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From marvwolfman.com

The page printed below has never been seen by anyone outside the DC Comics offices. Before I approached the company about reviving the Titans, a book I'd written for ten years earlier, I had to come up with a number of characters I thought would prove interesting. As always, I started playing with names. Note the date next to my signature at the bottom of the page. It's 1/15/80. Also note that this page was meant for me alone, to roughly work out my ideas as I slowly put together what would make up the comic. I made a copy for George as well as for the company, so they would know what Titans Tower looked like, which is the only reason why I still have my original, yellow color included.

...

The most notable part of this page is the first and original design I did for Titans Tower. Even before I had worked out the characterizations of the new group, I was already working on their headquarters. I wanted something splashy and distinctive and created the double-T design - one inside the other - for Teen Titans. The Titans were supposed to be given magnetic calling cards allowing them to enter the Tower, but I dropped that idea quickly. The Tower is listed as ten stories high, with a jet-copter heliport on top as well as an elevator. I obviously intended to add in something else on the right but never did. Right from the beginning I knew Titans Tower was "situated on an island in the East River."

 From scoop.diamondgalleries.com

Teen Titans at 25, Crisis at 20

The Main Event, Scoop, Friday, September 16, 2005

Teen Titans at 25, Crisis at 20:The Enduring Duo of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez

(excerpt)

The legendary creative duos in comicbooks include two teams - Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby - of whom it is generally safe to mention only their lastnames. Others may well someday be added to this pantheon and stillothers probably already belong to it, but while Simon & Kirbyhelped define the 1940s and 1950s and Lee & Kirby certainly definedthe 1960s, another team defined the 1980s and in many ways helped set the groundwork for the superhero comics we have today.

Writer Marv Wolfman and artist GeorgePérez, who this year celebrate the 25th anniversary of New Teen Titans and the 20th anniversary of Crisis on Infinite Earths, have impactedthe superhero genre as have few other pairs of creators. Though bothworked extensively with other partners before and since those efforts,there is undeniably something compelling and special about that periodand their collaborative labors.

[ Read more Teen Titans at 25, Crisis at 20 ]

 From www.newsarama.com

SDCC DAY 2: TEEN TITANS 25TH ANNIVERSARY PANEL

MattBrady

Friday’s Teen Titans 25th Anniversary panelat Comic Con International: San Diego saw the room packed as NickCardy, Marv Wolfman, Geoff Johns, Glenn Murakami, and Barb Kesel talkedTitans old and new, in print and animated.

(excerpt)

After introducing himself Geoff Johnspraised Wolfman, saying that his writing has served as an inspirationand influence on him over the years.

Murakami said that he, like Johns, was afan of the Wolfman/Perez comic series growing up, and lept at thechance to develop the group of heroes as an animated series when theopportunity was presented to him.

...

Asked about the progress of Games, thelong-delayed in finishing original Teen Titans graphic novel by Wolfmanand Perez, Wolfman said that it will happen when it happens, notingthat Perez needs to finish it first, as it is something Wolfman said hedoesn’t want to write in pieces. “It’s the best Titans George has everdrawn, though,” Wolfman said.

[ Read more SDCC DAY 2: TEEN TITANS 25TH ANNIVERSARY PANEL ]

 From WIZARD #157 (Nov 2004)

WHO'S YOUR DADDY??

written by Richard Ho

published in WIZARD #157 (Nov 2004)

www.wizarduniverse

Thirty years after he created Wolverine, LEN WEIN remains one of themost influential creators in modern comic history - even if you'venever heard of him.

(excerpt)

PUTTING CLAREMONT ON UNCANNY X-MENwas simply one in an endless series of shining successes Wein enjoyedwhile wearing his "editor" hat. Another one? The critically acclaimedMarv Wolfman/George Pérez run on New Teen Titans, which Wein oversaw in 1980, after having moved to DC.

"Working on Titans was a dream,"recalls Wein. "With the X-Men being the hottest book at Marvel, wefigured we ought to do something with DC's own version - the TeenTitans." He and Wolfman pitched the idea to DC President Jenette Kahn,who "looked at us like we were crazy. After all, the book had beenterrible - the last time DC canceled it! We looked at her and saidtogether, 'We'll do it better.' And she said okay! At that point intime, the two of us were either writing or editing the top third oftheir line, so she figured she had a pretty good shot with us."

