Posted by Darren in Crisis
Before I get into this issue, lets talk a little bit about that Robin outfit. Wow, its just.. bad, isn’t it? Anyways, to the action at hand.
Roll Call: JLA: Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, and Superman JSA: Hawkman, Hourman, Johnny Thunder & Thunderbolt, Mister Terrific, Robin, Wildcat, and Wonder Woman.
It is a fairly normal day on Earth-Two when these black spheres begin to fall from the sky and four of them manage to touch human beings and be absorbed by the humans. These individuals then begin to act out of character and become evil. A Chinese man becomes a marauding bandit known as How Chu. A simple office worker becomes Gem Girl, obsessed with stealing precious jewels. A former baseball star sidelined by arthritis becomes insanely jealous of those able to play the sport and begins busting up a stadium in the midst of a game. A British businessman decides to take drastic shortcuts to profit by robbing banks directly of their cash.
The scene switches to the Justice Society of America’s headquarters where we see the JSA induct Robin into their ranks as a full fledged member. This introduces a very important concept in the DCU, that of Legacy.
Legacy. def 2 - More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
Time to just go over Batman’s Supporting Cast a wee bit.
Now we’ve already talked about a few of these folks prior to now so lets go down that list really quickly.
And you would think with that full a cast, we would not have that many more people to discuss, well you would be wrong.
Lets start with Batman’s parents, Dr. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne. Two of Gotham’s most loved philanthropists and through their foundations and Dr. Wayne’s lifesaving worth, there are very few Gothamites who have not been touched by their good deeds.
The parents of Bruce Wayne may not appear in every story, however there is no doubt that the two of them are the driving force in Batman’s world. Upon leaving a movie theater the family walks through an alley to get to their vehicle. On the way they meet a lone gunman in the shadows, Joe Chill. Joe’s robbery attempt goes wrong when Thomas fights back and Chill shoots and kills him. This causes Martha to cry out More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
Time to cover some of our Supporting Cast Members, so let us start with the Superman Family, shall we?
I’ve already talked a bit about some of the people in the Big Red “S”‘s world..
Lois Lane - intrepid reporter for the Daily Planet, and the love of Superman’s adult life.
Lana Lang & Pete Ross - childhood friends in Smallville, where Lana was always trying to figure out who Superboy was and Pete who knew who Superboy was and kept it a secret, often covering for Clark when he had to disappear.
Supergirl – Kara Zor-El, the super-powered cousin from Argo City.
Nightwing and Flamebird, are examples of Kandorians, who are miniaturized Kryptonians living in a bottle in the Fortress of Solitude. The Kryptonian city of Kandor was shrunk by the villain Brainiac and the city was rescued by Superman.
So, with a character in publication for most of the 20th century, there are other characters that should garner a few mentions. Lets start with parents.
Jor-El and Lar-A of Krypton, the biological parents of Kal-El.
When Jor-El discovered that Krypton would soon explode, he attempted to warn his fellow Kryptonians of the danger and was roundly thrashed for it and prevented from doing anything that might incite a riot by the rulers of More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
Revisiting our Titans we see that the Titans are being hailed as heroes after they vanquished the interdimensional demon known as Trigon.
Raven however has disappeared and Kid Flash, now retired again, has returned to Blue Valley hoping his powers do not wind up killing him some day.
This brings us to the point of replacing Raven on the team, and wait just a second, we have a precognitive groovy chick hanging around already in Lilith Clay.
And who would not love the Titans? Come on, they just saved your souls people.. not just Earth mind you, but your very souls from an eternal torment.
So New York City holds a huge parade in their honor and this issue becomes a slice of life moment for a team that does not get a lot of “down time.”
The winged alien Azrael revisits his love for Lilith and well, things get a wee bit out of hand in their romance.
Azrael kidnaps Lilith, but does not really mean to do so, he is being held in the sway of The Children of the Sun, who happen to answer to Thia, the Greek Titan of Fire. Yes, those Titans.
And in a twist that no one saw coming.. at least I didn’t at More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
Over in the Outsiders world, the Outsiders face the first established DC Comics threat, Kobra.
Kobra believes that he is the bringer of the Kali-Yuga, the end of the age of men and order and ushering in a new era of chaos over which he will rule.
To that end Kobra has thousands of thralls all willing to die in his cause. Hail Kobra! and Hail Naga-Naga! are phrases frequently uttered by these weak minds, for those lieutenants of Kobra, they are much deadlier as they have been allowed to keep their personalities intact. They are there for a high reason, nihlism.
Along the way to Kobra’s defeat the Outsiders meet a young woman named Emily Briggs. She is non-descript, even mousy and is married to a man named Greg. She works as a banker and is as dull as they come, however she does feel some feelings of inadequacy for not looking good enough for her husband.
It turns out Emily is a descendant of a group of subterranean dwellers known as the Abyssians. Emily is the descendant of a long line of royalty in Abyssia and once the Haley’s Comet passes the Earth, her latent powers will come out to fruition. Greg discovers More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
The Titans fight for their souls.
Raven holds the Titans’ psyche in her grasp. Toying with them.
