnett, penciled by Brett Booth:

Comments

[beyondthefringe]

Damn, that was harsh, even for Damien.
Poor Wally (I). He always gets crapped on. I hope this can be fixed.
Poor Wally (II). He was just trying to do the right thing.

I think I like this new Aqualad as shown here.

Makes Jason look good

[blue_bolt]

I used to think that my Robin list would forever go:

Dick
Tim
Stephanie
Jason

But now it goes:
Dick
Tim
Stephanie
Jason
Damien.

Congrats you insane 10 year old. Wait, is he 11 yet?

Re: Makes Jason look good

[miss_abnormal]

He's been 13 since Rebirth started.

Re: Makes Jason look good

[katefan]

Damien is 13 now, they played up his age in the part of the Rebirth special that teased the new Teen Titans comic.

Re: Makes Jason look good

[katefan]

Damn, beat me by four minutes. :D

[starwolf_oakley]

On this board I've said that, no matter how professional he says he is, Slade Wilson is a petty, petty man. He destroyed Bludhaven and drugged Cassandra Cain to punish Dick Grayson and Tim Drake for "taking" Rose away from him.

This story isn't about Slade being petty, but he's not dealing with this "correctly."

[matrix_dragon]

God dammit Damian. How is it you fuck up every single thing you touch?

Also, I would pay good money for a comic that is twenty two pages of Slade Wilson, waste of human meat, getting the crap kicked out of him in a one-sided curb stomp. Preferably by his daughter, but the rest of the Titans are acceptable.

[thezmage]

Okay, that Aqualad sounds nothing at all like the one from the show.

[icon_uk]

It's a fairly entertaining story, though it does throw one too many supersuits with bizarre powers that I'd never heard of before (like Slade's suit manipulating gravity).

What struck me though was just how completely unlikeable Damian is with his team. Why would ANYONE follow this kid who is ultra violent and completely unsympathetic. I get it, he has a chip on his shoulder at the best of times, but here he appears to have a bag of chips.

[ekrolo2]

Slade's Rebirth suit having gravity based abilities was revealed in issue 9 of his current on-going.

[zapbiffpow]

I get it, he has a chip on his shoulder at the best of times, but here he appears to have a bag of chips.

Yeah, what the hell was that? He isn't this cut-loosingly abrasive over at Superman and Super-Sons. Damian's supposed to be an ass, but an ass in the right direction.

[zapbiffpow]

Rather than go through the whole Rebirth thing, and what seems to be endless process stories being written ever since, I’d simply have had Batman turn to camera, breaking the fourth wall, and be honest with the DC comics fan: “We fucked up.” Now, on with our show.

Y'know, I seriously don't think the fans would like that, and it'd end up ranking alongside SBP punching a hole the multiverse, but it's still a pretty hilarious idea in theory. I can see Batman on a Late Show desk, doing an Alan Moore nine-panel.

Also, loved this crossover! Nice to see everyone interacting with everyone.

[icon_uk]

Actually, I think he's pretty unlikable there too, it's hard to see why Jon would ever choose to spend time for someone who has such little respect for him.

[zapbiffpow]

I don't know - Superman #11 showed how Damian can be gruff but civil during downtime, while their bickering during Super-Sons gets a pass thanks to its anime-ish over-the-topness, having some actual pretty funny lines, and even a hint of self-awareness (using their roughhousing to create a dust cloud to surprise their enemies, which also lends to the anime-ishness). Here his mean-spiritedness doesn't seem to have purpose but to make that cliffhanger happen.

[bradygirl_12]

Actually, I think he's pretty unlikable there too, it's hard to see why Jon would ever choose to spend time for someone who has such little respect for him.

Exactly! Apparently this little creep can diss anyone he wants and people just laugh it off and say it's Damian being Damian. Ugh! He has no respect for anyone but his grandfather and father and maybe Dick, whose biggest flaw in my eyes is making excuses for this kid. I don't care that he was raised in the League of Assassins. Sometimes personality comes through despite background, and this kid is totally unlikeable. I know a lot of people like him. I can't fathom why.

Patting Raven on the head when she desperately needed him would be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic.

[long_silence]

Yeah Dick constantly giving Damian a pass is what bothers me the most.

