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The New Teen Titans (Collected Editions) #3
The New Teen Titans, Vol. 3
Move over, Batman. The original Teen Titans always stood in the shadows of their larger-than-life mentors—young heroes like Robin, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash saw plenty of action, but it was Batman, Wonder Woman and the Flash who ultimately called the shots.
All that changed, however, with the arrival of THE NEW TEEN TITANS in 1980—and the lives of DC’s adolescent adventurers would never be the same! Crafted by comics legends Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, this all-new super-team featured greater dangers, fiercer emotions and more tangled relationships than any that had come before.
In this collection, the Titans join together to aid a childhood friend of Kid Flash. Then, after a battle nearly destroys the Titans' Tower, the team suspects someone very powerful is working behind the scenes. Plus, Doctor Light escapes from prison and robs an Indian museum exhibit, only to run afoul of visiting curator Carter Hall in his Hawkman identity. When he accidentally reincarnates the deity Vishnu, Light deliberately leads the creatures to the Titans’ headquarters—hoping his foes will be destroyed while protecting him from the vengeful mythological beings.
THE NEW TEEN TITANS VOLUME THREE collects issues #17-20 of the classic title, as well as the four-issue miniseries TALES OF THE NEW TEEN TITANS, and includes an enlightening introduction from original editor Len Wein on the creation of this iconic team.
All that changed, however, with the arrival of THE NEW TEEN TITANS in 1980—and the lives of DC’s adolescent adventurers would never be the same! Crafted by comics legends Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, this all-new super-team featured greater dangers, fiercer emotions and more tangled relationships than any that had come before.
In this collection, the Titans join together to aid a childhood friend of Kid Flash. Then, after a battle nearly destroys the Titans' Tower, the team suspects someone very powerful is working behind the scenes. Plus, Doctor Light escapes from prison and robs an Indian museum exhibit, only to run afoul of visiting curator Carter Hall in his Hawkman identity. When he accidentally reincarnates the deity Vishnu, Light deliberately leads the creatures to the Titans’ headquarters—hoping his foes will be destroyed while protecting him from the vengeful mythological beings.
THE NEW TEEN TITANS VOLUME THREE collects issues #17-20 of the classic title, as well as the four-issue miniseries TALES OF THE NEW TEEN TITANS, and includes an enlightening introduction from original editor Len Wein on the creation of this iconic team.
224 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1982
31 people are currently reading
202 people want to read
About the author
Marv Wolfman
2,307 books306 followersMarvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
July 14, 2018
This is... hard to rate.
One, the least interesting character so far in this series is this rather bland, whitebread Wally West. Admittedly, I only know this character from the live action TV show, Young Justice animated show and Rebirth one shot. I at least found him charming in those incarnations. There is nothing charming about him in this series. He starts out pretty much brainwashed by Raven and after he blew up at her (understandably so) and expressed conflict over still feeling as though he loved her, he's just been here. There's nothing remarkable about him or particularly likable, for that matter. Here we have him writing a letter to his parents and I'm just interested in Beast Boy and Cyborg's little mission in the letter and not Wally's "plight".
I liked seeing everyone come together to celebrate Cyborg's 19th birthday. Especially since Sarah got with the kids to write a card for him because they've missed seeing him around. I miss that relationship but I get why Vic is staying away.
Sidenote: there's a point where Donna's divorcé husband refers to the team as "youngsters" and I still want that pervo away from her.
Also, I found out Gar is 16 in this series. I like the character and I'll get to more of his origin in a bit but at times, he's written as a freaking creeper. I can't ignore that. One, it's never okay to consistently make suggestive comments towards someone. Two, if someone explicitly tells you to fucking cut it out, cut it out. In the last volume, Starfire says "After the shit I went through for the guy we legit only saw in two issues, I don't appreciate you hitting on me, green boy" (paraphrasing) and Gar's like "Oh, you're sad?" Like that's the only justifiable reason Starfire would have a problem with it. I like Starfire's history, I like what she stands for but this whole Beast Boy thing is yet another sign of the gross writing women had to endure (and still do) in comics.
So, I preface with that because it all happened in the last volume. In this one, we get Gar hitting on her every time he has a line and then the gross line of "I would give you my personal hickeys". "personal hickeys"? What. the. fuck. You freaking creepazoid. I don't really care how old he is, that's just gross.
The missions in this volume didn't really stick out to me at all. Then we have the origins for the team retold.
Raven's is a giant blob of meh. I don't like this character, I must be honest. I like her on the animated stuff to an extent. Or at least, she has a sort of charm there. Here, I just find nothing likable aside from thinking her ability to absorb other's pain is interesting. It's a wondrously empathetic power for a character who is consistently written as watching Starfire receive comfort and sympathy and internally lamenting the fact that she personally feels she's never gotten any. It makes her look selfish, to be honest.
Starfire's is wonderful! I love this character, I love that she's not only passionate in loving others but that she also has a thirst for battle and combat. It's a rarity to get a female character with seemingly limitless power, even rarer for a female character that enjoys fighting. Again, the cartoon made some questionable choices because pretty much all of that is gone on the cartoon but I love her here.
Gar's is sad. We show him cleaning up his (surprisingly long) history for the others. Saying his parents were great (when his dad was a neglectful, (possibly verbally abusive) mad scientist bastard). Saying he loved being an actor, when he was treated like garbage. Saying he had lots of friends when he was bullied. Minimizing the abuse he suffered at the hands of his guardian. We get a tiny amount of his history being forced to be a child criminal. He's led a really sad life and he has had to grieve two sets of parents before the age of 16. I would be interested to read a solo book about him, to be honest. One that delves into that a little bit more but this was a period in comics where characters just popped into team books and their origins were told in small flashbacks. But now, Gar is almost always just the comedic relief in team books and rarely explored that in depth. It's a bummer because holy interesting but really shitty origin story, Batman.
Then we get Victor's where I had to roll my eyes because it was just ignorant as hell. Just FYI, if you're a white guy, don't write a story where the black characters fighting against racism are the bad guys. I'm side eying the hell out of Wolfman. Firstly, I've never appreciated black characters having their dialogue written as though they don't understand grammar as much as the white characters. Secondly, it never made that much sense seeing as Victor is highly educated (perhaps more than the others). He gives an explanation like "I can talk however I want" but... let's be real, we know why he speaks that way. Thirdly, I don't appreciate making Victor yell a lot and then having Wally's letter refer to him as though he's your typical angry black man. Victor being in this book at all and getting this complex of a history is a wonder in itself but I must mention the stuff that rubbed me the wrong way. Like this stupid, problematic activist turned terrorist storyline.
Victor's parents are rather controlling and Victor was homeschooled. He went out on the street at like eight years old and met what looks like a grown man on the street. Red fucking alert. This guy "befriends him" (Call an adult) and Victor regards him as his only friend. This guy soon gets Victor involved in committing crimes because black people are criminals and Victor goes to jail. His father scolds him, tells Victor to stay away from this guy and Victor gets angry. As a peace offering, his parents allow him to enroll in public school and join sports because all Victor wants to do is be an athlete for reasons that are never really explained? I guess I should be intrigued because usually the black guy's involved in sports to provide for his entire impoverished family and that's not Victor's story.
Anyway, Victor's got scholarships and everything and for some reason I really don't understand, this guy from the street is still in his life. Only now, he wants Victor to join his "radical" group combatting racism. This group decides to host a fight against some... random white people? I couldn't quite gather if they were a hate group or just random white people but Victor goes even though he's against it, stuff pops off and Victor gets involved because he's filled with "hate". Sure. He gets in trouble, his dad gets mad. Then this ridiculous example of a black activist group decides to go further or whatever. Victor breaks away from them because he thinks they're all imagining the threat against him. Let's get into what really shitty about this take.
This hyperbolic, violent group is the only anti racism organization presented in this series. Imagine if this is the only representation you see because you're white and you don't have black people to explain what was really going on at the time. What are you getting out of this? The racism and hate black people experience is all imagined, the groups combatting that are violent and want to kill white people, and only the "good blacks" like the Stone family are worth caring about. It teaches that the "good" black people are complacent and docile and work within the system. This is written during a time where people were protesting police brutality, hate crimes, imperialism, and being killed for asking for basic human decency. But sure, these slights are all imagined. Look at Dr. Stone, he's a distinguished scientist. If these black people weren't so busy protesting and put their heads in books, they too could succeed like Stone did. Meanwhile, black people were still struggling to get accepted into schools at all and even less of them were accepted into science programs. But, you know, Stone's success was totally a possibility for everyone.
