Hey, don't get me wrong: I think that the Teen Titans is a great brand, and potentially a excellent spawner of four-color excellence.
But c'mon:
Teen Titans
Teen Titans Year One
Titans
Tiny Titans
DC Special: Raven
DC Special: Cyborg
and now:
Terror Titans
I know how this happens: "Teen Titans is our X-Men! We should do more with it!"
But remember the last Teen Titans glut? In the early 90s?
Remember...
Team Titans: 5 separate collector's item 1st issues with different covers, older mentor who was obvious Cable rip-off, and, according to Phil Jimenez:
"The unfortunate part of that was we had no idea that what they wanted was DC Comics’ X-Force. They, DC management at the time, saw Team Titans as this answer to Rob Liefeld’s X-Force"
Which brings us full circle to:
Which is not to say that the new Terror Titans won't be a good book. But there's an awful lot of Titans books out there now.
For my part, I'm not interested in the new Titans book or the solo books. I like Teen Titans but its only just recovering from a pretty shaky year or two - spinning off the Terror Titans into a mini seems a little premature right now, Mary Marvel or no Mary Marvel.
ReplyDeleteI get that DC wants a franchise like the Avengers or X-Men, but at some point they need to realise that not only are they not Marvel but they don't need to be Marvel.
Come on, be fair - if they don't swamp the market with half-assed Teen Titans books, how will DC ever help us forget the awful Young Justice that was really poorly-written and everyone hated, despite certain editorial people with a huge amount of faith in the concept going out of their way to give it a chance? To this day those editors still laud YJ and the people who worked on and read it...
ReplyDeleteWhat gets me is that this push seems to have missed the boat - it should have happened when the cartoon show was fresh and new, not a couple of years after it was cancelled. It suggests bad marketing strategy and a lack of brand awareness, as even if a Teen Titans cast from the cartoon would be a vastly different beast in the context of DCU continuity, there's still the visibility that comes from a current (and popular) television show watched by millions of kids with large amounts of disposable income. It seems odd that DC won't take a chance on the indulgences of this audience, yet will chance a TT book on the indulgences of a jaded 30-something audience who probably have a family to think about before what comic books they'll be buying this month.
Your telling me!
ReplyDeleteTeen Titans pretty much is my "X-men". It's to the point where I'm buying Raven despite not being able to tell whats going on.
Still the art IS trippy awesome.
Holy cow is that a Liefeld Titans? It hurts just to look at from afar.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually the one time when the most Titans material is available out there, not counting the tpbs.
ReplyDeleteThe only other times where multiple books were published about the Titans was when Tales was reprinting and the baxter-paper series was new stories. And then when New Titans and Team Titans was published.
I never thought Young Justice was a horrible idea, it could have been executed differently. You had characters who based on history you could technically say they were Teen Titans. Unfortunately, it would have conflicted with the Dan Jurgen's run of Titans at the time.
I can't see for sure right now the point of having a Terror Titans limited series, when only 1 issue of the current story is out there. Then again, I also can't see the point of soliciting a HC collection of the new Titans series either.
But, what do I know?
Are Titans really the X-Men of DC Comics? Because despite what everyone, including this blog tell me, the Wolfman/Perez era was the only era worth a damn that anyone still talks about. Unlike the X-Men, which continued to grow, for good and bad, after the departure of Chris Claremont, Titans doesn't offer much beyond that one era. Granted perhaps a good writer could do something with these characters, but it's been a long time, right? Getting these characters all together is pretty contrived anyway. The JLA should be the X-Men of DC. Unfortunately, they've dropped that ball too.
ReplyDeleteAnd last I checked, Young Justice was a pretty good comic, written by Peter David with fun art from Todd Nauck. Titans should be so lucky.
Hi Cass,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more about your veiws on the Titans. Besides Wolfman and Perez and Johns no one has had a really good run on the Titans. and I think West was joking about YJ sucking. At lease I hope he was.
See, I question the effectiveness of the brand at this point.
ReplyDeleteThe Teens book is decent -- here's to hoping they pick up Static! -- but everything else seems to be ill-advised, if not in idea, then in approach, as the reactions to Titans seem to suggest so far. And giving the Terror Titans their own mini during an already non-memorable introduction arc doesn't sound like a good idea, either.
I was joking about Young Justice - I thought it was a pretty good book that hit all its targets: the action scenes were cool and exciting, the humour was pitched at a younger audience (apt for the characters utilised), and unlike the modern Titans books, there was always a palpable sense (possibly because all the characters bar Robin were exclusive to YJ) that any one of the team could buy the farm, meaning there was always tension in even some of the more outlandish tales. I was just being sarcastic like "Jeph Loeb is a great writer but terrible at networking and that's why he doesn't get much high-profile work" kinda sarcastic.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was a little juvenile at times, but surely that's the whole point of a book aimed at and starring teenagers?
I'm thinking the Young Justice comments are sarcastic - the bit about the book and the readership being lauded by current DC editorial gives it away.
ReplyDeleteThe sarcasm is well aimed, as far as I'm concerned - Young Justice was a great book, the last great teen book DC put out. Johns' Titans was okay, certainly better than McKeever's. But it paled next to Young Justice.
@Jack West
ReplyDeleteRereading your Young Justice comments, clearly you are being sarcastic and I'm foolish for thinking otherwise. As well, it's good to see all the love for Young Justice.
RE: Young Justice
ReplyDeleteI loved Young Justice!
I loved Todd Nauck's art, and I thought it was the perfect book for teens (even though once in a while it had a risque joke in it)