DC Comics’ New Teen Titans #1-3 (1983)
Written by Marv Wolfman (#1-2)
Story by Marv Wolfman (#3)
Script by Joey Cavalieri (#3)
Penciled by George Pérez (#1), Ross Andru (#2), Adrian Gonzales (#3)
Inked by Dick Giordano (#1), Joe Giella (#2-3), Ricardo Villagran (#3)
Coloured by Adrienne Roy
Spoilers (from forty-two years ago)
I’ve been neglecting this column for some time now, and have felt bad about it. A while ago, a reader and friend of the column (what up Chris?) sent me the three issue miniseries that DC published in 1983 as a public service, in association with the Keebler Company, IBM, the National Federation of Parents for Drug-Free Youth, and Nancy Reagan’s drug awareness campaign (just say no!).
I had a New Teen Titans-sized hole in my reading history, having never interacted with the book at the height of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s popularity. That changed when I picked up a run of the trades for really cheap a few years ago, and I came to appreciate just how good this title was. I hadn’t heard of these three issues though, and was very pleasantly surprised to receive them.
I remember reading the Spider-Man and Power Pack comic on sexual assault back in the day (honestly, I remember finding it kind of confusing at the time), but hadn’t ever seen these. I was pretty young in 1983, and growing up in Canada, it’s not that likely that this book would have been distributed here. That explains why I’ve never noticed it at comics shows or in shops, either (although maybe not, seeing as the second one has a Canadian cover price). Maybe I just never noticed them.
I was surprised to see that Wolfman and Pérez were involved in this, which makes them more special to me (okay, Pérez was only there for the first one, but still, that’s kind of special).
Before reading these, I was informed that Robin could not be used in the series, due to a complicated licensing situation, so The Protector debuted. He’s a caped hero, and is obviously Robin with a different suit. I also noticed that Starfire’s costume is drawn in a less-sexy manner.
Going into this, I really don’t know what to expect. Public service comics are invariably a little cheesy, but this one was written by the person who knew these characters best, and prominently features a character, Speedy, with a history of drug use. I’m excited to dive into this series!
Let’s track who turned up in the title:
The New Teen Titans
- Speedy (Roy Harper; #1)
- Starfire (Koriand’r; #1-3)
- Changeling (Garfield Logan; #1-3)
- Cyborg (Victor Stone; #1-3)
- The Protector (Jason; #1-3)
- Wonder Girl (Donna Troy; #1-3)
- Raven (#1-3)
- Kid Flash (Wally West; #2-3)
Villains
- Adam O’Connor (#2)
Guest Stars
- Lois Lane (#3)
Supporting Characters
- Debbie O’Hara (#1)
- Barry O’Hara (#1)
- Sylvia O’Hara (#1)
- Teddy O’Hara (#1)
- Anna Juarez (#1)
- Joseph Cummings (#1)
- Henry Catlin (#1)
- Roger Levine (#1)
- Betty Simpson (#1)
- Ted Hart (Protector’s cousin; #2)
- Amy King (#2)
- Brian Jones (#2)
- Linda (#2)
- Coral Gianetti (#2)
- Jesse (#3)
- Dave (Jesse’s brother; #3)
Let’s take a look at what happened in these books, with some commentary as we go:
- The first issue opens with a letter from Nancy Reagan, urging young people to become heroes by not using drugs. The story opens with a thirteen year old girl, Debbie O’Hara, a very 80s looking white girl, talking about her drug use, like we often see in movies and TV shows when people are at AA. She’s tried five types of drugs as well as alcohol, and talks about how it impacted her relationship with her parents. The story properly opens with the Teen Titans (Speedy, Starfire, Changeling, Cyborg, and Wonder Girl) breaking through the wall of a drug lab and attacking the guys