New Teen Titans (1980) 8

A Day in the Lives...
By Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Romeo Tanghal
Jun 1981

The Titans take some time off from being superheroes to enjoy their civilian lives. Nothing too terribly exciting or involved happens but there is lots of seeds planted in this issue for future stories.

Kory and Donna hang out together. Donna is shooting pictures of models for a jeans advertisement. She introduces Kory to Terry, her boyfriend.

Dick chats with Raven briefly before heading for his day job with the circus. From the way he describes it he only just recently returned to circus work possibly for the first time since his parents were killed.

Raven explores the city using her soul self. She thwarts a crime in progress but her soul self is late returning to her body. This causes her all sorts of mental and spiritual distress. In the end everything seems to be ok. I say seems because I know that down the line Raven will have moments when she loses control.

There are a couple pages that don't involve the Titans but that foreshadow events in future issues. Jeremy Thornton of Dayton Industries (owned and run by Steve Dayton, Gar's adoptive father) buys a puppet for his grandson. Later that night the puppet comes to life and kills Thornton.

Gar hangs out with Vic for a bit but after getting a phone call from Vernon Questor he runs off. Questor is Steve Dayton's business manager. Two members of the board of Dayton Industries have been murdered recently and nobody can find Steve Dayton. This is hours before Thornton gets whacked by the puppet.

After Gar leaves, Vic visits an old girlfriend. He hasn't seen her since before he was reconstructed. She never came to visit him in the hospital. She has trouble looking at him and cries when she sees how he looks now. He leaves her feeling rejected and goes for a walk in the park. There he runs into a group of kids playing baseball. They all have prosthetic limbs of one sort or another and are very impressed by his shiny metal arms. He meets their chaperone, Sarah Sims, and decides to stick around and play ball with them.

Wally visits his parents, still uncertain if he wants to continue being Kid Flash.

According to Raven her soul self and her body can't be separated for more than 5 minutes. This reminds me of Negative Man from the Doom Patrol. In his case I think it was a minute that was limit of his time of separation from his shadowy form.

This is a good issue. There is lots of content to digest and I like that. By itself it would probably be enough to sell me on the series, more so than the preview from D.C. Comics Presents 26.

On the whole I am very impressed with this collection. I had never read any of these issues before. I have enjoyed Perez work on later issues of New Teen Titans and Crisis on Infinite Earths but I wasn't expecting to be as impressed as I am with the plotting and character moments. I will be picking up more of the collections in this series.

GCD: https://www.comics.org/issue/35380/

04/24/21 Addendum

I finally bought a copy of this issue. I read the story part of the issue in the trade paperback collected edition.

Titans' Tower

Marv Wolfman responds fairly verbosely to three letters from fans. He gives lots of credit to other members of the creative team. He specifically mentions Len Wein, Adrienne Roy, and George Perez hard work. He drops a hint that a future story will revisit Changeling's past with the Doom Patrol. He also takes issue with one fan who thinks that Titans Tower, the building not the letters page, needs to go.

New Teen Titans (1980) 7

Assault on Titans' Tower!
By Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Romeo Tanghal, John Costanza
May 1981

The Titans return to Earth and begin to explore their new headquarters, Titans Tower. Raven apologizes, once again, for misleading her teammates. Wally is still confused about his romantic feelings for Raven. Between that and his desire to give up the superhero business he decides to take a leave of absence and misses what happens next.

The Fearsome Five return. Psimon contacts the others from the dimension to which Trigon banished him. He needs their help to get back to Earth. In order to help him they need a device which is in the New Teen Titans HQ. They break into the Tower and attack the Titans.

The mysterious person who was seen hiding in the shadows in Titans Tower (in previous issues) is finally revealed. It is Dr. Silas Stone, Vic's father. He is responsible for the accident that disabled Vic and killed his mother. He rebuilt Vic, made him into Cyborg but Victor has never forgiven him. Dr. Stone has the knowledge and equipment to bridge the gap between dimensions and bring Psimon back. Dr. Light and Gizmo torture him until he helps them.

