News Fri, 22 Dec 2006 00:34:12 CST Vu

NEW TEEN TITANS #8 (Jun 1981)

NEW TEEN TITANS #8 TRIBUTE (Aug 2006), art by Layne Toth

Pittsburgh Comicon Charity Auction!
Posted Saturday, November 25, 2006

Every year the Pittsburgh Comicon helps to raise thousands of dollars for charity. All of the items in the charity auction are donated by the talented professionals that come to the show each year. Take a look at some of the awesome artwork all ready donated this year!

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Print of Cover Recreation of New Teen Titans #8. Signed by Artist Layne Toth & George Perez

SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2006 (20-23 Jul 2006) - San Diego, California

DC: Fans Turned Pro (MP3 Direct Link)
8/23/2006 5:54 pm

Fans Turned Pro: Johns, Meltzer, and Winick- As kids we read comics and dream of one day making them. These fans in particular are now living that dream and have become some of the best talent working in the industry today. Join Stephen Wacker, Geoff Johns (52, Action Comics, Green Lantern, Teen Titans), Brad Meltzer (Identity Crisis, the upcoming Justice League of America), and Judd Winick (Green Arrow, The Outsiders) as they discuss how they got where they are and what they plan on doing next. Listen in as these MVPs give us their take on DC's amazing characters! Recorded live on July 22, 2006 at Comic-Con San Diego, CA. Brought to you by www.dccomics.com

>>>

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NEW TEEN TITANS #8 (Jun 1981)

(5:06) Brad Meltzer: In terms of what I love when I grew up. The best book as far as I'm concern, bar nothing, was Marv Wolfman and George Pérez's Teen Titans. And Marv Wolfman is here, and that is -- (claps).

I mean, that -- I thank you, sir. That book was -- I can't even tell -- my novels are so affected by that writing -- my comics are affected by that writing. And Identity Crisis is affected by that story. Just from the Judas Contract alone and the idea of a surprise in a comic that I couldn't guess.

As I felt, as we all get older, we can all guess the endings. Now I can tell you where I was sitting when turned that page and I saw Tara talking to Deathstroke. And going, and there was no internet, no Previews, no nothing. And I just remember thinking, 'No, it's impossible!' And I really felt that affected me forever.

And that idea of surprise your reader, but not with shock values, but with character. Character! Character! Character!

That Day in the Life story, was one of the greatest story ever. We pay homage to it in Justice League. But those stories were my bread and butter...

NEW TEEN TITANS #8 TRIBUTE (Aug 2006), art by Layne Toth

"Hi, Layne (and Peri and everyone else in Toth Land):

I just returned from a convention in Atlanta and just opened the package with your awesome gift. Boy, was I ever surprised and impressed. My wife Carol was also impressed. I had to remind her that the cover was based on the one from issue 8 of THE NEW TEEN TITANS-- the issue I was working on when I had my first date with her. It really is a very special gift and I will definitely treasure it. I will send you one signed copy as you asked when I return from another convention in Baltimore this coming weekend (busy, busy, busy). I also think that putting one up for the Pittsburgh Comicon 2007 Make-A-Wish Art Auction is a splendid idea (with BOTH our autographs!) and I'll set one aside for that as well.

Thank you so much for your kindness and friendship,
Love,

Uncle George"

About the artist: 9-year-old LAYNE TOTH is known by others as The Hardest Workin' Kid in Comics(tm) and has had her art & stories published in FAITH: WARRIOR PRINCESS(tm), MEOW-WOW!, PATRICK THE WOLF BOY and SIMPSONS COMICS, among others. She has been featured in TIME Magazine, The SUN supermarket tabloid, NPR and on the BBC. She also contributes conventions reports to Comicon.com/PULSE. Check out her Official Websites at: www.sisterscomics.com AND www.myspace.com/sisterscomics

GEORGE PEREZ & his wife CAROL FLYNN own the original pencil & ink artwork, original color artwork, and 23 of the 25 signed & numbered prints. LAYNE TOTH owns 1 of the 25 signed & numbered prints and will not part with it. The PITTSBURGH COMICON 2007 MAKE-A-WISH Charity Art Auction may be your only chance to own one of these rare prints. And the money raised will go towards a good cause! For details, watch: www.pittsburghcomicon.com

NEW TEEN TITANS #8 (Jun 1981)

Layne & Peri Toth, George Pérez & Red Robin (May 2006)

PROS & CONS: LAYNE TOTH AT CANADIAN NATIONAL EXPO '06, TORONTO & NIAGARA FALLS
posted 09-11-2006 02:27 PM
BY JUNIOR CUB PULSE REPORTER, LAYNE TOTH

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Before leaving for my FIRST EVER CANADIAN APPEARANCE, I had to mail my 'NEW TEEN TITANS' #8 cover tribute art along with 25 signed prints to GEORGE PEREZ & his wife CAROL FLYNN. They met while he was originally drawing that cover and they just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. Maybe they will put one of the prints in the PITTSBURGH COMICON 2007 MAKE-A-WISH charity auction.

