A Boy and His Comic Book

A love letter to the series that introduced me to mainstream comics.

In 2003, Geoff Johns and Mike McKone relaunched Teen Titans with a new team and a new book to coincide with the animated series that was airing on television. This book was my gateway into the world of comic books, after years of being a super hero fan from Saturday morning cartoons. Geoff Johns’ run on the title spanned over forty issues, and it will forever hold a place in my heart as one of my favorite comics of all time.

I stumbled upon the series by pure accident, finding it in a New York bookstore in lieu of anything based on the animated series I had familiarized myself with. I started following the book with its second trade paperback, which collected issues eight through twelve of the series, along with issue #1/2, a bonus one-shot. Nine years old at the time, this was my first foray into modern, mainstream comics. I was hooked, and immediately purchased the other two available volumes. I was delighted to find that the trades not only included brief histories for each character, but a single page loose timeline that put the book in perspective with the rest of the DC Universe. These tools were crucial for a new reader like me to jump on board, and I was disappointed to learn it’s not an industry standard.

My friends would take turns reading the trades after I finished them, and we’d collectively wait months for the next volume. To this day, the first volume is my go-to book for introducing friends and family to mainstream super heroes, and I’ve yet to see anyone feel disappointed with their first outing into modern comics. The book takes the time to build a world for these characters to inhabit, allows the reader to see big name heroes like Batman and Superman through the eyes of their sidekicks, which is a godsend for new readers who may be hesitant to dive into such an immersive fictional universe. The core cast is established both in and out of their costumed lives, which really allows the characters to drive the story as opposed to the series being nothing but a vignette of Hollywood action sequences.

The scripting and pacing of the series was phenomenal. Alongside the excellent artwork, first by Mike McKone and later by Tony Daniel, the dialogue ebbed and flowed naturally, with the right beats in the right places. The cinematic approach to the storytelling left quite an impression on me as a new comic book reader, because for the first time I was able to look back on scenes not as a series of panels, but as flowing interaction.

Johns’ run on the book is everything I’ve come to expect from a quality team book. The individual characters have their own goals, motivations, supporting cast and plot lines, without anyone stepping on each other’s toes. Characters are offered time on-panel to interact with every other cast member, and aren’t merely pigeonholed into talking to only one or two others. The storytelling was cohesive and the book glided gracefully between story arcs, and perhaps most importantly, the book knew what it wanted to be. The team had a purpose for existing, something that is often lost in the shuffle with team franchises.

While Johns helmed the title, the heroes-in-training element of the team was a constant factor in the characters’ lives.  Johns’ teenagers behaved and spoke like teenagers. They joked around together, they swore in situations where teenagers swear, and they don’t speak to any two characters the same way. Their super heroics were depicted as grounded and realistic without sacrificing the adventurous, familiar comic book elements.

The team’s first outing in this incarnation revolved around a suspicious fire on Alcatraz Island, a situation which of course escalated. The significance here is that its important to remember that super heroes do more than fight costumed villains; teenagers, especially, are idealistic and have big dreams of changing the world for the better. The characters are heroes for altruistic reasons, though their teenage nature still played a role from time to time. They weren’t angst-ridden or reluctant to do good deeds.

The book captured the very spirit of what it would be like to be a super powered teenager spending their weekends as part of a team of heroes.

Every character brought their own emotional baggage and battled personal demons, but at the end of the day they were having the time of their lives alongside their best friends.

Thank you, Geoff Johns, Mike McKone, Tony Daniel, and the rest of the creative team that helped create what will always be my favorite run on any comic. You opened up an entire world of stories to at least one future writer, and in turn I shared the book with anyone who even remotely expresses interest in super heroes. Teen Titans volume three was teenage super heroes in their finest hour.