First appearance: Teen Titans I#26 (Mar.-April. 1970)
Abilities: Ruckus raising
Worst act: Assault
Created by: Bob Kanigher (script) Nick Cardy (pencils/inks), and John Costanza (letters)
And now we end another feature here at Geekademia for another year.
We'll end our look back at the Teen Titans with the second foe of their new approach. The Hell's Hawks were your standard biker gang that were hassling the residents of a poorer section of town.
The Titans get involved when they hit the streets in their new jumpsuits and armed only with a penny. The gangs pretty generic, mostly serving to establish new supporting character and future Titan Mal Duncan.
First appearance: Teen Titans I#25 (Jan.-Feb. 1970)
Abilities: Mass protest
Worst act: Murder
Created by: Bob Kanigher (script) Nick Cardy (pencils/inks), and John Costanza (letters)
Nearing the end and right in time for a major shake-up.
The Titans are relaxing at a disco when a go-go dancer, Lilith, warns them that they will open the door to death.
They brush her off and report to their next assignment. Seems Dr. Swenson is making a speech and some protesters ain't happy. Why are they protesting him?
'cuz they are protestors. It's in the name daddy-o.
Things heat up real fast and Dr. Swenson takes a slug to the brain as Kid Flash, Speedy, Wonder Girl (plus Hawk from Hawk & Dove) wrestle with one particular protestor and he manages to get a shot off. Which begs the question of how freaking strong was this guy?
I mean, Speedy is just a normal human, but Wonder Girl is an Amazon plus Hawk and Dove are superhuman. How can this guy move?
So the JLA come down on the Titans, basically saying they all had a hand on Swenson's death. Seems like they should be blaming the guy who shot him, but what do I know?
In steps Mr. Juipter and out steps Robin. Yeah, Robin formerly quits the team during this, but who is Mr. Jupiter? Why, only the richest man in the world. He wants the Titans to work for him, solving teen problems. Kid Flash agrees on the condition they don't use their powers.
Would like to know how Wonder Girl is going to manage that, plus Hawk and Dove (since their powers only activated when they are in danger). So with the protestors swiftly forgotten, we now embark on a new chapter in the Titans.
First appearance: Teen Titans I#24 (Nov.-Dec 1969)
Abilities: Appropriation
Worst act: Attempted murder, real estate scam
Created by: Bob Haney (script) Gil Kane (pencils), Nick Cardy(inks), and John Costanza (letters)
Judging from the story, I'm guessing Haney caught some Scooby-Doo.
The Titans are on vacation, hanging out at the local ski resort. Medicine Mountain is owned by the local tribe but they have problems. What started as a series of accidents is now moving to outright sabotage.
Yeah, turns out the local medicine man is in cahoots with Old Sourdough, who turns out to be Anson Larson, real estate mogul. Seems he wants the ski resort to go under so he can sell the land over to the government for a missile site.
Except the tribe own the entire land. If the resort fails, they'd still own the land. Yeah, he didn't think this one through. A disapointing effort from Haney and Kane.
First appearance: Teen Titans I#23 (Sept.-Oct 1969)
Abilities: Native to jungle
Worst act: Attempted murder
Quote: "Aaahh!"
Created by: Bob Haney (script) Gil Kane (pencils), Nick Cardy(inks), and Milton Snapinn (letters)
Well this aged well. The Titans are watching a Sammy Soul concert when the singer has a breakdown on stage. Seems the young man is torn between his money-grubbing aunt and his equally greedy manager. The only family who cared for him was an uncle. Pity the fellow went looking for El Dorado and vanished.
So naturally the Titans go off looking and deal with hostile jungle natives. Yeah, just a dumb story all around.
First appearance: Teen Titans I#21 (May-June 1969)
Abilities: Gang leader
Worst act: Attempted murder
Created by: Neal Adams (script/pencils), Nick Cardy(inks), and John Costanza/Joe Letterese (letters)
Continuing from a Hawk & Dove yarn, I found this whole trilogy a bit of a downer. Hawk and Dove do darn little here, leaving when their powers start to fade. The Fat Man does even less, as the real villains are the Aliens from Dimension X. They carry on to the next issue when this mess is finally resolved.
First appearance: The Brave and the Bold I#53 (May 1969)
Abilities: Being a punk
Worst act: Theft
Quote: "No thanks Big Daddy, 'cause strange as it sounds, I don't dig you at all! You're too much like me!"
Created by: Bob Haney (script), Neal Adams (pencils/inks), and Ben Oda (letters)
And the first proper crossover with another title.
Here Batman learns that, due to a promise his father made, he has to take in another ward, the titular Lance Burner.
Lance is a bit two-faced. To Wayne he's all smiles and sunshine, eager to be part of a new family. To Dick he's a two bit punk. Lance also figures out Batman's identity but while the story does suggest he's going to spill the beans he has a deathbed conversion and doesn't reveal anything.
Really more of a Batman/Robin yarn but the Titans do show up. Lance reminds me quite a bit of Jason Todd, even the memorial statue in the backyard.
Quote: "Now me boyos, a bit of reagent to separate the goody from the threads! I really 'ate to do this to one of my stunning creations--but business is business... 'aw! 'aw! 'aw!"
Created by: Bob Haney (script), Nick Cardy (pencils/inks), and Joe Letterese (letters)
Joining the illustrious ranks of Two-Face, Lex Luthor, the Cheetah, Solomon Grundy (and Sportsmaster), and the Shade, we now have the Mad Mod!
The Titans, this time summoned by the US Treasury Dept, arrive in DC. Seems rocker Holly Hip is going to the UK on a goodwill tour and Uncle Sam wants the Titans to accompany him. To act as bodyguards? Nope.
Seems they suspect Hip as being involved in a scheme to flood the market with counterfeit cash. So, after making sure to salute a picture of JFK, the Titans are off to Merry old England.
Well, he is involved but not how you think. Seems Hip only buys his clothes from the Mad Mod, who uses the rocker to smuggle his goods across date lines. The Mod/Rocker clash truly was a terrible thing. He also manages to come closer than some of the previous guys in killing the Titans, even if he has to resort to a robot shark.
Haney must have liked this fellow as he was also the first foe to make a second appearance in the series and honestly, I like him. Is he silly? Yup, more dated than the Roller Disco Devils but sometimes that isn't a bad thing.
