Written by: Tom Taylor
Art by: Lucas Meyer
Colors by: Adriano Lucas
Letters by: Wes Abbott
Cover art by: Chris Samnee, Matheus Lopes
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: May 21, 2024
Titans #11 sends D. Morrow’s latest robotic creation to attack the Titans on behalf of Amanda Waller. Meanwhile, Nightwing takes extreme measures for a little privacy.
Is Titans #11 Good?
When last we left the Titans in issue #10, the team went toe-to-toe against Raven’s demonic brother, Trilogy, after the latter decided to make a name for himself to gain Trigon’s favor. Trilogy predictably lost, but his attack was secretly orchestrated by Trigon to force Evil Raven to embrace her dark evolution into the Dark-Winged Queen.
In Titans #11, readers are given a crash introduction to Vanadia (no relation to the European country of the same name in the DC Universe’s Blackhawks comics), a woman named Vanessa who dreamed of becoming a Titan from an early age. Through intense physical training, Vanessa reached the peak of her athletic and fighting ability, but it wasn’t enough.
Years ago, when Vanessa answered a call for volunteers at STAR Labs by Dr. Morrow, she hastily agreed to undergo experiments to test Morrow’s super soldier drugs. The drugs worked until they didn’t, and Vanessa’s heart gave out.
Now, Dr. Morrow resurrects Vanessa’s brain in his most advanced android body yet, with all the powers of the Titans. Codenamed Vanadia, Morrow, under orders from Amanda Waller, reprograms Vanadia’s mind to believe the Titans have been replaced by evil robot-demon lookalikes. Vanadia sets out to destroy the Titans, believing she’s doing the right thing.
Meanwhile, Nightwing gets a surprising personal alert to meet in the Titans’ Tower training room. He’s instructed to utter the words Circ-En-Arrh to activate a protected corner of his mind so he can have a private talk with himself about growing suspicions concerning Raven.
Suddenly, Vanadia attacks the Tower, matching and overcoming the Titans with her arsenal of powers. Even Evil Raven is surprised when she’s run through with a blade. The issue ends with Evil Raven briefly retreating to an alternate dimension to retrieve a powerful weapon for round 2.
What’s great about Titans #11? Vanadia shows potential as an Amazo-styled villain with a human twist. There are few people more dangerous than an obsessed fan who turns into a hater, so the mix of overpowered cybernetics and unhinged rage could lead to interesting conflicts.
What’s not so great about Titans #11? Nightwing intentionally creating his version of Zur-En-Arrh is a monumentally dangerous choice, inconsistent with Nightwing’s character. Tom Taylor appears to be setting up a scenario where Raven can’t read his thoughts, but the point of a partitioned consciousness is to hide secrets from yourself. Raven could still read his thoughts, his suspicions, and his concerns.
In effect, Taylor tries to get in on the Zur-En-Arrh concept that created Failsafe in Batman, but to elevate Nightwing above Batman by showing how to use the mind trick the “right way,” he’s using the concept in exactly the wrong way. Oy! DC can’t get Taylor away from Nightwing fast enough.
How’s the Art? Lucas Meyer’s art is perfectly good in this issue. Frankly, when considering two artists who are drawing Nightwing in complementary titles, I prefer Meyer’s art in Titans over Bruno Redondo’s style in Nightwing. Meyer gives readers a solid mix of detail, pop, energy, and drama.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
Titans #11 introduces a new robot villain with strong potential, shows that Nightwing is becoming reckless (not in a good way), and sets the stage for Evil Raven to continue her descent into darkness. Tom Taylor’s script hits all the right technical notes, but he misses big on the creative choices, and Meyer’s art is solid.
6.8/10
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