I really liked the way the Titans were heading after Wonder Chick debuted in a star-spangled catsuit...and the series took on stories of social relevance, in which the team is framed for the murder of an old professor. This starts off a non-costume story arc.
Mal is introduced - the first black hero for DC since John Stewart took on the Green Lantern mantle. The fact that Mal was an ordinary civilian-type didn't matter, he could still whup prime butt with the best of them.
Lilith debuted not long after (any TITANS buff of this period, please PM me if my facts are in error) as a mystery girl who worked as a go-go dancer in the Canary Cottage discotheque. Unlike Mal, she had a super-ability, but at least Mal had his head on straight as far as knowing where his roots were.
Robin and Aqualad took leaves of absence to deal with their own problems. Hawk and Dove joined the team.
Mr. Jupiter by this time , had taken the team under his kindly and financial wing. The team had some pretty off-beat adventures by then...One story has them fighting creepy aliens on the Moon!
Issue 28 brings back Aqualad and showcases some of Nick Cardy's best artwork ever...Garth saves Sharon Tracy from a group of shape-shifting aliens who leave him for dead...
Gnaark debuts as an accidently-taken-from-the-prehistoric-past "provisional" Titan, courtesy of Kid Flash and Mal.
My chronology is a little hazy at this point - but for a few issues, the team tackles the supernatural in a big way...Lilith and co travel to Verona and Lilith falls for a Romeo-like dude, and the pair are beset by a group of fanatics who believe the teens are reincarnated lovers.
Wonder Girl is possessed by Magda Wickersham, an old recluse who dabbles in witchcraft...The Titans become unwitting grave-diggers in another story...Aqualad is bewitched by a water-breathing siren beneath the lochs of Scotland...
Wonder Girl and Lilith both fall under the sway of a bug-like creature who masquerades as a hunky other-worlder....
And finally, a little boy is mistakenly blamed for the perils his changeling twin invokes...and on this ominous note (the "bad seed" is ultimately killed ) so endeth the first series of TEEN TITANS...A pity, on all levels.
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