[ Read more PROS & CONS: LAYNE TOTH AT CANADIAN NATIONAL EXPO '06, TORONTO & NIAGARA FALLS ]

Related

[May 04, 2006 10:07 pm] Layne Toth Hanging in the 'Burgh

Letters. We’ve Got Letters!
By Marv Wolfman

NEW TEEN TITANS #8 (Jun 1981)

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The following came from someone whose name I stupidly lost. Tell me who sent this and I'll publicly apologize.

What is your opinion of the different segments of your lengthy run on Titans? What was your best story arc? What was your worst? At what point did you realize you didn't want to write it anymore? Discuss generally your long run on the book and how it affected you as a writer and the concept of the team book in the comic medium. Also compare your run on Titans to the Claremont period on X-Men and the results on both books.

The New Teen Titans was the best of times and the worst of times. I loved writing the book, especially the first eight to ten years where I was in charge of it, either unofficially or officially. Those were the issues where I did what I truly believed in. Once someone else comes in - even if they are a great editor - things change. Sometimes for the best. Sometimes not so for the best. There are a number comics where I truly believe the editor makes the series much, much better, but a very few series where I feel the creators should be left alone. For me those series would be Titans, Crisis and Tomb Of Dracula. Everything else I've worked on has been helped by working with good editors. I don't think it's at all surprising that things weren't quite the same on Titans once that control changed.

Best runs: The first 50 issues. Or anytime I worked with the incredible George Perez. He wasn't just the artist. He was the co-creator. Favorite stories: "Who is Donna Troy?", the Terra storyline. And a story nobody ever brings up which is my all time favorite, "Shades of Gray," the culmination of the Changeling/Terminator story. There are dozens of smaller stories that I also love, especially "A Day In The Life," and "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Maladi." I loved the Kole stories and many others.

Where did it go wrong? The last year or two. The reason? See my note in paragraph one above. Also, along the way I lost interest in the series and thought of quitting, but then Jon Peterson became editor and reminded me what I loved about the book. We did "Titans Hunt" together which was as close to the 'classic' Titans as I had done in a long time. It would have been a lot better if it hadn't had to be broken up by two maxi-series, turning what should have been a four-five part story where Vic Stone would have been rebuilt to a year and a half storyline where he got lost in the mix.

I finally had it during that final year and decided to quit the book. I hated every story. Every issue. I wasn't even the plotter. So, at a DC Christmas out here in LA, I went up to DCU Editor-in-Chief Mike Carlin and said I wanted to quit and asked if DC would bring back Night Force and let me write that instead, but with a different editor. I thought there might have been a problem, but Mike said yes but asked me to stay on the Titans a few issues longer. He said he thought it would be best to cancel the Titans with my run rather than just hand it over to someone else. They would then restart it with new characters, concepts and a new number one, which I thought was a great idea. After sixteen years, a new voice and approach was needed. Mike assigned a new editor to my last four issues, and, with the exception of not being able to use Nightwing - who had been returned to Batman continuity - let me end the series pretty much the way I wanted. I still thank Mike for rescuing me from what had turned into a hellish nightmare.

I still love the Titans and would love to do individual stories about them, but DC hasn't seemed that interested. I recently proposed a character-driven Titans-3 series featuring an approximately 24 year old Cyborg, Raven and Starfire trying to figure out what they are about when they aren't being super, but nobody seems to be banging down my door for it. I also have tried to jumpstart the Games graphic novel George and I started a dozen years ago - of which he drew 80 incredible pages that have never been seen - but again, no interest.

[ Read more We've Got Letters (Aug 11) ]

THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS (Part Two of Three)
by Bill Baker

Editor's note: In issue 86 we kicked off Bill Baker's extensive CBM interview with George Pérez by focusing on his stints on The Avengers and the upcoming Avengers/JLA crossover. This issue, we'll turn our attention to his role in creating The New Teen Titans and Crisis on Infinite Earths at DC with writer Marv Wolfman.

NEW TEEN TITANS #8 (Jun 1981)

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CBM: you mentioned earlier that you got to design some of the new characters, like Cyborg, Raven, etc. how much input did you have into the basic creation, outside the visuals, of those characters?
Pérez: Initially, not very much. Cyborg, I was a little more [involved]. Since I grew up in the south Bronx and [come] from a Puerto Rican background I had a little more I could actually put into Cyborg's personality, and from the way he stood and everything else. For me, Kory, was just this Red Sonja from out space, and raven was the Phantom Stranger in drag. So I just treated that as archetypes, and just designed it from there. It wasn't until Marv and I talked a bit more than I started understanding where Marv was going - when issue eight came in - that is when I really, really started putting more into their characterizations. From the inside, as opposed to letting Marv tell me how they're behaving. [ From then on] I understood how they behaved, and each character had a little extra soul in them as well.