Teen Titans #27

Teen Titans #27 (On Sale: March 12, 1970) has a cover by Nick Cardy. The full-body Titans down the side of the cover appear this issue for the first time in an act of extremely strange timing. We all remember last issue's cover where Wonder Girl says they will, "never wear their costumes again!" and the next issue they become a feature of the cover. I guess it could have been worse had these body-shots premiered last issue.

This issue we have "Nightmare in Space" by Robert Kanigher and Nick Cardy. Now, some people attribute the pencils on this one to George Tuska and Carmine Infantino (GCD even tells you which pages Carmine penciled), but all you have to do is look at the artwork to see that Carmine Infantino and George Tuska had nothing to do with this book. Also, Nick Cardy sure seems to think he drew the whole thing as noted in the checklist in The Art of Nick Cardy. I can see why people would want to take credit for this book though, as the artwork is wonderful throughout.

This story left me very conflicted in 1970 and I'll tell you why. First off, I was a grade A, number one space nerd. I watched every launch and reentry of every Mercury, Gemini and Apollo mission (my mother thinking it was better for me to see history happening than to read about it in school). I belonged to the "Space Club" at school and flew model rockets. I even designed my own model rocket LM (Lunar Module) that I actually got off the ground. My point being, I was very jazzed about all things that were space. But the "space" that I was jazzed about was very different from the "space" of comic books, what with Superman and Green Lantern and Hawkman zipping about all the time, just to name a few. Comic book space was always very different from real space and when they tried to do real space in comic books they usually goofed it up really bad. So where does this story fit into that scenario?

"Nightmare in Space" is maybe the most realistic portrayal of "space" I ever read in a comic book and the whole time I am reading it I am thinking, "Yeah, but if things go really bad they can somehow contact Superman or Green Lantern and they can fly out to save them!" which totally destroys the universe this story attempts to play in. The problem is the universe this story plays in is not the DC Comics universe. It is a hell of a great attempt at a real space story in a DC comic book and when it fails it is because it is a real space story in a DC comic book.

But for a space nerd in 1970, man was this something to read (and I don't often say nice things about Robert Kanigher stories)!

The de-uniformed Teen titans have been training with Mr. Jupiter and their newest member, Mal has done a Dr. Smith and stowawayed on board Jupiter's supposedly unmanned ship to Venus. The Titans and Jupiter have been working round the clock to get a rescue mission going and in a few day's time the Venus Chaser launches with the Titans as crew. On their way to the Moon the Titans lose contact with Mal but continue on their journey.

The mission is complicated. The first objective is to get to the Moon where Dove will stay in the Command Module (CM) while Speedy, Wonder Girl and Hawk take the Lunar Module (LM) down to the moon to check on experimental packages left by Apollo 11 and Kid Flash and Lilith man the Venus Probe Chaser going after Mal. Eventually everyone has to rendezvous above the moon with Dove in the Command Module for the return trip to Earth. The Cardy artwork on this stuff is just spectacular, particularly on the lunar landing.

The first real problem we have is with the lunar landing party. They land fine, but there is no sign of the equipment, or anything for that matter, left by Apollo 11. While Wonder Girl works on a bent landing probe rod, Speedy, and Hawk take a moonwalk scouting for signs of Apollo 11. They find nothing but when they get back to the LM they find Wonder Girl is missing.

Meanwhile on the Venus Probe Chaser they locate Mal's ship and though it is touch and go for a bit, including broken tethers and such, they are able to transfer Mal from the Venus Space Probe, which will go on with it's unmanned mission, to the chaser ship.

Back on the moon these glowing creatures (see the cover for details), show up with Wonder Girl in tow. They are alien creatures who crash landed on the moon and were using the Apollo 11 lunar packages as spare parts to try and repair their damaged ship. Wonder Girl has convinced them to put everything back the way it was and that the next Apollo mission will be there soon and will provide assistance to the aliens.

The Venus Probe Chaser docks with the CM and soon the three on the moon are blasting off in the LM to do the same. All goes well with the docking and the Titans head back for Earth. But at some point they all go mad and begin attacking each other but luckily Kid Flash notices that their is a malfunction in the oxygen mix and corrects their nitrogen intake, ending their hallucinations. This story was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Thirty days after this issue hit the stands, on April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Teen Titans #26

Teen Titans #26 (On Sale: January 20, 1970) has another great cover by Nick Cardy. I know that as a young man, I spent many a hour staring at Wonder Girls' butt on this one.

"A Penny for a Black Star" is by Robert Kanigher and Nick Cardy and continues from the dramatic events of last issue, where the Titans responsible for the death of Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Arthur Swenson, gave up their costumes, vowed to not use their powers and joined Mr. Jupiter's top-secret project.

Continuing really from the cover, they enter into Mr. Jupiter's training facility, a kind of Titans version of the X-Men Danger Room, a gauntlet of lasers, fire and wind. When they come out on the other side, Mr. Jupiter gives them each a penny and tells them the next part of their training will be in Hell's Corner, the toughest neighborhood in the city, where they are to find jobs, a place to live and one other thing, something they will have to figure out on their own. Lilith says that the answer to the last enigmatic task will be found in Hell's Corner, but she knows know more than that.

Donna wonders what they can do with a penny each and Lilith says that perhaps they can "find... a black star," but once again, more than that she does not know. In Hell's Corner they find a young black girl selling lemonade for a penny and buy some, one to see the girl attacked by Storm and his gang, the Hell's Hawks. Don (Hawk) wants to jump in and pound the gang, but he is held back by Dove and the reminder of what happened the last time they went off one someone. Seeing that they won't fight back, the gang go after the girls, groping at Lilith and Donna. Suddenly the gang is attacked by Mal Duncan, the little girl's older brother and once the gang starts beating up on him the Titans do come to the rescue, without using their super-powers.

The gang runs off and the Titans thank Mal, who tells them that they don't belong there and should leave. But they don't heed his advice and continue on through the neighborhood. Donna and Lilith get jobs at a clothing store and the guys get work and room and board at the neighborhood boys club. where they help the kids with baseball, boxing and painting. That night they learn of a monthly boxing match where the youth of the neighborhood let off steam. A week or so later at the match, Mal is pitted against Storm and knocks him out in the ring. Later when the Titans go to congratulate him they find him being beaten by the gang. The Titans put a quick end to that. Afterward the celebrate and reluctantly Mal goes along, where mainly through the efforts of Lilith, he becomes part of the gang, the Titans realizing that recruiting Mal must be the unknown task they needed to perform.

They bring Mal to Mr. Jupiter where Mal learns that his new friends are actually the Teen Titans. Mal goes through the same danger room gauntlet as the rest of the team and over the next few weeks (months?) they all train (for some reason) for spaceflight. Eventually they are taken to a secret launch site where automated rockets are being prepped for a one-way unmanned trip to Venus. That night Mal sneaks out of the facility, though he meets Lilith on the way, and when the spaceship launches the next morning they find out Mal is on board. With Jupiter's help the Titans vow to take another ship to the moon to rendezvous with Mal and save him.

This was not the best of follow-ups to last issue's story, but I don't really expect much from Robert Kanigher. I'm not sure where Dick Giordano thought he could take the unpowered Titans, but he needed someone like Mike Sekowsky to pull this off and Kanigher just didn't qualify. This was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Teen Titans #25 (On Sale: November 18, 1969) has a powerful cover by Nick Cardy.

The Teen Titans take a dramatic turn in "The Titans Kill a Saint" by Robert Kanigher and Nick Cardy. In an absolute classic art job by Cardy we begin with the Titans and the Hawk and the Dove watching a surgery take place and blaming themselves. Later in the recovery room they attempt to talk to the patient, Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Arthur Swenson, but as they do so, he dies. In shock and tears the Titans are called to the morgue for a meeting of some sort. When the dejected Titans leave a short time later they run into Lilith, onto whom they try to foist some of the blame for Swenson's death, but she will have none of their nonsense and splits.

