| Title | : | The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1401251439 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781401251437 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published June 1, 1981 |
The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1 Reviews
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This was a mildly diverting, easily-digestible nostalgia trip, at a time when I have precious few spare moments to read, what with a newborn at home and rehearsals for my show occurring every day.
I adored these comics when I was a kid, and as an adult I do appreciate the fact that there is more than a little care taken to flesh out these characters and their histories and personalities. I’ll return to the rest of the series periodically when I need some easy stuff to read.
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While not as edgy in the language department as many other comic omnibuses I've read, the other hallmarks of these kinds of books are still present: fabulous artwork, fun action sequences and plots...and a bit too much skin on display, especially from Starfire. I can see why they changed her outfit in the Cartoon Network show. Unfortunate moments aside, I enjoyed this.
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So, this was interesting.
I've always said, older DC comics are easier to read than older Marvel comics. I'm not sure exactly why that is? Maybe because DC permitted its writers to write some darker themes? I'm honestly surprised at how many times some sort of human smuggling/enslavement storyline crops up in different books. Maybe it's just a different vibe was going on in DC? I'm not sure. Either way, older DC books are easier to read than older Marvel comics. To be honest, some times I find older DC books easier to read than newer DC books.
So, this tells the story of the origins of the Teen Titans. For some, it tells their origins period. I think this is the introduction of Cyborg and Starfire. The team is called together by Raven and they learn on the job how to be a team. It's full of a lot of cheesy, outdated, 80's lingo. Some uncomfortable dialogue for Cyborg; FYI, black people are saying the same words as white characters. Constantly writing his dialogue as "lissen", "mebbe" and "figgers" (although, Gar also said that last one) just really rubbed me the wrong way, not gonna lie.
I liked that we got quite a bit of Victor Stone's backstory and his plight as Cyborg. He was involuntarily experimented on and turned into a Cyborg. He's really unhappy about that and it's understandable. I enjoyed seeing the complex dynamics between him and his father. I enjoyed his budding friendship with Gar. I enjoyed him bonding with coaching some kids in the park. From what I've seen on twitter, there are people with prosthetics that relate to Victor a lot.
I didn't enjoy Cyborg telling his father he found happiness with the Titans because I don't think we actually saw him express that? Yes, he doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve (aside from anger and I have several thoughts on that that make me unhappy) but it's just weird for him to say when we've barely seen him bond with the others. Even worse, twice in this book, the rest of the Titans are hanging out together without him and that just bummed me out.
There wasn't a ton of Dick Grayson in this book. He's here but there's no real emotional arc for him and that was a bummer.
Donna got some pretty kick ass moments but there wasn't a ton of emotional weight for her either. She is dating a man that seemed way too old for her. I'm not sure how old she is but... they used to be called "Teen Titans" for a reason and if she's a teen, this old man needs to leave her alone ASAP.
Beast Boy annoyed me 90% of this book, I won't lie. As did Wally.
This was my first introduction to a Starfire that really seemed to have dialogue. The bits I read of Teen Titans Rebirth, N52 Red Hood and the Outlaws and the animated films I saw didn't really give her a lot to do. She seemed to exist just to be desired and show off her muscle but she wasn't a real character there. Here, I'm surprised by how much of her origin we got and how respectful people were. Ignoring Gar's comments and the comment from one guy they run into on the street, Starfire is a real character. She has her own feelings and concerns. She has agency. Her entrance is her escaping enslavement and she vows to never let anyone else go through what she went through. She is an admirable character. I really liked her telling the others that she doesn't understand showing mercy to those that would try to harm the Titans.
Raven's arc bored me to tears. I'm just so very tired of the typical "extremely powerful magical woman who suffers for her art". It's overdone. Some examples: Jean Grey and Wanda Maximoff. They're super powerful and they suffer in silence because of it. I didn't need several shots of Raven fighting unseen demons. It's just boring and it dragged down my enjoyment of this book. I didn't care for the Trigon arc and the art did not make him as intimidating as I think Wolfman intended him to be.
So, it's a tentative recommend. If you love these characters, I found this enjoyable enough to be worth reading. If you're looking for a lot of teamwork and character moments, I can't really recommend this unless you're looking for Starfire and Victor's origins. -
The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1 collects DC Comics Presents #26 plus New Teen Titans #1-8.
