On Friday, April 13, DC Comics released the solicitation and cover for “Titans” issue #23, written by Dan Abnett.
Typically, DC Comics releases its list of solicitations in full around the third or fourth Monday of every month, but now and then a solicitation or two will be announced earlier. Solicitations are set three months ahead of release.
The significance of July’s “Titans” issue is that it will feature a brand new team.
Presently, in the comics, the Titans team has disbanded. There will be no Titans-related issues released in May in deference to the “No Justice” event DC is publishing that month.
The “No Justice” event is a largescale company event where members of the Justice League teams, Titans teams and some villains will have to all work together to defeat a cosmic threat. The results of the event are that all current branches of the Justice League and Titans will disband, with new teams forming in July.
The three new Justice League teams and the Titans team will now work closely together, even sharing a homebase. This instance will be the first time the Titans have worked as peers alongside the Justice League on a regular basis.
All of the new Justice League teams and the “New Titans” team were announced in-full at WonderCon 2018 last month. However, the full lineup of the upcoming “Titans” team was left a mystery.
With Friday’s reveal, comic book fans everywhere can now see the seven-person team with their own eyes.
The new team consists of Nightwing, Raven, Beast Boy, Donna Troy, Steel, Miss Martian and one male mystery character.
Nightwing, real name Dick Grayson, has had arguably the largest role in Titans history. As the original Robin, he was the original Teen Titans’ leader and one of its founding members. He has continued to lead incarnations of the team, both as Robin and as his adult identity of Nightwing. Likewise, he will also be leading this new incarnation of the team. While he has no powers, Nightwing has many skills that make him an asset to the team – including his combat prowess, his investigative talent, his tactical know-how and his charismatic nature.
Raven, who sometimes uses the civilian identity Rachel Roth, has mostly been a mainstay in Titans history since her introduction in 1980. Given her nature as a half-demon, Raven provides a supernatural and sometimes magical power set to the team. While she displayed many powers, some of her more prominent abilities include empathy, healing, teleportation and magic. In the new Titans team, Raven will serve as co-leader alongside Dick – marking her first position of leadership within the team.
Beast Boy, real name Gar Logan, has become a name prominently associated with the Titans as well. He is known for his green skin and hair, both of which being a result of the incident that gave him his powers. Beast Boy has the ability to shape-shift into any animal within the animal kingdom. He retains his intellect and ability to speak even in these bestial forms. Gar is known for his quick-wit and fun-loving nature, which he uses to cope with his dark past. Beast Boy and Raven are often on the same team together, and it is fun to see him follow Raven and move up from the “Teen Titans” to the more adult “Titans.”
Donna Troy, formerly known as Wonder Girl, brandishes her sword and shield for this new team of Titans. Along with Dick, she is the only member from the previous incarnation to continue to be on the new team. Donna, who was also a founding member of the original Teen Titans team, has the second highest tenure as a member. Usually serving as the levelheaded den-mother of the group, Donna is often Dick’s second-in-command, although she is stepping down from such a role in this new team. Donna Troy has superhuman strength and durability, and in addition to a sword and shield, Donna has the Lasso of Persuasion, which can compel anyone she traps in it to obey her commands.
Steel, real name Natasha Irons, is joining the Titans for the first time. In the past, Natasha has shown interest in joining the team, only to be disallowed by her uncle, who also acts as a superhero and Justice League member under the identity Steel. Natasha wears a full-body, armored suit she designed herself that gives her superhuman strength and durability and allows her to fly. Sometimes, her suit is shown to allow her to grow to skyscraper-like heights. Steel also wields a hammer that strikes with more kinetic force than the swing would normally boast.
Miss Martian, whose real name is M’gann M’orzz but who also uses the civilian name Megan Morse, is a teenage Martian. With ties to Martian Manhunter, a founding member of the Justice League, Miss Martian has a similar power set: telepathy, telekinesis, flight, intangibility, invisibility, shape-shifting, optic blasts, superhuman physique and more. As a character, Miss Martian had grown a following due to the Young Justice television series, yet she has not appeared in the comics since the 2011 reboot of the DC Universe. Her place in the new Titans team marks her return to comics, and fans applauded loudly when she was announced to be on the team. She is wearing a new uniform, modeled after Martian Manhunter’s current uniform.
Finally, the mystery character has left fans reeling with curiosity regarding his identity. The young man is shown in civilian clothes, simple pants and t-shirt, so identifying him based on his heroic uniform is impossible. Assuming he is a pre-existing character at all, many fans speculate that he is the character Jericho, real name Joseph Wilson. Jericho has been a Titan before. In fact, he served dutifully for over 100 issues of Titans books over the years. In current comics, Jericho has recently cast aside the uniform he had been using. Many suspect Joey will be taking on a new uniform later down the road. Jericho is mute, but he has the power to possess others by making eye-contact. Other fans believe that the mystery character will be a brand new character who will receive some sort of power thanks to the “metagene pandemic” that the solicitation says will result from “No Justice.”
Whatever the case, this lineup is sure to shake Titans history, and fans can find the first issue of this new run on shelves come July 18 of this year.
