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pennyblossom-meta · 22 days

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L Lawliet: a deep dive into the expanded universe pt.01

EDIT (07/04/2024): Added some imgs.

Apologies for being so late to give this a follow up to @maevearcher's meta which can be found here and here. As usual, she’s made excellent points and I'll try to answer the ones which caught my eye.

Since this post ended up gaining a life of its own and becoming a bit too long, I’m splitting it in 2 or 3 parts. The core of the content for part 01 starts after under the button to Read More.

Here we talk about L's humanity.

I'll start with a disclaimer of my own: while I consider the manga as the base for the story, I'm very much open to the expanded DN universe as a complementary study of the characters and their motivations — sometimes even filling in the blanks for some of the background mysteries, such as the dynamics of Wammy's House and how L's successors view him.

To further clarify: by canon I mean the manga and any works by Tsugumi Ohba as the base material. I think @maevearcher and I are more or less in agreement on that, from what she mentioned in her own posts. As she said, the written word is indeed the baseline truth.

The expansion of the DN universe also has its own very special set of problems; for example, in many ways, L:CtW (L: Change the WorLd) commits the sin of overindulgence by throwing in considerations that, arguably, go against canon. Besides the ending where L lives for a final 23 days and Watari dies, the portrayal of Near in the movie (though in the novel he's also walking a fine line between becoming partially and very much OOC) is also a point of contention. I confess that I really wasn't fond of the way they portrayed Misa as a potential crush of L given canon insights on his opinion about Light whether in the role of Kira or as a person (pg.64 of Vol 13: How to Read, henceforth referred to as V13:HTR), but aligning L to become more humane and forgiving was at least interesting.

The same happens with the live action movies, the 2015 series, and the musical. At least the game Spiraling Trap isn't clashing with canon elements — that I could tell. The main plot is separate from the events of DN and the dating sim is a little slice of heaven into L's thoughts and emotions which I dearly love.

However, while L:CtW does indeed overindulge, the novel AN:LABB (Another Note: LA BB Murder Cases) gives us a singular glimpse into L through the eyes of Mello while keeping the events mostly accurate to the main plot, even with its slight deviations. It's certainly an optional perspective to the core of DN, but one that I always found very insightful. In V13:HTR, Obha mentions how he would’ve liked that there were more novels about L and how he solved previous cases, in a similar fashion to how Nisio Isin approaches AN:LABB. Here’s what Ohba says in pg.61 of V13:HTR:

(...) I didn’t think up much for [L’s] past. For him to be in such an influential position, he must have solved an amazing amount of cases, but I have no idea what kind of cases they were or how he solved them. But I would love for NISIOISIN, who wrote the Death Note novel, to write more stories about that (...)

This means that, to some extent, even the original author, Ohba, accepts AN:LABB as close to canon — or rather, as canon as it can get given the creative liberties allowed to a third party writer. To that point, Nisio Isin took L’s capoeira demonstration during the Yotsuba arc and made it a whole thing in the novel, with L taking inspiration from Naomi Misora’s skills. However, given the importance of that event, in the main story, L takes a while to even remember Misora so we can infer that either the stress of the case is getting to him OR learning capoeira and subsequently Misora’s role in it didn’t leave that much of an imprint on him because true canon didn’t really put that much emphasis into it. Either way, it’s an extrapolation that works. The technicalities can be overlooked given how ambiguous the scene is, as there is more than room to deduce a different past.

At the same time, I am an apologist that there are shared characteristics to L throughout the different mediums. My own interpretation of L's character has the manga as a baseline, but the expanded universe has taught me that there are sides to him that might not be so easy to perceive in dialogue bubbles or illustrations alone. Little things like L's addictive personality or the way he represses feelings are visible in the manga but caught beautifully in the novels, for example.

