And In Other Media... (Nov. 2011)

.....Last night (Nov. 18, 2011) the Cartoon Network a delayed Halloween episode of Young Justice introducing that continuity's version of Secret in a script written by the man who knew her best, Peter David. David wrote the Young Justice comic book series from its beginning in the late 1990's. More relevant to this blog is a side plot in which three members of the team attend a Halloween party with normal teenagers. Typical of David's sense of humor, the three super powered teens dress like monsters because they want to blend in only to find everyone else dressed like super-heroes. At the party they meet up with Wendy and Marvin and teenage versions of 'Karen' (dressed like Bumblebee) and 'Mal' (dressed like the 1990's Superboy, complete with circular lens sunglasses). They continuity of this show has always been wonky; in this episode, for example, Zatanna is also a teenager and her father is alive and in an earlier episode the new black/blond Aqualad is the same age as Garth and Tula. I doubt any of those changes were Peter David's idea. His strength has always been knowing continuity well enough to gauge how such experiences could manifest which quirks in any given character's personality. I'll have to pay more attention to the series to see if these characters are meant to be future team members.

.....Immediately after the Young Justice cartoon came what must have been the series finale of "Batman: The Brave And The Bold". After last season began with a number of episodes involving death (including one where Joker acquires Bat-Mite's powers and uses them to repeatedly kill and revive Batman, plus deaths of Blue Beetle, B'wana Beast, G.I. Robot and our own Doom Patrol), many of this year's episodes have been highly campy. If you're not familiar with the show, it usually opens with a short two-minute team-up followed by the opening credits and then the main story, which is unrelated to the cast in the opening. One particularly bizarre opening sequence staged Aquaman's domestic life as a television sitcom, complete with studio audience applause whenever a new character entered the room. The episode that aired last night had Bat-Mite bemoaning the turn the series had taken and convincing himself that it would be less likely that the current series recapture its magic than that a whole new series simply start out better. To make way for a new series he sets out to magically change Batman's world into something any ardent fan would despise, adding cutesy kid characters, gratuitous toy tie-ins, etc. What does this have to do with Doom Patrol? It catches the attention of the only other DCU character who believes (or is aware of that fact) that he is a comic book character-- Ambush Bug makes his B&B debut just in time for its cancellation. He doesn't really get an introduction of any kind, he just transports himself into the situation and tries to set things right. The episode is written by Paul Dini, not Robert Loren Fleming or Keith Giffen, so the Bug's usual caustic stream-of-consciousness irreverence is dialed back a few notches but still has the same essential personality. If you've stayed with the show through its campy turns thus far, chances are you've already seen it, if not on U.S. cable systems then downloaded from England where it played months ago. If your cable system doesn't offer shows on demand you might find it becoming easier to watch it free online now that it's been aired in the U.S. Watch it if you're in the mood for a laugh.

DP02-11 Beast Boy and Mal Duncan Part 6

.....[This post has been re-edited after May 4th, 2011 before original publication.]

.....As recounted in the Original Period reprint posts last year, Doom Patrol was one of several DC titles revived or created to run themed reprints briefly during 1973. Just prior to this the original run of Teen Titans was cancelled in the midst of an intense spate of experimentation with diversifying formats at DC. Three years later, just as the price of 32pp standard format comics was rising to 30¢ at DC they introduced two new reprint titles in their 64pp special format at 50¢ just before it was due to shrink to 48pp. Of special interest to this blog was DC Super-Stars #1 (03/76), reprinting Teen Titans stories. The cover was largely appropriated: two vignettes redrawn or reinked from the covers of the stories within; the four full-length poses (Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Speedy) that lined the left margin (in the same order) of every cover from #27 and #29 to #43; and the logo used from #19 to #43. There was also a blurb across the bottom announcing, "Extra-- Introducing The Teen Titans" followed by six faces: the five founding members and Lilith. And yet...

.....Between the reprinted stories is an unattributed article called "INTRODUCING THE TEEN TITANS"(N-1449). It's ostensibly narrated by the character Mr. Jupiter but probably written by editor E. Nelson Bridwell. It's only four pages of brief text pieces accompanied by appropriated spot illustrations, but... the characters profiled are the ten members of the group plus Beast Boy. There's no profile of the Russian teen Starfire or Joshua or any other character. Here's Mal and Gar's full text:

1. "Mal Duncan grew up in Hell's Corner, a tough slum district. The Titans first saw him when he protected his kid sister from young hoodlums who'd wrecked her lemonade stand. Later they befriended him and he proved he had the strength and wits to be a Teen Titan."
2. "Beast Boy (Gar Logan) was the son of a brilliant doctor. When the lad contracted a fatal disease, his father found a way to turn him into the one animal which could throw off the infection-- a Green Monkey. As a result, Gar has green skin and hair, plus the ability to turn into any kind of animal. He shared many adventures with the Doom Patrol and one with the Teen Titans."

.....Bridwell is credited with the closing text piece: "TALES OF THE TITANS" (N-1456) recounts the history of the group, noting the personnel changes on the team in chronological order and slipping in Beast Boy's one-time guest appearance, but again ignoring other potential team candidates Starfire and Joshua. Is it making too much of these filler pieces to suggest that there had been plans to put Beast Boy back into circulation with the Teen Titans as the means? The return of the Teen Titans title was still eight months off and the West Coast faction would not appear in it until a year after that when the New Doom Patrol made their debut in the revived Showcase. Bridwell did indeed have some hand in the Titans' title, but for a mere ten issues there's a surplus of editorial shifting around. The only consistent name is Jack Adler who began as Production Manager (#44-46), a position that was replaced with Vice President/Production (#47-53), also Adler. The first issue back (#44) was intended to be written by Nicholas Cuti (probably most famous as the creator of E-Man for Charlton) using a plot provided by Paul Levitz. It was eventually scripted by Bob Rozakis (retaining some of Levitz' dialogue), who stayed on for the whole series, despite also taking over for Gerry Conway's Corner on Secret Society of Super-Villains as of that series' #5(01-02/77) and sticking with his earlier gig on Batman Family.

[.....As a side note for trivia buffs: Conway himself had been editor of Super-Team Family for the first three issues when he announced on the letters' page that he was leaving that title so that Conway's Corner, his studio-within-DC, could put out SSSV. Replacing him on Super-Team Family as editor was Bridwell, who stayed for three issues and left just before Teen Titans returned.]

.....Aside from Adler in Production, there were two sets of credits regarding editorship. The nominal Editors were Julius Schwartz with Associate Editor E. Nelson Bridwell (#'s 45-50) and Jack C. Harris (who either didn't have or didn't list an assistant editor)(#'s 51-53). Rather than naming an editor, the first issue (#44) named Managing Editor Joe Orlando and Editorial Coordinator Paul Levitz. Their names disappeared for two issues but returned when Adler's position was changed to V.P. and all three of them stayed with those titles to the end. So Bridwell was only an Associate on the story that reintroduced Gar and only on the first of three issues. He might have thrown forward Gar's name at a meeting, but it could just as easily been Rozakis or Schwartz.

.....I wish I could say there was more consistency in the art than there was in edits, but the opposite was true. Only two issues (#'s 48-49) have the same penciller and inker team. There was a total of six pencillers and six inkers working in different combinations. The cover pencillers never did interiors, which was not uncommon at DC. Ernie Chua did covers to #'s 44-45 (inked by Vince Colletta) and Rich Buckler did #-s 46-53 (usually inked by Jack Abel). I am not certain which (if any) of these artists might have worked on the full page ad (L-510) that ran in Super-Team Family #7 (10-11/76) right after a reprint of Teen Titans #31(01-02/71). Most of the art from that page was shrunken and incorporated into the 'Daily Planet' motif editorial page a few weeks later (see the top left hand corner of this post). DC ran those Daily Planet pages weekly starting earlier in 1976 and that one was Volume 76, Issue 15, August 9, 1976. The ad copy that it excised from the original ad was:

".....You've seen THE TEEN TITANS as they were-- Now take a look at how they're gonna be! Robin! Speedy! Wonder Girl! Kid Flash! And introducing-- the Guardian! in "THE MAN WHO TOPPLED THE TITANS!" coming in the FIRST ISSUE of the NEW TEEN TITANS magazine! (Number 44, November-- on sale August 19th-- WATCH FOR IT!)"