The team of Wein, Wolfman, and Pérezwent on to make magic, guiding the title to X-Men-level popularity.Wein's formula for success? Stay out of the way. "My attitude as aneditor was always hire the right people and get the hell out of theirway," explains Wein. "Let them do what they do best. As an editor youstand on the sidelines, and if they start to veer off course, your jobis to pull them back. But otherwise, if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

"His main strength as an editor is hisability to see what's wrong," notes Wolfman. "I always said, and heagrees, that if there was a job that was essentially called, 'No no,don't do that,' that should be Len's job. He's able to see what someoneelse has done, and then make the suggestion very clearly as to how tomake it better."

Even if someone doesn't go along with Wein's suggestions. 

From Scoop

The New Teen Titans, The New Teen Titans or The *NEW* Teen Titans?
Did you Know...?, Scoop, Friday, May 14, 2004

For the purposes of this article, we're going to say that the truly authentic New Teen Titans were the ones that cropped up in the 1980s.

See, the first Teen Titansappeared in the 1960s. Then they experienced a minor lull and underwenta semi-reinvention in the '70s, adding characters like the Joker'sDaughter, The Bumblebee, Bat-Girl and Golden Eagle.

But it wasn't until 1980 when DC Comics emerged under an official The New Teen Titans comic title that the transformation was complete. Previewed in DC Comics Presents #26,this fresh-faced crew fused the older standbys like Robin, Wonder Girland Kid Flash with entirely original characters like Cyborg, Starfire,Raven, Terra and Changling.

The major difference between this campand its band of '60s predecessors was that, this time, the Teens wereno longer sidekicks. They'd finally emerged from the shadows of theirmentors (with the aid of gradual age progression) to become their ownmen... and women. This time around, they were confident enough in theirown ability to bust the bad guys without having to play second fiddleor beg an assist from their older superheroic counterparts.

Under this title, Wonder Girl marriedand Robin graduated college. Then, in 1988, the comic title evolved,dropping the "Teen" from its name to become The New Titans, andcrimefighting business went on as usual for another eight years.

But any channel-surfing animated series enthusiast knows that yet another group of New Teen Titansairs regularly on the Cartoon Network. So will the newest New TeenTitans one day become passe, only to be usurped by another newer NewTeen Titans crew? Well, if history is any indication, we'd guess so....

From Pulse

MARV WOLFMAN ON THE NEW TEEN TITANS
posted 12-15-2003 05:20 PM
BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO

(excerpt)

It was announced at Wizard World Texasthat Marv Wolfman and George Perez would be teaming up again tocomplete the ‘80s graphic novel starring the New Teen Titans. THE PULSEthought now would be the perfect time to ask Wolfman some questionsabout his original work on the series.

THE PULSE: Back in the day, after theTeen Titans hadn't done so well in its second volume in the mid-70s,what made you want to bring them back again? Why did you think the timewas right?
WOLFMAN: When I moved over to DC from Marvel I was assigned a lot ofcrossover titles like World's Finest and Brave & The Bold andreally didn't want to work on them. I hate those kinds of team-up booksand had already done almost two years worth of Marvel Two-In-Onestories that I felt were among my worst Marvel work, so I was desperateto get off them. I managed to get onto Superman and still needed onemore title. Having written the Titans in the late 60s - I did theoriginal origin of Wonder Girl story back then - and having a soft spotfor the group, I thought it would be fun to redo the Titans, but in themore modern style at the time. I primarily wanted to create my owncharacters as well as finally get a chance to do super-hero stories inmy own style - as I had been doing with Tomb of Dracula - as opposed towriting Spider-Man and Fantastic Four in a pseudo Stan Lee style. I hadno expectations that the Titans would sell, even after George agreed todo the book, but we both knew we would have fun while it lasted. And itlasted. And lasted. And lasted.

THE PULSE: At that point in time, how many teen hero comics were there on the shelves?
WOLFMAN: I'm not certain if there were any Teen comics out in 1980outside of Titans. The X-Men were certainly not teens but I'm not sureif the Legion was being done at that point or not. Titans was a riskfor DC because Jenette Kahn, the publisher, really disliked theprevious versions and wasn't sure DC should try a new one. But she wentwith [editor] Len Wein and me when we said we'd do it better. It was aleap of faith that I'm not sure is being done today in the same way.

