Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Oh Yeah, That Forum: The Titans The Bitter End: New Titans 126-130

I recently gave Marv Wolfman's final Titans storyline, the aptly named "Meltdown," my first ever reading.

To give you some idea of what the working conditions must have been like: the book changed editors mid-story, and the first issue marked with "Meltdown" on the cover is actually a fill-in issue by a different writer (this issue does have one thing going for it: Rick Mays, a talented artist whom Sarky recently brought to my attention.)

"Meltdown" proper begins in issue 127. And, again, the artist, this time one William Rosado, performs waaaaayyyy above and beyond what the script deserves -- in many spots, it reminds me of my beloved Steve Epting!

As for the story, it's probably the best Wolfman could have done under the circumstances, which is to say it's merely laughable rather than truly awful. The definitive Titans are mostly reunited (Nightwing only shows up at story's end), Robot Vic regains his capacity for human emotion, Garfield and Raven are both purged of evil, and...that's pretty much it.

Another telling detail: the letters page disappears after the editorial shift, never to return. Wolfman says goodbye in a very awkward, teeth-clenched caption on the last story page.

Wolfman hated every last bit of it. Whatever control he once had over it, had long since gone. I think Nightwing appears in the last panel, because the Bat-Office didn;t want to release the character back to the guy who created him. That's how toxic that was.
Twomorrows' Teen Titans Companion has a Wolfman interview of that whole period.

I picked up the Rick Mays issue, and enjoyed it. A new cast, lots of interaction, solid dialogue and lovely art. It had a good take on Roy Harper and his daughter too. I enjoyed it enough that I started picking up other issues. Helped completely by a discount comics catalogue, I got a lot of them very quickly. That issue was one of the highlights.

Yes. That interview is morbidly fascinating to read. He seems so bitter -- granted, with some justification.

It must have been tough, having the writer's block while watching and having to go along with the changes. I've read a few of the letter columns when Wolfman split up the team around Crisis. Lots of complaints with some editorial assurances that things would get better. By the Time of Titans Hunt, they got sidetracked into all the other books and events, that the storyline really broke things up. From the deliberately non interrupted Wedding of Donna and Terry as a creative triumph to the strength of the characters to the completely interupted Wedding of Dick and Kory going right back into shock territory. I don't entirely disagee with teh editor who shook things up. Only that the attention to the dynamics and structure of the previous successes got jetisoned along the way.

Writing can be tough! I joined a writer's club in university, and we always said writing is a full-time job!

Unless you were writing about your part time job, as you'd then have to give it up to write about it, which you couldn't because you'd given up... ow. head hurts...