The New Teen Titans, Vol. 8

The New Teen Titans (Collected Editions) #8

by Marv Wolfman, George Pérez (Illustrations), Rich Buckler (Illustrations)

They were Earth's teenage defenders--unbeatable and unstoppable. But nothing could prepare their inexperienced selves for what happens next. In the wake of "The Judas Contract" the team forges on.

Marv Wolfman and George Perez's stellar run on the title continues here in NEW TEEN TITANS VOL. 8! Collects THE NEW TEEN TITANS #49-58

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fantasy

264 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1985

About the author

Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donna ties the knot with old man Terry. (I've never gotten that relationship. Donna was only 19. Terry was 29 and her professor when they met. There's definitely a ick factor going on there.) I liked that Wolfman played the wedding straight and didn't use the trope of having super-villains crash the wedding. Then Deathstroke goes on trial for murdering Terra. The trial wasn't all that interesting, but it leads into a great confrontation between Gar and Slade. Finally the Fearsome Five return for some fun punch-em-up issues with a very brief Crisis interlude. George Perez leaves as the regular artist after the wedding but Rick Buckler and Chuck Patton fill in admirably.

[Sans · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is awful. Terrible and ridiculous and very entertaining because of it. I had to knock a star off because of the wedding though. No. Just no.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this, the eighth volume of "The New Teen Titans" by Marc Wolfman and George Perez: the wedding event of the year (1984) happens, as Wonder Girl marries her beloved, Terry (and try not to think about the fact that she's barely 20 and he's in his 40s, divorced and her college prof); a super villain named Cheshire kidnaps Joseph (a.k.a. Jericho's) mother and he goes off on his own to save her; scientists discover a spaceship buried in the Arctic and thaw out the pilot, who seems to have a strong connection to Lilith; Slade Wilson (a.k.a. the Terminator) is on trial for crimes against the Titans; Logan (a.k.a. The Changeling) can't seem to get over Tera Markov's death and wants to see the Terminator six feet under; scientists at S.T.A.R. labs have come up with a way for Vic Stone (a.k.a. Cyborg) to look less like a robot and more like the man he used to be; The Fearsome Five (minus one and plus two new ones, which actually makes six, but who's counting?) are back!

This volume is worth it if only for issue #55, an incredibly mature and emotional issue in which Logan seeks revenge upon the Terminator, only to find that Slade Wilson, the man behind the Terminator's mask, is still, after all, only human. It's a great issue that deals with the often-sticky subject (especially in superhero comics) of the grey areas of good vs. evil: can heroes sometimes be motivated by evil? Can villains occasionally be capable of doing good?

There's also a brief tie-in with the now-classic DC mini-series "Crisis on Infinite Earths", a series that I read so long ago, I have forgotten much of it and may have to go back and re-read.

[Brian Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn but the core issue of this volume - the wedding of Donna Troy - is amazing. The whole series is a tour de force on how to do melodrama subplots but that they pulled this off, that issue #50 was a double sized all melodrama no fighting WEDDING is just amazing.

The rest of the book suffers because of DCs weird decision to split the Titans titles for a year, simultaneously publishing these and the New Teen Titans baxter imprint just to direct market. There are good stories in here - the trial of Terminator, Changlings reactions to same, Cyborg's last chance at looking human - that are weaker than they should be due to the fill in artist (no offense, but having the continuity of Perez on these issues would have improved them) and Wolfman's focus being elsewhere.

Plus the Lilith/Azrael story doesn't work. It just... doesn't. I know we needed to reintroduce Lilith because she's key later, but it's a clumsy time filler of a plotline with no explanations or momentum. She deserved better.

[Cara · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this volume, we see Donna marry Terry Long, the Marv Wolfman stand-in, who, for reasons unknown, is supposedly the love of Donna's life. I don't get it, and I wonder how many readers through the years liked Terry. What is nice about the issue, however, is that it's just a wedding; not a wedding interrupted by a villainous attack. It focuses on each of the Titans as they prepare for, and participate in, the ceremony. We get to see old Titans who return to celebrate (Wally, Garth and Tula, Lilith, Mal and Karen). Gar shows his loyalty and friendship by organizing the ceremony and reception; Dick and Donna's friendship is highlighted; Wonder Woman and Hippolyta both make an appearance; and Cyborg continues to be obsessed with his appearance and sulky, ungrateful, and childish when he finds out what Gar did to help him blend in with the crowd.

The majority of this volume deals with Gar's obsession with the Terminator, Slade Wilson, and Cyborg's obsession with his appearance. There is another theme, which I'm not sure was intended; the Titans are supposedly all about the enduring friendship of the heroes, but this book really shows what lousy friends these guys can make.



