Jab’s Builds! (Whomp 'Em! Plumbers Don't Wear Ties! ToeJam & Earl!)

[HalloweenJack]

I always kind of enjoyed the Protector, never realizing he was a redone Robin until many years later. I just assumed he was a character who was around but never really took off.

[Jabroniville]

KOLE (Kole Weathers)
Created by: Marv Wolfman & George Perez
First Appearance: The New Teen Titans #9 (June 1985)
Role: Sacrificial Buddy
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans
PL 9 (103)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Insight 3 (+4)
Perception 2 (+3)
Persuasion 3 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Crystals) 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Improved Defense, Ranged Attack, Set-Up

Powers:
"Crystal Spinning"
Create Crystals 10 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Continuous) (31) -- [33]

• AE: Crystal Snare 9 (Feats: Reversible) (28)
• AE: "Wide-Area Snare" Snare 8 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Shapeable) (Flaws: Touch Range) (24)

"Crystal Platform" Flight 3 (8 mph) (Extras: Platform) [9]

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Crystal Snare +8 (+9 Ranged Affliction, DC 19)
Wide-Area Snare +8 (+8 Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +2, Fortitude +4, Will +5

Complications:
Relationship (Father)- Kole's father Abel experimented upon her, and attacked her friends. The two are not close.
Relationship (Jericho)- Joseph & Adeline Wilson made their home open to Kole when she rejected her father's madness, and she & Joe came to become emotionally involved.

Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 42 / Defenses: 15 (103)

-Kole is interesting in Titans history, as she has the shortest run of any Titan until the modern era- in fact, she was created JUST TO DIE. See, DC had a thing where EVERY writer had to pony up a character to die in the mega-story apparently, which royally pissed off some of them- particularly since it was some other pair's story. And so, Wolfman had to kill off one of his OWN characters to keep the peace, but instead of using a recurring character, INVENTED one just to kill her off in the story! Kind of a cheeseball way out of it, if you ask me, but according to Wolfman, he came to actually like his new character, and so felt badly when he unceremoniously killed her off in the final moments of the Crisis- she threw up a Crystal Dome to protect herself, the Golden Age Robin, and The Huntress (the Helena Wayne one, from Earth-2) from The Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons. The Demons broke though the Dome and there was this huge explosion, leaving nothing in their wake. Robin & Huntress were killed to make room in the new continuity (there were no Golden Age versions of Earth-1 heroes left, so Robin, Superman and others had to go), and Kole was sacrificed basically to keep other writers happy.

-Kole herself gained her powers from her father, who experimented on her to put humanity through a kind of "forced evolution" that would help them survive what he believed to be an impending Nuclear holocaust. Instead, she gained the ability to make crystal objects. She was kidnapped by the Titaness Thia, who made her weave crystal dungeons for important prisoners, but the Titans (with old partner Lilith Clay, herself the daughter of Thia, it would be revealed) rescued her, and she went back with them, fighting her father and his Crystal Monsters. Pretty much immediately after a space mission where she got left behind (worrying about Jericho, with whom she'd fallen in love), she was killed, her body never found. The Titans had never really OFFICIALLY made her a member, but thought of her as such, with Nightwing & Cyborg mourning her as "a Titan for such a short period of time" and "this one hurts, man".

-Her only other appearances have been in "A Titan Gets Temporarily Resurrected" stuff (a Brother Blood story, Kid Eternity using his powers, Blackest Night, etc.), as they've never seen fit to bring her back. I mainly remember her from my sole Who's Who issue, which gave her a full-page spread, and made her seem really important (she got more than Kid Flash, for instance).

-Kole never really had a chance to shine, so she's not overly powerful. She's basically designed around her Create power, plus she has some ability to Snare. At PL 8.5, she has a bit to go before she'd be "Titans Ready", packing greater power in lieu of skill (or very well-rounded stats).

[Ken]

As she was a glass cannon, one assumes the glass was crystal....

[Goldar]

As she was a glass cannon, one assumes the glass was crystal....

But Crystal is from that other company in that other universe!