Going from the written word into the screen also represents a loss of the purity achievable only within the narrative in-book, where you can extrapolate and reach your own conclusions without being subject to the bias of sound and movement — though manga aggregates the visual to words and with it an altogether different dimension of meaning. That's one of the many things I enjoy about elements of fiction introduced through books; the stillness of the images and the narrative are more complex. Every time the baseline gets adapted, it loses something or that something shifts to fit into the perception of others. It ceases being pure and its essence is fundamentally shattered. Like the concept of a musical score on paper that gets played by an orchestra, there will never be an adaptation as good as the source material because it breaks the illusion.

While I can certainly extrapolate and accept the loss, I find that the written word from the novels, the tone of a VA's voice and the body movements in a live action still complement the manga well, despite narrative clashes.

About L’s humanity

Recently I've been re-watching the anime and it's incredible how Alessandro Juliani's understanding of the character resulted in such a well-rounded voice for L. I actually prefer the EN version to the JP because of the voice acting. It's superbly brilliant, even if L becomes less listless. He's certainly still aloof, but his aggressiveness is portrayed more vividly; in contrast, L in the manga feels a bit more dangerous and scary to me due to the range of expressions that the anime didn't manage to add in due to time and budget constraints. If anything L tones down how dangerous he can be. He does this on purpose so that he can trick and trip his adversary, as can be seen during his earlier interactions with Light. At times, L makes a mockery of himself, apparently placing himself in the position of a more demure individual while sharply observing the world around him and forming conclusions.

As to @maevearcher ‘s first point:

(...) An image of this lonely autistic genius, locked inside the confines of his ways, waiting for the right person to come along and save him from the banes of his solitary existence…until he meets Light and realises there’s someone out there who he can relate to, for understanding and stuff. I personally don’t buy too much into that.

The depth to which L relates to Light can be overestimated, but not without reason. Theirs is mostly an adversarial relationship with varying deviations throughout the expanded universe, but if we solely consider the manga then we get this comment from Ohba regarding whether L has any friends on pg.64 of V13: HTR:

Nope. And when he says that Light is his first friend that’s a big lie. He never considers him a friend. He probably secretly thinks really negative things about him.

During the Yotsuba arc, L is at a disadvantage. Light has turned the tables, tricked him into what Beyond Birthday could not do and thus gained a solid position into rendering L almost powerless to charge him. To elaborate on the latter point: BB wanted to create the perfect, unsolvable crime to humiliate L, making him lose, and thus “spend the rest of his life trembling in fear of B’s shadow” (pg.163, AA:LABB); L would know who the guilty party was but wouldn’t be able to prove it or bring that person to justice. As such, L would not be able to solve the mystery. At the end of the novel BB fails due to Misora’s quick thinking and that’s that. However, Light has several advantages that BB lacked, starting with his own social position, charm and the impeccable reputation of a model student and the prized son of a police chief who helps solve cases every now and then.

We can argue that, what truly happens in manga canon, is L and Light showing how much they respect each other for their detective skills, forming a sort of strange kinship within the cat and mouse game, especially when Light loses his memories of the Death Note. The game thrills them and they enjoy pushing each other’s buttons. No one else has ever challenged them like this. That being said, the first time they meet up for coffee after the tennis match, L is observing Light like a hawk, keeps testing him for a reaction and seems somewhat irritated at how much Light talks. I would venture a guess that L doesn’t actually like Light that much, even when he loses his memories. He might even find Light a nuisance when he waves the flag of morality — though this is a common problem L is confronted with when dealing with the Task Force, in particular Chief Yagami and Aizawa. This also places him at another gruesome disadvantage, as he’s surrounded by people who openly dislike and criticise his methods. The Task Force is also extremely wary of the way L pursues Light and think he’s being stubborn without proof to substantiate his reasoning. Ironically, it’s Aizawa, one of L’s most critical subordinates, who initiates Light’s downfall years later once he starts to consider L’s suspicions in light of Near and Mello’s tactics.

Both L and Light respect the game, no matter where it takes them. I would further make an educated guess that Light even preyed on L’s vulnerabilities during the Yotsuba arc, predicting how L might fall into depression for failing at the game. Light was more than capable of understanding that L’s competitive and childish side would make him a sore loser, especially given that he had already “lost” the first round of battles just by showing his face. Even if there is a sliver of friendship between both during Light’s months of amnesia, it’s dead and buried the moment he becomes Kira again.