For example, Gar's obsession with killing Wilson means that he immediately assumes Jericho is a spy and tries to hurt or kill him, alienates everyone (including his new girlfriend), does more damage to the Titans' reputation when he deliberately acts out in court, and attacks Terminator inside a prison (further risking the Titans' reputation). The only person he actually talks to through all of this is Wilson, to whom he confides his tale of woe. I know that the issue in which the two confront each other was supposed to be powerhouse character moment, but it didn't work. First, it depends on Garfield reminding us (for the fourth time in two issues) that he's lost everyone he's ever cared for. Of course, none of this is shown--because it happened years before--but simply told, ad nauseam. It isn't effective; Changeling comes off whiny instead of sympathetic.

Second, all of this depends on Gar's relationship with Tara Markov, who we are supposed to believe Gar loved and appeared to love him. Somehow, Wolfman and Perez utterly failed to create a plausible relationship between two characters who they were in sole charge of portraying. There's no reason for Garfield to love her; she is nasty and unpleasant to him and everyone else 85% of the time. Even if Garfield is stupid enough to fall for someone who treats him like dirt, there is no reason for him to be convinced that she returned his affection. She once suggested kissing/making out, but, otherwise, showed no real interest in him. Yes, Gar is 16, and adolescents can be misled or confused about someone's interest, but we are repeatedly told that he's smart and more mature than his age. So, even if he fell for her, the idea that--for months after her murderous attacks and death--he is unable to see her for who she is, to the point that he's willing to sabotage a trial and commit murder, doesn't ring true.

And his epiphany with Slade results in no changes to him. He tells Wilson that he doesn't want to continue to be a jokester, and Wilson gives him the excellent advice that he should stop being a clown if he doesn't want to be seen as one, and he should just talk to his friends. So, what does he do? He doesn't talk to his friends because they are not all gathered together for him to do so, and, apparently, it's not worth it to do it in smaller groups. And he continues to be the clown. So, even though Wolfman and Perez say that Garfield changes, there is no real character growth.

Meanwhile, Cyborg decides to get rid of all of cyborg-like features and look more human, losing his abilities along the way (of course, it doesn't last). Now, you'd think that someone who values his friends and teammates would let them know that (a) he's going to be gone for a while, and (b) if it all turns out as planned, the team will no longer have Cyborg. You know, so they can prepare for what that will be like. But, no, he tells them nothing. They have no idea he's undergoing major surgery and then intensive, lengthy physical rehabilitation. And, for days, no one seems to question where he is or bother to call and find out. Sure, they all gather around his bedside at the end, but where the hell were they for the last week? And why doesn't anyone feel that Vic wasn't honest with them?

And Raven's gone for who knows how long, struggling with her demon (literally). The Titans' response: "we're here for her, but we're not going to try to find and tell her that; she'll just have to decide on her own when to ask for help." I get that they can't force her to confide in them, but no one seems that concerned that she is missing, except when they need her for a fight (and, to be fair, when Donna got married).

And then there's Lilith and Wally. Wally is dying--actually dying--and not one of his former teammates knows. I get that he doesn't tell them, but, clearly, they're not bothering to stay enough in touch to know that something's not right. And Lilith returns, only to have some dopey story about immediately falling in love with a winged alien male who can't speak, but, of course, loves her madly, too. It's a dumb story, but there's one part that really works. Lilith tells the Titans not to attack the alien (who has harmed no one, and just wants to escape STAR, where he is the subject of experiments--not an unreasonable position), and insists that she is willingly choosing to protect him. Dick and the rest of the Titans ignore her and continue to attack and hound the alien, even as they all realize that they don't have a good feeling about what they're doing. After the Titans drive the alien off, Lilith tells them she's leaving, and she explicitly says that she's doing so because they don't respect her wishes and didn't listen to her. And she's right. Dick decided that an alien who didn't want to be experimented upon must somehow be a threat, and he ignored any information Lilith gave him to the contrary (he even ignored his own observation, as he could see that the alien wasn't doing anything).

About the only people who act like friends to each other throughout these issues are Donna, Dick, and Kory (and, unfortunately, Terry forces his way in there, too). And though those three say the right things about the others--I'm worried about him/her; I want to help him/her; etc.--they don't actually do anything about it. And the others (Raven, Gar, Vic) are all too caught up in their own drama to realize that they are leaving their team in a lurch.

For a series that is all about the power of friendship, there's very little of it on display here.

[Liz.Loki · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been struggling so hard to keep reading "Tales of the Teen Titans". Unlike the "New Teen Titans (1980)" run, this one is way more slow paced and there are way too many arguments and animosity within the team. I miss their previous dynamics (the only ones who are still good are Dick/Kory, Dick/Donna (platonically ofc), and Donna/Kory, and that's it). I hope the next comic run is better.

[JW · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this volume. There were several pathos-oriented stories that really hit me. They were well done. This was my second favorite volume of Teen Titans.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the New Teen Titans (and the Legion) got converted to Baxter series, sold directly to comic stores, they maintained their old pulp-printed series, with the idea that they'd reprint the Baxter series for newstands a year later. Which means that when DC jumped to one-year-later in the Baxter series, they still needed to fill in that year in the newsstand series. For the Titans that year started in V7 with the great end-of-Hive story and the good Recombatants story. The rest of the year appears here.

