Letters. We’ve Got Letters!
By Marv Wolfman
(excerpt)
The following came from someone whose name I stupidly lost. Tell me who sent this and I'll publicly apologize.
What is your opinion of the different segments of your lengthy run on Titans? What was your best story arc? What was your worst? At what point did you realize you didn't want to write it anymore? Discuss generally your long run on the book and how it affected you as a writer and the concept of the team book in the comic medium. Also compare your run on Titans to the Claremont period on X-Men and the results on both books.
The New Teen Titans was the best of times and the worst of times. I loved writing the book, especially the first eight to ten years where I was in charge of it, either unofficially or officially. Those were the issues where I did what I truly believed in. Once someone else comes in - even if they are a great editor - things change. Sometimes for the best. Sometimes not so for the best. There are a number comics where I truly believe the editor makes the series much, much better, but a very few series where I feel the creators should be left alone. For me those series would be Titans, Crisis and Tomb Of Dracula. Everything else I've worked on has been helped by working with good editors.
I don't think it's at all surprising that things weren't quite the same on Titans once that control changed.
Best runs: The first 50 issues. Or anytime I worked with the incredible George Perez. He wasn't just the artist. He was the co-creator. Favorite stories: "Who is Donna Troy?", the Terra storyline. And a story nobody ever brings up which is my all time favorite, "Shades of Gray," the culmination of the Changeling/Terminator story. There are dozens of smaller stories that I also love, especially "A Day In The Life," and "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Maladi." I loved the Kole stories and many others.
Where did it go wrong? The last year or two. The reason? See my note in paragraph one above. Also, along the way I lost interest in the series and thought of quitting, but then Jon Peterson became editor and reminded me what I loved about the book. We did "Titans Hunt" together which was as close to the 'classic' Titans as I had done in a long time. It would have been a lot better if it hadn't had to be broken up by two maxi-series, turning what should have been a four-five part story where Vic Stone would have been rebuilt to a year and a half storyline where he got lost in the mix.
I finally had it during that final year and decided to quit the book. I hated every story. Every issue. I wasn't even the plotter. So, at a DC Christmas out here in LA, I went up to DCU Editor-in-Chief Mike Carlin and said I wanted to quit and asked if DC would bring back Night Force and let me write that instead, but with a different editor. I thought there might have been a problem, but Mike said yes but asked me to stay on the Titans a few issues longer. He said he thought it would be best to cancel the Titans with my run rather than just hand it over to someone else. They would then restart it with new characters, concepts and a new number one, which I thought was a great idea. After sixteen years, a new voice and approach was needed. Mike assigned a new editor to my last four issues, and, with the exception of not being able to use Nightwing - who had been returned to Batman continuity - let me end the series pretty much the way I wanted. I still thank Mike for rescuing me from what had turned into a hellish nightmare.
I still love the Titans and would love to do individual stories about them, but DC hasn't seemed that interested. I recently proposed a character-driven Titans-3 series featuring an approximately 24 year old Cyborg, Raven and Starfire trying to figure out what they are about when they aren't being super, but nobody seems to be banging down my door for it. I also have tried to jumpstart the Games graphic novel George and I started a dozen years ago - of which he drew 80 incredible pages that have never been seen - but again, no interest.
[ Read more We've Got Letters (Aug 11) ]
NEW TEEN TITANS #1
(Nov 1980)
