Topic: An EDE Retro Review: Silver Age Titans Archives and Showcase!
Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
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EDE RETRO REVIEW: Teen Titans #6
THE PLOT
Beast Boy tries to get the Doom Patrol to let him join, but they won't without a permission slip from his guardian. So he goes on TV to contact the Titans for a tryout, but they won't let him join without permission from his mean old guardian either.
So he joins the circus, because apparantly they don't care whether his guardian approves or not. Or at least, the Great Baltzer, the guy in charge of this circus, doesn't seem to care. Anyway, Baltzer is a crook, and there's this other dude named Vorna who's apparently in love wth him. Anyway, Vorna is a hypnotist, and hypnotizes Beast Boy into turning into an "albino baboon", who then hypnotizes circus-goers into giving him their money and going out and pulling crimes for him as a mob of looters.
Well, the Titans are soon on to this goofy plot, and join the circus themselves to investigate in disguise as the Masked Mazeppas. Which of course eventually leads to them having a big fight with a hypnotized Beast Boy.
CATTIEST REMARK OF THE ISSUE DEPT. Kid Flash says to Beast Boy: "What are your powers? Or do you just scare people with that face?"
THE OVERLY CONVOLUTED VILLAIN PLOT DEPT. Okay, so Vorna can hypnotize people. Why exactly do they need Beast Boy to hypnotize people? Because he can do more at once? That's not made clear at all. And sending a zombie mob out to loot stores? Like that's not going to attract attention.
THE ROBIN'S LESSONS IN INTERNATIONAL LINGO DEPT.
Disguised as a Masked Mazeppa, Robin answers Baltzer "Si, Signor Baltzer!" cleverly maintaining his disguise as a Russian acrobat! (or at least, Mazeppa is most famously a Russian name...)
THE "WE'RE TRYING REALLY HARD TO MAKE AQUALAD USEFUL" DEPT.
First the caputured Titans get dunked in trunk underwater, then the hypnotized Beast Boy dunks him underwater. There is even, completely inexplicably, a shark in the pool of water in the circus ring!
THE GAY TITAN ALERT DEPT.
Kid Flash vibrating at super-speed while giving Aqualad a piggyback ride. Enough said.
GOOFY VILLAIN MOMENT DEPT.
Baltzer shoots himself out of a cannon to aid Beast Boy against the Titans, while waving magnesium flares for some unknown reason.
SUMMARY
Well, Baltzer the great is pretty much a loser of a villain, but I really enjoyed Beast Boy's presence in the issue, and it was, overall, a lot of fun.
[ May 04, 2006, 07:23 PM: Message edited by: Eryk Davis Ester ]
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
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You know... I was just thinking today that I've completely stagnated on my Showcase reading. I'll get back to it, though!
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
I'll get back to reading the TITANS SHOWCASE as soon as I get through the new SUPERMAN volume!
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
EDE RETRO REVIEW: Teen Titans #7
THE PLOT
The Titans are asked by Uncle Sam (the government, not the Freedom Fighter) to accompany rock star Holley Hip on his trip to Europe. Hip is suspected of being involved in smuggling precious materials between the U. S. and Europe. The Titans investigate and soon find out that the real culprit is "The Mad Mod", who supplies outfits to Holley, and was smuggling the materials in those outfits. So case closed, right? I mean... a fashion designer shouldn't be that hard to catch or anything. But still, The Mod seems to prove far more of a threat to the Titans than one would anticipate, as they are continuously thwarted in their attempts to catch him as he tries to recover the stolen materials!
THE COOL VILLAINS WEAPON DEPT.
When the Mad Mod and his goons try to throw an unconcious Kid Flash off a pier, Aqualad intervenes! Fortunately, the ever-prepared Mad Mod had left his robotic shark at that very pier!
THE GAY TITAN ALERT! DEPT.
Poor Aqualad is so confused about his feelings towards cute Holley Hip! First, he's annoyed because he's "coming on too strong", then spends the entire plane ride sulking in the back after becoming the butt of one of Holley's jokes!