There is a knockdown, drag out fight between the two teams. The heroes are victorious in the end. After the fight Vic reconciles with his father. He learns that the accident that killed his mother and critically injured him, poisoned his father. He only has a short time to live. Vic forgives his father and the two spend the next month hanging out together until the day that Silas passes away.

Other highlights include the origin of Cyborg revealed in across two pages in the epilogue and a blueprint of Titans Tower.

This issue was not as much fun or complex as the last few. The highlight was the father-son reconciliation. Up to this point Vic had been adamant about refusing to accept his father's apologies. Seeing his change of heart makes him seem more three dimensional than he had up to this point.

GCD: https://www.comics.org/issue/1687923/

New Teen Titans (1980) 6

Last Kill!
by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Pablo Marcos
Apr 1981

Raven arrives with Trigon on his planet. It is there that she learns first hand how evil he truly is by witnessing his acts. He mutilates a young girl. Raven does her best to heal the girl. Displeased by his daughter's actions, Trigon destroys the girl with a single blast, reducing her to a pile of ashes. Trigon next demonstration of evil is to destroy the planet Xynthia which has been fighting back against his forces.

The rest of the Titans are still at the Temple of Azarath. They want to help Raven but don't know how to find or follow her. The monks of the Temple refuse to help and insist on sticking to their peaceful, non-confrontational ways. Arella tells the Titans her origin story, of how she met and was seduced by Trigon, how she came to the Temple of Azarath. She decides to forsake her vows to the Temple and help the Titans to find Raven.

Arella leads them through an inter-dimensional pathway that looks like something out of an MC Escher painting. When they leave the passageway they are on Trigon's planet. They quickly encounter the red-skinned, god-like being. They intend to put up a fight but he knocks them all out with a single blast.

Arella was not with the Titans when they confronted Trigon. She locates her daughter. Arella and Raven confront Trigon who went a little nuts when he couldn't locate Raven. Arella uses magic to hold Trigon off while Raven goes to look for her teammates. Arella is momentarily successful but Trigon is still not defeated.

Raven locates the Titans and convinces them that she has a plan that will work but that they need to work together as a team, as one, if they are to be successful. Wally spins at super speed, fast enough to open a rift, a gateway to the Netherverse. Changeling changes into a Triceratops to deal with a dog-like demon. Arella, Raven, and Wonder Girl (using her magic lasso) combine magic forces to weaken Trigon. When the moment is right Robin gives the order to Starfire and Cyborg to blast Trigon, sending him through the rift and into the Netherverse. Just before the gateway closes Arella follows him knowing that someone has to keep guard or else he will quickly return to threaten Earth once again.

The illustrations and panel layouts are gorgeous. It quickly becomes apparent what was missing in the previous issue. The way that Perez breaks down many pages into lots of little panels provides considerably more space to add nuance and color to the story.

The story wrapped up very quickly in terms of the number of pages it took for the Titans to defeat Trigon. The way that Perez spreads the action in that final fight throughout the panels and arranges the panels make it feel much more weighty, epic, and plausible. As always there is the old standby of coming together to fight as a team makes all the difference in the world.

GCD: https://www.comics.org/issue/1687934/cover/4/

New Teen Titans (1980) 5

Trigon Lives!
by Marv Wolfman, Curt Swan, Romeo Tanghal
Mar 1981

The art in the previous issue felt like it had reached a high point. Curt Swan does a decent job filling in for Perez but that's about it. His visual storytelling chops are quite good but his art doesn't have the crispness that the team of Perez and Tanghal did.

The locations of some of the scenes are a little murky. I thought that at the end of NTT 4 they were in another dimension but from the looks of it they are back on Earth. Raven tries to convince the other members of the team to stay but they don't want to hear it and walk off.

Raven gets attacked by Goronn, one of Trigon's followers. Her soul-self flies off and brings the Titans to her rescue. They all come right away except Kid Flash and Cyborg. Vic is brooding and seems a bit unsure about his place on the team. Wally still feels betrayed by Raven. Before too long they chase after the others and join the fight with Goronn.

It isn't easy but by working as a team the Teen Titans are able to subdue Goronn. Trigon descends from the skies and confronts Raven. It is here that it is finally revealed that he is her father.