producing drugs. The team is joined by The Protector, who talks to Speedy about how happy he is to be working with the team (although later he gets called ‘boss-man’ by Cyborg, so it’s obvious that he is nothing more than a re-drawn Robin). They shut down the lab, and Raven teleports in to stop a few guys from escaping, although her empathy gets fired up by someone in pain. They find a boy who is overdosing, I guess, and take him to the hospital. The team waits around and learns that the kid is dead. At the same time, they learn of another girl who is going through detox – Debbie O’Hara. Starfire is upset about the boy’s death so she goes and levels the building that had the drug lab. Changeling approaches Debbie’s little brother, Teddy, who rebuffs him. The rest of the team talk to her parents, and learn how difficult life has been with Debbie for a while now. Raven senses the despair of Debbie’s friends in the corridor, and takes Speedy to talk to them. One of those friends, Anna Juarez, a young Mexican girl, gives another AA-style talk (she’s taken seven types of drugs at twelve); it’s her brother who died, and we learn that these talks are used as framing devices to introduce the characters. The kids don’t want to talk to the Titans, and they run. Speedy, Raven, and Starfire catch up to them, and we see how upset Anna is. Roy gives them his own testimony, referring to the five types of drugs he started using at thirteen. He tries to give them hope, but it’s not clear if his words get through. Debbie refuses to tell her parents where she gets her drugs, but Teddy explains that they’re available at school. Cyborg tells his friends about his own experiences when he was younger, and the team loads into their jet to go stop the dealers that Teddy talked about. As they fly, they discuss what motivates kids to try drugs. They spot two helicopters landing and off-loading drugs to some vans. Another of Debbie’s friends, Joseph Cummings, a young Black kid, gives his testimony (seven types of drugs at fourteen), and describes the four times he was hospitalized. The kids gather for Anna right before her brother’s funeral, and get her high. The Titans follow the two helicopters to some mountains, where they attack, but it’s not clear where they are or why they’re doing this. At the funeral, Anna lashes out at everyone and storms off. Her parents catch her and comfort her. Henry Catlin’s testimony (chubby white boy, four types of drugs as well as alcohol, at thirteen) helps show the reasons why kids start using drugs, and reflects the way that these kids’ attitudes are starting to change. Later, the Titans stop some adults from distributing drugs to kids to sell at school (Cyborg and Protector stayed with their captives in the mountains). Raven is upset by the pain she feels coming from all the kids. The group of friends we’ve been following meet up outside a building (Anna’s not there) and, after learning that Roger’s older brother is in the hospital after being hit by a car while taking PCP, decide to ‘go straight’ together. We see the testimony of Roger Levine, a small white boy who is fifteen, and has tried ten types of drugs as well as alcohol, after his older brother’s friends got him to try them. We learn that they’ve been giving these testimonies at a treatment center, and that their parents are all there to support them, as well as the Titans. Roy talks about love as the team leaves, and we see yet another girl, Betty Simpson, start to tell her story. The issue ends with some ‘activity pages’, some of which are fun and games, and others are more reflective in nature. The inside back cover has the Keebler Elf encouraging kids to sign a declaration to be “a Titan in the drug war.”
