Teen Titans: Year One

Teen Titans: Year One #1-6

by Amy Wolfram, Karl Kerschl (Illustrator)

The early years of the famed Teen Titans are chonicled in this epic collection!

See the famed Teen Titans overcome their teenage awkwardness as they become the super heroes they're meant to be in this pivotal origin story of the team!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Young Adult

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Amy Wolfram is an American writer who wrote Teen Titans: Year One for DC Comics, as well as four issues of the Teen Titans Go! tie-in series. She also worked on the original Teen Titans animated series, Super Hero Girls graphic novels and more.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I gotta explain my rating on this one, because I was sort of torn on how good Year One actually was.



The Good (or how I ended up giving it 4 stars):
The art is unusual and very cute. I just wanted to pick up those Titans an give 'em a great big squishy hug! Except for Aqualad...he's just creepy-looking in this.



Also, the story is extremely kid-friendly, except for one reference that Green Arrow makes to Speedy about not knocking up Wonder Girl (of course, that may bother other parents more than it bothers me). So my Mom-Rating would probably be about 4.5 stars.



The Bad (or why I wanted to give it 2 stars):

The villain was LAME, and the plot was kind of lacking any real tension or excitement. And I know I mentioned this earlier, but Aqualad looked like a creepy greyish beast-boy. Plus, he was scared of everything! His whole character just felt...wrong.



I guess they needed something to bring the Titans together (get it:Titans Together! *snort*), but having their mentors hypnotized and turned evil by Antithesis was not the best way to go. Why? 'Cause I think it was a little unbelievable that these five kids took down Flash, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman...and for God's sake, Batman! Antithesis (giant bug-looking villain, for those of you who don't know) is just plain dorky.
One of the problems may have been that this volume was too short, so you really didn't have time to connect with the story. It looks like it was probably written with tweenagers (who don't like to read) as it's target audience, though. With that in mind, I can kind of see where Wolfram was going with the story. I mean, what kid doesn't want to prove they are better than the grown-ups in their lives?



So the mom in me wanted to rate it higher, and the adultish fan in me wanted to rate it lower. *shrugs* What can I say?

[Himanshu Karmacharya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute and adorable, but with a dumb plot and a one-dimensional villain. Plus, outshining Batman or members of Bat-Family in every damn comic line that DC prints can get really annoying at times.

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 1 out of 5]

The art is pretty.

That's it. That's the only thing I can compliment this book on. It was a complete and utter waste of time. The writers have been added to my list of enemies. I'm so annoyed by this that I wrote an Amazon review and I never write Amazon reviews.

Where do I even start?

This was so incredibly shallow. The only character that gets even a hint of development and depth is Robin. Robin. I'm not complaining that he's given some depth I'm just referencing the fact that they never bothered to use his real name throughout the entire thing. He has an arc about overcoming his fears that he'll let Batman and the team down and it's given more weight than anything else in this book.

Garth just screams at things. That's his only character trait.

Wally likes girls and is jealous of the fame and support Robin gets as the leader. That's the extent of his characterization.

Speedy's an asshole but more on that later.

Donna. Donna! What the hell was this? It was like this was written by a 10 year old boy describing his dream date after several girls have wronged him.

Ugh!!! Complete waste of time!

Okay, so the first story is the team having to take on the JL because they've had their personalities inverted by Antithesis. So Batsy, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and the Flash are jerks to their tinier counterparts. Robin is confused, Garth and Donna are sad because their mentors are being mean. Wally and Speedy are just annoyed.

The decide to call themselves the Teen Titans and this issue (or 2? It may have been 2) is shallow but I'm thinking "Okay, it's just the start. They'll actually flesh out the characters later." How wrong was I?

Donna is introduced in such a way that makes me think she's actually 12. She cries when Diana is mean to her and she goes crazy over boys. That's it. For the character that has the coolest abilities and such an interesting history because of her relation to Diana, this is just not fair! Let me say, there is absolutely nothing wrong with depicting a teenage girl as boy crazy. The problem arises when that's the only trait you give them. What else does Donna have going on for her? They do nothing to show her training with Diana or saving citizens or even giving backstory as to why she wants to be Wonder Girl. Wasted opportunity.

