The New Titans #86: “If This Be Chaos”

Are The New Titans strong enough as a team to withstand all of the turmoil placed upon them? Will they regain a “team” mentality after all the destruction?

Creative Team

Marv Wolfman (Writer), Kevin Maguire (Penciler), Tom Grummett (Penciler/Cover), Curt Swan (Penciler),
Jerome Moore (Penciler/Inker), Al Vey (Inker/Cover), Adrienne Roy (Colorist), Bob Pinaha (Colorist),
Pat Brosseau (Letterer), John Costanza (Letterer)

Dick Giordano (Executive Editor)

Published: May 1992 by DC Comics

“If This Be Chaos!”

The New Titans #86 written by Marv Wolfman is a continuation of a story that has left the Titans disheveled. This story starts off with an entire company being taken over by a self-righteous man who is Donna Troy’s son. As you can assume, this fact does not bode well for the “timeline.” That is because during this timeline, Donna is slowly discovering that she is pregnant with said gentleman. While his presence is currently unknown to Donna, she is feeling the negative effects of it.

There is also something funny in the land of bees and honey when it comes to the relationship between Nightwing and Starfire. Starfire is currently nursing some wounds that she suffered from a previous battle, causing tension between her and Nightwing. While he is just trying to be a supportive partner to her, she is utterly annoyed by this and continues to shut him out of her business.

We also get to see a different Cyborg within this story. He has suffered much in his last fight that he has been rebuilt to an extent. Dawning a new experimental technology suit, he has no cognizant abilities anymore. He is now, more than before, a Cyborg. Only able to respond to commands but is stronger than ever before.

Later on, within the story, we see a disgruntled Nightwing, who is trying to figure out how to keep the Titans together. He is finding it harder and harder to cope with that along with his failing relationship with Starfire. All of a sudden, someone appears secretly behind Nightwing… Deathstroke. The two men get into an argument which leads to a temperamental fight which ends in understanding. Nightwing is furious with the fact that Deathstroke murdered his (Deathstroke) son and shows no remorse in that.

Nightwing asks Deathstroke how he (Deathstroke) and Bruce (Batman) are able to hold their emotions in check. Why do they never lash out or lose control? Deathstroke tries to provide some semblance of comfort as he shares that it is not easy but is necessary. It is no secret that Nightwing and Deathstroke loath one another, but there is a mutual respect somehow between the two of them. Deathstroke walks off, leaving Nightwing to continue pondering what needs to be done.

Artwork

The art team on this story did a really good job. This story is from 1992, so if you’re not used to reading “older” comics, you may be turned off by this art style. However, authentic comic book lovers will thoroughly enjoy these panels. Everything is so well done from the penciling, ink and coloring. Beautiful!

My Thoughts

This is the only issue of this arc that I personally own. Causing me to base this review strictly on what was between the covers. And I must say that this is a good story, and I am feeling to urge to hunt down the other issues. This story has a lot of emotion to it. Not so much of a happy tone, but the art compliments the dialogue so precisely to deliver the emotional climate. I plan on searching for the issues before and after this one to complete the story. It is definitely worth a read, especially to Titan fans!

Grade:9/10

Books within this series: The New Titans

A previous DC Comics review of mine: Batman One Bad Day-Catwoman

Amazing comic book reviews: Nerd Initiative

My personal content: Travis’ Comic Haven