Showcase Presents The Teen Titans

After totally enjoying Showcase Presents Superman, I decided to check out another volume of the DC reprints series, this time the Teen Titans. I chose this one because I read the Titans Lost Annual a few months ago and loved it. It was a pure rush of 60s pop insanity. Could the entire series match this level of sublime craziness? Unfortunately, the answer is no. However, the series is entertaining on its own level, a bit formulaic, but still worth checking out.

I have a soft spot for 60s youth culture, the hippies vs. squares, mods and what have you. It’s a time that’s been mythologized a lot in our culture, as a pure moment of creative and social inspiration. But, even in these comics, written in ’68, hippies feel like a parody of themselves, and the ‘scene’ is largely being mocked by the writers of the comic. Wonder Girl is used as a standin for the kids caught up in the latest thing, while the other three members of the team generally remain decidedly on the square side of things. There’s a conservatism to the work, but also an embrace of the goofy fun of youth culture. I’m not sure how much of that is the adult writers condescending to the audience and how much is genuine affection, but either way, you get a good dose of 60s wackiness. It’s not quite Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, but then again what is?

The primary issue with the book is that every story is basically the same. The Titans get a letter from a teenager asking for help, they go to a town, go through some narrative twists, and eventually resolve everything. The standout story in the volume is Robin’s trip to Limbo, because it switches the formula up and raises the stakes a bit. But, generally, you never really get the sense that anyone is in any danger, and despite a few references to old stories, there’s not much continuity from issue to issue.

The other problem is that the characters aren’t particularly well defined. As I mentioned, Wonder Girl stands out as the one who embraces the culture of the day, and seems to fall in love with every cool guy they meet on their journeys. Robin has to deal with issues leading the team, and has an intellect that makes up for his lack of superpowers. However, Kid Flash and AquaLad don’t stand out in any particular way. The most notable thing about AquaLad is how lame he is, with his white boy afro and need to involve water in every story. Kid Flash fulfills some story requirements, but has very little in the way of notable character traits. The formula lends itself perfectly to soap opera, but I guess there wasn’t much in the way of ongoing stories in the early days of DC. It sounds like the 80s Wolfman/Perez run does more of a soapy, serial style with the same characters. It’s a run I’d love to read, but the first few issues are only available in pricey Archives editions, and I’m not quite ready to drop $50 on a blind buy.

To enjoy the stories, you’ve just got to get in the mindset of the time, appreciate the goofy dialogue and overenthusiastic narration. I like to look at the pop culture of the past because it gives us a window into the minds of the time. I don’t see this as a realistic representation of 60s youth culture, but it’s a spin on what was happening at the time, and in this alternate version, you can see a picture of what was real. It’s not as interesting as the Silver Age madness of Showcase Presents Superman, but it was still a good value for the money.

Next in the ongoing journey through the Silver Age is Showcase Presents The Legion of Superheroes. After that, I’ll probably check out another Volume of Superman, or perhaps jump over to Marvel and read some classic Spiderman.

Showcase Superman Volume 1

I’ve read a lot of articles/interviews where people talk about the deconstruction of superheroes, how Alan Moore and Frank Miller’s seminal 80s works changed the medium and took away a lot of the fun. For a long time, the only older comics I’d read were 70s X-Men, which aren’t exemplary of what these people were talking about, with their heavy angst and emotional soapiness. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago when I started reading Showcase Presents Superman that I really got the zany craziness that people talk about when they discuss 50s comics. These comics are totally insane, as crazy, if not more so, than anything Grant Morrison’s come up with, with a total disregard for real world logic or narrative consistency.

I’d always heard the premises of these 50s Superman books, Superman has a lion’s head, Superman shoots a tiny Superman out of his hand, etc. and thought that’s a great concept, but the comic itself probably isn’t as good. Well, if Superman inexplicably has a lion’s head sounds like a great story, then buy the book. It won’t disappoint. It’s astonishing to me that this book was popular entertainment, it’s so insane, every single story full of bizarre narrative gaps and logical jumps that blow your mind. It feels like somebody on an LSD trip throwing out the craziest thing he can think of, then scrambling to get things back to normal within ten pages.

You really can’t approach these comics as any of sort of sustained narrative, like today’s books. It’s not a coherent universe, or evolving milieu, it’s basically a sitcom. Every character has one trait, Superman is ultra-powerful, but constantly scared of having his identity discovered. Jimmy Olsen is his loyal friend, aiding in his schemes. Lois Lane desperately wants to marry Superman, but is foiled at every turn by Superman’s scheming.

