Teen Titans #96: "Beast of Legend"
J. T. Krul (writer), José Luís (penciller), Sandro Ribeiro and Jonas Trindade (inkers), Carlos M. Mangual (letterer), Jason Wright (colourist). The cover is by Nicola Scott, Doug Hazlewood, and Jason Wright.

( Spoilers ahoy! Plus brief a note on the mythology in this issue )

My thoughts:
Not too bad an issue. It felt a bit shorter than the others in this arc, though, probably because a fair amount of it (at least in the first half) consisted of panels where text (thought?) boxes were the only words, and that too from the perspective of only one character (Gar). That's not to say it was static and boring, however, because it wasn't - Gar was continually jumping around, transforming as he did so, which provided quite a bit of dynamism.

And I liked what I read in Gar's thoughts. This is a character who is ready to move past his younger days and drop or modify some personality traits that, although they might have been appropriate for the time, are not so any longer. I liked this on first read much more than I liked the only other comic I've read that featured/spotlighted mainstream DCU Gar for an issue (Titans #15, IIRC) on first read.

Also, we get some info on Kiran's powers! Hopefully the next issue will finally make clear what exactly it is about her that's affecting Raven so much. Tataka's words and Vijay's actions appear to show (at least to me!) that there just might be something about Kiran that she's not telling us or the Titans. In addition, I would really like to know if the tatoo (for lack of a better word only) she appears to have on one arm has anything to do with her powers - it glows when she uses her 'light beams' with that hand but she can use the 'beams' from her other hand as well so...yeah. Interesting.

The first thing that I noticed about the art - before I went back and read the artist credit - was that it definitely wasn't what I'd been looking at for the past three issues. Luís's work isn't bad - meaning that it's not badly porportioned or unnaturally posed - but it does make a stark difference from Nicola Scott's. To me, the difference was particularly noticeable in the portrayal of Kiran, at least a couple of pages into the issue, and in some panels where all the characters looked less fully detailed (i.e. more "sketched", again only for lack of a better term) than I was used to seeing.

In which things get more difficult for our young heroes. Six scans under the cut.

( Oh 'How the Mighty Fall' )

Teen Titans #94 ("The Power of Myth") - J. T. Krul [writer], Nicola Scott [penciller], Doug Hazlewood [inker], Carlos M. Mangual [letterer], and Jason Wright [colourist]. The cover is by Scott and Hazlewood with Wright.

( Click for a spoilery summary )

My thoughts:
This was an interesting issue. It had good setup for what's to come next.

Kiran continues to be interesting. She seems to fit in nicely with this group of Teen Titans ( apart from one thing that's not really her fault ). I expect it'll be a plot point in one of the next three issues in this arc. I like her response to something Rose says, and I like that she does seem genuinely, and very, pleased that Tim knows what he does about the Ramayana (and that she's able to express that pleasure with a quip).

And good for Tim for knowing that, too, although I wouldn't be surprised that reading up on the world's great stories is something done as part of training (at least; if not for pleasure) by someone who takes being part of the Batfamily the way that Tim does. In fact, I'm somewhat amused at the thought that he's probably read more advanced translations/different versions than I have! :P

The story of the Ramayana as I know it isn't quite like what Krul describes, but I suppose he's using what he can of the epic that suits his own needs, like I'm fairly sure other writers have done with other mythologies. ( Examples ) Anyway, a little online searching and looking through another version I have at home, to learn more about the source, was I think good for me.

The Raven/Gar relationship, though. It's clearly strained here - and Tim mentions it in the last issue - and I wonder if I don't really understand why because I haven't read any of the TT titles prior to this (well, if you don't count an old copy of the first issue of the current volume, read about six years after it first came out). I find myself wishing that Gar's focus wasn't so particularly "Raven above all else" when he's around her. 'Course, his awkwardness leading to unintendended insensitivity leading to anger from Raven isn't great either. But let's see...apparently issue #96 is going to be a spotlight on him. I just hope it's better than the last Gar-focused issue I read! :|

Looking forward to the next chapter.