THE WONDER GIRL'S AWKWARD RELATIONSHIPS WITH GUYS DEPT.
The story opens with the Titans checking out their message board, with various notes left to the members (like "Batman called... etc."), and are surprised to discover an autographed picture of Holley Hip that Wonder Girl had place there, because he's "a dreamboat". However, since the picture of Holley Hip is signed with the same handwriting as the various messages to the Titans, which means either a) Holley Hip has been answering the Titans phone and mail, or b) whoever took the messages forged Holly Hip's signature! Because Wonder Girl seems like the most obvious candidate, this seems to be evidence that she's going a bit bonkers over the guy! And let's not even go into the later scene where she makes out with a cardboard cutout of Holley!
THE NAKED TITAN IN A BARREL! DEPT.
Robin's wearing a barrel after lending his costume to Holley Hip is in a category unto itself!
SUMMARY
The issue isn't bad, but somehow I was expecting more from the debut of the Mad Mod.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
EDE RETRO REVIEW: Teen Titans #8
THE PLOT
So the Titans are called to the town of Lansford, where there's a big ruckuss going on over the High School's foreign exchange student program. A group of "patriotic" townspeople, a group called the Vigilantes, are all upset over the three exchange students being there. Tensions are ratched up a notch when one of the students is believed to have stolen an experiment jungle fighting robot, "Honey Bun", from the local military industrial plant! The Titans have to clear Hans of wrongdoing, while catching the real foreign spy, who of course ends up using Honey Bun against them!
THE GREAT FROGS AUDITION DEPT.
Wonder Girl is not impressed by Kid Flash and Aqualad's performance of "All I Wanna Do is Hold Your Foot!"
THE GAY TITAN ALERT DEPT.!
Aqualad shows way too much interest in a young lady who writes a letter and mentions the fact that she is blond, blue-eyed, and five-foot four. I mean, really, how can you tell someone is attractive just from that description? He's obviously over-acting. Poor kid! If only he could just come out of the closet!
SUBTLE POLITICAL MESSAGE DEPT.!
A number of the vigilantes picket signs have words mispelled on them! Thus contrasting them with the exchange students, who are interested in education!
THE GOOFY VILLAIN MOMENT DEPT.
The Vigilantes actually try to tar and feather Hans!
THE CLOTHED TITAN IN A BARREL DEPT.
The Vigilantes then try to put Wonder Girl in the tar barrel!
THE LIKELY TO END UP IN A GULAG DEPT.
Heroic Hans helps the Titans foil the actual spy from his homeland! I'm sure there won't be *any* repercussions once his tenure as an exchange student is over and he has to go back home!
SUMMARY
An enjoyable read, but the plot was a bit convoluted, even by 60s Titans standards.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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I've read the earliest Silver Age Titans stories here and there, and I think Eryk's summaries might be more enjoyable at some points
I agree with Lash, no comparison to Silver Age LSH. However, I'm one of those people that likes to read what's come before, no matter what it was like, so one day I'll check them out...
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
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That and the lack of an apostrophe in "vigilantes" go under the category SUBTLE EDE HUMOR DEPT.!
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
EDE RETRO REVIEW: Teen Titans #9
THE PLOT
So the cool thing about reading these old Titans issues is how much one learns about how the lives of young people have changed over the years. Case in point: Spring Break. These days, of course, its all about getting drunk and hooking up with as many people as you can. But apparently, back in the old days, before the sexual revolution, gangs of college kids would spend their break going to the beach and fighting with kids from rival colleges!
Well, that's just the sort of situation that motivates this issue of the Titans. The citizens of Baxter Beach call the Titans in to help prevent a rumble between rival college gangs. So the Titans do so, and manage to convince the college kids to do more productive things with their time than fighting. So they organize them in this big environmentally friendly beach reclamation project. And then pirates attack. Yes, really.
WONDER GIRL'S AWKWARD RELATIONSHIPS WITH BOYS DEPT.
