Titans Together? Titans Forever!

I have been a long time Titans fan ever since they made their debut in DC Comics with the seminal ‘The New Teen Titans’ run by Marv Wolfman, and George Perez. So, when I found out that Tom Taylor, and Nicola Scott were creating a new TITANS book with the original line-up envisioned by Marv, and George in 1980, I was smiling ear to ear with anticipation. It made me look back at my journey with these group of heroes growing up, even though I discovered them a bit later when they first came out. It also made me look forward to the good things that lie ahead.

The Titans of the DC Universe

The original members of ‘The New Teen Titans’ were Robin (Dick Grayson), Kid Flash (Wally West), Wonder Girl (Donna Troy), Changeling (Beast Boy), Raven, Cyborg, and Starfire. They first came out as a team in the pages of DC Comics Presents #26 before they had their own team comic debut in the pages of The New Teen Titans #1. Truth be told, I had only discovered this iteration of the Titans when I had picked up an issue of The New Teen Titans #39 entitled, ‘Crossroads’.

Panel from The New Teen Titans #39

This was the book that introduced me to George Perez’s art. This was the book that introduced me to Marv Wolfman’s writing. Needless to say, I fell in love with the series as soon as I saw the above two page spread, and I’ve been a fan of these Titans ever since. To me, these were my Titans. This was the group that I grew up with reading. This was the group that I’ve been following ever since this team’s inception. Nowadays, these former teen heroes are now younger than me, and I have comicbook aging to thank for that. I followed this superhero team through many of its different compositions, but these seven are the ones that hold a special place in my heart. In fact, I hunted down the original run of Wolfman, and Perez on ‘The New Teen Titans’ until I had all of them.

‘The New Teen Titans #1′(1980) and ‘Titans #1’ (2023)

Fast forward to this year, 2023, when the creative team of writer Tom Taylor and artist Nicola Scott are tasked with telling stories about this same team of superheroes who have all grown up into their respective legacies. This is not the first time that this particular line-up were the core of the group. However, I’m more excited to see this group together under these new creators with all due respect to Judd Winick, and the rest of the creative team at the time. This had a lot to do with my knowledge of Tom Taylor’s writing, and Nicola Scott’s artwork.

Cyborg, Beast Boy, Nightwing, and Flash

I first encountered Tom Taylor’s writing in the pages of ‘DCeased’, that alternative DC universe storyline wherein the Anti-Life Equation created a zombie apocalypse. This was groundbreaking material that he couldn’t do in the mainstream DC Universe. He had an entire universe of his own to play with, and he pulled a lot of surprises in the process. I’m sad to see his writing on that alternate universe ending (for now?) since it has been one of those collections of mini-series that I enjoyed reading. I also read his work on a brief Suicide Squad run that also pulled a lot of surprises. One in particular was with the death of one of my favorite characters, Deadshot. Clearly with those two books, Tom Taylor was willing to think outside the traditional wirter’s box to tell great stories. But, it was his run on Nightwing which led him to his writing responsibilities on TITANS. And, one of the best moves he has done even before writing the TITANS was placing their base of operations in Bludhaven. It’s a brilliant move, and I’m scratching my head as to why no one else ever even thought about that before now. In any case, Taylor’s Nightwing run set the stage for the beginning of this new incarnation of the TITANS.

Raven, Starfire, and Donna Troy

On the other hand, I’ve known of Nicola Scott’s artwork since her run on ‘Birds of Prey‘ with Gail Simone as writer. However, it was during her run on ‘Earth 2’ also from DC that she really got my attention. This prompted me to check out her work in ‘Secret Six’ with Gail Simone again, and then later ‘Teen Titans’ with J.T. Krul. I’d also read her work on ‘Black Magick’ for Image Comics with Greg Rucka. With her doing the artwork, and Tom Taylor doing the writing, I see a very bright future for my beloved TITANS.

Titans art by Nicola Scott

To spoil the first story arc a bit, Tom Taylor is up to his nasty storytelling again by starting with a mystery involving Wally West’s apparent death. It’s a shocker of a first arc, but something tells me that Flash/Wally won’t remain dead for long. How do I know? Call it a Nightwing hunch. Of course, I’ll find out soon enough as I read the return of TITANS in the DC Universe. With that, I’m happy to see my Titans together again. I’m a fan of these TITANS, and this new creative team will surely guide these heroes to new heights. TITANS FOREVER!

Zack Snyder’s Justice League: A League of His Own

Maybe this will teach the Warner Brother’s movie higher ups to allow their creators to create with trust and confidence. Maybe this will erase the memory of a messy and inconsistent film that reflected its patchwork pieces to come up with a pedestrian interpretation of a better film. Maybe this will open the door to a far different and more adult way of interpreting super hero films that might not be for every age, but becomes ageless. Enough of the maybes, ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ does all of the above.

Breaking away from what is expected of super hero movies nowadays, ‘Zack Snyder’s Jusctice League’ provides a super hero film consistent with the original vision started with ‘Man of Steel’. It is dark, it is gloomy, but it is hopeful. I liken this film to the gothic stories of old wherein you have characters set in a situation that is near hopeless with that rare light at the end of the tunnel driving them to their destinations. For truly, wasn’t the reason Dante Alighieri’s Inferno came before Paradiso to make people face their own darkness first to better appreciate the light? That was the case for this film.

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The story takes place directly after the events of ‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice’, and you can see from the onset that this was a completely different film from the previous ‘Justice League’. Zack Snyder’s vision came to light with his setup of character buildiing of new heroes such as Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash while balancing it with previous character staples in Batman, Wonder Woman and even Alfred. The dramatic build up to the impending doom was just what the film needed to justify the gambit of reviving Superman from his eternal slumber. Never mind Steppenwolf. He’s small fry. When you’re going up against a threat like Darkseid, you truly need the hope that Superman gives on your side.

True, the film does not pit our Justice League directly against Darkseid himself. But, that’s more the case that they were able to prevent his coming in the first place, and not because they weren’t set to face him. For in all DC Comics lore, there are few greater threats than the Lord of Apokolips and his cronnies, Steppenwolf being just one among them. This raised the stakes to a worldly threat to an existential one. With Darkseid’s presence in ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’, we get to appreciate more the value of Superman to this story.

Let there be no mistake, this is a different film from ‘Justice League’ that came before it. Aside from the length, the treatment of the setting, characters and storytelling provide a better basis for the DC films that came after it. The vision is clearly set, and even sets the narrative up moving forward with what hopefully will be a proper continuation of this revived superhero franchise. Even the appearance of Martian Manhunter provides something to look forward to in future installmens of ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ as they move towards the power seven that is Justice League minus Green Lantern. However, elements of the film suggest that we might have a ring slinger making an appearance in the DC Extended Universe’s future. If not in this film, then maybe somewhere else.

All in all, ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ is a redemption film that reflects the true vision of the director. True, one might argue that the reshoots could be an afterthought of what worked in the previous film, and removing what didn’t work. However, that’s just pure cynical and insidious thinking. Zack Snyder loves these characters, and this story. Given a chance to show what he wanted, he would do so, and did so. What ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ provides us is an alternative way of telling super hero stories. Rather than be a super hero story, this film is a story about super heroes, and the difference can be seen in the end product.

‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ not only heralds the return, and highligths the importance of Superman. It also serves as a reminder of what happens when a creative genius is left to his own devices. Impending doom is averted, and hope in the future is restored.