[Jabroniville]

THUNDER II (Gan Williams)
Created by: Marv Wolfman & George Perez
First Appearance: The New Teen Titans #32 (June 1983)
Role: Back-Up Characters
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans (Allies)
PL 8 (133)
STRENGTH 8 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+4)
Expertise (Science) 2 (+3)
Insight 2 (+4)
Perception 1 (+3)
Persuasion 2 (+4)
Ranged Combat (Thunder Crash) 3 (+8)

Advantages:
Improved Critical (Dazzle Hearing), Set-Up, Ranged Attack 2, Teamwork

Powers:
"Magical Twins" Senses 1 (Communication Link- Tavis Williams) [1]
Environment 5 (Visibility, Impede Movement 2) (Flaws: Limited to Within Brother's Presence) [10]

"Wind Storm" Blast 8 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Same Limit) Linked to Move Object 8 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Same Limit) (32) -- [34]

• AE: "Thunder Rolls" Damage 10 Linked to Dazzle Hearing 8 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Touch Range) (26)
• AE: "Thunder Crash" Dazzle Hearing 8 (16)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Thunder Crash +8 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Thunder Rolls +6 & +8 Area (+10 Damage & +8 Affliction, DC 25-18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +5

Complications:
Relationship (Each Other)- The brothers are close (having once LITERALLY been attached to each other), and are never seen apart.
Responsibility (Uncontrolled Powers)- The brothers had great trouble controlling their abilities at first, and needed a blood transfusion from their alien/American soldier father to do it.

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 45 / Defenses: 13 (133)



LIGHTNING II (Tavis Williams)
Created by: Marv Wolfman & George Perez
First Appearance: The New Teen Titans #32 (June 1983)
Role: Back-Up Characters
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans (Allies)
PL 9 (125)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+4)
Expertise (Science) 2 (+3)
Insight 2 (+4)
Perception 1 (+3)
Persuasion 2 (+4)
Ranged Combat (Blasts) 3 (+8)

Advantages:
Improved Critical (Lightning), Set-Up, Ranged Attack 2, Teamwork

Powers:
"Magical Twins"
Senses 1 (Communication Link- Tavis Williams) [1]
Environment 5 (Visibility, Impede Movement 2) (Flaws: Limited to Within Brother's Presence) [10]

"Wind Storm" Blast 8 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Same Limit) Linked to Move Object 8 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Same Limit) (32) -- [34]

• AE: Lightning Blast 9 (18)
• AE: "Lightning Crashes" Damage 9 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (18)

"Ride the Lightning" Flight 6 (120 mph) (Extras: Affects Others) (Flaws: Platform) [12]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Lightning Blast +8 (+9 Ranged Damage, DC 24)
Lightning Crashes +9 Area (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +5

Complications:
Relationship (Each Other)- The brothers are close (having once LITERALLY been attached to each other), and are never seen apart.
Responsibility (Uncontrolled Powers)- The brothers had great trouble controlling their abilities at first, and needed a blood transfusion from their alien/American soldier father to do it.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 57 / Defenses: 13 (125)

-A pair of conjoined twins separated by magic, Thunder & Lightning were utterly-forgettable side characters introduced in the Wolfman/Perez years (given their lameness, I would have sworn they were an earlier creation, but I guess the Vietnamese origin would've been a hint). They were the sons of an American soldier and a Vietnamese woman, and as their powers went out of control, they wreaked havoc across St. Louis on a search for their father, so that a blood transfusion from him would quell their wild abilities- but it turns out that their dad is actually an ALIEN, and the boys had to kill him to save their new friends when the Titans came to figure out what was going on (that is... a strange, strange story).

-They spent a bit of time in the background of The New Teen Titans (working at S.T.A.R. Labs as bodyguards; being controlled by Trigon once), and after that mostly just showed up as one-offs in the background of other books. During JLA/Titans they arrived too late to do much good in the big JLA/Titans brawl, they appeared during Infinite Crisis being beaten by the League of Assassins, they were a background thing in another colossal event just to show the world what was going on in Vietnam during a global attack, etc. Apparently they showed up in Salvation Run on a prison world, dying when Lex Luthor used them to power an off-world Teleporter. This was their first big use in two decades, possibly because DC copied their naming theme for ANOTHER pair of siblings, by all of a sudden deciding that longtime character Black Lightning now actually had a pair of teenage daughters he'd never told anyone about- one from the crap-ass Outsiders series Judd Winick squeezed out a bunch of years ago, and another in Geoff Johns' too-crowded final run on Justice Society.

