Mark Waid Almost Nails Teen Titans & The Best New Comics 

I'm thrilled for OG Teen Titans. Rebirth Titans cut short left me devastated and angry. Yes it's missing Herald and Omen but Bumblebee is here. Waid maybe tried was instructed to update the story for modernity who knows. The conclusion is on a high note.

The idea that Mark Waid is too old to write teenage characters in a Teen Titans book immediately brings to mind the earliest issues of the Teen Titans, where Bob Haney kept dropping teen lingo in the dialogue to show how hip he was…which he wasn’t! DC in the 60s had that problem with all their books that had younger characters, and middle-aged men writing them.

Nothing good from Marvel this week?! X-Men 101 and Hulk 181 were great! I'm really excited to see where this Phoenix stuff leads with Jean Grey and this new Wolverine guy definitely has potential. Maybe he'll even get his own book someday.

What I want from Dynamite is for their comic interiors to match the covers

Best review ever… -Knight terrors any good? -nope…moving on

I hate to say it but I think you were right about Knight Terrors. I was excited about like a continuity cementing line wide DC event but each issue is..."hey here's someone I trust from my past...ohhh no he's a bad guy bahhhh" and I only read Adams and Waid!

Hey man, you've got me as a new subscriber. I've been a comic reader ( not really a collector - more of a cherry picker - my all time favourite comic I own is an original 1986 copy of Moore's Miracleman #15) and I'm primarily a DC fan. Was into the 70-90s DC especially Superman, classic Perez/Wolfman Teen Titans. Heard you talking about Crisis on Infinite Earths and knew I had to pay attention to your channel - as someone with excellent taste in comic storytelling. But other than a few selected individual issues in the last decade of comics, the agenda driven crap, especially DC have put me off. For all of Mark Waid's ups and downs, he did write Kingdom Come, possibly the single greatest DC comic, and the Return of Barry Allen saga in Flash ( Wally West) which ends in a triple sized issue, a sheer joy to read. Can't believe how Marvel have ruined so many of their legacy characters. Thanks for putting these critiques out there, because it's good to know there are some good books out there. Anyway look forward to more of your reviews and recommendations. Cheers.

I’m skeptical of Mark Waid handling Teen Titans based off of how he handled The Champions at Marvel. It felt like a 50-something year-old man writing a book for teens. Or as the kids would say, “not busin’.”

I can't wait to buy the WF Teen Titans when it's released in trade

Thanks for the video fellas; one of my favorites each week. Drew, I am long overdue to “fix myself” and get on board with Animal Castle🙇‍♂️. Keep grinding bro!✌️

Wow. It makes me feel sad that you could barely find any good comics to talk about this week! I found so much good stuff - including a couple of Knight Terrors books!! Controversial, I know, but c'mon guys - only three books?

Used to buy Dynamite comics for covers by Stephen Segovia, Rose Besch, Peach Momoko, Mirka Andolfo (also when she wrote), Lucio Parrillo, and some others.

personally I love Dynamites books! Tarzan, John Carter, Dejah Thoris are some favorites! Dan Abnett and Christopher Priest both write good Vampirella stories. And Project Superpowers I also like. I like their books much more than most of the Marvel books and a lot of Dc’s also…

After Ignited and Champions I'm weary on Waid writing teens. So far this is a step up by the shadowed villain saying he has an "agenda" made me concern. Besides the DC Titans, I still don't get why Garth/Donna is here. Also, Bumblebee wasn't a founder but an early member regardless and has gotten more attention thanks to so many cartoons. I think Golden Eagle was still arounf post COIE but not used so well... I think I read he became a villian for some pointless reason like many Titans.

Love the Faust shirt, Drew!

Timestamps pls, btw after reading incredible hulk 1 I can't wait for second issue I love the horror atmosphere

"Lord of the Jungle" has been good in every issue. I like Waid's "WF", but his "Titans" effort left me unimpressed.

Bro i read Green lantern and Teen Titans WF and I was like i will return to dc comics in September.

Great Faust shirt.

I haven’t read WF TT yet but the only issue I have going into it is Bumblebee. I love the character, but she’s not a founding member…

Awesome work guys

Looking forward to the Tarzan comic series.

I wish you would read Immortal X-Men Wes. That has been really good. This weeks issue was better than Worlds Finest Teen Titans.

I'm very interested in the Teen Titans relaunch. I prefer the latter 80s team formation, but I'm curious how they will pull this one off.

Did either of you read Something Epic, X-Men Days of Future Past and/or Antarctica? And, if so, we’re they all bad???