From Silver Bullet Comics

WHAT THE--?
Still More Letters!
Sunday, February 16
written by Marv Wolfman

(excerpt)

From: kpierc72@e....

How did the entire concept of the Teen Titans came about? Was it DC's intention for it to complete with the X-Menor was it a surprise hit? Had you and George Perez always had the ideaof Cyborg, Raven and Starfire, back in Marvel? Why did DC not includefirestorm within the Teen Titians. Who had come up with the concept ofNightwing.

You’re not asking for much, are you? Seriously, Iget this asked a lot and I may have even answered a version of thisbefore here, but since folk don’t generally go through the back datearchives, here we go again: Titans came up because I haddecided to leave Marvel and move over to DC. Back then you could onlywork for one company, not both. Len (see above) was an editor at DC atthe time and though I was given a number of assignments when I gotthere, I really wanted to do my own thing. Len and I had written a Titans story way back in the first series (the Russian Starfire (later Red Star) story and I always had a love for the Titansconcept. I came up with a bunch of characters – more on this in amoment – then Len and I pitched it to the Powers That Be.Unfortunately, they didn’t want a new Titans series because they didn’tlike the previous one. They had no thoughts about doing a DC version ofX-Men, no matter what people think. Nor did I, by the way. Despite Len – who created the New X-Men being my editor – I was never much of an X-Menfan and doing a DC version of that book never crossed my mind. I wantedto do a ‘family’ book. Frankly, in my mind I wanted to do a DC versionof the Fantastic Four, which, as Stan Lee himself has always admitted, was a Marvel version of the J.L.A.

Anyway, the Powers That be asked us why they should publish a new Titansbook when the last series didn’t do well, and we replied, with no falsemodesty, “Because we’ll do it better.” I guess they agreed because theynot only greenlit the book but an introductory story that appeared in DC Presents #26.At this point I ran into George Perez up at Marvel and offered him thebook. He said yes thinking it would be dead 6 issues later. 16 yearslater I got off the title and it’s still running today, with most ofthe characters intact, albeit in a somewhat different form.

Asfor how the individual characters were created, that’s harder to say. Igave the group a lot of thought. I knew I’d want to use original Titansmembers Robin, Wonder Girl and Beast Boy (with a new name) in the newgroup. Kid Flash would probably appear but I wasn’t all thatenthusiastic about him. My feeling has always been that writers have topull back on that character because if you use him properly in a groupbook he’ll not only get to wherever they’re going faster than the othercan, but he will probably have already solved the problem. In short,he’s too powerful for a group dynamic. I also didn’t want to makeAqualad a regular member because if you use him you are forced to usewater stories to fit him in.

I prepared a list of newcharacters. I wanted an alien, and that became Starfire. I wanted anathlete and that was Cyborg and finally I wanted an empath which becameRaven. Obviously, it wasn’t as simple as that, but the work to createthose characters, and to come up with a back-story I could keep miningwhenever I wanted to, would take much too long to explain. Suffice itto say I spent a lot of time working out the characters so they wouldblend together both emotionally and power-wise before I gave thecharacter descriptions to George to design. One he did I refined what Iwrote and, as they say, the rest is history.

To continue on how the Titans were created…

***

From: David Peattie

1.) I'd like to see a series of columns describing how you came up with the new characters you introduced in NEW TEEN TITANS.Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, and the ones who came later like Deathstroke,Terra, Kole, and so on. What prompted the idea for each character, whatwas involved in fleshing them out as characters, and what kind ofresponse you initially got from DC about them all. Did the finished,published product closely match what you'd originally intended? If not,how much different did the end result come out to be? I know you saidyou didn't want to spend a lot of time on "behind the curtain" stuff,but I am always curious about how much of a writer's ideas make it tothe printed page, and when something is rejected or altered, why theeditor felt that was necessary.

2.) In a similar vein, I remember that some years ago, you and George Perez were supposed to do a TITANSgraphic novel that never did show up. Since the odds of it ever beingfinished and published are about the same as my chances of becomingMiss Universe, I wonder if you might clue us in on what the plot wouldhave been?

...

