Teen Titans, Vol. 1: It’s Our Right to Fight

It is always a challenge to start a series featuring a group of superheroes who didn’t start out together, what with reintroducing the heroes, reacquainting the readers with backstory, and bringing the characters together piecemeal in order to confront their first bad guy. However, Lobdell (Superboy) and Booth (JLA) have produced a really engaging first act in this reboot of the Teen Titans franchise. This outing focuses on Tim Drake (aka Red Robin) and his efforts to gather a crack team of teenage meta-humans before the mysterious Project N.O.W.H.E.R.E. kills, incapacitates, or indoctrinates them. Whether it’s Wonder Girl (don’t call her Wonder Girl, by the way), Kid Flash, or even new characters like Bunker and Skitter, Lobdell and Booth combine to make their personalities compelling, their powers impressive, and their weaknesses and foibles interesting—all while treating the reader to some spectacularly energetic artwork, with eyeball-sizzling coloring by Andrew Dalhouse. Even if teenage angst mixed with superheroism isn’t exactly your cup of tea, Lobdell and Booth have a way of moving the story forward both narratively and visually, and choosing some very cool “sets” for the principal action (the train, Red Robin’s “perch,” and the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. facility) making for a dynamic, engaging story. (Sept.)