The New Teen Titans Omnibus, Volume 1 collects DC Comics Presents no. 26 (1980), The New Teen Titans nos. 1-20 (1980-1982), and Tales of the New Teen Titans nos. 1-4 (1982), written and illustrated by co-creators Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. The stories bring established characters Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, and Changeling (Beast Boy) together with newcomers Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg. The stories introduce the conflict between the Titans and Deathstroke the Terminator, working for H.I.V.E. as well as Raven’s father, Trigon.

In a story titled “Clash of the Titans,” Wolfman and Pérez use Wonder Girl to bring their New Teen Titans alongside the Amazons in a fight to defend the Olympian gods against their Titan parents. This story takes place prior to the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths and Pérez’s subsequent redesign of the Olympian gods in the pages of Wonder Woman, so this story will entertain those looking to see what elements he kept and what he altered when given carte blanche after the reboot. The inclusion of material from Best of DC (Blue Ribbon Digest) no. 18 interrupts the flow of the story a bit, as it calls back to the story of Green Lantern no. 85 (1971), which revealed that Green Arrow’s sidekick, Speedy, abused drugs as part of the Comics Code Authority’s decision to allow limited portrayals of drug use. The story does, however, help explain why Speedy and Aqualad did not join the New Teen Titans.

The New Teen Titans followed the techniques Chris Claremont used in Uncanny X-Men to make these characters more realistic amid their high-flying adventures. Popular culture references abound, with Star Wars, Clash of the Titans, and musical callouts that would have helped ground the book in reality for its readers in the early 1980s. Melodrama gives the reader insight into the characters’ motives and makes the tone more serious than the latest baddie-of-the-month type of adventures appearing elsewhere. Tales of the New Teen Titans, in focusing on individual characters, allows Wolfman and Pérez to engage with more complex issues, like race and generational conflict. Wolfman’s quality writing coupled with Pérez’s art helped make this one of the best comic book series of the early 1980s, inspiring the great Cartoon Network television series Teen Titans, the bad Cartoon Network show Teen Titans Go!, and the DC Universe series, Titans. DC continues to include a Teen Titans series under their DC Rebirth brand, but the longevity of the team is all due to Wolfman and Pérez. ( )