I wasn't going to buy this comic, what with it starring a bunch of pretty generic, second generation villains with no apparent motivation for their rotten behaviour. But an interview with writer Sean McKeever mentioned that some teen characters I do enjoy - Aquagirl, Zatara, Terra and Offspring - would be in here. And here they are, along with a new Star-Spangled Kid (male, a la the original) and some little fella I don't know named Molecule.

There's no point remembering his name, he's sliced in two pretty early on, courtesy of the Persuader's atomic axe. Lots of blood, ooh shocking.

Or is that boring? It's certainly boring when another teenage character, former Doom Patroller Fever, is murdered later on in the book, even though this is someone I'd followed during her brief moment in the DCU sun a few years back. Boring because it's so predictable. It's also predictable that she'll be back in a few years, so I won't worry too much about the whole dead thing.

I do worry a tad that DC seems happy to market this on the back of how evil and ruthless the characters are, and how much blood is spilled. Well, with the exception of Dreadbolt - who looks set to turn on his fellow Terror Titans and wind up with the Teen Titans, if he doesn't actually wind up dead - they are pretty vile. That also makes them pretty one-note, and while we're promised a bit of depth before the six issues are up, I'm not inclined to stick around.

After all, does the world of comics need a second Persuader? A teeny Copperhead? A new Disrupter - who was the first, again? As for the seeming star of the book, sometime Teen Titan Ravager (the second, of course), she's nothing but a Deathstroke knock-off, and he don't impress me much in the first place.

As in the Terror Titans' debut, Clock King is running the show, and out to take over the Dark Side Club. He reminds me of Cliff Carmichael from the original Firestorm run, an unattractive smart guy who hates anyone who doesn't wear spectacles. We're told he gave the young baddies their powers, because they're related to existing villains. Right, yes, that makes much more sense than just giving the abilities to proven career criminals. Maybe the motivation for choosing these people will be made clear in subsequent issues, but not even the promise of Static's first DCU appearance proper, or nice art by Joe Bennett and Jack Jadson, will ensure my presence. I've just no time for Clock King and his crew.