Led by Robin, the Boy Wonder, a new super-team has burst onto the scene—meet the Teen Titans, DC’s grooviest group filled with super-teens with super-problems. When they’re not fighting alongside their Justice League mentors, they’re managing their image and cultivating the rabid fan base that helps them save the world…as, all the while, a danger from the shadows intends to tear these friends apart before they ever reach the big time.Before they were the Titans of the DCU, they were the Teen Titans, and you won’t want to miss this fresh take on their origins from the legendary talents of Mark Waid and Emanuela Lupacchino!Collects World's Teen Titans #1-6.
Mark Waid (born March 21, 1962 in Hueytown, Alabama) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America.
Great artwork, but I didn't really feel like there was any substance plot-wise. The characters are going through normal teen things, which is fine. I would mostly recommend this to teen readers.
Since the description has ".Before they were the Titans of the DCU, they were..." I had expected this to take place in the past like 2012 at the latest. So all the technology and gen z/alpha memes & slang was very jarring. Any nostalgia was really removed. I mean it's not like the Fab Five use gen z slang as adults. Adult Roy and Dick didn't even know what "Netflix & Chill" means (they still don't know) ... even if it was side characters more using slang, fab five didn't grow up hearing it or they'd be less confused as adults...
And then GarthxDonna 🥴🥴🥴 instead of RoyxDonna was very very uncomfortable...
They even tried to be meta by claiming "every fan is shipping GarthxDonna" and I'm just like no literally no one is shipping GarthxDonna. It would have made more sense for Wally to find Kid FlashxRobin and SpeedyxRobin fanart... 💀
We could have had RoyxDonna nostalgia 😫 😢
Roy not having any idea how non-rich people live was also odd. Roy was probably poorer than Wally before Ollie adopted him???
This a weird one. The art and colors really pop, have energy to them, and I never had a bad thing to say about those. Wait probably made the easiest version of the original Teen Titans to read, but it's also so jarring at times, referencing memes and being meta about comic conventions. It follows a very typical plot structure, and typical struggles between the cast. It's readable, and is probably easier to pick and read than anything of this team otherwise.
Absolutely fun and effervescent, as comic books should be! Teen Titans fits right into the World's Finest vibe: the art is crisp and clear, the characters are well defined, and the adventures are of the Saturday morning cartoon variety.
We find the Teen Titans early on in their adventures. Still teens, with teen problems, like dealing with girlfriends and not being jerks. Each issue presents a compact adventure for the team while introducing some internal complications that come to a head in the final two issues, as an anti-Titan team arrives on the scene and must be defeated (mostly through the power of friendship).
I would read more! This is exactly the kind of comic adventure that puts a smile on your face.
I liked this comic. It’s fun and campy and obviously aimed at teenagers, with a simple premise but still good. I enjoyed the characters and team’s dynamics. It’s a bit too fast paced ig, but considering it’s a limited series of 6 issues, the writer didn’t have much room to work with, so it’s understandable.
I’ve never liked the idea of incorporating social media or comic conventions into superhero stories, and I still don’t like it here, but this is hands down the best Teen Titans story in over 10 years. Every member of the team gets a small, but significant, character arc, and I think Waid does a great job here showing how and why the original Teen Titans grew close enough to consider each other family. Highly recommended, especially for anyone curious about the Teen Titans.
It’s not the worst I’ve ever read but it’s a complete waste of time. The plot and writing feels more appropriate for late elementary students. If you like the teen titans, don’t read this.
“I pity you. You’re good in the field. You could have been one of us. I do believe that somewhere deep down inside you is somebody who wants to fight for justice.
But this “ends always justifies the means” crap is your Achilles’ heel.”
“My ways WORK! Hell, last time we beat you like a rug!”
“You didn’t win, jerk. We beat OURSELVES. there’s a difference. But we will never lose to your stupid “Terror Titans” again. Know why? Because you guys are a MOB.
We’re a TEAM.”