Poor Eddie the mailman is introduced as having a crush on Wonder Girl at the beginning of the issue, but she doesn't pay attention to him at all! I mean, he's a little old for her, but it's revealed later that she digs college guys, so maybe that wouldn't have been a problem.
THE COOL VILLAIN WEAPONS DEPT.
Okay, maybe the weapon itself isn't that cool, but how often does a villain get to blow open a bank with a torpedo?
THE TRYING REALLY HARD TO MAKE AQUALAD USEFUL DEPT.
I mean, the storyline is set on a freakin' beach, they're fighting freakin' pirates, and Aqualad just barely manages to be as effective as the rest of the Titans. Which, considering they all get their butts handed to them by the pirates and have to be saved by the college kids, is pretty pathetic.
THE MORAL OF THE ISSUE DEPT.
So, instead of fighting one another over silly differences like which school we go to, we should band together and start fighting pirates.
SUMMARY
So this is basically one of those sixties beach movies adapted to a Titans comic. If you really like those, you might like this. It bored me to tears.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
EDE RETRO REVIEW: Teen Titans #10
THE PLOT
The Titans head out west to judge a "scramble" by a teen bike club called the "Wheeler-Dealers". The scramble takes place in "Wildcat", a old town that dried up when its old well did as well. Anyway, the grandpa of the guy who invited them there is convinced that there's still oil in them there wells.
Anyway, this biker dude called "Scorcher", whose biker outfit inexplicably includes a fireman's hat and an iron cross (and another biker wears a swastika), shows up with his gang, "the Hyenas", and demands a place in the scramble. The hyenas then precede to ambush the Titans and take out the Wheeler-Dealers over the course of the race, which is later revealed to be because they want to use the abandoned town as a place to store loot from their crimes. By the end, the Titans manage to rally against these deadly foes and they find oil. Yes, really.
THE WEIRD FLIRTATION SCENE DEPT.
Scorcher: "It's that knocked out chick, Wonder Doll! You're for me babe... Scorcher digs rough livin'"
A little later, after Wonder Girl rejects his advances...
Scorcher: "Va-Va-Voom! We could make such crazy jazz together-- but you're too much out of sight! If you let old Schorcher get vertical again, I'll take you to your leader... yeah! yeah!"
THE OVERLY CONVOLUTED VILLAIN PLOT DEPT.
"Hmm... should we take over the nearly abandoned town on one of the 364 days of the year when there's no one there, or wait for the big bike scramble which the Teen Titans are coming to? Let's do it during the scramble!"
THE TRYING REALLY HARD TO MAKE AQUALAD USEFUL DEPT.
There in the middle of a desert, so how could Aqualad be useful? Well, he gives Wonder Girl the opportunity to give the reader a nice lesson about how to find water in the desert by extracting it from a cactus, something she learned when she was "in the Girl Scouts" on Paradise Island!
THE "MAYBE THIS WHOLE TEEN SIDEKICK THING WASN'T SUCH A GREAT IDEA" DEPT.
The Titans are almost killed by a freakin' motorcycle gang! Okay, it's apparantly a freakin' NAZI motorcycle gang... but still! I mean, come on! At least Ding Dong Daddy had specially gimmicked motorcycles and such! this is just pathetic!
SUMMARY
Probably the weakest issue I've read thus far in the volume.
[ September 02, 2006, 02:57 PM: Message edited by: Eryk Davis Ester ]
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Do the later issues get any better, EDE? I was thinking of getting this, but chose ESSENTIAL AVENGERS #3 instead.
If they ever do a volume 2, I know I'd get that- as it'd have some Nick Cardy art and feature the debuts of Lilith and Mal and several stories I've never read.
I'd pick #1 up on sale, maybe.
From: Knoxville, TN | Registered: Jul 2003
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This is just my 2 cents, Mystery Lad, but no - throughout the entire run of the original Teen Titans, it doesn't get much better. There is the occasional bright spot, but mostly, you either better like the artwork or have a serious appreciation of "camp."
From: Cincinnati | Registered: Jul 2003
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