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====Founding members====
====Founding members====
*[[Nightwing|Robin (Dick Grayson)]] (''The Brave and the Bold'' #54) (later [['''Nightwing''']])
*[[Nightwing|Robin (Dick Grayson)]] (''The Brave and the Bold'' #54) (later [[Nightwing]])
*[[Wally West|Kid Flash (Wally West)]] (''TBATB'' #54) (later the [['''Flash''']])
*[[Wally West|Kid Flash (Wally West)]] (''TBATB'' #54) (later the [[Flash]])
*[[Aqualad]] (''TBATB'' #54) (later Tempest)
*[[Aqualad]] (''TBATB'' #54) (later Tempest)
*[[Wonder Girl#Donna Troy|Wonder Girl (Donna Troy)]] (''TBATB'' #60) (later Troia)
*[[Wonder Girl#Donna Troy|Wonder Girl (Donna Troy)]] (''TBATB'' #60) (later Troia)

Revision as of 17:38, 11 October 2005

Teen Titans
File:Robtitans1.jpg
The current Teen Titans team.
Art by Rob Liefeld.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearance(original team) The Brave and the Bold Vol. 1 #54
(current team) Teen Titans Vol. 3 #1
Created byRobert Haney
Bruno Premiani
In-story information
Base(s)Titans Tower

The Teen Titans (also known over the years as The New Teen Titans, The New Titans, and The Titans) is a team of comic book superheroes in the DC Comics universe. As the group's name suggests, its membership has usually been composed of teenagers.

Silver Age

The Teen Titans first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964), portrayed as a junior Justice League consisting of Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, joining together as had their mentors (respectively, Batman, The Flash, and Aquaman). They were soon joined by Wonder Girl, whose existence as a teenaged version of Wonder Woman had previously been established, but this character was new and separate from the adult character, and their link was not immediately clear (the mystery of Wonder Girl's background would linger in the series until finally resolved in the 1980s).

File:Teentitans1.JPG
The original Teen Titans

The Teen Titans were popular enough to be awarded their own series, with issue #1 (cover-dated February 1966). The early issues were noted for their artwork by Nick Cardy. While Green Arrow's ward Speedy would naturally join (though would later be retconned to be a founding member despite not showing up for several issues), the series later introduced entirely new teenaged heroes, notably Lilith and Hawk and Dove.

The series' tone was often torn between the freewheeling excitement of the 1960s, and its darker side as keyed by the Vietnam War and the protests thereof. One memorable storyline beginning with #25 (February 1970) put the Titans in the middle of the accidental death of a peace activist, leading them to reconsider their means and goals, and leading to the temporary departure of Robin. The theme of teenagers learning to take on adult responsibilities was common throughout the series.

The series' popularity flagged heading into the 1970s, and it went on hiatus as of #43 (February 1973).

Notable Silver Age appearances

Silver Age members

First appearance with the team is noted.

Founding members

Later members

Honorary members

1970s revival

A few years later, the series was revived resuming with #44 (November 1976), but struggled to find focus, moving through a number of storylines in rapid succession. Notable among these were the mysterious Joker's Daughter, as well as the Teen Titans West, consisting of a number of other teen heroes from around the DC Universe. The revival was short-lived, and the series was cancelled as of #53 (February 1978).

Notable 1970s appearances

  • The Teen Titans #44-53

New 1970s members

The New Teen Titans/The New Titans era

File:Teentitans2.JPG
George Perez and Marv Wolfman's Titans. This is the most famous of the Teen Titans incarnations.

The Titans were again revived with a new series. Previewed in DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980), The New Teen Titans #1 (November 1980) introduced a team of new Titans, anchored by previous members Robin, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash. It re-introduced the Changeling (formerly Beast Boy), and introduced for the first time the man-machine Cyborg, the alien Starfire, and the dark empath Raven. Raven, an expert manipulator, formed the group to fight her demonic father Trigon, and the team remained together thereafter as a group of young adult heroes.

