Titans Vol. 4: Terminated

Titans (2023)

by John Layman

The Titans face their deadliest reckoning yet—because Deathstroke is back, and he’s not alone.

John Layman’s gripping Titans saga continues as the team confronts a nightmare they never saw coming—Deathstroke, seemingly back from the dead and assembling a ruthless new squad of villains. After struggling to redefine their roles in a post-Absolute Power world, Nightwing and his team must now fight against an enemy who knows their every weakness. But how did Slade Wilson cheat death, and what terrifying plan does he have in store for the Titans? As old grudges resurface and alliances are tested, the heroes must stand together like never before—or risk being torn apart.

Collects Titans #22-27.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

136 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 2025

About the author

John Steele Layman is an American comic book writer and letterer. Layman is most known for writing Chew, published by Image Comics.

Reviews

[AJ Easterday · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5 stars

There’s an issue in this collection in which Beast Boy calls himself and Deathstoke “alphas,” and reading it bothered me so much that I just can’t give this more than 2.5 stars. I cannot take you seriously as a writer if you use the word “alpha” like this.

I also really need John Layman to stop with the “I bet you’re wondering how I ended up here…” type of beginnings. Learn a different way to start your stories, my guy. Honestly, I’m so glad his run is coming to an end.

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is all technically competent. It had overarching storylines and smaller plot lines coming together and it had the two major storylines flow into each other naturally. But I just had a lot of apathy reading this and didn’t find any of it all that interesting. That which was interesting wasn’t the forefront or not enough to get this up to a 2.5. It’s just boring, which is one of the worst things a story could be.
Most of this is the first storyline finishing Deathstroke's team fighting the Titans. It wasn’t terrible but it has a lot of side plots constantly going on as the Titans deal with Deathstroke's new team that fucks their shit up. They're all mostly eh or just not interesting. Beast Boy's is kind of interesting but I struggled to care. Vanadia's flip made her feel like a plot point rather than a character. They do touch upon her getting her powers to be a superhero but it’s weird they have her turn evil instead of just being a superhero away from Titans if she was having a tizzy with them. And then they basically toss the character aside. Donna x Roy was super boring to me personally. Little chemistry and felt way too forced with all the slow close up moments.
Some of the plot threads flow into the Doom Patrol storyline that endcaps this trade. I found this storyline to be a lot more enjoyable. It has a smaller cast focusing solely on Beast Boy and Cyborg with them mirroring off of Robotman and Beast Girl from Doom Patrol. Cyborg’s development over struggling with his robot side and his human side after Vanadia’s leaving was alright but I still think Vanadia's handling was poor. Beast Boy gets to take a bit of a mentorship role with Beast Girl which was nice to see. They also keep him with some simmering anger and frustration just like he did against Deathstroke. I really hope this continues to be built up to something of an interesting storyline.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every Titans run has to do the Wolfman/Perez specials, doesn't it? Tom Taylor did the Raven/Trigon story, so John Layman's doing the Deathstroke/Terra one.

The Titans' interplay here is very well done. Layman has a good voice for everyone involved, and their reactions and interactions feel natural and correct. I think Deathstroke himself is probably the biggest problem with this volume, because he comes across as unfocused and not really himself. I know that's been a thing since Dark Crisis, but given all the work DC have done lately to flesh him out, like Priest's run and Deathstroke Inc, it feels reductive to go backwards.

I did enjoy the Doom Patrol crossover at the end quite a bit though, and the Vadania plot that threads through the book is well executed. Just a shame that the guy with his name in the title here gets a bit short-changed.

[Yani · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember back when I read the original Terra arc, how complex and nuanced that was. This is... cotton candy by comparison.

Everything just feels very 12 second attention span, get the story finished in a three or four episode arc so that it fits neatly in a graphic novel format later, dumbed down chunk.

Also the characters feel kind of hollow. Admittedly, we've done almost 50 years of these characters, everything you could possibly do with them has been done, redone, remixed and done again but with a different costume on everybody. Nothing really feels like it has weight to it.

So now I think I'm done with this Titans series.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's ok. The Deathstroke storyline felt like a rehash of other, better versions of the exact same story. Vanadia's entire character arc felt like nobody knew what to do with her once she was brought into the book. I'm not sorry she seems to have been written off the team, but I am disappointed with the exact way it was done. I still don't think it makes sense for Donna to be team leader while Dick is part of the team, but whatever. I also find Donna and Roy incredibly uninteresting as a potenial couple.

[elsybelsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only reason this isn’t getting a 3 is because of the two issues at the end. I’m relatively new to the Titans, but I feel like the crime syndicate didn’t do nearly enough for the reputation that precedes Slade Wilson. I’m also pretty new to reading anything about Garfield Logan, so those last two issues were really cool and let me learn a bit more about him!!

[Belfry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

2 tales. Deep into the functioning of the titans.

[Will Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Middle of the road, deals with Deathstroke and their new RoboFriend who can do anything and everything.

[Agatha · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 rounded down.
I hated what they did with Vanadia. I genuinely wanted her to be a recurring character but the writing was so lazy in this one. Really disappointed.

[Justin Rey Gonzalez · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5🌟 fun story but the series got weaker as it progressed. First 2 books were the best

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had all three of my least favorite Titans things;

1. Terra
2. Multiple Garfield Logan plots
3. Doom Patrol

Vanadia was a total snore, too.