The stories are very formulaic. Usually some outrageous premise is thrown out that disrupts normality, like Superman losing his powers. Then, Superman struggles to maintain the illusion of normalcy, in that case through his crazy schemes with Jimmy, and ultimately everything returns to normal, with Superman winking to the audience. The reason it works is because everything is so nuts, you don’t get mad at the deus ex machinas or narrative shortcuts, you just laugh at them. The creators seem to know how wacky the stories are, they’re in on the joke, and the joy is the journey through the story, not the destination. Notably, we’ve got no cliffhangers, and very rarely is Superman in real danger. The only one who suffers emotional consequences is Lois, who always comes this close to marrying Superman, only to have her dream foiled.

Reading these comics provides a startling twist on the societal myth of the 50s as a time of boring conformity. Yes, these stories are ultimately about enforcing the status quo, but brimming under that status quo are a myriad of psychological issues and deep seated fears. Why does Superman have such a fear of people discovering his secret identity? Why does he cruelly maintain the illusion of Clark Kent, even planting a room in his Fortress of Solitude dedicated to Clark so no one will find out his secret identity after he dies.

The opening story of the collection, “The Super Key to Fort Superman” is still my favorite. In it, Superman and Batman play an elaborate game of pranks on each other, which culminates in Superman pretending his powers have been disabled and they’ll both be trapped in the Fort forever. This comes after Batman has spent days infiltrating the Fortress, apparently leaving Gotham undefended. And, the reason all this happens is because Batman was shopping for a birthday present for Superman, but couldn’t find anything. If people say Batman the TV show wasn’t like the comics, point them to this and they’ll be in for a rude awakening.

Reading this, I can see why people would feel like something major has been lost in comics. First off, these issues contained three crazy stories in one, each a complete done in one tale. If you want to know why people don’t read comics like they did in the 50s, I think it’s clearly due to the fact that they’re just not a good value at all. These issues entertain for a while, and are easily accessible, not like the bloated super epics out there today. I’d be much more likely to buy books in single format if they were like this.

And, the stories are just so imaginative, it’s hard to believe what’s going on. I would think books like this, not 60s Marvel, would be popular with the counterculture. Morrison’s All Star Superman was not exaggerating the craziness of these early days. Superman barely even fights crime, he mostly battles identity issues played out through these crazy sci-fi conceits.

But, I think the stories are missing something. Morrison is able to keep these crazy concepts, but fuse a strong emotional layer on there as well. These stories feel like the crazy childhood of Superman, All Star is his adulthood, he’s more mature and able to recognize that there’s more to this world than just protecting his own identity. All Star Superman feels much closer to this guy than the Superman seen in JLA recently. That’s probably due to the fact that these are the archetypal Superman stories, where all the elements that persist to the present were established.

It’s interesting to compare what Morrison does with All Star to the way Moore approached Superman in Miracleman. I absolutely love Miracleman, I think it’s pointless to criticize Moore for doing his deconstruction work, Watchmen and Miracleman are such great works, it’s worth having them even if it means ‘losing our innocence.’ And, I think comics are stronger having gone through that dark period, Morrison and Miller have since found a way to integrate the insanity of these old comics with the darkness of the 80s.

Frank Miller’s masterpiece, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, takes the insane concepts and willful disdain for logic of these 50s comics and applies them to a post deconstruction world. I think it’s one of the greatest superhero comics of all time, and a perfect model for what comics can be.

Things have changed and we can never return to the style of these 50s comics without playing it as pastiche. The best thing we could get is something like Moore’s “Untold Tales of Supreme,” which ape the style and form of these 50s comics, but also have a tinge of dislike for the original material. It’s pastiche, and while these guys in the 50s had a sense of humor about the work, I don’t think they would like to be reduced to a series of formal tics that Moore emulates. It’s a form of storytelling that just can’t feel uncalculated in today’s world, we’ve moved on.

But, I think there’s still a lot of great lessons to be taken from these books. The embrace of craziness is something a lot of books could benefit from. Throw out crazy ideas on every page, and don’t necessarily focus on Superman fighting someone every issue. Superman very rarely faces a major villain in these stories, and they’re more interesting because of that. His greatest villain is his own nature, and his struggle to figure out what role he should play in this world.