There's a bit of a back-and-forth between great stories and mediocre stories, which is better than you'd expect as the one-year-later meant that there was little room for surprises (and Wolfman didn't do anything particularly clever with the gap).

So we got the fine marriage of Donna to her somewhat inappropriate husband issue (but it's a great character issue) and we get the fun Trial of the Terminator story and the terrific heart to heart between Slade and Gar later (which was such great insight that it makes it sad when Terminator returns to evil form in the future).

And there's also a dull Frightful Five story and some other forgettable stuff.

So, kind of an in-between volume that's not Wolfman's best work, making one look forward to the start of the Baxter series in the next volume.

[SB Senpai Manga · Rating 4 out of 5]

And so we find ourselves at the end of Marv Wolfman‘s and George Pérez’s run of Teen Titans for now. This epic series continues with the marriage of Terry Long and Donna Troy and it really shows how far the team has come, with the level of maturity this relationship has played out even with Donna’s past being a major plot point in the last book. This book also features Slade going on trial from his actions in the Judas Contract. While that was interesting, since it’s pretty rare in those days for comics to show legal actions with super villains the execution of it didn’t sit too well with me. The last book was pretty action packed and had so much going on it was good to read something more character based and slower paced. The first half of the book was excellent and the latter half was okay. Beast Boy and Slade had a great scene together in a diner, but besides that the second half didn’t get my attention that much. I have one book left, but that won’t be for awhile.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would probably give the five stars purely for the the wedding issue and the gut wrenching Changeling Deathstroke confrontation. The series continued to challenge the ideas of superhero comic books and this edition was no different.

[Lucas Lima · Rating 5 out of 5]

On this volume, we got Donna's and Terry's wedding, Deathstroke's trial another appearence of the Fearsome Five (the last one, i hope!)

Another beautiful volume. The wedding's issue is a masterpiece and a masterclass of how to tell an emotional super hero tale. We don't got all of the super heroes dress up on a church or something like that. We got friends and family, cherishing this couple on the best day of their lives.

And then, we got Slade' trial for his crimes against politics and the Titans. I believe Gar's main plot on this one begins waaaay to much out of reality, with him attacking Slade on the court. Marv really went over the top on this, but it ended in a great way, where we understand where a villain and a super hero will go through, until reach their limits. Great!

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The issues collected here are not the high point of the series. In fact, the biggest draw here is #50, which was where Donna (Wonder Girl) married Terry Long; it features lots of guest stars and has many cool moments, as well as some character development for Gar (Beast Boy). #50 is also the only issue to be completely drawn by George Perez (he partially draws another), because he was concentrating on the Baxter series that ran concurrently with Tales of the Teen Titans. Everything else is serviceable, from the stories (Gar vs. Deathstroke, the Fearsome Five, Jericho and his mom vs. Chesire) to the art (Rich Buckler, Ron Randall, Chuck Patton). I think the next volume collects the first issue of that Baxter series and I'll be interested to see how they hold up.

[Christopher M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

One forgets that the Titans were as popular as the X-Men in the years before they decided to focus on the kid friendly cartoon versions, and this is a densely written collection that deals with Donna's wedding as a milestone rather than an excuse for a fight, explores what would now be called Cyborg's body dysmorphia and Changeling's PTSD, and has an ongoing courtroom drama addressing that a bunch of teennagers in masks beating up their arch nemesis isn't actually grounds for his going to prison. Good stuff.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’M SO SAD I’M DONE WITH THIS SERIES… what a wild adventure that spanned multiple months and I absolutely loved it…. Jericho YOU ARE FOREVER MY BABY. The wedding and Deathstroke issues were the best.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was pretty entertaining.

Some of the plot points were rushed. And the characters frequently have extreme emotions, and few seem to grow here.

Note that Daredevil volume 5: Supreme has been pre-empted by Joker. v. Batman, __ A.D.2d __ (5th Dep't 1979).

I'm also still wigged out by Jericho's bizarre Shakespearian actor costume and monstrously large eyes. And I was definitely confused by the conclusion of this part of the Beast Boy arc.

[Nico D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Long (hah) awaited/dreaded wedding of Donna Troy and Terry Long. I’ve gone into my feelings for this relationship in my reviews of previous volumes and those feelings haven’t really changed. I don’t think Terry is a blight upon the DC ‘verse, and I even low-key sort of like him, but his relationship with Donna still feels really underdeveloped despite this being the eighth volume of them being a couple. Their lack of chemistry is hard to ignore when the majority of their screentime together is declaring their love for one another so the audience knows that, yep, they still love each other. Why show when you can tell?

Why Terry cares for Donna has always been obvious. She’s patient, loyal, intelligent, strong, gorgeous, and thoughtful. But what Donna gets out of the relationship is undefined. Whenever Donna talks about what she loves about Terry it comes off like she’s more in love with love than with Terry himself. Or because the plot said she must be.

