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Curt Swan, DC Archive Edition New Teen Titans, DC Comics, George Perez, Marv Wolfman, New Teen Titans, New Teen Titans Omnibus, Romeo Tanghal, Teen Titans, Teen Titans reprints
Though thirty-four years have passed since Marv Wolfman and George Perez began their run on the Teen Titans for DC Comics, time has done nothing to diminish our affection for their work. Our gallery below presents a collection of splash pages and two-page spreads from the first twenty issues of The New Teen Titans, showcasing Perez’s knack for detail, action, and creative layouts. Romeo Tanghal’s ink work made him an integral part of the team. Nothing displays this better than the two pages (included in our gallery) penciled by legendary Superman artist Curt Swan in issue #5. Under Tanghal’s pen they seamlessly maintain the look and feel Perez established for the title.
The New Teen Titans embraced the absurdities of superhero comics while taking them to a higher level with rich characterizations and finely-crafted emotional lives for its adolescent stars. It managed to be a grown-up book without being an “adult” title, and to handle many serious stories without veering off into the “grim and gritty” deconstructionism of more famous works from the 1980s. The New Teen Titans deserved better than the cheap paper and printing processes of the average comic book of its time. It thus became one of the first mainstream superhero books to change to a higher-quality printing process, though unfortunately this came near the end of Perez’s stint on the title.
Readers would have to wait many years to see Perez’s outstanding art printed in a high-quality format it deserved. This began with The New Teen Titans DC Archive Edition in 1999, a four-volume hardcover reprinting #1-27, the first Annual, the first appearance in DC Comics Presents #26, and the Tales of the New Teen Titans limited series. Sadly, that printing only covered less than half of the incredible Wolfman/Perez run. Readers would have to wait even longer for a complete reprint of the masterpiece.
More recently, from 2011 to 2013, DC Comics unleashed The New Teen Titans Omnibus. This three-volume hardcover series spans 1,720 pages, at last giving the outstanding series the treatment it deserved.
As a result, the demand for original printings of all but the earliest issues has significantly declined. So, if you enjoy collecting classics on a budget, you will find the original issues of New Teen Titans incredibly affordable. The upside of having the original issues is that you can truly enjoy the two-page spreads in a format where they open up completely and don’t lose any artwork in the ‘gutter’ between pages. We love omnibus formats, but sometimes a floppy old comic book that opens flat allows you to really take in the artwork as originally intended. The choice is yours!