I lowballed a stack of graphic novels on Shopgoodwill and won it. Most of the stack was stuff I'm not interested in but this was among the ones I wanted to read. I'd thought I'd read most of these early Teen Titans issues before but I must not have because I didn't remember a damn thing.
Anyway, this mostly covers the formation of the New Titan Titans at the impetus of Raven (and Marv Wolfman) all the way up to the fight with Trigon and the aftermath. People compared this to the X-Men at the time but it feels more like the Kirby and Lee run of the Fantastic Four to me. Lots of bickering, cosmic scope threats, jokes, and more bickering.
For a straight up Bronze Age super hero comic, they don't get much better than this. Wolfman knows how to escalate things but still have largely self contained issues. George Fucking Perez and Romeo Tanghal handle the artwork on most of the issues so you know that shit is good.
While the cosmic issues involving Trigon were good, the day in the life issue at the end was my favorite by far. It explored the Titans as people rather than super heroes and did a lot to flesh out the characters.
Four Bronze Age stars. -
It’s hard to remember now, but in the early ‘80s The New Teen Titans was one of the most popular series in the comic book world.
It rivaled and often exceeded the popularity of the then top-selling Uncanny X-Men. That was a surprise, given that the previous version of the team wasn’t fondly remembered. Teen Titans launched in the late ‘60s and mostly focused on the sidekicks of some famous heroes: Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Aqualad and Speedy, and later a couple new creations. It chugged along for a few years before low sales benched the title. A revival in the mid-70s added several other teen heroes to the mix, but the audience didn’t bite and the return was short-lived.
Writer Marv Wolfman and penciler George Perez were recent transfers to DC after long stretches at Marvel. The duo came up with a concept for The New Teen Titans, which brought back the core trio of Robin, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash, added in the old Doom Patrol mascot Beast Boy (rechristened as Changeling) and created a trio of intriguing new heroes who would go on to become DC mainstays: Starfire, an alien warrior princess; Cyborg, who had half his body replaced with cybernetics after an accident; and Raven, a mysterious young woman with mystic abilities.
The combination of Wolfman’s daring stories and Perez’s beautiful art proved a winning formula. The New Teen Titans was DC’s most successful title launch in some time. Within a year of it debut, the book was DC’s top seller, slugging it out with X-Men for overall fan devotion. The first eight issues, plus the special preview insert that introduced the new team, are out now in
New Teen Titans Vol. 1.
Wolfman and Perez succeeded by infusing the title with a lot of ideas. They married a superhero saga with a teen soap opera and struck gold. The New Teen Titans didn’t treat its stars like kids. The cast was mostly college-aged and struggled to establish themselves as adults. They juggled college, jobs and relationships with their duty as costumed heroes. They weren’t squeaky clean; they had issues and hang-ups. They could be prickly. They didn’t always get along. Wolfman and Perez made them interesting as people, which made it easier for fans to invest in them as heroes.
The creators successfully explored parallel themes among various characters, using the structure to illuminate different aspects of the cast. Parental alienation was an obvious tack, but Wolfman and Perez avoided clichés. Robin had dropped out of college and was eager to establish himself as his own hero, separate from mentor/guardian Batman. Starfire was separated from her family after her weak father sacrificed her to alien invaders to forge a fragile peace. Cyborg blamed his scientist father for the accident that disfigured him and killed his mother. Changeling’s wealthy adoptive father was mostly absent. And Raven? She formed The New Teen Titans to prevent her demonic father from destroying the universe.
The characterizations were deep and complex. Fans clearly knew Robin well, but here they saw a different side of “the kid sidekick.” He was allowed to transition into adulthood and become a strong hero in his own right. These early stories put him on the road to “graduating” to the new persona of Nightwing a few years later. Changeling let loose a constant stream of wisecracks and seemed to lead a charmed life. But both his biological parents and his adoptive mother had been killed. His adoptive father neglected him to focus on finding his wife’s killer. Starfire and Raven both struggled to adjust to the new world in which they were living. Kid Flash was torn between the responsibility of using his powers and his desire for a normal collegiate life. Wonder Girl seemed to be the most together, with a job and a stable relationship with an older man, but she’d face her own challenges down the road.
And a lot of the material in New Teen Titans was pretty daring for its time. The explicit demonic elements of Raven’s origin weren’t typical in mainstream comics outside of horror titles at the time. Starfire’s overt sexuality was groundbreaking, as was her bloodthirstiness. Violent heroes are par for the course today, but at the time only Wolverine and the then rarely-seen Punisher shared Starfire’s willingness to mow down her foes.