So, I'm not trying to accuse Wolfman of intentionally presenting this racist view of what black activism was but it should be noted that this was an incredibly ignorant way to present this issue. It shouldn't have been presented at all. I feel as though Wolfman presented Victor as closer to racist stereotypes of black characters (improper grammar, quite often angry, mistaken for scary) when he wanted to and then presented him as the "ideal" black man when he wanted to. He picks and chooses what Victor stands for and that's problematic, especially when he's the only black character we regularly see. With another character to offset this ignorant view, a black character that shows what the Black Power movement really stood for, this could have been balanced a lot better. Instead, we only have Victor's parents, the "good" blacks and these poor representations of activists turned terrorists.
So, I had to mention that because I'm glad Victor Stone exists but, yet again, I question the writer's intentions.
One, the least interesting character so far in this series is this rather bland, whitebread Wally West. Admittedly, I only know this character from the live action TV show, Young Justice animated show and Rebirth one shot. I at least found him charming in those incarnations. There is nothing charming about him in this series. He starts out pretty much brainwashed by Raven and after he blew up at her (understandably so) and expressed conflict over still feeling as though he loved her, he's just been here. There's nothing remarkable about him or particularly likable, for that matter. Here we have him writing a letter to his parents and I'm just interested in Beast Boy and Cyborg's little mission in the letter and not Wally's "plight".
I liked seeing everyone come together to celebrate Cyborg's 19th birthday. Especially since Sarah got with the kids to write a card for him because they've missed seeing him around. I miss that relationship but I get why Vic is staying away.
Sidenote: there's a point where Donna's divorcé husband refers to the team as "youngsters" and I still want that pervo away from her.
Also, I found out Gar is 16 in this series. I like the character and I'll get to more of his origin in a bit but at times, he's written as a freaking creeper. I can't ignore that. One, it's never okay to consistently make suggestive comments towards someone. Two, if someone explicitly tells you to fucking cut it out, cut it out. In the last volume, Starfire says "After the shit I went through for the guy we legit only saw in two issues, I don't appreciate you hitting on me, green boy" (paraphrasing) and Gar's like "Oh, you're sad?" Like that's the only justifiable reason Starfire would have a problem with it. I like Starfire's history, I like what she stands for but this whole Beast Boy thing is yet another sign of the gross writing women had to endure (and still do) in comics.
So, I preface with that because it all happened in the last volume. In this one, we get Gar hitting on her every time he has a line and then the gross line of "I would give you my personal hickeys". "personal hickeys"? What. the. fuck. You freaking creepazoid. I don't really care how old he is, that's just gross.
The missions in this volume didn't really stick out to me at all. Then we have the origins for the team retold.
Raven's is a giant blob of meh. I don't like this character, I must be honest. I like her on the animated stuff to an extent. Or at least, she has a sort of charm there. Here, I just find nothing likable aside from thinking her ability to absorb other's pain is interesting. It's a wondrously empathetic power for a character who is consistently written as watching Starfire receive comfort and sympathy and internally lamenting the fact that she personally feels she's never gotten any. It makes her look selfish, to be honest.
Starfire's is wonderful! I love this character, I love that she's not only passionate in loving others but that she also has a thirst for battle and combat. It's a rarity to get a female character with seemingly limitless power, even rarer for a female character that enjoys fighting. Again, the cartoon made some questionable choices because pretty much all of that is gone on the cartoon but I love her here.
Gar's is sad. We show him cleaning up his (surprisingly long) history for the others. Saying his parents were great (when his dad was a neglectful, (possibly verbally abusive) mad scientist bastard). Saying he loved being an actor, when he was treated like garbage. Saying he had lots of friends when he was bullied. Minimizing the abuse he suffered at the hands of his guardian. We get a tiny amount of his history being forced to be a child criminal. He's led a really sad life and he has had to grieve two sets of parents before the age of 16. I would be interested to read a solo book about him, to be honest. One that delves into that a little bit more but this was a period in comics where characters just popped into team books and their origins were told in small flashbacks. But now, Gar is almost always just the comedic relief in team books and rarely explored that in depth. It's a bummer because holy interesting but really shitty origin story, Batman.
Then we get Victor's where I had to roll my eyes because it was just ignorant as hell. Just FYI, if you're a white guy, don't write a story where the black characters fighting against racism are the bad guys. I'm side eying the hell out of Wolfman. Firstly, I've never appreciated black characters having their dialogue written as though they don't understand grammar as much as the white characters. Secondly, it never made that much sense seeing as Victor is highly educated (perhaps more than the others). He gives an explanation like "I can talk however I want" but... let's be real, we know why he speaks that way. Thirdly, I don't appreciate making Victor yell a lot and then having Wally's letter refer to him as though he's your typical angry black man. Victor being in this book at all and getting this complex of a history is a wonder in itself but I must mention the stuff that rubbed me the wrong way. Like this stupid, problematic activist turned terrorist storyline.
Victor's parents are rather controlling and Victor was homeschooled. He went out on the street at like eight years old and met what looks like a grown man on the street. Red fucking alert. This guy "befriends him" (Call an adult) and Victor regards him as his only friend. This guy soon gets Victor involved in committing crimes because black people are criminals and Victor goes to jail. His father scolds him, tells Victor to stay away from this guy and Victor gets angry. As a peace offering, his parents allow him to enroll in public school and join sports because all Victor wants to do is be an athlete for reasons that are never really explained? I guess I should be intrigued because usually the black guy's involved in sports to provide for his entire impoverished family and that's not Victor's story.
Anyway, Victor's got scholarships and everything and for some reason I really don't understand, this guy from the street is still in his life. Only now, he wants Victor to join his "radical" group combatting racism. This group decides to host a fight against some... random white people? I couldn't quite gather if they were a hate group or just random white people but Victor goes even though he's against it, stuff pops off and Victor gets involved because he's filled with "hate". Sure. He gets in trouble, his dad gets mad. Then this ridiculous example of a black activist group decides to go further or whatever. Victor breaks away from them because he thinks they're all imagining the threat against him. Let's get into what really shitty about this take.
This hyperbolic, violent group is the only anti racism organization presented in this series. Imagine if this is the only representation you see because you're white and you don't have black people to explain what was really going on at the time. What are you getting out of this? The racism and hate black people experience is all imagined, the groups combatting that are violent and want to kill white people, and only the "good blacks" like the Stone family are worth caring about. It teaches that the "good" black people are complacent and docile and work within the system. This is written during a time where people were protesting police brutality, hate crimes, imperialism, and being killed for asking for basic human decency. But sure, these slights are all imagined. Look at Dr. Stone, he's a distinguished scientist. If these black people weren't so busy protesting and put their heads in books, they too could succeed like Stone did. Meanwhile, black people were still struggling to get accepted into schools at all and even less of them were accepted into science programs. But, you know, Stone's success was totally a possibility for everyone.
So, I'm not trying to accuse Wolfman of intentionally presenting this racist view of what black activism was but it should be noted that this was an incredibly ignorant way to present this issue. It shouldn't have been presented at all. I feel as though Wolfman presented Victor as closer to racist stereotypes of black characters (improper grammar, quite often angry, mistaken for scary) when he wanted to and then presented him as the "ideal" black man when he wanted to. He picks and chooses what Victor stands for and that's problematic, especially when he's the only black character we regularly see. With another character to offset this ignorant view, a black character that shows what the Black Power movement really stood for, this could have been balanced a lot better. Instead, we only have Victor's parents, the "good" blacks and these poor representations of activists turned terrorists.
So, I had to mention that because I'm glad Victor Stone exists but, yet again, I question the writer's intentions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2019
Some nice stand alone stories followed by the Tales of the Teen Titans miniseries that looks at the origins of the new members of the Teen Titans. George Perez is such a beast that he drew both series at the same time. The stand alone story with the Russian Starfire (later he becomes Red Star) has some nice parallels with Len Wein and Marv Wolfman's first Teen Titans story from the original run. (I also like how in Len Wein's forward he talked about how DC was so embarrassed with the original Teen Titans series that they cancelled it even though it was making money.) The ending of that Red Star story is heartbreaking. I also enjoyed the fun little story where Marv and George meet the Teen Titans. The Tales miniseries has some great origin stories for the new members. I liked Changeling's how he was lying the whole time about how great his life was. Starfire has a lot of great moments in her story as well.
