Teen Titans (comics)

For the animated television series based on this comic book team, see Teen Titans (TV series). For the segments in the The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, please check that article.

The Teen Titans, also known as “The New Teen Titans”, “New Titans”, or “The Titans”, a DC Comics superhero team. The first incarnation of the group unofficially debuted in The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964), with the group making its first appearance under the name “The Teen Titans” in Brave and the Bold #59. As the group's name suggests, its membership is usually composed of teenaged superheroes. In the group's first adventure, the team was a junior Justice League of sorts, featuring Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad, the sidekicks of Leaguers Batman, the Flash and Aquaman, respectively.

In its second appearance, the group branched out with the introduction of Wonder Girl, a character introduced for the group to serve as an analogue for Wonder Woman. In Donna Troy's wake, many additional new characters were introduced into the Titans team, many of which where neither kid sidekicks to adult characters and in some cases; most notably in the 1980 “New Teen Titans” revival); young college age heroes, most notably Cyborg, Starfire and Raven.

While only a modest success with its original incarnation, the series only became a huge hit with its 1980s revival, under the stewardship of writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez. That year, the two relaunched Teen Titans as “The New Teen Titans”, aging the characters to young adulthood and featuring a level of complex storytelling and character exploration unheard of from DC Comics at the time. However, the departure of George Perez from the book, the book being relaunched as a direct market only title and Marv Wolfman's own creative burnout; influenced partially by the departure of his longtime collaborator Perez; and editorial interference^{[citation needed]} left the franchise decimated and the series cancelled in 1995 after 130 issues.

Since the cancellation of New Titans the concept has fluctuated in terms of success as creative teams have come and gone, though the most recent revivial of the series has garnered both commercial and critical success. The Teen Titans franchise attained a higher profile through animation twice since its inception, once in 1967 and again in 2003.

The genesis of the Teen Titans lays in the events of The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964), where Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad first teamed up to defeat a weather-controlling villain known as Mr. Twister. The trio end up deciding to form their own super-group as a result of the team-up.

In The Brave and the Bold #59, the group officially debuted with the team officially named “The Teen Titans” and sporting a brand new member: Wonder Girl. The character of Donna Troy (Wonder Girl) was created explicitly for the Teen Titans group, as Wonder Woman had no teen sidekick at the time, though the name “Wonder Girl” itself had been regularly used for a variety of flashback tales of Wonder Woman's childhood exploits at the time. Readers never saw Donna Troy join the team, though in the story “Who is Wonder Girl?”, Marv Wolfman revealed that Donna had joined the group shortly after the defeat of Mr. Twister and was the one responsible for coming up with the “Teen Titans” name for the group, unconsciously inspired by her post-Crisis tenure as a young charge of the Titans of Myth.

After a final appearance in one of DC's anthology comic books, Showcase #59, the Teen Titans were spun off into their own series, with “Teen Titans” #1, cover-dated February 1966.

The series' original premise revolved around the Teen Titans helping teenagers, answering calls from around the world. Their first set of stories included saving a town from a band of thieves who were impersonating a popular surf-rock band while committing their crimes, helping a teenager's burgler brother reform, investigating international teen tension at the Japanese Olympics and vindicating a teenager who claims interdimensional aliens were infiltrating his high school. Green Arrow's sidekick Speedy also soon joined in Teen Titans #4 (and was later given “founder status” along with Robin, Wonder Girl, Aqualad and Kid Flash). Additional team members were created for membership, most notably Lilith Clay^[1] and Mal Duncan.^[2] Other existing heroes such as Hawk and Dove,^[3] a duo of teenaged superpowered brothers while Beast Boy of the Doom Patrol made a guest appearance seeking membership (though he was rejected for being too young at the time). Honorary members included Aquagirl^[4] and Gnaark.^[5]

The theme of teenagers learning to take on adult roles and responsibilities was common throughout the series. The series explored (though not too deeply) then current events such as inner-city racial tension and various protests against the Vietnam War. One storyline beginning in issue #25 (February 1970) saw the Titans deal with the accidental death of a peace activist, leading them to reconsider their methods. As a result, the Teen Titans briefly abandon their identities to work as unpowered civilians, but the change was unpopular with fans and was quickly abandoned. Along the way, Aqualad was removed from the series and the character of Mr. Jupiter, who was Lilith's mentor and employer, was introduced and financially backed the Titans for a brief period. Ultimately the book was quietly cancelled with #43 (February 1973).

