In Teen Titans #1, everyone’s favorite young crime-fighting squad returns with a bang alongside a new cast and an initially unwilling leader in Red Hood. It’s a lot of fun.
TEEN TITANS #1
Written by KYLE HIGGINS
Art and Main Cover: DANIELE DI NICUOLO
Variant Covers: DAN MORA, JIM CHEUNG, SANFORD GREENE, HAYDEN SHERMAN
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 9/2/26
This review contains spoilers
To kick Teen Titans #1 off, Red Hood is taking on a case featuring a missing teenager named Cole Harmon. The last known lead is his involvement with an online forum server, named after the Teen Titans. The server is run by a group of young heroes, including Cheshire Cat, Proxy, Wildcard, Fairplay, and Eugene Choi.
They’re at an arcade when two guys arrive to rob it. The heroes chase the robbers down, arriving at the scene of Red Hood knocking them out. Jason chastises and advises them to drop the Teen Titans name. Afterwards, he calls Nightwing, noting them as a potential new iteration of the Titans.
When Fairplay gets home, his father, Mr. Terrific, says Nightwing informed him of his and his friends’ actions. He sees the potential in them, but believes they need structure, deciding to have them work under Nightwing’s supervision. Meanwhile, Jason tracks the two from earlier and finds out they’re members of an anti-superpower group named Ascend, a group that has connections to many missing kids cases.
The next day, Dick prepares an introduction, but gets ghosted as the kids instead show up to Jason’s place. They speak on how they want to live up to the Teen Titans name, and take matters into their own hands while supporting other kids. He turns them down at first, but after a passive-aggressive text from Nightwing, he accepts while sending Nightwing a selfie of the group together. In it, he’s sure to brand them as the Teen Titans, just to get back at him.
Analysis
I haven’t read DC consistently in a while, so a lot of these characters I’m meeting for the first time. Thankfully, the one I know well is my favorite DC character ever, Jason Todd (shout out to my name twin). But I like Jason being in a leadership role again. Interestingly enough, one of his new teammates is a child of Arsenal, who he led alongside on the Outlaws.
I left the issue with a good feeling that there’s going to be a lot of interesting character relationships, as the kids are very talkative. They also found a way to connect to Jason’s story, commenting on how as the original headstrong Robin, he should be able to relate to their cause. Jason definitely has a lot of qualities that people might find endearing despite his rough nature, and it’s enjoyable that the kids see through his exterior enough to connect with him.
The tone is very enjoyable. The color palette is soft, even at night, and supports the easygoing humor. It’s very contemporary without being overboard, something most writers struggle with when writing Gen Z slang. Watching Jason call Proxy a bootleg Naruto made me chuckle in class.
Lastly, Young Justice on Cartoon Network was my favorite show in elementary school. That and an old Super Friends DVD were my proper introduction to the DC mythos. So, seeing these characters echo a lot of the points the original 3 pioneers of The Team made during Independence Day got a massive thumbs up from me. Stories about wanting the freedom to help in your own way will always hit for me, and I’m definitely excited to see how the squad both agrees and disagrees with Red Hood’s authority.
Final Thoughts
Teen Titans #1 is off to a good start, featuring strong humor, an easygoing tone, and a new team that seeks to live up to the name.
