New Teen Titans: Games [Hardcover]

The New Teen Titans: Games: written by Marv Wolfman and George Perez; illustrated by George Perez, Mike Perkins and Al Vey (2011): Announced in 1988 as an original graphic novel starring the then-current iteration of DC superhero group the Teen Titans, Games soon became one of mainstream comicdom's most famous 'lost' books. New Teen Titans penciller extraordinaire George Perez completed roughly 70 pages of art before the project got shelved. After a few false starts and subsequent stops, Games in its 120-page entirety finally sees the light of day 23 years after its announcement.

DC wisely lets the story take place in the time-lost continuity of 1988, making this almost a tribute to the superhero group Marv Wolfman and Perez made so popular at DC in the 1980's, when the New Teen Titans comic was DC's biggest challenge to the sales supremacy of Marvel's X-Men.

Perez's almost-obsessively detailed art is a joy throughout -- all the characters are distinctively different, Perez's attention to facial detail being one of his less-heralded strengths. Wolfman and Perez's story maintained my interest throughout, as the Titans face what appears to be a terrorist with a super-powered team, a terrorist who seems to know their most intimate secrets and how to use those secrets against them. The events come, perhaps, a bit too fast and densely -- there are points at which it almost feels like this should have been a story twice its length -- but I'll take compression over decompression in a superhero comic book pretty much any day of the week.

It's nice to visit with old friends -- with Wolfman and Perez on the book they brought to prominence, and with the late 1980's line-up of Titans. I'd have liked more of (Kid) Flash, Speedy, and Aqualad (there are continuity reasons for why these early 1980's Titans weren't a big part of the late 1980's comic and thus aren't a big part of Games), but Games is so packed with characters and situations that I'm not sure how they'd have played a larger role without a lot more pages. Recommended.

I wish I could say this book 27 years in the making (due to personal problems and professional commitments of the writer and artist) was worth the wait, but the best I can say is it is an weak story with amazing art. As a Perez fan the art alone is worth the price of admission. While it would be better if the art complimented an exciting story I have to settle for what it is. A story that tries to be an exciting thriller but in the end comes across as a weak attempt at an exciting thriller. Being a stand alone story they probably would have been better off using a tried and true Titans villain or a known DC villain but I actually like the fact they tried to go with an unknown. Let me take some time critiquing the story: 1) Danny Chase - I am a TT fan from the Perez Wolfman 80's run but I have NEVER ever heard of this character and yet there he is sitting in on this story like he is a Titan - a 14 year old member with boring powers and dressed in a horrible coat, with horrible looks and being a snarky idiot (did we learn nothing from the death of Robin that fans HATE that character as a "hero"?). Turns out Marv Wolfman inserted this character AFTER Perez left and "stubbornly" tried to make him work despite fan protests until Danny was finally killed off. Well he ruins the story for me. I waited so long for this story and wanted it to showcase the best of the 80's run and here instead of Kid Flash or Speedy or even Aqualad, we get Danny Chase. I know why he is there (the art was started back when Danny was alive and Marv wanted him to be a main member of the team) but that understanding doesn't help me like it any better. 2) Troia - I know this change was made in the regular run but I have always hated it. The costume is a jumbled mess, the hair is mired in the 80's and it turned me off of what used to be a wonderful female member (same goes with the mullet they gave Changling and the useless costume change - he seems to have regressed as a character in this story). 3) Side missions but no team missions - so the story creates these side missions for each member which are okay (actually Jericho's works well and made me like this previously weak character) but because of this we don't see the TT work as a team. 4) Death of a main character - I didn't mind the death but the fact this person died the way they did made me scratch my head - seems to me they had time to both be a hero AND save themselves - at least the way it was plotted out. 5) Big reveal at the end - meh, it was supposed to be a shocker but it was just a "okay, that makes little sense but okay" no emotional impact and even the big "sacrifice" by Cyborg didn't have any emotional punch.
What is amazing is the art. George Perez was and is an amazing artist and this quality printing of the story only helps to serve his art better. It is a shame that this is his last TT story and that we couldn't have really revisited the glory years with the original TT line-up. If you are an old school TT fan like me I still think this is worth getting for the art but you may be as disappointed by the story as I was.

I really enjoyed this one. Great art- allot of fun story. This is a fitting finale of the 80s story to me. Perfect