Through some odd twist of fate I happened to avoid the hoopla that briefly erupted online and read Teen Titans #62 before seeing the reaction to it's contents. Contrary to the image pictured above, the otherwise gentle story of the friendly trio of Wonderdog, Wendy and Marvin pictured above comes to a shocking end halfway through the issue when *
spoiler* Wonderdog mauls Marvin to death and appears to eat Wendy.
A shocking twist, all things considered? Sure. It caught me totally off guard and the suspense building was handled remarkably well. That said, is it really the best idea for DC to put out a Teen Titans comic where this kind of thing happens? Some folks were concerned a parent would see the issue and pick it up based on the name recognition of the property (the Teen Titans cartoon isn't that old, and even reaired on the CW this summer) and the all-ages-ness of the cover. Not to mention that it's another notch on DC's ever-growing list of dead teenagers, and yet another example of the unnecessary bleak stories DC's been putting out for far too long.
Would I recommend this issue? Maybe to a friend who doesn't follow the Teen Titans comic to catch them off-guard. But to regular readers who are sick of DC's output of stories focusing on death, rape, and destruction, it's more of the same, and the tonal shift mid-way through might be enough to put them off DC altogether.
Today Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died. I was a generation too late for either to have the kind of impact they had on other folks, but it's still pretty shocking stuff. Besides being pretty big pop-cultural touchstones, they're both about the same ages as my parents, which freaks me out a little bit. I mean, neither was that old and they're gone. My brother Kerr, who's a bit of a Michael Jackson music enthusiast, seems pretty let down by the whole thing.