With all that in mind, the wedding itself was well done. I loved how massive it felt. Even better, no supervillains showed up to ruin the big day. A majority of the issue was feel-good, with some believable melodrama thrown in for measure. Y’know, like a real wedding! NTT’s commitment to giving big character focus during down time continues to be a major strength of the series. Donna’s relationship with each Titan is as beautiful as the bride herself. Dick and Donna really solidify themselves as standing among the top tier platonic relationships in all of fiction for me.

Directly after the wedding we get a storyline focusing on Joseph. His mother makes a reappearance during it, as does Cheshire. I only really know Cheshire from the Young Justice animated series, where I love her, so it was cool to see her early comic goings. She was depicted as very dangerous and was a fun arc villain. I really like Joe, even with his ridiculous outfit, and I’m excited to see him become a more permanent fixture on the team at the end of the book.

But take everything I enjoyed about Joseph’s arc and throw it out the window for Lillith’s, which takes place right after. The weird alien-man plot doesn’t go anywhere, and I didn’t like the message behind it. Your friend is suddenly willing to throw down with you to protect someone she’s just laid eyes on for the first time in her life because she “loves him”, and you’re the bad guy for trying to talk her down? Ish, please. Unlike the Avengers, the Titans are going to help a friend who starts acting totally out of character for no reason, especially when faced with a new potential enemy. Do you know how many evil telepaths are out there? It’s like grains of sand in the desert. The fact Lilith gets so angry with them is one thing. That’s a character beat I can accept. But the story seems to agree with her, to the point the Titans admonish themselves for meddling, like their VERY GENUINE CONCERNS is an impediment on Lilith’s freedom. The whole plot was whacko and I was ready for it to be done.

But back to the good! I never thought I’d say it, especially with my concerns about earlier volumes, but Gar really shines in this volume above everyone else. He was so frustrating early on, but his development through all the events with the Doom Patrol, then Tara, all the way till now is probably the longest running payoff in the series. At least so far. Gar as a wedding planner ‘zilla works so well, and for how blunt and wordy these old comics can be, Gar’s need to have control is handled with a lot of nuance and is a culmination of what’s been going on in his life opposed to just a character trait used for melodrama. I loved that.

It really comes home in the storyline following the wedding: the trial of Slade Wilson! A great few issues, and I was very here for Gar channeling his inner Laurie Strode (“I prayed every night for escape, so I could kill him.” Get it girl). Their encounter in the aftermath ended up being my absolute favorite part of the volume, and easily my favorite Gar moment thus far. And honestly? My favorite Slade moment too. It’s clear why so many people are drawn to Deathstroke beyond “he’s a badass”, which can only interest me so much. He’s got a lot of pathos (I mean this unironically, for once) and I’m a little baffled that he’s used pretty exclusively as Dick’s greatest enemy and not Gar’s.

Unfortunately, we get all but confirmation that Slade and the very underage Tara slept together. Like, they could have let that die, or let Slade say upfront that it didn’t happen, but nope. While he doesn’t outright confirm it, his way of responding to the blunt question from Gar, and his expression, heavily implies that he did. It’s hard to reconcile the “noble demon” aspect of his character with the banging a fourteen-year old girl. Made worse because he won’t shut up about how “evil” she was. I like Tara— at least, I like her role in the Judas Contrac story— but reducing her to an evil seductress at fourteen is not my jam. Slade high-key places all the blame on her because she was “so evil” and equating your, a grown-ass adult man with kids older than her, manipulation of her as on the level of hers on you (to the point you probably had sex with her to control her???) is… really a look.

I need a shower.

The Fearsome Five show up again toward the end of the volume. It’s not the same without Doctor Light, and at this point I’m a little bored of them. I still hate Shimmer’s ugly ass costume. But fortunately the romp is pretty light and we get to see the Titans kicking ass, and that’s always fun. The most interesting thing to happen during this is a sub-plot focused on Vic and his desire to get a specialty surgery to make his tech look more human. The way it’s presented is a little confusing though—other characters chide him for wanting to change his appearance, but it feels real ignorant when they’re not 65% a visible cyborg. The same energy as the hot human-looking X-Men preaching to the Morlocks about not hiding away from humanity. It’s a whole vibe. But Vic sticks to his guns and does it. Great. It doesn’t work out, which is unfortunate, but it kind of falls into an Aesop about not changing yourself and, like, sure. But people also get cosmetic surgery all the time, and those people shouldn’t be vilified for it. It was a weird conclusion that I feel like missed the mark a bit.

But even with that, Vic’s always a standout, and I was engrossed in the plot for his sake. It was mostly the thematic handling at the end that made me pause.

Less interesting in a characterization way, but interesting to me, was seeing Psimon get spirited away by the Monitor for the, at the time, upcoming Crisis on Infinite Earths. Seeing Harbinger just chilling was super cool. It almost makes me want to reread that story. Almost.

Last thing I want to touch on is Raven. She’s barely present in this volume which is a major shame. But fortunately she subscribes to quality over quantity. When she does appear she is so delightfully melodramatic that I could hear Evanescence blaring in the distance. Ten outta ten stars, great use of our favorite mystic queen.

