Title: Teen Titans Go! Volume(s): 3+ Author(s): J. Torres, Todd Mauck Format: Unflipped; Left-to-Right Publisher: DC Comics MSRP: $6.95 Genre(s): Action/Comedy Rated: All Ages

When an animated series based on the hit comic book "Teen Titans" began airing on Cartoon Network, the show exceeded almost everyone's expectations. What looked like a trite kids show that featured "anime-style" animation turned out to be one of the smartest shows Cartoon Network had created since "Samurai Jack" and "The Powerpuff Girls." The creators of "Teen Titans" had an obvious love for anime. Facial expressions looked like anime, the action was fast and fluid, the music sounded very hyper and poppy (don't ask), and they even went as far as to have popular JPop group, Puffy AmiYumi, sing the theme song (a move that has actually made Puffy AmiYumi the most successful JPop group in America). The show looked and felt like anime, yet the creators created their own original story so that the visuals AND story would work with[idaliazed] each other, instead of against each other like past anime inspired shows have! In other words, "Teen Titans" was a big success, even bigger then anyone thought it would be, drawing in both kids, teens, AND adults! With that in mind, a comic book adaptation would be inevitable. However I wasn't concerned.

The great thing about comic book adaptations from Warner Bros. Animation superhero cartoons was that they were always good. With the comic book adaptations of the Batman and Superman cartoons, DC Comics made the wise move to work closely with the animators of the shows when writing the stories. The reason being so that the comic books would contribute to the ongoing story of the cartoons, and give people a reason to buy the comics and fill in the "in-between" stories that the animators didn't have time to tell. As you might suspect, this plan succeeded extremely well. We got more stories of what Nightwing was doing before he re-teamed with Batman (temporarily), we got more glimpses into Lois Lanes past, and all these little stories that might have been considered filler by TV standards, but were really fun to read anyway. With all this in mind, "Teen Titans Go!," the comic book adaptation of the show, comes off as a failure. Not complete failure mind you, but a failure non-the-less. The story is the exact same thing you see on TV, so I won't bother to repeat it here, but what drags this adaptation down is the fact that the TV storyline doesn't seem to exist all that much in this adaptation. For example, the first story of this book, "Demo," almost feels like an exact clone of "Final Exam," an episode from season one of the TV show. Stories after that are original, but all of them are pretty much useless, don't contribute anything to the overall story, and are not really worth reading.

One story, "Monster Zit," revolves around Ravin getting a zit, that eventually turns into a red demon monster (not joking). "My Crummy Valentine" plays with the idea that Robin and Starfire really would make a good couple, and even go as far as to let them go out on a date (something fans of the TV show keep waiting for), but for some reason complete moron's for villains keep interrupting their date, and their relationship (and date) goes absolutely nowhere. The other two stories aren't even worth talking about, though I will say that the enjoyment that is found within the story "Lame," ends up being as exciting as the title promises the story to be. Here's what ultimately ruins "Teen Titans Go:" Nothing happens. If the writers of the comic collaborated with the writers of the TV show, then they did a very poor job in doing so. None of these stories contribute to the overall storyline, many of these stories seem like copy cats, and the characters personalities are completely out of wonk, and most of the time the Titans will be acting like complete morons for no good reason. A good example of this would be in the "Monster Zit" story, during the scene when Raven's zit starts turning into the demon thing. While the zit is transforming, Starfire decides a song will help her, and she starts singing...which, of course, is neither funny nor does it accomplish anything in the story. The look of the characters is even whacked. While still looking like anime characters, they now look like poor interpretations of anime in general, where as the TV character designs felt like a real tribute to the anime style.

What's also frustrating is that the series just hammers unfunny joke, after unfunny joke, after unfunny joke on us. The TV show has a perfect balance between humor and drama. While a bulk of the show is lighthearted, the writers still take it seriously enough to know when to be funny and when to not be. Apparently no one working on this comic knows about that balance, and everything (and everyone) in the book just ends up trying to be funny for the pure sake of being funny, all the while they end up being more annoying than funny. What's most disappointing is that this mess of writing mainly comes from J. Torres, who is actually on most peoples watch list as being "the guy to keep an eye on." Torres has written many serious and touching stories for Batman, Superman, and his own original creation "Love As A Foreign Language," have all been met with critical praise. However with "Teen Titans Go," Torres seems to be way in over his head. Writing humor is completely different then writing drama, and not only does it appear that Torres doesn't have what it takes to tackle writing a humor filled series, but he also doesn't appear to be a big fan of "Teen Titans" in the first place. He constantly shows very little affection for the characters, their personalities, their relationships, and he doesn't seem to acknowledge that there is more to these characters then eating pizza and burping.

At the end of the day, I guess you could say I was pretty disappointed with "Teen Titans Go!" It wasn't anything I was hoping it would be, and what's even worse is that I wasn't expecting the story to be bad, much less be this bad. I'm sure kids will enjoying reading this series, as a lot of the humor seems geared torwards them, but older fans of the show are most likely going to cry when they read this. I've read future stories of this series, and unfortunately it does not get better. If you're a fan of the TV show, then I suggest you go back to watching that and forget about this comic adaptation.

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -