No problem! They are well worth reading.



That could have been the case, but the one thing that makes me think any maturity oversight mas more accident than lack of continuity was Batman himself; at the same time Robin was maturing, Batman (under the team of Irv Novick and Frank Robbins) had already moved Batman/Bruce Wayne back into a detective-heavy character and a front-and-center move away from Rogues' Gallery over-saturation (seen while the TV series was still first run on ABC), and that characterization would be carried over into his spot on Justice League of America, The Brave and the Bold and any other title he guest-starred in. That DC would make a conscious effort to have Batman's return to the "Darknight Detective" personality across titles and not Robin--a character who was making as many changes as his mentor--again seems like oversight, since Robin was highly visible in the DC titles of the day.



I agree that the Filmation audience was--in theory--different than the people reading the increasingly mature Bat-titles, but comics being what they were at the time, did have some crossover, as younger fans (as opposed to teens and college-age readers) who were already reading the comics say, from 1966-1968 were likely watching the live action series and continued to do so as the Bat-tiles' entire tone and direction changed. If true, they would still buy titles and find interest in Filmation's cartoon, as they were interested in seeing more "live" Batman anyway they could get it.

Maybe the issue is what constitutes "super-strength," but here's what I meant:


(from Teen Titans #1)

Interesting that DC would make Adams' position known. At the time, such a power position was not generally advertised, and would not become a bit more common until later in the decade. More on Adams and the Titans ahead...






I have a strong suspicion that this is where the Teen Titans PTB wanted to take the title all along, but could not all at once in consideration of the parents of some of their younger readers, who did not want their kids' entertainment being a reflection of the chaotic print and TV news stories of the day. If my theory is true at all, then it would explain how subjects such as racism would be dropped in only in small servings at this point in Teen Titans history, with editors waiting for either audiences to become more interested in serious sociopolitical subjects, or DC to allow the staff to go full on with said subject matter with the most relevant characters associated with late 60s / early 70s political upheaval: teens and young adults.

There may be something to this thanks to the knowledge of Neal Adams driving the direction of the title, if one also considers how one year later--October / November of 1971--that Adams and O'Neil would continue the then-current move to mature DC's most prominent teen sidekicks in the form of the Speedy-as-drug-addict story beginning in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85 - #86--



This suggests there was a company-wide directive regarding teen heroes, instead of such radical changes being random and/or coincidental.



Hawk and Dove were never a good fit for TT--for all of their on-the-nose, living ideological conflict characterization, that kind of scripting was better served with characters not so black and white in their views. That kind of characterization was already old fashioned by 1970, and only employed by TV producers such as Jack Webb (Dragnet, Adam-12, Emergency!, etc.) who painted his worlds with a very hardline, "you're wrong! / "I'm right!" brush that would not appeal to the kind of kids DC targeted.

Teen Titans #33 (June 1971)



"Less than Human?"
Script: Bob Haney
Pencils: George Tuska; Nick Cardy
Inks: Nick Cardy
Colors: ?
Letters: Ben Oda

grade: D

My memories of this span of Titans issues really begins with the next one. I'd completely forgotten about this issue and how "classic Haney" the whole thing feels. Social issues? Gone. The generation gap? Gone. Any attempt to mature the Titans and have them connect with today's youth? Gone entirely. Instead, we get a replay of one of Haney's earliest Titans scripts, except now the cave teen adapting to modern society is named "Gnarrk!" instead of "Garn," and his transition is a little more believable. But did we really need a cave teen on the roster at a point in which this comic was supposed to be growing up to better reflect its target audience? Probably not.

The good news is that Haney's need to retread the past also correlates with his bringing Robin back to the team, though it is presented as only being temporary:




At last, for the first time since DC began running those team roster images along the front cover spine a year earlier, they actually match the team within (plus Mal, Lilith, and now Gnarrk!).

Of course, the rest of the cover doesn't. Sure that event somewhat resembles a moment that happens within, but it's a forgettable moment that really doesn't pertain to the central plot at all. This has been happening a lot as of late, Cardy turning in some really engaging covers catering to the horror craze sweeping comics at the time (Cardy himself was doing some phenomenal horror cover art for The Unexpected at this point), and the book within not matching that at all. Fortunately, beginning next issue, the Titans really do go the horror route, and boy do I love it.


Really, the only other thing of note in this issue is the sweeping changes Haney brings to Lilith. Formerly just a teen who could sometimes see the future without warning, Lilith can now communicate telepathically




and is now a practicing witch who "disappears for days and we never know where!"




Interesting. Is Haney so quick to abandon all other social issues and, at the same time, pick up the cause of presenting Wiccans in a positive light? I suppose it allows Lilith to function as an entryway into the world of horror in subsequent issues.


As for the story itself, Titans train cave-teen to testify in court. It's as ridiculous as it sounds, and (I admit) had me thinking of Saturday Night Live's Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer the entire time.


It's also probably worth noting the glaring time travel logic lapse at work with the plot of this and the previous issue. Last issue, Kid Flash and Mal had to go back in time to prevent Gnarrk! from dying because his not continuing to exist somehow causes the present day to change irreparably into a feudal world of magic and monsters. Yet snatching Gnarrk! out of the past and into the present day of 1971 is absolutely fine, somehow.



Anyway, lousy story, and a lousy new character, but (if I remember correctly) the next issue is going to rock my world...


Important Details

- Robin rejoins (seemingly temporarily)

- Gnarrk! joins

- Lilith now has telepathy and is a practicing witch.

This is what I love about shaxper 's review threads, as well as others here: the view from above, so to speak, in which we see the individual comics placed in the context of the times. Honestly, it had never occurred to me how this era of Titans comics was trying to capitalize on the popularity of the mystery/horror genre, which by this time had been well ensconced at DC since the reinvention of House of Mystery (#174) in 1968. 

Because I wasn't much of a fan of those books and only rarely picked up an issue, I was just less conscious of how their influence seeped into other parts of the line. When you visit Mike's Amazing Newsstand (Huzzah!), you see everything at a glance and you can see how many non-horror books were co-opting their look for their covers and incorporating ghosts and the supernatural into their stories.

The same reinvention that hit TT had also struck Challengers of the Unknown, which also became oriented towards the occult in #62 (June/July 1968), as it apparently was trying to stave off cancellation. It worked for two years and a few reprint issues before COTU disappeared for another two years, returning in 1972 as a reprint/tryout book like Legion of Super-Heroes and a few others.

I really wanted to get into this more in-thread, but worried I'd be venturing too far off topic. I'd like to spend more time exploring how the relaxing of the comics code, the rise of non-code comic magazines, outlier Warren Publishing, and the explosion of television reruns of classic horror films all played into this.

I would have to do some research to say this with certainty, but it seems like post-Marvel Age, the horror genre was the primary place where DC was seeing sales and growth. And Marvel was definitely in on it too. In addition to the myriad of horror anthology titles and ailing superhero titles turned horror, we're about to see horror-related characters like Man-Thing, Swamp-Thing, Man-Bat, Morbius, and Tomb of Dracula take off in sales.


I've also begun to realize that Cardy's best work, as well as his most misleading covers, almost always gravitate towards horror. Could be he was pushing for this change too.