My conclusion here would be that, while what happened with Light was extreme, it was also somewhat similar to Beyond Birthday’s eternal enmity towards L: the challenge, the need to humiliate and take down the greatest detective, one of the most brilliant minds to ever walk the Earth. There are some notable quotes from AA:LABB that reference what it is to be L, surrounded by future challengers and individuals who both look up to L and want to prove they’re better than him:

Pg.69

By simple arithmetic, L's ability in 2002 was the equivalent of five ordinary investigative bureaus, and seven intelligence agencies (and by the time he faced off against Kira, those numbers had leapt upward several more notches). This is easy to think of as a reason to respect and admire someone, but let me say this as clearly as possible: that much ability in one human is extremely dangerous. Modern danger management techniques rely heavily on diffusing the risk, but his very existence was the exact opposite. In other words, if someone was planning to commit a crime, they could greatly increase their chances of getting away with it by simply killing L before they began. That was why L hid his identity Not because he was shy or because he never left the house. To ensure his own safety For a detective of L's ability, self-preservation and the preservation of world peace were one and the same, and it would not be correct to describe his actions as cowardly or self-centered.

Pg. 117

L was the goal of everyone in Wammy's House. Everyone of us wanted to surpass him. To step over him. To step on him. M did, N did, and B did. M as a challenger, N as a successor. B as a criminal.

Pg. 160:

B approached Naomi Misora, calling himself Rue Ryuzaki. Rue Ryuzaki - L.L. For anyone from Wammy's House, there could be no higher goal than identifying yourself with that letter - and Beyond Birthday seized this case as his chance.

One of the biggest problems with these quotes is that they paint a very complicated — and, ultimately, suffocating — picture of what it is like to be L. Ohba himself mentions Watari’s predisposition towards collecting geniuses from all over the world and what Wammy’s House has turned into, under the snippet for Watari’s character (pg.60 V13:HTR):

He’s a guy who cultivates detectives for fun. That’s kind of terrible, isn’t it?

Everyone profits from L. Watari becomes richer than ever. Wammy's House becomes breeding ground for geniuses who end up dreaming of a life where they enjoy constant thrill and challenge. However, in order to do so, the dream cannot be complete until the successor crushes the original; until M, N, B and A defeat L. At least one of L’s successors couldn’t handle the pressure and committed suicide. B, known as Backup, runs away from the orphanage and goes on a murder rampage. Having never met L in person, he deduces several personality quirks that the “original” demonstrates, going as far as exacerbating them in order to be creepy and repulsive. Mello, who boasts of having met L in person and being privy to stories about how he defeated several other detectives (then taking their aliases as a trophy) both fervently admires L and wants to step on him.

Step on him. That’s quite the turn of phrase. It does sound scary, doesn’t it? To be surrounded by people who would take the opportunity to pull you down, no matter how much they admire you. They want to be you, to prove that they’re better than you. It’s game and ego. Life and death. Winner and loser.

And that’s perhaps the most blatant summary in approved canon of what it is like to be L that we’ll ever get. We can, of course, argue that Watari cares about L. He’s not only his handler, but also the one who brought him into Wammy’s House. It’s fairly clear that he nurtured (and even enabled) some of L’s most distressing character traits, though I wouldn’t necessarily say it was with a purely utilitarian agenda. It’s perfectly acceptable to extrapolate how Watari might’ve wanted to keep L, a child of great intellectual genius, happy by allowing him to be challenged and properly educated. In fact, AN:LABB (pg. 145-46) even gives us L’s perspective on the kindness that justice can achieve, which is confirmed within the expanded universe to be similar to Watari’s teachings as L confronts Kujo in L:CtW.