The stars of the book were allowed to be real people. They formed friendships, but also argued. They had trust issues with one another, especially with the secretive Raven, once the manipulations she deployed to form the team came to light. Cyborg struggled to adjust to his new reality. A scene where his teenaged girlfriend recoils from him hit pretty hard, but was followed by him connecting with a school for kids adjusting to their own prostheses. That also put him into contact with the kids’ teacher, Sarah, a future love interest. Which was itself daring, as interracial romances weren’t common in comics at the time. In a departure for DC, the book was set in a real place, New York City, which almost became a character in its own right.
It wasn’t just the heroes who were complex. Wolfman and Perez introduced villains who have become lasting parts of the DC Universe. The second issue saw the debut of Deathstroke, perhaps the most complicated villain in DC’s pantheon. It set up both his complex persona and long-standing grudge against the Titans. Raven’s demonic father Trigon provided a serious challenge for the team in the early issues. And the members of Doctor Light’s Fearsome Five have endured for years, providing the New Teen Titans with their very own team of dedicated villains.
Perez’s work, of course, is absolutely gorgeous and still looks great three decades later. He mixes his page layouts up, going from a standard panel format to more complex designs, depending on the needs of the plot. His designs provided the visual base that would define these characters for years to come. It’s a strong visual component that matches Wolfman’s writing perfectly. The duo would work together for several years, providing a stability to the title that’s almost startling to modern fans, used to frequent creative team shifts.
So many enduring elements of the DC Universe were established in the early years of The New Teen Titans. It’s great that DC is re-releasing these landmark issues so that fans can discover or re-discover them.
New Teen Titans Vol. 1 is highly recommended.
A version of this review originally appeared on
www.thunderalleybcp.com -
Very cheesy. I know this was revolutionary in 1980 for bringing back the Titans, but I just didn't love it. And the pervy teen angst can be a bit much. When it's not cheesy or pervy it can be fun.
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Set the Way-Back Machine to November 1980. Today, it's hard to realize how ground-breaking The New Teen Titans was, but it was something that DC Comics hadn't seen before, except perhaps in their far-flung Legion of Super-Heroes comics: it was a modern-day DC comic, written in the Marvel style. That means it was about heroes who were more than just heroes: they were real people with real problems.
Wolfman did a good job of recreating the classic DC character that make up half the cast. Changeling becomes a hero, rather than a sidekick. Flash reluctantly returns to his days in tights. Wonder Girl starts to lay down the roots of the too-often repeating mystery, "Who is Donna Troy?" But it's Dick Grayson who gets the best attention, because The New Teen Titans was his coming-of-age story.
However it's the new heroes that are even more impressive, because Wolfman embeds them deeply into stories of conflict that not only define who they are, but also act as a constantly renewing source of plot threads. Raven is a bit too much of a mystery here, but nonetheless it's her background as the daughter of Trigon that generates most of this volume's plot movement. Koriand'r has a story that's at least as interesting, with a her fall from grace in a galactic empire. (We'll see more of that a few volumes down the road.) Cyborg seems to get the short end of the stick, with his story mainly focusing on disagreements with his father ... but maybe it's just that he has a more human story.
Even when not focusing on the creation of the Titans and their first encounter with Trigon, Wolfman manages to make great use of his story pages. It's entirely amazing that Terminator and the first Ravager are introduced almost as an aside in the second issue. Shockingly, that same issue also introduces HIVE to the DC universe! The Fearsome Five are less notable (and less revolutionary), but they nonetheless are introduced here as part of the first Trigon saga, and would go on to be another of the Titans' most long-lived foes.
Though it shines in its character design and the plot foundations they create, The New Teen Titans is also very much a product of its time, with all that suggests. It's heavily compressed and very wordy; there's not a lot of chance for the story to breathe. There's also a heavy emphasis on fighting, which too often sets the characters aside. However when Wolfman instead presents a character interlude, as is the case in #7 and particularly #8, then the comic shines.These stories offer beautiful character moments and emotions that are very well earned, such as Victor's reconciliation with his father and Koriand'r's acceptance of Earth. These moments are what really made Wolfman's New Teen Titans great, and it's wonderful to see them on display so early in the series. -
I'm not entirely sure why I picked this one up to read. I was never a huge DC fan, and the Teen Titans always seemed---even when I was a teenager---to be the "B" team to DC's Justice League. Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Cyborg, Starfire, Changeling, and Raven: all decent young superheroes but not the ones you'd call in case of a real earth-shattering super villain attack. Seriously, why call Wonder Girl when you could get Wonder Woman? Why send in Robin when Batman could probably do the job in half the time. And what the fuck good is Changeling, really? I bet he's a hit at kids' birthday parties, but kinda worthless when battling Darkseid.