The brainchild of writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, it has been widely speculated that the book was DC's answer to the increasingly popular X-Men from Marvel Comics, and indeed both books involved a group of young adult heroes from disparate backgrounds whose internal conflicts were as much a part of the book as their combat against villains. In any event, both books were instrumental in moving mainstream comics in a more character-driven direction. The title also borrowed the use of long story arcs and having the characters swept up in Galactic battles and interdimensional conflicts. Much as X-Men made a fan favorite out of artist John Byrne, The New Teen Titans did the same for Pérez.

Even the villains' motivations could be complex, as in the case of Deathstroke the Terminator, a mercenary who took a contract on the Titans to fulfill a job his son was unable to complete. This led to the Titans' most complex adventure, in which a psychopathic girl named Terra infiltrated the Titans in order to destroy them. This story also included the original Robin, Dick Grayson, adopting the identity Nightwing. The series also made regular feature of The Monitor as a background character.

In 1982 there was a four-part mini-series by Wolfman and Perez, Tales of the New Teen Titans, that detailed the back stories of Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, and Changeling.

File:Teen Titans montage.jpg
A montage of the 60's, 80's and 90's incarnations of the team; art by Nick Cardy, Dan Jurgens & George Perez.

Other notable stories included "A Day in the Life..." which featured the personal lives of the team on one day. There was also the story "Who is Donna Troy?" in which Robin investigated Wonder Girl's true identity (#38), and "We are Gathered Here Today...", the story of Wonder Girl's marriage (#50 and noteworthy for being a rare superhero wedding in which a fight didn't break out).

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

Issue #1 of the new direct market book got some controversy as Dick Grayson and Starfire were depicted in bed together, although it had been established for some time that they were a regular couple.

Pérez left the book after #5 of the second series, and the series seemingly went into a tailspin (at some point Wolfman reportedly suffered from writer's block, and other writers chipped in from time to time). José Luis Garcia Lopez followed Pérez, and Eduardo Barreto contributed a lengthy run. Then Pérez returned with #50 (the book again being renamed, this time to The New Titans, the characters effectively no longer being teens) to tell another origin story for Wonder Girl (her previous link to Wonder Woman having been severed due to retcons in Crisis on Infinite Earths), resulting in her being renamed Troia. Pérez this time hung on through #61.

Following this, the book introduced a number of characters, put others through some radical changes, and though it ran for another 7 years, the group which appeared in the final issue, #130 (February 1996), bore little resemblance to the one which had anchored DC's line-up in the early 1980s.

Notable New Teen Titans appearances

Graphic novels

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

  • DC Archives: The New Teen Titans Volume one collects DC Comics Presents #26 and The New Teen Titans vol. 1 #1-8. Volume two collects The New Teen Titans vol. 1 #9-16 and Best of DC (Blue Ribbon Digest) #18.
  • The Judas Contract: collects The New Teen Titans vol. 1 #39-40, Tales of the Teen Titans #41-44 and Annual #3
  • The Terror of Trigon: collects The New Teen Titans vol. 2 #1-5
  • Who is Donna Troy?: collects The New Teen Titans vol. 1 #38, Tales of the Teen Titans #50, The New Titans #50-55, Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2003.
File:GP NTT 05.jpg
A more recent illustration of the 80's team, again by Perez.

New members in the New Teen Titans

New members in the New Titans

Teen Titans (1996)

Teen Titans v2 #5 cover, featuring the 1996-98 team

A completely unrelated group of Teen Titans began their own series later that year with a new #1 (October 1996). Led by the Atom, who had become a teenager following the events of Zero Hour, the series ended with #24 (September 1998). The entirety of this run of the title was written by Dan Jurgens.

New members in the Teen Titans, vol.2 (1996) series

Notable appearances

  • Teen Titans vol. 2, #1-24, Annual #1, 1999

The Titans (1999)

File:Titans1999.jpg
The Titans roster. Art by Phil Jimenez.