-Oddly, the pair were regular members of The Ravagers team in the "New 52"- an odd upgrade for what were basically one-note guys. Oh, and there was a one-shot duo of the same names that were the creatures comprising Whirlicane, a robotic Superman foe from 1976.

-The brothers are basically the same build but with different base Powers- one a guy who Dazzles Hearing and is super-strong, and another a generic Blaster. At PL 8, they can be a bit effective and are good at teamwork, but would falter against nearly any superhuman threat alone, much less against someone like Deathstroke.

-They suffer heavily from "Bad Online Bio" syndrome, as five years ago, I did a build based off of bios, assuming I hadn't read their appearances, But then I realized I had a comic featuring them after all (shows how memorable they are when I had no idea, huh?), and BOY HOWDY did I get them built wrong. Damn Wikipedia & ComicVine let me down on this one- they're actually QUITE a bit more powerful than I'd thought (partially due to their powers going out of control, though), with Thunder picking up a tank the size of an SUV (do they MAKE them that small?) like it's nothing, and blowing up walls with his "Thunder" power, while Lightning is like Marvel's Blitzkrieg, flying around on a Lightning bolt. I edited their build to reflect that, plus the fact that they seem to create little storms when they're together.

[KorokoMystia]

I like the concept of Thunder & Lightning, but their costumes really need work. They look like Palette-Swapped Mooks!

[Ken]

One assumes it was New Antagonist Stink that let them do well against the assembled Titans in their first appearance.

[Ken]

(or very well-rounded stats).

I don't know... rounded, yes, but not that full. But still, Garcia-Lopez did a nice job.

[Jabroniville]

Only DC Comics could take a character with THIS great a visual design and turn her into a total nobody before the cartoon of all things saved her.

RAVEN
Created By: Marv Wolfman & George Perez
First Appearance: DC Comics Presents #26 (Oct. 1980)
Role: The Devil's Daughter, Emotionless Girl
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans
PL 10 (215), PL 12 (215) Emotion-Reader
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 5 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Arcane Lore) 5 (+8)
Expertise (Theology & Philosophy) 8 (+11)
Insight 4 (+9)
Intimidation 10 (+12)
Perception 4 (+9)
Persuasion 4 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Soul Powers) 4 (+10)

Advantages:
Daze (Intimidation), Interpose, Ranged Attack 4, Startle, Trance

Powers:
"Party Transport" Teleport 10 (Extras: Extended, Area- 60ft. Burst +2, Selective) (Flaws: Distracting, Limited to Extended) (40) -- [47]

• AE: "Short-Range Teleport" Teleport 6 (Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity) (Extras: Accurate, Easy) (26)
• AE: Movement 2 (Dimensional Travel) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2 for 8 Ranks, Selective) (28)
• AE: Healing 6 (Feats: Stabilize) (Flaws: Empathic, Tiring) (3)
• AE: "Calm Others" Affliction 8 (Will; Entranced/Compelled/Controlled) (Extras: Perception Range +2) (Flaws: Limited to Emotions, Uncontrolled Except For Calm -1/2) (12)
• AE: Mind-Reading 12 (Flaws: Limited to Emotions) (12)
• AE: "Soul Stun" Affliction 10 (Will; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Ranged, Cumulative) (30)
• AE: "Absorbs Attacks" Enhanced Defenses 8 (Extras: Affects Others Only for 4 Ranks -4) (12)

"Sense Souls" Senses 4 (Detect Souls- Ranged, Detect Magic- Ranged) [4]
Flight 7 (250 mph) (Extras: Affects Others) [14]

"Soul Self" Alternate Form (Move Action -1) [-1]
"Psychic Energy" Insubstantial 3 [15]
Features 1: Appear as Giant Ebon Raven Shape [-1]
"Astral Projection" Remote Senses 15 (All Senses) (Feats: Dimensional 2) (Flaws: Physical Body is Defenseless, Feedback) (Noticeable- Raven Shadow -1) [44]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Soul Stun +10 (+10 Ranged Affliction, DC 20)
Calming Powers -- (+8 Perception-Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Mind-Reading -- (+12 Mind Reading, DC 22)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (+12 Absorbing, DC 18-22), Parry +8 (+12 Absorbing, DC 18-20), Toughness +2, Fortitude +5, Will +12

