Customer Reviews

The New Teen Titans Archives, Volume 3 (DC Archive Editions)

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this was the best era for the titans. the stories weret'n more than three issues long and didn't drag on and on. a must read for the fans of the current teen titans mag.

Great drawing, quite good characters, even if they seem pretty square (particularly midwest conservative Wally "Teen Flash" West. The volume covers "The New Teen Titans" issues 17-20, plus all four issues of a mini-series chronicling the origins of the members (one each issue - Cyborg, Raven, Changeling and Starfire are chronicled here - I guess they don't bother with Robin, Wonder Girl or Kid Flash as they're established characters).

Issue 17 is "The Possession of Francis Kane", which is a bit like Carrie, in that it is about a woman that seems possessed (but she's not possessed by a demon, rather possessed by Dr Polaris, trying to escape the dimension he's trapped in), and whose mother tries to exorcise her. Bizarre. Wally seems to be falling for Francis, forgetting about his lonely love for Raven. Action, destruction, helpless females. Starfire is on the cover, even though she's not in the book. Issue 18 is called "A Pretty Girl is like a Maladi", about a Russian bride-to-be who unknowingly brings radiation poisoning to the USA, and the Russian superhero Starfire who is sent to bring her back/put her out of her misery. Wally constantly insults him for being a Soviet murderer, but is put in his place at the end by a strange twist. Good one, but a bit melodramatic/pointless, like all of those stories about good guys fighting each other for stupid reasons (Spider-man vs The Fantastic Four, The Avengers vs The Hulk, etc). Teen Titans 19, "The Light Fantastic" is about Mr Light, a powerful but lame super-villain who escapes from jail and reanimates ancient Hindu relics that become rampaging monsters. With the help of Hawkman. So-so. "Dear Mom and Dad" is done in a letter format, with Wally writing a sentimental letter to his mom and dad about a day in the life of the New Teen Titans, and about how they bring down the Disrupter and his dad. The Disruptor has strange powers, he can disrupt anything, short circuiting people's superpowers or their regular bodily functions (heartbeat, etc). Crazy. Pretty gruesome villain, and a strange family feud goes on as well. The letter-writing thing is corny too.

The Mini-series. Issue 1 tells the strange, sad tale of Cyborg, how his relationship with his father was poisoned, and how he ran into fair weather friends, like a thug called Ron, who become some sort of Black Panther. Nasty story, but good story telling. Issue 2 tells Raven's story, and it is about trippy-trans-dimensional demons like Trigon, and the people of the world of Azarath, and the godmother of the clan Azar. Issue 3 tells Changeling's story, and it is kind of silly and jumps all over the place, not the better tale. Issue 4 tells the story of Starfire, and it is the best of the bunch, showing a young Koriand'r as she deals with her evil older sister Kommand'r, the evil Citadel, the even-more-evil Psions, and her eventual flight to earth, away from her father King Miand'r, mother Luand'r, and brother Riand'r.

OK, the item description on this volume is a bit misleading. About 1/2 of this book is what I expected and enjoyed very much, but the other half is not collected from the regular series, "New Teen Titans", but from a inferior spin off series called "Tales of the New Teen Titans". The tales are in depth origins of Raven, Starfire, Changeling, and Cyborg - these tales are not very engaging, and should not have been reprinted in this collection.