Just thought that I'd drop you a line and let you know that I enjoyed your review of The New Teen Titans Archive # 2. Regarding the cover, it originally appeared as the back cover to Best of DC #18, except the characters on the right were on the left, and vice versa, with Titans Tower in between. I'm sure that somewhere out there there's a scan of it. I have to admit, at first the Archive cover looked a little weird to me having seen the original composition, but I like it, too.

I must say that these Archive Editions are really nice books.

The bright white sturdy pages really shows off the brilliant colors by Adrienne Roy, who I suspect the color reconstruction of Jamison had a lot to do with it as well. The paper is so much nicer than the normal "newsprint" paper that DC uses on their Trade Paperbacks, such as WONDER WOMAN: GODS AND MORTALS TP #1 (Feb 2004) or THE NEW TEEN TITANS: THE TERROR OF TRIGON TP (Jun 2003), but it does come at a much higher cost: $49.95, which includes 240 pages and a hardcover.

If you look at a newsprint Trade compared to Marvel's trade, which consists of a glossy paper stock, you'll notice that the DC Trades are far more inferior, especially when you factor in the price.

Anyway, the Archive printing is crisp and readable and, apparently, the book was published in Hong Kong. Previously all of DC's books were printed in Canada. I guess it's cheaper to print in HK and have it shipped to the US.

The book contain a new foreword written by Marv Wolfman, which recounts all of the collected issues (#9-16) with some fun facts and anecdotes. The cover, which I haven't seen before, was penciled by George Pérez and inked by Bob Wiacek.

I did notice a small error, the content lists "A REUNION" when the title is actually "REUNION!". Also, the George Perez/Romeo Tanghal cover to BEST OF DC #18 (Nov 1981) did not get reprinted (all of the other issues had the cover reprinted in the book).

Another slight oversight was that Len Wein was not credited in the contents table. However, a short biography was written for him on the last page of the book, along with the other creators.

Anyway, this will make a fine addition to any book collection. The benefit in having such a nice book is that you no longer have to go and open up the original "pamplets" and risk damaging the comic (I've had many experiences with the tape-stick-to-cover incidents).

THE NEW TEEN TITANS ARCHIVES VOL. 2 HC Written by Marv Wolfman; art by George Perez, Romeo Tanghal and Carmine Infantino; cover by Perez and Tanghal. The second archive edition collecting the classic New Teen Titans issues of the 1980s. This archive reprints The New Teen Titans (volume one) #9-16, plus Best of DC (Blue Ribbon Digest) #18, with the Titans heading to Mount Olympus, taking on the Brotherhood of Evil, and more. 240 pages, $49.95, in stores on May 19.

NTT 2 Announced! (sort of)
posted December 09, 2002 01:47 PM

This may be a one of those smaller Archives like Challengers. I e-mailed Marv Wolfman and asked him what the contents of #2 would be. I specifically wanted to know if the 10 page DC Digest story would be included. He replied that he did know but couldn't remember, but that the Archive might cover the next 5 to 6 issues. Wouldn't that make it alot less than 200 pages?