The Titans think back to how it all began a few hours earlier at the Canary Cottage Discotheque, where they met a dancer named Lilith, who knew who the Titans were even in their civilian identities and asked to join the team. She said her power is that she just knows things, like she knows the Titans will open the door to death tonight. They blow Lilith off and leave running into a peace rally, where Dr. Swenson is speaking. As the crowd begins to get heated, the Titans head for a back alley to change only to run into the Hawk and the Dove doing the same thing.

Back inside they all do what they can to control the crowd but when a man pulls a gun, Speedy, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and the Hawk and the Dove all jump him and try to wrest the gun from his hands. It goes off and the single bullet strikes Dr. Swenson in the head. Speedy rushes them all to the hospital, where our story began. We also learn that when they went to the morgue, they were confronted by the Justice League who told them that they had violated their most sacred duty and that something must be done about it. Superman tells them that they must act as their own judge and jury and Batman warns that if they do not reach a decision by the day's end that the JLA will execute punishment on their own.

The Titans wander the streets, finding themselves eventually at the docks, where they are met by a small boat containing Lilith and Mr. Jupiter, the richest man in the world. Jupiter says he has an urgent government mission that he wants the Titans to undertake, but that the mission may change them forever and may even cost them their lives. Lilith leaves them, saying she knows she is a reminder to them of what has happened. The Titans go with Jupiter back to his estate to hear more.

Jupiter explains that he is in charge of a secret training project to prepare teens for the task of handling the world's problems and asks them if they will join. Robin bows out, saying that he has already committed to college. Though he leaves, the rest of the Titans and the Hawk and the Dove accept and are taken to Jupiter's secret headquarters on the 13th floor of his skyscraper complex, a floor run completely by computers.

There the Titans once again meet Lilith and give up their uniforms and fore go their powers to join Jupiter's secret project. This classic story was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Teen Titans #24

Teen Titans #24 (On Sale: September 18, 1969) has a cool cover by Nick Cardy.

"Skis of Death" is by Bob Haney, Gil Kane and Nick Cardy. I can't find my copy of this book for some reason. This story was reprinted in DC Super Stars #1, Best of DC #18 and Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Teen Titans #23

Teen Titans #23 (On Sale: July 17, 1969) has one of the most popular Nick Cardy covers of all time. I know the 13-year-old me drooled over this one for hours, eh weeks... OK, months... alright, years! This cover always reminds me of Kurt Busiek's afterword in The Art of Nick Cardy where he recalls, "...I'm at a Marvel Christmas party and Cardy's name comes up, and Miss Jo Duffy, sitting on a desk, bursts out with, "Oh, man! He was the best--he did the best jailbait ever!" Indeed, and Nick Cardy's Wonder Girl was the queen of my Silver Age jailbait.

"The Rock 'n' Roll Rogue" is by Bob Haney, Gil Kane and Nick Cardy and is another example of Cardy's wonderful inking style. The Teen Titans are enjoying a Sammy Soul concert from the front row when Sammy suddenly runs from the stage causing the kids to start a major riot in the theater. Robin and Wonder Girl, showing off her new and improved costume distract the kids with a show of acrobatics while Kid Flash gives everyone on hand an instant refund. the immediate crisis averted the Titans take the Titan whirlybird to Sammy Soul's estate, where below Sammy's cousin Irmgard and her husband Luther are arguing with Sammy's manager over who owns him till he reaches legal age.

The Titans land and listen to Sammy's tale of woe, an orphan who grew up in a foster family who never loved him but now fight over custody since he has become famous and rich, how the only person who ever loved him was his Uncle Matt who was lost in South America years ago whole looking for treasure. Wonder Girl tries to come on to Sammy, to console him and Robin tells her to "Cool it." Looking back on these stories I guess, for a while there, they played up Wonder Girl as a little slut, something I never minded as a kid.

Anyway, the Titans leave but the next day they return to find Sammy is missing, but they find a clue in a guitar given to Sammy by his Uncle Matt and decide that Sammy has headed off to South America to find his Uncle. Sammy has landed in Los Santos Venezuela and is mobbed by fans even there, but is rescued by Juan Sastre, who tells Sammy he remembers Sammy's uncle, Matt Murdock (strange how that name gets around comics), who vanished in the great plateau of the interior of the country. Juan signs on as Sammy's guide and off they go.