Complications:
Relationship (The Teen Titans)- For the first time in her life, Raven has real friends. She rejects emotional attachments, and does not want to get close to others, yet finds herself caring for her new teammates.
Responsibility (Azarath)- Raven eventually became the sole survivor of Azarath, a mystic dimension filled by pacifistic mystics.
Responsibility (The Daughter of Trigon)- Trigon, a being comprised of the cast-off evil of the people of Azarath, is basically Satan Himself, and seeks to destroy and/or dominate the world. He is pure, concentrated evil given form, and wishes to use his only surviving child to enact his plan of world domination. Raven feels his touch every day, as it drives her towards evil acts- her will would soon not be her own, and she would allow her father to destroy the world.
Responsibility (No Emotions)- Raven's training involves her resisting the pull of emotions- it is believed that if she feels anything too strongly (anger, joy, love, etc.), then Trigon's hold will be complete. She even feels uneasy around others who feel them strongly, often becoming a loner even amongst friends (the Titans), and has fled situations where there was too much hate.
Reputation (Trigon's Daughter)- Even when she rejects Trigon's touch, Raven is still known to many as the seed of a demon- The Church of Blood actively hunts for her in order to bring about armageddon.
Weakness (Away From Soul Self)- If Raven manifests her Soul Self powers for too long, she will feel intense pain, as well as there being a strong likelihood that her demonic heritage will take over.
Drawbacks (Defenseless Body)- Some of Raven's Powers used to work best while she meditated- her Soul Self manifested outwardly. In a certain era, some powers may have a Flaw on them to reflect this.

Total: Abilities: 42 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 124 / Defenses: 19 (215)

Raven- The Best Character To Only Have One Kind of Story To Tell:
-Raven pretty much hit her peak in the 1980s and never really recovered that level. The issue was, she had a story to tell... and ONLY that one kind of story!

-What's sad is that it's an excellent little story, and YEARS ahead of its time. How so? Well, she was GOTH before goth was here, EMO before emo was here, and she was expressing '80s angst on a 1990s level. THAT's how ahead of her time she was. Plus she's one of the only women in comics from 1970-2005 or so not drawn without a huge rack, which alone makes her frighteningly unique (that club includes her, Kitty Pryde, Terra, and.... uh...). But once her big story was done... she kinda just ambled around, doing the "potentially evil" thing again and again. I mean, a recurring element through the years is simply "Raven's going evil again!", though at least DC has been smart enough not to simply bring Trigon back every single time. Still, that endless cycle is kind of disappointing- her "Golden Light" phase resulted in her more or less disappearing from comics, too, as "bright, shiny Raven" was so antithetical to the character (despite it being a happy ending that she kind of deserved) that nobody had any idea what to do with it.

Raven's History:
-Raven was central to the New Teen Titans book, having formed the team to help fight her father, the evil Trigon- a Demon Lord of great power. She had attempted to recruit others, but the Justice League refused to help (Zatanna sensed Raven's demonic heritage, and rejected her). This basically meant that Raven's entire concept was based around being Half-Demon- someone torn between the worlds of good and evil, constantly fighting against her own nature. Real Marvel-style stuff- so much so that Illyana Rasputin would transform into Magik- herself torn between two worlds- two years AFTER this!

-Raven's history would be re-told MANY times, as new writers got to use her. Her mother was a wild-child named Arella, who joined a Satanic-esque Cult and was mated with Trigon after a ritual- the only mother of such children to survive, she abandoned her "husband" and was taken in by the pacifists of Azar, who trained both her and her young daughter, Raven, in the mystic arts. Raven was now an Empath- able to read and soothe the emotions of others, as well as heal injuries, teleport, and take on a "Soul Self" that could absorb others' essences and fly. As the Half-Demon child of Trigon, she was trained to withhold her emotions if at all possible, making her a great "cold fish" on a team that included hyper-emotional sorts like Starfire & Changeling. With her dry, cool demeanor, Raven was utterly unreachable- a tantalizing thing for a lot of guys- though the years would later turn this into "Deadpan Snarky Goth Girl" owing to societal changes about what this type of character would represent.