January 9, 2026
What I love about Marv Wolfman’s “The New Teen Titans” (aside from the artwork by George Perez and Romeo Tanghal) is that Wolfman clearly was writing for a teenage audience, one that grew up on the popular culture of the 1980s. While the characters didn’t look like teenagers (let’s be honest: Starfire, Wonder Girl, and Raven look like 25-year-old strippers; only Changeling looked his age, which I think is 16, but he’s still a pretty buff 16-year-old), a teen audience wouldn’t give a shit because they were used to seeing TV shows and movies in which teenagers were played by actors who were obviously ten years older than the characters they were playing. They were also dealing with teen issues like the temptation of joining a gang, losing a parent, and falling in love with someone possessed by a demon. (It happens.) You know: teen stuff.
In this sense, “The New Teen Titans” was probably the most honest comic book series on the newsstands. Because what kid is honestly going to relate to a brooding millionaire who watched his parents get killed and has a butler named Alfred that gives him a martini and a kevlar vest whenever he leaves the house? Or a woman who grew up on an island of Amazon women, lived through two world wars, and works as a secretary in the Pentagon? Or, better yet, a grown-up boy scout who works behind a desk, pretends to be a nerd when, secretly, he wants to bone the hot chick he works with, and hangs out in a frozen castle in the Arctic when he wants some alone time? At least teenagers can probably get away with wearing colorful Spandex outfits more than mature adults. Sometimes.
Anyway, Volume three includes the supervillain Doctor Polaris, a Russian superhero named Starfire (not to be confused with the other Starfire), a cameo appearance by Hawkman, a teenaged supervillain named the Disruptor with serious daddy issues, and four issues that focus on further back-stories of Cyborg, Raven, Changeling, and Starfire. All in all, a pretty decent collection of comic book fun.
In this sense, “The New Teen Titans” was probably the most honest comic book series on the newsstands. Because what kid is honestly going to relate to a brooding millionaire who watched his parents get killed and has a butler named Alfred that gives him a martini and a kevlar vest whenever he leaves the house? Or a woman who grew up on an island of Amazon women, lived through two world wars, and works as a secretary in the Pentagon? Or, better yet, a grown-up boy scout who works behind a desk, pretends to be a nerd when, secretly, he wants to bone the hot chick he works with, and hangs out in a frozen castle in the Arctic when he wants some alone time? At least teenagers can probably get away with wearing colorful Spandex outfits more than mature adults. Sometimes.
Anyway, Volume three includes the supervillain Doctor Polaris, a Russian superhero named Starfire (not to be confused with the other Starfire), a cameo appearance by Hawkman, a teenaged supervillain named the Disruptor with serious daddy issues, and four issues that focus on further back-stories of Cyborg, Raven, Changeling, and Starfire. All in all, a pretty decent collection of comic book fun.
September 25, 2021
Same story as the first two volumes...in both good and bad ways.
July 4, 2016
This volume starts off with a series of one-offs:
The Francis Kane story (17) is entirely bizarre because it takes the '70s trope of demonic possession and melds it with magnetism and Dr. Polaris in a way that really doesn't make much sense and that doesn't seem to fit with Kane's later appearances. [6/10]
The Red Star (Starfire) story (18) that follows addresses another trope of the time period: the evil Red empire. But it does it in a nicely nuanced way, while also introducing DC's first Russian superhero. It's a heart-breaking story [7+/10]
The Dr. Light story (19) is a pretty mundane fight against super villain(s) that's made interesting only by this early take on a really pathetic Light that swears he'll be dangerous this time [6/10].
The Kid Flash letter (20) offers up a fun new villain in the Disruptor, and a tense plot, but its heart is really what's going on in Wally's head, which is pretty great [7+/10].
The Tales miniseries that finishes off the volume isn't as memorable because these are all backstory-heavy, plot-free comics. Still, they're nice backstory. Even when we already knew a lot of the facts (like with Changeling and Raven), Wolfman manages to introduce enough new elements to keep things interesting. The Cyborg story is better for how much it debuts (and for how well it ties together some of the plotlines from early issues of Titans), but I still find his backstory quite mundane. The real treasure of Tales is the Starfire issue, which revealed a lot about her that was then unknown, and which set up the next arc in the Titans.
Overall, this is the weakest of the reprint volumes to date (more like a 3.5 stars than 4). It's not the sort of thing that you'll seek out for a reread, except perhaps for a single issue (like the introduction of Kane or the backstory of Starfire). But, these are still well-written stories that hold up to the modern day.
The Francis Kane story (17) is entirely bizarre because it takes the '70s trope of demonic possession and melds it with magnetism and Dr. Polaris in a way that really doesn't make much sense and that doesn't seem to fit with Kane's later appearances. [6/10]
The Red Star (Starfire) story (18) that follows addresses another trope of the time period: the evil Red empire. But it does it in a nicely nuanced way, while also introducing DC's first Russian superhero. It's a heart-breaking story [7+/10]
The Dr. Light story (19) is a pretty mundane fight against super villain(s) that's made interesting only by this early take on a really pathetic Light that swears he'll be dangerous this time [6/10].
The Kid Flash letter (20) offers up a fun new villain in the Disruptor, and a tense plot, but its heart is really what's going on in Wally's head, which is pretty great [7+/10].
The Tales miniseries that finishes off the volume isn't as memorable because these are all backstory-heavy, plot-free comics. Still, they're nice backstory. Even when we already knew a lot of the facts (like with Changeling and Raven), Wolfman manages to introduce enough new elements to keep things interesting. The Cyborg story is better for how much it debuts (and for how well it ties together some of the plotlines from early issues of Titans), but I still find his backstory quite mundane. The real treasure of Tales is the Starfire issue, which revealed a lot about her that was then unknown, and which set up the next arc in the Titans.
Overall, this is the weakest of the reprint volumes to date (more like a 3.5 stars than 4). It's not the sort of thing that you'll seek out for a reread, except perhaps for a single issue (like the introduction of Kane or the backstory of Starfire). But, these are still well-written stories that hold up to the modern day.
January 1, 2018
Wow--Cyborg's story is so tone-deaf, it's shocking.
This volume doesn't have a great arc; the stories are generally stand-alone. But there are four tales at the end, told by each of the "new" members of the Titans--Changeling, Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg. Starfire's story is well-done; her traumatic past and difficult relationship with her sister is effective. Raven's story is pretty good, and Changeling's is a convoluted mess. Basically, every piano that could ever fall on his head does so.
But Cyborg's story is awful. It is a classic product of white Reagan America. Cyborg is an extremely intelligent and athletic black male who gets drawn into a bad crowd as a child because his parents don't see him as a kid but as a future brilliant scientist. He has a run-in with the law, is essentially scared straight, and does his best to stay out of trouble (though he's still estranged from his father). But the bad-news friend tries to lure Victor back in by claiming that whites oppress blacks, a claim that Victor strongly rejects.
So black criminality is because blacks mistakenly believe that there is racism in the world, and that whites have an easier time of it. Not only is this belief apparently ludricous--at least according to Wolfman's Cyborg--it leads to all manner of crimes, including terrorism. Yeezus! And the only true friends Cyborg has are white (or green, in Changeling's case)--blacks aren't loyal to people who don't share their delusional understanding of American society and who aren't willing to rob and kill innocent white people. Backstabbers all! Man, white privilege doesn't even begin to explain this crap.
This volume doesn't have a great arc; the stories are generally stand-alone. But there are four tales at the end, told by each of the "new" members of the Titans--Changeling, Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg. Starfire's story is well-done; her traumatic past and difficult relationship with her sister is effective. Raven's story is pretty good, and Changeling's is a convoluted mess. Basically, every piano that could ever fall on his head does so.
But Cyborg's story is awful. It is a classic product of white Reagan America. Cyborg is an extremely intelligent and athletic black male who gets drawn into a bad crowd as a child because his parents don't see him as a kid but as a future brilliant scientist. He has a run-in with the law, is essentially scared straight, and does his best to stay out of trouble (though he's still estranged from his father). But the bad-news friend tries to lure Victor back in by claiming that whites oppress blacks, a claim that Victor strongly rejects.