The brain-child of Marv Wolfman, with artwork by George Perez and Romeo Tanghal, "The New Teen Titans" started its run in 1980 and continues to be published (in a slightly different form) today. This first volume compiles the first fourteen appearances of the young team of superheroes as they appeared in several different publications, ultimately in their own comic book.
Wolfman's writing is decent and keeps the reader's interests, but it's probably Perez's artwork that kept the fanbase going. Perez, in the early '80s, also reinvigorated the "Wonder Woman" series, bringing back to life a comic book series that was languishing in a lack of creativity. I love Perez's artistry, and he can do no wrong, in my opinion.
There's some cool storytelling in here. I loved the whole storyline involving the Hellspawn known as Trigon and Raven's origin story. Parts were downright creepy and a bit Lovecraftian, which seems odd for a DC comic series.
Other storylines bored me. The whole Fearsome Five supervillain team is lame, in my opinion. Cyborg's reunion with his estranged dad was so maudlin and sweet/schmaltzy it gave me diabetes.
I remember reading a few of these issues as a kid and thinking they were great, but nostalgia tends to reveal the fact that one eventually outgrows childish things, and what we once thought of as great as kids are embarrassingly silly when we re-read them as adults. Still, I'm willing to give another volume a chance, just to see if these teen titans eventually grew up. (That, and I had a major crush on Raven. I still do.) -
I was not into these when they first came out (1980- say it ain't so, Joe), but a lot of kids were.
Today, they seem unbearably corny, although not as much of a 'clone' (or rip-off) of the X-Men as one would imagine.
As one comics blogger put it, "every time I read it, it feels like homework." -
By 1980, Marv Wolfman had come over to DC Comics from Marvel, but found himself writing one-shot team-up books, which he felt didn’t allow him the room to develop subplots and characterization the way he wanted to. He offered to write a revival series for the Teen Titans, a book that had teamed up several kid sidekicks (and eventually some more obscure characters) for some years before dropping sales got the book cancelled.
The Powers that Were turned his original proposal down, so Mr. Wolfman revised his proposal with several brand-new characters, going for more of a male-female balance than most teams of the time, and complementary personalities that would both cause conflict and bring the team together. He also gave most of the group some sort of conflict with a father figure. Robin trying to get out from under the shadow of Batman, Starfire’s weak-willed father selling her into slavery to save his world, Cyborg’s father being responsible for his needing massive cybernetic upgrades, Changeling having all his father figures vanish from his life, and Raven’s father being the demon Trigon.
That last was the plotline behind the first few issues, as Raven fled to Earth and assembled a team to battle her father’s planned invasion. The first issue, however, made the alien Gordanian slavers the main focus, as Starfire needed to be rescued from them before she could join. Raven also manipulated Kid Flash’s emotions (off-screen but it was pretty obvious) to make him loyal to her and thus willing to help out.
During that same story, the Titans accidentally made an enemy of Grant Wilson, who then in the second issue became the villain Devastator (using the 100% of your brain hokum) as part of a plan by the shadowy organization H.I.V.E. to acquire the services of his father, Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke the Terminator.
The third issue introduced the first version of the Fearsome Five, a villain group put together by Dr. Light for mutual gain. They were promptly hijacked by Psimon, one of their members who had been working for Trigon.
The next three issues were all about Trigon, starting with the Titans having to face off against the Justice League in an effort to keep the more powerful heroes from accidentally knocking out the one barrier between Trigon’s realm and Earth. Mr. Wolfman notes that the sales had been going down issue by issue (and it did not help that #5, the issue where Trigon is fully revealed, had guest art by Curt Swan, rather than George Perez–Mr. Swan was a classic Superman artist, but just wrong for this title) but issue #6, the big finish, saw the sales climb and every issue after that for a while.
In issue #7, the Titans face off against their own headquarters, the Titans Tower, as the Fearsome Five had co-opted it in an effort to free Psimon from the fate Trigon had “rewarded” him with. This issue also explained who Cyborg actually was, and mostly resolved his relationship with his father.