.....The Daily Planet page added the second regular logo from the original run (from #19-43), even though all ten issues of the revival would use the earlier logo (from #1-15; the intervening issues-- 16, 17,18-- each had unique logos worked into the cover art). Since the Daily Planet page is essentially advertising, albeit in editorial form, why not just use the logo that would be on the newsstands a week later? After all, the editor of the Daily planet page was Bob Rozakis himself, the same person who wrote the series. It could have been a stylistic choice or a miscommunication between departments. On a practical level, the later of the two logos may be more legible after reduction, since the earlier logo utilizes a 3-D 'depth' effect (like the more famous Superman logo) that could get lost when shrunk. I don't know if anybody besides Todd Klein and myself care about these things, but the logos of comic books aren't printed in hand-crafted, stylized fonts by accident. If the fans' eyes didn't scan a sea of color for familiar shapes to pick out their favorite titles from chaotic convenience store racks in the pre-direct world of 1976, then publishers would have saved time and money by printing every series' title in the same font and in the same color on each issue.

.....The actual series ran on an irregular schedule. The cover dates were the even numbered months, plus November. The actual shipping dates were roughly three months ahead of the covers, meaning that the title was effectively bi-monthly with an extra issue for the summer in August. Some characters (Gnarrk) wouldn't appear again until Crisis, if then. Most would appear at Donna's wedding in Tales Of The Teen Titans #50 (02/85), which was cutting it close in terms of publishing if not continuity. Below is what I hope is the most accurate (to continuity) and comprehensive listing of appearances prior to Garfield chartering the NTT in 1980. Each of the Teen Titans issues will be reviewed in individual posts.

1. Detective Comics #462 (08/76) Robin appears in the conclusion of a Batman 3-parter.
2. Batman #279 (09/76) Robin appears.
3. Batman Family #7 (09-10/76) Robin appears in an Elliot S! Maggin story with Batgirl (Barbara Gordon).
4. Teen Titans #44 (11/76) Mal adopts the Jim Harper Golden Guardian costume, augmented by an exo-skeleton.
5. Batman Family #8 (11-12/76) Robin confronts Duela in a different identity.
6. Adventure Comics #446 (07-08/76) Robin makes a cameo in the Aquaman feature, calling by video-phone to locate Aqualad.
7. Teen Titans #45 (12/76) Mal defeats Azrael The Angel Of Death and is rewarded by Gabriel with a shofar. He is told to blow the horn in order to even the odds in a fight. Karen Beecher is introduced on page 5.
8. DC Super-Stars #10 (12/76) Robin and Wally appear in a story pitting Justice Leaguers against super-villains in a baseball game. If you ever hear cranky old-timers complaining that they don't understand why the Crisis reboot of 1986 was necessary, just show them this issue. Then hit them with it. Again and again and again.
9. Batman Family #9 (01-02/77) Robin confronts Duela again.
10. Teen Titans #46 (02/77) Robin brings Duela into the group. The Fiddler (from Earth-2) appears after All-Star Comics #63. When The Fiddler uses his violin's sonics to control rats and insects, Mal learns that Gabriel's horn can be used to wrest that control.
11. World's Finest Comics #243 (02/77), Batman #285 (03/77)- #286 (04/77)and Batman Family #10 (03-04/77)- #11 (05-06/77) Robin only appears. He appears in two different stories in Batman Family #11.
12. Teen Titans #47 (04/77)- #49 (08/77) After three self-contained issues, this is the first multi-issue arc and it has several concurrent plot lines. Most importantly relative to the Doom Patrol, Karen Beecher becomes Bumblebee. Initially she created the alter ego so that Mal (without his knowledge) could repel her staged attack and gain respect from his teammates. Instead, they defend Mal so fiercely that Karen is convinced that they already do respect him. Other lines include Aqualad becoming comatose due to a mysterious illness and is eventually taken to Atlantis for treatment. The team moves to a new headquarters in Farmingdale, Long Island, underneath a former restaurant which the team renovates into the nightclub they call "Gabriel's Horn". Mal wears a fan-designed Hornblower costume for one issue (#49). And weirdly, Duela is able to predict parallel crimes, claiming to have "a mental link with whomever planned" them-- that turning out to be Harvey Dent, Two-Face.
13. Batman Family #12 (07-08/77)- #15 (12/77-01/78) Robin's feature continues. Kid Flash makes a guest appearance in #14.
14. Teen Titans #50 (10/77)- #52 (12/77) This arc is the big one, the formation of Teen Titans West. Gar Logan, still called Beast Boy here, has not been used for so long that there seems to be some confusion about exactly how his powers work. In #50, when he transforms into an animal he retains a green head but his body becomes the natural color of that animal. In #51, he becomes completely green but still has a thatch of hair, even if the animal is not a mammal. The plot is needlessly confusing and centers on a villain named Mr. Esper who has managed to tap into the mental powers of the semi-retired Lilith. He uses those powers to cause chaos by levitating an ocean liner, turning a passenger train into a roller coaster and launching the Ferris building into the air, which are prodigious feats of telekinesis Lilith has never exhibited herself, before or since. Mal returns to the Guardian costume and hides from the others, including Karen, that he has lost Gabriel's horn. Aqualad returns, explaining that he must quit the group because his illness was psychosomatic and rooted in his feelings of inferiority within the Teen Titans. He stays long enough for a group photo of all fifteen combined members from both coasts.
15. Secret Society Of Super-Villains #8 (07-08/77)- #9 (09/77) and Super-Team Family #13 (10-11/77) Kid Flash guest stars. For some reason, this appearance seems to have dropped of the radar of some of the more reliable data bases. That could be because, like much of 1970's DC stories, it causes too many conflicts with post-Crisis continuity. The only reason I was able to include it here is because, by chance, I personally own some well-worn copies of all three issues.
16. Detective Comics #472 (09/77)- #474 (12/77) Robin guest stars in parts 4-6 of the Steve Englehart arc, remembered primarily for the Marshall Rogers art and the return of classic villains. #474 has a one panel cameo by Donna, calling Dick to an important meeting to take place in Teen Titans #53. There is also on that page a panel with portraits of Donna and Duela, but I'm betting that the panel of Donna on the phone by Rogers was the single reason George Pérez kept her in the red unitard for most of New Teen Titans. These stories were reprinted in the mid-80's in the Baxter paper mini-series Shadow Of The Bat (not to be confused with the 90's ongoing series). They are more readily available as the trade paperback Strange Apparitions.
17. Teen Titans #53 (02/78) The first and last page form a framing sequence in which Mal and Karen read a scrapbook containing the previously untold story of the Teen Titans' first adventure, a newly written and drawn story that makes up the rest of the book. The group started with a teaming of Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad in The Brave And The Bold #54 (06-07/64), but the name "Teen Titans" wasn't actually used until they returned in #60 (06-07/65), adding Wonder Girl along with the name and the logo they would eventually use on their own series. The story Mal and Karen are reading took place between the two and shows the boys and Speedy meeting Wonder Girl for the first time. She introduces herself as Wonder Woman's sister and claims she was sent by Hippolyta but the real story leading up to that scene would not be revealed until Donna's origin "Who Is Wonder Girl?" from New Titans #50 (12/88)- #55 (06/89). At the end of the frame sequence, the group again disbands (revealing the meaning of Donna's phone call to Dick in Detective Comics (above)). Roy tells Mal and Karen to "keep the books balanced". In lieu of a letters' page, a text page (probably by Jack C. Harris) discusses plans to use the various characters in the future. Mal and Karen were intended to appear in Secret Society Of Super-Villains, and that Bob Rozakis was supposed to be scripting it. Those plans never went forward.

