Titans: Family Reunion

Titans (2008)

by Eric Wallace, Fabrizio Fiorentino (Illustrator), Cliff Chiang (Illustrator)

It's a new team and direction for the Titans! Deathstroke and his mercenary team including Cheshire, Tattooed Man and other surprise members burst out of BRIGHTEST DAY #0!In this volume, Deathstroke's mercenary team finds itself in Gotham City to break someone out of Arkham Asylum! What insane Super-Villain are they supposed to spring? The answer may surprise you!

The inmates of Arkham Asylum have taken over, and Deathstroke's team of misfits is fighting for their lives against Gotham City's most dangerous lunatics! Will Deathstroke and Arsenal be able to side with Batman long enough to survive the night?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Action, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2011

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A perspective from the point of view of the villains as they break into Arkham Asylum and deal with Batman and the like. A good overview of some characters who don't get a lot of screen time in the DC realm.

OVERALL GRADE: B

[Katherine (Kat) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 Stars
Individual Issues Rated Below -

Titans #28: 3/5 Stars
Titans #29: 2.5/5 Stars
Titans #30: 3/5 Stars
Titans #31: 2/5 Stars
Titans #32: 3/5 Stars
Titans #33: 4/5 Stars

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Titans go to Arkham. Osiris goes slightly insane to help his sister. This continues the storyline about why the Titans are with Slade, and is character led rather than plot led. A good read.

[David Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, I like the idea of Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke, assembling a team of mercenaries and using the Titans name as an insult to the former name bearers and his greatest foes. His crew consists of Ink, Cinder, Osiris, Cheshire, and Arsenal (Roy Harper). The previous installment, "Titans: Villains for Hire", was the setup of this team, how Slade gets them on board, working their first missions, and it wasn't too bad. In Family Reunion, the Titans are hired to break into Arkham Asylum and break someone out. Ray Palmer (The Atom) is looking into the disappearance of Ryan Choi (another Atom) and is unaware what the Titans did to him in the previous installment. The second half of this book is more or less about Osiris and the Shazam kids.

This installment really took a nose dive. The characters that make up the team seem interesting but not enough time is given to each one. There are big overdrawn fight scenes that stop for little bits to reveal bits of info but it never feels like enough. It's hard to explore why they all are working with Slade, most are being persuaded by Slade's promise to avenge a loved one for them. Except for poor falling off the wagon Roy Harper. He seems to want to kill Slade, with Cheshire's help, but for some reason they never get around to doing it...

Another problem is Osiris. His whole story really feels forced in. It felt like when he returned at the end of Blackest Night the creative team at DC had no idea what to do with him and just threw him in this title. It detracts from any momentum that the main storyline has and really has little impact, or at least has shown, so far. Even in how he goes about fulfilling his Brightest Day mission makes little sense. There is one funny moment in Arkham when Osiris sees Killer Croc and freaks thinking he's Sobek.

Some saving graces of this book are the artwork. Not the best but it is nice. Also, Ray Palmer starting to hunt them down is a cool element added. And again, this group, with the exception of Osiris, is interesting and there is some good suspense building as to what Slade really has in store for them all.

All in all, not a great addition but worthy to diehard fans of these characters or this series.

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

This has been an unbelievably painful run of Titans books. Eric Wallace thinks he's writing something clever akin to Suicide Squad or Thunderbolts but its truly dreadful. Slade has no personality other than a master plan that no one is privy to. Osiris should be hunted by the Justice League, instead, barely an after thought. The new characters created here are devoid anything interesting. Fiorentino's art was rough and not fit for a mainstream book. Overall, another terrible read in DC editorial's worst Titans era.

[Rylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Titans break into Arkham. The team is growing on me more and I like seeing the characters develop more, I still don’t know why they are calling themselves Titans. I’m not a fan of some the characterization done with a couple characters but it’s not terribly bad. I’m interested to see how everything wraps up in the next volume.

[John Yelverton · Rating 2 out of 5]

At one time, this was my favorite book series that DC was putting out. Now, it's just a pale shadow of it's former self.

[Edbury Enegren · Rating 2 out of 5]

all over the place.