1970s revival

A few years after its cancellation, the series resumed with issue #44 (November 1976), but struggled to find focus. The few stories from the brief revival included the introduction of the African-American super-heroine Bumblebee, the introduction of the “Titans West” team, consisting of a number of other teen heroes including Bat-Girl (Betty Kane) and Golden Eagle, and the controversial introduction of Joker's Daughter in Teen Titans #48. The revival was short-lived, and the series was canceled as of #53 (February 1978). Tellingly, in the last issue the heroes realized that, now in their early 20s, they had simply outgrown the "Teen" Titans. In the last panel, without speaking, they sadly go their separate ways.

New Teen Titans (1980–1996)

DC Comics Presents #26 introduced a team of new Titans, anchored by founding members Robin, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash, soon followed by The New Teen Titans #1 (November 1980). It re-introduced the Doom Patrol's Beast Boy as Changeling and introduced the machine man Cyborg, the alien Starfire and the dark empath Raven. Raven, an expert manipulator, forms the group to fight her demonic father Trigon and the team remains together thereafter as a group of young adult heroes.

The villains' motivations are often complex, following trends that were coming to a head at that time towards greater depth in comics , particularly in the case of Deathstroke the Terminator, a mercenary who takes a contract to kill the Titans, in order to fulfill a job his son is unable to complete. This leads to the Titans' most complex adventure in which a psychopathic girl named Terra infiltrates the Titans in order to destroy them. This story also features Dick Grayson, the original Robin, adopting the identity of Nightwing and the introduction of a new member in Jericho, the son of Deathstroke. New Teen Titans also regularly features the Monitor as a background character.

Other notable New Teen Titans stories include "A Day in the Life...", featured a day in the team members’ personal lives. "Who is Donna Troy?" depicts Robin investigating Wonder Girl's true identity (#38) and "We are Gathered Here Today..." (#50) tells the story of Wonder Girl's wedding, noteworthy for being the rare superhero wedding in which a fight didn't break out.

Tales of the New Teen Titans, a four-part limited series by Wolfman and Perez, was published in 1982, detailing the back stories of Cyborg, Raven, Starfire and Changeling.

New Teen Titans and the Uncanny X-Men

The brainchild of writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, New Teen Titans was widely thought of as DC's answer to the increasingly popular Uncanny X-Men from Marvel Comics: Both series depicted young heroes from disparate backgrounds whose internal conflicts are as integral to the series as is their combat against villains. Both books were instrumental in moving mainstream comics in a more character-driven direction.^{[citation needed]} New Teen Titans also uses long story arcs, and the characters are sometimes involved in galactic and interdimensional conflicts. Much as Uncanny X-Men made a star out of artist John Byrne, The New Teen Titans did the same for Pérez.^{[citation needed]} The two teams met in the 1982 crossover one-shot entitled "Apokolips...Now".

A second series: New Teen Titans (vol. 2)

New Teen Titans fans experienced some title and numbering confusion when DC moved some of its more popular books from the newsstand to the direct distribution market, (comic book specialty stores), in 1984. New Teen Titans became Tales of the Teen Titans for a year (not to be confused with the earlier limited series), while a new concurrently published series named The New Teen Titans launched with a new #1. The former book began reprinting the latter's stories for the newsstand a year later, and ran until issue #91, but the direct market series printed only new stories.

Issue #1 of the direct market New Teen Titans created controversy when Dick Grayson and Starfire were depicted in bed together, although it had been established for some time that they were a monogamous couple. Pérez left the series after New Teen Titans vol. 2, #5, and the series began to flounder as Marv Wolfman got into disputes with DC over a proposed ratings system,^[6] and other writers contributed from time to time. José Luis Garcia Lopez followed Pérez as artist, and Eduardo Barreto contributed a lengthy run. Pérez returned as co-plotter/penciller with issue #50, the series again being renamed, this time to The New Titans: the characters were no longer teenagers. Issue #50 tells a new origin story for Wonder Girl, her link to Wonder Woman having been severed due to retcons in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Pérez remained as penciller with the book through to issue #55, 57 and 60, while only providing layouts for issues 58-59, and 61, with artist Tom Grummett finishing pencils and Bob McLeod as inker. Perez did remain as inker for the cover art to issues 62-67. He would return to for the series final issue with #130 (Feb. 1996) providing cover art.

The series introduced a number of characters and puts others through radical changes during the next seven years. Members during this time include Phantasm,^[7] Pantha,^[8] Red Star,^[9] Impulse,^[10] Damage,^[11] Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner),^[12] Supergirl,^[13] Rose Wilson,^[14] Minion^[15] and Baby Wildebeest. As a result, the group which appears in the final issue, #130 (February 1996), bears little resemblance to the one that anchored DC's line-up in the early 1980s.