"I have nothing to do with him," L said. "To be completely accurate, I do not even know B. He is simply someone I am aware of. But none of this affects my judgment. Certainly I was interested in this case, and began to investigate it because I knew who the killer was. But that did not alter the way I investigated it, or the manner in which my investigation proceeded. Naomi Misora, I cannot overlook evil. I cannot forgive it. It does not matter if I know the person who commits evil or not. I am only interested in justice." "Only... in justice... " Misora gasped. "Then ... nothing else matters?" "I wouldn't say that, but it is not a priority." “You won't forgive any evil, no matter what the evil is?" "I wouldn't say that, but it is not a priority." "'But..." Like a thirteen-year-old victim. "There are people who justice cannot save." Like a thirteen-year-old criminal. “And there are people who evil can save." "There are. But even so," L said, his tone not changing at all. As if gently admonishing Naomi Misora. “Justice has more power than anything else." "Power? By power ... you mean strength?" "No. I mean kindness." He said it so easily. Misora almost dropped the phone. L The century's greatest detective, L. The detective of justice, L. Who solved every case, no matter how difficult... " ...I misunderstood you, L." "Did you? Well, I'm glad we cleared that up."

I would, once again, venture another educated guess that, while Watari’s primary reasons for starting a program of successors to L was noble, it ultimately backfired on an individual level. Society wise, the letters, as L calls them in L:CtW, are a force for good. They solve crimes, help law forces around the world to keep peace. Some of them even become scientists like Dr Kujo — though she becomes the main antagonist in the spin-off novel. However, the pressure this kind of lifestyle fostered creates a group of individuals who are highly competitive and manipulative. Some, like A, can’t handle it. Even L has his own troubles, being called a reclusive sociopath, possibly by the police forces who treat him as a utility rather than a person. He’s someone they admire and resent, who is tolerated given how effective he is at cracking down cases.

This passage from L:CtW paints a grim picture of the way L suppresses his own feelings as he breaks down for not being able to prevent Maki from being kidnapped (pg. 150-51):

"Light...it hurts. My heart--" It was a hurt that L Lawliet had suppressed, that he had to suppress in order to continue his existence as the peerless Detective L. How had the world's top detective been described in regard to facets of his personality rather than his ability as a detective? He had been called a kinky detective who relished bizarre murders, a human computer capable only of measuring mass murders in terms of cold numbers, a reclusive sociopath. What L thought of such estimations of his personality only L could know. But no one could truly understand L. How L did not and could not forget the faces of thousands of victims. Who could comprehend the man who had lived his life, and had to live confronting all the lives that ended prematurely, the tears of grief-stricken survivors, the devaluing of life as a daily reality. How was it possible to measure the pain of such a man? Was it a strain so heavy that L's back curved under all its weight? Was it an agony so terribly to leave the indelible dark circles around his eyes? Was it a feeling so bitter that every bite he took needed to be coated in sugar? The chronically rounded shoulders, the inevitable dark circles, the eccentric tastes--L suppressed the pain of being a champion of justice, but the evidence of the pain was moulded into his very body.”

Even within the clear disparity from the official canon, this passage slaps. It humanises L further, making the detective become a person and not just a machine who is content with his lifestyle. I know there’s a tendency for those who prefer the manga to see L as someone who is unabashedly himself and perfectly alright with the life he lives. I would argue that the Kira case was not only the most difficult challenge L ever faced, but also a series of moments where he had to be at his best — and at his worst. He had to do everything within his power to solve the case, not only because of his pride but because of what he considers to be his sense of justice. Saying with such confidence ‘I am justice’ is a rather cheesy and childish thing to say out loud, though I read it as both what started as a child’s stubbornness and what L became, as he positioned himself as a barrier to prevent crimes.

L suppresses himself, represses his emotions; he tries to control them, as Fu Takashi says in an interview, he is “dependent on games or battles of the mind”. Perhaps this is a consequence of the foundations of his personality. Despite L’s innate stubbornness, it could be argued that this is as much his fault as it is Watari’s, who didn’t nurture L’s social skills as he should have when he was a child. By not having an outlet outside of his hobby, L is trapped in a prison of his own making. Superficially, L is a “smart guy who hates losing”, but what about the rest? What about the things that make him human, the connections with others? In the same interview, it is mentioned how L feels lonely and needs affection. But what affection can you get when you isolate yourself from the world and keep everyone at arm’s length? He’s not a machine. Even machines become obsolete with time, and need outside help to keep functioning.