So black criminality is because blacks mistakenly believe that there is racism in the world, and that whites have an easier time of it. Not only is this belief apparently ludricous--at least according to Wolfman's Cyborg--it leads to all manner of crimes, including terrorism. Yeezus! And the only true friends Cyborg has are white (or green, in Changeling's case)--blacks aren't loyal to people who don't share their delusional understanding of American society and who aren't willing to rob and kill innocent white people. Backstabbers all! Man, white privilege doesn't even begin to explain this crap.
November 26, 2021
Although this volume is a bit of a pause before bigger storylines begin, I appreciated it just as much. I'm glad they chose to include the 'Tales' miniseries, which has the same great Perez art and explains who the hell some of these characters are.
Terry Long is still gross and I am not in the "fan club". I mean, you KNOW he made Donna that shirt.
Terry Long is still gross and I am not in the "fan club". I mean, you KNOW he made Donna that shirt.
December 14, 2016
So amazing in every way. Camping at the Grand Canyon telling each other about their lives, deepening their friendships, this is comic book writing at its best.
March 17, 2021
We’re well underway through the New Teen Titans! The first two volumes were imperfect but enjoyable, and it feels like this third volume is where the overall quality hits its stride. Though more episodic than the previous volumes, the shorter stories are interesting, well paced, and connected by the deepening of character relationships and lore, which made this the most fun I’ve had with the series yet. The first story deals with the possession of Wally’s friend-of-the-week, Frances Kane. The set-up is reminiscent of demonic possession movies popularized in the late 70s. Wally is the prominent character on display, which is great since he’s come across as the least utilized member of the team until now.
Or it would be great, but damn if he doesn’t grate on my nerves. But I’m getting ahead of myself. So, Wally is Frances Kane’s old-time friend and current-time classmate who, after witnessing Kane’s “possession” firsthand, enlists Raven and the Titans to help him save Kane from a no-doubt grisly fate. As a fan of the possession pastiche, I thought this was a really fun story. Wally is at his best for the volume here; likable, extremely loyal, stubborn and heroic. Once the situation reaches its (pretty sad) conclusion, the next takes a narrative theme extremely common for the time: commentary on the Red Scare. A young Russian woman named Maladi is sent to America to unknowingly act as a Typhoid Mary-like biological weapon by a grieving man of Great Importance™ (I didn’t catch his exact role-- some sort of higher up in the Bureau of Science?) who lost his family due to the strife between Russia the Soviet Union and the United States. The Russian government sends their own superhero, Starfire, to terminate Maladi (hah, get it? It’s like “malady”) before she can unintentionally cause international unrest. This Russian Starfire is revealed as the origin of our Starfire’s codename, and as a past friend of Robin, Donna and Wally (except not really in the latter case) back in the first iterations of the Titans.
The twist at the end is pretty obvious but still impactful. The narrative treats the Soviet Union/Russia with a lot more nuance than other stories at the time would. OG!Starfire wants to kill Maladi, who is stated to be beyond saving multiple times by medical professionals. This brings him into direct contention with the Titans, who refuse to allow someone to die. It’s insinuated that the Titan’s mindset is not necessarily correct, as keeping Maladi alive only prolongs her pain and she has no hope of survival, but this idea is only fleetingly explored. The focus is more on how the Titans (read: Wally) immediately sees OG!Starfire as a villain… because he’s Russian. Seriously. Prior to learning who Maladi is or what OG!Starfire’s purpose in the states might be, Wally instantly others them and marks them as villains. All the good will Wally built up in the previous story comes crashing down when we have to deal with his White American Guy Oppression act. It’s super fucking annoying.
“Look, I don’t you down for being liberals. Why attack me for being a mid-western conservative?” - Wally West, Oppressed White Guy.
It was about this point that I stopped reading and said to myself “Oh no. I don’ really like you that much, do I?” Wally gets some karmic comeuppance at the very end of the story, which will hopefully lead to some character growth elsewhere, but at this point I was ready for him to super speed himself back home for a while.
We’re gonna jump ahead a bit just to keep on the thematic train of Mr. West. Wally acts as the viewpoint character later in the book when we get a short story about him writing a letter home to his parents which recounts one of his recent Titan adventures. It’s nice to see a bit more about things from his perspective, and he’s surprisingly less annoying, but it made me come to the (possibly uncharitable) conclusion that Wally can be such a close-minded, egotistical asshole because he’s got way more privileged than anyone else on the team. He gets all huffy when he feels the others are attacking his “conservative values”, but he’s also the only member of the team who has an entire family who loves him and supports his decisions. He’s less charitable and compassionate then the others (I.e: less “liberal”) because he hasn’t experienced loss like they have. Dick, Vic, Gar, and Donna’s parents are all dead. It would be a massive understatement to say that Raven and Kory have complicated relationships with their parents. Vic, Gar, Raven and Kory have all undergone some form of torture, some of them for literal years as children! These are young people with a lot of emotional baggage who have chosen to channel their pain into helping others and making a real difference.
And then there’s Wally “Don’t Hate My Politics” West.
Shut up, Wally.
At least the segment with Wally’s letter does make him sympathetic (he loves his parents and cares about his team) and hints that maybe we’ll get some character development going forward. We can only hope. I want to love you, Wally. I really do. But you can’t just be bright yellow spandex and a cute butt. You’ve gotta be better.
That’s enough about Kid Flash. So, one of my favorite stories focused, surprisingly, on Doctor Light. Doc Light didn’t make much of an impact when he was with his Legion of Doom of Nobody’s in previous volumes, but in this story he’s extremely funny and has some great lines. I laughed out loud more than once, which is a first for me since the jokes in this story are usually sort of stale (I,e: the 80% of non-creepy flirtatious dialogue from Gar). The sheer pettiness of his disdain for the Riddler was unexpectedly fun, and if he continues to be written as the conniving, self-important weasel then I look forward to his eventual reappearance. This story also co-stars Hawkman, who I know next to nothing about other than he looks good in a harness. After reading this story, I still know nothing about him.
The last quarter of the book is a (re)telling of Vic, Raven, Gar and Kory’s backstories framed as conversations between the Titans while camping over the weekend as a form of team bonding. I really enjoyed this part. This is where the team felt like they went from “work friends” to legitimate, real-life friends. Part of it was seeing characters like Dick and Raven, who are almost always in uniform, chilling out in civvies with the others. Watching the teens open up to each other, goof around and tease one another, was great and it made me really think how much I love this group (...yeah, even Wally. Probably.)
Raven’s backstory is mostly a retread, but we learn a few new interesting things such as more insight into her first meeting with Trigon and why her emotions are so stilted. I find Raven’s character arc to be well done, though fittingly the slowest developed of the team. More than her backstory, I enjoyed seeing her finally open up to her friends. She’s still as hammy as ever throughout the book, often languishing in the background and dramatically thinking to herself how envious she is of other people who know what love and friendship is, and it’s honestly kind grounding as it makes her feel a lot more like an authentic self-described ~super deep teen~ opposed solely to being an enigma.
Gar is difficult for me. He’s actually more obnoxious than Wally, but I also feel a lot more sympathetic towards him. He’s a complete creeper and the constant flirting with the women on the team gets more and more gross as time goes on, especially when he’s rebuked constantly. There’s literally a part where he flirts with Kory, who’s still mourning the loss of her dead boyfriend, and when she’s all like “my boyfriend died, leave me alone creeper” he’s like “oh!” like it never freaking occurred to him. Damn it, Gar. But, I do still like him, mainly when he’s hanging out with Victor. His backstory was also interesting. Going in, it was the one I was least interested in seeing (and hadn’t we already seen a lot of it last volume?) but there was actually a lot of extra detail, especially around his birth parents and what he did after turning green, and I appreciated how he was such an unreliable narrator-- telling the team a much happier story than what the images showed us was really happening. This was a much better way to show us that he’s hiding dark feelings with an obnoxious, desperate need for attention than the first volume where he monologues it to himself (which was also obnoxious, but in a different way.)
Kory’s backstory was excellent, and the introduction of Komand’r is clearly setting up a future arc. Kory continues to be my favorite character in the book. I didn’t really gravitate towards her love story with What’s His Name last volume, but I do think his death has had an interesting impact on Kory as a person, while also showing us more about how the Tamarean’s experience such overwhelming emotion, whether it’s love, hate or anything in between.