Team Titans

Team Titans is another Titans spin-off. The series ran from 1992 to 1994 in 24 issues and two annuals. One of only several Team Titans from the future, they function as a terrorist cell fighting against a world dictator, Lord Chaos, the son of Donna Troy and Robert Long. Sent ten years into the past, their mission is to kill Donna Troy and prevent his birth. Killowat, Redwing, Dagon, Prestor Jon and Battalion are all erased from existence during the 1994 Zero Hour storyline and the series was cancelled. Mirage, Terra and Deathwing survive; it is established that they are from the current timeline. Mirage and Terra join the main Titans team and Deathwing is enthralled by an evil aspect of Raven and turns against the Titans.

Teen Titans (vol. 2, 1996–1998)

A new Teen Titans series written & pencilled by Dan Jurgens began later that year with a new #1 (October 1996), with former New Teen Titans co-creator George Pérez as inker (Pérez would ink the first 15 issues of the series). Atom, who had become a teenager following the events of Zero Hour, leads the brand-new team, with Arsenal becoming a mentor about halfway through the twenty four-issue run, which ended in September 1998.

Jurgens' run was unpopular with readers due to the use of new characters that had no ties with previous incarnations of the team. The new characters were created due to an editorial ban preventing Donna Troy, Nightwing and Raven from being used in the book.^{[citation needed]}

In an attempt to boost sales, a contest was held in the letter pages to determine who would join the team. Robin (Tim Drake), won the vote, but editors on the Batman titles banned Robin from appearing in the Teen Titans, forcing Jurgens to use Captain Marvel, Jr. instead.^{[citation needed]} The inclusion of Captain Marvel, Jr failed to boost sales of the title, which was then cancelled.

The Titans (1999–2002)

The team is revived in a three-issue limited series, JLA/Titans: The Technis Imperative, featuring nearly every character who had been a Titan and showcasing the return of Cyborg. This limited series leads into The Titans written by Devin Grayson, starting with Titans Secret Files #1 (March 1999).

This incarnation of the team consists of a mix of former original Titans, including Nightwing, Troia, Arsenal, Tempest and the Flash (Wally West), from the original team; Starfire, Cyborg and Changeling, from the New Teen Titans; Damage from the New Titans (the 1994 series); and Argent from the Teen Titans (the 1996 series). There was one new member, Jesse Quick. This version of the team lasted until issue #50 (2002).

The West Coast branch of the team, Titans L.A., appears once, in the pages of Titans Secret Files #2.

Between the end of Teen Titans and the beginning of The Titans, the next generation of young heroes - Superboy, Robin, Impulse, Wonder Girl, Secret and Arrowette - formed their own team in Young Justice, a series similar to the original Teen Titans.

Both series were concluded with the three-issue limited series Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, which lead into new Teen Titans and Outsiders series.

Teen Titans (vol. 3, 2003 - present)

Writer Geoff Johns’ Teen Titans series began in 2003, again featuring a mix of previous and new members, most of whom had been part of Young Justice.

The series’ original lineup mirrors and also inverts the lineup of Marv Wolfman's New Teen Titans series: veteran members Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy return, joined by younger heroes Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash. Raven re-joins the team in issue #12, and the new Speedy joins the team in Green Arrow #46, first appearing in the Titans book in issue #21. Starfire left the Teen Titans for the Outsiders. During the “Insiders” crossover with The Outsiders (issues #24–25), Superboy comes under Lex Luthor's control and attacks the team, afterwards taking a leave of absence that ends during Infinite Crisis.

The new series sees the team’s relocation from the east to the west coast, its headquarters located in San Francisco instead of the traditional New York City location. The new Titans Tower also has a memorial hall with statues of the fallen Titans.

One Year Later: The new Teen Titans

Main article: One Year Later

In the "One Year Later" jump after Infinite Crisis, Robin has returned to the Teen Titans after a year of travel with Batman and Nightwing. Feeling abandoned by Robin following the death of Superboy, Wonder Girl has quit the team and has been working alone, fighting the Brotherhood of Evil. Starfire is missing in action, never having returned from her journey into space. Raven and Beast Boy have split up: Raven's whereabouts are unknown, though she is rumored to be in Russia; and Beast Boy has left the Titans to join the new Doom Patrol. Joining him in the Doom Patrol are former Titans Bumblebee and Herald (renamed Vox). Speedy is said to be currently on an island with Connor Hawke. Kid Flash, who had aged into adulthood and lost his powers, is "kind of retired", according to Robin and has now become the fourth Flash. Cyborg has been damaged and inactive since his return from space, but 16-year-old genius fraternal twins Wendy and Marvin, have repaired him and given him new abilities. New members include Kid Devil and Rose Wilson (as Ravager), the latter of who was accepted at the request of Nightwing.