Teen Titans and Lord of the Jungle were good reads. I don't mind the modernized Titans timeline. The Tarzan book reminds me of when legend Joe Kubert drew it.

I actually liked the first issue

Bullshit. You just assume it's cheesecake, but the Christopher Priest run on Draculina/Vampirella is awesome!

I thought green lantern knight Terror was fine. Not great but a fine recommendation

People keep comparing Benito Gallego’s Tarzan to Joe Kubert. It clearly looks like John Buscema’s art in the late 70s Tarzan book published by Marvel. Buscema may have been influenced by Kubert’s DC Tarzan run but Gallego definitely draws like John Buscema more than Joe Kubert.

no more dc/marvel. just go ahead and recommend Faust.

Mark Waid's babyman temper aside, he seems to not remember being a teenager, maybe he's too old, maybe he's just written so many adults that he just can't recall how they'd converse. Maybe he should watch some old Degrassi to help himself out. I doubt he won't use it as a soap box in an issue or two.

Oh and another issue I had with WF: Teen Titans is the artist. Like I’m sorry you can’t go from amazing art by Dan Mora to what feels like Steven Universe tumblr tier art work. That on top of the cringe dialogue kinda made me less interested in continuing this run.

Lord of the Jungle felt just a little bit rushed at the end for me. Animal Castle is definitely the high point this week. I’d be curious what you thought about Moon Knight. It was just ok for me.

Just wish he didn’t try to make them sound like teens you see on TikTok. Well Wally and Dic I thought were written well, Roy was decent and I enjoyed his antagonistic towards Robin but it just felt very… well lack of a better, cringe sometimes. Idk I wish writers would stop writing kids and teens as what you see on the internet and tv. You’d be shock to see how normal most of them talk and act. Also it’s always been a stupid idea to make a show or product from being a super hero and hopefully this bites them in the butt badly and isn’t just a thing they do and no bad comes from it.

Waid kinda lost me after Champions. First, they were all knock off characters. Zzzz. Plus it was basically stereotypes. Black characters talked about race, Hispanic Falcon? was concerned about the border, all kinds of nonsense. I think people of different ethnicities are probably a little more complex than that. It's a bit like when Bendis writes Luke Cage. He steers very close to stereotypes. Movies like Dolemite or Shaft are fun but they are ridiculous. Were they trying to be serious? I don't know. I think Waid does get it, sometimes. In his FF run, someone suggests writing a character like a person, and people will care. Exactly. That's Stan tried to do as best he could. Waids wheelhouse is the Silver Age. Stick to that. There was an event called just that years ago, mostly written by Waid and Millar. Waid works in a goofy but fun body swapping story that is fixed by Robby Reed and the H Dial. Millar goes off on a tear, having say Black Manta as Aquaman commanding fish to eat each other, or Lex as Superman ignoring his powers to comb his new hair. It's ridiculous and fun and just good all around. Also, i think the series HERO, where the dial bounces around but is something like a monkey paw. It's only 13issues or so but is sad, funny, weird and heroic and thoughtful. Just good stuff.

"its slim pickings" -------Why yall leave out Indie comics? Thats where the good stuff is. I got "The Lucent" in the mail like a month ago and its good.

what was that crack drew made about socialism for? felt very huh for him to do that

The World's Finest series that spawned this Titans spin off had a little more edge. Joker and the Key tortured Boy Thunder and so on. Like the Batman of Zurr En Arr, the golden/silver age stuff works better when it's viewed through a darker lens.

I just read WF:TT--it's still sitting next to me. Really great first issue. It's funny, hints at some interesting character drama, and Waid somehow pulls off silver-age-style wackiness in a story about social media--WITHOUT it becoming insufferable. (I have more tolerance for slang in a teen book, and I think it's a deliberate choice here. So let him cook, I guess.) It reminded me of Peter David's Young Justice, which I loved. And as far as Knight Terrors goes, Green Lantern was an above average book (goes where you'd expect, but a nice character story for Hal). Shazam was mid. And that's all I've read.

I haven't actually read comics consistently for a good while but lately I read Ghostlore, Something Epic, and W0rldtr33! Idk if i finally just snapped but I'm liking all 3! I also read World's finest and Batman but I usually let it get 3-5 issues ahead and take a weekend to catch up! Overall its been slim pickings the last few years! Maybe after night terrors they'll get back to relaunching or whatever they're doing and do a great job of it! 🤞

I picked up the WF Teen Titans issue based off how well Waid and Mora’s Batman/Superman series is going. It was okay. I’ll give it another go next month and see where it goes. As always, thanks Thinking Critical for another great video!

