Todd Nauck's Animated Titans

Todd was interacting with some fans on this thread in his forum. michealdark asked: "If J. could bring in other characters from the comics like say Lilith or Rose(whom are both needed I think,but that's just me and it would be up to J.'s editors to allow him to do that),do you think you'd be up to the task and do you think you have a good idea for them already? If so...can we see it?"

Ever obliging, Todd responded: "If we brought Lillith or Rose into TTG, I'd love to give them a TTG make-over. No ideas yet. Never thought about it until you brought it up just now. Hmmm." Mere days later, Todd posted his designs for Lilith and Rose [Ravager] Wilson!

Lilith looks awesome! I had the same idea for her design [I should post my designs...] It basically blends classic Lilith [mini skirt and go-go boots] with her Omen persona [the red and black color scheme, design elements and belt]. I'd really love to see her in TEEN TITANS GO! Lilith link.

Rose as Ravager looks fantastic! Again, blending the best of the comic version with the animated Slade. Rose is another one I'd love to see in the animated TT universe. Rose Wilson link.

Finally, Todd did an awesome chibi Superboy. [Superboy link] Y'know, out of ALL the Titans characters that never appeared on the show, the ones I wanted to see were Donna Troy Wonder Girl,Superboy, Lilith and Rose! At least now, thanks to Todd, we know what they woulda looked like!

Awesome, awesome work, Todd!

Legion and The Batman Premiere

Don't miss LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and THE BATMAN, both premiering Saturday morning! LEGION boasts some of the TEEN TITANS staff, while THE BATMAN features the debut of Robin! Check 'em out!

LEGION OF SUPER HEROES, 11:00-11:30 am: In the year of "Superman Returns" at Warner Bros., Kids' WB! is proud to present a new series developed especially for the "Too Big For Your TV" block by Warner Bros. Animation, inspired by the DC Comics legend. One thousand years from now, a group of teenage super heroes travel back in time to recruit the greatest hero of all, Superman, and enlist him their fight against evil in the 31st Century. While their intentions were good, their time travel skills were not, and Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Phantom Girl, Bouncing Boy and Timber Wolf end up going too far back into the past, accidentally retrieving the young Superman instead. Together, this unlikely Legion of Super Heroes bands together to defend the rights of all free worlds and uphold the laws of the newly formed United Planets. That is, if they don't kill each other first. LEGION OF SUPER HEROES combines humor with high-stakes, grand-scale super heroics to create the ultimate sci-fi, super hero fantasy for kids of all ages. Each episode of this fast-paced, character-driven action comedy will pit Superboy and the Legion against otherworldly threats and adversaries who challenge the team on both super heroic and emotional levels. The series is executive produced by Sander Schwartz, and produced by Linda Steiner and James Tucker for Warner Bros. Animation. Look for some of the Teen Titans staff to be working on Legion of Superheroes!

THE BATMAN, 11:30 am-12:00 Noon: In the upcoming third season, the Dark Knight continues his relentless quest to rid Gotham City of its supervillains, but he's not alone. Robin joins the team, and the fabled Dynamic Duo is also occasionally joined by Batgirl. Harley Quinn, Black Mask, Killer Moth, the Everywhere Man and a brand-new Clayface join the rogues' gallery of villains, led by the Joker, Penguin and Riddler, who ceaselessly torment Batman and Gotham City. THE BATMAN is based upon the DC Comics characters and is executive produced by Sander Schwartz and Alan Burnett for Warner Bros. Animation. Duane Capizzi and Mike Goguen serve as supervising producers, and Linda Steiner and Jeff Matsuda are producers.

With "Teen Titans" wrapping up after its fifth season, Story Editor ROB HOEGEE was tapped to develop DC's newest super-series: THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. Rob Hoegee on LEGION: "We've got a good mix of ex-Titans and Justice League talent. James Tucker has assembled a really impressive crew. We're also lucky to have AJ Vargas, who was the Associate Producer on Teen Titans with us as well. [...] Yeah, I was lucky enough to have both Amy [Wolfram] and David [Slack] come in and do an episode or two. I'm nearing the last legs of the first season of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. All I can say is they turned out great. Even the slightest hint about the storylines of their episodes would be too much of a spoiler!"