Issue #8 was a breather, so that several new subplots could be introduced, some of which stuck around for quite a while.
On the strength of the many subplots, engaging personalities, and stellar George Perez art, the New Teen Titans series became DC’s hottest title, and the closest competitor they had for Marvel’s X-Men under Chris Claremont. One of the obvious Marvel-style touches was setting the series in the real life city of New York, rather than one of DC’s many fictional cities.
There are some elements that don’t come off as well in hindsight; Starfire’s personality, powers and cultural background seem written specifically to have her go around wearing as brief a costume as the Comics Code would allow, or even less. Raven’s origin involves rape by deception, and Trigon comes across as almost cartoonishly evil for the sake of being evil. Cyborg often takes the role of “angry young black man”, and his bickering with Changeling is not nearly as funny as the writer seems to think it is. And of course, Raven’s emotional manipulation of Kid Flash is very skeevy, which is acknowledged in the story itself.
Still, this is an important part of comics history, and fans of the various Titans incarnations should enjoy it. (With a caveat that kids who only know the Titans from the cartoons might find some of the material a bit much–junior high on up, please.) -
I realize this was written in the 80s, and with that in mind, I can appreciate that it's a fun adventure about teen heroes, and it does a pretty good job of making the characters' personalities different from each other with their own unique skill sets. The backstories are interesting and the art does look nice.
That said, I do have problems with it as someone reading it in this decade. The language is outdated and I find the characters difficult to relate to. That's not too bad though, because yes, it was written a while ago. My main problem (which is also a cultural thing) is how Donna's in a romantic relationship with a man who's old enough to be divorced, when she's a "teen". It feels awkward and on the pedophilic side. Women back then dated older guys, I guess. But reading it now is strikingly scrunch-your-nose-up worthy.
Overall, an okay read, but not something I'll continue. I picked it up because I'd heard it being called "the best Teen Titans run", but I didn't enjoy it all that much as a present-day reader. Particularly with the language, it feels more like it was written in the 1960s than the 80s. -
Finally! I've always wanted to read New Teen Titans, but the Omnibuses have always been too hard to save up for. This new paperback series (you promise DC) is much more affordable at $20/volume and the story doesn't disappoint. Action! Human drama! Great stories! I'm looking forward to volume 2!
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3.75⭐️ looking forward to making my way through this series for the first time in order. So many of my favourite characters and my favourite teen titans line up.
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2,5*
A delicacy straight from the past, probably harder to appreciate now if one wasn’t there back then. It’s flashy with rough-hewned personnalities and overwritten cringy dialogues. That’s the 80’s for you, kiddo.
A bit too much of evil from another dimension mumbo jumbo for my taste but it’s directly linked to Raven so it’s hard to avoid I reckon but the hilarious panel with a cozy Bruce Wayne in a dressing gown smoking the pipe made my day. -
an average rating of 4.625 stars.
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POTENTIAL SPOILERS APPROACH!
This was an interesting read. I really enjoyed it. In the course of two hundred and thirty-some pages, we get some serious world-and-character-building as well as development and some cool action scenes. We're introduced to the main team of Robin/Dick Grayson, Starfire/Princess Kori'Andr, Wonder Girl/Donna Troy, Beast Boy, uh, Changeling/Garfield Logan, Cyborg/Victor 'Vic' Stone, Raven/Rachel Roth, and Kid Flash/Wally West, but also introduced to two major villains in DC Comics' pantheon (Trigon and Deathstroke/Slade Wilson) as well as two villainous organizations (H.I.V.E. and The Fearsome Five). The characters are all pretty cool, and there are some amazing plot twists and story-arcs, the most central in this volume is Raven organizing the New Teen Titans to fight her daemonic father's impending invasion of the main DC Universe. What I really liked about this in comparison to, say, the Silver Age Titans is how they talk and behave. They're not throwing out supposedly hip slang for the times like a bunch of caricatures, but just being themselves, which makes them much more believable. I also loved the storyline with Cyborg and his father Silas Stone, which I was fairly familiar with after watching the Snyder Cut of Justice League. It was really more fleshed out and I was really happy that they were able to reconcile by the end of the story.
So, in short, I can't wait to read the rest of the series! -
Someday I will read an older comics series that I really enjoy. This, alas, was not the one. The New Teen Titans served to revive the teen superhero group in the DC universe, and it did so in a pretty good way. There is a nice mix of characters, especially for the time it was originally published. Each one has a unique set of powers that they can contribute to the different situations that they face.
