“Lights Out Part Three: Secrets and Lies”
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Mike McKone
Inker: Marlo Alquiza
Colorist: Jeromy Cox
Letters: Comicraft
Associate Editor: Tom Palmer Jr
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Published by DC Comics
This is a big fight issue. There is no getting around that. It’s the Teen Titans against Dr. Light. He’s the guy who no one really seemed to care about up until last year’s Identity Crisis. But now he’s a big time villain, and he’s causing all sorts of problems.
This is a great issue for the art team of McKone and Alquiza to shine because they get to draw just about every DC teen hero, past and present, you can think of. I believe this is the last issue of Titans for them, so they go out with a bang. From issue one onward, the art in this book has been superb, and I will miss them in Titans.
So back to the story. There isn’t one really. Like I said, it’s a big fight. For just about the whole book, there is lots and lots of hitting. So if you were to come to this issue without having read the last few, you’d be a bit lost. But the whole arc that has been leading to this makes this big fight issue worth it. Cyborg has a few great pages in here, showing what a badass he can be. He’s sort of the parent of the Teen Titans group, but we see here how he can fight a little dirty from time to time.
With Dr Light defeated, (Sorry I’m giving away the ending, but did you really think the bad guy was gonna win in the end?) we get an extra long wrap up, which is more interesting than any fight. Green Arrow and Cyborg have a little “discussion” about what was done to Dr Light, setting the stage for what I can only assume will be more dissention in the ranks between the DC heroes.
We also get a nice little scene where the Titans welcome the new Speedy onto the team, and they all admit they have faults. It was a well-written scene, but it came across as a little after school special-esque. I can’t complain overall though, because it was also necessary.
Finally, we get a short epilogue with Dr Light and the “heroes” who take him into custody. This scene is a nice little prelude to another one of DC’s new mini-series.
Overall this was a fun issue. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was worth every penny. This seemed like a nice season finale episode.