As for the latter point, if everyone around L is trying to step on him, humiliate him and surpass him, then it’s only natural that his emotional defences would be up. Aside from Watari, whose loyalty he can count on, he’s alone. L has no one else. And everyone around him will have a dangerous, significant probability to betray him.

Next in part 02: About romance, having someone close and intimate, the meaning of the Monster speech.

Tagging @rinneroraito, @flametrashira and @sharkiethrts who might be interested in this meta.

#death note #l lawliet #death note meta #light yagami #spiraling trap #l lawliet headcanons #l lawliet x reader #watari #mello #mello death note #nate river #mihael keehl #near death note #beyond birthday #another note #l change the world #l death note #l lawliet death note

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bitimdrake · 2 years

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How would I get into teen titans but like everything? I want the fab fave AND the Kori, Raven, BB group but idk where to start

Yes okay so!!! Short answer: New Teen Titans if you can. Also Titans vol 1 (1999). Maybe Teen Titans: Year One if you want an easy intro. And a full guide here:

Guide to (Teen) Titans Comics

I'm going to list things here chronologically, but you do not have to read everything, or read it in order if you don't want to. (I've still only read a few issues here and there from the original run, myself. It's the 90s series that got me into the fab five.)

I recommend starting at the beginning, but jumping ahead to the next section if you're having trouble with an era.

Overview:

The original, Pre-Crisis team, beginning with the fab five

The New Teen Titans team of the 80s, which is the blueprint for the famous Kory/Raven/Vic/etc team

The fab five return to prominence in the 90s Titans, blending in the NTT team

The "Teen Titans" name becomes more generic in the 2000s, but the original generation remains as the blend of fab five and NTT

The Original Team

This era is very dated and often corny, but it's also the inception of the team. This is the original era of the fab five, who will be joined by many others, including briefly Beast Boy.

The Brave and the Bold vol 1 #54 (first meeting of the original trio: Dick, Garth, Wally)

The Brave and the Bold vol 1 #60 (addition of Donna)

optional modern prequel: Teen Titans: Year One - an easy introduction and light read, though with its own interpretation of the characters

Teen Titans vol 1 (1966-1978) - the original run of 53 issues. If you want just a few issues, I recommend: #1, #4 (Roy!), #22 (Donna's origins), and #53 (final issue, and reveal of an early mission that explains why Roy is a founder)

The Teen Titans break up by the end of the run, splitting into their own lives. But they won't all be apart for long:

New Teen Titans

The origin of the second team you named, with plenty of guest spots from the original Titans that aren't leads.

Now in the 80s, we leave the corny antics behind for a more mature tone with a lot of focus on civilian life and character arcs. This era is dated for different reasons, most notably some stuff that has not aged well.

It's flawed, but I still adore this series. And, 40 years later, it's not hard to argue this remains the seminal Titans run to this day.

...It also changed names or reset ordering multiple times, and had a bunch of tie-in miniseries, so the list of how to read is going to be kinda long. I swear it's worth it.

DC Comics Presents #26 (optional) - a preview of the team before the book launched

New Teen Titans vol 1 (1980) #1-9 - the real start of the team

Best of DC #18 (optional)

New Teen Titans vol 1 #10-20

Tales of the New Teen Titans (1982) #1-4 - tie-in miniseries

New Teen Titans vol 1 #21-25 / Annual #1 / #26-34 / Annual #2 / #35-37

crossover into Batman and the Outsiders #5

New Teen Titans vol 1 #38-40

series changed names to Tales of the Teen Titans #41-44 / Annual #3 / #45-58

(NOTE: TotTT technically continues after #58, but it's all reprints)

numbering restarts in New Teen Titans vol 2 (1984) #1-12 / Annual #1

New Teen Titans vol 2 #13-14 - tie-ins for Crisis on Infinite Earths

New Teen Titans vol 2 #15-23 / Annual #2

Teen Titans Spotlight (1986) - another miniseries, this one spotlighting various characters. Only the first two issues are really referenced in the main run.

