Review by Ian Keogh

There’s a place called the Dark Side Club where brainwashed superheroes are coerced into brutal fights against each other for the amusement of the select few who pay enormous amounts to witness them. Sean McKeever begins with a bunch of teen heroes who’ve heard about the club and intend to investigate. Unfortunately for them, it’s a trap and they’ve been gathered as mass recruitment.

Terror Titans in effect continues from Teen Titans: On the Clock, which introduced both the Dark Side Club and a new villain using an old name, Clock King, able to manipulate time. It also showed Ravager deciding to quit the Titans having overheard a conversation about her being unable to suppress her killing instincts, and so her membership was about to be cancelled. It creates just the right sense of mystery about Ravager’s motivations in uniting with the Clock King and the Dark Side Club. If the name, by the way, seems to be a clue, don’t go down that route. For reasons that may have made more sense at the time McKeever has filched several names from Apokalips, but names are all they are.

Whereas the regular Teen Titans series also written by McKeever at the time suffered from ever changing artists, all the drawing here is handled by Joe Bennett. He goes for a shorthand stylised form of superhero action that distorts bodies, but it’s consistent all the way through and there’s an energy to everything. It’s a brutal, nasty story, and Bennett shows some restraint, but it’s still violent. Look out for the neat clock inspired designs Bennett supplies for locations and page decorations.

While Ravager is the initial focus, McKeever also follows the villains who previously accompanied Clock King, and this is their story as much as Ravager’s. They’re all troubled teens who’ve been lethally empowered by Clock King, who has a definite agenda and is a manipulative presence, never explaining entirely, but dropping hints. The ultimate revelation as to what he’s doing might not rank high on the list of super villain megalomania, but it’s logical and relatively original. The format allows McKeever to throw in teen heroes that haven’t been seen for a long time, and beyond the brainwashing most of them are respectfully treated. Allowing for a format of death or glory and no headliners involved, there’s no certainty of anyone’s survival as the pages turn.

This is complete in itself, with the finale leading into the final chapter of Teen Titans: Changing of the Guard. It’s very unpleasant in places, but holds together as a fine superhero story.