Meanwhile, the Titans have tracked Sammy and locate his helicopter on the plateau. When they land to inspect the site, they are attacked by native headhunters, who are beaten back by an onslaught of arrows from Speedy. Sammy and Juan have been taken by the natives to their village where they find Uncle Matt unharmed in one of the huts, However, he has lost his memory, which Juan says is the only thing keeping him alive as the natives will not shrink the head of an amnesiac.

The Titans discover the village and using all of their powers they manage to rescue Sammy, Juan and Uncle Matt and thanks once again to Speedy and his amazing array of arrows they manage to keep the natives from following them. But, a short time later Matt's memory returns and he leads them through a tunnel to a hidden indoor pool,, which he says is El Dorado, where the old Indian civilization tossed their fortune in gold and emeralds to keep them from the Spanish conquistadors. It was while diving deep for the treasure that Uncle Matt lost his memory and was captured by the headhunters.

Wonder Girl says that she can swim very deep and will dive for the treasure but all she finds are the bones of those who tried to find El Dorado in the past. Convinced that he has not found El Dorado Uncle Matt agrees to return home, but on the way back to the choppers the natives capture Juan. Using Sammy's amps and mics from his helicopter, Uncle Matt booms his voice out into the jungle pretending to be the thunder god, Pichu Pichu and using Wonder Girl to drop Sammy Soul dolls from the sky as thunder god tributes the natives are convinced to let Juan go free. This story was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Teen Titans #22

Teen Titans #22 (On Sale: May 15, 1969) has another great Nick Cardy cover.

We begin with the Teen Titans in "Halfway to Holocaust" written and penciled by Neal Adams and inked by Nick Cardy. Continuing from last issue, while Speedy and Wonder Girl battle an extra dimensional creature that suddenly appears in the criminals' control-room, Robin and Kid Flash, under the control of the aliens, are used to discover a third dimensional world, invisible to the Dimension-X-dwellers, which exists adjacent to both their world and Earth. Escaping, they rejoin their teammates in this adjoining dimension, only to be pursued by the aliens.

The battle between Titans and aliens is cut short when a community-intelligence being, the sole sentient native to the newly discovered dimension, takes on the form of a giant archer in imitation of Speedy, and drives the minions of Dimension X back to their own world. Promising that never again will beings from Dimension X use his world as a gateway to Earth, the "archer" allows the Titans to depart in peace. This story has been reprinted in Best of DC #18 and Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

The back-up story, "The Origin of Wonder Girl" is by Marv Wolfman, Gil Kane and Nick Cardy. This story is sort of a side story to the first story in this issue. Upon the Titan's return to Earth, Wonder Girl unexpectedly collapses, the result of a recently recurring series of fainting spells. In explanation, she tells the other Titans her origin for the first time.

As a child, she had been saved from an apartment building fire by Wonder Woman, and taken by her to Paradise Island to live after all attempts to ascertain her identity or those of her parents (presumed to be a couple killed in the blaze) had failed. Becoming Queen Hippolyta's foster daughter and Wonder Woman's foster sister, she was unable to compete with the Amazons on a physical level, lacking their special powers, and so was given powers almost identical to those of Wonder Woman by Paula, the Amazon chief scientist, using the Purple Ray.

Returning to the outside world to join the Teen Titans, she was forced to stay behind when the other Amazons sojourned to another dimension to recharge their magical powers, and had been secretly living in Titan Lair since that time. Now, she takes the name Donna Troy as a civilian identity and moves into an apartment in Greenwich Village with new girlfriend Sharon Tracy.

Later, she is contacted by Queen Hippolyta, who informs her that the Amazons' use of the Purple Ray had been accidentally responsible for her recurring weak spells, a problem which has now been corrected. Wonder Girl celebrates her new life by designing a new costume and changing her hairstyle. Reprinted in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #5 and Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Teen Titans #21

Teen Titans #21 (On Sale: March 18, 1969) has a cover by Nick Cardy. I have always thought that Neal Adams had something to do with this cover, but apparently not.