Two things I know about our boy Mark Waid. 1. He loves him some Silver Age nonsense and 2. He knows how to write the absolute hell out of a teenage superhero. Here you get the best of both worlds.
But I think what separates this from OG World’s Finest is that book is looking for smaller stories inside these HUGE, Splashy things and this really takes the opposite approach.
How do you KEEP the small moments and stay true to your friends (who have, for now, keep avoiding genuine peril and death) while also navigating the mask, the fame, the sheer Bigness of a DC City. I found a lot of that stuff a lot more compelling than the initial hook of the super-mystery, which is also fun too!
If anything it really, REALLY makes me want to go back and finally read all the stuff this team and mini is pulling from because it seems like…so disgustingly up my alley, it might actually kill me.
But yeah! Fun, beautiful stuff here. And I’ll always appreciate more Donna Troy. Especially in that scene after she “drives” in a demolition derby. This team knows precisely what it’s doing, visually, narratively, and characterization wise. You love to (continue) to see it.
Nice art and fun to see a modern take on the Teen Titans that still feels a bit cheesy though this time with cringe hashtags and live streaming. Maybe only cringe to me because I’m old. Batman and I agree on keeping secret identities secret, not broadcast for easy facial recognition program comparisons…
I didn’t recognize all the side characters, I don’t know if they’re part of the history of the team and comics or created just for this series, but it was all fun. A lot of tension on the team so not quite the happy origins I imagine in the oldest comics. Actually I’ve never read them, only a year one reboot, so I have no idea I just get the impression the old comics don’t have as much depth of emotion… Batman was nicely done, not as tyrannical as some depictions but still the seeds of discontent in the partnership that will end it.
Not bad, not great. Just kind of a good run of the mill Teen Titans book with a full-circle plot within the volume.
I really liked the art style, but the plot was a little shallow for such a recent release. I think that it was good, but if it extended its length it would've been able to be better fleshed out.
I disegni bellissimi, le storie piacevoli ma niente di che. Sono ambientate ai nostri giorni quindi è un po' strano vedere i Titans originali con le nuove tecnologie. I personaggi a volte un po' strani rispetto al loro carattere classico. Specialmente la coppia Garth/Donna che onestamente non si può vedere.
I’m not sure if I gave this higher rating that it deserved or not. The art for this one is what carries the comic book. The art is completely fabulous, but the story is lacking. I get that it’s vaguely aimed at newer readers, but instead of keeping it to a functionable timeline on when these characters should be a teenager based on their age in the current timeline of the comics, they just kind of threw that out the window. So they have these characters using slang and referencing memes that wouldn’t of been available at the time that the characters were actually supposed to be at the age that they are in this comic. So all those fans who grew up on the teen Titans Are kind of thrown for a loop because it doesn’t relate well to the current comics for a characters like Nightwing and Donna, Troy and Arsenal because they’re using slang and referencing things that would’ve been current to their adult selves, but not to their teenage cell. And it lacks any sense of nostalgia to what the comic books were originally for the Teen Titans. All the relationships seem offkilter and wrong so it just kind of made it vaguely uncomfortable to read, even though the art otherwise carried you through reading it.
I’d heard that they were going to ‘reboot’ the Teen Titans and I wondered how that would work. I know Teen Titans is a title that DC has tried to reinvigorate several times, but it’s hard to capture lightning twice. Especially without George Perez.
Mark Waid as the writer definitely inspires confidence.
Of course, I’d be happy to see it work!
”Follow the Leader” has the Teen Titans (Bumblebee, Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy & Aqualad) breaking up a cult sacrificing teenagers to summon a demon. Apparently social media informed them of the event.
Back at the headquarters (paid for by Green Arrow) Robin and Speedy argue because Speedy live-streamed the fight the whole time violating the sacrifices right to privacy and showing off a bit.
They all have flashbacks about how going out on their own had different reactions from their mentors (Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Arrow, Flash and Aquaman).