.....And now, for what it's worth, the remainder of appearances prior to New Teen Titans:

1. Green Lantern #100 (01/78) Roy Harper/Speedy appears.
2. All-New Collector's Edition #C-56 ([3]/78) This was the tabloid-sized special better known as Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali. It had no month on the cover, but was advertised to ship December 12th, 1977, contemporary to March 1978 cover dated comics. The cover shows about a hundred real and fictional people drawn into the audience, including Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin, Speedy and Wonder Girl.
3. Batman Family #16 (02-03/78)- #17 (04-05/78) Robin appears in both and with Duela and Betty Kane/Bat-Girl in #16.
4. DC Special Series #11([5]/78) Also known as Flash Spectacular and advertised for February 20th, 1978, this contains a short chapter in which Wally West graduates and the Teen Titans attend in their civilian identities: Dick, Garth, Donna, Roy, Mal and Duella.
5. Showcase #100 (05/78) Before COIE, before Secret Wars, this was a double-length one-issue story featuring nearly every character featured in the original run of Showcase (i.e., no Doom Patrol or Power Girl). That includes Hawk and Dove as well as Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin and Wonder Girl.
6. Secret Society Of Super-Villains #12 (01/78) Robin guest stars.
7. Karate Kid # 14 (05-06/78)- #15 (07-08/78) Robin guest stars; the story continues in Kamandi, but Robin is only mentioned in recaps.
8. Batman Family #18 (06-07/78) and Batman #302 (08/78) Robin appears.
9. Batman Family #19 (08-09/78)- #20 (10-11/78) Robin appears in both and with Duela in #19.
10. Flash #265 (09/78), 266 (10/78) and 269 (01/79) Kid Flash appears.
11. World's Finest Comics #251 (06-07/78) In the Green Arrow feature there is a review of Roy's career. Roy also appears in flashbacks in #254 (12/78-01/79) and 257 (06-07/79).
12. Superman Family #191 (09-10/78)- #194 (03-04/79) In the Jimmy Olsen feature, Jimmy and the Newsboy Legion try to find the Golden Guardian (they all met during Jack Kirby's time on the series when it was called Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen.) Because the Teen Titans had the costume in storage, Mal, Karen and Roy help Jimmy retrace its path.
13. Detective Comics #482 (02-03/79) Dick is a guest star in the Batgirl feature.
14. Adventure Comics #461 (01-02/79) The Wonder Woman feature retells Donna's origin story with Roy in flashbacks.
15. Adventure Comics #461 (01-02/79)- #463 (05-06/79) Aqualad appears with Aquaman.
16. The Brave And The Bold #149 (04/79) Batman is investigating a gang recruiting teenaged runaways and enlists Dick, Donna, Wally and Roy to go undercover.
17. Detective Comics #481 (12/78-01/79)- #483 (04-05/79) These are the last Robin solo stories with Bob Rozakis scripts. Duela masquerades as the Card Queen.
18. Flash #277 (09/79) Wally appears.
19. Detective Comics #484 (06-07/79)- #488 (02-03/80) Robin solo stories scripted by Jack C. Harris begin.
20. Wonder Woman #265 (03/80)- 266 (04/80) When Mr. Jupiter appears to have been murdered (it turns out to be a trick), Donna tries to investigate.
21. World's Finest Comics #262 (04-05/80) and #264 (08-09/80) Aqualad appears.

.....And then one day DC Comics Presents seemed thicker than usual.

.....I'd like to say "...and that's it.", but of course things like this are never really over. There are always new stories being retroactively fit into earlier continuity, always minor cameos that escaped attention when lists like this are compiled and always little nuggets like this leaking out: although Mal and Karen didn't make it into SSSV, the throwaway villain Sizematic (from the Two-Face story in Teen Titans #'s 47-49) did, albeit in the unpublished issues #16 and 17. Also, when Hawk and Dove later appeared in The Brave And The Bold #181 (12/81) in a story written by Alan Brennart, they appeared to have aged considerably more than their former teammates concurrently appearing in New Teen Titans, by then a year into that series. As though to hammer home the point, the story title was a lyric from the Simon and Garfunkel song "Hazy Shade Of Winter", which not only dates back to their original series, but is a song about aging. They didn't appear again until Donna's wedding in Tales Of The Teen Titans #50 (02/85), where the continuity gaffe became the basis of an inside joke. On page 30 Donna introduces her new husband Terry to Hank and Don. Terry, who's aware of Donna's super-heroine activity, says, "Donna's often spoken about you, too. Funny, I got the impression you were older." Hank replies, "Yeah, lately everyone's been saying that." Mal and Karen at least paint a warmer picture. Talking with Donna, Terry and Lilith they seem happy to have put the Guardian and Bumblebee identities behind them after getting married themselves. Karen's taken up cooking and Mal had just published his first book. Mal then mentions to Lilith that he was sorry about Gnarrk, but the details of that go unsaid. It does indicate that however inactive they may have been that they weren't completely out of touch.

.....Speaking of out of touch, this blog has been buried in Teen Titans minutiae to establish background for Mal Duncan and Karen Beecher. Just as it reached the stories that brought them together, the current Doom Patrol series has been cancelled before Vox could be brought back into it. I'm going to have to touch on some of the other periods before going over the details of their Teen Titans appearances. And for once I'm throwing the floor open to suggestions. I have some seriously overdue music blogs to update. Another post for May is nearly complete here. After that? Without a current series, I'm open to suggestions. Any cryptic references from the past forty years you just haven't managed to decode? Any obscure characters you just can't place? Continuity qualms? Creator credit quandaries? If you leave a comment, it will alert me. That's intended for screening purposes, but it also grabs my attention, even after this post has aged. I'll know within 24 hours and I can respond much quicker than I can post something like the monster above. And, as always, if you have any additions or corrections regarding that monster then the comments section is an appropriate space for those as well. Enjoy.

DP02-10 Teen Titans solo appendix 1973-1976

.....For readers, the length of time between the demise of the Doom Patrol (the first time) and the return of Robotman for the New Doom Patrol was nine years. According to narration at the time it was "mere months". By contrast, the discorporation of the Teen Titans within that same time lasted just under four years for readers but took two years for the characters. Of course, it's generally accepted that fantasy heroes don't age as we do. That's been a long-forgiven conceit that allows generations to share common characters and icons rather than regularly replacing them like professional athletes. But the huge disparity between the two gaps probably has less to do with retroactively changing the relative order of the events and everything to do with the relative interim activity of the principles. The latter half of the Teen Titans roster (Hawk, Dove, Lilith, Mal and Gnarrk) may have been no more visible than the presumed-dead Doom Patrol, but the original five (Aqualad, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy and especially Robin) kept busy individually.

.....Visibility, it's helpful to remember, is not the same as activity. Case in point: Adventure Comics #416 (05/72) was part of the DC 100-Page Super Spectacular series of specials (#DC-10, to be exact). It had an all-female theme with a new cover including Wonder Girl and Lilith, the only female Teen Titans. Trouble is, they didn't appear in any of the stories. In a way it was the opposite of Mal's dilemma of rarely appearing on the cover of Teen Titans. Robin didn't have either problem after the title folded. Although no longer a regular supporting character in World's Finest Comics as he had been in the 1950's and 1960's, Robin continued to appear periodically with Batman and in solo features in both Batman and Detective Comics and eventually Batman Family as a lead, alternating and teaming with Batgirl. He even made a (presumably) non-continuity appearance in Plop! #5 (05-06/75). He had already become a Mego figure as well, something the other four original members wouldn't experience until the ten-issue revival was under way. That could be because DC took only tentative steps to see if they, individually, could be reintegrated into existing titles.