Lilith and Arella fight on.
Hello Evil Titans!
Arella looks on in horror at the rocky hell the Titans are now enveloped inside. Lilith speaks not as herself anymore and attempts to convince Arella that Raven, is no longer her daughter, nothing of the heroic Raven remains inside the demonic shell that now walks as Trigon’s daughter.
Around the world scenes of other heroes, the JLA, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman all trapped within the rock of Trigon’s sway.
In their own personal hells, Nightwing and Cyborg each battle their evil selves, swearing to kill the taunting red eyed versions of themselves. Raven gets increasingly angered by Lilith and Arella’s attempts to save the Titans and intervene on behalf of the souls in jeopardy, yet when Raven attacks the women are shielded from her. Some unknown force is keeping Raven’s demonic energies at bay, most likely the Rings of Azar are playing some unspoken role here.
Wonder Girl, Changeling, and Starfire continue to battle their evil dopplegangers while Kid Flash deals with his feelings of love for Raven and the taunting of never getting what he wanted. He runs after the More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
Raven is missing.
The incoming evil is palpable.
The Titans know Trigon is coming.
In the fight against Trigon, Raven’s mother, Arella, served on the front lines it is through her that we see where Raven is.. walking a column of rocks and bodies writhing in eternal torment. Arella catches up to her daughter to try to prevent what has already occurred, but it is too late. Raven is now Trigon’s daughter, body and soul.
Wonder Girl flies from New York to Titans Tower to join her teammates. In Raven’s room, Nightwing is gathering clues including Azar’s rings that have been left behind by Raven. She always wore these rings, and now without them, the last of the remnants of Azarath are now gone.
Cue Lilith Clay to enter the story. As the earlier Titans’ precognitive Lilith offers her assistance in order to help the Titans locate Raven. Azar’s rings go to Lilith and the world goes fairly mad for a bit. Raven’s quarters attack the assembled Titans and it is only through the evil energies dissipating that the Titans escape the room.
Lilith offers to do a seance to contact Raven using the rings as the contact point for her soul, however Lilith needs the connection point More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
So its time for one of my favorite stories ever in the DC Universe. The Terror of Trigon is a five part story in the Baxter Run of The New Teen Titans. This story has been building up since the beginning of the New Teen Titans when a mysterious empath named Raven decided she would seek out assistance from heroes to assist her in fighting the evil that is her father.
In the creation of the Titans, writer Marv Wolfman was creating a lot of different relationships, amongst the women there was the fiery emotion of Starfire, the middle ground of Wonder Girl, and the unable to feel Raven. While creating Raven, there was a sense not only of needing an emotional balance, but a balance in a magical character that did not do magic and had an interesting origin. Well Raven’s story is akin to something one would expect of a mix of Rosemary’s Baby, The Omen, and Carrie all wrapped up into one.
So lets recap… Arella is a young frightened girl seeking acceptance in a world not very accepting and she gets into a satanic cult and is offered as Satan’s bride. Arella sees the evil deity appear to her and More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
And here we go.. these stories are what I consider some interesting stories but not where a lot of the good stuff in Titans was happening at the time. You see, The New Teen Titans had started its Baxter run, and both Marv Wolfman and George Perez were doing double and some triple duty on a big project that we are going to be spending a long time getting to in a bit.
So I am really going to be Cliffs Note versioning these comics because for whatever reason the stories just did not stick with me compared to what was going on in the other title.
Lilith stayed around the Titans along enough to find a new love interest in a mysterious frozen angel/alien named Azrael. Azrael would grow to become an erstwhile ally of the Titans, though his love for Lilith and his general naivete would get in the Titans way in some pivotal moments later on.
Azrael’s design is very angelic in origins it seems. He can fly, is fairly strong and extremely agile while in flight, but beyond that has no additional powers that we saw when he appeared.
The Trial of the Terminator has begun and it becomes a big media circus, More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
We are gathered here today in this fine house to recognize the comic book union of this man and this Wonder Girl…
After all the Titans have gone through it was time for a bit of a rest and to enjoy a happy event. Donna Troy weds Terrence Long in their anniversary 50th issue which features some guest appearances from some surprise guests.
The groomsmen are all Terry’s family and friends, and his sons acting as ring bearers. Donna’s entourage include Sharon a former roommate and her newly found half-sisters, along with ex Titans Lilith Clay, current Titan Starfire, and Diana Prince, Wonder Woman.
Amongst the company we see Dick Grayson (Nightwing), who gave Donna away, Wally West (Kid Flash), Frances Kane, Garfield Logan (Changeling), Victor Stone (Cyborg), Garth & Tula (Aqualad and Aquagirl), Roy Harper (Speedy), Bette Kane (Bat-Girl), Joe Wilson (Jericho), Mal & Karen Beecher (Guardian & Bumblebee), and Duela Dent (Harlequin).
We discover that Mal & Karen have since retired from super-heroics and gotten married and Lilith’s old flame Gnarrk has died. Dick Grayson actually confronts Duela Dent who has gotten quite old and portly in the time between now and when the old Titans were together, he claims that she is far More >
