Given its cast, and as evident from the already launched plot arcs in Season 1, ‘Titans’ takes its inspiration directly from the Bronze Age relaunch of the DC sidekicks known as the New Teen Titans. The second season of 'Titans' is now under way on DC Universe.

How will the new Season play out and what impact will more episodes have regarding related DC comic book offerings?

Thus far, the offerings from the DC streaming platform have been more good than bad with ‘Doom Patrol’ and ‘Swamp Thing’ standing out. And, of course, there’s the gritty ‘Titans’. As the flagship show for the service, ‘Titans’ was actually meant to act as a draw for the other offerings.

Included in the DC Universe lineup of the team are: Robin I/Nightwing/ Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites), Raven/Rachel (Teagan Croft) daughter of the demon Trigon, Starfire/ Kory Anders (Anna Diop), Beast Boy/Changeling/Gar Logan (Ryan Potter), Wonder Girl/Donna Troy (Conor Leslie), Hawk/Hank Hall (Alan Ritchson) and Dove/Dawn Granger (Minka Kelly) and Robin II/Jason Todd (Curran Walters). Season two promises to introduce even more team mates, and Superboy has already been hinted at.

Holding, as I’ve already claimed (here), that the Wolfman and Perez original run on the modern version of the Titans (The New Teen Titans) is still underrated; and after a full Season of live action representation, not to mention the fun but goofy animated movie last summer and with the second Season of the live action show about to get underway, let’s take a look at the performance of the New Teen Titans books compared to where they were 11 months ago, just before the first season of 'Titans' aired:

New Teen Titans #1 (November 1980) – First official New Teen Titans; Cyborg, Raven & Starfire joins; First appearance of Grant Wilson; First issue to titled series

New Teen Titans #1 features the second appearance of the new team, the first appearance of Slade Wilson’s son Grant (as the Ravager) and the first appearance of the alien race the Gordanians. 11 months ago 9.8 CGC copies were fetching an average of $240.00 on eBay and other auctions. Returns were somewhat mixed and (excluding signature series certified copies) long term data showed a positive + 17.2% since 2005. Today NTT #1 has a FMV of $300.00 with short-term returns (3 months) showing negative returns on 9.8 (down -38.1% after 5 sales according to GoCollect) and 9.6 (down -16.1% after 8 sales). Will a new season of Titans boost those values. Thus far, eBay sales have been mixed with an 8.0 selling just above and a 9.6 selling below FMV for those grades.

 

 

 

New Teen Titans #3 (January 1981) – Origin of Starfire; First appearance of Fearsome Five; First Titans Island

Issue #3 of the NTT features the first appearance of the Fearsome Five along with the origins of Raven and Starfire (who will both be featured characters on the new ‘Titans’ live action series). This comic has been slowly gaining in value. Eleven months ago, certified 9.8 copies sat at a FMV of around $80.00. Today, NTT #3 has a FMV of $130.00. Okay, that’s after only 1 sale, but recently –with news that both Dr. Light and Shimmer of the Fearsome Five sales for this actually picked up just before the first episode aired, but they’ve already begun to slow.

 

 

 

 

 

New Teen Titans #21 (July 1982) – First appearance of Brother Blood & Mother Mayhem; First appearance of Baron Winters; First appearance of Vanessa van Helsing; First appearance of Merlin the Leopard

Brother Blood was another great Teen Titans villain who, however, has yet to see the popularity of Slade Wilson’s Terminator character. I think Blood may eventually appear on 'Titans', even if it looks like Season 2 will start by featuring the always popular Terminator/Slade Wilson. Terminator's first appears in New Teen Titans #2 (which, with a FMV of $625.00 in 9.8 may have already spiked but remains a great Titans key to own - especially in case a big screen Terminator appearance happens). NTT #21, however, may be the better buy at the moment. The value compared to eleven months ago, when it was selling for around $110.00 in 9.8 has actually dropped. Today NTT #21 has a FMV of circa $95.00 in shiny and like-new 9.8 condition. You can find it raw for much less. What that means is, given a Blood appearance, and if the character is done right, this book could really shoot up in value.