1. Flash #220 (02-03/73)- 221 (04-05/73) No longer in solo stories, Kid Flash becomes a guest star for Uncle Barry.
2. Wonder Woman #209 (12/73-01/74) Donna becomes inserted into a remake of a Golden Age story originally written with a teen-aged Diana. As with anything concerning Donna, whatever tenuous claim this story may have to canon is up for endless debate.
3. Action Comics #436 (06/74) Roy Harper appears in the Green Arrow back-up feature.
4. Adventure Comics #436 (11-12/74) Aqualad appears in the Aquaman back-up feature.
5. Justice League Of America #114 (11-12/74) Kid Flash helps the JLA with a telethon, answering phones in exactly one panel. There's no dialogue and no acknowledgement from the other characters.
6. Justice League Of America #116 (03/75)- 117 (04/75) Charlie Parker becomes Golden Eagle. This was his first appearance; his only other pre-Crisis appearances were the three-issue "Teen Titans West" arc in the revival and Donna's wedding in 1985.
7. Flash #232 (03-04/75) and #239 (02/76)- #240 (03/76) Kid Flash is a supporting character in the main feature, and in #232 he's also the topic of a two-page article narrated by the Flash.
8. Adventure Comics #446 (07-08/76)- #452 (07-08/77) Aqualad drops into the Aquaman feature, which replaced The Spectre as the lead in #441. When Aquaman moves back into his own title, Superboy becomes the lead feature while his own series is retitled [Giant] Superboy And The Legion Of Super-Heroes. An Aqualad origin story written by Paul Kupperberg becomes the first back-up feature, in Adventure Comics #453 (09-10/77)- #455 (01-02/78). At the time Kupperberg was also writing a three part Mera back-up feature in the Aquaman title before taking over the main feature from David Michelinie just before cancellation. He worked in Aqualad for the last two issues, Aquaman #62 (06-07/78)- 63 (08-09/78). Despite being published after the end of the revived Teen Titans series, these stories are thought to occur before the team reunites. In fact, there's a scene in Adventure Comics #446 where Robin calls Aquaman in order to locate Garth, unaware that Garth and Tula are working undercover. Robin doesn't mention his reason for calling and it would be four months until readers would see the team reunite, sans Garth at first.
9. Batman Family #6 (07-08/76) The first appearance of the character who came to be known as Duela Dent, Joker's Daughter or Harlequin (and other names and disguises) came shortly before the Teen Titans series returned. Both were written by Bob Rozakis and he soon brought her into the group.

.....For what would eventually be a team of fifteen characters, that's not much of a showing for four years. Gar Logan's and Mal Duncan's absences here don't seem so dramatic. They're no more absent than Lilith or Hawk and Dove. Or Gnarrk. Robin's presence, had it been documented here, would have nearly tripled that list. There also seemed little point in trying to ascertain the chronology for the appearances of Dick and Roy's Earth-2 counterparts:

1. Adventure Comics #438 (03-04/75)- #443 (01-02/75) An unused 1940's script for a Seven Soldiers of Victory story is newly drawn by various artists. Earth-2 Speedy appears with Green Arrow in the first and last chapters and are the focus in #439 (05-06/75).
2. Justice League Of America #123 (10/75)- #124 (11/75) The adult Earth-2 Robin is part of the annual JLA/JSA Crisis, this one leading into the return of a JSA series with All-Star Comics #58 (01-02/76)- #74 (09-10/78), continuing after the Implosion in Adventure Comics.

.....In addition to the ten characters listed in the first paragraph and the two introduced in the above checklist (Golden Eagle and Duela), the remaining three characters who would have been the focus of this were: Betty Kane (the other Bat-Girl, not Barbara Gordon), who had not been seen since before the Teen Titans formed in 1964; Gar (Beast Boy), who had not been seen since before the Doom Patrol 'died' (technically, he wasn't in the last issue); and Karen Beecher (Bumblebee), who would be introduced in the revival. Next, Mal and Gar return in Part 6.

DP02-09 Teen Titans reprint index 1972-1982

.....For one year from mid-1971 to mid-1972 DC comics did not publish comics in the standard 32-page length they had been using for nearly two decades. Their new standard became 48 pages at 25¢, known as the "Bigger and Better" format. Until then, that had been the price point of their 64-page "Giant" format, which then became 35¢ for its last four issues. While those four issues played out in the last half of 1971, three issues of a new title in a new format were published. DC 100 Page Super Spectacular was actually 96pp @ 50¢. By including the covers in the count, a nice round number could lend itself to marketing. As 1971 ended, the '100-page' series ceased to be a title per se and instead replaced the 64-page Giant special format for seven monthly issues. That ended temporarily when the "Bigger and Better" experiment ended, then it returned as a monthly title for a year as 1973 began. In 1974 it became a general format again, exploding to seven titles a month for a year.

.....The reason I bring all this up is because the time between the cancellation of the Original Period Doom Patrol series and the introduction of the New Doom Patrol in Showcase (when this sudden experimentation with formats took place) was a growth period in comics as a hobby. Monstrous print runs for a handful of titles each at several publishers gave way to smaller runs for an avalanche of titles at a shrinking number of publishers. Even with more titles, smaller print runs meant smaller profit margins for new material and both Marvel and DC made full use of the lower production costs of reprints. Dell and Tower were already ghosts and in ten years Charlton, Atlas/Seaboard, Harvey, Fawcett, Gilbert and Gold Key would be gone or going. Marvel and DC increasingly found themselves competing only with Archie and undergrounds, usually perceived as serving different markets and therefore more symbiotic than competitive. Marvel and DC in the early 1970's began slowly reducing non-super-hero and/or non-adventure stories. First went funny animals, then teen humor, then romance, then westerns, then war and finally, reluctantly, horror. Yet, this was also the time during which Robert M. Overstreet marketed the first commercially available comic book price guide. The first national scale comic book conventions were held. The direct market was created, eventually yielding direct-only titles by the early 1980's. These were to be sold in existing stores devoted to the hobby of reading and collecting comic books. This strongly suggests that the ratio of casual readers to hobbyists nearly reversed and that the hobbyists favored super-heroes. This meant packaging greater quantities of super-heroes (and in the early 70's, barbarian adventure) and much of those expanded formats at DC in the first half of the decade were filled out with reprints pulled out of three decades of back catalog. Even relatively new characters like Hawk & Dove and The Creeper saw their Showcase debuts reprinted even though they had no title or even feature of their own at the time.

.....I've already examined Doom Patrol reprints in three DP01-AR posts (February 8-10, 2010) in detail and a neat one-page post (February 14, 2010) with the basics for anyone who'd like a printable checklist. Of course, the entire series has been reprinted in both the Archive and "Showcase Presents..." formats. Teen Titans, roughly the same length, seems to have stalled as of this writing. There was one Archive of the original series and two "Showcase Presents..." (with a third necessary to include the revival and Hawk And Dove). By comparison, New Teen Titans has been reprinted in four Archives and a spattering of color paperbacks. When trying to research the visibility of Beast Boy and Mal Duncan during the nearly twenty years between the first and second Doom Patrol titles, their absence from reprints of Teen Titans stories was glaring. The only appearance of Gar in the original run (#6) has only been reprinted in bound volumes, to my knowledge. The revival issues have never been reprinted, meaning that Karen Beecher/Bumblebee doesn't show up on this list at all. Her other half, Mal Duncan, appears exactly once. That appearance is flagged accordingly.