Victor is my “last but not least” topic. Each volume I come to love Victor more and more, to the point he’s absolutely one of my favorites when at the start I had no real opinion. There’s so many great moments for him in his book: being overwrought with guilt for Sarah being put in danger due to her association with him last volume, thinking Gar had been killed and flying into a rage, bantering with Gar and them patting him on the head affectionately, celebrating his 19th birthday with his new family, and finally opening up to the others and talking plainly about his emotions. I think Vic continues to be one of the best things in the book, and he’s come a long way in just three volumes. The way he opens up to the others is especially noteworthy, and the team as a whole seems to understand how giving and caring he is, when before they weren’t sure what to make of him. He’s still an angry man, but I feel like he’s deviated away from being the “Angry Black Guy” he was initially set-up as. He’s up there with Donna and Dick for “greatest friend” category, and I kind of wish he could be my pal.
Buuuuutttt his backstory has got some problems. Especially tone deaf in 2021, when racial equality and injustice is the forefront of American discourse, a story where a man of color goes on a rant (to another man of color!) about how the color of his skin had not have a negative impact on his life is… something. The other man,who is initially portrayed as an activist but is later turned into a backstabbing terrorist, is… another issue. There’s a major disregard of the fact that Vic’s background is entirely different from the other man’s (Vic comes from a family with money, stability and had educational opportunities that far exceeded that of the other guy) and even with that in mind, it doesn’t change the fact that Vic is still a dark skinned Black man (in 1970/80s America!). It feels extremely disingenuous for Victor to basically tell another Black man he should “work harder” to achieve his goals, and that only he is stopping himself from reaching success.
I don’t think Wolfman considered the deeper implications of a story where Vic takes an Uncle Tom stance, standing up for The (White) Man™ but this is not the sort of narrative which should be told by someone who isn’t qualified to tell it. And by “qualified” I definitely mean “white.” That’s all I’ll say about it, as I’m not really qualified to speak at length on this particular subject due to a lack of overall education on the nuance. Plus, I’m also not a person of color, so I think a deeper dive is better left to those with the proper experience in doing so. This didn’t impact my overall adoration for Victor as a character, and parts of the backstory-- such as the segments with Vic’s parents-- I enjoyed, but the themes were… not well executed in the other regards.
Overall, even with the aforementioned flaws, I enjoyed what was on display here. The art continues to be excellent and even though some of the decisions made are questionable (or just outdated) this is such a charming cast that I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to their further adventures.
Or it would be great, but damn if he doesn’t grate on my nerves. But I’m getting ahead of myself. So, Wally is Frances Kane’s old-time friend and current-time classmate who, after witnessing Kane’s “possession” firsthand, enlists Raven and the Titans to help him save Kane from a no-doubt grisly fate. As a fan of the possession pastiche, I thought this was a really fun story. Wally is at his best for the volume here; likable, extremely loyal, stubborn and heroic. Once the situation reaches its (pretty sad) conclusion, the next takes a narrative theme extremely common for the time: commentary on the Red Scare. A young Russian woman named Maladi is sent to America to unknowingly act as a Typhoid Mary-like biological weapon by a grieving man of Great Importance™ (I didn’t catch his exact role-- some sort of higher up in the Bureau of Science?) who lost his family due to the strife between Russia the Soviet Union and the United States. The Russian government sends their own superhero, Starfire, to terminate Maladi (hah, get it? It’s like “malady”) before she can unintentionally cause international unrest. This Russian Starfire is revealed as the origin of our Starfire’s codename, and as a past friend of Robin, Donna and Wally (except not really in the latter case) back in the first iterations of the Titans.
The twist at the end is pretty obvious but still impactful. The narrative treats the Soviet Union/Russia with a lot more nuance than other stories at the time would. OG!Starfire wants to kill Maladi, who is stated to be beyond saving multiple times by medical professionals. This brings him into direct contention with the Titans, who refuse to allow someone to die. It’s insinuated that the Titan’s mindset is not necessarily correct, as keeping Maladi alive only prolongs her pain and she has no hope of survival, but this idea is only fleetingly explored. The focus is more on how the Titans (read: Wally) immediately sees OG!Starfire as a villain… because he’s Russian. Seriously. Prior to learning who Maladi is or what OG!Starfire’s purpose in the states might be, Wally instantly others them and marks them as villains. All the good will Wally built up in the previous story comes crashing down when we have to deal with his White American Guy Oppression act. It’s super fucking annoying.
“Look, I don’t you down for being liberals. Why attack me for being a mid-western conservative?” - Wally West, Oppressed White Guy.
It was about this point that I stopped reading and said to myself “Oh no. I don’ really like you that much, do I?” Wally gets some karmic comeuppance at the very end of the story, which will hopefully lead to some character growth elsewhere, but at this point I was ready for him to super speed himself back home for a while.
We’re gonna jump ahead a bit just to keep on the thematic train of Mr. West. Wally acts as the viewpoint character later in the book when we get a short story about him writing a letter home to his parents which recounts one of his recent Titan adventures. It’s nice to see a bit more about things from his perspective, and he’s surprisingly less annoying, but it made me come to the (possibly uncharitable) conclusion that Wally can be such a close-minded, egotistical asshole because he’s got way more privileged than anyone else on the team. He gets all huffy when he feels the others are attacking his “conservative values”, but he’s also the only member of the team who has an entire family who loves him and supports his decisions. He’s less charitable and compassionate then the others (I.e: less “liberal”) because he hasn’t experienced loss like they have. Dick, Vic, Gar, and Donna’s parents are all dead. It would be a massive understatement to say that Raven and Kory have complicated relationships with their parents. Vic, Gar, Raven and Kory have all undergone some form of torture, some of them for literal years as children! These are young people with a lot of emotional baggage who have chosen to channel their pain into helping others and making a real difference.
And then there’s Wally “Don’t Hate My Politics” West.
Shut up, Wally.
At least the segment with Wally’s letter does make him sympathetic (he loves his parents and cares about his team) and hints that maybe we’ll get some character development going forward. We can only hope. I want to love you, Wally. I really do. But you can’t just be bright yellow spandex and a cute butt. You’ve gotta be better.
That’s enough about Kid Flash. So, one of my favorite stories focused, surprisingly, on Doctor Light. Doc Light didn’t make much of an impact when he was with his Legion of Doom of Nobody’s in previous volumes, but in this story he’s extremely funny and has some great lines. I laughed out loud more than once, which is a first for me since the jokes in this story are usually sort of stale (I,e: the 80% of non-creepy flirtatious dialogue from Gar). The sheer pettiness of his disdain for the Riddler was unexpectedly fun, and if he continues to be written as the conniving, self-important weasel then I look forward to his eventual reappearance. This story also co-stars Hawkman, who I know next to nothing about other than he looks good in a harness. After reading this story, I still know nothing about him.
The last quarter of the book is a (re)telling of Vic, Raven, Gar and Kory’s backstories framed as conversations between the Titans while camping over the weekend as a form of team bonding. I really enjoyed this part. This is where the team felt like they went from “work friends” to legitimate, real-life friends. Part of it was seeing characters like Dick and Raven, who are almost always in uniform, chilling out in civvies with the others. Watching the teens open up to each other, goof around and tease one another, was great and it made me really think how much I love this group (...yeah, even Wally. Probably.)
Raven’s backstory is mostly a retread, but we learn a few new interesting things such as more insight into her first meeting with Trigon and why her emotions are so stilted. I find Raven’s character arc to be well done, though fittingly the slowest developed of the team. More than her backstory, I enjoyed seeing her finally open up to her friends. She’s still as hammy as ever throughout the book, often languishing in the background and dramatically thinking to herself how envious she is of other people who know what love and friendship is, and it’s honestly kind grounding as it makes her feel a lot more like an authentic self-described ~super deep teen~ opposed solely to being an enigma.
Gar is difficult for me. He’s actually more obnoxious than Wally, but I also feel a lot more sympathetic towards him. He’s a complete creeper and the constant flirting with the women on the team gets more and more gross as time goes on, especially when he’s rebuked constantly. There’s literally a part where he flirts with Kory, who’s still mourning the loss of her dead boyfriend, and when she’s all like “my boyfriend died, leave me alone creeper” he’s like “oh!” like it never freaking occurred to him. Damn it, Gar. But, I do still like him, mainly when he’s hanging out with Victor. His backstory was also interesting. Going in, it was the one I was least interested in seeing (and hadn’t we already seen a lot of it last volume?) but there was actually a lot of extra detail, especially around his birth parents and what he did after turning green, and I appreciated how he was such an unreliable narrator-- telling the team a much happier story than what the images showed us was really happening. This was a much better way to show us that he’s hiding dark feelings with an obnoxious, desperate need for attention than the first volume where he monologues it to himself (which was also obnoxious, but in a different way.)