[Cybernex007 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this volume was a bit of a let down. Kinda looks like after you take Perez’s name off the issue it just doesn’t hit the same. A lot of the stories in this volume had great ideas included in them, but weren’t fleshed out or were overshadowed by other storylines that just weren’t as good.

Taking a Quick Look at the storylines and some of the fun and issue they had:

Doctor light came back, and hilariously gave up quite quickly after dealing with Wally’s friend and her powers she picked up way earlier in TT.

Jericho’s mom got into some trouble with foreign governments due to some work she did for the CIA very strictly off the books. Which had the return of Cheshire, but also introduced the idea that Cheshire is connected to one of the titans, but then just left that completely hanging? What was that? But this situation also put Jericho under the impression from Gar that he was a traitor. Terrible misunderstanding that would basically leave Jericho out of the issues until the final few.

Then the trial of the terminator could have been the best storyline. To see the Titans get pulled into a court of law to try and finally bring one of their greatest foes to true Justice, only for it to fail because even through all their crime fighting the evidence just wasn’t there, plus coupled with the fact of Gar going out of his way to try and sabotage the trial to get Slade out and be able to take a shot at him. All for it to end with Gar and Slade sitting down and talking. That was a truly great moment. Slade one of the absolute worst people being able to sit down with Gar and try and move on. Wild stuff. Well at least it was a good convo until the question of if Slade slept with Tara was brought up. “Does it make a difference.” YES IT DOES, we are about to get Chris Hansen in here, here is some evidence of real stuff to put him away for.

Unfortunately this storyline kept getting pushed to the side for the stuff with Lilith and the winged alien. Which seems to really be a storyline from the new teen titans comic, not this one. So quite a waste to even include it.

Then finally the storyline with Vic trying to look human and reverse the cybernetic parts of himself fell flat as well. The entire run of Titans Vic has spoken about feeling like an outcast because of his cybernetics. And now we are at the point where he may appear human again, this is a very pivotal point. Only for this to be a half story with the fearsome five coming back and getting whopped because they don’t know how to act like a team. Oh also because their leader got plucked out mid fight because of crisis on infinite earths. That was hilarious they all just kinda saw he wasn’t there and kept going.

Sarah Simms also just happened to take vacation during the middle of it, and was replaced with a different Sarah? Huh?

But I do have to admit it was quite tragic and sad that he did get to feel comfortable again only for him not to get the chance to share it with his friends.

“Because the true not being an outsider was in my heart all along” or something like that lol.


But of course the big part of this entire issue, the thing that made it worth it was:

The wedding of Donna Troy.

Overall I enjoyed this issue as it was a lot of fun. A bit down I have a cameo spotting list because it was a nice chill issue. No fights just heroes getting together for a day of celebration, and they especially needed it. I was also very happy with how well Gar put everything together. I really like the passion and ideas that Logan put into planning the wedding. But he should have told Vic about the plan for mento. How would he feel if they did the same thing for his green skin. Making you think that sting thinks you look cool and are normal just to have that ripped away. Heart breaking.

But I do love even more that on this day they are able to make up and have a level of understanding together as friends. Well after a little bit of careful manipulation from Sarah that is, which is just perfect.

But the entire time reading titans I was chill with Terry and Donna’s relationship. The human side to Donna’s upbringing being expressed. It made sense.

But then I realized that Donna had been NINETEEN the entire time. I thought because she was like trained and raised by the amazons she was part immortal or something and was just part of the titans because it’s fun or whatever. NOPE she is nineteen had no clue.

I made a little scale for my thought process behind their relationship and the levels of creep as I found more information:



* Donna is part Amazonian part human dating a human man - seems normal
* Terry is 30, divorced and has a kid - I mean that’s okay
* Donna’s NINETEEN - CREEPY
* Terry is a self insert character from Wolfman - VERY CREEPY


Also going back to Perez not being fully present: the 50th issue had so many panels where their eyes are just screwed up and the inking was odd.

Lastly, here is my Cameo Spotting List:
* Michael Jackson
* Perez
* Sting
* Clark Kent and Lana Lang
* Guardian and Bumblebee
* Lilith (who would of course insert herself into more titans storys)
* Of course Wally and the Atlanteans would be there. But the I didn’t realize that was Roy!
* hawk and dove.
* Duela Dent?! (I didn’t read those stories, that’s crazy how far back that character goes especially because she is most well known as the Jokers Daughter at this point.)
* bat girl and who is golden eagle?? (One google search later) HAWKMAN HAD A SIDEKICK? What?

I was joking about why is Clark here but not Bruce? Then Bruce showed up, and the that sent me down the pipeline of what happened to Jason and that nightshade storyline. No clue that was a thing.

A lot of universal parts of the dc universe where they get to be a little cheeky and a little meta with characters because of how casual of a setting they are in. It works really well and is quite fun and we don’t get to see that a lot.