Psimon, who was given his superpowers by Trigon, swoops in. Trigon deals with him by disbursing his atoms "through the light stream". He will return but not in this issue. Goronn is punished for his failure with death by laser vision.

The Titans return to the Tower. Raven tells them her story, of her past and about Trigon. The group decides they must do what they can to stop Trigon. In the middle of the fight Raven gets a summons from Arella and teleports to the Temple of Azarath. Her mother has bad news for her, the monks of Azarath will not aid her in the battle with Trigon.

Trigon sees Raven disappear, leaves Earth, and follows Raven to the temple. Raven teleports the other Titans to the Temple of Azarath. They do their best to repeat the success they had with Goronn but Trigon is much more powerful than his minion. The Titans are defeated. Trigon plans to make them his slaves and use them to help him destroy Earth. Raven offers to go with him if he will leave her teammates and the Earth alone. He agrees to her terms. Father and daughter disappear in a cloud of smoke.

I can't help but feel that this issue would have been a little more special or nuanced had Perez been the penciler.

This is a middle chapter in a longer story. The reveal that Trigon was Raven's father would have had more impact If I didn't already know that this was the case.

This is a fine issue but it really doesn't function on its own very well.

04/29/21 Addendum

I finally bought a copy of this issue. I read the story in the first trade paperback collection of this series. 

Titans' Tower

The letters page gets a new name and includes a few letters in response to the first issue of the series. The readers have questions and comments about the new characters (Cyborg, Starfire, Raven) and not so new characters (Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Changeling). All the letters are positive and offer some insights into how the fans feel about the new series.

New Teen Titans (1980) 4

Against All Friends
By Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Romeo Tanghal
Feb 1981

This story runs much deeper than I thought it would. I am not just talking about the story in this issue but the whole story that started in the preview. This isn't just a story where the younger heroes (New Teen Titans) battle the older heroes (Justice League of America) over some misunderstanding. It also serves the larger story.

Raven and her ongoing battle with Trigon seem to be at the heart of the larger story. This issue opens with the JLA battling three sorcerers (wielding the Necromancy-Force) who the heroes believe to be evil. The source of their information is Zatanna. Raven tries to intercede and convince the JLA that they are fighting the wrong people but they don't know her and won't listen.

Raven heads to the Temple of Azarath where she confronts the high priestess, Arella, her mother. She asks her for help but is denied. Her mother and her followers are peaceful. She sends Raven back to Earth, to Titans Tower. There she meets the other Titans who have no memory of their battle with the Fearsome Five. Raven fears that they are being controlled by the villains, a fear which proves to be correct as reveled in a brief interlude.

Raven tells them about Trigon the Terrible. He is the one they should be most concerned about. When she mentions her encounter with the JLA the others go running off to find and fight the League. They teleport up to the Watchtower and attack the JLA. Raven follows them but can't get them to stop fighting until she creates an illusion that they have killed the JLA.

Now that the spell is broken, Raven teleports the Titans to the sorcerers who the League attacked earlier. It is revealed that they are fighting to keep Trigon from destroying this dimension that Earth inhabits. Trigon summons the JLA magically. Another fight breaks out between the two teams of superheroes.

Raven tries to plead her case again but Zatanna insists that Raven cannot be trusted. She senses great evil coming the Titan. She also tells of how how Raven lied to the Titans. Raven insists that she did it, manipulated the other Titans into coming together as a team, for the greater good but the others aren't receptive to her pleas.

I love this issue so much more than I thought I would. The fight scenes are beautiful. The plotting is gorgeous. It isn't hard to believe that this is the same creative team that created Crisis on Infinite Earths. The scale of the story feels like it is on a par with The Great Darkness Saga. I love the panel layouts and the angles used. I really like the look of the Temple of Azarath and Arella.

5/7

GCS: https://www.comics.org/issue/35091/

New Teen Titans (1980) 3

The Fearsome Five!
by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Frank Chiaramonte
Jan 1981

The Titans hang out at Wonder Girl's penthouse apartment. Starfire tells them about her home world of Tamaran, 8th planet of the Vegan solar system. She tells them about the peace settlement between Tamaran and the Citadel which led to her becoming a slave to the Gordanians. Starfire's storytime ends when Raven shows up to warn them about a new team of Super Villains, the Fearsome Five.

