I have decided to start with Titans on the recommendation of a couple of reading lists. Comicbookreadingorders.com and Comic Book Herald. I combined both of these lists to make my own modified Rebirth reading list.
Titans Volume 1: The Return of Wally West collects issues 1-6, as well as, Titans #1: Rebirth.
Titans #1: Rebirth: We start with a flashback of the Teen Titans. Robin (Dick Grayson), Wonder Girl (Donna Troy), Aqualad (Garth), Omen (Lilith Clay), and Speedy (Roy Harper). Wally is reminiscing on the good old days that only he remembers. He decides to visit Nightwing first, who confirms that he doesn't know who Wally is. They touch hands, sharing a shock that causes Nightwing to remember Wally's name. The rest of the Teen Titans show up and try to fight Wally, he is impressed with all their moves. Nightwing yells for them to stop and Wally appears to be struggling (emotionally). Roy Harper, now called Arsenal, punches Wally and gets a shock. We jump into a memory of Kid Flash (Teen Titan Wally) and Speedy (Roy) in an apartment. Wally's teasing Roy about finally moving out of his mom's house. Next we see Donna grabbing Wally and getting shocked. Now we get her memory of Wally, it is her about to throw water balloons at Roy, sharing a laugh with Wally. Donna drops to her knees. Garth and Lilith grab Wally and sparks fly. We get a memory of Wally and Lilith kissing on a couch. Garth's memory is of Wally convincing Garth that they are friends and he should stay with the Teen Titans. Everyone now remembers who he is. Dick explains his memory was a time him and Wally 'borrowed' the Batmobile. Group hug!! He says he was lost in time but that he was watching. Dick comments that they knew something was missing and now they now know it was Wally. They discuss who it might have been that made him disappear. Wally thinks that the whole world is changed and everyone is missing time. He then says the bad guy does not understand friendship and they will never be torn apart again!
The Return of Wally West, Part One: Run for Your Life: Quick recap of Wally's life. (We for sure haven't gotten enough of these.) Kid Flash, Teen Titan, met a girl he loved, until something reached in and rewrote the world, erasing him. Lucky for him Barry pulled him back and we get a really cute moment. Wally isn't Kid Flash anymore. He is a Flash. He changes from his yellow outfit to one that is red and looks pretty similar to Barry's. (This won't get confusing. Also am I going to keep sharing all the hugs? Yes...Yes I am.)
Back in Dick Grayson's loft we see that Wally was telling this whole story to Lilith (Omen). She wants to create a psionic link with him, so asks him to think of some really strong memory. Seems the only thing on his mind is Linda Park. They tease him about having a girl on the brain. He laments that she has no idea who he is. They encourage him to go out and find her. He admits that he tried before and only succeeded in scaring her.
We cut to Linda Park in National City. She makes a fun comment about being the fastest reporter in town. She is hoping to get her big break soon and maybe this guy she met who looks like The Flash is just the big story she is looking for.
Back in the loft the Titans are talking about this no name threat that eats time and erases memories. They come up with a plan to chat with some bad guys. Nightwing wants Lilith to try and break into Wally's brain again and see if they can find more information.
Arsenal and Donna are out questioning some bad guys. They are looking for someone named Mammoth. After getting the info they need and on the way to a shady drug den, they have a heart to heart. Roy talks about his past with drugs and addiction. They bust the drug dealers and then head back to the loft to see that Lilith has not had much success in reading Wally. Everyone is about to leave, because they have a lead on this Mammoth guy and his boss Simon. Suddenly Lilith senses something, a presence that she thought she had felt before. She remembers something terrible she did and they all need to go to Keystone City right now.
In Keystone City we find ourselves at a kids birthday party. A poor schlub looking magician is doing his best, but the kids are unimpressed. Suddenly our old feeble magician turns into a much younger man. The kid is still unimpressed, calling magic dumb and wishing he could have gone to Space World. The now annoyed younger enchanter takes the whole party to the moon. Everyone starts to choke. (You know, no air.) But just as quickly he brings everyone back, just a joke, no big deal. He forces everyone to clap for him as he takes a bow. He declares himself Abra Kadabra, the Greatest Magician of all Time! Seems he is the man who made Wally West disappear.