The mystery around Raven and why she wanted to bring the group back together was written in a way that made the story drag. I was more interested in reading it to be done than to find out what happens next. The plot isn't bad and I like how it served to bring these characters together. But how it is written made it hard for me to get into it. Plus, the art is dated, which can make it more difficult to get through because of how much that applies to the comics medium.
There are definitely some good points though. I learned a lot about the characters that I hadn't known before. It sets the stage for things to come in future Teen Titan series', especially by giving the characters robust relationships. Cyborg in particular has some touching scenes with his dad. This was worth the read to see these characters come together. It sparked my interest in seeing an updated version of them. -
This volume contains the first 8 issues of The New Teen Titans. The special treat is the "ash can" supplement from DC Comics Presents #26 (1978) that introduced the re-formation of the Teen Titans. The original Titans Dick "Robin" Grayson, Donna "Wonder Girl" Troy and Wally "Kid Flash" West are joined by Raven the daughter of the Demon called Trigon, Starfire an alien princess, Victor "Cyborg" Stone and former Doom Patrol alumni Beast Boy aka Garfield "Changeling" Logan.
Marv Wolfman and George Perez did an excellent job updating the Teen Titans making the characters more like late teens just graduated from high school and going out into the real world and less like the little kid side-kicks that they were portrayed as in the 1940's through the 1960's.
If only Cartoon Network had used the comics then maybe the tv version would have been better than the bodily function jokes that it tried to sustain itself with during its run. -
I decided to continue my Teen Titans bender after finishing the Geoff Johns omnibus, & since I'd never read the Wolfman/Perez era before, I figured I'd give it a shot next. Plus it was interesting to see the early incarnations of characters I've come to know & love; already by the end of this volume the characters rang true. I can see why it became such a success. Looking forward to reading more & hitting the iconic stories.
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I first became aware of The New Teen Titans sometime in the early 90's. I think I might have read Issue #8, which contains the excellent "A Day in the Lives", which tells of a day in the life of each of the new Titans. It was clearly a character building piece and it came after a hectic first seven issues as a way to give the series some space before barreling ahead (which I didn't know at the time).
It may not have been the first of this run I read, but it's one of the first I remember, and I liked it because it WAS a character piece. I liked that it featured Dick Grayson and Wally West in non-sidekick roles, out from under the shadow on their mentors. I liked Wonder Girl, although I'd never heard of her before. Changeling was annoying (as he was meant to be) with the beginnings of vulnerability showing through. Cyborg was interesting, Raven was intense and mysterious. And Starfire, ah. Basically, a teenage boy's dream with the body of a goddess, little impulse control, a child-like innocence, and kick-arse powers to shoot down any threat. Hard not to love Starfire in this incarnation.
Memory is hazy, but I do know I tried to track down more NTT stories. At the time this was kinda hard as I wasn't a comic-book collector, nor even a monthly subscriber to ANY regular, on-going series. I seem to recall I picked up a paperback collecting some of the issues. Whatever, I somehow got up to the Terra storyline, but couldn't find anything after that. Not that I tried too hard.
But I never entirely forgot these characters, either. I liked the way they played off each other. There was genuine affection, genuine angst, genuine peril and genuine emotion. And plenty of it!
So, now that I have a Comixology habit, I went ahead and bought ALL the digital versions of The New Teen Titans' collected volumes, one through six. I wanted to see if I'd still enjoy it, and I wanted to know how all the storylines played through.
Well, after Volume 1, it's safe to say I DO still enjoy! In the first six issues they encounter and defeat a galactic threat and along the way, form as a team, begin to trust each other, almost break up as a team, heal some old wounds, and then REALLY begin to form as a team. The pace is a bit frenetic, the prose a little purple, but overall, it's a great ride.
Greatly looking forward to Volume 2, and reconnecting with these characters. -
So...Much...Pipe...laying!
OK, it's all the pipe laying here that produces the payoffs that the later series provides, but if this is your first exposure to the classic ( REAL ) Teen Titans, be sure to press on to find out why this series ended up mattering so much. If you know what's coming you can see everything being set up in these issues, but the stories are still plodding, muddled, over-dialogued and, as a sign of the years they were set, have this bizarre decision to have the issue with the big set piece fight against the series ultimate big bad be penciled by Superman stalwart Curt Swan. This probably drew in some readers back in the day, but given how different their styles are it's jarring and breaks up the limited story momentum.
