The Secret Origin of Titans Tower!

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blueprints, Cyborg, Cyborg's Dad, DC Comics, first appearance, George Perez, Marv Wolfman, New Teen Titans, origin, Teen Titans, Teen Titans Tower, Titans Tower

New Teen Titans #7 gave us the origin of Titans Tower: the T-shaped building serving as their headquarters, home away from home, and high-tech clubhouse. We see that Cyborg’s father built the Tower, a fact hidden from the reader for the first six issues.

Cyborg blames his father for the research accident at S.T.A.R. Labs that killed his mother and disfigured Cyborg. This issue gives us more insight into those events, and takes an unexpected turn for Victor and his father.

Keep in mind that in New Teen Titans #6, the Teen Titans just got done preventing satan from taking over the universe — satan being Trigon, Raven’s demonic dad from an alien hell. They arrive home at Titans Tower to find something amiss.

So of course, they smash in through a wall before Victor calmly produces a set of blueprints. Behold, they include what every super hero lair requires: a cool schematic!



About half of this issue concerns a battle with the team of super villains that infiltrated Titans Tower. Although beautifully drawn by George Perez, it has little to do with our focus here: Titans Tower. Soon the bad guys get the upper hand and produce Cyborg’s dad. His unexpected appearance carries a big reveal: He built the Tower!

Insert more epic super battles here. After the Titans defeat the enemy team, Cyborg’s dad needs to get something off his chest. Victor reluctantly listens, but soon his resentment gives way to compassion. Although he blames his father for both his own fate and his mother’s, Victor learns the same mishap began slowly killing his dad, too.




The final two pages of this story could not be farther in tone from the somewhat typical good guy/bad guy showdown that led up to them. Wolfman and Perez condense the final days of a father and son into a montage, a cinematic effect enhanced by Wolfman’s narrative “voice over” in the captions.


The closing scene begins a new era of peace for Cyborg. Changed forever by making peace with his father, he becomes less prone to lash out angrily at an unjust world. Soon, he will begin working with children who also have prosthetic limbs, playing baseball with them, and inspiring them to be strong. He will even learn to love again.

Collector’s Guide:
– From New Teen Titans #7; DC, 1981
– Reprinted in New Teen Titans Omnibus #1, hardcover; DC, 2011.
– Reprinted in DC Archive Edition New Teen Titans, hardcover; DC, 1999

Men of War #1: The Origin of Gravedigger

Tags

David Michelinie, ed davis, first appearance, first issue, gravedigger, men of war, origin, Romeo Tanghal, war, war comics

Men of War #1 gives us the first half of the origin of Gravedigger in his first appearance in DC Comics. Author David Michelinie would conclude next issue with a tale of Gravedigger’s breaking into a military installation, an unlikely story that plays well as a comic book nevertheless. Gravedigger earns his nickname digging graves in a non-combat unit. He wants to fight in the war, but the color of his skin gets him assigned to an all-black non-combat unit.

While films and novels have dealt with racism in the military before, Michelinie sticks to a theme of institutional racism. We do not see Gravedigger suffer from physical and verbal abuse, but we do see him confronting a racist system. Artists Ed Davis and Romeo Tanghal deliver a realistic style in the vein of DC’s other 1970s war comics like Sgt. Rock. Let’s have a look!

 
Collector’s Guide:
Men of War #1; DC, 1977.