Next mission they have is against the Separated Man. It goes well, but once again Speedy has launched a camera drone to capture the event. The argument this time is worse. Apparently Robin has not shared his secret identity with the rest of the team, though they all have.
It ends with someone in the dark apparently auditioning people for the Teen Titans. He kills the applicant.
So that was pretty good. The personalities were pretty well established. Modernizing the book with the effects of social media were good without being too cheesy. And there was very little ‘hip slang’ that always comes off false.
The art was by Emanuela Lupacchino and is really good. Every character was really distinctive, to the point where you could tell who they were even if they switched costumes!
I’ll give this 3 stars for a strong start. I’ll try it again! Recommended for old school Titans fans.
”Inside Out” has Karen, Mal, and Garth taking Wonder Girl around the city. She explains that she was rescued by Wonder Woman and taken to Paradise Island. She enjoys all the things that Paradise Island doesn’t have.
She is not worried about keeping a secret identity. Hers or anyone else’s. They get a Titans alarm and go to meet the others.
Robin and Speedy are meeting Garth and Lilith about an abandoned sixteen year old.
Robin sends Wonder Girl, Speedy and Aqualad into the haunted house where Lilith says heavy psychic activity is going on in.
It turns out the girl is psychic and only growing stronger. The Titans are affected by it and have to fight their own insecurities to get to the girl.
This was a good story. Kind of ‘old-school-very-special-episode’ kind of.
Almost like a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode. But that’s not a bad thing. Especially for a Teen Titans story. It’s gotta be a hard thing to write about modern teenagers without seeming condescending. I’m not sure how they’re doing since I left my teenager years… last month.
I’ll give this a weak 4 stars and keep going. It’s not revolutionary, but it was a nice start.
I’d really rather have had more info about Garth and Lilith, but hopefully more will be revealed later.
The art by Emanuela Lupacchino is very good.
”Welcome to Titanscon” has the Teen Titans making a surprise appearance at the Metropolis Titanscon convention.
Robin does not go with them. He’s in the batcave talking with Batman. Batman ordered him not to show up. It’s bad for a secret identity. He’s not wrong.
At the convention of course, everyone wants a selfie with the Titans.
Wonder Girl is dragged to a panel all about her. They’re playing up her ‘fish-out-of-water’ angle. There’s some funny stuff.
”— Wonder Girl: Empowered Hero or Manic Pixie Dream Girl?”
The attention gets to be too much when the crowd tries to unmask Bumblebee. She greatly fears this.
Speed is showing off with trick shots until Kid Flash switches a trick arrow on him.
Things get hairy when an obsessed fan starts making the merchandise come to life.
I would however like a Teen Titans CCG!
It takes Robin showing up to put things right. They arrest the overzealous fan they call ‘Toyboy’.
This was a fun story. A new take and the kids seemed a-lot more believable.
4 stars and I’ll keep reading.
”Fish Outta Water” has Roy Harper and Garth staying with Wally West. He hasn’t told his parents they are superheroes. Roy’s mom walks in on them talking.
”What’s ‘Water-Breathing’? It’s not one of those awful social media challenges, is it?”
Garth is having trouble blending in and even more trouble with his relationship with Donna. Roy gives him some advice that’s actually good. Everyone is surprised.
But Wally’s parents talk to him about Roy. He’s arrogant, mean to Garth and materialistic.
Karen Beecher (Bumblebee) and Mal Duncan are eating lunch. She’s given him the Guardian shield (not a replica) because he did a history thesis on the Newsboy Legion (a cool Kirby and Simon comic from way back). She asks him to be a Titan. He says thanks but not thanks.
Then a supervillain called Ant attacks. Mal uses the shield to prevent a bystander from getting pulped.
This was good. I like they spend more time on the personalities than on the fighting. It doesn’t feel rushed (like the New 52 Titans book I’m reading).
Very enjoyable and 5 stars for making you care about them!
And finally making Bumblebee cool!
”Issue #5” doesn’t seem to have a title.