But the ultimate cameo of them all. Queen Hippolyta. What an absolutely monumental moment where she has to play “the floor is lava” to keep her immortality.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know how to rate this. Sometime during the last volume Marv Wolfman became his own editor and the series downshifted from great to good. Here, longtime collaborator George Perez leaves the book and Wolfman really seems to go off the rails after the issue 50 wedding of Wondergirl to Marv Wolfman avatar Terry Long. That last sentence should brand this collection as creepy and really their relationship has consistently been the worst part of the series all along so I was dreading the wedding issue but was pleasantly surprised by how well thought out and executed it was. Things go off the rails after that. The lack of editorial oversight really starts to catch up to the series and at times the action and plot lines are often hard to follow and characters disappear for long stretches without any explanation and the whole thing drifts towards a fun but unearned slugfest that concludes the collection.

[Brian Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

The New Teen Titans reprint project hits the mid-80s and contemplates a post-Pérez direction.

After erstwhile Kid Flash Wally West and his girlfriend foil a plot by Doctor Light in Central City, friends old and new gather for Donna Troy’s wedding. Then, with the Terminator’s trial pending, Changeling’s lingering trauma threatens to take him somewhere dark, while Jericho finds himself suspected by his new friends when he goes to great lengths to rescue his mother, after she’s kidnapped by the terrorist Cheshire. Original Teen Titans member Lilith sticks around after Donna’s wedding, until conflict with the team over a mysterious winged alien recovered from an Arctic ice floe and new hints about her own mysterious past drive her away. Changeling and Terminator’s conflict reaches an unexpected resolution. Then the Fearsome Five returns, with two new recruits and a plot to blackmail New York City, just as Cyborg sees a chance to regain a human-looking appearance.

Any stretch would seem to pale in comparison to “The Judas Contract,” the high point of this original series. If the book seemed to come back down to Earth, it was still a state-of-the-art superhero series for its time. The emotional high point comes early, with Donna’s wedding, which also marks the swan song for the Marv Wolfman/George Pérez team on the original series (by this point, the book had been renamed Tales of the Teen Titans, the New Teen Titans title having been used for a deluxe re-launch that featured the final Wolfman/ Pérez arc before the team turned its attention to the landmark Crisis on Infinite Earths). Wolfman was perfectly capable of flying solo, even if the material did seem to miss the extra spark his collaboration with Pérez seemed to provide.

Still, there’s a lot of good stuff in this arc. Donna’s wedding was a nicely deserved moment in the spotlight for a popular character who often seemed pushed more into “big sister” mode in the ensemble. The issue brought back all kinds of long-absent characters and provided several well-earned emotional moments. Wolfman continued to develop the Terminator as one of the most nuanced adversaries in ‘80s comics; his trial provided a rare glimpse into the legal process of the superhero world, while Wolfman’s unique choice for the long-running plot’s finale provided an emotional payoff of a different kind. Wolfman continued to effectively develop Jericho and for long-time fans, the return of Lilith was a welcome addition (albeit a brief one). Wolfman assayed an effective post-Doctor Light version of the Fearsome Five, introducing mainstay villain Jinx in the process. Wolfman gave Cyborg some complex material and continued to develop threads he’d explore in the new series. It’s solid work overall. The only curiosity for fans might be how thoroughly the popular Raven was pushed into the background; Wolfman was building to a big turning point for the character in the new deluxe series and continued to sow those seeds, but her absence from much of the action was a disappointment.

Pérez’s finale on this iteration of the series was a nice send-off. With nary an action scene to be found, the artist drove home the emotional lives of the characters with Donna’s elaborate wedding. Pérez made the whole thing shimmer and provided both a proper tribute to Donna and a fitting close to his run on the book. Veteran Flash artist Carmine Infantino was an apt choice to pitch in on the Wally spotlight. After Pérez, ‘80s DC mainstays Rich Buckler, Ron Randall and Chuck Patton all contributed issues. While each clearly exhibited a certain surface similarity to Pérez, they lacked his nuance and produced work that was more conventional, more typical of the “house style” for DC’s mid-tier books of the era. It was all clean, well-produced, professional and enjoyable, but none of his successors could match the depth of Pérez’s work. More than anything, those issues couldn’t help like feeling they were moving around the pieces until the title started running reprints of the deluxe series.

The New Teen Titans Volume 8 is worth reading for fans who have already gone the distance with this reprint project. For those whose interest is more casual, there’s probably not enough here to warrant the investment of time and money.

[Arthi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a wholesome volume and I absolutely loved it. I think Wolfman and Perez made a brilliant choice in having Donna's wedding revolve around the Titans and their relationships instead of introducing villains and turning it into an action packed issue. There were some very sweet moments between Donna and Dick and Gar and Vic. I generally find 80s Garfield annoying but I loved seeing him step up to be the perfect host for Donna's wedding and I was actually mad at Vic when Garfield got overwhelmed and started crying. Dick and Bruce even have a proper heart to heart about his lack of adoption, which is super refreshing for the Bat family.