Okay, continuing from the above – I cameup with Deathstroke pretty much right after I came up with the Titans.I knew Deathstroke would be in issue #2 but his son would appear inissue #1. The genesis of Deathstroke came very fast. I wanted a verymoral character who was also a criminal, a sort of Batman for themercenary world, complete with his own Alfred. Unlike Alfred, however,I wanted his partner to be his mentor. That’s where Wintergreen camefrom. His name, of course, came from the gum, just as PrincessKoriand’r’s name came from the spice, coriander. She was the spicyTitan, after all. I wanted Slade Wilson to be the kind of characterthat you never could fully understand. You would also never know whichside he would be on because he operated by his own very strict code ofconduct. Slade would be troubled by what he had to do, but he was alsocaught up in a web of his own creation and was unable to break free.Simply, I wanted to create an antagonist who would be as well definedas the Titans themselves. Only mistake I think I made with him ishaving him have a physical relationship with the 16 year old TaraMarkov. That was wrong.

Which leads to Terra. That was easy.George and I wanted a Titan who betrayed the others. We also wanted toplay against every reader conception of who characters are. George andI knew her whole story before we began and we knew she would die. Weset the story up with her trying to destroy the Statue of Liberty toshow she was the bad girl, but we knew if George drew her as a cute kideveryone would simply assume she would be ‘turned’ from the dark sidebecause that’s the way it was always done which is why that wouldn’t bethe way we did it. Tara was insane and stayed that way right until themoment she died. By the way, she IS dead. I don’t know what otherwriters will do with her – if anything – but if they want to honor theoriginal series they will leave her dead. The Terra from Team Titanswas – as stated – some kid the villain kidnapped and physically andmentally altered her into looking and acting like the original. But shewas NEVER the real Terra.

One last note: I came into DC withTerra the same day Mike Barr came into DC with Geo-Force. Both hadearth-shifting powers. It would have been unfair for one of us to getrid of our character, so we decided to make them brother and sister.

Finally,Kole. Because other editors were not pleased that they were asked tocome up with characters to kill in the Crisis, I realized I’d have tocome up with somebody to knock off as well, if only to assuage theirfeelings somewhat. I came up with the crystal powered Kole who wasnamed after and drawn to look like a real person we knew. The problemwas, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, who drew the Kole issues did a magnificentjob and I grew to really like the character and wished I hadn’t createdher to die. But if I were to play the game nicely, she had to weave herlast crystal.

As for “Games,” the graphic novel George and Ibegan way back when. George drew about 80 pages of the best Titans workhe ever did before going into artist’s block on the Titans. I kepttrying to convince DC to let another artist finish the last 30 pages,but for reasons that have never made sense to me they have alwaysrefused to do so. Every so often I bring it up again and the answer isstill no. Why? I can’t imagine. There are 80 pages done. I’d have todialogue the job and much of it would need to be inked, but I thinkeven if it now had to be an Elseworlds book – or at least a Hypertimestory – that people would flock to buy a hardcover Perez/Wolfman Titansbook. What do you think?

From Silver Bullet Comics

Letters, We’ve Got Letters!

Sunday, October 6

By Marv Wolfman

From: kpierc72@earthlink.net

How did the entire concept of the Teen Titans came about? Was itDC's intention for it to complete with the X-Men or was it a surprisehit? Had you and George Perez always had the idea of Cyborg, Raven andStar fire, back in Marvel? Why did DC not include Firestorm within theTeen Titans. Who had come up with the concept of Nightwing?

I will assume you’re asking about TheNew Teen Titans and not the original group. I don’t know who createdthat group – it could have been the editors or the writer, Bob Haney.Maybe someone out there knows? As for my group, I was leaving Marveland coming over to DC (in those days you could only work for onecompany and not both) and was getting my assignments. My only requestwas no team-up books, so, naturally, I was assigned to DC Presents andBrave & Bold, both team-up books. Therefore, my first order ofbusiness was to get off those titles.

Len Wein and I had written a story ortwo for the original Teen Titans way back in the late 60s, and I alwayshad a warm spot for those characters, so I asked Len – who at thispoint had become an editor at DC – if we could revive the title. I wenthome and came up with the characters, so, no, there was not always aStarfire, Cyborg or Raven. You can read my introduction for the firstTeen Titans Archives to see how they came about. Len and I went intopublisher Jenette Kahn’s office and pitched my idea. Jenette said shedid not like the previous version of the Titans and therefore wasn’thot on the idea, but we said we’d do it better. Honestly, that’s all wesaid. Jenette, who trusted us, said fine.

