Comic Info
Comic Name: The New Teen Titans: Games
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Artist: George Perez
# of Comics: One-Shot
Release Date: 2011
The New Teen Titans Team
The Teen Titans are facing a threat. Contacted by King Faraday of the C. I. B., a man calling himself the Gamesmaster is threatening and the Titans’ families and friends. The Titans must find the Gamesmaster before he finds them first, and the Gamesmaster’s secret goal could destroy them all.
The New Teen Titans: Games was written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by George Perez. It was originally conceived during their popular 1980s run on the original New Teen Titans series but didn’t come to fruition until 2011. It was released by DC is a prestige oversized hardback edition.
The New Teen Titans: Games was almost like the JLA/Avengers crossover…wanted by fans for ages after rumors of it surfaced. It had existed when the series was big but due to deadlines, changing times, etc. never was made. Wolfman does a good job in the collection explaining the process which led to the story’s shelving and what eventually helped it get released. DC also deserves credit for doing it right in the release by really putting a lot of time and effort into the book.
The book really works on a level that it is the ’80s New Teen Titans. From Nightwing and Donna Troy’s goofy armored costumes, to Jericho with his bad sideburns, and the obnoxious Danny Chase, it feels like you could be reading an old annual or something. The Titans haven’t aged at all and there is still that fun but dangerous feel of the original Wolfman-Perez series. There were a few things (like a computer CD style disk) that I don’t think would have been around…but they were also dealing in real high tech in the Titans Tower.
Cover
The story is a pretty typical ’80s story however. The Titans all split up and end up fighting a corresponding enemy that tests their specific abilities. It also feels like some of DC’s bigger stories where sometimes dialogue is overdone and other times, it could have been more descriptive. The ending of the story gets a bit confusing with all the action and the villain switch-up, but it still is strong.
It is also interesting to see the different directions taken by characters in the story. Faraday’s future varies greatly from what happened to him in the years that followed Wolfman and Perez’s run. Sarah Simms did not meet her fate on a bus defending children. Danny didn’t get his hands blown off (though no one was sorry when Phantasm did bite the big one).
New Teen Titans: Games was a fun flashback to a simpler time in comic books. It was the period when comic books were rising above kids books but still accessible (and clean enough) for a much broader audience. The idea of a throwback book works much better than similar attempts (like X-Men Forever or DC’s Retroactive one-shots). I didn’t love the book (I did love New Teen Titans), but I do appreciate it and like the memories Wolfman’s story and Perez’s art brings back.
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