Teen Titans (1996) was a comic book series that ran from 1996 to 1998. It was helmed by Dan Jurgens and George Pérez and saw a more sci-fi based spin on the Teen Titans title.
17 years ago, the H'San Natall race abducted women from Earth and impregnated them with their own DNA in order to create hybrid children. In the present day, these hybrid children, now teenagers, are abducted by the H'San Natall in order to indoctrinate them as sleeper agents before they invade Earth. With the help of an aged-down Atom, the mysterious Omen, billionaire aide Loren Jupiter (a character from the Silver Age run) and Mad Mod, the teens successfully escape to Earth and become the newest iteration of the Teen Titans with the Titans aspect being that the H'San Natall were stationed at the Jovian moon Titan.
The line-up would consist of: Atom, Cody Driscoll aka Risk, Antonia "Toni" Monetti aka Argent, Isaiah Crockett aka Joto (later renamed Hot Spot) and Aubrey Spears aka Prysm. After Isaiah's death in the Then & Now storyline, the team would also be joined by Captain Marvel Jr. and Fringe who is another H'San Natall hybrid.
Storylines
- Titan's Children: The initial storyline of the series, it explores the H'san Natall kidnapping 4 teenagers who band together with the Atom to escape back to Earth. Features the debut of Risk, Argent, Hot Spot, Prysm and Lilith Clay as Omen. Ran from #1-3
- Coming Out: Features the Teen Titans' fight with The Veil. Ran from #4-5
- Dark Nemesis: Features the Teen Titans' fight with their villainous counterpart, Dark Nemesis. Ran from #7-8.
- The Lost World Of Skartaris: Features the Teen Titans venture into Skartaris and team-up with Warlord and Lady Jennifer. Ran from #9-11.
- Then & Now: Features the original Teen Titans members teaming up with the new team to defeat Jarrod Jupter/Haze. Features the debut of Haze, the revelation of Omen's identity as Lilith Clay and Loren Jupiter's daughter, Arsenal's initial "Red Arrow" costume and Isaiah's death Ran from #12-16.
- Titans Hunt: The climactic storyline of Teen Titans Vol 2. Ran from #21-24 and features Isaiah's revival.
Overall, the series ran for 24 issues, 1 Annual, 4 Double-Shot specials, and a New Year's Evil tie-in, as well as having a major supporting appearance in the Super Family Crossover event Behold! The Millenium Giants!. The majority of the characters would continue to appear in DCU such as Argent being promoted into the then-upcoming Titans (1999) comic, Risk become something of Geoff Johns's personal punching bag (for reasons unknown) and Isaiah gaining a niche popularity from his appearance in Teen Titans as well as his involvement in Heroes in Crisis and The Flash (Infinite Frontier).
Teen Titans (1996) provides examples of the following tropes:
- Alien Invasion: What the H'San Natall intend to do.
- Alien Princess: Prysm, aka Audrey Spears, is a Half-Human Hybrid with an alien father and human mother. She becomes a princess by default when her mother is accepted as Empress by the alien race, though, ironically, she was addressed as Princess in the VR simulation where she was initially raised.
- Beleaguered Benefactor: Loren Jupiter funds the new iteration of the team after doing so to their predecessors.
- Crashing Through the Harem: In the first issue, Cody sneaks into the Cheyenne Mountain base on a dare. Spotted by guards, he runs away and ends up running into a women's locker room, which is full of young women in various states of undress. He stops and stares at them, assuming that he has run onto a holodeck. One of the women then kicks him to the ground.
- Demoted to Extra: The earlier Titans all became demoted during this run, partly due to
Executive Meddling. Jurgens had originally planned to use Nightwing and the JSA member Wildcat as mentors for the team, but had to make do with using the de-aged Ray Palmer instead. - Half-Human Hybrid: There were nine human women that were abducted by the H'San Natall and impregnated with their children being the focus of the over-arching arc. These are - the core Teen Titans (Cody, Toni, Isaiah, Aubrey and Fringe) and a member of Dark Nemesis (Scorcher) with the identity of the remaining three hybrids unknown.note
- Luke, You Are My Father: This series revealed that Sixth Ranger Titan Lilith Clay was also the biological daughter of Loren Jupiter, the man who funded the Titans back in the day. Which also made Haze her brother.
- Parental Abandonment: The main motivation for why Jarrod is evil.
- Psychic Powers: Both Omen and Haze possess these are their main powers.