The Return of Wally West, Part Two: Smoke and Mirrors: Keystone City, Linda Park is on the street trying to get the scoop from a cop. She assumes the weird lightning drew her and a large crowd downtown, but it seems the Teen Titan versions of our heroes are all just standing in a circle in the middle of the street. Linda quickly recognizes Wally. She crosses the police line to try and talk to him. She calls him Wally, but he asks who she is. She reminds him of their prior encounter. He says he doesn't remember anything, that it feels like he was just born. Robin interrupts saying, 'they're coming.' On cue all the Teen Titans start wrecking everything.
We pan up to see Kadabra up on the roof and giving us a bunch of exposition. He is controlling the six Teen Titans (Fake Titans). He created them to fight the real Titans. He super hates the Titans because it seems Wally turned him into a nobody. (Not sure how he did this yet.) The Titans show up and try to get the crowd back. I think because of the whole missing time thing no one knows who the Titans are? (Shrug) Everyone starts fighting. Fake Wonder Girl lassos Arsenal asking why she shouldn't just crush him. He confesses he loves her and of course older Donna hears, but is too busy fighting young Garth to deal with that.
Omen comes across Linda hiding in some rubble. She calls her Wally's Linda, but before we can get too far into that, fake Omen grabs Linda and tells Kadabra that she means something to Wally. Kadabra says that is impossible and that they shouldn't have met yet. (This is according to The Chronicles.) Garth notices Kadabra up on the roof and deduces that he might be the one controlling this mess. Kadabra is freaking out that Wally must have broken history. (I think this guy is from the future.)
Garth punches Kadabra in the face. Nightwing tells Garth to wait while still fighting his younger self. Kadabra pulls out his wand. (Heh...Whoa...meh I stand by the statement) Guess it is made out of M-metal, which means it is imbued with trans-temporal warping. (No big deal.) Kadabra shoots some magic at Garth. Wally tries to get him out of the way but it is too late?
The Return of Wally West, Part Three: Face to Face: All the Titans are very upset. (I think we are all meant to assume poor Garth is dead.) But he is okay. Guess Kadabra is more show than bite. He wants revenge on Wally, but Wally doesn't know who he is or at least doesn't get this level of hostility. Turns out Kadabra is the one who wiped Wally from time and recollection. Wally demands to know why and all we get is that he was tired of being thwarted. Nightwing arrives to help, causing Kadabra to vanish and appear on another roof, only to yell his name while disappearing in a huge flash bang. All the fake Titans disappear with him. Linda Park is naturally a little upset. Wally wants to go to her, but Nightwing holds him back, suggesting he let Lilith take care of her for the moment. Wally reluctantly agrees.
Garth thanks Wally for saving him. Guess the push stopped him from taking the brunt of the magic hit. Roy is down trying to take care of crowd control. He is telling the news who the new Titans are. Donna pulls him away and asks him about that whole saying he loves her thing. He claims that fake Wonder Girl's Lasso of Persuasion was a fake and he didn't mean it. He continues on saying he is a liar who was just trying to distract her. He doesn't love her like that, they are just buddies. She tells him that is good. He mumbles that he is a great liar. (Oh Roy...you dumb, dumb.)
In upstate New York at the Beecher-Duncan residence we meet a couple watching the news. The woman is very excited that the Titans are on TV. She wonders if they need help. Her husband says it looks like they have everything under control. She asks if he misses it? He says no, that he is happy being her husband, having a kid and having a regular job. He is a world famous composer and she is an air accident investigator. He mentions her gifts and she admits to having powers that she doesn't know where they came from. She is Bumblebee and she used to be a Teen Titan. He used to be a Teen Titan too (I am not sure who he was.) Guy has some PTSD from his time with the Teen Titans and does not miss it at all. She has a business card from a company called Meta Solutions. (I sure hope more comes of this later.)