Raven the Titan:
-Raven would form the new Teen Titans in order to stop her father, which the briefly did. She would stick with the team thereafter, being at once the most dispassionate and the most empathic member of the team, frequently going out of her way to help society's most fallen people (such as a young drug-addled prostitute, who was dismissed by others as "Just a junkie"). And upon teaming with the Titans, she started to gain actual FRIENDSHIPS with people, despite her training that she should forsake all emotional attachments, lest those be the seed that finally sets free Trigon's influence on her. And of course, as the Emotionless Girl on the team, she is also in her own way the most emotional- she reacts with fear, anger, sadness and pity, openly mourns her lot in life, and fights as strongly as any of the Titans... but claims to be an emotionless husk. And THAT is how you properly write someone who lacks emotions (Much like Mr. Spock, who has been known to act out on occasion). The whole "I'm an uncontrollable monster" thing is a great character trait, making her both fearsome and sympathetic.

The Terror of Trigon:
-This started a new story arc for her, as Raven... slowly changed. Something dark was coming, and even she was frightened of it. Her powers seemed to be in flux, she occasionally lost control of her emotions, and more. And, in a BRILLIANT move, George Perez drew her more and more drawn and gaunt with each issue- so subtly that you didn't notice it until Wally West (Kid Flash) noted it using some flashbacks- the beautiful, slender young Raven now had sunken cheekbones and a horrific gaze- something that would only grow worse when she became Trigon's true daughter- four-eyed and red-skinned. She released her father, who annihilated Azarath and all its people, then took over Manhattan, turning millions of people into terrifying "flesh columns" and tortured the Titans for hours. Finally, Arella was able to use her training to get Raven to kill her father- the Titans were manipulated into slaying her, which allowed her artifact earrings to channel all the dead souls of Azarath into Raven's body, allowing her to kill Trigon once and for all with a burst of purifying light.

Raven Disappears:
-Her ultimate story of falling and being redeemed over, Raven... kind of didn't have much to do after that. Short of re-telling the same story over and over again, which is kind of what happened. Raven disappeared for YEARS afterwards, with the Titans moving on with Jericho and others. Perez left the book, leading to a fall in quality. Raven finally returned MANY years later, during the Titans Hunt story, where the Wildebeest Society (well that explains why the story failed right there, doesn't it?), led by the Trigon-possessed souls of Azarath, attempted to resurrect him and corrupt her. Arella and the much-maligned Danny Chase sacrificed their lives in order to cleanse the souls of Azarath, stopping Trigon.

-Raven reappears at the wedding of Nightwing & Starfire, breaking it up and infusing Starfire with the spirit of a "Good Raven", who soon overwhelmed and destroyed the evil one. This redeemed Raven, who from then on became a being of light- her shadowy "Soul Self" now glowing and heavenly. However, this led to Wolfman leaving the Titans book, and the complete dissolution of the Titans concept, and Raven went unseen for years afterwards. She helps the Titans during the JLA/Titans run, but does not join the team. In Devin Grayson's Titans book, she only occasionally allies with them, helping them out here or there. Her new concept? "I want to find my place in the world". Raven's absence is one of the big things preventing that run from being all that it could, though- her serious nature provides a great contrast to many other characters.

Raven's Return- The Titans' Rebirth:
-Raven would not properly return until the "Geoff Johns" era... which basically scrapped everything and went "Back To Basics", albeit shifting Raven into a younger form (because magic)- she also became more snarky and Goth-like, reflecting the Teen Titans cartoon, which featured her with a dreary voice, Telekinetic powers and a heck of a lot of deadpan sass. This led to some bizarre stuff, like a relationship between her and Garfield Logan! However, they soon split up, Wolfman returned to do a "Raven in High School" mini-series, and she kind of just petered around. At one point, three half-brothers (children of Trigon who'd also survived) appeared to vex her- she briefly joined them, but turned back to aid the Titans. In the end of the standard DC continuity, Raven & Beast Boy share a kiss, as she finally accepts that she can feel love for another.
-The New 52 uses her in a similar role, though she starts out as Trigon's minion and later betrays him.

Raven's Stats:
-Raven probably counts as one of the tougher people I've had to build. Figuring out all the stuff she does and putting it down to stats is really hard. Mostly, that comes from her mystic-like sensibilities, where all her crap is easy to write, but hard to quantify. I mean, she can Teleport, right? But not that far (unless going to an alternate dimension), and she can't take people with her. UNLESS she's in Soul Self form, when she can carry the whole team with her, even unwillingly. So I had to split her Teleport power into two types, one of which adds to the other. Some powers seemed to have a Flaws: Physical Body is Defenseless thing going on, but later writers ignored a lot of that (I left a note in her Complications for that). I kind of stuck with some of what the "DCA" build used, but altered some stuff that she never used in the 1980s run.