- Issue two has art by Ross Andru, making it less visually impressive than the first issue, just as Wolfman’s script becomes a lot more preachy, with characters spouting off lists of negative drug effects as dialogue. The Teen Titans (with Kid Flash replacing Speedy) and The Protector stop some guys from unloading boxes of drugs from vans outside of an amusement park. After they’ve rounded everyone up, a guy from a federal task force asks the team to stay in Blue Harbor to stop the drug trade. Kid Flash agrees, since he lives there. The Protector asks him to look in on his cousin, Ted Hart, who has just moved into town and who is a recovering addict. Wally goes to see Ted, and introduces him to Amy King (he claims that she’s the sister of his best friend, which I take to be a reference to Frances Kane, and can’t account for the change in spelling) and Brian and Linda, who are arguing about Brian’s drug use. Wally leaves them to go to class together, and it’s not long before Ted is explaining to Brian why he can’t do any more drugs. We meet Adam, the school dealer, and his girlfriend Coral, who doesn’t seem that into him anymore. We see The Protector take down some drug suppliers in their office. As time passes, Ted and Amy get closer. Starfire chases down some drug guys in a car, while Cyborg, Changeling, Wonder Girl, and Raven take down some street dealer types; they are trying to learn about a big shipment they expect is coming. Brian hangs out with Adam, offering him some drugs. Coral joins them, and she also offers Ted a joint. They peer pressure him into smoking, and Adam gets jealous watching this. Later, Ted acts strangely on a date with Amy, and seeks out Adam to buy some drugs from him. Soon, he’s mouthing off in class and being rude to his ‘straight’ friends. Amy and Linda go to Wally to let him know what’s going on. Kid Flash seeks out The Protector, who is running a meeting at a parent/child drug support meeting (a kid named Jackie gives his testimony). Protector and Kid Flash seek out Ted, and catch him talking to Adam. They run, but the heroes catch them and The Protector gives them a long lecture. Ted’s parents try to talk to him later, and he rebukes them. Coral tells Adam she was only hanging out with Ted to make him jealous, and Ted hears this. He finds Brian doing a line in the bathroom, but knocks it on the ground by mistake, and they both try to snort it all up. Needing more, they go to Adam, but since they don’t have any money, he doesn’t sell to them. They decide to hold up a convenience store, but the guy working there shoots Brian. Ted runs to Amy. The Titans find the location of the big drug shipment they’ve been expecting, and stop it. Raven senses someone’s pain and teleports to the store where Brian is being treated for his wounds. She realizes that it’s not him she’s looking for. Later, Brian and Ted are in a shared hospital room, with their parents and the Titans around them. Both boys have decided to go clean, and are happy that their respective girlfriends are going to stay with them. The Titans leave, feeling like things are solved. This issue has more activity pages, and the same declaration for readers to sign.
- The third issue has Joey Cavalieri scripting Marv Wolfman’s story, with yet another penciller, Adrian Gonzales. Lois Lane introduces the Titans (and the Protector) to a school auditorium full of kids and their parents. Outside, a clean-cut white boy named Jesse hands out angel dust-laced joints to his friends, before remembering that he has to attend the Titans’ thing with his parents. When the Protector talks about drugs, Jesse challenges him, claiming that he’s lying and then storming off in a fit of rage. Changeling pursues him, and watches as the boy rages through the streets of whatever town they’re in, before almost running off a sea-side cliff. Gar has to turn into a rhino to block him. Jesse starts to open up, talking about how no one understands him, but that drugs make him feel better. Raven talks to a bunch of Jesse’s friends, and then senses his emotions and teleports to him. Jesse is wracked with pain in his stomach and somehow falls off the cliff. Raven appears and catches him with her soul self; inside it, he feels pain from the stuff he smoked. He has a vision of his brother, Dave, who first started him off with drugs. He sees Dave get sick in front of him, and talk about the consequences the drugs will have. He sees his brother crumble into dust. Outside of Raven’s soul self, she explains that his perceptions were changed by the drugs, and she takes his pain from him when they embrace. She also absorbs his angel dust, and it makes her start to trip. As the rest of the Titans arrive, she gets angry and turns into a disheveled bird. She attacks her friends, but soon they are able to calm her down. She passes out, so Kory flies her to the hospital. Jesse’s parents arrive and we see Jesse turn his attitude around. He tells the team he wants to get his friends off drugs, and admits it was Dave that started him on this path. His friends are listening from behind some trees, and they go to warn Dave. Back at the school, the presentation continues, and we get a long speech by The Protector about how parents have to step up to protect their kids and get them off drugs (of course, all the parents here are decidedly middle class, which is something to return to). Dave goes to his dealers, looking for some free drugs, but they reject him. The Titans are challenged to get more involved in the war on drugs, so they head out to bust some dealers. Dave apparently has a house by the shore and a nice car; Jesse’s friends come to get some weed, and to warn him. The Titans arrive and chase Dave. They catch him and try to talk to him, but he runs from them. We learn that Cyborg planted a tracker on him, so they start to follow him. Back at the school, some of Jesse’s friends pressure him to get high, but he stands up to them and gives a speech that inspires a lot of the non-druggie kids. His friend says he doesn’t have the same support that Jesse has. The Titans follow Dave to his dealers, who they briefly fight. After they take them out, we see that Dave is dope sick. Later, Dave is in the hospital with his family, and we learn that he’s going to also stop taking drugs. There are more activity pages and the same pledge sheet to round out this issue.
