..that really turned me on to reading more was a neat little gem hidden in this book DC Comics Presents number 26 with Superman and Green Lantern. A special free preview of The N
ew Teen Titans. I absolutely devoured this book. (Which I will review at a later date.) As cool as the adult heroes were in the stories it was the younger ones that gave you inspiration that you could do more and be more than what you were. My faves were always Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy, and Aqualad. Wondergirl was always a girl's hero. To be honest I don't remember Wondergirl being in to many comics back then that I ever saw. My sister usually picked up Wonder Woman and I don't recall her ever being in there. I do believe there was an 8-page Huntress backup which didn't mean anything to me until I found out she was the daughter of the Earth-2 Batman and Catwoman.(Who were dead! Dammit how did that happen?) Anyway, the preview of this New Teen Titans team was the first time that I ever looked ahead in getting a book. Before we just got whatever was on the rack that peaked our interest that particular Sunday. Which now meant that I was going up to our 7-11 during the week not just to buy baseball or football cards but now I had to check the comic rack in back of the store before I left.
ew Teen Titans. I absolutely devoured this book. (Which I will review at a later date.) As cool as the adult heroes were in the stories it was the younger ones that gave you inspiration that you could do more and be more than what you were. My faves were always Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy, and Aqualad. Wondergirl was always a girl's hero. To be honest I don't remember Wondergirl being in to many comics back then that I ever saw. My sister usually picked up Wonder Woman and I don't recall her ever being in there. I do believe there was an 8-page Huntress backup which didn't mean anything to me until I found out she was the daughter of the Earth-2 Batman and Catwoman.(Who were dead! Dammit how did that happen?) Anyway, the preview of this New Teen Titans team was the first time that I ever looked ahead in getting a book. Before we just got whatever was on the rack that peaked our interest that particular Sunday. Which now meant that I was going up to our 7-11 during the week not just to buy baseball or football cards but now I had to check the comic rack in back of the store before I left.Finally, it arrived ladies and gentleman the book of all books. Forget Batman, Superman, the Justice League of America, the Avengers, Captain America, Spiderman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, the Flash and whatever else was on the rack. The greatest comic book that had ever graced a spinner rack was now here, The New Teen Titans. Taa... Daaa!!
This was exactly the effect that I experienced as I spotted it on the rack in the back of the store. Big as day Robin the Teen Wonder front and center and next to him Kid Flash along with Wonder Girl and four other heroes who i had no clue of except for seeing them in the aforementioned preview insert. This also marked my very first purchase of a first issue of a comic.
A fine action packed issue with plenty of action but what is this at the end. Foreshadowing for the second issue.
Second issue?
It killed me waiting for this issue. Now I have to wait another month. At the age of 10 am I ready for this level of commitment?
Up till now I just picked what was cool looking. I never worried whether I was getting consecutive sequential issues.
My, then 7 year old, sister was though. She had a preety consistent run of Wonder Woman(and Richie Rich, Casper, even HotSuff she had a little run for.)
Well, if Robin was going to kick ass every month with the rest of the Titans, I was going to stick with him so next month I was back and picked up
number two, and then three, followed by four, actually made it up to five but missed six. Which made me angry because it was the payoff for the overall story of the first five but was back on board for seven and so on till at least issue fifteen.
However, as much as I loved this comic it was still just something to read a put in a corner. It was a fun read and I enjoyed comics. Later on as I made more money I bought more comics and even worked in a comic book store for five years and bought copious amounts of comics but the industry has grown and is beyond what it used to mean for me. That first issue of the Teen Titans that I bought for .50 cents back then they would expand the story to three or four issues today and charge between $2.99 and $3.99 per issue. That's when it becomes an investment and it means more to the company, the publisher, the artist, the writer and everybody else who gets paid off it.
I have 40 boxes upstairs and a little time on my hands. So what I'm going to do is dip back into the Ghost of Comics Past and review most of those comics whether it be Arak, Son of Thunder, Flash Gordon, Marvel Team Up with Spiderman, King Conan, Action, Detective, Warlord, Flash or any others. While those comics were on a rack aimed for kids and adults there is a great social element in the time in which they were written that will also be nice to revisit and some shock value. Aquababy was killed by Black Manta in an issue of Adventure Comics. How does the murder of a child slip by the comic code authority. There is racist and sexist overtones in many of the issues that came out in the 1970's and early '80's but there are many more positive issues that were dealt with also such as Cyborg, Victor Stone, of the Teen Titans mentoring disabled kids that actually helps him cope with being half-man, half-machine. Plus there is plenty of butt-kicking.
So stick around..
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