Comic Info
Comic Name: Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files/Teen Titans (Volume 3)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns/Judd Winick
Artist: Mike McKone/Tom Grummett/Ivan Reis/Carlo Barberi
# of Issues: 14
Release Date: 2017
Teen Titans (3) #1
Reprints Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files #1 and Teen Titans (3) #½-12 (September 2003-August 2004). The death of Donna Troy has rocked the Titans and the Outsiders leaving both teams shattered. When a new team of Teen Titans begin to form, the old members and the new members come together to fight one of the team’s oldest enemies in Deathstroke…but Deathstroke might hide an even deadlier enemy. Plus, the return of Raven could mean doom for the world as the cult of Brother Blood has plans for her future.
Written by Geoff Johns (with additional writing by Judd Winick), Teen Titans by Geoff Johns—Book 1 is a DC Comics superhero comic book collection. Featuring art by Mike McKone, Tom Grummett, Ivan Reis, and Carlo Barberi, the series collections the one-shot story from Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files #1 (December 2003) along with the Wizard Magazine incentive comic Teen Titans #½ (January 2004). Issues in the collection have also been collected as part of Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game, Teen Titans: Family Lost, Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Omnibus, and The Outsiders by Judd Winick: The Darker Side of Justice.
I loved the New Teen Titans, but attempts to recapture Wolfman and Perez’s series always seemed to come up short. When Geoff Johns took over the Teen Titans, he was able to reinsert some of that classic Wolfman-Perez Titans into a new and more modern Teen Titans…and this first outing is a solid throwback to the old series.
Johns seems to recognize the nostalgia factor of New Teen Titans. New Teen Titans was DC’s breakthrough hit in the 1980s, and it did so by having very “Marvel” characters in soap-opera-esque situations as they try to battle the forces of evil. Johns takes a similar approach here and has all the teen/twenty-something drama that New Teen Titans had, but also creates a strange generational gap between the original Teen Titans and their younger recruits to demonstrate the changes in society.
Teen Titans (3) #6
The primary focus of the volume is the return of Deathstroke as a “villain”. For years, Deathstroke kind of toed the line as a Punisher-like anti-hero that got more and more heroic as the years went on. Wilson Slade is possessed by former Teen Titan (and son) Jericho and is back to his bad side…even when Jericho is exorcised from Slade, there is a darkness that the character has been lacking for a while.
The story also revives Raven and in reviving her, the Teen Titans’ enemy Brother Blood becomes a threat again. Raven was always core to the New Teen Titans, and it feels if Johns wants to mimic the classic run, that the character needs to be part of the team. She’s a really hard character to write and it will be interesting to see if he can pull it off.
Geoff Johns was the boost that the Teen Titans needed when he wrote it. Now, there is some stigma attached to Johns outside of his comic book writing that has soured some people on him but try to forget this as you read Teen Titans. It is a nice team book with a lot of DC history. Fans of the classic run will enjoy it and it also has the potential to introduce new readers to the characters that shows like Young Justice have made popular…the Teen Titans are back! Teen Titans by Geoff Johns—Book 1 is followed by Teen Titans by Geoff Johns—Book 2.
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