Kory’s backstory was excellent, and the introduction of Komand’r is clearly setting up a future arc. Kory continues to be my favorite character in the book. I didn’t really gravitate towards her love story with What’s His Name last volume, but I do think his death has had an interesting impact on Kory as a person, while also showing us more about how the Tamarean’s experience such overwhelming emotion, whether it’s love, hate or anything in between.
Victor is my “last but not least” topic. Each volume I come to love Victor more and more, to the point he’s absolutely one of my favorites when at the start I had no real opinion. There’s so many great moments for him in his book: being overwrought with guilt for Sarah being put in danger due to her association with him last volume, thinking Gar had been killed and flying into a rage, bantering with Gar and them patting him on the head affectionately, celebrating his 19th birthday with his new family, and finally opening up to the others and talking plainly about his emotions. I think Vic continues to be one of the best things in the book, and he’s come a long way in just three volumes. The way he opens up to the others is especially noteworthy, and the team as a whole seems to understand how giving and caring he is, when before they weren’t sure what to make of him. He’s still an angry man, but I feel like he’s deviated away from being the “Angry Black Guy” he was initially set-up as. He’s up there with Donna and Dick for “greatest friend” category, and I kind of wish he could be my pal.
Buuuuutttt his backstory has got some problems. Especially tone deaf in 2021, when racial equality and injustice is the forefront of American discourse, a story where a man of color goes on a rant (to another man of color!) about how the color of his skin had not have a negative impact on his life is… something. The other man,who is initially portrayed as an activist but is later turned into a backstabbing terrorist, is… another issue. There’s a major disregard of the fact that Vic’s background is entirely different from the other man’s (Vic comes from a family with money, stability and had educational opportunities that far exceeded that of the other guy) and even with that in mind, it doesn’t change the fact that Vic is still a dark skinned Black man (in 1970/80s America!). It feels extremely disingenuous for Victor to basically tell another Black man he should “work harder” to achieve his goals, and that only he is stopping himself from reaching success.
I don’t think Wolfman considered the deeper implications of a story where Vic takes an Uncle Tom stance, standing up for The (White) Man™ but this is not the sort of narrative which should be told by someone who isn’t qualified to tell it. And by “qualified” I definitely mean “white.” That’s all I’ll say about it, as I’m not really qualified to speak at length on this particular subject due to a lack of overall education on the nuance. Plus, I’m also not a person of color, so I think a deeper dive is better left to those with the proper experience in doing so. This didn’t impact my overall adoration for Victor as a character, and parts of the backstory-- such as the segments with Vic’s parents-- I enjoyed, but the themes were… not well executed in the other regards.
Overall, even with the aforementioned flaws, I enjoyed what was on display here. The art continues to be excellent and even though some of the decisions made are questionable (or just outdated) this is such a charming cast that I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to their further adventures.
December 24, 2024
There was some really good stuff in this volume, and there was stuff that made me grit my teeth. Reading #18 made me so angry. I couldn’t understand the dogmatic, holier than thou, narrow minded way this group was acting. I understand the writer was trying to make a point. He made it. Message received. I enjoyed the tales which provided background stories for all the characters. I just couldn’t wrap my head around Kori saving her sister twice. Didn’t she learn from it the first time? I didn’t see it as compassion; I viewed it as stupidity. Cyborg’s story was problematic for so many reasons. Amazingly, they made Wally worse this volume. He went from bland to completely unlikable for me. He’s just so damn judgy. I still love Donna, but I was a little surprised at how insensitive they made her. Two months after losing the man Kory thought she loved, Donna essentially tells her to toughen up and get over it. Seriously? There’s more good then bad in this series though. The art is beautiful, character voices are distinct and consistent, and the characters continue to grow and become more nuanced as they do. (Well most of them.) I will continue to read.
November 7, 2023
Three volumes I have read and I enjoyed them very much. In this one we can know more about the past lives of some of the New Titans.
I appreciate some moral solid principles and the great art of George Perez. Until now all the first numbers of the New Titans can be called a classic
I appreciate some moral solid principles and the great art of George Perez. Until now all the first numbers of the New Titans can be called a classic
August 7, 2022
Not as good as the first two volumes, even some of the entries here were better than the ones in the second volume but yeah… didn’t land as well. Wally wow… was he butchered in this volume. Mainly for the stuff with Starfire (Russian one) but still….
December 27, 2025
Loved a lot the issues focused on Starfire and Raven's backstories!
Raven’s backstory is so sad. She’s been feared by everyone her whole life, she’s been taught to suppress her emotions and to be afraid of herself. She’s so haunted by her heritage… I wanna give her the biggest hug, I’m glad she found friends she can rely on, with whom she can learn to open up to, to let herself feel and truly live.
Koriand’r backstory is HORRIFYING!! And despite all the horrors she went through she stayed kind, she’s so strong I love her so much. She’s one of my new favourite characters.
Unfortunately Cyborg's backstory was a way for the writers to push a "racism doesn't exist" and "PoC fighting for their rights are irrational criminals" narrative, and that pissed me off. Classic 80s mentality, I'm glad the whole thing has been retconned since these issues were published.
I couldn't care less about Changeling.
Raven’s backstory is so sad. She’s been feared by everyone her whole life, she’s been taught to suppress her emotions and to be afraid of herself. She’s so haunted by her heritage… I wanna give her the biggest hug, I’m glad she found friends she can rely on, with whom she can learn to open up to, to let herself feel and truly live.
Koriand’r backstory is HORRIFYING!! And despite all the horrors she went through she stayed kind, she’s so strong I love her so much. She’s one of my new favourite characters.
Unfortunately Cyborg's backstory was a way for the writers to push a "racism doesn't exist" and "PoC fighting for their rights are irrational criminals" narrative, and that pissed me off. Classic 80s mentality, I'm glad the whole thing has been retconned since these issues were published.
I couldn't care less about Changeling.
August 26, 2020
Not as good as previous volumes both in the series itself and the spotlight issues focusing on individual characters. I'm confident volume 4 will pick back up again though.
December 26, 2025
First half of the volume is lowkey buns. Second half with the tales of the teen titans is a lot more fun even if I do want to kill Wallace west. 2.5
February 7, 2023
wholesome but mid
November 22, 2024
the friendship between the titans is very sweet <3
October 19, 2020
The New Teen Titans #17 - 20 were pretty great. I loved how the issue with the original Starfire demonstrated how the Titans are sometimes folly to their black and white ideals. Their goal is to preserve life no matter what but I honestly think Original Starfire was right in wanting to end Maladi's misery instead of letting her suffer to death, despite the effect killing her would have on him. I was not a fan of "Midwestern Conservative" Wally, who was really just racist and patriotic. I also found the beginning of the Doctor Light story pretty dull, and honestly just skipped to the part where the Titans were involved. I was surprised by Wally's letter home though. I've always known Wally to have a dysfunctional household, which he escaped by visiting Iris so it was odd to read a story where he was so fond of his parents and his upbringing. It did show how different he was from the rest of the Titans and their tragic childhoods and sort of helped me understand why he would leave the team: because he had the liberty to.
I didn't expect to like The Tales of the New Teen Titans as much as I did. My favourite part of Titans stories are the team dynamics, so I wasn't expecting to enjoy a bunch of individual origin stories, but they were tied together beautifully with the Grand Canyon camp setting. Though I'm sure these were the inspiration it was reminescent of the Young Justice Team bonding over a campfire in their backyard. I especially liked how Beast Boy's verbal history contradicted with the images we saw, similar to Miss Martian's on Young Justice, but for different reasons. Any Titans bonding scenes are always a win for me.
I didn't expect to like The Tales of the New Teen Titans as much as I did. My favourite part of Titans stories are the team dynamics, so I wasn't expecting to enjoy a bunch of individual origin stories, but they were tied together beautifully with the Grand Canyon camp setting. Though I'm sure these were the inspiration it was reminescent of the Young Justice Team bonding over a campfire in their backyard. I especially liked how Beast Boy's verbal history contradicted with the images we saw, similar to Miss Martian's on Young Justice, but for different reasons. Any Titans bonding scenes are always a win for me.
December 26, 2020
For me, this run will be a 5 star reading everywhere.
What Wolfman did over here it's something, that, back there, anyone cared to do with super heroes. The depth of the team, the characters... how deep he dove to create a self universe for all the Teen Titans. It's just beautiful to read.
