Does DC even care about the Titans anymore?

[vaf2675]

No? Because not many people care about the original line up.


They were crap before and crap afterwards. There hadn't been a good Titans book in years.

I'll respectfully disagree with just about everything you said there.

[Kid A]

They are not my property, I'm merely stating fact. Doesn't it seem odd to any of you guys that they chose to completely change the Titans for this Earth One book by completely ignoring the team's original line up?

Facts don't matter in a vacuum. There's no reason why "founding members" are essential to new interpretations of the TT concept.

Also, Titans had a long and rich history before N52, afterwards, not so much.

Didn't realize the Nu52 can just rewrite reality like that.

[vaf2675]

Didn't realize the Nu52 can just rewrite reality like that.

That is precisely what it did! You do realize that the history of the Teen Titans was basically completely rewritten by the New 52 don't you?

[Shellhead]

The Teen Titans and also the Legion of Super-Heroes were inherently more appealing to fans when comics were primarily bought by kids. Kids could look up to teenage superheroes, but modern fans are mostly adults who are less likely to recall their teenage years with fondness. For similar reasons, Captain Marvel has also floundered with modern fans. To a kid, the ability to magically turn into an adult is an awesome super power. To an adult, it's utterly unimpressive.

[Kid A]

That is precisely what it did! You do realize that the history of the Teen Titans was basically completely rewritten by the New 52 don't you?

Yes, but your old books still exist.

Also history doesn't really make a lot of sense for characters in their adolescence. The whole coming of age story isn't ongoing. It's why almost every Spiderman run since Lee/Ditko and Lee/Romita is redundant.

[FanboyStranger]

This is really sad. The Teen Titans were DC's bread and butter throughout the 80's. Now they don't even care about them anymore.

I think this is kinda the problem with any Teen Titans book, though-- you have this seminal series from thirty years ago that worked because Wolfman was allowed to really change those characters, it got massively popular, and then all efforts were made towards maintaining that success, which meant trying to break the TT franchise down to a repeatable formula. Unfortunately, what made the NTT era successful was that Wolfman, Perez, and their other collaborators had some real freedom to do something different with these characters, and every further iteration was about maintaining the status quo while superficially giving the illusion of change rather than giving creators the freedom to go in new directions. It's exactly what happened to the X-franchise during the '90s. Even something like the Johns/McKone era, which featured different characters, really seemed invested in recapturing the spirit of Wolfman/Perez rather than doing its own thing.

[FanboyStranger]

That is precisely what it did! You do realize that the history of the Teen Titans was basically completely rewritten by the New 52 don't you?

There was a loss of continuity and some different characters, but I'd argue that everything else about the book was still attempting to replicate the type of work that Wolfman did. The faces change, but the story is still the same... or at least how it's told.

[LoneNecromancer]

I think this is kinda the problem with any Teen Titans book, though-- you have this seminal series from thirty years ago that worked because Wolfman was allowed to really change those characters, it got massively popular, and then all efforts were made towards maintaining that success, which meant trying to break the TT franchise down to a repeatable formula. Unfortunately, what made the NTT era successful was that Wolfman, Perez, and their other collaborators had some real freedom to do something different with these characters, and every further iteration was about maintaining the status quo while superficially giving the illusion of change rather than giving creators the freedom to go in new directions. It's exactly what happened to the X-franchise during the '90s. Even something like the Johns/McKone era, which featured different characters, really seemed invested in recapturing the spirit of Wolfman/Perez rather than doing its own thing.

Yep. The Teen Titans Earth One is pretty much the only time I've been genuinely interested in the Titans in years, and that's because it's free to do and tell its own thing without being beholden to the past or editorial.

[Pharozonk]

I think this is kinda the problem with any Teen Titans book, though-- you have this seminal series from thirty years ago that worked because Wolfman was allowed to really change those characters, it got massively popular, and then all efforts were made towards maintaining that success, which meant trying to break the TT franchise down to a repeatable formula. Unfortunately, what made the NTT era successful was that Wolfman, Perez, and their other collaborators had some real freedom to do something different with these characters, and every further iteration was about maintaining the status quo while superficially giving the illusion of change rather than giving creators the freedom to go in new directions. It's exactly what happened to the X-franchise during the '90s. Even something like the Johns/McKone era, which featured different characters, really seemed invested in recapturing the spirit of Wolfman/Perez rather than doing its own thing.

I don't mind them trying something new with the team. I just hate the (New52) mentality that they needed to get rid of all of Titans history to do it.

[Jeremi]

I don't mind them trying something new with the team. I just hate the (New52) mentality that they needed to get rid of all of Titans history to do it.

And possibly having the worst ongoing of the Nu52 stuff also probably added something to that factor.

[Buried Alien]

This is really sad. The Teen Titans were DC's bread and butter throughout the 80's. Now they don't even care about them anymore.

It parallels what's happening with the X-MEN in the Marvel world these days. Times and tastes change.

I again refer to a Chinese proverb: "He who has the advantage today will not necessarily have the advantage tomorrow." In 1984, did it look like the X-MEN and TEEN TITANS juggernauts could ever be stopped? A generation has passed in the interim.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Pharozonk]

It parallels what's happening with the X-MEN in the Marvel world these days. Times and tastes change.

I again refer to a Chinese proverb: "He who has the advantage today will not necessarily have the advantage tomorrow." In 1984, did it look like the X-MEN and TEEN TITANS juggernauts could ever be stopped? A generation has passed in the interim.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

The X-Men brand can still sustain 5 titles right now while the Teen Titan can barely hold on to 1.

[Buried Alien]

The X-Men brand can still sustain 5 titles right now while the Teen Titan can barely hold on to 1.

X-MEN has always been a stronger overall brand than TEEN TITANS, even back in the glory days of both franchises during the 1980s.

But X-MEN has clearly been slipping in terms of its importance to Marvel. Over the past decade, we've seen the dominance of the X-MEN slide away in favor of the AVENGERS. Similarly, TEEN TITANS' dominance has gradually given way to the JUSTICE LEAGUE, and I believe the tide began turning as early as when Grant Morrison took over the JLA franchise in 1996.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Buried Alien]

BTW, what the heck is this thread doing on the Community Forum? Moderators, could we have a change of venue, please?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Pinsir]

I'm guessing Pinsir has only read the N52 bastardization.

Pretty much

I don't even care for the Teen Titans that much, but the Wolfman TT run is one of the best things DC has ever put out.

The problem is they havn't gone beyond that.