Anyway, onto why Speedy's a dick:
He goes on date with Donna. He begs and begs Ollie to borrow the Arrow Car (Arrow Car? I hope that's not its actual name). He brings her to a make out point and right away I'm not feeling this. She has been given Babe in the City characterization so I don't think she'd be immediately down to make out with you, Bub. At least take her dancing or to a movie first. They walk away from the car, it promptly gets stolen.

Speedy's upset and Donna offers to help him find it because she's a nice person. She even tries to comfort him by putting her hand on his and he pulls away and snaps at her. The whole time, she's just trying to help and he's being an ass. She tries to help take down the car thieves and he tells her he doesn't need help from a girl. She still tries to help, they try to hit Speedy with a car and she stops it. Of course, the car gets a little crushed and he has the nerve to blame Donna! Like it's her fault and she should've just let him die. And after he yells at her, she asks if she did something wrong???

No. Just no.

This is horrible. You don't write something like that for any female character, let alone Donna. What kind of message are you trying to send? Girls, keep trying to help him even when he would rather be hit by a car than receive help from a girl.

No. I was so tempted to quit after that.

This was a colossal waste of time. Don't waste your money.

Is there anything less than a star?

[Molly™☺ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, fun, and a little wacky, it's a simple story that lacks depth and cohesion, but makes up for it with whimsical jokes and a neat artstyle. It's not a book to pick up if you're after a meaningful and thought-provoking experience, however, it serves as a nice palate cleanser from the grit, politics and weight of other comics and offers goofy antics instead.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very cute, but it also had some accurate (and depressing) portrayals of what it's like to be a teenager and what it's like to be a superhero. It was mostly light-hearted and the artwork demonstrates that. This seems like a good book for younger comic readers, maybe middle school and high school age.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm still bummed out that this never became a continuing story, it's just so damn wholesome. The artwork by Karl Kerschl & Serge Lapointe fits the style perfectly, it's a modern style but has a kind of 1960s vibe that suits the origin of this team.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant little diversion - this seemed more geared to the tween (or maybe Teen Titans Go! audience) crowd. The stories were slight, but the angst - whether it's being a teenager or a superhero - was real.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teen Titans have good chemistry between them, and the story is fun minus Donna arc and ending.

[maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars

lackluster art, some bewildering characterizations (why is the only girl boy crazy here... lol) and speedy's surprise sexism all combined with the underwhelming villain... yeah i'm good, thanks.

[Izabela Lewalski · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teen Titans: Year One is a six-issue limited series published by DC Comics. The story describes the formation and the first year of the Teen Titans: Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Speedy. Teen Titans: Year One collects all six issues of the 2008 limited series and contains four stories: "In the Beginning", "Flash in the Pan", "Young Heroes in Love", and "Awakening".

"In the Beginning" is a three-issue storyline (Teen Titans: Year One #1–3) that has Aquaman, Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman being possessed by Antithesis and have them create chaos and crime and forces their protégés in Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy, and Wonder Girl teaming up and taking on their mentors and forming a team – the Teen Titans.

"Flash in the Pan" is a one-issue storyline (Teen Titans: Year One #4) that has the Teen Titans going on a talk show – minus Robin and having the studio attacked by Ant, who has mostly defeated the Teen Titans until Robin shows up and takes care of him. "Young Heroes in Love" is a one-issue storyline (Teen Titans: Year One #5) has Roy Harper as Speedy and Donna Troy as Wonder Girl go on a date, but Ding Dong Daddy interrupts their date. Finally, "Awakening" is a one-issue storyline (Teen Titans: Year One #6) has the return of Antithesis to take revenge on the Teen Titans in particularly Robin.

Amy Wolfram penned the entire trade paperback and for the most part it was written rather well. Half the trade paperback is based on the formation of the Teen Titans, which brought together the teenaged protégés for a believable reason – to save their mentors from the evil that are influencing them. The two mid one-issue storylines are rather mediocre and forgettable and the last one-issue storyline brought back Antithesis, which is a nice way to bookend the series.

Karl Kerschl is the penciler for the limited series. Since he was the only penciler, the artistic flow of the trade paperback flowed exceptionally well. For the most part, Kerschl is a wonderful penciler, making cute and adorable depiction, which is rather apropos to the series and target audience.

