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Teen
Titans/Outsiders
Secret Files & Origins 2003
1/DEC/2003
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns, Judd Winick, Phil Jimenez
& more
Pencils: Ivan Reis, Carlo Barberi, Phil Jimenez,
Michael Turner, Jim Mahfood & more
Inks: Andy Lanning, Marc Campos, Norm Rapmund &
more.
Colors: Sno Cone, Tom McCraw, Gina Going &
more
Letters: Comicraft & Nick J.Napolitano
Price: $5.95 US/R59.50 SA
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Join me for an in-depth look at the latest two super teams to grace
the DC Comics universe. With facts, stories and profiles on all
the major players it’s time to take a dip into the Secret
Files & Origins of the Teen Titans & Outsiders.
The first story named ‘A Day After’
follows the members of each team as they decide what to do after
Donna Troy’s death. The short stories that
make up this plot are relatively simple in nature and the two pages
dedicated to each character allow for a personal origin of sorts
for their new roles in the Outsiders and Titans respectively.
The art is the big plus for this first chapter. A clever mixture
of artists is used to create a dividing line between the two teams.
Ivan Reis [Superman/Batman Secret Origins]
pencils for the Outsiders members while Carlo Barberi
draws the Titans side of the story. It’s an effective technique
as it creates a physical and visual break in the story between the
different characters and starts to link the teams members together
within their different personalities. Reis’ gritty line work
and more straight forward style is linked to the Outsiders persona
while the lighter toned cartoonish style of Barberi is well suited
to the Titans personality. This story gives away a few hints as
to future storylines within both series and there are a couple of
interesting ‘origin’ style clues to some of the lesser
known team members for both parties.
The second story entitled ‘Who was Donna Troy?’
focuses more on the past and the trauma surrounding the death of
the original Wonder Girl. Her death was a primary catalyst
for the formation of both new super teams and so it makes
sense that it forms one of the major stories within this origin
focused collection.
This story has been both written and drawn by Phil Jimenez
[New X-Men]. He manages to bring a lot of emotion
into this piece but unfortunately due to its short length it never
really gets to a satisfying conclusion. It’s a flashback
style plot which revolves around the funeral of Donna Troy
with a large cast of Superheroes providing their touching responses
to her passing.
The rest of this collection comprises of a large selection of character
profiles covering all of the major members of both the Titans and
the Outsiders. These have to be highlight of this comic as they
provide solid, if not too brief, insight and histories for a large
variety of characters and include some great poster art for each
of them. The art far outweighs the information side of these profiles,
which is a shame as more info would have been great. With pieces
by Jim Mahfood, Ale Garza, Michael
Turner, Geoff Johns and many more it makes
for a great visual spectacle.
This was a bit of a bland offering on the whole and although fact-filled
it fell rather flat in the end. A nice showcase for a large
group of talented artists but lacking in the writing department.
Score 5/10
Reviewed By:Iain Duncan
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Comic Reviews