"Citadel of Fear" is written and penciled by Neal Adams and inked by Nick Cardy. Continuing the story from Hawk and the Dove #5 and the first story of Teen Titans #22, on the trail of criminals, the Titans run afoul of the Hawk and the Dove, who are after the same gang for different reasons. After a brief altercation, Wonder Girl accompanies Hawk and Dove through a teleportation device to a gang hideout in Istanbul, while Robin, Kid Flash, and Speedy battle another segment of the organization in Berlin. Both teams are defeated and captured, but Hawk, Dove, and Wonder Girl escape in time to rescue Speedy from being crushed beneath a gigantic machine.

Hawk and Dove, sensing their mystic transformation back into Hank and Don Hall about to occur, are forced to abandon the case, leaving Speedy and Wonder Girl to search for Robin and Kid Flash, who are still prisoners of the Dimension X aliens. Reprinted in Best of DC #18 and Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Hawk & the Dove #5

Hawk & the Dove #5 (On Sale: February 25, 1969) has a great cover by Gil Kane as The Dove gets all un-Dovey on us!.

"Death Has Taken My Hand" is written and drawn by Gil Kane. Sam Hodgins, a man who once saved Irwin Hall's life, is accused of robbery. Hawk and Dove discover that the two witnesses against him are members of a hot car ring. When Hawk is critically injured, Dove horrifies himself when he abandons his pacifism and beats the supposed killer unmercifully. Dove then sees that the killer is Hodgins.

After Hank Hall has made a full recovery, Hawk and Dove are back in action. They pursue an unnamed crook into a building where they encounter the Teen Titans. The story then continues in Teen Titans #21 in a neat Giordano crossover, one part written by artist Gil Kane, the other written by artist Neal Adams.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Brave and the Bold #83

Brave and the Bold #83 (On Sale: February 25 1969) has a Batman and Teen Titans cover by Irv Novick. Strange that in the midst of Mr. Cover, Neal Adams' run on B&B that we would find a cover by Irv Novick. Maybe the Enemy Ace story Neal did this month for Joe Kubert took too much of his time.

"Punish Not My Evil Son," featuring Batman and Teen Titans is by Bob Haney, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. While Batman is investigating the theft of oil from the Zenith Oil Company, Bruce Wayne is given custody of Lance Bruner, the orphaned son of Thomas Wayne's closest friend. Lance is a delinquent, forcing Dick Grayson to cover for his new brother. Even with the help of the Teen Titans, Dick is unable to keep Lance from staging his own kidnapping.

When an agent of the corrections department informs Bruce about Lance's criminal past, the boy pleads with his custodian to stay. Lance receives another chance and uses it to discover Batman's secret identity. He then takes the information to Grantland Stark, the head of the oil thieves.

Stark and Lance set Batman up. The Caped Crusaders are captured, and Robin is nearly killed. The Teen Titans come to Batman's aid. Lance, having witnessed Robin's sacrifice, reforms and confronts Stark. He is killed while protecting Batman and helping to capture the oil thief. Reprinted in Best of the Brave and the Bold #6, Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 1 HC, Showcase Presents the Brave and the Bold Batman Team-Ups Vol. 1 TPB and Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Teen Titans #20

Teen Titans #20 (On Sale: January 23, 1969) has a cover by Nick Cardy.

"Titans Fit the Battle of Jericho" is written and penciled by Neal Adams and inked by Nick Cardy, but that description doesn't even come close to explaining the real pedigree of this tale.

Len Wein and Marv Wolfman turned in a story to editor Dick Giordano which would have introduced a black super-hero by the name of Jericho, but this story was never published. The character was changed to Caucasian and renamed as Joshua. Although the cover still bears the original title: "The Titans Fit the Battle of Jericho."

In The Titans Companion by Glen Cadigan, Marv Wolfman reflects on the story: "The second Teen Titans was a story that no one has ever seen printed. It was a story that Len Wein and I co-wrote that was originally intended for Teen Titans #20. It was 'The Titans Fit the Battle of Jericho'...