I’m really glad to have gotten the chance to read these, as I found this to be a fascinating look at American culture in the early 80s. There’s a lot you can analyze and discuss in these comics, but I’d like to start with the comic book aspects first.
That first issue really could have been a ‘special’ issue of the regular New Teen Titans series at the time. It has all the hallmarks of the era, with Pérez doing some interesting things with the layout, and with Wolfman treating the main characters seriously. You can tell that Speedy genuinely understands what the kids are going through, and it works well within his history at the time.
The other issues are less successful, as it’s clear that Wolfman doesn’t have as much to say about this topic. They’re more preachy, where the first issue attempts to build empathy (I think I’m moving away from the comic aspects though). The last two issues had to work to find something for all of the heroes to do, and even fell back on the ‘team fighting Raven’ trope that I find so tiring.
After Pérez’s issue, the other two don’t really stand out, but they are good examples of house DC styles at the time. Andru is a Bronze Age giant, and Gonzales’s name I recognized from my recent All-Star Squadron re-read. Neither are bad artists, and I feel like their uncomplicated styles made this book more appealing to the types of non-comics people who had to interact with it in more institutional settings.
You do have to wonder at how much direction Wolfman and the others were given by the Presidents Council or the other corporate entities involved in creating this comic. When you think about the most effective comics for warning people away from the dangers of drugs, you think about the original Speedy does heroin story, or that Amazing Spider-Man story that didn’t get approved by the Comics Code (or even the Iron Man Demon in a Bottle storyline). Those stories were realistic and hard-hitting, and probably did more to inculcate anti-drug attitudes than a story about a re-drawn Robin stand-in lecturing about side effects ever could. But, they also weren’t something that could be handed out in schools any more than copies of Alice Childress’s A Hero Ain’t Nothing But A Sandwich.
Wolfman had to walk a very thin line here, and I think that resulted in the rather strange way in which drug users and the drug industry were presented here. I couldn’t help but notice that while Black and Latinx drug users were represented, someone with no background knowledge would see the drug crisis of the early 80s as something that affected middle class white kids more than anyone else.
The kids are mostly clean and neatly dressed, and shown as having two loving and attentive parents, for the most part. They may have had older siblings introduce them to the lifestyle, but for the most part, these are middle school and high school students who buy and use their drugs in their clean, orderly schools, with no one the wiser. The drug dealers are often shown as wearing suits and hanging out in offices.
I don’t know if that was done to help spread the drug war hysteria, making it look like something completely undetectable, or if it was more the case that Wolfman and his collaborators didn’t know anything about underground and drug cultures. It rang hollow in many places.
For that reason, I found these comics to be a fascinating document of the time they were made, more so than the regular New Teen Titans series. These books suggest that America was gripped by a form of paranoia and fear, and that they needed to turn to heroes to help them keep their kids off drugs. This is why I found it so interesting that a key part of the third issue was devoted to explaining to parents how to deal with their children who partake in drugs. It made me question who the intended audience for these books might have really been.
Anyway, I’m really grateful to my generous reader for providing me with these. I doubt I ever would have read them any other way (I am sorry that it took me so long to get to them). To my knowledge, these have never been collected anywhere, so best of luck tracking them down if you want to read them too.
I hope to be back with a new column for you soon; I’ve got one that’s almost finished…
If you’d like to see the archives of all of my retro review columns, click here.