All in all, Teen Titans: Year One is written and constructed rather well. It is a story of the beginnings and formations of a team of protégés – the Teen Titans.

[Cait · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first thing to notice is, of course, the artwork, which is gorgeous and rather unusual. It looks much more like old-fashioned children's book illustrations than traditional comic book art: the colors are very pastel, especially in the soft-focus backgrounds, and there's amazing use of light and color in general. (The book is actually dedicated to the memory of Steph Peru, one of the colorists, who passed away in 2008.) Also, as other reviewers have pointed out, the kids are drawn to look their ages, which is nice.

It's good that the art is so lovely, because the plot is hardly exciting. There are four stories in this book: the first Titans adventure takes the first half of the book, kids vs mentors, and then there are three small stories in the second half.

In the first story, the lesson to remember is that there's a reason "a prepared Batman" is always excluded from the "who would win this fight" arguments. The other lesson is that kids being kids in this book is going to make me cringe in embarrassment every time.

In the second story, the lesson to remember is that, in case you missed it in the first story, Robin is well on his way to growing up to be just like Batman. The other lesson is that kids other than Robin being not as cool as Robin is not actually funny. Except for Wonder Girl -- she's still awesome.

In the third story, my disbelief was fully suspended. Because the lesson here was OLLIE YOU DICKHEAD WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TEACHING THAT BOY BECAUSE NO ONE SHOULD EVER TALK ABOUT WONDER GIRL THAT WAY AND EVEN MORE THAN THAT NO ONE SHOULD EVER TALK TO WONDER GIRL LIKE THAT, NEVER EVER EVER YOU FUCKERS. Ahem. The other lesson is that apparently I have some issues surrounding the entirely realistic gender politics of the Titans and their era.

And in the final story, the lesson is that the Titans really should be called "Robin and his pals", in case you missed that in the first two stories. The other lesson is that Batman is a bit of a woobie where Robin is concerned, which would be sweet except that we know how that argument's going to turn out in a few years, don't we?

But the art is lovely throughout.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this comic, we saw the beginning of the Teen Titans. It was interesting to read about since I haven't read anything specific to the Teen Titans before. I mostly, read this just to read some backstory for Dick Grayson but now I am interested in the other characters as well. It didn't get as in depth with each of the characters like I wanted to but the illustrations were well done and the story line went smoothly. I also kind of wished we saw Speedy a little bit more and his interaction with the rest of the team and not just with one particular person. I feel like with each part there is a hidden message that the writers wanted you to learn but that could've just been me. I did really like the last few pages (that's mostly the reason why I gave this comic 4-stars). I liked the way that you saw the Titans coming together and be a real team (you didn't see it for long but you did see it). I liked the last page where...(sorry I really want to say but I can't, I don't like spoiling things :/). Overall, it was a short and sweet comic that was easy to get into and made you want to read more.

[J.M. (Joe) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can only imagine that the DC editor in this case said to Amy Wolfram, the writer: "We would like you to write an arc for TEEN TITANS that is geared for and appeals to 'teens,' [using air quotes] and by teens we mean 'tweens,' [using air quotes again] and by 'tweens' we mean 'eight-year-olds' [using air quotes a third time]."

If that was the intent, Miss Wolfram did an "okay" [using air quotes] job. But readers who are around or "under" [using air quotes] the age of eight should probably give this one a "pass" [last time using air quotes].

Additional reasons: 1) really dumb villains, 2) Wonder Girl and Speedy act like idiots throughout the arc, 3) I'm also not familiar enough with Aqualad, but has he always been this useless and cowardly (?) and, 4) no way should a couple of Titans be able to take out Wonder Woman, Flash, and/or Green Arrow as easily as they do. No way. Ridiculous.

1.5 stars (out of five).

