Customer Reviews

The Titans Companion

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The Titans Companion is a great source of information for fans of the world's greatest teen super-group. It's formatted with dozens of interviews with just about everybody who's ever worked on Teen Titans, The New Teen Titans, Tales of the Teen Titans, New Titans, Team Titans, and whatever other incarnation the teams had. Cadigan has taken the liberty of breaking up certain interviews (Wolfman and Perez come to mind) chronologically, which allows you take in the Titans one era at a time. Reading from start to finish, it's amazing to witness the transformation from a team of four sidekicks trying to bridge the generation gaps to a horde of dysfunctional, de-aged, gritty warriors.

If you're hoping for a comic-by-comic guide of what happened with the team, stick to the internet. I was able to piece most of it together, but there were bits and pieces I needed some more help on.

The book has TONS of b&w artwork, either reproduced panels or convention sketches--they're fantastic!

As somebody who's never read much DC at all, let alone Titans, I learned that Wondergirl was originally just Wonderwoman at a younger age (ie, not Wonderwoman's sidekick). When she showed up in Teen Titans, all of a sudden an origin had to follow, and it's followed poor Donna Troy ever since! Deathstroke the Terminator, and Vigilante both sprung from the pages of New Teen Titans. Speedy's little heroin addiction apparently never came up in the Titans! And that there were a lot of character's I'd never heard of who've joined the Titans over the years, including the Joker's daughter, who was actually Two-Face's daughter, who called herself Duella Dent and fought as Harlequin (not the Batman:The Animated Series one), and who according to Len Wein in a lettercol of DC's Who's Who #15 "show's up at Donna Troy's wedding and Dick Grayson accusing (sic) her of lying. She admitted to the deception and points to her recent addition of 50 pounds, keeping her out of crime-fighting. Since she was never a major character, nor did she ever have her own series or origin, it was decided to omit her reference (from Who's Who) since she will not be seen again."

Suffice it to say, I'm now dying to find a Titans issue with Duella as an active crimefighter in it, to see how the writer's played it. There's a lot of examples like this, where I felt like I was at a a MENSA party or something. I was mingling, meeting people, and listening to fascinating conversations, the whole time thinking "man, I've *got* to find out more about this!"

-Tom

I picked up this book on a lark, having recently discovered TwoMorrows Publishing and quickly becoming a great fan of the company.

I grew up reading mostly Marvel comics in the 80's, with the exception of maybe a Batman here or there. Over the years, I've caught up on a few of DC's bigger events through some trades, but I'm no expert in DC continuity. The only Teen Titans I'd ever read was "the Judas Contract".

This book takes the reader chronologically through the evolution of the Teen Titans, from the time when it was basically "the Justice League's sidekicks" to it's present day incarnation. We take this journey via interviews with or articles on just about every creator involved with Titans. Every page has great artwork, and most of it is previously unpublished commissions to fans (a TwoMorrows hallmark).

While I think the book is designed for somebody who's a Teen Titans fanatic, it was detailed enough that I could follow along, and most of the plot points were articulated well-enough in the interviews that I didn't have to have read every issue of Teen Titans. That said, there were some moments when I scratched my head and thought "what's a baxter-series?" or something like that? Most of these were quickly rememedied with google or yahoo's help. In fact, here's my recommendation: Do an online search of Teen Titans, and read through the issue summaries--yup, they're out there. If it sounds interesting to you at all, pick up the book. That should be enough info that you're never left scratching your head, and it's also a good litmus test of your Titans fever. I know I've already started plunging through the quarter bins for the wolfman/perez stuff that hasn't been collected in trades yet!

A great book that any comic fan will love!

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the popular New Teen Titans DC comic book series, Titans Companion is an engaging survey of the history of the series through interviews with creators Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Len Wein, Eduardo Barreto, and other fan favorites. A comprehensive Silver Age section also has interviews with Neal Adams, Nick Cardy, Dick Giordano, among others. Illustrated with black-and-white comic panels and rare character sketches, Titans Companion is a "must-have" for fans of the series, or anyone interested in a behind-the-scenes look at creative decisions in the comic book industry (such as choosing to dress Nightwing, formerly Robin, in dark colors to make him less of a target but exposing some of his chest to appeal to female fans, now that his legs are covered). Very highly recommended reading for all Teen Titan fans.

I stumbled on this book almost by accident. It contains numerous interviews of the Titans creators, allowing the reader to get an inside look at the group from the 60s to the mid 90s. The emphasis is naturally on the most successful run of their history-the Wolfman/Perez years of the 80s. Anyone looking for a synoposis of each issue will be disappointed, as this is not the book's focus.

As the other reviewers have said, this is an amazing book that covers so much of the behind the scenes with not only the original series of Teen Titans (including the story that got Marv Wolfman and Len Wein blacklisted from DC for a couple of years), but the 70's revival and the glory days of Wolfman/Perez, going up to the end of The New Titans with issue 130. There is also a couple of excellent creator interviews with the writers/artists of Team Titans, and it annoys me that we never got to see those stories because of the Zero Hour garbage.

Anyway, it's a great book and I'm very glad that I purchased it.

What can I say? Lots of Pérez art, lots of information, lots of behind-the-stage information about various Titans series throughout the years. Recommended for all fans.
I'm eagerly waiting for Volume 2!!

Top notch retrospective of the early Titans eras. Not quite as good as the All-Star Companion, but enjoyable nonetheless. It's definitely a must-own for Titans fans!