The conflict between the Titans and Slade finally comes to an end in a surprisingly civil way. I liked the arc they took Garfield on, from resident goofball, to man on fire, to slightly more well adjusted boy. I really don't like Slade but I appreciated the confrontation he had with Garfield (probably an attitude he should have adopted with his own kids).

I also really appreciated the story of Joey and Adeline. Adeline is a very aggressive, confrontational person and Joey is a much more settled, gentle soul, but their love for each other is undeniable. I did like how upset Adeline got when Joey chose not to kill her tormentors. It's a very realistic account of how different people interpret love differently. Had the roles been switched, Adeline would have eagerly murdered Joey's tormentors, which arguably would not have been what Joey needed to soothe himself. In Adeline's case she needed retaliation to feel like she was cared about. I've definitely seen parallels of these opposing mentalities in my own family, so it was nice to see it on the page as well.

Seeing Raven accidentally unleash her powers was pretty exciting. I actually didn't realize comic Raven had the ability to absorb and distribute pain. Honestly I thought she was only able to take it on herself and travel through dimensions. Realizing she has the power to force pain onto people makes her seem much more noble and, frankly, badass. I definitely admire her choice to absorb other people's pain much more than I used to, now that I know she could have been dispelling it into other people.

I wasn't particularly invested in the Fearsome Five tale, aside from the South Asian representation and introduction of Neutron (who I only knew of from Young Justice). But I am very happy for Joey! He's definitely my favourite titan in this rendition and I'm excited to see what role he plays on the team.

Overall this was one of my favourite volumes of NTT. I think DC could go pretty far if they remember to include wholesome moments amongst the angst.

[Rexhurne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I start with the elephant in the room (not beasty boy, although he does change into an elephant in this volume!), the wedding of Donna and her divorced professor. There seems to be a controversy in the reviews about the age gap. But it's not all bad. She has reached the age of consent (i believe she is 18+), and it seems to be completely voluntary from her side, she really seems to love him very much. I guess in the 80's this kind of stuff was less controversial than in this day and age? I wonder what the reception was back then. The biggest 'crime' for me is not the age gap, but that the guy is just really uninteresting. The wedding itself was wholesome to read. Wolfman knew that villains crashing a wedding is a cliche since the fantastic four wedding in the 70's, and thankfully didn't do any such shenanigans.

This volume did a lot of character development for both beast boy and Slate Wilson (my favorite character in the comic). The way Wolfman shows us their thoughts side by side (literally with the panel layout) is amazing, issue 55 was my favorite for this reason. It also made Terra even more interesting with additional backstory.

I love how the terminator is such a well written grey personality, and more a neutral bounty hunter than an evil villain. He did terrible stuff in the army and as a mercenary, but he has his own sense of honor. He works mostly solo, but seems to have friends in high places (and a lot of people seem to respect him). He has his own reasons to accept certain jobs, but takes no pleasure in it. He uses people for his own gain and is very rational about that, but he is also a man that loves his family. He even feels a bit of regret for what happened with the Titans. He doesn't care if he dies or not. Very intelligent and charismatic as well. I thought his role played out after the last volume, but they kept him as relevant as ever, and i'm here for it.

Beast Boy was one of my least favorite Titans when he was just the comic relief of the group, but after the Judas contract he got a serious and raw personality. Ironically, making him depressed enhanced his character instead of destroying it. His feelings of desperation, loneliness, uncertainty, and the fear of only be seen as the clown of the group are completely believable for someone his age. His talk with Slate was really heartwarming, felt like a father talking to a troubled adolescent son

Even though a few of the stories in this volume didn't do it for me, the stuff i liked in it i really enjoyed. The changes in the art direction didn't bother me much.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 8th collection of The New Teen Titans series from DC Comics started off with the ramp up to the wedding of Donna Troy and Terry Long and then moved on to the actual ceremony itself.

In all, both of those issues were relatively boring to me.

The collection also had the trial of Deathstroke the Terminator where the main point seemed to be trying to make Changeling into the most despicable depiction of a truculent child in any form of media. The issues that focused on this storyline were enough to make me wish they'd found a way to kill off the character and be done with it. The issue long epilogue where the two main characters talk out their issues was pretty embarrassing in how pathetic it all rang.

The truth of the matter is that the collection only really picked up when the Titans got back to some team based heroics in another clash with the Fearsome Five. Those stories were actually pretty good and throw in the B-plot with Cyborg trying to change his looks back into a more human appearance and you had a solidly entertaining read.

Other plotlines with Lilith and Jericho were fine but didn't quite add anything particularly noteworthy in and of themselves.

So I was struggling in the beginning of this read because of the relative lack of interest in the story being told, but by the end of the read, I was jazzed up by the storytelling.

Here's hoping Volume 9 keeps up the more energetic pacing in the story arcs.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this volume reprinting the 1985 issues of Tales of the Teen Titans from a $5 table in a local comic book store. I wasn't buying many comics in the 80s, so I didn't really know this version of the Titans. The first two issues here, including the double length wedding of Donna Troy (Wonder Girl) featured enough callbacks to both the comics I missed and the comics I remembered from the late 60s and early 70s to keep me up to date.