[Axel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Misogynistic, boring, bland characters with no personality and WAY too bat centric (this is coming from a guy whose favorite comic character is Dick Grayson so imagine how disrespectful it must be to the others). I'm supposed to believe Robin alone can defeat Diana (a literal semi goddess) but the other four can't defeat Batman? Okay. No. Garth doesn't do anything except whine and be the butt of the joke. Wally just likes girls and is jealous of Robin because he's competent and gets attention, and they could have done something interesting with that but it leads nowhere. Speedy is an asshole who's only there half the time. Donna is boy crazy and that's literally her only personality even though she has the coolest power and concept of them all. The only character with a little bit of development is Robin but that's on the last issue and it feels like they packed what should have been three issues into just that one. So many story lines never get finished or addressed... A MESS

[Jadyn❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

**3.5 stars** This was cute. Kind of lacking on the plot, and I don’t know why Speedy just disappeared from some of the issues, even before his drama with Wonder Girl? But otherwise, I thought it was a simple story, with cute art (except for Garth) that was a really easy read. Some of these characterizations aren’t my favorite but I don’t think it’s trying to be anything more than it is, which is a simplification of these characters like cartoon characters. Like Teen Titans the animated show, but if instead of Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy and Starfire, there was Aqualad, Speedy, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl.

[polly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estuvo bien, cuenta un poco sobre la historia de como los personajes acabaron formando un equipo. Aunque nunca había visto esta combinación como Teen Titans, no me disgustó. A pesar de todo sentí que el guión estaba escrito para niños, sin desarrollo alguno y también a veces me sentía como si estuviera viendo un capítulo de Teen Titans de 10 min. Para mi fue un poco meh, no hubi nada que me encantara pero tampoco que me disgustara.

[irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

tiene muy poca historia pero como tal es muy mono y divertido... ojalá poder darle 2,5 estrellas 😔 pd: que tanto quicksilver como kid flash tengan de mascota a una tortuga es MUY importante para mí

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up cheap from the sale shelf. How cheap? I could have gotten a single issue of a currently running title for more or less the same price. Given that this is six issues, it would have had to be monumentally bad to not have been worth the money.

It was worth the money.

This is the Teen Titans origin story dragged into the modern day. Although I question them updating the setting but not Robin's costume. I mean, it makes sense for Aqualad to wear Speedos - he spends a lot of time in the water - and the bottom half of Wonder Girl's costume matches Wonder Woman's. But Robin is swinging around Gotham wearing lime green Speedos for no apparent reason. In the 2000s. ...Anyway. This book uses the same cast as Titans Vol. 1: The Return of Wally West , although Omen is missing completely and Roy vanishes for most of the second half. It was pretty light on plot, but cute and funny enough to get away with it, so definitely more aimed at kids than adults. Well. I assumed so up until the egregious scene where Green Arrow told Speedy not to knock Wonder Girl up. By the way, Green Arrow, between this and Young Justice, you really haven't made a good first impression.

I wavered between giving it three or four stars, but settled on three because I had a fair number of good and bad points.

The Good

1. This is my favourite version of Garth (Aqualad) so far. Sure, he's neurotic and cowardly, but I just feel like there's more to him than to the other versions I'm familiar with. Not to mention, I love his design.

Garth: "What would Robin do?"
Garth: *Makes a pun*

2. I liked the contrast between Robin's relationship with Batman and the relationships the other Teen Titans had with their mentors.It's not a contrast that painted Batman in a great light, but it was good to see it all the same.

3. The art is great.

4. "You're very disturbed, Robin." - Kid Flash, upon getting stuck inside Robin's head.

5. Wonder Girl's...I'm going to say naivety. In the issue where she dates Speedy, he comes off as just as insecure and childish as he really is because she seems to lack an understanding of traditional gender roles. She doesn't understand why he doesn't want her help, or why he's mad that she saved him, and her reaction to being told that she's not like other girls is to worry that he means it as a criticism. To her, it doesn't sound like a compliment.

6. I both love and hate the ending. I love it because you can interpret it as either the adventure continues or the bad guy wins, although I think the second one is just accidentally implied by the message Batman sends Robin. (I still like the second one. I'm a bad person.)

The Bad

1. Wonder Girl is the only girl in the group and her entire character revolves around being boy-crazy.

2. They took down the entire Justice League within an issue.

3. Correction. They took down the entire Justice League within an issue with only one (established) competent team member.

4. Wally (Kid Flash) is a character I either seem to like or dislike depending on the story. In Titans, I like him. In Young Justice, not so much. This version falls somewhere in the middle, although he's definitely more towards the dislike end of the scale. It doesn't help that the issue where he gets the most focus paints him as fame-hungry and jealous.

