1983
The Murder Machine
by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, and Pablo Marcos
Adrian Chase and his family are taken to the hospital. Robin is cleared by the police but is still irritated about how Chase used him. Chase survives but his wife and children do not. He disappears before the Teen Titans get a chance to talk to him. Robin confronts Scarapelli and warns him that he's not going to stop until he's "warming the electric chair". Starfire shows up and pulls Robin away from the crime boss. She's concerned about Robin. He's been distancing himself personally from the Titans. She doesn't like it. While they are talking, on a rooftop, a sniper takes aim at them. The sniper is killed by another sniper, this one unseen, who drops the body of the first sniper at Scarapelli's front door.
Raven tries to return to Azarath. She fears Trigon's influence and hopes that she can cleanse herself of him in the place where she was raised. She is turned away by the elders of the Temple of Azar. They sense the evil in her and fear that it has become too great and would only infect them.
The Teen Titans and the cops suspect that Scarapelli is the one behind the bombing of Chase's apartment but lack the evidence to move against him. Scarapelli is in big hot water with Donna Omicido, the head of the local mafia. She knows he’s responsible for the bombing. Scarapelli knows that his life is at risk and contacts the Monitor, who at this point in the greater story was supplying criminals with weapons.
The Monitor doesn’t have exactly what Scarapelli wants but he helps him out by getting him the hired guns he needs. He hires a bunch of assassins with names that for the most part describe their weapon of choice: Spear, Bazooka, Slasher, Tanker, Scorcher, and Cheshire.
Robin sends the Titans to a warehouse to find Scarapelli or evidence linking him to the bombing of Adrian Chase’ apartment. It turns out to be a trap. The mercenaries that Scarapelli hired are ready and waiting for them. The mercenaries have the advantage of surprise and quickly get the upper hand in the fight. Each mercenary takes on one of the Titans. Spear vs. Kid Flash. Bazooka vs. Cyborg. Slasher vs. Changeling. Tanker vs. Wonder Girl. Scorcher vs. Terra. Cheshire vs. Starfire.
Slasher is about ready to kill Changeling when a masked man shows up and kills her. It seems to be the same person who killed the sniper earlier in the annual. He deals with Scorcher next. Wonder Girl finds the strength to defeat Tanker. Kid Flash gets the upper hand and knocks out Spear. Kid Flash tries tangling with Cheshire. She scrapes him with her nails which are sharp and coated with poison, as he grabs her. She is the only one of the mercenaries who escapes the warehouse.
The Titans take Wally to the hospital and then regroup at their headquarters. Robin plays a recording for them that Chase left behind. Chase makes reference to a meeting in the desert. The Titans head to the location in the desert southwest that Chase mentioned. They get there in time to prevent a massacre. Scarapelli is meeting with Donna Omicido and the other bosses but he has a trick up his sleeve. He has brought more mercenaries with him to wipe out the other bosses. The Titans keep the body count low but a Scarapelli gets away.
Scarapelli gets home only to be attacked by the masked stranger who helped the Titans in the warehouse fight. He removes his mask when he is ready to kill Scarapelli. It is Adrian Chase. He’s tired of playing by the rules and letting the bad guys get away with murder and other crimes. He is now the Vigilante. Robin shows up and tries to stop him from killing Scarapelli. The mob boss pulls a gun and opens fire while the other two men are arguing over the right course of action. Both of them are injured but Vigilante returns fire killing Scarapelli. Chase calls for help for Robin before leaving the scene.
Thoughts
This annual opens and closes with narration provided by television news reporters. I think this is the first time that this technique has been used in this series. There is a bit of humor injected through the news broadcasts.
I don't own and have never owned a copy of this annual but I remember reading it when it first came out. The story didn't quite live up to my memory of it. There wasn't as much of the Vigilante in it as I expected there to be.
I had completely forgotten that the Monitor and Lyla appear in this issue. It was surprising to see them helping Scarapelli, even though I was aware that they had provided weapons to some villains.
Annuals like the first and third ones for this series are climaxes of big stories. This doesn't feel like a climax to a big story. The Scarapelli story ended but it didn't feel as important as what was going on behind the scenes. What matters is that Adrian Chase took on a new identity, Raven tried to go home but was turned away, and Robin continued to distance himself personally and emotionally from the team.
It's a decent read but outside of the continuity of the series as a whole I'm not sure that it holds up very well. There are no strong emotional moments that got to me. That may be in part because I know where Robin is headed. There is little in the way suspense there. I know a little less about Raven. I know that Trigon will return but that story is a little ways down the road. I'm not sorry I read this annual but I wish it spoke to me a little more than it did.
Notes
This is the first appearance of Adrian Chase as the Vigilante. He got his own series very soon after this annual. Vigilante (1983) ran for 50 issues, ending in Feb 1988.
This is the first appearance of Cheshire. I don't believe any of the other assassins ever made another appearance. Her next appearance is in Tales of the Teen Titans 51 (Mar 1985). She has made numerous appearances since then in comic books like Teen Titans, Action Comics, Deathstroke, Wonder Woman, and Birds of Prey.
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