New Teen Titans (1984) 1

New Teen Titans (1984) 1

Aug 1984

Shadows in the Dark!

by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Todd Klein, Adrienne Roy 

The Teen Titans (Nightwing, Wonder Girl, Starfire, Cyborg, Changeling, Jericho) are in the midst of training when Raven appears in their midst. Jericho makes the mistake of making eye contact with her and entering her body. He is quickly expelled and appears very frightened as he materializes.

The Titans have a formal meeting. Raven announces that she is going to leave the team. Her teammates want to help her but she has made up her mind. She spends one last night in Titans Tower. 

Cory’s parents celebrate the end of the war with the Citadel with the people of Tamaran. They send a spaceship to bring their daughter home. 

Vic shows Gar, when they are alone, photographic evidence that demonstrates how Raven’s appearance has changed since she joined the team.

Joseph sneaks into Raven's room while she is sleeping and enters her body, without her permission. He encounters Trigon who is aware that she is inhabited by someone else’s spirit. Raven steps forward to prevent her father from killing her teammate. Raven is gone when Joseph is expelled from her body and returned to Titans Tower. He tells the others about what he saw, Trigon.

Thoughts

It's hard to believe but it has been a little over a year since I last read a Teen Titans comic book. It has been over three years since I read the last issue of New Teen Titans (1980) after which the title of the book was changed in anticipation of this series beginning publication. It has been a little over six years (since Apr 2017) when I started this read through of the New Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. This is the final story in that run. Wolfman continued to write the series but (with the exception of one story about four years down the line from this one) this is the last Teen Titans story that Perez drew.

Jericho acts very foolishly and presumptuously in this issue. First, he casually takes over Raven’s body only to discover that there is more beneath the surface than he imagined. Later, he entered her body while she was sleeping and was confronted by Trigon. I don’t know what he was thinking on the second occasion but that seemed very presumptuous, inappropriate, rude, and a violation of her own personal autonomy. I don’t care how much he wanted to help her that was not the right thing to do.

It seemed like Joseph entered more than just Raven’s body but also her mind. I wasn’t aware he was able to do that. Is this a one off or will we see him manifest this ability in the future? Did Joseph inadvertently help Trigon reclaim his daughter?

I think I may have read this issue before but I don’t think I have read the entirety of this five part story before. 

I love the pages on which Trigon appears, especially the double page spread. Perez does a masterful job with those pages. Colorist Adrienne Roy also deserves credit. I doubt that the colors would look quite as crisp if the story had been printed on newspaper instead of Baxter paper. 

What can the Titans hope to do against the might of Trigon? Raven is the only one of them with mystical powers, or is she? Lilith appears on the cover to the next issue. She seems to be leading them in some sort of ceremony. I’m tempted to pull out the issues of Who’s Who and read about her abilities but I think it might be better if I just stick with the story for now. 

This is a decent start to this story. I’m eager to read the next installment. 

Together Again for the First Time

by Marv Wolfman

Marv reminisces in this text piece about the early days of New Teen Titans, way back in 1980. He writes about how popular the team has become, merchandise that he has found featuring the New Teen Titans, the role the characters have played in the U.S. Government's anti-drug campaign, working with George Perez, and very briefly about plans for the year ahead without going into any sort of detail. This page also includes a preview of the cover to the next issue.

Marv previewed some of the storylines yet to come in Tales of the Teen Titans Annual 3, which was published just before this issue. Some of those stories appeared in Tales of the Teen Titans and some in this series. This issue was published the same month as Tales of the Teen Titans 45.