Comic Recap/Thoughts: Teen Titans Vol. 1: Damian Knows Best, Part 2

Wow October is over! Only a day past Halloween, shockingly, I do not have any DC costumes. This is a failing that I feel I need to correct at some point. Anyway, today I am going to finish my recap of Teen Titans Vol. 1: Damian Knows Best. This post will include issues #3-5. If you still need to read part 1, click the link at the bottom of this post. Last we left our heroes, they were being pursued by the Demon's Fist, a group of teen assassins trained by Damian's Grandfather Ra's Al Ghul. Let's see if this new team can come together and win the day.

Damian Knows Best, Part 3: This issue starts with a flashback of Damian at Infinity Island. We learn that Mara is his cousin and she wants to challenge him for leadership of the Demon's Fist. He easily defeats her and Ra's is pleased. Mara takes one more shot at Damian but he retaliates, leaving her with a scar on her face. In present day San Francisco our team is flying away in a jet that Robin stole from Batman. Robin then looks like he is going to attack Kid Flash, but he actually just takes a tracker off of him. Starfire is really pissed as she destroys the tracker, she doesn't like being marked or treated like property. Once they land Robin wants to regroup but again Starfire points out that they are not a group and he needs to stop leaving them in the dark. Raven decides they need some light so she builds a dope fire pit with seats. Robin quotes a poem then gets real defensive when they are all pleasantly surprised.

Robin finally opens up and admits to Mara being his cousin and that he was supposed to lead the Demon's Fist. Starfire is like dude, could have just asked for help and Robin admits he is still learning how to be good. This leads to everyone dropping self truth bombs. Starfire and her evil sister, Raven and Kid Flash both have evil dads, and Beast Boy's troubled past that he is running from too. They continue to bond and share more about themselves. Robin in true Son of Batman form decides he likes these people too much, so he has to go fight the Demon's Fist on his own. We see Mara's team emerge from the rubble and most are kind of hurt and pretty mad at Mara. It is clear her team doesn't trust her. Beast boy see's Robin leaving and we follow Robin. Turns out he is not going to fight the Demon's Fist but to give himself over to his Grandfather in order to spare the other Teen Titans. 

Damian Knows Best, Part 4: Ra's is not impressed with Damian, literally grabbing him by the throat and dragging him inside. Luckily, Beast Boy had followed Damian as a fly so he knows what is going on. Inside Ra's lectures a bunch and we see he has a mirror that looks a lot like the Harry Potter mirror of Erised. For Ra's it shows Damian as a duplicate of him. For Damian he sees himself as Batman. Damian lies but just wants to call off the hunt for the other Titans. Mara and her crew show up and of course she is pissed and attacks Damian. He avoids it easily and challenges her to trial by combat. He wins, the hunt is off, she wins...he is dead. Meanwhile, Beast Boy is explaining the situation to the rest of the team. Starfire is impressed for the first time. Beast Boy gives a motivational speech about how Tim Drake was really great and he feels like he failed him, but they will not fail another Robin. They all agree to, "...fight together or die alone."

Damian is psyching himself up for the fight. The fight of course has to happen on a bridge going over lava. (Normal ninja stuff.) Damian wins the fight, but doesn't kill Mara. While he is declaring himself the victor Mara stabs him in the shoulder. Ra's is very disappointed in him. The Titans arrive on the beach, while the Fist member's put Damian in a cell. They are going to go on with their ritual killing of him that night, but it is clear her team is unimpressed with Mara. They leave and Damian is feeling down. That is until his new friends arrive to bust him out.

Damian Knows Best, Part 5: The team is understandably annoyed with Robin for running off. Raven heals Robin and the team starts wandering around the compound (I mean, trying to find a way out, that isn't the way they came in?). They are found by the Demon's Fist team. Cut to elsewhere, Mara is digging a grave for Damian while Ra's watches. Poor girl is basically out of her mind trying to prove herself to Ra's (also some weird daddy issues). The two teams square up to fight, but Damian tells them all that they were stolen to be the slaves of Ra's and that they should join him in rejecting that assassin life. At that moment, Ra's, Mara, and a bunch of ninja's arrive. Mara orders her team to kill the Teen Titans, but Damian's words seem to have changed their minds (not liking Mara might have played a part too).

Members of the Teen Titans offer words of encouragement to the members of the fist. Ra's overreacts a little bit and tries to kill one of them, but Damian stops him. Chaos ensues as the two teams team up to fight all the ninjas. Ra's insults everyone including Mara, who looks devastated. But Ra's is out numbered and Robin gets to shout, "Titans Go!" So Ra's runs and Mara doesn't know what to do. Damian tries to get her to come with him, but Ra's grabs her and they disappear. Later they say bye to the rest of the Fist, who are off to figure themselves out. The Teen Titans are about to grill Robin when Batman shows up and things get a little awkward. Batman tries to boss Robin, but Damian is tired of all that. He (like every 13 year old ever) wants to do his own thing. Three months later, in San Francisco, the new Teen Titans have a new tower and they are ready to fight crime and figure stuff out together. 

Thoughts: Welp, welcome new Teen Titans! I liked this volume. I guess because I am a sucker for a bunch of tragic teens. This is obviously a mostly Damian story and like I said before the little guy has grown on me. I admit I am looking forward to seeing where this goes and I know that team gets more members and that will be fun too. Also, sorry for jumping between Damian and Robin. I guess because a lot of this story was about him outside of the context of being Robin it felt easier to call him Damian. 

There are a couple of artists who worked on this volume. The Rebirth issue #1 and actual issue #1, Jonboy Meyers did the pencils, inks, and covers. I liked his style and that he made them look like teens. On issue #2 Jonboy had some help from Diogenus Neves, Ruy Jose, and Sean Parsons. Issues #4 and #5 were done by Khoi Pham and Wade von Grawbadger. Jonboy still did the main covers though. 4 and 5 both made everyone look younger but other than that was still done really well. I put links in for all the artists that I could find social media for, so you can check out what they are all making. 

My favorite cover was a variant done by Chris Burnham. I think I just like how Damian looked in it.

I couldn't choose between two favorite lines. So you all get to enjoy both. As always I love Alfred and his jokes are on point, but Raven's line really made me laugh too.

Until next time all!!

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