Dick just stood by while Damian kicked kid Wally off the plane (after he'd been kidnapped and tortured), forgot Jackson, killed his best friend Wally and all he said was "stop hurling flash bangs"

Damian won't face any consequences for giving Wally a heart condition, Dick won't blame him for crippling one of the greatest heroes on Earth, and they'll all just stand by while the little tyrant does whatever he wants.

[aeopile]

Continuity exists to serve the stories, not the other way around.

I'm a strong advocate for respecting continuity, and I think Mr. Priest has this a little off.

Continuity serves character development.
Strong character development serves the story.

So really, it becomes a debate of status quo vs. growth. If writers want to treat the DC Universe like an episode of the Simpsons, or Star Trek Voyager, where the status quo is either restored by end of the episode (Voyager), or past stories are more or less ignored (Simpsons) - that's fine, I get that.

Or if they want it to be like serialized television, where characters have arcs, and the status quo does change, that's fine, I get that (and generally that is the type of story telling I prefer).

It is up to the editors to decide what they want the universe to be... and for the writers to respect this. I think the challenge for the publisher is they really want to have their cake and eat it too.

You must buy this story, everything will change!
vs.
To enjoy this story, you don't need to know anything about past stories!

I quit reading comics with the New 52, I looked at it as being a great stopping point. As a DC fanboy, I was slowly becoming more and more unhappy with the general rolling back to the silver age status quo (Hal Jordan I stomached, Barry Allen really bothered me). But I did follow the buzz about it, and check in here weekly. It really felt like DC wanted it both ways, and no one was really happy.

I think the target that comics should be shooting for is stories that lead to an easy to understand status quo change or eventually return to status quo, but can be referenced. For example, the death of superman. I enjoyed the story. It put everything back to status quo when finished... but can affect Superman as a character (dude, you died!). Or Superman post-rebirth, and all the baggage he had with him originally, and how it is slowly going back to status quo.

The original death of Jason Todd, did change the status quo, but a reader could be caught up in a quick expository dialogue (Joker killed Robin, and since then Bruce has had trouble accepting a new partner).

[thanekos]

Truly, in the matter of running teams with an absolute rule that cares not for other input, he is more than his father's son.

Re: Makes Jason look good

[miss_abnormal]

Haha, and I immediately went to sleep after I posted that. It was one of those last minute things as my brain was going to slumberland.

[shadowpsykie]

guess that explains Deathstroke's Titans Team?

[thatnickguy]

All this time travel and reshuffling of continuity is giving me a headache.

See also: Jon being shoe-horned into Superman continuity.

[bradygirl_12]

Yeah, Dick was unfathomable here. All those sins attributed to Damian makes him worse than Bruce on a bad day. Dick should haul this kid in and read him the riot act about how a good team leader behaves, not that the kid could comprehend.

[q99]

-
I'm a strong advocate for respecting continuity, and I think Mr. Priest has this a little off.

Continuity serves character development.
Strong character development serves the story.

So really, it becomes a debate of status quo vs. growth.-

Well said.

[theflames]

I get his sentiment but christ continuity isn't that hard, if you make a concept that doesn't fit within the current continuity, tweak it until is t does. If you can't, it might not be that great.

And if it is that great? Make it an Elseworld story and call it a night.

But here he wants his story to be *in* continuity with all the new stuff, but without having to deal with continuity of the context the new stuff exists in. That sounds like a 'having it both ways' type of deal.

Anywho he's right about the process story thing.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Ten bucks Damien is never held responsible for his actions. Why is he a hero again?

[jaxjyls]

I call BS on Wally's pacemaker, don't speedsters have super healing? Didn't Barry once regrow all his skin?

Also very OOC Damian

[laughing_tree]

Wouldn't super-speed healing just heal faster than normal, not heal things that no amount of time would actually fix? I wouldn't expect a Flash to, say, regenerate a missing limb. Certain heart conditions would fall in this category too.

[sarahnewlin]

Are Aqualad and Joseph going to hook up?

[chalicother]

I don't even understand why the others are spending time with Damian. At least pre-new 52, the Titans responded back to Damian and did not just accept Damian as leader. Why is Damian even in charge...? Hell, at least when Batman is being a jerk, the other character comment it. Why are all the titan's being so passive with this Damian. I actually like Damian, but not like this. This reminds me of Damian from Son of Batman.....that's not a compliment.

[silverhammerman]

I'm not a usually a Damian Wayne hater, but dang. He comes off pretty poorly here, and there absolutely need to be some actual consequence down the line in terms of character dynamics for that to mean anything.