Unbeknownst to Raven, the reader, and most of the other characters in this story it is one of the Five who told her where to find them. Following Raven's lead, the Titans locate the Fearsome Five. The two teams start fighting but the villains prove to be too much for the Titans.

The leader of the Fearsome Five is Dr. Light. He is the only one of the team with a history prior to this issue. His first appearance was in Justice League of America 12 (Jun 1962). He appeared a number of times in the 19 years since then and battled a number of different heroes (Atom, Green Lantern, Flash, Superman, Aquaman). He also battled the previous incarnation of the Titans in Teen Titans 44 (Nov 1976). As it turns out he is being manipulated by one of the Five, Psimon.

Psimon used to be Simon Jones, a physicist who pierced the barrier between dimensions. That's how he met Trigon who gave way his superpowers. The exact nature of those those powers is a bit fuzzy but as he describes it on page 19, "I had been changed into a living psionic! All my mind could conceive, I could create!" Using his powers he takes control of the team that Dr. Light has assembled and plants suggestions in Raven's head that lead the Titans to find and fight the baddies.

Gizmo is a genius-level inventor who can create anything, including weapons, on the fly. Shimmer and Mammoth are siblings. She is able to transmute matter. He possesses superhuman strength and is highly invulnerable; Starfire's star bolts have no affect on him.

Before the Titans second encounter with the Fearsome Five, Raven levels with the Titans and tells them about her training in Temple Azarath and the visions she had involving Trigon, a demon named Goronn, and the Justice League. She believes that if the Titans don't fight and beat the League then Goronn will be released and Trigon will conquer the Earth.

Raven stays behind when the Teen Titans go to fight the Fearsome Five for the second time. The Titans are defeated once again. Raven sees them fall and decides to try asking the Justice League for help.

There are a couple interludes mixed in with all the action. In one interlude Cyborg, who wasn't in on the first fight with the Five, talks to his father. Their relationship is still contentious. His father's thoughts reveal that the older man is dying but he can't get a word in edgewise with his son. In another interlude the Titans meet up at their new HQ, Titans Tower. They all got messages telling them where it was but none of them know who built it or sent the messages. They don't get very long to ponder this mystery before their second battle with the Fearsome Five.

I knew that there were storylines that would start here and bear fruit a few years down the road but I had no idea before reading this collection how intricate the story telling in the early issues of New Teen Titans would be. I am very impressed and pleased to see that there were twists in the tale that I didn't know about prior to reading these stories. I am very much looking forward to how things will evolve.

4/29

GCD: https://www.comics.org/issue/35019/

---

04/24/21 Addendum

I finally bought a copy of this issue. Previously I only owned a reprint of it in the trade paperback.

Tell It to the Titans

According to my research there were text pieces in the first two issues but this is the first letters page for New Teen Titans (1980). There is no indication as to who picked the name for this letters page.

Letters from fans in response to the announcements that the Teen Titans would be getting another series. All are positive but some have suggestions about the tone of the book and the members of the team.

New Teen Titans (1980) 2

Today... the Terminator!
by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Romeo Tanghal
Dec 1980

H.I.V.E. wants to hire Deathstroke, the Terminator, but they refuse to pay him in advance. They test him and use what they find to duplicate his powers. They endow Grant Wilson (later revealed to be his son) and send him to kill the Teen Titans. He idolized the Terminator and uses the code name Ravager.

Based on what happened in the previous issue it seems like H.I.V.E. (Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Eliminations) must be the organization that Grant alluded to when he was caring for Princess Koriand'r. Best I can figure, Grant is a bit unbalanced mentally. I cannot think of any other explanation for why he hates the Titans so much. He is angry about losing his girlfriend, Carol, who dumped him and there might be more back story that has yet to be revealed.

Starfire still doesn't speak any human languages. They name her Starfire because of the bolts she is able to shoot from her hands. She gains the ability to speak English after she kisses Robin, midway through the issue.

Interesting to note that the team is frequently referred to as the New Titans, rather than the Teen Titans or New Teen Titans. I wonder why? I wonder if that will change?