Marv Wolfman was a writer I enjoyed in the 70s, especially his run on Tomb of Dracula, which I re-read a few years back. He loved to build sub-plots out across long periods of time, and he was very good at characterization within the parameters of mainstream superhero and fantasy comic books. So, while I was sorry George Perez, long-time Titans artist and co-plotter left only two issues into the ten collected here, Wolfman's stories kept me interested, and the various artists drawing it were all pretty good themselves.

Nothing earth shattering here, but this was plenty entertaining. At the end of this run, there is a set-up for Crisis on Infinite Earths, a series I did read at the time, and one which kind of messes up comic books by placing greater emphasis on continuity than on storytelling. That series was also written by Wolfman and drawn by Perez. I assume it wiped out big chunks of what was being developed here. Oh, well, that's neither here nor there. This book itself was well worth $5.

[Maurice Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection covers issues 49-58 of the 1980's series, leading into the special Baxter format issues.

49 was Wally West dealing with a crippling disease as the others prepare for Donna's impending wedding. Wally and Frances Kane found themselves having to deal with Dr. Light deciding to loot Central City instead of his usual haunts. They wanted to stop him, but neither of them had a costume handy. Stopping him without revealing their identities was a challenge, but they managed.

#50 was the wedding- Donna Troy and Terry Long. That was a great issue- no super heroics, just human interest. Good stuff.

I was glad to finally see issues 51-52 reprinted someplace- 52 in particular has been elusive. This was Jericho's mother dealing with a ghost from her past, and Jericho charging to her rescue.

53-55 dealt with the Terminator going on trial and the Changeling dealing with his anger over the death of Terra and the Terminator's role in it.

56-58 were Cyborg trying to replace his armor with human looking plastic prosthetics and the rest of the team battling the Fearsome Five plus Neutron and a sorceress named Jinx. Among other things, this story showed how Psimon found his way into the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took three checkouts from the library before I got through this. I kept getting distracted with other things and just couldn't get through the writing style until the past couple of weeks. It's very heavy, wordy, dense. It's not bad at all, just not the quick read I've become used to in more modern comics. Not being massively decompressed is a good thing, though. Trade-offs, right?

The wedding of Donna Troy and Terry was a very good read. Then we move into the trial of Deathstroke, The Terminator playing out over several issues mixed in with some other superhero high jinks (just learned that's two words, not hijinks or hijinx). And then a Fearsome Five issue or two closes out this tome. Without Dr. Light to "lead" them, they become a much more fearsome group.

Anyway, the stories all click pretty well. I was somewhat taken back by Beast Boy's unwillingness to even talk with Joseph/Joe, who has been taken in for questioning with his mother about her activities.

Anyway, good read, great artwork. Enjoyable. Probably 3.8 overall, so 4 for rounding.

[Anthony Wendel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of elements come to a head in this volume. The two biggest are the Wedding of Donna Troy and the "end of Deathstroke." The wedding of Donna Troy was a joy to witness especially with all the different cameos of other DC comics characters popping up. The storylines involving Slade Wilson and how he seems like he is on the path to giving up being Deathstroke are also very intriguing and really feel like a good way to wrap up the character and all they have been through. Unfortunately, as any season comic fan knows, both of these storylines were touched upon later and almost seem to diminish these elements. Still, at the time they were no double very impactful.

[Anna Shiverdecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not enough raven. She's mentioned every now and then but only appears for like six pages in the entire thing. The stories were mainly about changeling and cyborg, but you also have Donna's wedding to start it off. Overall, they really went after character development and did a great job at it in these stories.

I will say the art has improved greatly in this volume. Just about every panel is fantastic. They really put a lot of work into it. It just seemed less crowded by bad detail and the forms of the characters were more proportional most of the time.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great volume. So much has happened from it appearing to being the last appearance or fight between The terminator and Beast Boy. We also got to see the appearance of Wonder Woman and old teen Titian members at Donna’s wedding. We see a short of transformation of Cyborg to attempt to get to the place he was at before the accident. We see Lilth and an angel type of character as well, and we see the fearsome five appear again. Each storyline was something with action and it is one of my favorite volumes.

[Sarospice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some people consider The Judas Contract the end of the glory days for Perez/Wolfman, but this volume contains some very strong stories and art. Yes, there are more guest artists, but they all hold up well. After the wedding of Donna troy it seems the creators were trying to tie up all loose ends by giving each character their due. This vol. gives closure to Donna Troy, Changeling, and Cyborg. It introduces Jericho proper to the team.

[Tom Maseth · Rating 4 out of 5]

All stories written by Marv Wolfman with various artists including George Perez, Rich Buckler, and Chuck Patton. This volume collects Tales of the Teen Titans issues 49 - 58. The stories featured are Donna (Wonder Girl) Troy's wedding to Terry Long, the trial of the Terminator and peace between Changling and him; Victor getting skin on his left side however briefly, and the return of the Fearsome Five with two new members Jinx and Neutron making them the Fearsome Six.