Titans: Villains for Hire Special #1

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Well, that was ridiculous. I hope there aren't any fans of the Ryan Choi Atom out there, cause his time is done. Deathstroke accepts a contract on the Brave New World character and assembles a group of villains to take him out. Actually, the odd part is that I wouldn't have pegged these guys as actual villains. Tattooed Man has been heroic at times, Osiris wants to be a hero, and the new fire gal was cruising towards being a vigilante rather than a villain. The only true bads on the team were Deathstroke and Cheshire. That's before this issue though, since I don't think you can remain a 'tweener after you slash a hero's guts out and deliver his corpse in a matchbox.

I don't think I've read much (if anything) from Eric Wallace, but the needless humiliation and death for Ryan Choi pretty much guarantees he's not my kind of writer. Heck, the best thing I can say for the issue is that at least Deathstroke comes off as a professional and allows Choi to fend off his girlfriend. This was a downer and yet another example of the gore pervading the DCU.

This book is ridiculously gory. I actually liked the art by Fabrizio Fiorentino, it's shaded in an interesting way that reminds me of Simone Bianchi. Fiorentino doe shave a habit of drawing too many angry faces, but overall I like the style.

Average