-Note also that she can Heal and calm people, though both are fairly weak effects (Healing especially does a number on her- "first I must take their conditions upon myself" or something is a direct quote). Raven's also expressed a handful of other powers. She HAS made Wally West love her, and can cause fear in people. But these are used so rarely that I put anythign other than Calming Emotion Control as an Uncontrolled Effect.

[KorokoMystia]

Wikipedia says that the 1980s version of Raven can shoot fireballs "from within the folds of her cloak" (giving the The New Teen Titans Annual #4 (1988) as an example) but I haven't seen it myself.

[Jabroniville]

Wikipedia says that the 1980s version of Raven can shoot fireballs "from within the folds of her cloak" (giving the The New Teen Titans Annual #4 (1988) as an example) but I haven't seen it myself.

Yeah, I don't recall that at all, but it was post-Terror of Trigon so who knows what was happening?

In the classic A Day in the Lives issue (famous for being one of the first "the daily lives of the heroes" comics that didn't involve super-fights), Raven actually uses her "Stun People" power with the Bird Manifestation (ie. her physical body was elsewhere), but I don't think that ever happened again. I do like how the comic indicated that the people of Azarath knew that her essence leaving her body for five minutes would be permanently fatal... but only because they were so peaceful they didn't have the ability to fight back against the abyss. Raven, who wasn't so pacifistic about things, had the strength to come back from the brink, and views it as a moment of triumph.

But yeah... her powers are difficult. I'm not surprised the cartoon turned her into a generic Telekinetic with vague mysticism.

[Ken]

Wikipedia says that the 1980s version of Raven can shoot fireballs "from within the folds of her cloak" (giving the The New Teen Titans Annual #4 (1988) as an example) but I haven't seen it myself.

She was dreaming, and she was fighting some kind dream manipulator. And they were less fireballs than her opening a portal to Perdition and letting jets of flame spray out.

It was a dream, and it never happened again. Can you say 'power stunt'?

[Jabroniville]

Pictures of Danny Chase in pain are like pornography to me.

DANNY CHASE (aka Phantasm)
Created By: Marv Wolfman
First Appearance: The New Teen Titans Annual #3 (1988)
Role: The Ultimate Creator's Pet, Cousin Oliver Character
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans
PL 7 (109)
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+6)
Deception 6 (+8)
Expertise (Spy) 4 (+7)
Insight 4 (+5)
Investigation 3 (+4)
Perception 4 (+5)
Persuasion 2 (+4)
Sleight of Hand 2 (+7)
Stealth 5 (+7)

Advantages:
Daze (Deception), Eidetic Memory, Improved Initiative, Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Telekinesis" Move Object 7 (Feats: Precise, Subtle) (16) -- [17]

• AE: TK Blast 6 (12)

Flight 4 (30 mph) (Extras: Affects Others) [12]
"TK Field" Force Field 4 [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
TK Blast +8 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +1 (+5 Force Field), Fortitude +3, Will +5

Complications:
Secret (Parents)- Danny's parents were both Super-Spies.
Reputation (Annoying Turd)- The Titans find Danny quite annoying. They find him about 1/1,000th as annoying as the Titans fanbase does.
Responsibility (Egomaniac)- Danny thinks he is more skilled and talented than he actually is.
Rivalry (Changeling)- Danny takes a special interest in harassing Changeling.

Total: Abilities: 40 / Skills: 34--17 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 33 / Defenses: 13 (109)

Danny Chase- Worst Titan Ever:
-Oh God, Danny Chase. For those nostalgic to the Wolfman era of the Titans (it didn't suck right after George Perez left; it took a while), this was the point where we were forced to admit that Wolfman had eventually just fallen apart as a writer; incapable of doing anything good. I mean, this may be the single character in comics who has the largest percentage of detractors- The Sentry, Ben Reilly, Magog, Jubilee & even Marvel UK all have fans. But Danny? HELLS NO. Danny is so infamous for sucking that Wolfman STILL takes to interviews and essays in defence of the character! At least Claremont faves like Sage QUIETLY suck. Imagine a world where he did interviews complaining about fans being unfair to his precious pet. That’s how odious Danny comes off to people.

