I guess it’s possible that readers here at the Blog@Newsarama may have gotten the impression that I’m not particularly fond of the direction that Teen Titans has taken since Geoff Johns left.

Well, that’s mostly true. With some of the biggest names in comics, and a roster of beloved characters, one would think that the title wouldn’t be such a directionless mess, but I can’t get a bearing for what anyone has been trying to do with that book since the end of Infinite Crisis. Losing Kid Flash and Superboy at the same time would likely have crippled just about any writer, but Johns had the good sense to get gone when he did it (whether this amounts to leaving a pile of dog poop in the closet of the house you just sold is its own question, I suppose). And besides, when having this kind of conversation I always have to look back at the Giffen-DeMatteis Justice League, and say, “You know what? They made lemonade. Why can’t [insert writer name here]?”

At any rate, September’s solicitations have revealed that Felicia D. Henderson, of Fringe and Gossip Girl fame, is taking on the writing chores of the book. In spite of fan speculation over at Titans Tower and Comic Bloc that she’s a “place holder” or a “Band-Aid,” the solicitations have her listed as the new “ongoing writer” of the series.

Now, of course there’s some question as to what constitutes ongoing these days. Mystery novelist Brad Meltzer and studio executive Jeff Katz have both taken “ongoing” writing gigs at DC only to serve a year and leave—which, with my ‘80s and ‘90s sensibilities, where guys like Dan Jurgens and Mark Waid wrote 100 or so issues of the same book, seems pretty limited. Still absent either Robin, Superboy or Kid Flash, one has to wonder about a couple of things: first, are DC planning on using these characters in some capacity, possibly in a Young Justice revival tour? And two, how serious ARE they about Teen Titans if they’re keeping Superboy and (Red or not) Robin, recognizable characters who might stoke sales, out of the book? Message boards are already buzzing with the murmurs of “killing the title” so that it can be relaunched with a big-name creative team.

For Henderson, who follows TV and film writers like Bob Gale, Jeff Katz and John Rogers into the DC Comics fray, one has to wonder if she’ll see the kind of critical success that those creators enjoyed (on Batman, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, respectively) or if she, like Bilson & DeMeo before her, will underestimate the task of writing superhero comics and suffer an unceremonious exit in less than a year.

I’m rooting for Henderson not just because I would like to see Teen Titans—ostensibly one of DC’s tentpole books—returned to its former glory but because I’d like to see her succeed personally. She’s an African-American writer with a proven track record of success in another industry. These are all things that we can use in comics—the need for diversity that transcends tokenism and actually gives creators and casts of characters a demographic breakdown more representative of the “real” world is something that’s been discussed ad nauseum, and even looked at briefly when the solicitations here at Blog@.

But what’s more relevant than that, and less likely to cause an uproar, is the idea that she comes from outside of comics. Theoretically less burdened with the epic proportions of DC’s continuity, writers from outside should be able to bring a fresh perspective and just worry about writing good stories with the character they’re given, and might be a good workaround for the previously-alluded-to issue of having a team that consists mainly of second-stringers. If all Henderson does is worry about telling good stories with Blue Beetle, Static and Wonder Girl, and doesn’t think to sit around bitching that she doesn’t have Robin and Superboy, she could not only turn the book’s disastrous recent course around, but strengthen those characters and make them viable long-term candidates for their own monthlies (or at least co-features).

Either way, this is an uphill battle for Henderson, and barring a spectacular success on her part probably a pretty thankless one. If she doesn’t burn up the charts right away, or impress the hell out of the readers from the word go, she’ll be unlikely to go down in history as having “saved” the title—but if things don’t turn around, I can easily see her being the writer who presides over its cancellation, through little or no fault of her own. Having a team with no real “all-star” to catch the eye of new readers, a genuinely depressed readership who haven’t been completely behind this title in a couple of years now and a higher price tag to justify a co-feature by the outgoing (and only marginally popular with the readers) writer are not exactly selling points. A couple of readers submitted questions for the “20 Answers, 1 Question” feature with Dan DiDio asking him to explain Henderson as his choice, and what he says if those questions are selected may give a little bit of insight as to what exactly DC is hoping to “get” out of this hire, but at present the outlook seems pretty hazy. But after a couple of years of flailing without much purpose or many successful storylines, this particular title might not have one more “try again” in the tank.

UPDATE: This hiring might have a little more to do with DC’s recent convention comments about coordinating with Warner Brothers on film adaptions. As Troy Brownfield points out, Akiva Goldsman, a staff writer on Fringe, is in place to produce the planned Teen Titans film.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 1:07 pm and is filed under News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.