Back in Keystone the Titans are taking a dinner break at a buffet. (Haha. Can you imagine a buffet?) Wally recounts his run-ins with Kadabra. He was a long-time bad guy of Flash and Kid-Flash. Seems Kadabra is a fame hound. The Titans had fought him before too but none of them remember. They are debating if Kadabra is really the one who messed up time.
In the Keystone Theater District, Kadabra is regrouping with his fake Titans. They think the real Titans have a really strong bond. They also observed that Wally seems to be more tapped into the Speed Force. Kadabra traveled back to our time in hopes of getting all the fame, only to be outshone by The Flash and Kid Flash. He thinks that his spell to erase Wally was so strong that it erased his memory too. He is not responsible for the time line being muddled. It is some unknown HIM. There is a shot of a pocket watch with blood. (This watch sure looks familiar, blood stain and all.) It belongs to Kadabra's Great-great-great-great Grandfather.
Kadabra decides that Linda will be the key to hurting Wally. Back at the buffet, Omen joins the group, having been taking care of Linda. She senses mass panic, but reports that she left Linda with some EMTs. Wally runs off before anyone can stop him. Linda is walking, now fine it would seem. Wally appears next to her, scaring her. He apologizes and introduces himself. She remembers and begins to yell at him about asking what shocking thing he had to tell her this time. He tells her that he is aware of a history that she isn't. She is upset, but he just wanted to check that she was okay. They are very awkward. He goes to leave, but she wants answers. Is he the Flash? Who are the Titans? They are interrupted by Kadabra popping out of nowhere to grab Linda and disappearing again. Wally naturally freaks out.
The Return of Wally West, Part Four: Now you see Her...: Kadabra pops back in to taunt Wally. He literally keeps popping around. Classic bad guy wants to play a game. The game is, find the lady and Wally only has one hour. Wally is of course blaming himself, wishing he had just stayed gone.
We cut back to the Keystone Theater District where Linda is tied up hanging upside down in a pose that reminds you of a classic Houdini escape trick. With a flick she is now in the traditional assistants outfit, right side up, but you know still tied up. She is understandably mad. Kadabra does the usual, nothing personal just using you to bait a guy. (Lame) Fake Omen reports that she can feel Wally losing it.
Back downtown we see that she is right. The real Titans are trying to get him to calm down. Dick Grayson gets everyone to chill out with his wise words and calm demeanor. Lilith tries to locate Linda but is getting three possible locations. So much like the Scooby gang, they split up.
Kadabra is still monologuing as the fake Titans pop out of view. He tells us that in the future Wally West stops him for good, so he has to destroy him now.
Wally and Roy are on location at the Wilson High School gym. Roy does not enjoy being carried at super speed. They run into fake Wally and fake Robin. They fight. Garth and Lilith are at Keystone City Gallery of Art. They fight with fake Donna and fake Roy. (We are mixing up our battle buddies this time.) The third location is Keymart in West Keystone. Donna and Dick are fighting fake Aqualad and fake Omen.
Kadabra says that Wally West will go too fast and lose himself. All Flashes do. That without Linda as his anchor he will be easy to poof. Speaking of poofing. Kadabra decides to pop into the fight Wally is having. He shows Wally that all his friends are losing their fights. He also shows Wally Linda, who is now hanging over a vat of lava. (This dude is very dramatic.) He cast a spell sending Dick and Donna to Coast City, Garth and Lilith to Metropolis, and Linda in Gotham. He is trying to push Wally to his poofing point. Wally is thinking that he will have to be the fastest he has ever been, even if it kills him.
The Return of Wally West, Part Five: Run for Their Lives: Wally finds himself in a classic hero situation. Everyone is in trouble and only he can save them. We see shots of everyone Wally cares about about to be killed. Wally does what he does best, he starts to run.
