Wow, that’s an odd title for a post about the Titans isn’t it?

Well hang on folks because we are about to enter into one of the weirder worlds of comics.  Character licensing.

After the success of the Runaways story, DC was asked to produce a few “kids don’t do drugs” comics featuring the Titans.  These issues would be educational give aways to warn kids away from the dangers of using drugs, and as this was President Reagan’s era, his wife Nancy’s big deal was “Don’t Do Drugs.”  A slogan so pervasive you could not get away from it if you tried.

So here’s the first special’s cover.  Notice anything, out of place?

Here, let me help.. there’s Cyborg, Raven, Speedy, Starfire, Changeling, Wonder Girl, and who’s that guy in the blue, red, and purple outfit with red hair in the front row????

That’s the Protector, Jason Hart, created specifically for these specials.

Did you notice that the most famous Titan, Robin, is missing?  Well, he’s not really missing, let me explain.

The elf at the top of that cover begins the trail, as in all things, follow the money.  The Keebler Company was helping to sponsor these drug issues, you’ll notice the absence of a UPC code or a price tag.  The problem is that Robin’s image, along with that of a few other key DC players was licensed out to Nabisco, a direct rival of the Keebler Company.

Robin is safely nestled between Batman and Aquaman and is barely larger than Penguin.  Heck, Joker is bigger than he is.  But, that’s how the stories break and comic book legend is that artist George Perez had already drawn Robin in the drug issue, so all the pages had to have Robin erased and his colors changed and redrawn to make a distinct character, but all of the Protector’s poses, body language, etc.., looks exactly like what Dick Grayson looks like in an issue of New Teen Titans.  The Protector has all of Robin’s abilities and equipment, minus the “bat” motif.

You’ll also notice in this photo, Starfire’s costume has been given a bit of a modest look with a fuller bathing suit top which she only wears in these drug specials.  One more omission, Kid Flash was dropped from these issues, most likely due to space considerations and keeping the stories simpler.

This story is not considered part of the Titans’ continuity, but the Protector does eventually show up in the DCU in cameo roles as a wink and a nod to old time fans.

Meanwhile, when we had left the book, old time Titan Speedy had returned briefly after the Runaways story, the Titans had just helped an earth-moving girl named Terra escape from her captors, and Frances Kane had returned from Blue Valley with magnetic powers.  All these extra characters around means that someone must be joining the Titans soon right?  Right you are.. but first villainy is afoot!

The new Brotherhood of Evil attacks the Titans setting off their plan to attack the Church of Blood on Zandia.  Led by the evil Brain, literally a brain in a containment unit, and his bodyguard Monsieur Mallah, an intelligent ape and weapons expert, the Brotherhood’s membership is rounded out with some of the vilest villains in the DCU.

Houngan is a voodoo priest who combines old fashioned hoodoo with cyber technology.  Phobia has the ability to mentally probe you rmind, pull out your fears, and manifest an illusion of that fear.  Plasmus is a man transformed into a creature of burning protoplasm, his touch means death.  Warp can create warps in space that can open up almost anywhere.

A formidable group to say the least.

In the midst of this the Titans elect Terra to membership, while Speedy wants to remain in his capacity as a spy for the U.S. Government and Frances is a bit too reticent in using her powers to be truly effective in combat.  The Titans wind up in the clutches of the Brotherhood of Evil and make a mistake that almost proves fatal by provoking Raven to the point where she loses her control over her self and her father’s influence begins to take her over.

Yeah, its not pretty for the Brotherhood.  The Titans aren’t really pleased either.  Kid Flash is especially troubled by this turn of events and is torn between bad girl Raven and good girl Frances.  The Titans survive the encounter with the Brotherhood and the Church of Blood, but wind up looking like incompetent children persecuting a calm religious order in the press.

Next Up:  We continue our look at the Titans… An engagement.  Thunder & Lightning.  Vigilante!  Deathstroke! and the beginning of the story that would rock the Titans for a while.