Actually, the title is ”Blitzkrieg Part 1” but for some reason they don’t tell you until the end.
It starts with a flashback where the Titans fight a group of invading aliens.
Wonder Girl is in her ‘old’ star-spangled costume, which I actually like better than the red onesie.
They are also carrying a ‘try out’ teen named Haywire. He has electrical power. He fails his audition when he tries to steal, but he’s got some really interesting points. A neat idea! I suspect he’ll be a supervillain soon.
In the ‘now’, Robin and Wonder Girl are called to help Bumblebee and Guardian fight the Ant.
And sure enough Haywire is working with Ant and Toyboy.
The Titans are not good at coordinating or following Robin’s orders and it’s hurting them in this fight. Speedy joins, but so does Artemis. The Terror Titans are only doing this to show what losers the Teen Titans are. And they succeed. But they don’t kill them. Yet.
Back at the lair the Titans fight like… well, like kids. Even Robin can’t control them now.
This was good. Some fun bits. I think it was a slightly weak ending, but it made sense.
I’m giving this 4 stars. The art is still really good too.
BP ”Blitzkrieg Finale” has a villain called Seismic call out the Terror Titans for a fight. They show up and it turns out it was a Teen Titans trap.
Big fight. The Teen Titans cooperate better and beat the Terror Titans. The fight is almost perfunctory.
Robin has recorded the fight on a live feed. hashtag-titanspride.
After the fight Robin says goodbye. He’s sure that since he broke his promise to Batman he’s going to be fired.
Garth takes Wonder Girl to his home in Atlantis.
Robin talks to Batman. It’s good!
After the story there are some character and design sketches and variant covers. Jeesh, just make up your mind a pick a cover!
It was a nice reboot with a good mix of natural humor. I think the action was a little weak, but still serviceable. I’d give it 4 stars and read more of this series.
JLA: Year One was a pretty good series, but it was also 25 years ago, so it's already a slightly worrying sign if DC are getting the same writer to do the same trick again now, except with a less good superteam. On top of that, factor in the vagaries of the sliding timeline, so that these characters who've been around for decades, and even in current continuity are all grown-ass superheroes with extensive adult backstories, are here depicted as bickering kids finding missions through social media hashtags and making jokes about Left Shark. It's most glaring in the case of Speedy*, here presented as a preening livestreamer; to be fair, in all the years he's been around, the character is best-known for his smack habit and the issue where he tried and failed to sexually assault an ex before fighting Batman over a dead cat, so this is at least a plausible update to his existing characterisation as a prick. At its best, as when the team attend a fan convention devoted to them (highlight: Wonder Girl crashes the 'Wonder Girl: Empowered Hero or Manic Pixie Dream Girl?' panel), there's a hint of the meta, satirical take on the DCU I associate with Mark Russell. The treatment of her and Aqualad's contrasting reactions to American cities, after growing up in isolated fantasy kingdoms, also hits home (to Wonder Girl it's all impossibly exciting, whereas he finds the sensory processing a bit much after the ocean depths). More often, though, there are worrying reminders of how what used to be the best superhero universe has ended up in a position where some of its most bearable books are wheel-spinning failures to recapture past glories.
*Green Arrow's mini-me, and not the Titan with speed powers; to its credit, the first issue does have a joke about that.
I swear, Mark Waid reached into the cavernous depths of my soul to somehow write the perfect Teen Titans book for me!
So, let's begin:
World's Finest: Teen Titans is a one-shot companion to Mark Waid's current Batman/Superman World's Finest ongoing. This book gives the famous teen team-up the same "Silver Age but modern" treatment that series gets, and IT WORKS SO WELL!
Much like how Waid does away with the baggage that modern versions of Batman and Superman have in order to tell a more joyful and fun classic tale, he also does away with all the angst and melodrama associated with The New Teen Titans in order to tell a more grounded tale of teenagers finding their places in life.
