Polite Dissent

After being on hiatus for several years, the Teen Titans returned in issue #44 in 1977. A short time later in Teen Titans #50, one of the greatest ideas ever in Teen Titans history was introduced. That’s right: I speak of none other than Teen Titans West!

As the issue starts, Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Wally West and Duella Dent are traveling by train when the tracks suddenly begin to curve up and down like a giant roller coaster. The teens change into their hero garb and succeed in stopping the train and rescuing the passengers. Outside the train, they encounter the perpetrator of this vile deed, Captain Calamity, and his thugs in the middle of robbing the passengers. Despite a valiant effort by the Titans, Captain Calamity and his goons escape with the loot.

Meanwhile on the West Coast, tennis pro Bette Kane is playing an exhibition game aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Tippecanoe when the ship mysteriously rises hundreds of feet above the water. Kane takes the chance to change into her Bat-Girl outfit (yes Bat-hyphen-Girl — this is the original Bat-Girl, not that Barbara Gordon poseur). One of the sailors on the Tippecanoe turns out to be Hank Hall, now apparently an enlisted man in the Navy, who changes into Hawk and helps Bat-Girl. Beast Boy, who is filming a movie nearby, changes into a bird and flies to help (by holding onto the anchor and changing into an elephant) joined by Hawkman-wannabe Golden Eagle. The group manages to get the ship back to the ocean only to be greeted on the dock by Dove and Lilith.

Back at the Titan’s secret disco hideout the group is discussing the recent events when they hear a loud noise from outside. They rush out in time to see a passenger plane plummeting straight down. Mysteriously, it begins spinning and burrows a hole into the ground (yes, I know physics doesn’t work this way — shhh!) Guardian (our old friend Mal Duncan) and Bumble-Bee jump into the hole to rescue the passengers. Suddenly Captain Calamity appears and threatens to collapse the hole on top of both the plane and the Titans. Do I need to say it? To Be Continued…

This is a fun comic. I’ll admit the plot and villain sound horribly hokey, and they certainly are. Nonetheless there is a definite sense of fun in this comic. Part of that pleasure is from the return of such great second-string heroes as Hawk, Dove and the original Bat-Girl.

The art by Don Heck is straightforward. Missing are the interesting angles and exciting action shots used by Gil Kane and Nick Cardy, but Heck’s art is clear and serves the story well. He does an excellent job conveying action and guiding the eye with the use of simple poses.

Despite the hackneyed villain, improbable physics and lack of a convincing threat, the story by Bob Rozakis is really not that bad. Rozakis does a good job re-introducing obscure characters and establishing a distinct voice for everyone. He also does an excellent job of portraying the Hawk and Dove dichotomy.

Notes:

1. At some point after Teen Titans West, Bat-Girl is retconned away (I’m assuming it was one of the by-blows of Crisis on Infinite Earths). Bette Kane does remain a heroine and tennis ace, but now she becomes Flame Bird. In this guise, she appears in Hawk & Dove Annual #1 (October 1990).
2. Unlike the current depiction of his powers, in this issue when Beast Boy changes into an animal he takes on that animal’s natural coloration — except the head, which remains green and has a distinctly human face with a shock of green hair.
3. If I were a villain, I would promote myself well beyond the rank of captain. General, at least.
4. While I have previous mentioned that Brave and the Bold #142 was the first comic I bought, there are two earlier comics that I still remember fondly (I received them as gifts when I had chicken pox). One was a Batman comic where the Penguin had Batman in a giant birdcage. The other was an issue of the original Teen Titans. The only thing I remembered was that it involved trains and Harlequin. Re-reading Teen Titans #50, I realized that this was that mysterious comic I had read and re-read so much as a seven-year old. Maybe this partially explains my pathological fixation on Hawk and Dove…
5. While stopping the train, Wonder Girl prays to Aphrodite for strength. Wouldn’t a deity more known for feats of physical strength be a better choice than the Goddess of Love?
6. There is no reliable evidence that the Teen Titans West and the ACAPCWOVCCAOE are really the same group.
7. Whatever happened to Duella Dent?