"We met with Dick Giordano, and told him our idea of a gang, a black super-hero, and a fairly straightforward type of story, closer to what we were seeing in Spider-Man, but with the Teen Titans. We came up with a black character because DC didn't have any at the time...we grew up with black kids in school. Living in New York, all racers, all creeds, everybody was in our classes, so it was never a matter of 'Why not put a black character in?' it's "Why isn't there one?' I mean, like, 'Duh!' So we just wanted to do that.

"Dick liked the story concept, but knew that there could be some problems because of the time period, and brought us into Irwin Donenfeld's...Irwin said he really wanted us to try to do this, try to make it a multi-parter -- which, in itself, was incredibly exciting -- to really be powerful and very street and very authentic, and try to get down and dirty, get a lit grittier...

"A couple of weeks later we came back, and at that point Irwin had left and there was a new person in charge. Whatever the reasons were, because there are so many differences of opinion on this, the story got dropped...It was all drawn, buy the way. Nick Cardy did one of the greatest jobs I had ever seen him do.

"When it was killed, Dick was in a lot of trouble because of deadlines. Neal Adams took a lot of the pages, added a bunch of new pages and rewrote a story around it; a brand-new story, using Jericho, but no longer black. If you look at the cover, which had already been sent to the printer, all they could do was throw a blue tone over it and all the black characters were put into the background because of that, but they were obviously black on the cover and there were none in the comic anymore...

"At any rate, Neal redrew the story using as many of Nick Cardy's pages as he could. He did it, I think, over a weekend with Nick inking simultaneously. I plotted, secretly, the second chapter which Neal followed and made changes along the way, then he wound up the story on his own...Len and I didn't get work for almost two years from DC."

In Adams' tale, a mysterious costumed crime fighter called Joshua invades Titan Lair and enlists the Teen Titans' aid in stopping a confrontation between police and teenage protesters. All involved are unaware that the protesters are being backed by organized crime figures, who in turn are pawns of the alien invaders from Dimension X. The Titans, together with Joshua and his brother, the leader of the protesters, halt the aliens' scheme to release the Meroul Being, a monstrous giant creature, on Earth, but both the aliens and their criminal underlings continue to plot the team's downfall. Reprinted in Best of DC #18 and Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Teen Titans #19

Teen Titans #19 (On Sale: November 26, 1968) has a nice cover by Nick Cardy.

"Stepping Stones for a Giant Killer" is by Mike Friedrich, Gil Kane and Wally Wood. This is Mike Friedrich's only Teen Titans story. His plans to defeat the Justice League mocked by Headmaster Mind, an old JLA foe, Punch, a teenage would-be-super-villain, vows to prove himself by destroying the Teen Titans first. Speedy rejoins the Titans, and he and Wonder Girl are captured by Punch when they investigate racial riots at a New England high school. At the same time, Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad are defeated by high-frequency sound and light devices while on a mission to a midwestern community.

Reunited as Punch's prisoners, the Titans use teamwork to escape his traps and overcome the youthful villain and his followers. Afterward, Aqualad returns to Atlantis for an extended leave, ostensibly in order to look after the infant Aquababy while Aquaman is involved in a quest for his missing wife, Mera. this kind of cross referencing of plots was unusual for DC at the time but something editor Dick Giordano would do often. Speedy becomes Aqualad's replacement among the Titans. Reprinted in Super-Team Family #1 and Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Teen Titans #17

Teen Titans #17 (On Sale: July 23, 1968) has a beautiful Nick Cardy cover.