I really enjoyed the first issue of WF:TT. The only gaffe, if it is a gaffe, is that the Titans appear to know Robin was an aerialist but not Dick Grayson. That came across a little odd.

I’ve been reading Teen Titans since the late 60’s,the original team of sidekicks has had their ups and downs over the decades! I do like when the early days are revisited with a bit of relevance and in my opinion Waid is doing fine adding more depth and I really like to take a wait n see approach! Anything is better than letting Tom King, Taylor or any of the other bumpercrop agenda porn specialists sink their ratclaws into this book! 👍🎯 As you said it is slim pickings these daze and I’m happy to have something to enjoy!👋⚡️

For World’s Finest Teen Titans, I assume that this is set in between 1976 and 1980 because of the return of the Original Fab Five Teen Titans and the introduction of Karen Beecher Bumblebee (both of these events happened in DC). Also, the Fab Five Titans have a family bond with their mentors/parental or sibling figures. I assume that Barry and Wally are talking about something while running with the Speed Force, Oliver and Roy reconciling after Snowbirds Don’t Fly (just like pre-Crisis), Arthur and Garth talking about something while riding on giant sea horses, Bruce and Dick taking to each other in the Bat-Cave, and Donna and Diana interacting with each other in DC (which I assume that Diana’s pre-Crisis Earth-One history had been restored post-Dawn of DC and that DC should’ve show us flashbacks of Donna and Diana interacting during the Silver and Bronze Age of Comics in the Wonder Woman series and other DC titles). It doesn’t make sense for this comic to be set in the 1960s (with a few anachronisms) because Karen Beecher didn’t make her debut as Bumblebee and only the Fab Five (and a few others) became members of the Teen Titans. If it’s an Elseworlds story (which I know it’s not, but it might have been), then it makes sense because Silver Age in the modern setting. Also, Roy Harper had a romantic relationship with Donna Troy during the Teen Titans years, not Garth. Also, since this comic shows smartphones and social media, then this would’ve been set in the late 2000s (around 16 years ago) or the early 2010s (around 13 years ago), making the Titans in their late 20s or early 30s by now. In my headcanon, it makes sense for the Fab Five Teen Titans to form at 13 years old 33 years ago, making them (around) 46 years old by Dawn of DC. That way, the DC timeline would be lengthy and make sense of it all.

Bumblebee wasn't an original Titan . She has been retconned in , like Robin's Speedo's and Pixie Boots have been retconned Out . And I seem to be in the Minority , but I wasn't impressed by this book at all . I really like World's Finest but this is a Miss for me . Glad to see you praising Tarzan .I loved this series .The artist is like a reincarnated John Buscema and Dan Jurgens is on his game .

not even Moon Knight Wes?

Yeah the TT is super "hello fellow kids" writing, but I'll take that clunky attempt with some jokes that work over a literal handful of writers at DC who try and fail miserably to write "teen age" characters

Mark Waid just cannot stop to portray Batman like a jerkass in your comics.The new origin for Teen Titans is necessary after so many reboots.The Silver Age origin of team just don't fit with modern comics anymore.

LOVE Animal Castle and Lord of the Jungle.

Considering the history of the teen titans comics from post crisis, New 52, and the rebirth initiative haven't really stuck the landing. However I am going to give mark waid a chance on this after the first issue so will see if it can reach the gold standard like Shazam, World's Finest: Batman/Superman.

I never keep up Mark Waid after Kindom Come What is the general opinion about him? i heard that were some things of controversial the last year

I’m picking up Tarzan based on your recommendation

IDK..it’s funny how you can watch one channel reviewing comics and everything sucks and you watch another and nothing was horrible and most were great with a smidge of passable. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again... this ain’t supposed be Shakespeare. The problem I have with reviews, at least prior to Wednesday is that I believe it affects sales. If it kills a a sale on something that someone may have liked that isn’t a good thing..

Astrobots is one of those comics no one seems to be talking about, and three issues in I'm absolutely loving it.

No moonknight? I thought it was pretty good.

Gross. The artwork is that new, super generic drawing that has contaminated the industry.

I gave the new Amazing Spider-Man a quick look this week, it seems to me they are ending the whole Peter Parker/ Norman Osborn bromance

Can we please stop injecting Social Media crap into Superhero comics? It is bloody annoying and distracts from the story. And guys you need to read the latest TMNT/Yojimbo Usagi crossover. It is great.

Mark Waid, who could easily win in court _by running away_ couldn't nail anything with a hammer. When Mark Waid rights the best comic. You know the company is in dire straights.

Moon Knight was good, but $9? For that? I also feel ripped off by Shazam Knight Terrors.