Comments on: The New Teen Titans: Who Is Donna Troy?

By: Johanna

Johanna — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 20:12:57 +0000

That’s a long-standing discussion, about whether the publishers should do paperback Archives. I guess you could hope that Barnes & Noble is interested in doing their own print run (which is how we got paperback Masterworks exclusive to that chain).

The paperback color Batman & Superman historical trades don’t directly replicate the Archives, because they arrange the stories chronologically instead of just by title. (What is the name of that series? I’m blanking.) I don’t think you could do something similar with the Titans, because in the time period we’re talking about, they were only running in one title.

By: Michael Denton

Michael Denton — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 18:53:52 +0000

dispendable?

I mean dispensible, obviously…or do I?

By: Michael Denton

Michael Denton — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 18:53:21 +0000

Well, I kinda understand that, but seems like they’re still losing out – I’m not a big enough fan to buy a pricey edition like that, but interested enough to buy a softcover version. Certainly there are others out there like me, but maybe not.

Heck, I won’t buy the pricey editions of material that I’m a huge fan of (Amazing Spider-Man – I get the essentials of it). I make good money, but both DC’s and Marvel’s archive editions seem to be made for people with a LOT more dispendable income that me.

By: Michael Denton

Michael Denton — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 22:29:26 +0000

As someone who pretty much ignores any mainstream or continuity-DC (when opting for DC super-hero fare, I choose All Star Superman, Seven Soldiers, Batman and the Monster Men, etc.), I picked this up as part of the on-going collection of the 80’s Teen Titan collections. As part of that, it was a good read and useful.

Now, although I’ve sunk money into all the collections already, how about DC releasing a in-order color reprinting of the Wolfman/Perez Titans in this format? (Teen Titan Visionaries if you will.) Although I’ve been enjoying seeing what I missed in the 80’s (never read DC supers back then (other than Watchman and TDKR – mostly Marvel then First, Comico, and others when I gained access to direct market stuff), I’m frustrated that I can’t make heads or tails of their timeline – and I’d love to read the complete run from the first issue to the last, no matter how good the collected story arcs are.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 21:54:30 +0000

I suspect they'd think that it would cut into their sales of the Archive edition.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 20:30:49 +0000

I know what you mean. The market’s changed, though — now, if someone wants to read a character-driven plot about, say, preparing for a wedding, they can read that without the superhero overlay. So superhero stories have become more limited in what they do because there’s a lot more choices available overall.

By: Vincent J. Murphy

Vincent J. Murphy — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 20:02:49 +0000

The thing I like about “Who is Donna Troy” is that while it is a good Donna Troy story, it’s an even better Dick Grayson story: we see him using the detective skills taught to him by his mentor, his thoughts and feelings on his teammates, etc. It’s one of those stories that not only moves Donna’s story ahead, but Dick’s as well.

Whenever I reread this story and relive Dick working for hours on what could be unimportant evidence, I feel a sense of loss. Had the story been done today, Dick would have had Oracle do all the detetive work, and at the end, Dick would have had to kick Deathstroke’s butt before the end.

I guess I really miss the character-driven plots that used to show up from time to time. Super-hero weddings without villains crashing the party, detective heroes detecting, thought balloons.