And George Perez art was already a blast, with his big pages, all the colorful characters and all.
For me, it's very difficult to read something from the 70's or the 80's, but this is shining gold. Go for it!
What Wolfman did over here it's something, that, back there, anyone cared to do with super heroes. The depth of the team, the characters... how deep he dove to create a self universe for all the Teen Titans. It's just beautiful to read.
And George Perez art was already a blast, with his big pages, all the colorful characters and all.
For me, it's very difficult to read something from the 70's or the 80's, but this is shining gold. Go for it!
February 7, 2022
The volume collects issues 17-20 and the four part mini-series of the classic 1980s comic series. The villains they fight in the regular issues are Doctor Polaris - the DC universe's version of Magneto, The H.I.V.E. organization, and Doctor Light - always good for a laugh. The action is fairly good, with growing complexity of the heroes personal lives taking center stage in several issues. The mini-series recaps the backstories of the newer - aka non-sidekick heroes- Cyborg, Changeling, Starfire, and Raven. Interesting for those who are unaware of those characters origins.
May 12, 2016
I enjoy getting to see more of the characters as just being normal people. The transition between the four orgins stories were done pretty well. It's definitely from the 80's. Not in a bad way, but it shows its age. As I am sure our current comics will 30 years from now.
May 30, 2020
Reprints The New Teen Titans (1) #17-20 and Tales of the New Teen Titans #1-4 (March 1982-September 1982). The Titans try to help a friend of Kid Flash and encounter a former ally who might have turned enemy. As Starfire deals with loss, Cyborg questions how Sarah Simms could see him as anything but a robot. A camping trip for the Teen Titans exposes secrets that they never told their teammates.
Written by Marv Wolfman, The New Teen Titans—Volume 3 is a DC Comics superhero comic book collection. Following The New Teen Titans—Volume 2, the series features art by George Perez, Romeo Tanghal, Brett Breeding, Pablo Marcos, Gene Day, and Ernie Colon. Issues in this collection were also part of The New Teen Titans Archives—Volume 3 and The New Teen Titans Omnibus—Volume 1.
I was Marvel growing up. New Mutants, Avengers, Spider-Man, X-Men, and even Alpha Flight were favorites. DC seemed too juvenile since I still saw DC as the Super Friends (which I liked), but innocent and pure. The only book that made me consider reading DC was The New Teen Titans. Like New Mutants, the characters were young, identifiable, and more rounded than some of the bigger players in the DC universe. I started reading New Teen Titans later, and while I still enjoy it a lot, I do think it has an innocence to it that Marvel didn’t have at the time…even when it tried to be edgy.
This collection is rather short in the sense that four of the eight issues are essentially origin issues. Tales of the New Teen Titans was the title of the limited series which later became the title of the original New Teen Titans series as DC launched a secondary Teen Titans series. If you had been reading the Teen Titans, the origin issue wasn’t anything special, but pre-internet, origin issues were almost a necessity to really know “the origin” of a character if you missed it (and the characters of Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire were new characters).
The four issues comprising the rest of the book are pretty much one-offs. There are continuing plots, but most of the stories in New Teen Titans started out as adventures with a soap-opera background (like a lot of comic books). The New Teen Titans was always almost more melodramatic than the Marvel books which makes it almost seem more wholesome. Even books dealing with witchcraft, detached parents, and rogue agents in the Soviet Union trying to launch a super-virus against still feel very pulpy. It isn’t a bad thing, but it is a different flavor than most Marvel books from the same period.
As a result, reading The New Teen Titans unfortunately will not impress a lot of people. In comparison with modern comics, the nature of the comic might feel kind of juvenile even when dealing with big subjects. At the time, the comics really were often focused on kids and teens, but with the understanding that adults and collectors might also read them. Now I feel that it is pretty much reversed, and something like the New Teen Titans feels like a comfortable throwback to older types of comics…give the Titans a chance even if you were a “Marvelite”. The series really begins to ramp up in the next volume now that pieces are all established. The New Teen Titans—Volume 3 is followed by The New Teen Titans—Volume 4.
Written by Marv Wolfman, The New Teen Titans—Volume 3 is a DC Comics superhero comic book collection. Following The New Teen Titans—Volume 2, the series features art by George Perez, Romeo Tanghal, Brett Breeding, Pablo Marcos, Gene Day, and Ernie Colon. Issues in this collection were also part of The New Teen Titans Archives—Volume 3 and The New Teen Titans Omnibus—Volume 1.
I was Marvel growing up. New Mutants, Avengers, Spider-Man, X-Men, and even Alpha Flight were favorites. DC seemed too juvenile since I still saw DC as the Super Friends (which I liked), but innocent and pure. The only book that made me consider reading DC was The New Teen Titans. Like New Mutants, the characters were young, identifiable, and more rounded than some of the bigger players in the DC universe. I started reading New Teen Titans later, and while I still enjoy it a lot, I do think it has an innocence to it that Marvel didn’t have at the time…even when it tried to be edgy.
This collection is rather short in the sense that four of the eight issues are essentially origin issues. Tales of the New Teen Titans was the title of the limited series which later became the title of the original New Teen Titans series as DC launched a secondary Teen Titans series. If you had been reading the Teen Titans, the origin issue wasn’t anything special, but pre-internet, origin issues were almost a necessity to really know “the origin” of a character if you missed it (and the characters of Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire were new characters).
The four issues comprising the rest of the book are pretty much one-offs. There are continuing plots, but most of the stories in New Teen Titans started out as adventures with a soap-opera background (like a lot of comic books). The New Teen Titans was always almost more melodramatic than the Marvel books which makes it almost seem more wholesome. Even books dealing with witchcraft, detached parents, and rogue agents in the Soviet Union trying to launch a super-virus against still feel very pulpy. It isn’t a bad thing, but it is a different flavor than most Marvel books from the same period.
As a result, reading The New Teen Titans unfortunately will not impress a lot of people. In comparison with modern comics, the nature of the comic might feel kind of juvenile even when dealing with big subjects. At the time, the comics really were often focused on kids and teens, but with the understanding that adults and collectors might also read them. Now I feel that it is pretty much reversed, and something like the New Teen Titans feels like a comfortable throwback to older types of comics…give the Titans a chance even if you were a “Marvelite”. The series really begins to ramp up in the next volume now that pieces are all established. The New Teen Titans—Volume 3 is followed by The New Teen Titans—Volume 4.
January 25, 2025
When a series takes it time and develops individual characters and relationships, (i.e. Wally West and Frances Kane, Red Star and Maladi,) something magical happens. Silver Age cardboard cutouts no longer feel like the junior Justice League. They take a life of their own. And I admit I started tearing up at the climax of Red Star's return. Wolfman and Perez show us here that they are masters of their craft.
Volume 3 contains New Teen Titans #17-20 of the popular 1980s series.
#17 introduces us to Frances Kane (Magenta). Frances was one of my favorite secondary Teen Titans characters when I first read this issue in the 1980s.
#18 features the return of Russian superhero Red Star (then Starfire). He first appeared in the original Teen Titans #18, and now he's returning in New Teen Titans #18. Was that planned?!
#19 guest-stars Dr. Light as the villain, with an appearance by Hawkman.
The story in #20 is told via a letter from Wally West to his parents.
With the strong popularity of the New Teen Titans, they were given a mini-series in 1982 where each issue focused on a different new team member (Cyborg, Raven, Changeling, and Starfire). All four issues of this mini-series rounds out the rest of this Volume 3, giving us eight issues total.
Volume 3 contains New Teen Titans #17-20 of the popular 1980s series.
#17 introduces us to Frances Kane (Magenta). Frances was one of my favorite secondary Teen Titans characters when I first read this issue in the 1980s.
#18 features the return of Russian superhero Red Star (then Starfire). He first appeared in the original Teen Titans #18, and now he's returning in New Teen Titans #18. Was that planned?!
#19 guest-stars Dr. Light as the villain, with an appearance by Hawkman.
The story in #20 is told via a letter from Wally West to his parents.
With the strong popularity of the New Teen Titans, they were given a mini-series in 1982 where each issue focused on a different new team member (Cyborg, Raven, Changeling, and Starfire). All four issues of this mini-series rounds out the rest of this Volume 3, giving us eight issues total.