He saves Roy in Keystone City. Picking up speed he races, we see Linda about to fall into the Lava in Gotham, Dick and Donna's brains are being fried in Coast City, and Lilith and Garth are about to perish in Metropolis. Kadabra is taunting him, trying to make him run too fast. Again, Kadabra claims to being the one who made Wally disappear into the Time-Stream and that the blow back made him forget who he was too.
Wally gets to Coast City and takes out the fake Titans there, saving Dick and Donna. The rope holding Linda breaks, she is falling into the lava. Wally pushes as fast as he can go. He thinks about how he has to save his friends, how he will save the woman he loves. Even if she is not the woman he remembers. He knows that he is risking going back into the Speed Force, but he has to. He makes it to Metropolis right as Garth and Lilith are about to be impaled by arrows. He catches the arrows and ties up the fake Titans. Only one more to save. Linda is in Gotham and she is falling, inches from the vat of lava. He catches her and moves her to safety.
She yells out, but when she looks up we see that Wally is basically a glowing ball of white lightning. He reaches out to her and she reaches back but it is too late. In a huge flash of white lightening Wally disappears and Kadabra appears to have won this battle.
The Return of Wally West, Part Six: Out of Time, Out of Mind: Wally is running so fast he is a blur of color and lightning. Linda struggles to get her bearings as she is now back in the Keystone Theater District. Wally's Flash outfit is laying on the ground and Kadabra proclaims that Wally has run too fast and is now lost to the Speed Force. Linda demands he brings Wally back. She even gets in a good punch to his face. He decides it is time to bring all the Titans to him. They explain that Wally saved them all, but then just vanished. They try to fight Kadabra but he magics away the attacks.
Somewhere Beyond the Speed of Light. Wally is sitting on a porch with Linda. She tells him that he can't stay. He disagrees, sure that he has found heaven. They discuss their love, but she points out that she isn't real, just a memory. That real Linda doesn't love him...yet. That he needs to go back and find real love. He says, even if he wanted to leave, he doesn't think he can.
Dream Linda keeps encouraging him to think about all the connections he has made. While she is saying these things we see the Titans still trying to fight Kadabra. Lilith is trying to read Kadabra's mind to see his endgame. He is trying to create a future where he is ruler of the world. (The usual) The most interesting part of this exchange is a line about clockwork.
Kadabra is upset by this statement. The Titans use this moment of weakness to press their attack. Lilith realizes that Kadabra is afraid of them. At the same time dream Linda is telling Wally that there is a bond that is unbreakable. She asks him to say what that bond is. He says it is his friends, the Titans are his best friends and he loves them. Dream Linda then tells him to say goodbye and to get back to the real world. We get a shot of Wally with each member of the Titans. Memories pulling him back. Again Wally turns into a splash of color and lightning. He manifests and punches Kadabra right in the face. Who is naturally shocked, but everyone knows you can't break up the power of friendship. I think Wally punches Kadabra into the Speed Force or Space-Time? Then group hug!
Wally goes to chat with Linda. She starts calm, even a little flirty, but then yells at him about never wanting to be involved in his crazy stuff again. She also wants an exclusive. She storms off and the other Titans gather around Wally to discuss what the heck just happened. None of them can figure out what Kadabra's deal was. Lilith says one word was repeating in his head...Manhattan.
We end this issue with Deathstroke watching the Titans on many screens. He zooms in on Wally and wants to know, who the hell he is.
Well, welcome back Wally West. Not going to lie, my favorite part of this volume was all the hugs. Also the power of friendship. I know it might seem like I am being sarcastic, but I am not. I was worried we were heading for some lame fridging action and Wally in a rage, but instead we got love and friendship with a hint of hope for a happy Wally in the future.
My favorite line goes to Wally himself. Love is the real magic!
Last Week: DC Universe: Rebirth #1
Next Week: The Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice
I like getting to know more about Wally West and his relationships. I'm super happy to see that these issues supported strong friendships. I don't love how fixated Wally was with Linda and I didn't like that part, but at least in the end the Linda in Wally's head convinced him to focus on his friends. Friendship and love IS magic, Wally!
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