"Holy Thimbles, It's the Mad Mod" is by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy. The Teen Titans travel to London for a Command Performance at which they will meet the Queen. On a sightseeing tour, Robin becomes accidentally locked in the Tower of London, leaving Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl to retrieve the Queen's royal sceptre, stolen by the Mad Mod, without the Boy Wonder's aid. Their costumes gimmicked by the Mod so as to halve their super-powers, the Titans are unable to stop the villain, until the ruse is discovered and they change uniforms. Then Aqualad rescues an escaping Mod from drowning, while Kid Flash and Wonder Girl defeat his henchmen, and the sceptre is returned to the Royal Family.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Teen Titans #16

Teen Titans #16 (On Sale: May 23, 1968) has another brilliant cover by Nick Cardy. In The Art of Nick Cardy Nick says of this cover, "One of my favorite covers. The book is a huge monolith with the figures in a circle of activity around it with the openings to entrap the heroes. I like the simplicity of the design. Also, I put my son's name on the cover of the giant book." Some people mistakenly believe that the name is Cardy's own, which is actually Nicholas Viscardi.

"The Dimensional Caper" is by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy. Teenager Chet Walters becomes the town laughingstock when he tells his story of being kidnapped into another dimension. When the Teen Titans investigate, however, they discover that Hillsdale High actually is the secret base for an alien takeover, and that the school principal is one of the extradimensional alien leaders. Entering "Dimension X", they rescue Chet and his fellow students from being trapped in the alternate reality and being replaced by duplicates. This story has been reprinted in Brave and the Bold #116 and Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Teen Titans #15

Teen Titans #15 (On Sale: March 26, 1968) has a cover by Nick Cardy. In my opinion this is the last so-so cover Cardy will ever do for this title.

"Captain Rumble Blasts the Scene" is by Bob Haney, Lee Elias and Nick Cardy. Elias hadn't really drawn super-heroes since a stint on Green Arrow in the early 60s, but is one of those "old timers" who did his first work at DC in 1947. In search of Ken Matthews, a teenage runaway, the Teen Titans go undercover as hippies. With the help of a neighborhood guru, they stop a cycle gang from terrorizing the hippie community, and save Ken and his girlfriend from becoming involved with mobsters. Reprinted in Showcase Presents:Teen Titans Vol. 1 TPB


Dick Giordano has taken over as editor.

Teen Titans #14

Teen Titans #14 (On Sale: January 23, 1968) has a very nice Nick Cardy cover, as they slowly age the Titans and make them a lot more serious (at least on the covers).

"Requiem for a Titan" is by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy. The Gargoyle, a former Teen Titans foe who claims he was unjustly imprisoned by the team, sows the seeds of doubt in the minds of all but Robin, enabling him to banish them to the dimension of Limbo by means of his mystic ring. In Limbo, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl become phantom giants under the Gargoyle's control and help him to battle Robin. Finally, Robin surrenders and allows himself to be transported to Limbo, so that he can fight the Gargoyle and his thralls on their home ground. Smashing the Gargoyle's ring traps the villain in the extradimensional realm, and restores Robin and his teammates to Earth and normalcy. Reprinted in Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by George Kasdan.

Teen Titans #13

Teen Titans #13 (On Sale: November 16, 1967) features another wonderful Nick Cardy cover. This was the first issue of the Teen Titans that I bought.

"The TT's Swingin' Christmas Carol" is by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy. The Teen Titans find themselves reliving the events of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol when Tiny Tom Ratchet involves them in the secret dealings of junkyard owner Ebenezer Scrounge and Mr. Big, a smuggler with a strange device that recycles junk into "new" goods. With the Titans playing the roles of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, Scrounge repents and helps them bring in Mr. Big and his gang. This story has been reprinted in Limited Collectors' Edition C-34, Best of DC #22, Christmas with the Super-Heroes #1 and Showcase Presents:Teen Titans Vol. 1 TPB

Edited by George Kashdan.

Teen Titans #12

Teen Titans #12 (On Sale: September 19, 1967) has a nice Nick Cardy cover. Robin is once again returned to the spotlight role.

Inside we have "Large Trouble in Space-Ville" by Bob Haney, Irv Novick and Nick Cardy. D.J. Deejay becomes the world's first disc jockey to broadcast live from Earth-orbit, but the Titans detect a code in his snappy patter indicating that he had run into trouble in space. After foiling the efforts of the Deliverer, an international criminal, to levitate Earth's national monuments into orbit, they follow the disc jockey into space and find an alien being holding him captive. Reprinted in DC Showcase Presents:Teen Titans Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by George Kashdan.