5. There were a couple of plot threads that were dropped completely without being resolved.
5A. First of all, since we're on the subject, Wally being jealous of Robin. This is made more complicated by the fact that Robin is his closest friend and also oblivious. It probably did not help that he told Wally not to come back to Gotham with him because it would be dangerous. (Bear in mind here that Robin is an ordinary kid in a flimsy cape and impractical slipper-looking things, and Wally can run halfway across the world in five seconds flat.) This situation seemed ripe for conflict, but it's pretty much dropped after issue #4.
5B. Batman and Robin. Batman is clearly unhappy about Robin working with the other teens, but he never outright says it. He's just really passive-aggressive about it. This is actually my biggest issue with the ending. I feel like we were supposed to forgive Batman, but he even chickens out of saying what he really wants to say over instant messaging. Did I sympathise with him? Sure. But the fact that there wasn't even an attempt at a conversation made me feel like they'd left the plot thread dangling.

Definitely worth the read if you're looking for something light and funny.

[Jessica Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved seeing the teen titans come together, it was very sweet. I like their personalities and I loveee little baby aqualad so so sweet. I'm going to continue reading specifically Dick Grayson stuff but I definitely want to come back and read more teen titans comics. I liked the focus on the pressure that Robin is facing but also will be very sad to see him split from Batman.

[Hikaoru · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the plus side, the art is pretty.

On the not so awesome side, man it's effed up. The plot is subpar, the adults are way to susceptible to evil mechanism and teens who act liks children.
As a fan of Teen Titans cartoons, this is very meh for me.

[zeliha · Rating 2 out of 5]

her şey o kadar oldu bittiydi ki ve sonu ne alaka yani???? tek iyi yani bruce’un en son gönderdiği mesaj ama onun dışı fever dream gibi hissettirdi ????YANİ devamı var mı yoksa son gibi son muydu anlamadım asla

[Suna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[azriel ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: between 3 and 3.5 out of 5 ⭐️

[jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

why did wolfram dumb all the titans but robin down to one character trait ?????? hello this was so weird

[Carmela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps I had hyped this miniseries too much, enthralled by the beautifully whimsy art style and the hilarious panels reposted on social media, but I was more than disappointed by Teen Titans: Year One.

Here, nuanced characters are all but non-existent, save for Dick Grayson’s Robin, whose quiet, rule-following nature is at constant war with his natural leadership instincts and loyalty to his friends. Kid Flash/Wally West is given a couple of instances of self-doubt, though it’s never delved into, and Aqualad/Garth is more comic relief than anything—though I found his character to be the most intriguing, per the unique, fishy redesign.

Speedy/Roy Harper has his relationship issues highlighted with Green Arrow, a norm for his character, but his recurring cameos are infrequent at best, to the point where he’s not even on the cover. It’s never truly explained why he’s not in many of the issues, despite being included on the back cover blurb.

The biggest travesty has to be the portrayal of Donna Troy/Wonder Girl as a boy-crazy ditz. There’s not a single part of her storyline, if it can even be called that, that is not centered around an obsession over a boy band, her excitement to see men for the first time, or her crush on Roy and the ensuing drama that comes with it. There’s also an instance of her being “not like other girls,” literally quoted from Donna’s issue. I wasn’t surprised to see it included, with the way each issue had been portraying her, but it was disappointing.

The adventures are fun and humorous when they’re not bimbo-fying Donna, and the art style truly captures just how young the characters are. Unfortunately, the story hasn’t aged well in the decade since it was published.

If you’re looking for comics with good portrayals of young heroes, I’d instead point you to Marvel’s Young Avengers series, particularly the 2013 run if you’re looking for the chaotic energy this collection has.

[Michael Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was disappointing. I expected something more along the lines of the other Year One books, something that kind of built up how the team came to be and developed, but this was more like a group of loosely related tales that happened to take place during the first year the Titans were together. It got two stars just because it was apparent that this geared toward a younger audience (I think). Otherwise, it would have only received one.

The art was OK, not really what I like, but OK for what it was.

[Diz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the art style of this book. The way the artist draws the Teen Titans makes them really look like kids. The downside is that the challenges they face seem way over their heads, but inexplicably they are able to handle them with almost little or no effort. I would have liked it better if their adventures weren't wrapped up so quickly.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful art with some pretty dreadful writing.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome art,and great origin story. Right amount of action and comedy.