1. Action Comics #409 (02/72)- 410 (03/72) Reprints Teen Titans #4 (07-08/66), split into two parts.
2. Superboy #185 [aka DC 100-Page Super Spectacular #DC-12] (05/72) Reprints The Brave And The Bold #60 (06-07/65), their second appearance.
3. [DC] 100-Page Super Spectacular #DC-21 [Superboy-themed issue, but published outside his title's numbering, unlike the issue above] Reprints The Brave And The Bold #54 (06-07/64), their first appearance.
4. The Brave And The Bold #114 (08-09/74) Reprints Teen Titans #5 (09-10/66).
5. The Brave And The Bold #116 (12/74-01/75) Reprints Teen Titans #16 (07-08/68).
6. Limited Collectors' Edition #C-34 (02-03/75) [this is a tabloid-sized "Christmas With The Super-Heroes"] Reprints Teen Titans #13 (01-02/68). This is missing page 2, with contemporary references to the Batman TV show, and alters some narration, but extends the art in some panels. Nick Cardy also does the ensemble cover with the Teen Titans (in their 1960's costumes) in the front and in portraits on the back.
7. Super-Team Family #1 (10-11/75) Reprints Teen Titans #19 (01-02/69) and has a new ensemble cover by Dick Giordano.
8. DC Super-Stars #1 (03/76) Reprints Teen Titans #11 (09-10/67) and #24 (11-12/69) plus five new pages combining text and spot illustrations. They discuss Gar and Mal, so they'll be covered in the next post.
9. DC Super-Stars #7 (09/76) Reprints the Aqualad back-up story from Teen Titans #30 (11-12/70)
10. [Mal appears] Super-Team Family #7 (10-11/76) Reprints Teen Titans #31 (01-02/71), and they also appear in part of a new composite cover by Ernie Chan and Vince Colletta. In this same issue is a full-page ad with original art announcing the revived series beginning the next month.

.....Finally, with a month to go before he returns with the new series Mal Duncan (and Lilith, come to think of it) shows up in one of the almost twice-annual sporadic reprints that had kept his teammates in the public eye. After the 1978 DC Implosion most of the publisher's larger page-count titles were anthologies of new material. Beginning in 1979 a new line of digest format titles emerged (possibly to explore new markets) which were primarily or entirely reprint material. The format was discontinued after Crisis in 1986 as DC began rewriting a new, coherent and consolidated history and wanted to be extremely selective about reprinting old stories lest they undermine the new continuity before it even had a chance to assert itself. Mal wasn't in these, either:

1. The Best Of DC #3 (01-02/80) Reprints Teen Titans #18 (11-12/68).
2. DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #5 (11-12/80) Reprints the 8-page "THE ORIGIN OF WONDER GIRL" from Teen Titans #22 (07-08/69).
3. The Best Of DC #18 (11/81) This was an all-Teen Titans issue with new front and back covers by George Pérez and an original New Teen Titans story by Marv Wolfman and Carmine Infantino. The rest reprinted Teen Titans #20 (03-04/69), #21 (05-06/69), #22 (07-08/69) [except for the story reprinted the previous year] and #24 (11-12/69).
4. The Best Of DC #22 (03/82) Reprints Teen Titans #13 (01-02/68).

.....That last story continued to be reprinted in various Christmas collections over the years. A dozen issues in a decade and only one story from Mal's tenure. Better news in Part 6.

DP02-08 Beast Boy and Mal Duncan Part 5

.....We've reached 1971. Beast Boy and the Doom Patrol will remain unseen for six years (Gar reappears in Part 6). Mal Duncan has been asked to join a covert, government sponsored civic works program run by Mr. Jupiter, only to learn that he has become the only member of the Teen Titans without a super power. The team that created him has left the book and been replaced by industry veterans Murray Boltinoff (editor), Bob Haney (writer) and George Tuska (pencils). Also at this time only Robin and Kid Flash appear in back up features in titles for the characters from whom they were derived (Robin regularly in Batman and Kid Flash sporadically in Flash).

.....In the previous two years, the Teen Titans' roster had doubled from five (Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Wonder Girl and alternate Speedy) to ten (Hawk and Dove, Lilith, Mal and Gnarrk). With only ten issues left in the original run only Hawk and Dove leave until the revival a few years later. The other eight would appear in combinations of four to six both in the main title and guest appearances, such as the Brave And The Bold issue that closed Part 4. This juggling of the cast may keep everyone visible but it also makes it difficult to plan continuing stories. The choice of returning Bob Haney to scripts made this approach a more workable option, given his predilection for short, self-contained stories. That talent was what made him a longtime favorite on The Brave And The Bold, where the cast is (a) always small and (b) changes every issue. Unfortunately, the irregularity of the cast coupled with a bi-monthly schedule made character development next to impossible. And of course, regardless of which characters actually star in any given issue, portraits of Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Speedy appear on the cover in the margin along the spine.

