TEEN TITANS 58

In which the Terror Titans storyline continues. Having captured Kid Devil, Clock King and co set their sights on Miss Martian for reasons that will feed into the Final Crisis Dark Side Club storyline. Miss Martian isn't going down without a fight, though - especially as her evil alternate future self is around, spoiling for a scrap.

Well, it's a few months since Dan Didio began editing this book and if this is any example of where the book's tone will be now his influence is being felt, I'm out of here. Last time I looked this book featured kids aged about 16-18.

That being the case, aspirational reading habits mean its demographic - bar us old farts - skews a couple of years younger. So why on earth does this book begin with a confused Miss Martian waking up in a public toilet, about to give a blow job to some stranger?

That's too much. And the next scene has supervillain Clock King, another teenager, having a post-coital chat with supervillainess Disrupter. Have I suddenly hit the Age of Prude or is this a bit over the top in terms of sex and violence? Sure, when Terra was seen after sex with Deathstroke years ago it was shocking; it was meant to be, and it told us about his manipulations, and her vulnerability. It went to character. But the sexual scenes in this book were pure titillation and didn't sit well in a comic meant to be about teens hanging around for support and mentoring.

And I didn't like the violence, either! OK, the scenes in question were a fantasy sequence, with Miss Martian's alter ego showing how they could kill the Titans, but boy, they were nasty - Wonder Girl strangled by her lasso, Ravager skewered through the head, Kid Devil ripped in two by the horns, Blue Beetle having his spine ripped out - this was vile, disturbing stuff. And as with the sex, more extreme than ws necessary to get the point across.

And of course, all this is printed under a Comics Code Authority stamp. Suddenly I want to be the new Dr Wertham . . .