All right, officially into the Post-Dinner Blogging Seasons. Woo-hoo!
Review code format (ranked 1-5, blah to faboo): [writing / art / new reader? / non-comics reader?]
The New Teen Titans Archives (Vol. 1) (DC) [4/4/5/2] (collects #1-8)
w. Marv Wolfman; a. George Perez
Put together as a creative reaction to Marvel’s New X-Men juggernaut, the New Teen Titans signalled a dramatic change in DC sensibilities. The X-motif of character conflict, hidden pasts, secrets, and angst were new to DC, but Wolfman put it all together nicely, with Perez’ art giving them a clear and vibrant coat of paint. In this volume, Raven pulls the team together — primarily (but secretly) to protect the world from her dad, Trigon. Robin and Wonder Girl and Kid Flash were standards, but the laugh-clown-laugh Beast Boy was a relatively new factor as a main character, and the angrily bitter Cyborg (in the Ben Grimm role) and the mysterious Raven and bodacious alien Starfire filled out the organization. Their first mission took them up against the alien slavers after Starfire, and subsequent missions in this volume sent them against the Hive, Deathstroke the Terminator, Trigon and the Brotherhood of Evil, all of whom would be staple opponents, as well as against their “seniors” in the Justice League. It was good stuff, and launched a comic that was the gem in DC’s crown for some time (and one of the first books from DC that I collected — indeed, I was just getting into comics when #1 came out, and I still kick myself for not picking it up from that 7-Eleven). Good stuff that still holds up as well as anything else from the early 80s.
Vol. 2 (not pictured, and not available from Amazon) maintains much the same cast of characters and villains (through #16), but brings in the first appearance of the Titans of Myth, dragging the NTT into the whole Wonder Woman / Amazon / Greek Myth / Who is Donna Troy bit that seems a standard for the Teen Titans. It also resolves some of the outstanding Doom Patrol plotlines for Beast Boy. Again, good stories, well drawn, and premiere comics from their era.
Teen Titans: Beast Boys & Girls (Vol. 3) (DC) [3/3/3/2] (collects Beast Boy #1-4, Teen Titans #13-15)
w. Geoff Johns; a. Justiniano/Grummett
Hop ahead to a new generation. Johns first tackled Beast Boy in 1999, dealing with “Gar in Hollywood,” with fame (fleeting and otherwise) and stalkers, not to mention BB being suspected (with very good reason) of murder. The new Teen Titans series, also written by Johns, ran as its arc in this volume BB getting “cured” — at the cost of infecting children all over the Bay Area with his “condition.” Neither cases were his fault, of course, but they ran the normally laughable and laughing Gar through some very difficult times indeed. Entertaining, but not overly so, and the BB series itself drags the collection down without the rest of the Titans to carry it. Gar really is a second banana, and good writers seem to recognize that.
(listening to: Barenaked Ladies, “What a Good Boy” from Rock Spectacle)
(listening to: Wainwright III, Loudon, “Tonya’s Twirls (Live)” from So Damn Happy)
(listening to: Goodall, Howard, “Magnificat” from Choral Works)
(listening to: Simpsons, “Bart Sells His Soul (Medley)” from Songs in the Key of Springfield)