I will read anything in comic book form. But if you had to make me choose between Marvel and DC, I'd have to side with the Distinguished Competition. That being said, DC has never been perfect. It's had just as many hits as it has had misses. One thing that Marvel destroyed DC on was how it published the generation gap of the late 1960s. The very book that I am reviewing today is an excellent case in point in how the elder statesmen writers of DC had trouble relating to the teens of the Vietnam era.
This book collects the first 18 issues of the original Teen Titans series along with the team's very first appearances in The Brave and the Bold and Showcase. From the first story, the main theme was that when it comes to teens, adults just don't understand. When the teens of a small coastal town go on strike, the sidekicks of Batman, Aquaman and the Flash agree to intervene.
The Teen Titans were created to help troubled teenagers have a voice when the old folks won't listen. Even the Caped Crusader shows his age in the earliest adventures calling Robin a wild and rebellious teen. Yet the Titans are anything but. Along with late addition Wonder Girl, these heroes would go undercover as regular teens. Yet, they're so clean cut that anyone else with street smarts would finger these kids as narcs.
Bob Haney does manage to create some pretty awesome villains for the Titans to combat. There's the British fop, the Mad Mod, who rivals the Joker in level of criminal genius. Then there's the grotesquely costumed Gargoyle. He's got a vendetta against one of the Teen Titans. But unfortunately, we never find out why in this volume. Plus who can forget Ebenezer Scrounge in the classic Christmas caper?!
Yes, Teen Titans did villains well. But in terms of the teens themselves, I think someone did their research on kids from the 1940s. All of the teens in this book are squares- except for the guest stars! Speedy, Beast Boy and a Russian lad named Starfire are all welcome visitors to this massive collection. But as for Robin and his cohorts, they might as well be speaking Japanese with their ridiculous attempts at young adult slang!
Things do seem to be changing for the better in the last 3-4 stories. We get different writers contributing including an early stint by New Teen Titans legend, Marv Wolfman.
I found myself disappointed that this volume came to a close when it did. Things started getting good!
At least there's a volume 2. However it's getting increasingly difficult to find Showcase collected volumes for a good price, much less at all.
A mixed bag of teen angst from a time when DC's best and brightest just couldn't relate.
Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.
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