The earlier team was revived in a 3-issue mini-series, JLA/Titans, featuring nearly everyone who had ever been a Titan. This led into The Titans #1 (March 1999), written by Devin Grayson. This incarnation of the team consisted of a veritable grab bag of former Titans, including Nightwing, Troia, Arsenal, Tempest, and the Flash (from the original lineup), Starfire, Cyborg, and Damage (from the New Teen Titans era), and Argent (from the 1996 series). This series lasted to #50 (2002).

It was followed by the Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day crossover, that led directly into the new Teen Titans series, and set also the grounds for the new Outsiders series.

New members in The Titans (1999) series

'Titans LA' members

Notable appearances

  • JLA/Titans: The Technis Imperative #1-3 (collected into the graphic novel of the same name).
  • The Titans #1-50
  • Titans Secret Files # 1 & 2 (the lead story of #1 also included in the aforementioned Technis Imperative collection)
  • Titans/Legion of Super Heroes: Universe Ablaze #1-4
  • Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1-3 (collected later in prestige format)

Teen Titans (2003)

File:Teentitansturner.jpg
Teen Titans #1, July 2003 by Geoff Johns and Mike McKone, cover art by Michael Turner

Writer Geoff Johns launched another Teen Titans series in 2003, again featuring a mix of previous and new members, many of whom had previously been part of Young Justice.

The original lineup of this version of the team was intended to mirror the lineup of Marv Wolfman's New Teen Titans series. Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy return, this time as the veteran members, whilst the current Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash (who, as Impulse, served very briefly with the New Titans before that series's cancellation) are portrayed as the rookies, inverting the dynamic of the earlier series. They were initially the core of the teen team Young Justice. Raven joins the team in the first issues, her soul housed in a new body and having to relearn again to use her powers, putting her in a middle-ground between the veterans and the rookies.

This new series saw also a relocation of the team from the east to the west coast. The headquarters of this new team are located in San Francisco instead of the traditional New York City location.

Notable appearances

  • Teen Titans vol. 3, #1 through current issue (still in publication as of this writing)
  • Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2003
  • Teen Titans/Legion (of Super Heroes) Special
  • Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2005

Graphic novels

  • A Kid's Game: collects Teen Titans Vol. 3 #1-7 and Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2003.
  • Family Lost: collects Teen Titans Vol. 3 #8-12 and Teen Titans #1/2.
  • Beast Boys and Girls: collects Beast Boy (1999 mini-series) #1-4 and Teen Titans Vol. 3 #13-15
  • The Future is Now: collects Teen Titans Vol. 3 #16-23 and Teen Titans/Legion Special #1
  • The Insiders: collects Teen Titans Vol. 3 #24-26 and Outsiders #24-25, 28
  • The Death and Return of Donna Troy: collects Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1-3, Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2005 and The Return of Donna Troy #1-4

New members in the Teen Titans (2003) new series

In other media

The team's first non-comics media appearance was in several backup segments of the 1960s series The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, which featuerd Speedy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Aqualad.

Main article: Teen Titans (animated series)

In 2003 a Teen Titans animated series was launched that primarily emulates the Wolfman/Perez era, featuring slightly younger characters and an anime-influenced style. It appears regularly on Cartoon Network. The main characters consist of Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy. Many other original comic characters appear, including Aqualad, Speedy, Slade, Wildebeest (who is an official Titans member in this series) and Terra. Some characters have been created for the show, including Más Y Menos, Mumbo and Mother Mae-Eye. The show has finished its fourth season, rather dramatically with "The End" trilogy, and the fifth season has begun airing with "Homecoming pts 1 and 2". Although popular, the decision to use younger characters rather than the older teens/early 20s characters as established in the comic books has disappointed some fans. Other fans are more forgiving, noting stories that were based on the original comic stories. While the series' storylines are sometimes serious, they are often laden with humorous portions, accentuated by the use of various anime-influenced visual effects.

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