October 2, 2025
I don’t really like Wally West in this series which is such a shame because he’s normally my favorite character. He’s so judgmental. Like when the Original male Russian Starfire has a mission and Wally is there saying negative things about Russia and claims that Starfire is blindly following his country. Then when Russian Starfire tells the teen titans his mission because they force him they berate him because he wants to mercy kill the woman who has a dangerous virus who is in pain & screaming in agony. They force the woman to stay in the hospital until she passes away and again berate Russian Starfire for wanting to kill the woman. He then reveals that he loved the woman and they were supposed to get married which was why he volunteered for the mission. It ends with the teen titans feeling bad.
Now I hope with this story it will explore more on the “no kill rule” for the rest of the series. Because they force the woman to continue living for a few days in pain when there was nothing nobody could do. I hate how the titans immediately judged Russian Starfire for a decision he wanted to do for the woman he loved which in medical cases usually the spouses get to make decisions.
I also don’t know why they added the whole “I don’t judge you for being liberals” comment it just made Wally so I likable.
I hated cyborg story. It felt like the author was trying to erase the black struggle black people face. It felt like the author was saying “black people use white people as an excuse for why their life suck” and made them really violent. It also seemed like they were trying to say not Victor tho he’s one of the “good ones.” The whole story rubbed me the wrong way.
Beast boy being 16 and the youngest member makes sense. Beast boy story was my favorite. I liked how Beast boy narrated his story by making everything positive when really he was neglected, abused, bullied and lonely.
I liked Starfire story though I don’t get why people like Blackfire when she was a bitch who betrayed her planet and sold her sister into slavery.
As for Raven I hope we eventually get to see her abilities go offense. I like her ability to absorb pain but I want her to actually use her abilities in battle. I also think it’s funny that Raven is vegan while in the Teen titans cartoon it’s Beast boy who is the vegan.
Now I hope with this story it will explore more on the “no kill rule” for the rest of the series. Because they force the woman to continue living for a few days in pain when there was nothing nobody could do. I hate how the titans immediately judged Russian Starfire for a decision he wanted to do for the woman he loved which in medical cases usually the spouses get to make decisions.
I also don’t know why they added the whole “I don’t judge you for being liberals” comment it just made Wally so I likable.
I hated cyborg story. It felt like the author was trying to erase the black struggle black people face. It felt like the author was saying “black people use white people as an excuse for why their life suck” and made them really violent. It also seemed like they were trying to say not Victor tho he’s one of the “good ones.” The whole story rubbed me the wrong way.
Beast boy being 16 and the youngest member makes sense. Beast boy story was my favorite. I liked how Beast boy narrated his story by making everything positive when really he was neglected, abused, bullied and lonely.
I liked Starfire story though I don’t get why people like Blackfire when she was a bitch who betrayed her planet and sold her sister into slavery.
As for Raven I hope we eventually get to see her abilities go offense. I like her ability to absorb pain but I want her to actually use her abilities in battle. I also think it’s funny that Raven is vegan while in the Teen titans cartoon it’s Beast boy who is the vegan.
February 28, 2018
The third volume of the Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans series was an interesting mix.
It collected Issues #17-20 of the regular series as well as the four issue limited series Tales of the Teen Titans. The regular issues were good with the standout issue being the tale of a Russian superhero coming to the US to stop a plague from being spread. The character was called Starfire and was an original character from the previous Teen Titans series. The use of the same name for the now far more well known character of the bronze skinned alien Princess was commented on in both the book's introduction and the story itself. As for the story, it was an incredible story with a shocking/surprising ending.
The Tales of the Teen Titans series were individual origin stories for Cyborg, Raven, Starfire and Changeling. The stories were tied together by a Teen Titans camping trip. The stories were fine but you knew most of the details already if you had any kind of passing knowledge of the characters prior to reading this trade collection.
It collected Issues #17-20 of the regular series as well as the four issue limited series Tales of the Teen Titans. The regular issues were good with the standout issue being the tale of a Russian superhero coming to the US to stop a plague from being spread. The character was called Starfire and was an original character from the previous Teen Titans series. The use of the same name for the now far more well known character of the bronze skinned alien Princess was commented on in both the book's introduction and the story itself. As for the story, it was an incredible story with a shocking/surprising ending.
The Tales of the Teen Titans series were individual origin stories for Cyborg, Raven, Starfire and Changeling. The stories were tied together by a Teen Titans camping trip. The stories were fine but you knew most of the details already if you had any kind of passing knowledge of the characters prior to reading this trade collection.
September 22, 2025
yeahh... did not love this one!
I really dont like how Victor or gar is written here. Gar is just constantly being gross and hitting on Starfire even after being told repeatedly to stop. Honestly, it just icks me out and makes me not like his character, which sucks because there are compelling elements to him! As for Victor, there's a lot of stereotypes the writers have attached to his character, and it rubs me the wrong way. It's rough to read through, which is a shame because just like Gar, he is a very compelling character!
Raven and Wally, I've liked in so many other medias they've been featured in, but Im so bored with them so far in this run. They're so one dimensional, and I need them to give me more. However, Starfire, she's my beloved!! Her back story wrecks me every time I read about it. I LOVE that she is written as so loving & full of compassion, while also being a warrior and thirsty for blood at times. At this point, I think I'm mainly reading this run for her!
I really dont like how Victor or gar is written here. Gar is just constantly being gross and hitting on Starfire even after being told repeatedly to stop. Honestly, it just icks me out and makes me not like his character, which sucks because there are compelling elements to him! As for Victor, there's a lot of stereotypes the writers have attached to his character, and it rubs me the wrong way. It's rough to read through, which is a shame because just like Gar, he is a very compelling character!
Raven and Wally, I've liked in so many other medias they've been featured in, but Im so bored with them so far in this run. They're so one dimensional, and I need them to give me more. However, Starfire, she's my beloved!! Her back story wrecks me every time I read about it. I LOVE that she is written as so loving & full of compassion, while also being a warrior and thirsty for blood at times. At this point, I think I'm mainly reading this run for her!
March 15, 2025
I'm gonna give it a 1 star solely because of how much Marv mischaracterized Wally's character so far. He wrote Kid flash Wally to be insufferable, Annoying, lash out a lot, a doubtful Hero and a stauncy Conservative considering kid flash Wally was nice, kind, level-headed and apolitical in the Silver Age and Bronze age Teen Titans comics. The thing is that Marv himself said from his own mouth that he disliked Wally and didn't want him on the book, but the Editorial forced him. So he wrote Wally like this to get him off the book. Marv's unprofessionism as a writer in the 80s is why I can't give this volume more than a one star.
June 25, 2019
The classic revival of the Teen Titans in the 1980s by writer Marv Wolfman and artist extraordinaire George Perez. Volume 3 collects New Teen Titans Issues 17 - 20 as well as the Tales Of The Titans four issue mini-series. The stories include Frances Kane possessed (Wally's friend) by Dr. Polaris, the return of the original Russian Starfire, a cameo by Hawkman (Carter Hall) who joins the fight against Dr. Light. The Tales of the Titans focused on the back grounds of Cyborg, Raven, Changling, and Starfire. Classic stuff!
July 21, 2025
so i have that bum editor len wein to blame for the existence of raven. never before have i read such an irksome, self-pitying, narcissistic character. i am sooo sorry persis khambatta, i don’t know why george perez made it public he based that girl on you. this volume was overall actually fine, just a bunch of one-off arcs, but i did skip a few issues (basically those cyborg, beast boy, raven origin story reruns), so i have to dock a star bc maybe that’s the big reason this didn’t feel as trying as usual. btw, can we free wally already?
August 31, 2025
3.5
i really disliked wally in this, which made the whole volume such a drag to read :/
the whole "i'm a conservative who hates commies" issue was already bad enough, but i kind of just hate the way he thinks about the other characters sometimes, specially gar... eventually he does seem to realize he was so focused on his own problems he kinda didn't notice other people also had problems so there's that! but meh
i did mostly enjoy the tales of the new teen titans miniseries though (although some of vic's tale was a bit uhhhhh)
i really disliked wally in this, which made the whole volume such a drag to read :/
the whole "i'm a conservative who hates commies" issue was already bad enough, but i kind of just hate the way he thinks about the other characters sometimes, specially gar... eventually he does seem to realize he was so focused on his own problems he kinda didn't notice other people also had problems so there's that! but meh
i did mostly enjoy the tales of the new teen titans miniseries though (although some of vic's tale was a bit uhhhhh)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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