This new take brings back THE BEST Teen Titans line up: The Fab Five! The original team line-up of Dick, Donna, Wally, Garth, and Roy is easily my favourite Teen Titans team. I know a lot of 80s kids LOVE the New Teen Titans, and a lot of my generation also loves that line-up because of the amazing early-2000s cartoon... However, The New Teen Titans are so oversaturated that they've just become boring. So, I'm glad Mark Waid decided to give some new life into this classic team!
This new life also comes with the addition of Bumblebee! An admittedly odd choice of addition... However, one I do enjoy. This take on the character is a lot of fun, she melds well with the cast, and it's nice for Donna Troy to not be the only female hero on the team. The comic also reintroduces Golden Eagle to the team: Hawkman's retired sidekick who much rathers working behind the scenes as "the man in the chair". This is such a fun take on him. The idea that the superpowered alien God would rather stay out of danger and manage the team's social media presence is great!
Oh... Right... The social media... Like I said, this is a modern take on the classic Silver Age team. What is that modern take? They're basically the Brat Pack. You know the Brat Pack right? The infamous tight knit crew of teenage actors that took Hollywood by storm in the 80s. Yeah, that's the Teen Titans here. And I can't emphasise enough how well it works!
So, ultimately, this is a fantastic interpretation on the famous superhero team that re-imagines them in the 21st century. And, honestly? I think it should become the default Teen Titans take. I wish more than anything that THIS was an ongoing series! I recommend it to any fan of the Fab Five, and to any Teen Titan fan who's a bit sick of always seeing the same old people.
Mark Waid and Emanuela Lupacchino team up to update the sidekicks into the modern era with their World’s Finest: Teen Titans graphic novel. The six-issue miniseries places Robin, Speedy, Kid Flash, Bumblebee, Wonder Girl, and Aqualad in a more contemporary setting; all of the nostalgia now with smart phones, hashtags, and angst. The book deals with an overarching threat made up of former Titan tryout Haywire, who is assembling his own team as a means of embarrassing the kids who kicked him out months ago. However, the primary focus of the issues is in handling the drama each teenager faces on a daily basis. Robin is forbidden by a Batman from revealing anything about his past, causing distrust amongst his allies. Kid Flash feels like a sidekick among sidekicks, while the absentee mentorship of Green Arrow has Speedy constantly vying for attention. The relationship between Aqualad and Wonder Girl is built on similar upbringings, but his tranquil nature and her wild enthusiasm threatens to break them apart. Even Bumblebee feels the need to take on problems bigger than herself to make up for her own self-doubt. Since this is a feel-good book, things eventually work themselves out for the Teen Titans. Mark Waid has the unenviable task of sifting through nearly eighty years of classic characters and giving them a trendy coat of paint. His handle on the team interactions shows his respect for the genre, but Waid’s plot pacing falls inconsistently short across the tale’s scope. The art from Emanuela Lupacchino is impressive, mixing character studies and facial expressions with layered background panels and design work. The action sequences are more classic than current, but it fits with the theme. World’s Finest: Teen Titans gives new fans a look at favorite characters while giving older fans a chance to reminisce.
Pretty Good. Now This is a modern starting point for the Original Teen Titans. Basically their Year One. This book focuses on showcasing the personality traits, the character flaws and building their team dynamics because for decades people complained about not knowing the personality traits of the OG Teen Titans as they were all very one dimensional in the 60s comics and their Frienship had no development. Now before any Smart-ass bring ups New Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman. Let me remind you that they were all 18-19 on that book while they're like 16 in this book.
So if you were hoping for the OG Teen Titans team fighting Trigon or the fearsome five right off the bat then you will be disappointed because this is their Year One. They never had the experience or talent to handle A list mass murdering Super-villians in their early Teen Titans career.
Another thing is that DC has a floating timeline and OG Titans are still in their late 20s or pushing 30 in the present day, so this book took place in 2012 or 2013. So don't complain about Teen Titans using smartphones and social media apps like twitter or Instagram. This is not the early 2000s anymore, so don't bring up the Teen Titans cartoon.
