DC’s solicitations yesterday revealed what seemed to be a cover for August’s issue of Teen Titans, but which DC’s The Source blog revealed to actually be the first page of #72…a coffin with the Titans’ logo on it. Now, leaving aside the fact that several of DC’s recent cover solicitations have featured formerly-dead Titans on the cover, thus calling into question the real “staying power” of deaths in the context of this team…I have to ask who’s left? I mean, it seems to me that just about any character that the average reader cares about on this team has been killed and/or brought back. I’d be willing to bet that if you go all the way back to Infinite Crisis, there’s been at least one Titan killed every six months…and so many killed in “event” stories that you could probably average it out to about one a month. With that kind of track record, and only about 1/3 of them being brought back from the dead, one has to wonder how The Titans will recruit new members.
Cyborg: We want YOU for the Teen Titans.
Some Random Teenage Hero Without A Monthly Comic Of Their Own: No way!
Cyborg: That’s the kind of enthusiasm we like to hear! High five! [Raises hand]
Some Random Teenage Hero Without A Monthly Comic Of Their Own: No, I literally mean that. “No. Way.” I’m not coming within 500 yards of that tower. I don’t need to be cannon fodder! Doesn’t matter how good I am, how powerful I am–I’ll end up in a pine box the next time some alien goes after whatever random hero I’m supposed to be a young proxy for!
Cyborg: …Oh. [Left hanging, waiting for the high five]
They’ve come to the point with Titans deaths that it’s almost like the X-Men/Force/Factor/whatever deaths of the late ’90s. It’s hard to take them seriously anymore becuase you know that before the mourning period is even over–sometimes before the coffin is lowered into the ground–the character will either come back or somebody else will die to trump it.
May 19th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
I’m old and crotchety, I admit. I don’t have any respect for either DC or Marvel when it comes to character deaths, because neither one has any respect for the dead, or storylines from previous creators.
We don’t know what the end result of Blackest Night will be, but it seems tailor-made to resurrect dead characters (of course, most of the Black Lanterns are recently deceased, so it may have been planned from the very beginning).
And then there’s Barry Allen. Again, we’re not sure if he’s going to be alive or dead at the end of his mini (and thankfully, it doesn’t seem a foregone conclusion to Barry himself), but his is one–if not the–most celebrated deaths in super-hero comic history. His successor has matured and come into his own. What benefit does his return give.
All this to say that, yes, the idea that you can kill off any character without consequence because you can always bring him back later is getting a little old.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:24 am
It’s like the disabled lists in pro sports. You don’t know when they’re coming back, there’s a slim chance it’ll be never, and the suspense comes from not knowing exactly when they’ll come back.
But, yeah, the Teen Titans seem to bite it like Spinal Tap drummers.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:53 am
http://www.shinyshelf.com/article/3/4/1623
Says the Titans ‘has recently felt like some sort of funded study into how bad a comic can possibly get’ and you can’t argue, can you? Last week’s issue was dipping close to ‘below professional standard’, in terms of both writing and art.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Who care its the Teen Titans were adults not teenagers who care’s There should be only ONE team and thats the JLA
May 20th, 2009 at 8:08 am
It is worth noting that the Wolfman era team was almost as likely to have tons of death and angst, so this isn’t a new thing.
And that during Johns’ run on the book, the only Titan to die was Kon-El.
But at this point, I think I will just stick with my TPBs and my DVDs of the Titans cartoon.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Simon, I disagree. Between the first 44 issues and three annuals, ONE Titan died, and that was Terra. Yes, both Starfires (Kori and Leonid) lost love interests, Terra was the only Titan to die. Two Titans were killed in the first Crisis (Aquagirl, who only had a loose affiliation, and Kole, created to die).
And that was it, really. Between about 58 issues before they went to reprints and 70 issues of the Baxter series, the only Titan that I recall dying IN THE BOOK was Terra. The above two and Jason Todd died elsewhere. With #71 of the Baxter, the Titans Hunt kicked in, and others died (Charlie Parker, who was retconned back to life; Jericho, who was retconned back to life; Danny Chase, who became Phantasm . . . and that’s it, isn’t it?).
