Teen Titans: A Kid's Game

Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game

The other day at work, off the back of Warner Brothers announcement of Robin returning to the silver screen in the panned The Brave and The Bold movie, I was asked “What’s the deal with Robin? Why would Batman need a sidekick?”. As I was only half paying attention, I unthinkingly asked “Which Robin?” which turned the innocent snowflake of a question into an avalanching conversation about legacy heroes, team dynamics and character development.

Let’s start with the whole idea of sidekicks. In general, a writer would introduce a sidekick character for four key story objectives: They naturally bring a new perspective to proceedings, lending a different voice to the story. They can function as an exposition machine, either delivering or receiving information. They are a story engine, bringing new and different challenges to the established hero. They allow for greater representation. At first the Kid Sidekick was to appeal to the teenage reader demographic, as a way for them to insert themselves into the story. This idea then grew and morphed into a bigger, wider opportunity for inclusivity.

That’s where legacy heroes come into play. The term legacy hero is when more than one individual holds the title of a specific hero. As the morals and ideals of certain heroes can represent different groups of people with very different experiences of the world, legacy heroes can be used to mirror these aspects. Captain America is a good example of that: Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson have very different experiences of American life, being from different time periods and races, but they both represent what America is and both have yielded the shield, stars, and stripes.

The voice of the individual brought to that role is also incredibly important. Although the niché of the heroes’ dynamic on the team will remain the same but the individual characters will react and behave entirely differently. Robin is the best example of that: Dick Grayson is the adopted son who softened Bruce’s heart, and grounds the world around him. Jason Todd brought the fire to the boy wonder and brings tragedy with him. Tim Drake chose to be Robin, rather than selected by Batman, and brings dignity and brains to the role. Stephanie Brown was a terrible Robin, but embodies the determination and vision needed to be in the Bat-Family. Damian Wayne is Batman’s biological son and challenges all aspects of being a Robin as a job.

Usually this happens when a mentor passes the torch to their trainee. A great example is that of DC’s The Flash: Jay Garrick was the first flash, who inspired Barry Allen, who then trained Wally West, and his great grandson Bart Allen. It’s not always the case however, sometimes the title finds them: Miles Morales is as much Spider-Man as Peter Parker, Jane Foster was as much Thor as… Thor. Or there are cases where the role is simply a description: Green Lantern, Ghost Rider and Iron Fist are just job descriptions.

What am I reading? Teen Titans: A Kid’s Game, Issues 1-7, 2003. Written by Geoff Johns, illustrated by Mike McKone & Tom Grummett, coloured by Jeromy Cox.

What’s it about? Its time for the next generation of Teen Titans. Victor Stone, A.K.A Cyborg, as Head Titan has sent invitations to some potential candidates and their current mentors. But will they accept? And do they know what it means to be or have what it takes to be a Teen Titan?

What’s good about it? DC and Marvel are littered with various superhero teams. It takes a real enthusiast to point out the difference between a J.L.A / J.S.A / J.L.I line up. But I think there is something immutable about the Teen Titans. Pubescent sidekicks and rejects standing on their own, growing into fully fledged heroes, outside of the reach of their mentors. It allows for good team and teen drama to mix with high stakes action without the get-out-jail-free card of an overpowered hero on their side.

Geoff Johns is an odd duck in my eyes. He has written some amazing and influential stories in his time, but he does tend to go back to the same idea a little too often. This series steers him away from his old habits of Lanterns or Time travel. He really shines in this. Every character is captured well, and distinct from the crowd. The motivations are clear, and the conflicts justified. Which is a lot to ask of when spinning so many plates.

The artwork is a little uninspiring, but the action it depicts is solid old-school antics. I love how it shows the calculated brutality of Deathstroke. It has the Hollywood horror movie aspect of making you think you’ve seen more of the hard stuff than you did. You feel like you saw Slade kneecapping Impulse with a shotgun, when all that’s shown is the gun going off and the aftermath. The story moves at a great pace. This is good clean comic book fun.

What did I struggle with? I was a little unfair when I called the artwork uninspiring. It’s truer to say that its typical noughties DC house style: it’s not as extreme as comics from the nineties, but it focuses a little bit too much on biceps, breasts, and bums. Superboy is too big, Robin is too small, Starfire is too sexy, Wondergirl is way too sexy for a literal child. For me, the forms are a little over-detailed, especially when compared to the simplicity of earlier comics or minimalism of later comics. It is a product of its time, and it shows.

The pacing is fantastic, but the order of events is wrong. Exposition is frequently immediately followed by reveal. It feels like spoon feeding. Especially when there are a few gems of seeded details that bare fruit in later issues: A standout piece was outlining Diana did not want Cassie involved in issue one, only for her to appear in issue seven to try and pull her home. Let us trust the audience a little more so we can get more gold like that.

It's no fault of this volume and a common flaw of cape comics, but it makes me wish I had read what had come before. By my maths this is the third-generation line up of Titans. The first being the original sidekicks (Robin 1, Aqua-Lad 1, Speedy, Kid-Flash 1, Wondergirl 1), the second being the widely recognised team as shown in TV shows (Robin 1, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy) and then this line up (Robin 3, Kid-Flash 2, Superboy 1, Wondergirl 2). But I have no clue as to when any of the changes happened… and I’m pretty well read on DC matters.

Would I recommend? For anyone who already knows cape comics, I would say this is an enjoyable read. For anyone new to the genre, this does an excellent job at explaining the rules and outlining why people put on the mask. However, for the uninitiated I wouldn’t recommend this above the 2003 Cartoon Network Teen Titans or 2010 Young Justice Shows, those are a lot more contained and require less prior knowledge.