Teen Titans: Scott Lobdell, Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Andrew Dalhouse, Dezi Sienty

We get a bit of a peek into Cassie’s origin, which is great. I’ve been wondering this whole time what she’s all about. Why she’s now considered a thief, and why she doesn’t want to be called “Wonder Girl.” Apparently it’s all to do with this silent armor thingy she wears. It takes her over, and changes her somehow. She becomes more violent and, basically, is unstoppable. I’m wondering exactly how strong she is with this armor, as half-Kryptonian Superboy can’t even scratch the stuff.

At the end of last issue, she begged the boys to help her. Tim and Conner take her out to the woods to Alfred’s cabin to try and get her to see reason. Apparently, when it takes control, she calls herself Wonder Girl…which would explain why Cassie hates being called that, because she hates being that person it makes her.

They form a plan to get through her armor with Superboy’s telekinesis, and they tear the armor from her body. That’s when we finally see the HUGE spikes that were driven into her, connecting the armor to her flesh. It’s pretty crazy. I suddenly feel a lot of sympathy for Cassie and her struggle. I’m also wondering what this means for the character later on.

So she’s disconnected from it now. Does this mean she’s powerless? Doesn’t have super-strength? Can’t fly? It’s not explained exactly where her powers come from. After this whole thing is resolved, will she still have the bracers for reflecting bullets and stuff? How about the electric lasso of electricity pain?

We suddenly meet Diesel…this dude who apparently loved Cassie before she spurned his advances and made him hate her guts. Here’s where we get more of that “teen” stuff. I dig that there’s that undertone. In this issue, we also get a small glimpse of the budding romance between Bart and Kiran. It’s funny because they can’t seem to help showing it. Last issue, Kiran calls Bart her sweetie or honey or something, and in this one it’s Bart’s turn to accidentally refer to her that way.

Diesel, however, wants Cassie’s silent armor powers for himself. He has his own version, sure, but he wants MOAR! It’s said that having the silent armor means you’re the “harbinger of the end of the world.” Cassie agrees with this, as she then says that if she’s not the one to wear it, a world dies. A world. Not the world. This is interesting. Is there another world in danger? Part of me wonders how invested I’ll be if it’s not Earth facing the threat.

Brett’s still pulling out great artwork in this book. I like how Tim looks more and more each issue. Cassie even looks sexy in this issue. We finally get to see her buff side, thanks to her pajamas. Love the coloring work by Dalhouse too. That last page is really spectacular. 

Teen Titans #12, the verdict: This issue had less of those tacky dialog issues that made everything feel really old-fashioned, so that’s always a plus. Though I still think the villain went on and on too much. This issue, however, does have me excited to see what comes next. But we’ll have to wait. The Zero Issue is still to come, where we learn the origin of Tim Drake! The not-Robin!

(Photo Source: iFanBoy)