Today, DC announced its teenage superhero titles, including the new Teen Titans series.
Tim Drake is forced to step out from behind his keyboard when an international organization seeks to capture or kill super-powered teenagers. As Red Robin, he must team up with the mysterious and belligerent powerhouse thief known as Wonder Girl and a hyperactive speedster calling himself Kid Flash in TEEN TITANS #1, by Scott Lobdell and artists Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund.
Tim Drake’s actually named. That’s clearly Cassie and Connor. Not sure about the other two women, but Jim Lee mentions adding new characters. As for Kid Flash, they seem to be going out of their way not to name him. His personality sounds like Bart Allen, but the shoulder symbol is the one usually used for Wally West. Can Dan Didio shed some light on this?
All of these characters have history with the DC Universe that existed before the team is built, but it might be just slightly different. But I think in capturing the voice and the spirit of these characters, I think they’re exactly who people think they are.
Newsarama adds that it’s Bart Allen, which certainly fits with Didio’s “exactly who people think they are” statement.
I wonder if he’ll still be a time-traveler? If he’ll still be Barry’s grandson? He could be a distant descendant (the way the Tornado Twins originally were in the Silver Age), which would remove one of the problematic aspects of Barry Allen’s return (namely that he’s supposed to be ~30 and has a teenage grandson, and even though he’s capable of traveling through time, he doesn’t use the ability to actually raise his kids).
13 titles left. Barry and Bart Allen are confirmed. Is there a place in the new DCU for Jay Garrick or Wally West?
Update: Several people, including Craig MacDonald and Scott Mateo, pointed me to this second image, which appears to be the actual cover for Teen Titans #1.
Update 2: Live Pa pointed out that there’s some more info in the discussion on Brett Booth’s blog.
So angry.
If there’s no place for Wally, there’s no place for me.
I was one of the (few) looking forward to this reboot. But if they delete Wally altogether, I might as well say bye bye to DC forever.
Love the new Red Robin costume.
Until I see a better image of Bart’s, can’t say the same about his costume. Not enough yellow or maybe better placement of the yellow.
Bart is back (Yay!) but yeah, what is his family connection now?
And if Bart’s history is altered, what does that mean for XS?
Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.
Mark my words, this will be the first reboot — if not only reboot — to get rebooted.
Uh … there goes that theory. The one where Wally West is Kid Flash again. This is getting messed up. What about Wally?!
That’s supposed to be Bart?! I…what the hell?
I dunno. That hair looks a lot more red to me than brown. Maybe I need my eyes checked? Plus, Wally has been Kid Flash on both Teen Titans and Young Justice in animation, so in the public consciousness, they might expect a West under the cowl, not an Allen.
Bart’s hair has been miscolored red so often since he became Kid Flash that I wouldn’t rely on it as an indicator.
Even if one of the changes is that his hair is consistently red, it wouldn’t be the worst thing.
With Tim and Bart announced, Wally is the only conspicuous character not yet mentioned. (Ok, the JSA, but we can assume they have a book. Also, I’m curious about Stephanie Brown.)
If he didn’t exist at all, I think they would just say so, and it doesn’t look like they’ve actually deleted or killed any other characters.
So I still hope he will be the last surprise announcement; perhaps a surprise at the ending of Flashpoint.
Isn’t Donna Troy also missing?
While I’m not thrilled with the new costume, I’d really like to see more pictures (by different artists) before I pass judgement.
Has the latest event officially been re-branded JumpingOffPoint yet?
I really don’t think Wally is going to be deleted/removed.
Wasn’t FlashPoint already at least in the planning stages when they did ReBirth? I don’t think they would have gone to all the trouble of de-powering Jai and making Irey West Impulse II if they were going to retcon out Wally and his family.
I still think Wally will be de-aged to whatever age they’ve made Nightwing/Dick Grayson.
And I still think DC has plans for a SpeedForce type title for the Flash family (similar to the Green Lantern Corps title they did for the GL family). Ideally I’d like to see that title have a main feature with the extended Flash family working together and a sub-feature that would focus on a different member of the extended Flash family each month.
I’m hoping that the absence of Wally is due to some big reveal with a major costume change or something or that he’s actually a much bigger player in FP than we realize and his involvement/role will be revealed towards the end of the series/event.
Flashpoint was in the works, but the universe-wide relaunch wasn’t. According to JMS, anyway, it was something Didio has wanted to do for a while, but the decision to go forward with it wasn’t made until sometime after sales results came back for Superman: Earth One in fall 2010.
Teen Titans looks horrible. Wonder Girl looks like a fortune teller/gypsy and Red Robin looks more like Marvel’s Falcon than someone from the Batman family. Not a very clear shot of Kid Flash’s costume but it looks badly designed. More like Kid Devil than Kid Flash.
Jay Garrick will most likely end up in Justice Society of America, leaving Wally out in the cold unless a second Flash book is announced (which is doubtful as I think they would have done that before now).
Either that, or DC will have a JSA book set in the Golden Age with Alan Scott and Jay Garrick, along with a modern-day JSA book featuring Wally as that team’s Flash and maybe Kyle Rayner or someone as their GL.
If Wally is completely forgotten in all this, I’ll pass on this “revamped” DC universe altogether and just start buying Image titles.
As I already said, I’m with you on your last statement.
However, I was just thinking that we’re still missing not just Wally, but also Donna and Garth. 3 out 4 of the original Titans. And Dick Grayson doesn’t seem to be in any group yet. Let’s hope there’s a “titan-style” book coming. But I’m not getting my hopes up to see them broken once again.