1. Teen Titans #34 (07-08/71) Robin, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Lilith and Mal appear. The last 15¢ issue.
2. [No Mal] Robin appears in the landmark Batman #232 (06/71). Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams, who have been working on Green Lantern/Green Arrow for about a year, begin a truly killer residence. It is also the last 15¢ issue. After this first story (and #237) Robin kept to his Mike Friedrich back-up feature, with the next arc being #234 (08/71)- 236 (11/71).
3. [No Mal] Justice League Of America #91 (08/71)- #92 (09/71) This annual cross-over between the JLA and JSA has a long overdue chat between Robin and the adult Robin of Earth-2. The Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe (link on the left margin) places this story after the last of the Mike Friedrich-scripted Robin stories in Batman. Friedrich scripted this story as well and introduces the teen Earth-1 Robin by saying that he was responding to a report overheard in the story from Batman #234, above. There is no such scene anywhere in the three-parter, so the DCUGuide chronology may not be off after all. Although there's no Mal here, this story is still worth mentioning because it introduces a costume change. When Earth-1 Robin's costume is shredded while on Earth-2, his adult counterpart offers him one "fashioned by a costume-maker I know-- Neal Adams!". This is the original version of the costume eventually worn in the late 70's.
4. World's Finest Comics #205 (09/71) Mort Weisinger's departure dropped several titles into Julius Schwartz' lap, including this one. In his two years as editor, #198 (11/70)- #214 (10-11/72), Schwartz tried to shake up the tired Superman/Batman formula by pairing Superman with other characters (as Kashdan and Boltinoff used Batman in The Brave And The Bold). With Steve Skeates scripting, he uses the five teammates who appeared in all five of the Teen Titans issues he scripted: Lilith, Mal, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Speedy. Mal even makes the cover... drawn by Neal Adams!
5. [No Mal] At about this time Speedy (as Roy Harper) is the focus of the famous anti-heroin story in Green Lantern/Green Arrow # 85 (08-09/71)- #86 (10/11/71), but because the events of that story are not reflected in Teen Titans they are generally assumed to take place after the title is cancelled.
6. Teen Titans #35 (09-10/71)- #36(11-12/71) The "Bigger and Better" format is adapted. The standard format of 32 interior pages ('guts') is expanded by 50% for 25¢ for all DC comics for one year. (The only exceptions are oddities, such as digests, magazines and specials with 64 or more pages.) While some issues carry blurbs announcing "48 pages" and later ones announcing "52 big pages, don't take less", they are all the same page count. The later ones merely count the covers as four pages. The only two issues I've mentioned so far here not in this format are the ones I've noted were 15¢. The additional pages were usually filled with some combination of original back-up features (often giving a solo story to a supporting character) and random reprints. In this case, Mal gets a solo story. While Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy and Lilith go to Italy with Mr. Jupiter for the two-parter in the lead stories, the same creative team gives us "A TITAN IS BORN", a seven page Mal story in #35. In it, he remains in the states and faces The Gargoyle, an extradimensional menace that has escaped from the limbo in which Robin imprisoned him in issue #14 (03-04/68). That issue, the Mal short here and the final issue of the revival, #53 (02/78), form the basis of the Secret Origins Annual #3 (1989). Plotted and written by George Pérez, the 66-page story reveals that The Antithesis was the force behind the Gargoyle's attacks on the Teen Titans and that, in the post-Crisis continuity, he took the opportunity while Mal was knocked unconscious to enter a program into the computers in Mr. Jupiter's facility. The program included the means to breach dimensions and was planted in the hope that it would be discovered, tested and eventually used by someone who would accidentally breach The Antithesis' prison. About two years later (in continuity; five years in publishing) Karen Beecher built a sonic tool/weapon called the Gabriel's Horn using the Teen Titan's computer's so that Mal would have more resources during the team's battles. The Antithesis program was one of those incorporated into the design of the horn, meaning that the Titans' Lair was using Mr. Jupiter's equipment until the revival in 1976. In those actual issues, the pre-Crisis continuity had it that Mal was given a shofar, not a mechanical device, by the angel Gabriel as a reward for defeating Azrael, the Angel of Death in combat in issue #45 (12/76). (More on that in Part 6.) #36 has the first chapter of Lilith's origin story and a three page fragment of an Aqualad story that was probably intended for the recently cancelled Aquaman title since it was written by Skeates, drawn by Aparo and edited by Giordano. Two pages of an Aquaman story (with a different artist) had already appeared in Super DC Giant #S-26 (07-08/71), buried amid Aquaman reprints.
7. [No Mal] Flash #211 (12/71) Wally has a back-up feature.
8. [No Mal] Batman #237 (12/71) Robin appears in the lead feature.
9. Teen Titans #37 (01-02/72) Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Lilith and Mal get in the middle of a foreign war and fight the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse. The only back-up is a reprint.
10. [No Mal] The Brave And The Bold #100 (02-03/72) Robin guests with Green Lantern and Green Arrow. This must take place mid way through the O'Neil and Adams GL/GA stories, although that title was one issue from cancellation when this came out.
11. Teen Titans #38 (03-04/72) Robin, Wonder Girl, Lilith and Mal. In what must rank among the creepiest of plot ideas, Mr. Jupiter and Lilith plot to induce hallucinations in the other three members to force them to confront their fears. Mal's, for the record, is agoraphobia (a fear of open spaces), curiously not a problem when he and Kid Flash were trapped in prehistory in #'s 32-33 or on a battlefield in the previous issue. In Wonder Girl's hallucination she calls herself Donna Drake and goes undercover in male drag. The back-ups include the second chapter of Lilith's origin and some reprints. Mal's on the cover.
12. [No Mal] Batman #239 (02/72)- #242 (06/72) Robin back-up features. Kid Flash (#241) and Lilith (#241-242) guest star in this four part story. After this, the JLA/JSA story with both Robins (mentioned above) is presumed to take place.
13. Teen Titans #39 (05-06/72) Gnarrk returns. Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Lilith and Mal take him on an assignment to the southwest. Bizarrely, Wonder Girl is called "Donna Drake", the name she used in her dream in #38. Thankfully, that mistake doesn't need to be explained, since this self contained story would be stricken from continuity by the events in New Titans #56 (07/89), which repositions Gnarrk's first appearance between the end of this series' revival and the beginning of New Teen Titans.
14. The Brave And The Bold #102 (06-07/72) Another Haney script teaming Batman with Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy and Mal. The back-up reprint is the Robot-man story spliced together from two different Doom Patrol back-up stories. (see the post DP01-AR1 Original Period reprints)
15. [No Mal] Flash #216 (06/72) The last Skeates back-up feature for Wally. This is also the last "Bigger and Better" format comic on this list. After this DC's standard format reverts to 32pp of 'guts', but at the new price of 20¢.
16. Teen Titans #40 (07-08/72) Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Mal and guest star Aqualad. Art Saaf takes over the pencils from George Tuska. Saaf was an industry veteran from the early 1940's who had been doing romance and war comics for DC since the late 60's. He continues until the end of the original run with Cardy continuing to ink. Mal technically appears on the cover, but farthest in the background and possibly only because the Titans are all in chains.
17. [No Mal] Batman #244 (09/72) Elliot S![sic] Maggin takes over scripting the Robin back-ups. DCUGuide gives an odd order to Robin's appearances in the latter half of 1972: After this, Teen Titans #41(main story), then Batman #243(main story), #245(back-up), Teen Titans #42 and Batman #246(main story).
18. Teen Titans #41 (09-10/72) Robin, Wonder Girl, Speedy and Mal only. Mal plays a pivotal role in yet another supernatural story, but only due to his resemblance to a pre-Civil War slave. If that weren't bad enough, he still doesn't get on the cover despite being central to the plot and despite the fact that Kid Flash (who does not appear in this story or the back-up) is both on the left margin as usual and in the scene from the story depicted on the cover. The back-up story is the third chapter in Lilith's origin.
19. [No Mal] Batman #243 (08/72) with Robin in the main story and #245 (10/72) with Robin solo in the back-up feature.
20. [No Mal] Justice League Of America #100 (08/72)- 102 (10/72) This year's JLA/JSA Crisis reintroduces the Golden Age Seven Soldiers of Victory, including the Earth-2 Roy Harper. This story may have been three years in the making. The SSoV were the subject of one of the last of DC's old Fact Files in, among other places, Binky's Buddies #4(07-08/69) and reprinted in DC Special #5 (10-12/69). They were also part of four pages of new pin-ups and text in the otherwise all-reprint Justice League Of America #76 (11-12/69). This Roy Harper/Speedy is no relation to the Earth-1 Roy.
21. Teen Titans #42 (11-12/72) Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Lilith and Mal. All the Teen Titans, including Mal, make the cover. They're tiny and with their backs to the reader, but they're all there. This is Mal's last appearance for a while.
22. [No Mal] Batman #246 (12/72) Robin appears in the main story.
23. [No Mal] Teen Titans #43 (01-02/73) Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy and Lilith. The events of this story are cited in the Secret Origins Annual #3(1989) by Dick (by then Nightwing) as the reasons for the Teen Titans splitting and Mal's absence as the reason he maintained the Titan's Lair until the series resumed. Dick's reasoning was that Mal was the only one not disillusioned when they failed to prevent an old man from killing a supernatural being masquerading as his dead grandson. The members disagreed as to whether all life, even unnatural ones, required their protection. The fourth chapter of Lilith's origin story is the back-up feature. All four parts take place before her first appearance in issue #25.
24. At this point the O'Neil and Adams GL/GA stories with Roy take place.

.....That's it for Part 5. Part 6 will be entirely about the revival, although I may precede that with an appendix on the intervening presence of the Teen Titans, individually or in reprint form. As always, if there's any omissions or outright mistakes please use the comment area. With all those numbers there could be some typos in there, you never know. Also, if you've read any of these stories recently and can cite reasons why the chronology or continuity should be otherwise, that's helpful, too, but with the tendency at this time to rely on self-contained stories that's less likely.

DP02-07 Beast Boy and Mal Duncan Part 4

.....After the Doom Patrol were killed (in 1968, our time) Beast Boy was shelved for a few years. He eventually found a new family in the Teen Titans when they reconfigured in 1980. In the meantime, future DP'ers Vox (Malcolm Duncan) and Bumblebee (Karen Beecher) had their start in the Titans. Fans of the current series may want to know why Mal never made it from the Geoff Johns 'pilot' to the Keith Giffen 'series'. It's something to which old-time TT readers are quite accustomed, however.

