Tiny Titans and Titans East

[Kid Kyoto]

OK, so Teen Titans was one of DC most successful, kid friendly animated properites.

DC is even doing Tiny Titans, an even younger skewing version.

Titans East contained sex, violence and gory deaths.

Do they even know what they're doing? Do they know nothing about branding or establishing trust?

If DC is going to market Titans to kids, then parents have to have some faith that any comic carrying the Titans logo, whether Titans Go, or Tiny Titans or Titans East is kid friendly.

Imagine Disney marketing soft-core furry porn alongside Micky Mouse comics.

Arg.

Arg.

OK, end of rant.

[Shellhead]

I didn't know about the Tiny Titans thing, but I was otherwise thinking the same thing just yesterday. Except that I think that DC got the branding wrong at both ends of the spectrum. The animated series aimed too low in age, making the "Teen" Titans look like they were in grade school. That pretty much ensured that series would lose most fans after they got into about 4th grade. And Tiny Titans is even more short-sighted, I would have probably been ashamed to be seen watching it when I was 7.

Most kids are happy to watch older superheroes, because they are still loud, colorful, and action-oriented. It isn't necessary to dumb down the content and make the heroes as young as the target audience.

At the other extreme, I fail to see why we need to see Teen Titans get slaughtered every time there is a big crossover event. This particular Titans East Special was a complete deadend of a story. It wasn't about much. It didn't have any interesting ideas. It didn't lead to anything worthwhile, unless Final Crisis actually turns out to be great, which looks very doubtful after such duds as Amazons Attack and Countdown.

But the really bad thing about the way the Titans are being handled these days is the complete absence of thought about how to handle their identity with respect to the overall consumer base. Either the Teen Titans should be written for kids (yes, because kids can look up to teens) or else written for adults (not my first choice, since adult readers should have adult heroes), and then DC should stick with that identity. Think how parents would have completely freaked if there had been Pokemon comics featuring rape, death, and sexy shower scenes. And with good reason. Crappy comics like the Titans East special are just begging for backlash from parents.

[Archguru]

While I can understand that point, if you go back and read TT at any point, it always had adult elements even BCOIE.

The real trouble here started when DC allowed them to produce the TT cartoon with the early teen focus.

But you are right as a parent, its hard to know that the comics do not equate to the tv show.

[Gottaluvit]

While I can understand that point, if you go back and read TT at any point, it always had adult elements even BCOIE.

The real trouble here started when DC allowed them to produce the TT cartoon with the early teen focus.

But you are right as a parent, its hard to know that the comics do not equate to the tv show.

I agree. Way back to the early NTT days there has been adult elements in the book.

But as a parent of four children I don't find it hard at all that comics don't equate to the TV show. There is Titan's Go for that purpose. My kids range in age from 8 to 15. The youngest ones know they can read Titan's Go and the Teen Titan's V1 showcases, they are also well aware that they will have to wait until they are older the read any other Titan's titles in my collection. They know some books are for kids and some for grownups, and they don't even question that.

[Kid Kyoto]

But the 80s TT were not tied to a show aimed at kids.

That's the difference.

Parents who collect comics are not good test cases. Back when I was in the states I ran into a grandpa and a kid looking to buy TT comics. The kid (7 or 8 years old) was looking at one of the recent TPBs, with blood and dismemberments and suchwot and I steered them towards the Showcase TT, which was writen as an all-ages book.

The idea that parents will somehow tell that TT Go! is all-ages while Titans East, which also has Cyborg on the cover, is not, that's a joke.

A brand is a promise, a promise that a Disney movie=all ages and that a Friday the 13th movie is not.

DC has no idea what the TT means.

[Gottaluvit]

But the 80s TT were not tied to a show aimed at kids.

That's the difference.

Parents who collect comics are not good test cases. Back when I was in the states I ran into a grandpa and a kid looking to buy TT comics. The kid (7 or 8 years old) was looking at one of the recent TPBs, with blood and dismemberments and suchwot and I steered them towards the Showcase TT, which was writen as an all-ages book.

The idea that parents will somehow tell that TT Go! is all-ages while Titans East, which also has Cyborg on the cover, is not, that's a joke.

A brand is a promise, a promise that a Disney movie=all ages and that a Friday the 13th movie is not.

DC has no idea what the TT means.


Then IMO, DC failed by making the TV show. Why should the Titan's book be changed to fit the premise of a kids cartoon, when its been established that Titan's was an adult oriented book as far back as the 80's?

And parents need to check what kids are buying and reading, I peek at all my kids books to see if they are suitable, not just comics, but novels to.

[Rio_de_Janeiro]

And parents need to check what kids are buying and reading, I peek at all my kids books to see if they are suitable, not just comics, but novels too.


THIS is an example of an element of responsible parenting. Congratulations for this, Gottaluvit.
If everyone who decided to have a child acted this way, there'd be no need for censorship.

cheers,
6

[Rattlehead]

You'd have to really hate your children to even consider letting them read that Titans East Special anyways. It would make a good disiplinary action though.

"Sit down and behave, or I'll make you read that Judd Winick comic again!"

[Gottaluvit]

THIS is an example of an element of responsible parenting. Congratulations for this, Gottaluvit.
If everyone who decided to have a child acted this way, there'd be no need for censorship.

cheers,
6

Thank you.

[jv2k]

Mostly everything in the main DC line up isn't for little kids. They have Johnny DC for that.

DC knows what TT is. TT is a normal DC book. Tiny Titans and Go are for kids.

On that note the same applies to The Batman comics, JLU, that new super friends crappy comic, and anything else on Johnny DC's line up that has a DCU equivalent title.