Still, the concepts of the characters, how each of them (with one exception) are not just the hero, but also a metaphor for certain parent/child relationships. Robin's relationship with Batman is a tone perfect look at how you grow up when your father figure is someone who demands and reaches perfection in themselves, and how you start to do that to yourself even if they aren't demanding it. That's one of the least interesting: it's Starfire, Cyborg and especially Raven who were created with this in mind that Wolfman could really stretch his idea. Raven grew up with separated parents whose mother constantly told her her father was the devil because, well, her father was the devil. By taking the abstract and making it concrete, but making Raven form a surrogate family to help save herself from being pulled into her parents toxic interaction, Woldfman gives the series a spine that elevates it from comics that took fewer risks. -
I remember there was a weird panic over occultism when I was a kid in the 80's. For some reason, the religious wing of the government was sure that all teenagers were worshipping the devil, taking part in arcane rituals, listening to Satan's music, etc. I'm still not sure which zealot got that bee up their collective asses, but it's always stuck with me. Even as a child I facepalmed long and hard over the church and their morality panics.
Reading this and chatting about Majik with the fella that runs my local comic shop brought those memories up. I don't know which came first, these comics or the Jesus Parade fervor, but I find it all hilarious nonetheless. There was a definite uptick in comics from this era that delved deeper into the mystical and the occult (Madelyne Pryor anyone?). I suppose it was the talk of the day and that impacted the way the winds shift and the stories the writers had to tell, just like early Iron Man comics were all about "the Communist threat" to America. Times change, perceived threats change, pop culture reactions change.
Not sure I really have a point here. The book itself took me a while to get through, but I enjoyed it simply for the fact that it was a fun walk down to nostalgia junction. And for the fact that I adore Dick Grayson, but I figure that's a given at this point. -
TEEN TITANS GO!
This is the classical version of the Teen Titans, the DC team of teenage superhero sidekicks, created in the 1980s by the famous comic book duo Marv Wolfman and George Perez. After the rather straitlaced and unrealistic comic book run of the 1950s where the teenagers were respectful towards their elders, always followed the rules and never, ever acted in an immature or rash manner, Wolfman decided that a new course was needed for the Titans, one that was contemporary, relevant to teenagers and most of all..... just plain good fun. Thankfully the duo have succeeded admirably in all their goals which is more than you can say for today's reboot of the Titans.......
Yeah Scott Lobell hasn't so much as dropped the ball but kicked it with the pent up energy of a spacecraft into whatever dimension that Trigon is currently eviscerating.....
BTW Scott Lobell is the head writer for the New 52 version of the Teen Titans which has gone down as well as Donald Trump crashing a contemporary arts theater during socialist week but I digress...
Ok enough rants.
Lets focus on the TItans!
First of all, this is the 1980s version of the Teen Titans and is awash with Star Wars references, big bouncy hairstyles and the introduction to the notorious Deathstroke, one of DC's most badass assassins. Despite being very firmly rooted in 1980s culture and lingo, these Teen Titans have a timeless and enjoyable aura surrounding them. This ensures for a very lively, entertaining and ultimately refreshing read of the adventurous escapades of seven super cool teenagers, their inevitable realization that adults are hypocritical jerks and that when an extra-dimensional demon over lord plans to kick-start the apocalypse on Earth you'd best get psyched up and ready to kick his shiny red ass!
Anyway, this run of the Teen Titans was hugely popular and influential with DC fans for incredibly sound reasons which I'll get to later. This inevitably spawned TV shows, spin-offs, graphic novels and countless, countless reboots some of which should never again see the light of the day.
*Looks accusingly at New 52*
Doubtless one of the best things about the New Teen Titans is the characters themselves; a motley, mixed up and bickering gang of angsty yet sympathetic teenagers struggling to make sense of themselves and their place in an ever-shifting world of caped crusaders, extra-dimensional demons and the emergence of Star Wars.
There's Robin AKA Dick Grayson; the mature, diligent and thoughtful leader of the gang desperate to escape the shadow of his foster father Bruce Wayne AKA Batman.
There's Kid Flash AKA Wally West; the kind, loyal and cheerful one who struggles to find the right balance between being an ordinary college kid and an extraordinary superhero.