.....To show Mal Duncan appearances pre-Crisis, I want to provide context. The simplest way is to show all of the Teen Titans' appearances and show where he does and doesn't join them. I'll limit myself to the 1970's on, picking up where Part 2 left off in November:

1. [No Mal] Teen Titans #25 (01-02/70) The start of an unprecedented (for this title) five issue arc and a radical change in direction for the second half of the original run. The regular cast of Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Speedy are joined by Hawk and Dove, whose own series had recently been cancelled. The six fail to prevent an assassination and are upbraided by the JLA. They seek out a girl (Lilith, her first appearance) who predicted the tragedy and learn that she is a precognitive who is taking part in a government program to train teenagers with rare talents to use them for civic benefit. The program is run by a wealthy philanthropist named Mr. Jupiter (also first appearance). He convinces them to abandon their costumed identities and approach problems on their own terms, rather than trying to force every situation into the mold of a super-hero paradigm (i.e., if your only tool is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail). All but Robin agree; Jupiter is an associate of Bruce Wayne and Dick couldn't reveal his own identity without jeopardizing Batman's. He claims that he could become more valuable to society by enrolling in college (technically true; he began attending college at this time). This is the first of three Robert Kanigher scripts (#'s 25-27).
2. [No Mal] Detective Comics #393 (11/69)- #401(07/70) After one 'last' case with Batman before college (in #393) and a three page teaser in Batman #217 (12/69), Robin moves his solo back-up feature to Hudson University. The feature began in #386 followed by a reprint in #387. Then every two issues would alternate Batgirl (#388-389, 392-393, 396-397) with Robin (#390-391, 394-395, 398-399) two-parters until someone got the bright idea of pairing them in the same story (#400-401). These Robin back-ups were written by Frank Robbins, but when Mike Friedrich took over he would work in appearances by other Titans. Since there were none in any of these, Mal's absence isn't significant. Besides, Robin hadn't met Mal yet.
3. Teen Titans #26 (03-04/70) Without Robin, the remaining five members and Lilith are sent to the Hell's Corner neighborhood where a young boxer named Mal (first appearance) helps them fend off members of the Hell's Hawks gang. Although he doesn't have super powers he exhibits the characteristics Mr. Jupiter's program tries to emphasize, so they recruit him. They also meet Mal's younger sister Cindy (who only ever appears in this issue and the next and then is never heard from again). Mal and Cindy aren't given last names here. In fact, Mal will not have a last name until the 1976-1978 revival. Once he learns that the other program members are super-powered, Mal feels a need to prove his worth by riding an experimental rocket. This sense of self-doubt is something that every future writer grapples with when approaching Mal as a character. Because he is seen so infrequently, each new writer must establish early on if they are going to write Mal's part as regressing to this self-doubt or over-compensating for it. By the time they've brought him to a point where he can believably put it behind him, they're no longer writing the character. It's little wonder that Mal seems happiest when he's retired, playing music or managing a nightclub. It's probably a reflection of the writer realizing he's found a way to avoid devoting reams of dialogue to dealing with his microbaggage.
4. Teen Titans #27 (05-06/70) The Teen Titans retrieve Mal from the rocket. Curiously, although the team is no longer wearing uniforms at this time the cover has full-body poses of Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Speedy in costume in an inch-wide margin along the spine. Robin, remember, is not in the book anymore. These portraits continue for the rest of the series except for the next issue, which has the team in costume for the cover art.
5. [NOTE: The famous Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-ups begin publishing at this time, with Green Lantern #76 (04/70), but their impact on Roy Harper's life are not discussed during the original run of the Titans' title.]
6. [No Mal] Aquaman #49 (01-02/70)- #52 (07-08/70) Aqualad has been helping Aquaman in his fight against Ocean Master. Every issue from #40 (07-08/68) to its cancellation with #56 (03-04/71) was written by Steve Skeates and drawn by Jim Aparo but had Teen Titans regulars Dick Giordano editing and Nick Cardy doing the cover art. So, Aqualad (and Steve) chased Ocean Master into the Titans' title.
7. Teen Titans #28 (07-08/70)- #29 (09-10/70) Steve Skeates briefly becomes the regular scribe. Aqualad trails Ocean Master to the surface. Naturally, the first people he turns to are the Teen Titans, but their HQ is abandoned. He is only able to find Robin (at Hudson). Robin explains to him the situation with Mr. Jupiter. He convinces his teammates to return to their costumes when they learn that Ocean Master is allied with alien invaders. Mal is practically furniture in this story. #28 is almost an Aqualad solo story in which Mal appears visible in one panel and in silhouette elsewhere, with no dialogue at all. Part of that may be that he was the focus of the previous two issues but mostly I think it's due to the fact that with the return of Robin and Aqualad the team has nine members for these two issues.
8. [No Mal] Detective Comics #402 (08/70)- #403 (09/70) Speedy guest stars in #402 in the Robin back-up feature, which moves to Batman #227 (12/70)- #231 (05/71), except for #228.
9. Teen Titans #30 (11-12/70) Three stories are in this issue. The new core team (Wally, Donna, Roy, Lilith and Mal) protect a criminal informant; Wally in a text story; Aqualad and Tula subdue a patient crazed by an experimental drug.
10. [No Mal] Flash #202 (12/70) Wally returns to a back-up feature for the first time in four years, written by Steve Skeates until the Titans' series is cancelled in 1973. He also scripts Garth in Aquaman #55 (01-02/71)- #56 (03-04/71), the end of that series.
11. Teen Titans #31 (01-02/71) The new core foils a mind control scheme on a college campus. (This story will be a large part of a later post.) Hawk and Dove are in their own back-up feature, then disappear for a few years. The characters became the source of a lot of tension between Giordano and Skeates when they worked together on the earlier series. Since the team swelled to an unmanageable size in #'s 28-29 I guess removing them meant... killing two birds with stone?
12. [No Mal] Flash #204 (03/71), #207 (06/71) and #209 (09/71) More Wally features. With Wonder Woman in her martial arts/detective phase, Donna is no longer connected to a 'parent' figure title. Likewise Garth, regarding Aquaman's cancelled title, and Roy, considering that Green Arrow has figuratively moved from crashing on the JLA's couch to crashing on Hal's. Only Dick and Wally have larger established titles that can accommodate back-up features for them. Coincidently, both are edited by Julius Schwartz, who had never edited Teen Titans.
13. Teen Titans #32 (03-04/71)- #33 (05-06/71) Murray Boltinoff begins as editor. These two issues are the last scripts approved by Dick Giordano, except for a three-page Aqualad story (also written by Steve Skeates) that surfaces in #36. #32 is Skeates' last full issue. Bob Haney concludes the story and remains writing until cancellation. Mal features prominently in this story. He and Wally are stuck in pre-history due to a defective time-travel experiment. They inadvertently cause the death of a teen Cro-Magnon, altering history so that when they return to the present date the world is stuck in the medieval European period, including the Justice League. They return to pre-history to correct their mistake and do so, but return to the present of their appropriate timeline bringing the cave-teen, Gnarrk, with them. Returning him to the past is judged to be risking greater catastrophe than allowing him to remain in the present, and so they accept him as the latest member of Mr. Jupiter's group. He falls in love with Lilith. Haney brings back Robin as well, absent since #29 yet on every cover. Mal, who has been in every issue since #26, makes his first cover appearance on #32, a year later. He will not make the cover again for another year. I should also point out that this story (#33 was entitled "Less Than Human") was retroactively removed from continuity due to the events of New Titans #56 (07/89) (which was entitled "More Than Human").
14. [No Mal] The Brave And The Bold #94 (02-03/71) Batman confronts 'rebellious youths' Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Lilith. In a scene taken from the movie "Wild In The Streets", the cover shows adults being herded into a barbed wire enclosure already containing Batman. The sign above the door reads, "Concentration Camp For Adults Only", while Robin lectures, "Every grown-up will suffer, Batman-- because you lied to us!". Published shortly before the two issues mentioned above, it can be forgiven for not featuring Gnarrk, although Lilith appears without Mal. Presented by the Titans' team of Boltinoff (editor), Haney (writer) and Cardy (art and cover), it's a grim indication of the direction of their own book. (It turned out to be worse-- Cardy was at that time being taken off pencils in favor of George Tuska, with Cardy inking instead.) I don't have a copy of this myself, but I'm guessing it's condescensational!

