My bad. I'm extremely sleep-deprived and read your post too quickly. I was sitting there, thinking "I don't recall those folks doing Teen Titans issues..."

I definitely agree with this. Adams' style didn't match the stye of the Weisinger-era stories. It also seemed out of place on wilder titles like The Spectre. Murphy Anderson could get away with things like characters swinging comets at each other; Adams tried to hard to make things "believable."

Teen Titans #19 (February 1969)



"Stepping Stones for a Giant Killer!"

Script: Mike Friedrich
Pencils: Gil Kane
Inks: Wally Wood
Colors: ?
Letters: Ray Holloway

grade: A-


Really seems like Cardy drew the cover for this issue before there was a script, as you can see the Freidrich storyline begrudgingly making efforts to loosely resemble the contents of the cover in the most minimal of ways while completely forgetting the idea that (according to the cover) this was supposed to be some kind of performance and not the actions of a desperate would-be villain conducted in his private lair.



Lets be clear that the villain did all of his impressive stuff before he put that costume on, only donning it afterwards as a sort of afterthought in the script.

As for the creative team of this particular filler issue, it's a really fascinating dynamic. We've got Kane and Wood turning in some truly powerful pages:



while, in seeming opposition, Friedrich's script just endlessly mocks the genre and title, from re-emphasizing Aqualad's limitations:



to the villain commenting on how predictably easy it is to trick the Titans by claiming to be a teen in trouble who just wants to talk, to Speedy commenting on how stupid these villains always are for leaving the room without having killed them, to the revelation of the costume and villain name, which is absolutely played for laughs.

And yet, even if Friedrich and Kane/Wood appear to be approaching this issue with differing attitudes towards the subject matter, their efforts still manage to combine beautifully in moments like these:



where we have self-aware characters, bored of the trappings of their own genre and just having fun with it as a result, the artwork fully capturing and expressing the extent of that silly joy with utter seriousness. It works, even if it shouldn't.


If I've made Friedrich out to be playing this whole thing for laughs, that doesn't mean I'm convinced he's completely uninvested in this issue. In fact, he seems to have come in with a clear agenda to make Speedy a vital necessity to the title. Speedy is never the butt of the joke, even if most of the other Titans are, and whereas their thinking and behaviors feel rote and boring at the start, Speedy is constantly undermining that, sewing small conflicts and interpersonal dilemmas that ultimately shake the team out of their complacency and make them feel fresh again.



Essentially, through his mirth and irreverence, Speedy is on a mission to rescue the Titans from themselves, and I get the sense that Friedrich was too. As vehemently as Giordano promised in last issue's letter column that Aqualad wasn't going anywhere, he's more ambiguous in response to the same inquiries this time around, and we're also given this ambiguous ending that may or may not mean Aqualad's off the team:



Decisive or not, this ends up marking Aqualad's departure through (I believe) issue #28 and, even then, he's never a core member again. So it sure seems like the intention of this issue was to sell fans on Speedy as a permanent replacement, even though many fans had been asking for him to join the team since the very first Titans story four and a half years earlier.


In the end, we're given a truly fun and high quality issue that seems to acknowledge the stagnation of this title (and, perhaps, the entire Pre-Infantino DC) in the hopes of injecting some new life into the series via Speedy. Too bad Friedrich didn't stay on. I actually would have loved to see "Punch" the villain make a return appearance, and I definitely want ensuing writers to keep stirring the pot with inter-team dynamics. Truly a lot of great stuff in this issue that I would have enjoyed exploring further.



Important Details:

- Aqualad takes a (seemingly temporary) leave of the team in order to watch his "nephew" while Aquaman searches for Mera.

- Speedy has not joined as of this issue, but he has made it clear that he's nearby and available if the Titans need him from now on.

- Gaspar Saladino settles on a new logo for the series as of this issue.



Minor Details:

- In the letters page, presumably in response to many protests in regard to issue #17, Giordano promises that Robin isn't going anywhere because the new Batman animated series is proving to be a success.


Department of Aquatic Desperation:

- Aqualad's limitations are played for laughs in this issue, and it proves to be his final one as a core member.



Plot synopsis:

A teenager shows up at The School for Criminology, presenting a plan to kill The Justice League. When he's unceremoniously dismissed, he decides to prove himself by executing the plan against "The Junior JLA". Clearly, it doesn't work out for him by the close, and the Titans seem almost bored while dealing with his antics.

A couple of quick notes:

1. While it hadn't been mentioned much in the context of the Titans title, Aqualad's (and Aquaman's) one-hour time limit was first established back in Adventure Comics #266 (November 1959).

