Growing up, my favorite comic book was The New Teen Titans. Featuring a roster of DC Comics’ teen, side-kick superheroes, it likely appealed to me because the characters were close to my age. I also had a strange (yes, “strange” is the right word) fascination with Robin – the later half of “Batman and…” and Robin was the leader of this group of heroes. Yes, that Robin, the first Robin, as in Dick Grayson, the original side kick, the ward of Bruce Wayne, a character that is almost as recognizable as Superman and Batman and Spider-Man. In his green shorts and robin-red-breast tunic, Robin was the brains behind the New Teen Titans. The comic book was so popular in the 1980s, it rivaled Marvel’s Uncanny X-Men in sales. Though the X-Men have shown more staying power over the years, The New Teen Titans remains my favorite comic book of all time.
My copy of The New Teen Titans omnibus autographed by co-creator George Perez.
During the course of the series, Robin would famously fall out with Batman and change his name to Nightwing, leaving the teen side-kick role behind. Nightwing, then, superseded Robin as my favorite character then and remains my favorite to this day.
I had the opportunity to meet the co-creator of Nightwing, Mr. George Perez, at Denver Comic Con this summer. I chatted with him for about 10 minutes while he drew a sketch of the character for me. Jovial and pleasant, Mr. Perez was such fun to be around that I will return to Denver Comic Con next year to talk with him again.
Me and Nightwing co-creator George Perez – what a very nice guy he is!
There is a rumor today that TNT (Turner Network Television) is developing an hour-long drama based on The New Teen Titans called simply Titans. You can read the story HERE.
With Gotham, The Flash and John Constantine this fall joining the truly excellent Arrow and the respectable Agents of SHIELD on television (I will blog about Arrow in a future post, but, if you watch it, you are familiar with another of Mr. Perez’s character’s, Slade Wilson who in the comics was called Deathstroke: The Terminator), there is clearly money to be made in superhero television shows. I hope that money extends to Titans. I’d love to see it.
And There Came a Day... 