Rob took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with titanstower.com about the Teens of Tomorrow. Click here to read the interview!

Five Page Preview of Teen Titans #39

TEEN TITANS #39 at www.wizarduniverse.com!

Written by Geoff Johns; Art by Tony Daniel and Kevin Conrad; Cover by Daniels. Part 2 of "Titans Around the World!" It's off to Tokyo to meet one of the many mysterious Teen Titans members from the missing year: the world's greatest teen magician — the all-new Zatara! Plus, Robin and Wonder Girl learn a horrific secret about one of their former members.

check out the five page preview a week before it hits shelves!

Damaged in the JSA

Sounds like Damage may be quite... damaged in the new JSA.

From Newsarama's DALE EAGLESHAM: AT HOME WITH THE JSA interview:

NRAMA: Damage isn't a new character himself, but he's new to the team and has a new look that includes a mask. How difficult is it to portray the emotions of a character through a mask?

DE: He's got a full face mask. Obviously there's something going on with his face being covered, and we'll find out more about that in the story. But we can still see his eyes. And I can manipulate the mask. It's a dark mask, so you do see light reflecting off the surfaces, so it does give me some maneuvering room for expressions. I've drawn Batgirl before the same way. If it's a colorful mask, it requires too much sculpting and it gets a little goofy. But a dark mask can be really threatening yet it gives you sort of a range. Of course, you don't want too much of a range for Damage, because he's a really conflicted character. So we really don't want to see too much of what he's really thinking. There's probably a lot of hurt there too, but we don't really want to see that.

NRAMA: So the mask ends up helping you be more subtle with his emotions?

DE: It's going to be there. But it's also a little hidden. Kind of dangerous, kind of conflicted. And for him, I'm waiting to get in there and really work in those emotions and that personality and see how it's going to play out.

Teen Titans in Tokyo November 7th

The excellent tvshowsondvd.com has confirmed the released date for the Teen Titans direct-to-dvd movie: "You may have wondered what happened to "Trouble in Tokyo," the direct-to-DVD Teen Titans movie that was announced for release on October 17. It hasn't appear on any retail sites since being announced back in June, and we haven't heard anything more about the release. Jim Harvey from ToonZone looked into the release and discovered a new date - November 7. Thanks for sending it along, Jim!"

See the box art here.

Power Boy Meets Supergirl

Power Boy made his debut as a Titan during their missing year. His first appearance was in TEEN TITANS #38. What does the future hold for the new character?

Newsarama reports from Toronto Comic Book Expo: "Joe Benitez said a surprise character shows up in the fill-in issue he's doing for Supergirl -- a character for whom this is a first appearance. Benitez had a copy of the art for the last page of the issue, and it's a full splash page of Power Boy, the character who was first hinted about in Teen Titans last week.

"There's this really intense fight, and then Power Boy shows up at the end," he said, adding that, unfortunately, he won't be drawing the next issue, so he knows absolutely nothing about Power Boy beyond the that one page.

Read their full report here.

How Nightwing Escaped Death

Newsarama has now posted a second article, this time on DC's One Year Later panel.

Q: Why didn’t you kill Nightwing in Infinite Crisis?

Waid: Because Geoff Johns and I took turns holding a big club over Dan once we learned he wanted too.

Perez: And speaking for guys who actually earn residuals off of Nightwing, we like him too.

Q: Why was it even considered?

Waid: Yeah Dan, why?

Wayne: And don’t say again, “Because Bob said it would sell.”

Busiek: Have you ever drunk a lot of Scotch? Dan has.

Waid: Yeah, what has he ever done to you?

Didio: We were looking for the big death in Infinite Crisis – the big moment. We were looking for something that would have equal import and merit and weight in this story. One of the things I’ve been proven wrong about is that I had felt that Dick Grayson was a redundant character – Tim Drake had filled his role as Robin, he would never be Batman, so where could he go?