.....I should cut off here and post the rest later. This is about a quarter or third of Mal's pre-Crisis history. Most, if not all, of these stories have been reprinted in black and white in the Showcase Presents format, but precious few have been reprinted in color. Happy hunting and I'll be continuing soon.

DP02-05 Beast Boy and Mal Duncan in Teen Titans Part 2

.....In Part 1 (the previous post, or DP02-04) the history of the Teen Titans during the 1960's, both as a group and as a title, was summarized against a background of changes at DC Comics. In the last three years of the decade ('67-'69) there were as many titles launched as in the first seven ('60-'66), yet when the 1970 cover dates began to ship, most of the titles that had been weeded out during the decade had originated during that decade. There was still a higher rate of retention of titles dating back to the precode era as of 1971than of titles from the previous five years. That's rate, not just absolute number. Teen Titans ranked among the lucky survivors and would be luckier still as even more '12-cent alumni' were cancelled during 1970 and 1971 but only four precode titles were lost, all non-continuity: Secret Hearts, The Adventures of Jerry Lewis, Binky and Girls' Romances . What was Teen Titans doing (or not doing) that kept it alive during this period? Was it as simple as the name recognition of the characters? As byzantine as office politics? I think that it may have been that while some other second string DC titles underwent radical changes to grasp at straws of relevancy, Teen Titans managed to at least remain relevant to its readership. We're all aware of what they say about 20/20 hindsight, of how easy it is to ridicule failed experiments from the vantage point of those who've learned better from the results. Yet so much of this period seems to come from a file stamped "What were they thinking?".

.....Turning the Blackhawks into super-heroes, the Metal Men into humans or the Challengers into ghost-hunters wasn't likely to appeal to their hard-core fan base, those reliable numbers who remained after the sales figures shrank. Obviously those changes were intended to bring in new readership. How that was supposed to happen and why anyone expected that hypothetical new audience in the bush to be larger than the bird DC had in its hand isn't nearly so obvious. What did work was the subtler alterations to Teen Titans, Green Lantern, and Justice League Of America. Rather than change the characters substantially these titles gave them topical situations. They seemed to be finally learning from Stan Lee what Arnold Drake had figured out long ago: ask what a real person would do when faced with these fantastical circumstances. Also, recognize that there are very real circumstances all around us that present formidable challenges to decent people everyday. These stories are at least as interesting as whatever Captain Cold wants to steal this month.

.....Thus was introduced Mal Duncan.

.....By the end of 1968 Marvel had introduced ensemble cast members such as Gabe Jones and Robbie Robertson, background characters like Bill Foster (who would become Black Goliath in the 1970's) and most importantly T'Challa, The Black Panther, a black super-hero and genuine African prince. The next year would see the debuts of The Falcon and The Prowler followed by Eddie March ( the original black Iron Man, before Jim Rhodes), Monica Lynne and Jim Wilson in 1970. But in late 1968 the very young Marv Wolfman and Len Wein submitted a script for Teen Titans to Dick Giordano in which a new super-hero enlists the Titans' help fighting a gang that had been recruiting disaffected black youth. A number of articles in both Comic Book Artist (TwoMorrows) Vol.1, #1(Spring/98) and Vol.1, #5(Summer/99) relate bits and pieces of the story behind the story from the key players. They were interviewed by different persons in different contexts and thirty years' distance has left some memories a bit hazy and inconsistent, but the approved script was pencilled in its entirety by Nick Cardy. In the surprise ending, after Jericho and the Titans have captured the gang's leaders and lectured their teenaged recruits, would-be recruit Mark is shocked to find that Jericho is actually his brother, Ben. What should be even more shocking to the readers is that both Mark and Ben, who spend this scene talking at length about what it means to be black men in a white man's world, are both clearly white themselves. The art is reproduced without color, and Cardy (or any other capable artist of this period) would no doubt take great pains to avoid drawing black characters as broad stereotypes. In fact, a year later we would see him drawing Mal as a handsome and unquestionably African-American young man. Yet Mark and Ben have thin lips, narrow noses and straight, straight hair showing obvious comb-strokes. Editorial Director Carmine Infantino didn't cite that glaring inconsistency when rejecting the story, though. His main concern was that the dialogue for a story purportedly endorsing racial harmony was written in such a ham-fisted manner that it would be offensive to both black and white readers.

.....So, to recap: Wein and Wolfman brought the script to editor Dick Giordano, who approved the story.

.....Nick Cardy drew the story and then dialogue was added.

.....Editorial Director Carmine Infantino nixed the final version (probably prior to coloring).

.....At this point the story was brought to Neal Adams by one of the five people above. An attempted rewrite was also rejected and Adams found himself scripting a new story almost from scratch with about a week to make the printer's date. This is the point at which the original story, "Titans Fit The Battle Of Jericho", becomes the story eventually published. With little time in which to work, Adams took Cardy's finished cover (with the story's title on it) and four or five additional pages to form the basis of a story with a similar plot. In the new story, Adams took the logical step of making the hero's name Joshua and have him oppose a vast organization called Operation Jericho (which eventually "comes tumbling down"). For reasons that are less clear, Joshua's real identity is not Ben but David, and his younger brother is not Mark but Chuck. The gang is now recruiting mostly white teenagers by pandering to generational tensions. This undermines the 'reveal' of Joshua's identity; in the rejected version of the story when Mark finds out that the mystery hero is his brother Ben, and their previously presumed racial differences don't exist. In the newer version, Chuck discovers that the mystery hero is his brother Dave, but that doesn't change the fact that they are different ages. As befitting its lesser impact, the scene is relocated from the end to about two-thirds into the story. The new finale is the revelation that while the teenagers were dupes of the gang, the gang were dupes of the aliens from Dimension X (seen in issue #16). What the teenagers were told would be a method of political demonstration turned out to be a disguised method of breaching the dimensional wall and unleashing a monster on Earth. Joshua, an electronics genius, uses a sonic weapon (a 'horn') to tear down the alien 'wall', fulfilling the biblical metaphor. In addition to the Cardy pages there were two pages by Sal Amendola showing an interlude with the aliens' human agent. The rest was pencilled by Adams and inked by Cardy.

.....Mal Duncan, of course, is not Joshua. But when the Titans were revived in the later 70's there was a push to give Mal some sort of super-power. Although there was a flirtation with the Kirby Guardian costume and exo-skeleton, the shtick that stuck was a magic horn provided by divine intervention. Of all the possible gimmicks in the world of super-heroes, what kind of a coincidence is it that DC's first black hero is retrofitted with a device that recalls the motif of what would have been DC's first black hero?

.....Mal's eventual debut came in Teen Titans #26 (03-04/70). Of all the Marvel characters named above, only Jim Wilson followed Mal. Sadly, he rarely appeared on the covers. In the original run he made it onto the front of #32(03-04/71), #38(03-04/72) and #42(11-12/72). By that time you were more likely to see an inset of Page Peterson, fictional advice expert of the romance titles, on the cover of, say, Young Romance. He was also beat out to the covers by Lois Lane, who spent "24 Hours As A Black Woman" in the notoriously silly story and cover "I Am Curious (Black)", written by Robert Kanigher (who also wrote the Titans arc that introduced Mal) and drawn by Werner Roth (who worked with Arnold Drake on X-Men).

.....In Part 3 I look at several stories from the 80's that attempt to fill in the holes in continuity from the 70's, including a chronology of Gar Logan. Then in Part 4 I shoot for a comprehensive list of all of Mal and Gar's appearances during the 1970's.