As I fleshed out the characters I raninto George Perez at the Marvel offices. I mentioned to him that I wasworking on a new version of the Titans and would he be interested indrawing it. George thought the book would last maybe a half dozenissues, and there was a chance he could also draw the Justice League,which was the book he really wanted to do, so he said yes. George thendesigned the look of each and every one of the characters.

We showed Jenette what we had done andshe liked it so much she decided we should do a 16 page original Titansstory that they would put in free in DC Presents #26 to get peopleinterest.

[ Read more We've Got Letters (Oct 6) ]

From Silver Bullet Comics

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 onTitans? What was your best story arc? What was your worst? At whatpoint did you realize you didn't want to write it anymore? Discussgenerally your long run on the book and how it affected you as a writerand the concept of the team book in the comic medium. Also compare yourrun on Titans to the Claremont period on X-Men and the results on bothbooks.

The New Teen Titans was the best oftimes and the worst of times. I loved writing the book, especially thefirst eight to ten years where I was in charge of it, eitherunofficially or officially. Those were the issues where I did what Itruly believed in. Once someone else comes in - even if they are agreat editor - things change. Sometimes for the best. Sometimes not sofor the best. There are a number comics where I truly believe theeditor makes the series much, much better, but a very few series whereI feel the creators should be left alone. For me those series would beTitans, Crisis and Tomb Of Dracula. Everything else I've worked on hasbeen helped by working with good editors.I don't think it's at all surprising that things weren't quite the sameon Titans once that control changed.

Best runs: The first 50 issues. Oranytime I worked with the incredible George Perez. He wasn't just theartist. He was the co-creator. Favorite stories: "Who is Donna Troy?",the Terra storyline. And a story nobody ever brings up which is my alltime favorite, "Shades of Gray," the culmination of theChangeling/Terminator story. There are dozens of smaller stories that Ialso love, especially "A Day In The Life," and "A Pretty Girl Is Like aMaladi." I loved the Kole stories and many others.

Where did it go wrong? The last year ortwo. The reason? See my note in paragraph one above. Also, along theway I lost interest in the series and thought of quitting, but then JonPeterson became editor and reminded me what I loved about the book. Wedid "Titans Hunt" together which was as close to the 'classic' Titansas I had done in a long time. It would have been a lot better if ithadn't had to be broken up by two maxi-series, turning what should havebeen a four-five part story where Vic Stone would have been rebuilt toa year and a half storyline where he got lost in the mix.

I finally had it during that final yearand decided to quit the book. I hated every story. Every issue. Iwasn't even the plotter. So, at a DC Christmas out here in LA, I wentup to DCU Editor-in-Chief Mike Carlin and said I wanted to quit andasked 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 issueslonger. He said he thought it would be best to cancel the Titans withmy run rather than just hand it over to someone else. They would thenrestart it with new characters, concepts and a new number one, which Ithought was a great idea. After sixteen years, a new voice and approachwas needed. Mike assigned a new editor to my last four issues, and,with the exception of not being able to use Nightwing - who had beenreturned to Batman continuity - let me end the series pretty much theway I wanted. I still thank Mike for rescuing me from what had turnedinto a hellish nightmare.

I still love the Titans and would loveto do individual stories about them, but DC hasn't seemed thatinterested. I recently proposed a character-driven Titans-3 seriesfeaturing an approximately 24 year old Cyborg, Raven and Starfiretrying 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 triedto jumpstart the Games graphic novel George and I started a dozen yearsago - of which he drew 80 incredible pages that have never been seen -but again, no interest.

[ Read more We've Got Letters (Aug 11) ]

From Slushfactory (Cyborg, created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez is one of the character spotlighted. Image looks like it was taken from HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE.)

Blacks In Comics

By Dan Corbett

(excerpt)

Cyborg (Victor Stone)
1st Appearance: NEW TEEN TITANS #1, 1980 [this is incorrect; his first appearance is DC COMICS PRESENTS #26]:

Victor had the typical childhood. His parents were brilliant scientists at S.T.A.R. Labs who unwittingly opened a dimensional portal releasing a dangerous creature that killed his mother and left him with a mangled body and half a face. So his father used the technology that he was working on to save Victor’s life and forever making him more than normal, but in his mind, less than human. Typical, right? But Victor went on to become the Titan’s most respected and versatile members. His is a story of self-acceptance and relying on the support of those around you.