While most superhero books are jam-packed with lots of action, fisticuffs and even more action issue #8 instead focused on the lives of the individual members of The New Teen Titans,
A Day In The Lives gave each member of The New Teen Titans their moment in the spotlight. Readers were given an intimate, firsthand look at what made each member tick, their motivations, fears and strong sense of responsibility.
Cyborg dealt with his prosthetics and a lost love. Raven sought to be alone with starling results. Starfire relished her freedom and new modeling career.
Wonder Girl pursued her photographer career and love life. Beast Boy dealt with some family business and Kid Flash came to appreciate his family.
To me this issue marked a turning point in The New Teen Titans. Artist George Perez and writer Marv Wolfman demonstrated a comfortable familiarity with their characters.
While the proceeding issues launched The New Teen Titans into popularity, with issue #8 a new maturity was introduced.
After this the stories became more personal, intimate and had a comfortable feel. Readers were at ease with the team members and recognized their individual strengths and witnesses.
Other more subtle changes started to take place. The characters started to look more and more like individuals not just cookie cutter figures.
Robin took on a more mature look and Starfire’s alien features were more noticeable.
Cyborg was more rugged and at ease with his cybernetics. Beast Boy relished his power and became more imaginative in their use.
Raven began to take on a more slender and angular look and Kid Flash lost his teenage look and matured into a young man.
The stories evolved in complexity and the page layouts became more daring, the details more elaborate and the overall dynamism of the titles ramped up a notch.
Issue #8 proved that a comic book did not need to be all action and fisticuffs. Quiet and introspective character studies were just as interesting and far more revealing.
Currently a near mint copy of issue #8 in the raw goes for about $5 while a slabbed copy hovers close to the $75 mark.
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