New Teen Titans vol 2 #24-39 / Annual #3 / #40-49 / Annual #4

series changed names to New Titans #50-55 / Annual #5 / #56-59

New Titans vol 2 #60-61 - part of Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying

New Titans vol 2 #62-70 / Annual #6

I recommend stopping here. The series gets very bad after this. (And what they do to my dearest boy, light of my life, apple of my eye...) But, respecting the completionist urge:

New Titans #71-79 / Annual #7 / #80-86

New Titans #87-92- crossover with Deathstroke and Team Titans

New Titans Annual #8

Titans Sell-Out Special (1992) - oneshot

New Titans #93-99 / Annual #9 / #100-114

Optionally, get continuity for Starfire in the third story of Showcase ‘94 #11

The run continues here with an almost entirely new team, led by Roy, that is far less known. Most of the original New Titans return for the last few issues.

New Titans #0 - tie-in to Zero Hour

New Titans #115-122 / Annual #11 / #123-130

Something Completely Different

The 90s tried out an entirely new Teen Titans with entirely new characters in Teen Titans vol 2 (1996). I've heard decent things about it, though never read it.

If you're just sticking with established characters, the fab five takes the spotlight for a single arc in Teen Titans vol 2 #12-16.

90s Titans

Here we reach comics that feel more modern. This iteration returns the fab five to precedence, but blends in the New Titans line-up and a few new faces, to turn them into a cohesive generation.

Like I said, this run is what made me fall in love with the fab five. imo, it starts very strong, though quality starts to slip later on.

JLA/Titans #1-3 - the miniseries that kickstarts the new run

Titans vol 1 (1999) #1-2

Titans Secret Files and Origins #1 (1999)

Titans vol 1 #3-19 / Annual #1 / #20

Titans Secret Files and Origins #2 (2000)

Titans vol 1 #21-50

Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1-3 - the team ends as it began, with a crossover miniseries

Messy Generations

So at the same time as Titans was Young Justice (1998), which focused on the new generation of kid heroes. (Happy to make another post for how to read YJ if you like.) But when the TT cartoon came out in 2003, DC decided to split up both teams--in the above miniseries--to launch a new run that would hopefully capture fans of the show.

At this point, we split into two pieces. Some of the old Titans join with some of Young Justice in Teen Titans vol 3 (2003). Meanwhile other former Titans (or, well, Dick and Roy, and later Kory) start up Outsiders vol 3 (2003).

Which (or both, or neither) you consider to carry the spirit of the Titans is up to you. I love Outsiders for Dick and Roy, but the team overall is not very Titans, and I lost interest after Roy leaves. Meanwhile TTv3 carries the name and more characters, but is of consistently meh quality, and eventually shifts to just the younger generation.

These series crossover plenty, so I'll list them together. Pick the bits you're interested in.

Teen Titans/Outsiders: Secret Files and Origins #1 (2003) - inception of both teams

Outsiders vol 3 (2003) #1-3

Teen Titans vol 3 (2003) #1-6 (in which they massacre my boy, light of my life, apple of my eye, again)

Outsiders vol 3 #4-7

Teen Titans vol 3 #1/2 - that's issue "one half"

Teen Titans vol 3 #7-12

Outsiders vol 3 #8-15

Teen Titans vol 3 #13-16 / Teen Titans/Legion Special / Teen Titans vol 3 #17-20

Outsiders vol 3 #16-19

Teen Titans vol 3 #21-23

Outsiders vol 3 #20-23

Insiders crossover: Teen Titans vol 3 #24 / Outsiders vol 3 #24 / Teen Titans vol 3 #25 / Outsiders vol 3 #25

The Return of Donna Troy #1-4 - miniseries

Teen Titans/Outsiders: Secret Files and Origins #2 (2005)

optional: Outsiders #26-27, where the unrelated original team of Outsiders return

Outsiders vol 3 #28

Teen Titans vol 3 #26-28

Infinite Crisis begins and bleeds into everything:

Outsiders vol 3 #29-30

Teen Titans vol 3 #29-31

Outsiders vol 3 #31-33

Teen Titans vol 3 #32

Robin #146-147

Teen Titans vol 3 Annual #1 / #33

Here we jump ahead with One Year Later.

