Teen Titans (comics)
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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.
Teen Titans
Teen Titans: "One Year Later".
Cover to Teen Titans (vol. 3) #41 (2006).
Art by Tony Daniel
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance The Brave & the Bold (vol. 1) #54
Created by Bob Haney
Bruno Premiani
Base(s) of operations Titans Tower:
New York City (1980–91, 1999–02)
San Francisco (2003–Present)
Other:
Solar Tower, Metropolis (1997–98), USS Argus, Earth Orbit (1994–95), Titans Liberty Island Base, New Jersey (1991–94), Gabriel's Horn, Farmingdale, Long Island (1976),Titans' Lair, Gotham City (1966–76)
Roster
Cyborg
Jericho
Kid Devil
Miss Martian
Ravager
Raven
Robin
Wonder Girl
See: List of Titans members
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 a 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.
Teen Titans
The original Teen Titans.
Publisher DC Comics
Schedule Monthly
Format Ongoing
Publication dates (vol. 1): 1966 - 1976
(vol. 2): 1996 - 1998
(vol. 3): 2003 -
Number of issues (vol. 1): 53
(vol. 2): 24
(vol. 3): -
Creative team
Writer(s) various
Artist(s) various
Creator(s) (vol. 1):
Bob Haney
Nick Cardy
(vol. 2):
Dan Jurgens
(vol. 3):
Geoff Johns
Mike McKone
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).