That’s not the same as the recent wave where we’ve seen DC kill Conner (now back), Bart (now back), Terra II (in 52/WW3), Marvin, Osiris, Panthan, Wildebeest, Bushido, Molecule, and more.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Don’t forget the recent Titans East special where at least Power Boy died. Oh wait, a special that leads into the first issue of a series which we only found out about AFTER opening issue #1 to find out it was “Part 2″ of a story. Yeah, I’d rather forget that Titans East book too.
And who gets credit for the awful “Graduation Day” book?
May 20th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Judd Winnick
May 20th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Titans are suffering from JLA disease right now, where constant changes in other books cause too many team fluctuations. Wally is available to Titans, oh wait, he’s on JLA now, well maybe he’s not. Dick is leader of the Titans, oh wait, he has to leave he’s Batman now, so you can’t have him. Remember how odd it was when Spoiler was Robin for LESS THAN 1 ISSUE during Johns run? Seriously, beginning of the issue it was Spoiler, by the end Tim called Conner and said “yeah, funk that noise, I’m totally Robin again, OMG ROFL.”**
It’s both sides, too, how many versions of New Avengers have there been in the past three years? A book in it’s 50th issue should not have had that many “all new all different” member shakeups.
It’s a catch 22, a team book with external characters will always have these problems, especially in our current event driven universes. And self contained teams like Doom Patrol and Metal Men that side step events and external characters will never gain as much popularity.
The trick is to find a writer who can handle all of these shakeups and make the book good. Unfortunately, most writers get desperate and just kill off characters.
**quote might be slightly paraphrased.
May 20th, 2009 at 9:43 am
I am still hoping for the return of Lilith (killed gratuitously in Graduation Day).
Poor Osiris was created to die as well, but I hated to see him go.
I hate the practice of creating or bringing back characters only to kill them especially in “events” like Infinite Crisis etc.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:15 am
I’ve said it before … I’ll say it again: The book needs a new writer and one that is interested in continuing on with the Titans legacy. There are plenty of interesting things that could be done with the characters they have/had on the team and no reason for a continuous killing spree. I read the last issue of the Deathtrap storyline and, ugh, I’m glad I didn’t buy it.
I think there are plenty of writers out there that could be tapped for this, but how about some new blood? I know I’d love to take a chance at writing both Titans (Teen and Regular variety) …
May 20th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I wish DC would step up and start killing two per issue. I mean, if you’re eventually going to increase the cover price, increase the number of pointless kills.
May 20th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Really. I think the ONE DC Death that would be interesting would be Dan Didio’s lol ^__^ sorry Dan, don’t mean you no harm but I’ve put my love for DC away in a box until I heal from the pain that Final Crisis and Countdown caused me… ok but I will check Blackest Night though
May 20th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
I don’t believe that a Titan will be dying. I think it’s the casket for a Titan that has already fallen, or someone will go to extraordinary means to help a Titan and fall in the process, and the team will honor said person with a ceremony at the tower. I find it hard to believe that they’ll be killing off another Titan.
May 20th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I’m with Justin. Esp. given this is in the Blackest Night context no?
May 20th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Personally i think the hints point to Zatara or Eddie
May 20th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
I bet it’s Kid Devil in the casket….
May 20th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Whether it’s the Teen Titans or the Young X-Men/New Mutants, both Marvel and DC seem to have a sick sense of tragedy. Now I have always been a fan of the “teen heroes” books and seeing a character die is somewhat harder to stomach than watching one of their older counterparts die. Granted, with the Titans, it’s usually a team member going bad and dying in some act of repentance, but with books like young X-Men, the slaughter was wholesale. Sure, killing off a teenager has always been a good way to get a huge fan response…and any publicity is good publicity, but perhaps DC (and Marvel) are jumping the Fonz’s proverbial shark.
May 21st, 2009 at 8:44 am
My feeling is, the sooner they’re all dead, the sooner we can avoid the latest half-thought relaunch of this sad franchise.
May 21st, 2009 at 3:04 pm
I always thought that when DC strayed from Johns’ concept: 1 core team but you would see teenage heroes training and/or hanging out at the tower all the time that the book was going to be in trouble. I never saw it as a slaughterhouse for the next generation of heroes…ugh….
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:32 am
Stuff like this is one of the many reasons why these days I’m only buying titles from the DC KIDS line.
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:25 am
D is for DC
D is for DIDIO
D is for DEATH
he’s a 1 trick pony.