Roy and Kory leave the Outsiders and I no longer consider this run even Titans-adjacent, so I'll stop including it here. It'll last until issue #49, where it changed to a whole new Batman-led team.

Meanwhile any older characters leave the Teen Titans, and it is purely the younger generation after that:

Teen Titans vol 3 #34-47

Teen Titans vol 3 #48-49 - tie-ins to Amazons Attack, which is not good

Blue Beetle vol 7 (2006) #18

Teen Titans vol 3 #50-54

The Titans / Teen Titans Split

DC made a stupid problem for themselves. People still love the older generation of Titans and want them back. But the younger generation has now also taken the same name. What to do?

Well you see, uh. The Teen Titans and the Titans are now two completely different teams. Just go with it. The new run of Titans had a great line-up, blending the OGs and NTT, but didn't last long and ultimately accomplished very little. Again, listing the two runs together, as they intersect a lot.

Titans East Special #1 - prelude to the Titans reforming

Titans vol 2 (2008) #1-4

optional mini DC Special: Cyborg #1-6

Teen Titans vol 3 #55-61

Titans vol 2 #5-10 (they keep massacring my boy!!!!)

Teen Titans vol 3 #62-68

optional Terror Titans #1-6 - miniseries related to Teen Titans

Titans vol 2 #11

Teen Titans vol 3 #69

Death Trap crossover (my boy.....): Teen Titans vol 3 Annual #2 / Titans vol 2 #12 / Vigilante vol 3 (2009) #5 / Teen Titans vol 3 #70 / Titans vol 2 #13 / Vigilante vol 3 #6

Teen Titans vol 3 #71

Titans vol 2 #14

Teen Titans vol 3 #72-74

Titans vol 2 #15-18

Teen Titans vol 3 #75-76

Titans vol 2 #19-20

Blackest Night tie-ins: Titans vol 2 #21-22 / Blackest Night: Titans #1-3 / Teen Titans vol 3 #77-78

Titans vol 2 #23 - This issue fills me with anger. If you have not read all the stuff before this, it is very important to me that you know everything in it about Roy is wrong and bad.

Teen Titans vol 3 #79-87

The Teen Titans get to continue on as normal:

Teen Titans vol 3 #88-91

Red Robin #20

Teen Titans vol 3 #92-100

However, once again the older generation is thrown apart. From here on out, Titans weirdly becomes about a team of mercenaries led by Deathstroke. Why this was not just made a new run I have no idea. It's also not good fyi. It kicks off in Titans: Villains for Hire Special, then ends the Titans run with #24-38.

Reboots

After that, the universe rebooted for the New 52.

The New 52 is bad. The New 52 brought us Teen Titans vol 4 and 5 (both still about the Tim/Cassie/Bart/etc generation). Do not read these runs. And if you even think about bringing up New 52 Roy or Kory I will stomp you with my hooves.

Then we reboot again for Rebirth, and my expertise ends. I know the original Titans finally return from the war with Titans vol 3 (2016). I cannot weigh in yet if it's good. I know there is also a new Teen Titans vol 6 (2016) run, with most of the cartoon's characters, led nonsensically by Damian Wayne, which I suspect is not great but cannot confirm yet.

And then nowadays we have uh. Teen Titans Academy, I think? Look, at this point, I am as lost as you, but pretty sure all the worthwhile stuff is already listed above.

I hope this is helpful! Feel free to ask any follow ups :)

#*#ask #anon #*dc #dc #dc ref #dc timelines #the sometimes teen titans #teen titans #titans #new teen titans #''who is this boy they keep massacring?'' i guess you will just have to read to find out :) and enjoy ntt :) and then suffer with me :) :)#dc comics #dick grayson #wally west #roy harper #donna troy #starfire #tim drake

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