This comic was a little chaotic and all over the place but I definitely appreciate the effort.
The art was legit so pretty, which makes me feel a bit more forgiving of some of the craziness of this comic.
Here are some things I loved:
1. The friendship of Wally, Garth, and Roy. This did slightly backfire but Wally and Garth are such sweethearts. (Roy just be somethin’ else, which was pointed out so eloquently by Wally’s parents.) Absolutely loved the scenes of them hanging out at the Wests’ place.
2. Robin’s crisis. I know this is showing my bias (and my love of Dick Grayson specifically) but I absolutely loved seeing this tension between Robin trying to fulfill Bruce’s expectations and being his own superhero/the leader of this team. And Robin realizing that he has to finally make that choice and trust the Titans completely, no matter the consequences? Poetry.
3. Bumblebee! I’ve never seen ‘Bee before and I honestly love her. She’s so cool.
Here’s some things I struggled with:
1. This comic jumped around. I know this is meant to be more episodic, but I struggled a bit with some of this disjointed structure. This led to some of the characters not being fully fleshed out or skipped in some issues entirely.
2. The introduction was a bit rough. While I loved some aspects of this—specifically the big character intros with a few descriptive words—the comic sort of lumped some characters together or flipped back and forth between the Teen Titans and their mentors. If you weren’t already familiar with some of those mentors, it was a bit confusing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
World's Finest: Teen Titans sets the high bar for the best Titans book on the shelf. Waid creates a team that likes each other and can get the job done but still, butts heads as headstrong sidekicks just coming together should. It uses those simple, optimistic adventures as a way to explore the character relationships of the young heroes who will eventually grow into the characters we know. Robin takes center stage as we see his first steps into a leadership role and the uncertainty that comes with it. The last issue of the series was great and wish we could have had this much fun throughout the series. A lovely end to a lovely series, and another feather in Waid’s cap.
I loved Mark Waid's more positive spin on Batman and Superman in "World's Finest", and I love what he's doing with the Titans here.
Each of the team have their own little arc they're working through while also trying to figure out how to work as a team. It's the kind of teen angsty stuff I've seen before but it works because the characters are just so likeable, even Roy (eventually).
This might be the first time I've seen Emanuela Lupacchino's art, and it's a great introduction, it's clean and suits these characters and the story well.
This comic has had my favorite art style so far. It's clean, easy to read, and really entertaining. The comic didn't have a huge plot other than the Titans trying to learn how to work as a team. I didn't mind that though. The short, simple stories were a great read and it was a great starter for getting to know the characters. I'm excited to read more!
TV wise, Robin and Kid Flash have always been my favorite, so I'm surprised to find that Garth was my favorite from the comic. He's such a smol boi and must be protected.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
A really solid and well-made story that updates the Teen Titans for modern times. Waid did a great job of making the team feel believably young and energetic without pandering, in a simple tale that finds its focus when focusing on the team’s interpersonal relationships, rather than the quippy action. A great little miniseries.
Book #23 of 2024: A fun 6-issue volume in which Mark Waid works his magic and captures each character’s unique personality. The art by Emanuela Lupacchino and Mike Norton is bright and energetic, fitting for stories about the Titans. Nice bonus of beautiful variant covers, sketches, and drawings throughout the volume and at the end.
I like these characters line up for the teen titans. I grew up watching teen titans and young justice so I’m not familiar with this teams dynamic but I think this was a great starting off comic to better understand the characters. I like that we get to see the characters being teenagers and heroes.
i'm absolutely obsessed with the way mark waid writes garth!! i've read a couple of books with garth in them, but none of them really take the time to explore that character and treat him on the same playing field as the other titans, so it was so sweet to see so much time of this book spent on him.
This was seriously a phenomenal comic. Maybe it’s because I’m bias because I like the Teen Titans but it was amazing. I love the art style and the dialogue was so authentic in a way. I liked how each issue wasn’t too long because I have a short attention span. Robin will always be my favourite but Kid Flash is definitely close.