Robin, Kid Devil and Ravager reformed the Teen Titans along with Raven, Wonder Girl, Cyborg, the resurrected Jericho and new member Miss Martian.^[16] Robin told Wonder Girl that he believes Raven could bring Superboy back to life, just like she did with Jericho.^[17] Raven, however, revealed that she could not because Conner's soul had moved on.^[18] A memorial to Superboy has been erected outside Titans Tower. Unknown to the other Titans, Robin has secretly been attempting to re-clone Superboy, with nearly 100 failed attempts. This was until Wonder Girl found the lab, where she and Robin shared an unexpected kiss brought on by their mutual pain.

During the lost year, at least 24^[19] new members joined the team, all of them short-term. Without proper leadership or the feeling of family the Titans normally provides, none of the new members could get along and work together.

There are two active teams of Titans. The main Titans team is still located on the west coast and Titans East is on the east coast. Geoff Johns referred to Titans East as juvenile delinquents who will be causing trouble, and described one character as who he believes was the first white trash superhero (Risk). The other members are Deathstroke, Sun Girl, Batgirl, Kid Crusader, Match, Inertia, Duela Dent and Enigma.^[20] Deathstroke has been manipulating his Titans East, such as drugging Batgirl with the same chemical he used on Rose, resulting in manipulated, aggressive behavior, offering Inertia a drug called Velocity 9 which allows him to regain his super-speed without adverse effects, as well as blackmailing Risk. After Rose joined the team, Robin created a cure for the chemicals Slade had used on Rose, having feared the Slade would use it again, and uses the antidote on Batgirl. She has now decided to hunt and kill Slade.

Awards

The various series and characters have received a good deal of recognition over the years. The story "Then & Now" from Teen Titans (1996 series) issues 12–15, was a top votegetter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Story for 1998.

Trade paperbacks

Silver Age Teen Titans

Graphic novels by DC collecting the most well-known adventures of this era:

New Teen Titans

Graphic novels by DC collecting the most well-known adventures of this era:

The Titans

As yet, only the beginning and the end of this era have been collected in trade paperback form:

Teen Titans (2003-Present)

Note: Issues 27 and 28, pencilled by artist Rob Liefeld and written by Gail Simone, are not collected in any of the trade paperbacks. The two issues, along with the Outsiders #27 and 28, were designed as last minute fill-in issues, after DC Comics decided to publish "The Return of Donna Troy" (originally intended to run in the pages of Teen Titans #27-28 and Outsiders #27-28) as a stand-alone mini-series designed to spotlight the new DC Universe Logo.^{[citation needed]}

In other media

The team's first animated appearance was in Teen Titans segments of the 1967 Filmation series The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, featuring Speedy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Aqualad.

Cyborg appeared as a member of the Super Powers Team in The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.

From 2003 until 2006, a Teen Titans animated series aired, with stories that emulate the Wolfman/Perez era and an art style influenced by anime. Briefly airing on Kids' WB, Teen Titans premiered on and currently airs on Cartoon Network. The main characters are Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy. Many other Titans comic book characters appear, including Aqualad, Speedy, Deathstroke (named Slade), Wildebeest and Terra. Other characters have been specifically created for the show, including Más y Menos, Mumbo and Mother Mae-Eye.

Although ultimately proving popular, the decision to use anime-influenced animation rather than the Bruce Timm style used in Justice League Unlimited and other DCAU shows was somewhat controversial among fans. Other fans were more accepting, noting that many episodes are based on beloved storylines like The Judas Contract and The Terror of Trigon. While the series' storylines are sometimes serious, they are often humorous, accentuated by anime-influenced visual effects.

Despite high ratings, the series was cancelled after five seasons, with the final episode airing January 16, 2006. A direct-to-DVD movie, Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, premiered on Cartoon Network September 15, 2006 at 7pm. Three video games were made based on the show.

In addition, Titan's members including Flash, Green Lantern, Nightwing, Robin, Hawk and Dove, and Speedy have appeared in some context in the DCAU.

The Teen Titans are mentioned in a Static Shock episode entitled "Hard as Nails", in which the DCAU Batman made a guest appearance. Static inquires Batman about Robin, to which Batman responds that he is "with the Titans". When Static presses for more information, Batman intimates that Static might one day join the Titans.

At Comic-Con 2006, a Judas Contract animated movie was announced. Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, creators of The New Teen Titans will be working on the direct-to-DVD movie. It is known now that the movie's animation will not be done in the style of the Teen Titans series, but rather a style more similar to the comics.

See also

• List of Teen Titans members

References