There's Wonder Girl AKA Donna Troy; the calm, dignified and thoughtful one who strives for peace even if she must partake in brutal conflict.
There's Cyborg AKA Victor Stone; the angry, impatient and independent one who wishes to return to the man he once was and not be half a machine.
There's Raven AKA Rachel Roth; the shy, solitary and serious one who is the enigma of the story and whose mysterious past is tearing her apart.
There's Starfire AKA Princess Koriand'r; the outgoing, cheerful and curious one who has to readjust to life far from home and on a totally new planet.
There's The Changeling AKA Garfield Logan; the charismatic, snarky and smart one who hides his uncertainty and despondency behind an iron clad wall of bravado and jokes.
This is, without a doubt, a fantastic and lively intro to the Teen Titans and their fun, frenzied escapades on Earth and beyond.
The artwork is beautiful, detailed and has a deft starkness that is lacking in today's comic IMHO. This is old school and couldn't love it more!
The dialogue and interactions between the Titans are crisp, snappy and, beneath the surface, tension and rivalry simmer in the midst.
The TT are excellent role models, mature, responsible and selfless (for the most part) but unafraid to (rightly) criticize their mentors of the Justice League or other adults.
I'd happily recommend reading the New Teen Titans. It'a fun and enjoyable way to explore and understand the vivid and complicated world that DC has created. Better yet, why not check out the animated Teen Titans or Young Justice if TV's more your style for superheroes?
Over and Out! -
This is #90 on the top 100 graphic novel list.
I was transported to my childhood, reading this book as it came out each month. I loved it then, and I loved it now.
I enjoyed seeing Raven again, with her hood down, had a crush on her then, have a crush on her now.
The storylines were bold for the time, and the introduction of Deathstroke, who to this day is still my favorite villain blew me away again.
Starfire, total yum, and extremely strong and confident in herself, what a groundbreaker.
This new Titans group is tough and total bad-ass. They can kick some tail, and even hold their own against the Justice League, albeit one without Superman.
Good stuff, indeed. And I like how the final block in this just shows them all having a normal day off from super-heroing. -
The New Teen Titans is a series I ignored back in the day. Lately, I’ve been viewing the cartoon series Young Justice and it put me in the mood to read some classic Perez Teen Titans.
This was pretty-okay. There were some cringe worthy moments by 2022 standards, but overall I’m glad I read it. I might even continue on at so e point, but I’m not in a hurry.
Most interesting to me was this book is pre Crisis on Infinite Earths. I missed out on Dick Grayson’s drifting away from Bruce Wayne. There is not much of that here, but there were some echoes.
I enjoy Marvel, but I am a DC guy at heart. I would recommend this to the same. -
I was always curious about this title but I never read it. So I thought I’d give it a shot.
It’s not bad. I don’t love the Trigon or the Raven stuff. But the Deathstroke and Ravager stuff was pretty great. And the Fearless Five. There’s a lot to like. Starfire is awesome. I love Robin. Kid Flash seems a bit out of character. He’s all over the place and can be kind of a jerk. And Cyborg has SO MUCH angst. But all together they gel well.
I enjoyed only about half the issues but I can see potential. -
great book!
for putting me to sleep.
okay truthfully (not that it didn’t actually help me fall asleep), when it was good, it was GOOD. but it took a long time to get into the story. obviously the team had to come together and grow — rather than being a well oiled machine right off the bat — so I understand why it was slow, but I was bored.
I think I’ve just gotten used to comic books being a lot shorter too so this one felt painfully long. I’ve never taken more than 2, maybe 3, days to finish a comic book but this took a week (I even ended up skipping the last few pages) -
I don’t know much about superhero comics, but my sons’ love for Teen Titans Go! and a bit of research led me to this as a good starting point for Teen Titans. And I’m digging the darker tones. The original crew (Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash) created in the 60s is present, but to spice it up, Wolfman added Raven, Changeling, Starfire, and Cyborg. This motley group of young superheroes are summoned to fight, exist, and live together.
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I grew up reading these characters, and the earliest issues I remember reading were late in this collection. I bought the first 6 volumes when Comixology had them on sale so I'm looking forward to the stroll down memory lane.
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I fricking loved this. Such a comfort to read while I’m nestled up sick. Cyborg’s storylines ugh they gutted me!! Raven is GREAT too, her storyline was foreshadowed semi by the later Teen Titan run I started but that didn’t take me too far out of it. The titans are really my thing.
