The new Titans book that started last year is significant for two reasons. One, the return of the pre-Flashpoint Wally West meant it would be significant to the mysteries of the Rebirth initiative. But besides that, it meant that there was a chance for a readable Titans book since the New 52 was not a great time to be a fan of the adolescent superhero team. So with such anticipation for this series, does it live up to expectations? The short answer: HELL to the YEAH!
As the title of the story says, the focus is mostly on Wally West, the former Kid Flash and now (or once again) using the Flash moniker in addition to his mentor Barry Allen. While the rest of the Titans reformed prior to this, Wally had just escaped from the Speed Force and trying to piece his life back together. The problem though is that Wally's existence has been forgotten by everyone unless he somehow triggers hidden memories. The reason to why and how this happened is just another mystery to follow in Rebirth, but surprisingly, we do get the answer.
Apparently the Flash villain Abra Kadabra, a time traveler who's technology can appear to be magic, cast a spell that threw Wally out of the time stream, removing him from time and everyone's memories of him. Unfortunately, blow back caused Kadabra to lose his own memories as well. Sometime after Wally made his return, Kadabra, now working as a birthday magician, regained his memories and powers as well, making him the main villain for this story.
Abra Kadabra is one of those silver age villains that can appear pretty ridiculous by today's standards, and while I haven't read much of this character, I think the story does a good job making him a credible threat. It does seem kind of 'bait-and-switch' though to have Kadabra be responsible for Wally's disappearance instead of the one behind the time manipulations, but something interesting to point out is that Kadabra also seems to retain his pre-Flashpoint memories and is aware that not only has time been skewed, but he apparently knows who's responsible, referring to them as "he".
Back to Wally though, his arc for this story is how both his and Kadabra's reappearances are putting those he cares about in danger. Not only the Titans, but Linda Park, who he had started a family with in the pre-Flashpoint continuity. Unfortunately for Wally, the Linda Park of this timeline has no idea who he is. A good chunk of Wally's conflict is holding on to the memories of his Linda despite not having her anymore. This leads to a pretty good existential moment in issue six where Wally learns that he can potentially win her all over again, but that's she's not the only thing worth fighting for in his life, that being the friendship he has with all the Titans.
Besides that, one of the best moments in this story is issue five where Kadabra has Linda and the other Titans in death traps at different ends of the country and he only has seconds to save them all. It's really interesting to see Wally's thought process as he's pushing his speed and himself to the limit and figuring out who needs to be saved next and how much time he has to do it.
While the story is focused on Wally, the other Titans are pretty good in this as well. While some of them still have some New 52 influence on their looks (like Roy's trucker hat), their personalities reflect how they were before that, showcasing the friendship they all share with each other. Even small moments feel natural like where they're joking around with each other or eating pizza (which they do twice through this story, making me think they're trying to reference the original animated series).
A theme I notice in this story is the past returning. Wally's return to the team and Abra Kadabra coming back to finish him off are the clear aspects of this, but a nice touch is Kadabra making duplicates of the Titans from when they were younger (such as Dick being Robin) to fight them.
There is a minor subplot between Donna Troy and Roy Harper/Arsenal still rekindling their friendship but a wrench is thrown in when Roy is tied up by the lasso of persuasion of the duplicate Donna made by Kadabra, where he admits that he loves Donna. Roy tries to play it off that it wasn't a real lasso, that he was just trying to distract the duplicate Donna, and that he's a good liar. In the end, both seem kind of upset at how things went down. Obviously this is something that will play out further as the series goes on.
Since this is an ongoing series, we have some plot points introduced that don't really go anywhere in this story but will obviously come up later. This includes set-up for Psimon, Karen Beecher wanting to suit up again as Bumblebee, and the last page tease of a classic Titans villain that I won't spoil here.
Overall, this story was pretty much what I hoped it would be, making it one of the best first volumes I've read out of Rebirth. The characters' personalities and interactions are spot-on, the villain is interesting and threatening, and it has more of an emotional kick than I was expecting. The art is so-so, but that's kind of expected from Brett Booth, mostly good aside from a few hiccups. It's a good start to a series that I will gladly continue reading.
RATING 8/10
Next week is a bit of something old and a bit of something new as I review the long awaited animated film adaptation of the classic Titans storyline, "The Judas Contract".
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