I think Dick will be in Global Justice. I know the cover shows Batman but so does JLA. I s’pose they could put Bruce in both teams but I’m thinking Batman on the Global Justice cover was a red herring (kind of like that one fake Flask ReBirth cover that changed from yellow lightning bolt on red background to red lightning bolt on a yellow background.) and that the final cover will have Dick as Nightwing on the cover. I also noticed there was a bit of empty space on that cover and that might also allow for Wally on the cover in a brand new costume and possibly with a new name/title to distinguish him on his own apart from Barry.
DiDio may be a bit shortsighted and at times makes some boneheaded moves and I know they’re trying to attract new readers but I don’t think that in trying to attract new readers they want to alienate the readers they already have. Comics are at their core a business after all. And what good is bringing in new readers when you end up losing the readers you already have? If you’re lucky you might break even in that scenario but chances are you’ll come out in the red not the black on the corporate sales charts.
They’re trying to walk a fine line between attracting new readers and keeping the ones they’ve got. I believe in some areas they’ll succeed and in others they’ll fail.
I really don’t see them make as colossal a mistake as wiping Wally from existence. He’s their ace in the hole if this Barry reboot doesn’t pan out. They need Wally in the nDCU SOMEWHERE doing something even it’s in the periphery (mentioned but never shown). Some might argue they’ve already got that with Bart but they tried that with Bart it lasted a year and inevitably failed. Wally is/was the Flash for 20 years. He was established and many fans came to love him. I can’t help but think that DC would want to keep him around in some capacity so they could bring him back as The Flash if they aren’t happy with the numbers from the resurrected Barry Allen title.
I cross my fingers and hope you’re right. I had two favourites growing up: Wally and Spidey. Spidey has already been damaged beyond repair for me. I hope I’m not losing Wally, too…
Dan Jurgens has already confirmed that it will be Bruce Wayne in Justice League International and that they’ve agreed on a way for him to be on both teams at the same time (apparently continuity won’t be as tight as it was before). This means that Bruce will be in 6 titles (Batman, Batman and Robin, Detective Comics, Batman: The Dark Knight, Justice League, Justice League International) in 2011 and another in 2012 (Batman Inc.) which is incredibly ridiculous. I can’t see why Nightwing and Red Robin would only be left to one book each, especially considering Dick’s popularity while he had the Batman mantle. Same thing goes for Barry and Wally. If Barry can be in two books a month (Flash and JL) then Wally should at least get one title (either a solo book or at least a team book).
Agreed. I realize that Batman (in their minds Bruce Wayne alone)is a powerhouse, but *six* titles out of the 52? If Wally isn’t among those last announcements I don’t care if he shows up now and then in DC Presents or something. It will be pretty clear he’ll be Wally in name only.
Wally’s fate is the only thing I’m worried about at this point, even moreso than the DCnU undoing the marriage of Lois and Clark. Wally’s series has arguably the BEST character growth of any comics character and it would be a shame to wipe it out.
A JSA made up of Kyle, Wally, and others if their generation would be a book I would buy.
anyone notice what looks like another speedster in the background behind “kid flash”? or maybe just poorly colored kid flash speed shadows… but still.
the suits look aweful. whats with the 90s artists making a comeback? it wasn’t pretty then, its not now.
I find myself oh-so-ever glad that Wally is not Kid Flash if mostly because that is the most motley looking crew I’ve ever seen. Robin looks kind of interesting…a bit too much red…kind of girly with the wings…maybe make them more raptor like rather than looking as if they could go with Strawberry Shortcake?
Gotta agree with mr maczaps about the artwork.
I’m not a big fan of Booth’s stuff.
The Kid Flash costume looks alright. Again, I’ll probably like it more seeing another artist’s rendition.
I’m starting to think DC will pull Wally out at the last minute. I can’t believe they would erase a character with as much history as he has.
I like the redesigns to the extent that they represent a clean break in a new era- some of the relatively few costume redesigns that do that… and since these characters are mostly 90s era creations who’ve routinely undergone redesigns before it’s not a huge blow to any established iconic look. The Teen Titans have always been compared to Marvel’s X-Men so shifting appearances (and rosters) are par for the course.
Note I’m less lenient on adjustment to iconic designs with mindshare amongst the broader audience (comic fans in general and the public at large), but that’s a separate issue.
As for Wally… I’m not getting my blood pressure up until it is warranted. DC’s modus operandi through nearly every event is to stress out Flash fans so I’m choosing not to play along.
The crouching girl with the claw makes me think of Menagerie from JL Elite.
Never thought i’d say this but…the liefeld book looks the best out of this :/ wtf did they do to the teen titans? why have Jim Lee…a man so out of touch with comics of this era put his pen to these costumes.
This reboot is going to blow and will be undone and put into the “lets pretend it never happened” category. I thought we’d just get a new start…not an entirely new universe…this is a weak attempt at being cool and hip to this era’s teenagers, why not just make a DC “ultimate” line instead? -_-
What about the background characters? Could that be Elongated Boy? (Similar costume as Dibney) A darker version of Secret? (She looks kind of smokey)I’m at a loss for the spidergirl
Agh! I didn’t get the download of that second picture until now. Is Bart sporting a mohawk?! I hate the cowl! The rest of the KF suit looks fair likable to okay, but the cowl is horrible. And insect lady is giving me the creeps. No way am I getting that book even if it were handed to me as a freebie. If it had Wally I would cut out the Wally pics and throw the rest away….unless Wally is made to look just as horrific.
Interesting.
No sooner does everyone realize that the 52 books are for all and intents now listed: no Wally, Donna, JSA, Damage, ect….than Comic Bloc’s database goes down.
Why on Earth would you go and hire Lobdell for anything… much less writing the Titans, and bring Brett Booth to make matters worse.
I’m afraid I’ll die if I ever read this one.