My big fear was that Nightwing would get older than Batman. The thought was that if we removed Dick form the equation that would allow Bruce Wayne to stand alone as Batman, and to firmly establish Tim Drake as Robin. So now – Marv is showing us why we like him, his place in the DC Universe, and more importantly, his potential in the DC Universe.

Titans News from Baltimore

From Newsarama's report on the DC Universe panel at Baltimore Comiccon:


Q: Where will readers see the resolution of Nightwing’s proposal of marriage to Oracle?
Didio said that there are plans for an early ’07 Nightwing Annual, set after Infinite Crisis and before he left on the cruise with Bruce and Tim that will address what happened. Marc Andreyko will write it.

Q: Is the Terra miniseries still coming?
Palmiotti: Still coming. Terra makes her first appearance in Supergirl #12.

Q: Will there be more with Marv Wolfman on Nightwing?
Didio: He’s on for 12 issues as of now.

Q: Cassandra Cain - evil forever?
Didio: Teen Titans East.

Q: A Wonder Girl/Robin romance?
Waid: Dude, that would just be evil.

Q: Are all three heroes in space from 52 coming back?
Waid: No.

Q: Metal Men and Doom Patrol - miniseries for either?
Didio: Maybe and no.

Q: Why is the new Terra not in Titans East?
Didio: She’s a new character for us, and we want to tie her in and establish her on her own before mixing her in.

Q: Will we see Diana Price as Wonder Woman and Donna Troy pick up mantle in 52?
Waid: Yes – it’s one of the key pieces we’ve yet to nail down, but it is very important. You’re going to see more and more events in 52 tying in closer to what we’ve seen in the OYL titles as things move into the final half of the series.

Murakami on TEEN TITANS: TROUBLE IN TOKYO

Cartoon Network announced they're airing "Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo" on Friday, September 15th as well as Saturday, September 16th at 7:30pm Eastern.

Newsarama has a report on TEEN TITANS: TROUBLE IN TOKYO: "“David Slack and I discussed the Titans video inbetween seasons 4 and 5,” Murakami recalls, “but it wasn't green-lit until after season 5. David and I wanted to do a story big enough and different enough from the regular series to warrant being a video. I think I might have suggested Tokyo just because the series was so influenced by anime. It seemed like a natural progression to take them to Tokyo.”

Trouble In Tokyo is a feast of inside jokes about Japanese culture. For instance, the main side villains include a Mighty Tetsuwan clone, a cat-girl, a giant mecha that gives a whole new meaning to the term “Iron Chef,” a no-face ghost. If PsychoTech seems familiar, say Ultraman. Then there’s the head of Tokyo’s main crime fighter unit, Inspector Daizo. His uniform is almost a button-to-button realization of Lupin III’s Zenigata (although he’s hardly as bumbling).

Still, this mini-movie manages to keep the more purist-at-heart happy with its non-stop action and reliance on the personalities in play here, not the jokes. A good example of this is to look at how Robin grows throughout the episode.

“Teen Titans has always been a character driven show,” says Murakami. “I wanted the audience to care about the characters as people first and being a super-hero second. It's important to understand what Robin and the Titans are going through, to relate to them.”

Chck out the full interview here.

Second Season Hits Shelves Today!

Now available at Amazon.com!
Order below and support titanstower.com!



Dangerous enemy or lifelong friend? That's the question of Season 2 when Terra, a free-spirited teen with awesome earth-manipulating powers, rolls into town. As a skilled fighter, she makes a powerful addition to the Titans' fight against crime, and as a fun-loving, no-holds-barred hero, she jives instantly with their team chemistry. But the Titans aren't the only ones interested in recruiting the new girl. Robin's archnemesis Slade is on the prowl for an apprentice, and the combination of Terra's volatile powers and personal vulnerability make her a perfect target for his twisted plans. Trusting this newcomer could prove to be a fatal mistake for the Teen Titans! Throughout 13 action-packed adventures from the hit TV series (and Bombastic Bonuses too), this Deluxe 2-Disc Edition is earth-shattering entertainment!

"Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo" Airs Friday & Saturday

Cartoon Network announced they're airing "Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo" on Friday, September 15th as well as Saturday, September 16th at 7:30pm Eastern.

Here's how the network describes the movie: Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo: America’s coolest heroes head to Japan in their first animated movie, Teen Titans Tokyo, airing in late fall. When a high-tech ninja attacks Titans Tower, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy spring into action. Robin finds out that the ninja was sent by a mysterious and menacing Japanese criminal known as Brushogun, and the Teen Titans travel to Tokyo to track the villain down.

David Slack, who wrote the movie, described it as a high-adventure set in Tokyo; He mentioned how the show was inspired by anime, so it made sense to do an adventure with a Japanese locale. They had fun using some Japanese-anime elements in the film. David also mentioned that the film would feature some romance between two main characters. Fans of the show should be able to easily guess which two characters are featured in that regard. Another highlight of the movie: Beast Boy does Karaoke. How much more incentive do you need?

I don't want to spoil too much about the movie, but I will give a few teasers: A Titans East member has a VERY brief cameo; The romance aspect is very satisfying; and the end credits have a great not-to-be-missed audio track.

Geoff's My Space brings Titans News

Visit Geoff Johns myspace page, and you'll catch some great upcoming comic book tidbits.

Geoff recently posted some upcoming Titans news: "Also, I thought Id give you the run down on whats going on and whats coming up. For anyone that doesn't know - Teen Titans is about the young heroes in the DC Universe banding together in order to help the world and themselves.

During the last year, after Superboys death, the Teen Titans went through over two-dozen new members, some youll meet in our upcoming arc: TITANS AROUND THE WORLD. The team never held on to members very long for various reasons. Will the team be able to now? Does the world really need a group like the Teen Titans? And will some of our more troubled members like Wonder Girl, Ravager and Raven (yes, shes back on the team with the next arc as well as two more new members) embrace this new team or tear it apart?

The book has, yes, shipped late. TEEN TITANS 38 was illustrated by a new artist from Brazil, whose work Im sure will impress you, to allow for Tony to jump ahead so we could avoid shipping late any further. Unfortunately, although 38 was written long ago it was, as you know, delayed. The good news is that it'll be out asap. The better news is that Tony has already illustrated 39 (and its DAMN beautiful! Wait until you meet Miss Martian!) and is half-way through 40. 41 will conclude the TITANS AROUND THE WORLD ARC.

Then comes one of my favorite issues which I finished scripting today TEEN TITANS 42 which spotlights KID DEVIL and reveals some shocking things about him. Ive posted the cover in my pics section [see pic on right]. This issue will be illustrated by Peter Sneijberg you I worked with on both JSA and THE FLASH. Hes absolutely perfect for this book, which guest-stars both BLUE DEVIL and the new ZATARA.

And then, with issue 43, were off to the races with TITANS EAST! Youve seen some of the sketches of them on-line at wizarduniverse.com, youve heard the rumors of what the team is for, but were hoping to surprise the hell out of you with what Tony and I have worked up.

Were committed to getting TEEN TITANS to you as quickly as we can and as best as we can. I hope youre enjoying it as much as Tony and I are."

Geff Johns Toronto News

TORONTO 06: DC BIG GUNS
by Vaneta Rogers

From newsarama.com: The biggest news at the "DC Big Guns" panel on Sunday at the Toronto Comic Book Expo was Geoff Johns' announcement of his All Star Batgirl comic with artist J.G. Jones, which will begin at the end of next year. But here’s some Titans related tidbits:

Johns: "I just finished Teen Titans #42. It's like a Blue Devil/Kid Devil issue that nobody's been asking for, but I did it anyway. And so it reveals how Kid Devil got the way he is and why, and it ties into a lot of stuff we're doing in 52."

Johns was asked, will the Teen Titans roster change? "There will be three new members joining the team in Issue #41. Raven's one of those," Johns said.

Johns said that in 52 Week 21, the new Infinity Inc. will fight the new Teen Titans from the missing year, "but they're terrible. It's like Beast Boy and bunch of D-list teenagers that really can't cut it."

See the full report here