TEEN TITANS: THE 1976 REVIVAL

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the 1976 return of DC ‘s Teen Titans team after a few year hiatus.

TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #44 (Nov 1976)

Title: The Man Who Toppled the Titans

Villain: Dr. Light

Synopsis: Dr. Light captures four of the former members of the Teen Titans – Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Speedy (should be called Red Arrow to avoid confusion about his m.o.). He wants to use them as bait in a trap to kill the Justice League. 

Malcolm Duncan, the black friend of the Teen Titans, decides that he will need superpowers to save the former teammates. He dons the exo-skeleton and shield of the Golden Age superhero the Guardian.

As the new Guardian he frees Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Speedy. The five of them defeat Dr. Light and decide to stay together to revive the Teen Titans team.

TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #45 (Dec 1976)

Title: You Can’t Say No to the Angel of Death

Villains: Azrael the Angel of Death and the Wreckers

Synopsis: Mal Duncan abandons the Guardian exoskeleton and shield to become the superhero Hornblower when he defeats the Angel of Death to earn Gabriel’s Horn as a super-powered sonic weapon.

The Teen Titans get money from the Bruce Wayne Foundation to finance their new equipment and headquarters, the cover of which is a music & dance joint. Mal, Roy Harper (Speedy) and a teen called Corey (no superhero identity) play in the rock group the Great Frog at the site.

Hornblower, the returned Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin, Wonder Girl and Speedy defeat a large gang called the Wreckers, who have been blowing up poor neighborhoods that are trying to rebuild.

TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #46 (Feb 1977)

Title: The Fiddler’s Concert of Crime

Villain: The Fiddler

Synopsis: The Fiddler, a supervillain from Earth-Two, the home planet of DC’s Golden Age heroes, escapes to Earth-One where he robs a rock concert only to be stopped by the Teen Titans.

Simultaneously, Robin proposes membership for his new friend the Joker’s Daughter (soon to go by Harlequin), a costumed heroine he mistakenly thought was a criminal in Batman Family #6 (Aug 1976). This young woman is enigmatic and may actually be the daughter of Two-Face (her name is Duela Dent) but over the years she also becomes Scarecrone, Riddler’s Daughter and Penguin’s Daughter.

When two rock bands wind up getting kidnapped by the Fiddler the Teen Titans must get to the bottom of it all.

TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #47 (Apr 1977)

Title: Trouble – Which Rhymes with Double

Villains: Darklight Twins, Flamesplasher Twins, Sizematic Twins and Two-Face

Synopsis: The current roster of Teen Titans – Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Speedy, Hornblower and Joker’s Daughter – are close to finishing their new HQ/ teen rock ‘n’ roll restaurant, which they are naming Gabriel’s Horn after Mal’s sonic weapon.

Our heroes have multiple clashes with twin villains who have opposite powers from each other. The twin villainesses called Darklight have one twin with darkness powers and the other with light-based powers; the twin villains called Flamesplasher have one with a flame cannon and the other with a water cannon; and Sizematic, one of whom can shrink and the other who can grow.

In the end the Teen Titans finally defeat the sextet but Robin and Joker’s Daughter are captured by the secret boss behind the sets of twins – Two-Face. His coin flip comes up scarred so he is about to kill them.

TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #48 (Jun 1977)

Title: Daddy’s Little Crimefighter

Villain: Two-Face

Synopsis: Joker’s Daughter saves her and Robin’s lives by claiming to be Two-Face’s daughter. After she and Robin learn the plans of Two-Face and his gang they escape.

Meanwhile, the other Teen Titans are attacked by an armored superheroine called Bumblebee. She proves her abilities against the team before revealing she is Hornblower’s girlfriend (future wife) scientist Karen Beecher. She is accepted as a new member.

Robin and Joker’s Daughter – now going by Harlequin – lead the rest of the Teen Titans in foiling Two-Face’s plot to blow up two entire cities. 

TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #49 (Aug 1977)

Title: Raid of the Rocket Rollers

Villains: The Rocket Rollers

Synopsis: One night during music and partying at our heroes’ “discotheque” (lol) Gabriel’s Horn, the place is raided and robbed by the Rocket-Rollers, a small army of crooks on rocket-powered skateboards with super-weaponry.

Our large contingent of Teen Titans – Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Speedy, Aqualad, Hornblower, Harlequin and Bumblebee – defeat the Rocket-Rollers.

In the end, Aqualad leaves the team and Mal Duncan decides to stop being Hornblower since he has never bothered wearing a mask with that costume and goes back to wearing the Guardian exoskeleton and shield as the new Guardian.

TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #50 (Oct 1977)

Title: The Coast-to-Coast Calamities

Villains: Captain Calamity and Mister Esper

Synopsis: On the East Coast, Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Guardian, Harlequin and Bumblebee take on a new supervillain called Captain Calamity, whose m.o. involves natural disasters.

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, former Teen Titans member Lilith aka Omen forms a second team of Teen Titans to tackle the supervillain called Mister Esper and the disasters he unleashes out there. The Teen Titans West consist of Lilith/ Omen, the original blonde 1961 Batgirl, Beast Boy, Golden Eagle and the two sons of Hawkman & Hawkgirl – Hawk and Dove.

Both teams are outmaneuvered by Captain Calamity, Mister Esper and their thugs.

TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #51 (Nov 1977)

Title: Titans East, Titans West

Villains: Captain Calamity and Mister Esper

Synopsis: Out west, Lilith/ Omen and her Teen Titans recruit former Titans member Gnarrk, the time-lost teenage caveman, to help them fight the destructive rampage of Mister Esper and his gang.

Back east, Aqualad returns to active duty with the Teen Titans East to help fight Captain Calamity and his gang.

The two teams decide to join forces when they discover links between the crimes of the two supervillains they are facing.

TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #52 (Dec 1977)

Title: When Titans Clash

Villain: Captain Calamity/ Mister Esper

Synopsis: The supervillainy is opposed by the now-huge roster of fifteen Teen Titans – Lilith/ Omen, Beast Boy, Golden Eagle, Gnarrk, Batgirl, Hawk, Dove, Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Aqualad, Harlequin, Guardian, Bumblebee and Speedy.

They break up into mixed groups composed of members from each coast (think of the Justice Society-Justice League teamups) to continue fighting Captain Calamity and Mister Esper.

Lilith realizes the two villains are one in the same man and have been tapping into her other-dimensional energies to pull off the natural disasters they’ve been causing. Our heroes win and celebrate with a pizza party at Gabriel’s Horn.     

TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #53 (Feb 1978)

Title: Teen Titans Casebook

Villain: Antithesis

Synopsis: The newer members of the Teen Titans are treated to the never before told origin story of the team. (They were an already-formed group in their first 1960s appearance.)

An alien energy being called Antithesis took control of the minds of Wonder Woman, Flash, Batman, Aquaman and Green Arrow. The villain then had the five heroes go on crime sprees, prompting their teen counterparts to stop them and free them from Antithesis’ control.

That tale from the Teen Titans Casebook told, the longtime members of the Teen Titans announce that the group is disbanding once again so they can all pursue individual paths. This is the final issue of the revived series.