Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day 1

Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1
Released	June 13, 2016
Running time	24:47
Previous review	Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man
Next review	Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day 2
Tagline	"Graduation" is apparently another word for "Give the middle finger."
Link	http://atopthefourthwall.com/titansyoung-justice-graduation-day-1/

(Linkara sits with his head resting on his hand, listless)

Linkara: Hello, and welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where bad comics burn. This should have been reviewed a long time ago.

(A montage of shots of Linkara's retrospective on the Teen Titans is shown)

Linkara (v/o): Three years and 170 episodes ago, I did a four-part retrospective on the Teen Titans, up to my favorite series of the book: the late '90s/early 2000s version that began with my favorite comic of all time, "JLA/Titans: The Technis Imperative". This was a glorious time to be a DC fan, aside from the fact that DC creatively had gotten their acts together and put out some fantastic revivals of books that have been having so many problems, but also DC, for actually two years, had a larger market share than Marvel. If you want more details there, look at SF Debris' "Rise and Fall of the Comics Empire" videos. However, the sad truth about comics, especially in the last twenty years, is that books will start strong, but will lose interest over time as the readership stabilizes. It almost always a downward spiral, like water slowly leaking out of a glass with a teeny tiny hole in it. It'll take a while, but it'll empty eventually. The Titans ended in 2003 with about 22,000 readers, still within the top 100 books – that numbered 98 – but also pretty low when it comes to justifying keeping books around.

Linkara: Remember that "Threshold" book from the Blue Beetle retrospective? Yeah, that dropped below that point after its first issue. The fact that they let it limp along for another few issues is amazing to me.

(Now cut to a montage of shots of another series: "Young Justice")

Linkara (v/o): Doing slightly better, by only a thousand readers, was a little book called "Young Justice". The Titans at this point were mostly adults.

Linkara: Although, in retrospect, (makes "finger quotes") "The New Teen Titans" of the '80s were mostly made up of people who were 18 or 19 years old, but I suppose "The New Young Adult Titans" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

Linkara (v/o): While "Young Justice" filled in the next generation of teen superheroes, including the Tim Drake Robin, Superboy, the Cassandra Sandsmark Wonder Girl, Impulse, and more. With both series having fairly low sales, it was time for a shakeup, and much I prefer the Adult Titans book, I do see the need to revitalize the franchise, especially since the book itself wasn't doing as great as it used to be creatively. Titans Tower was in shambles, the team at each other's throats at some points, and a mediocre alien invasion story was concluding things. To make matters worse, the Titans book always felt disconnected from the rest of the DC Universe. They would acknowledge events going on in other books, but I'd be damned if I could name five titles that ever referenced them during their run. I have not read "Young Justice", but those who have have told me that things over there were going just fine. The problem was just that nobody was reading it. The consistent quality was helped by the fact that Peter David of "Bill Jemas made a bet with me that 'Marville' would do better than my book" fame was the longtime writer of it, aside from a couple of issue. Having a single writer for the entire book's run means that you can actually develop the characters and plan things for the long term.

Linkara: So, yeah, while the books were not horrible, it was probably time for a new status quo to attract readers. A big relaunch, especially since the Teen Titans animated series was coming that year. Unfortunately, in order to get there, (scowls) we got this craptastic miniseries!

(Shots of the relaunch are now shown)

Linkara (v/o): The fact that the relaunched "Teen Titans" was so successful after this garbage dump of a miniseries is nothing short of a miracle. "Graduation Day", at best, is just kind of lame, but at its worst, it's infuriating. This may not be as bad as "Cry for Justice" was, but it feels like it's in the same vein as "middle finger to the audience" that that was; a spiritual prequel, if you will, a story that not only hates these characters, but hates you for liking them. You know, assuming they even have enough enthusiasm to hate them. "Graduation Day" is a textbook example of a little thing that Mystery Science Theater 3000 described as...

(Cut to a clip of an episode of that show...)

Tom Servo: They just didn't care.

Linkara: So let's dig into (holds up today's comic) "Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1" and see how you destroy two teams with a shrug and a disinterested sigh.

(AT4W title sequence plays, and title card has the opening theme to the Teen Titans series playing in the background. Cut to a closeup of the comic's cover)

Linkara (v/o): Normally, I wouldn't look at the covers, and I won't be for the other two issues, but this cover? This is special. First of all, it's a complete lie! The Titans and Young Justice do not fight each other in this book. I have no idea where the hell this cover came from. It wasn't any of the individual issues' covers. This had to have been specifically created for the trade, meaning nobody actually read the damn thing when they put this together! I have further evidence of that, which I'll get to later. Even the book's logo pisses me off. Why is the "Day" in "Graduation Day" falling off and slanting like that? You couldn't fit your logo on one line? Obviously, you know how to shrink stuff, since you put "Titans" and "Young Justice" above it without any problems! Oh, but then there's the title itself: "Graduation Day". The writer, Judd Winick, said in the lead-up to this that "this is the end, the death knell for both teams," and that "a lot of people are going to get hurt."

Linkara: (holding up comic) Yeah, because when I think of (makes "finger quotes") "graduation", the first things that spring to mind are "death and pain"! (shrugs in confusion)

Linkara (v/o): Actual serial sexual harasser Eddie Braganza, editor of the book, said, "Teens have to grow up."

Linkara: Except, of course, they're staying the same age and still will act like teenagers and will just be on a different team. And of course, the Titans aren't teenagers anymore, which was the entire point of their book. (points to comic) So this comic's name is an outright lie, too!

Linkara (v/o): As for the cover itself, which, even if it was a fight between the two teams, is still pretty lackluster, being just for shots of heroes grappling with one another. The background is another shade of lazy, since it's just a vague sky with a gradient coloring. The matchups make sense, with Jesse Quick and Impulse being the two speedsters facing off; Donna Troy and Wonder Girl, who for some reason has really sharp nails and a demonic smile on her face. What the hell book were they thinking of when they made this thing? Nightwing and Robin, but the one thing that makes no sense is at the bottom, with Superboy and Cyborg. What the hell do they have to do with each other? It's just their heads, too. You didn't need to include them at all.

(Cut to a shot of the original cover of the first issue)

Linkara (v/o): In the actual cover for the first issue, they didn't, either; just Robin, Wonder Girl and Impulse running, with their shadows forming stylized versions of their Titans counterparts. Simple, effective, and makes sense.

(Cut to back to the trade cover)

Linkara (v/o): The layers of bullcrap on this cover keep going, because we also have this inexplicable red stripe along the left side. Maybe this was a thing for trades at the time, but I don't remember this at all, not helped by the fact that the creative team's credits are in there, but a lot of them go over the edge of the stripe!! Why not just make the stripe half an inch longer and move everyone over? It's not like we're so desperate to see Nightwing's other fist. Hell, just shrink the credits so they fit inside it! This trade cover is maddeningly stupid!!

Linkara: Although, calling it a trade is being a bit generous. Even for a three-issue miniseries, (shakes comic to show how thin it is) this feels thin and flimsy, and I have never encountered a trade paperback collection (holds up the back of the cover) with ads for completely unrelated products on the back cover!

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