2. Headmaster Mind was a JLA villain who first appeared in Justice League of America #24 and, coincidentally (I assume, since I doubt Giordano and Julius Schwartz were coordinating their efforts), was the baddie in the JLA issue on the stands the same month as this issue of Teen Titans.

Cei-U!
Otherwise, a nice review of my favorite pre-Perez issue!

Brave and the Bold #83 (May 1969)



"Punish Not My Evil Son"

Script: Bob Haney
Pencils: Neal Adams
Inks: Neal Adams
Colors: ?
Letters: Ben Oda

grade: A+

I've never read this issue before, and, just prior to opening it up for the first time, I imagined the focus of this review would be on Haney getting another shot at the team he'd been with since the beginning, and maybe on Neal Adams gearing up to take over on the actual Teen Titans title. What I found, instead, is the single most powerful and important original Teen Titans story ever committed to paper.

Abandoning the familiar trappings of a Titans adventure, Haney truly strives in this issue to explore the relationship between Batman and the Teen Titans -- showing us, really for the first time, how Robin balances his life between the two. Reading just the Titans or the Batman titles, it was always easy to forget Robin was involved with both simultaneously, but now we have the Titans helping Batman on an assignment as if they do this on a regular basis, and hanging out in his basement (which is, I assume, above the Batcave) when Robin needs their advice. It completes the portrait in a way any fan of either property would have to find immensely satisfying.

But it also does far more than that.

First, we have to discuss the story itself. Bruce discovers that, by means of a contract signed by his father, he has to take on a second heir, and that kid is clearly up to no good. Robin does the honorable thing, giving the kid second chances and even taking the fall for him when he steals or vandalizes, but we keep waiting for the inevitable progression of this familiar tale: Robin gets resentful, ends up looking like the bad guy, and it turns out it was all a ruse -- this kid isn't supposed to be an heir to Bruce Wayne after all. But that's not at all how it goes. Robin never stops believing in the kid, and Bruce goes so far as to formally adopt him (something he never did for Robin), leaving us to wonder how the heck this is all going to play out.

Damn if I didn't see any of this coming:





Lance has a last minute change of heart and sacrifices himself to save Batman from the trap he laid for him. Holy sh**.


It's less a Teen Titans story than a Batman and Robin one, but the Titans do feature prominently, and I really believe this issue was the basis for some of the most important Batman and Teen Titans story arcs in the decades that followed, Bruce's attitude towards Lance mirroring his attitude towards a Post-Crisis Jason Todd:



Batman's rage after Dick's supposed death (REALLY surprising in a Silver Age DC story) strongly resembling his response to Jason Todd's death two decades later:





and, most importantly to Titans continuity, our little backstabber who was rotten from the start, but with traces of good within, foreshadowing the most memorable event in Titans history:






So, yeah. Pretty important story, and it didn't even happen in the pages of the Teen Titans.


Important Details:

- First significant appearance of the Teen Titans outside of their own title since it began two and a half years earlier.

- Has Speedy officially joined the team as of this issue? He was still at "Call me if you need me" status as of the last issue of Teen Titans, but he's just here with the rest of the team now, no explanations offered.

- Whereas the earliest Teen Titans stories depicted Dick Grayson expressing some rebelliousness against Bruce Wayne, he's a perfect zealot in this story





going so far as to sacrifice his own reputation and possibly even face arrest covering for Lance's crimes just because he knows Bruce wants him to give Lance a chance.



Plot synopsis:

Batman and Robin are investigating the theft of millions of gallons of oil from a company Bruce Wayne oversees while Bruce is confronted with the surprise that a contract his father signed with a close family friend requires him to adopt young Lance Bruhnner upon the death of his parents. Lance immediately proves to be a "bad seed", but Bruce asks Dick to give him a chance and, despite warning from the Titans, Dick covers for Lance and keeps trying to reform him while Lance's actions grow more and more extreme. Bruce learns of Lance's troubled past and decides to adopt him anyway while Lance secretly discovers Batman and Robin's secret identities and lays a plan with the villain at the heart of the oil thefts to capture them. At the last minute, Lance is inspired when he sees Robin appear to die in order to save Batman. He puts on a spare Robin costume(?) and charges in to do the same, losing his life in an act of redemption.

I'm just surprised to hear from someone who actually respects Haney here. It's interesting: there's a bit about him in the letter page for this issue in which he states that he believes the comic book medium is still in its early stages of evolution. So much of what he did for the Titans was status quo, but this story shows a completely different side of him as a creator. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees that here.

It's this kind of continuity across titles that's really surprising me about DC right now. I had no idea the Infantino change-up brought this much change to the pre-Kahn DC.




Thank you, and I totally agree. I love how Kid Flash, in particular, is still capable of having attitude and giving Robin a hard time while also expressing genuine concern for him.