Teen Titans: Earth One - Namecheck Request

[zapbiffpow]

Jeff Lemire plus Terry and Rachel Dodson revealed a cave painting foreshadowing the future of the Earth One graphic novels, but I need help naming two Titans in it. Has anyone read this?

The other Titans are easy to ID. Clockwise from the lightning bolt: Harry Potter, Count Olaf, Relicanth, (?), Food Poisoned CatDog, Carol Danvers, Batman, Frosty the Snowman as Andy Dufresne, (?) and Rockbiter from Neverending Story.

The one in the middle clearly represents veteran Wolfman/Perez-era Titan, Evil Drinky-Bird, but I'm drawing blanks on the sword and the diamond, though. Ideas?

(In all seriousness, though, this was an interesting new take on the team, script and art-wise.)

Comments

[long_silence]

Since it seems to exclusively be Wolfman/Perez Titans I'd assume the crystal is Kole

Sword could be anyone. Arsenal?

[zapbiffpow]

Did some reading on Kole, and, yeah, she does seem to fit the bill. Not to mention this:



Aw jeeeeaaah. Anyway, thanks for the ID!

[icon_uk]

Well, literally from the 1 o'clock positions going clockwise it's

Kid Flash
Jericho
Aqualad
Kole
Changeling
Stafire
Nightwing
Cyborg
Wonder Girl (That one is a bit of a stretch, but otherwise not sure where else Donna would fit)
Terra

With Raven in the middle.

[zapbiffpow]

Man, feels good to list them, dunnit? I actually typed almost that exact list when I was making this post, but decided to go that route that I took.

The Robin/Nightwing one was neat, what with the domino mask/bat thing...but either way, someone from the original Fab Five just got musical-chaired here.

[nyadnar17]

I had no idea how much I missed those guys till I read your list. Growing up the Teen Titans were MY superteam. I started comics around the same time they did, I grew up with them, I really miss those guys.

[wizardru]

I would have made the diamond Wonder Girl based on her old costume with stars, but otherwise...yeah, a sword for an amazon makes sense.

Of course, the animated Raven always had a diamond on her forehead, but then you've got a raven in the center and....I dunno. I'm spitballing here.

[zapbiffpow]

No worries, bud: I'm pretty sure there's some holes in my lineup theory, too.

For instance I think the eye was supposed to be Cyclops.

[icon_uk]

Comic Raven's forehead stone was oval shaped rather than a diamond shape, and she'd be in the centre because it was Raven who chose the initial members of the New Teen Titans and basically created the team to help her fight her father Trigon.

[sagrada]

As somebody who has read a lot of these kinds of stories, would you say there's any deeper meaning behind how many superteams form in opposition to some figurative or literal "alien" menace? Some Other, some outsider like Loki or Trigon, or ravening barbarians like the Chitauri or Parademons?

The more I think about it, the more iffy it starts to feel to me.

[zapbiffpow]

Damn, that's a good question. It does appear in a lot of stories, but in this case I think it's a forgivable cliche: I mean, unified resistance is one of the natural responses to invasion.

You've got your guerillas (the beginning of the New 52 Justice League), your Allied forces (MCU! Avengers), your covert organizations (oddly enough, the New 52 Teen Titans, I think. The initial run wasn't very clear.)

If anything, it negates the 'Batman caused Gotham's Supervillain Craze' problem inherent in, well, a lot of comics...but not the escalation that follows.

[icon_uk]

Not sure I can get behind that notion to be honest, well not in this specific case.

The New Teen Titans were gathered to fight Trigon, the evil outsider, but were composed of a number of outsiders themselves; Raven - the DAUGHTER of Trigon, with the inborn potential for vast evil, and some emotional issues of her own. Kory - a warrior alien, exiled from her own planet by an evil sister, and who found Earth emotionally repressed. Vic - a half man half robot black guy who saw himself as a freakish monster, Gar - am emerald-green kid with deep rooted insecurities, Wally - a hero who didn't even want to be there until emotionally manipulated into it. Dick and Donna don't really fit those citeria, though Dick was having identity issues of his own.

In general, evil is usually treated as being an outside force, be it Loki, the Axis forces, Trigon, or anti-mutant prejudice.

The Legion of Super-Heroes, in contrast, didn't form AGAINST a monolithic something, it formed to BE something. Likewise the original Teen Titans (IMHO) some iterations of the Justice League and so on.

[sagrada]

That's an excellent point, never thought of that side to it. Guess the whole "We're outcasts, too." bit has gotten so common it's nowhere so instantly effective or noticeBle as it once was. Thanks.

[tugrul]

Easy! Inverted Mr. Sinister and warrior princess Xena.

Also, Not!Batman! EDIT: Otherwise known as Blue Bat-Tick.