Ravager attacks Cyborg while he is working with his father at S.T.A.R. Labs to analyze an android that the Titans captured earlier in the issue. Cyborg has Ravager on the ropes until Deathstroke shows up. Deathstroke takes Ravager back to his apartment. He warns Grant Wilson about using the power he has been given. He does not reveal that he is his father.

There is an interlude that shows Raven talking to someone. She begs for forgiveness. Her plea is rebuffed by the unknown person to whom she speaks. I am fairly certain that this will turn out to be her father, Trigon.

Cyborg goes to get the other Titans who are hanging out by the pool at Changeling's home. Ravager and Deathstroke attack. Ravager doesn't follow Deathstroke's advice and uses his power very liberally. He ends up burning up, it looks like he ages very rapidly as he dies. Deathstroke takes his son's body and leaves. He blames the Teen Titans for the death.

In the one page epilogue, H.I.V.E. watches Deathstroke, who in turn (with his assistant, Wintergreen) is watching Carol (still no last name) at Grant's grave. They seem satisfied that they have him now: he will work for them. If I remember correctly this is a thread that won't get picked up again until the Judas Contract arc, three-and-a-half years later. According to his gravestone Grant was 19, born in 1960.

There is a whole lot of bits and pieces in this issue. It is on a level with the work being done by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen in Legion of Super-Heroes in stories like the Great Darkness Saga.

4/19

GCD: https://www.comics.org/issue/34896/

New Teen Titans (1980) 1

by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Romeo Tanghal
Nov 1980

There is no title for the issue but it is divided into three segments. Oddly enough the first segment is titled Epilogue. This title makes me wonder if this part was originally supposed to be part of the Preview in DC Presents 26. It is 3 pages of Princess Koriand'r aboard the slave ship Q'st'r fighting the Gordanians who are trying to capture or recapture her. It ends with her escaping in a small space craft and heading for Earth.

Chapter One: The Birth of the Titans! (8 pages)

Robin dreams of the battle which he experienced in the Preview. Raven pays him a visit and talks him into gathering other superheroes: Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Changeling (formerly known as Beast Boy), and Cyborg. Kid Flash initially says no but changes his mind after having an off-panel chat with Raven. Bruce Wayne makes an appearance. Wonder Girl remembers part of her origin. Cyborg tells a little bit of his origin story as he pleads his case to his coach to let him stay on the team.

Chapter Two: New York Nightmare! (13 pages)

The newly formed team locates Princess Koriand'r. She is being cared for by Grant Wilson who is in the middle of a fight with his ex-girlfriend when the Titans and the Gordanians converge on the apartment. The evil aliens and the superheroes clash. The aliens escape with the princess. Raven locates the Gordanians and transports the team on to their space ship. They battle the aliens once again and this time they escape with Princess Koriand'r.

The last panel shows Grant Wilson talking to someone in the shadows, someone from an organization known as H.I.V.E.

Unlike the preview, this has me wanting to read more.

4/18

New Teen Titans Preview

Where Nightmares Begin

DC Comics Presents 26
by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Dick Giordano
Oct 1980

The story starts off fairly straight-forward. Robin, the Boy Wonder is at STAR Labs in NYC about to take on some terrorists who are threatening to blow up some of the equipment. In the blink of an eye he isn't at STAR Labs but at a place he has never been before, Titans Tower. There he runs into some other superheroes. Some of them he knows (Wonder Girl, Changeling, Kid Flash) and some he does not know (Cyborg, Starfire, Raven).

Together they head to STAR Labs to fight an alien menace that wants to turn Earth's atmosphere into methane gas. Robin bounces back and forth between these two versions of reality before setting back into the one he was in at the beginning. The only caveat is that it seems that it was not all a dream because Raven is still around, although Robin doesn't see her.

One other interesting piece of information is that the lab from which the alien creature emerged belonged to Cyborg's father. From the looks of it Cyborg does not have a good relatoinship with his father.

I don't know if this would have been enough to suck me onto buying this series in 1980. Maybe it would but I wasn't exactly won over by this story today. It was my first time reading it.

GCD: https://my.comics.org/issue/34737/