-So why did Danny suck so bad? Basically, Danny was a mouthy, smart-assed, ugly-looking (seriously, he was a Cousin Oliver character who ACTUALLY LOOKED LIKE COUSIN OLIVER) Punk Kid on a team of young adults, and was consistently, incredibly annoying. Meant to add some youth to a team that was now in their 20s, he was immediately snide to the Teen Titans themselves, and acted like an egotistical brat. And for some bizarre reason, he despised Changeling more than anyone else. And manifested this hatred by routinely mocking Gar- he would casually insult him while making another point (like “oh, so _______ happened, not that a f*cktard like you would ever understand, Logan, and then I _______”), literally STICK HIS TONGUE OUT in the backgrounds, and play pranks- all while Gar did very little to even earn this hatred, or score any attacks on Danny in return. Danny just decided he didn’t like him, and chose to act like an asshole.

-This jerkass behaviour combined with his looks and ego, as well as the other Titans shilling him ("Boy, Danny, you sure are smart, clever and resourceful; the fans who hate you are CLEARLY wrong, and we want them to know that!") had the pretty immediate effect of ensuring that the fans took a HUGE dump on the character right out of the gate, and they let their opinions be known on the letters pages. SOME fans seemed to like him, but let's just say that this is one of the only times in comics where I've seen the author actually comment on the negative attention one single character was getting.

-And yes, Danny was the ultimate Creator's Pet- a character the fans didn't like and eventually HATED, while the author Marv Wolfman was a HUGE fan, and responded to the hate by constantly shoving the character down the fans' throats ("Well, if I do an entire arc about him, the fans are SURE to like him!"). And that trick NEVER works. I mean, Wolfman LOVED the character, and found him endlessly amusing (fans didn't like how he constantly made fun of Changeling while never getting his comeuppance)- he loved him so much that when he & Perez got together to tell an Elseworlds-ish Teen Titans story as a throwback, he BROUGHT CHASE BACK, and gave him a different fate than he initially had in the comics- even commenting that "the fans never gave Danny a chance" and that he'd always loved the kid.

-It's really just hilarious, though it was probably aggravating as hell at the time. To make a shitty character is ONE thing- nobody bats a thousand. But to make him bad, then fail to learn any lessons from the backlash, and then insist that "No- it's the CHILDREN who are wrong!" and KEEP PUSHING HIM takes a special kind of terrible. And I don't think there's any character who got this kind of a reaction who the writer STILL DEFENDS- a 60-plus-year-old Wolfman was still defending Danny as of a decade ago, blaming the FANS for not liking his special character. It's just... I've never seen anything like it.

Danny Chase Dies- And The Fandom Rejoiced:
-Does that explain it all? With Wolfman wanting another teen character to what was once a teenage team, Danny was stapled to the roster as a telekinetic kid who was the child of spies. The hate eventually got so bad that Wolfman was forced to write him out of the book, despite his own wishes. A brief comeback as "Phantasm" (really Danny inside a cloak and mask pretending to be another hero, though Nightwing easily figured that one out) resulted in his death, merging with the souls of Azarath in order to prevent the Wildebeest Society taking over the world. And so we had yet another Dead Teenage Superhero in comics. The fans basically rejoiced at Danny's death, and when I first got into DC Comics and the Titans stuff, one of the very first things I learned was that Danny Chase completely licked balls as a character- I mean, he was "somebody wrote an essay in the 1998 era of the internet" hated.

-In fact, Danny was so disliked that Jay Faerber wasn't allowed to use his original plan to make new villain Epsilon a resurrected Danny (used as a pawn by Tempest's evil Wizard uncle) in the 2000s run- editorial actually SHUT HIM DOWN. Let this be a lesson to comic book writers: don't try to recapture what happened ten-fifteen years ago; it will ALWAYS come in looking ham-fisted and lame.

Danny's Stats:
-Danny fits the weaker Titans builds pretty well, being PL 7 thanks to his Force Field and trained agility, and having Precise enough Telekinesis and a good enough Deception Skill to fool people into thinking Phantasm wasn't him. Didn't make him much of a battlefield master, but then, that's why he kinda sucked. I wish I could give him low enough Presence because he was SO hated, but people in the book actually didn't find him nearly as annoying as the fans did; it's part of why people hated him so much.

[Goldar]

I am enjoying all of your Titan builds.

I laughed so hard on the Danny Chase build notes! You summed him up perfectly and exactly how I felt about him. Fans did hate him. Didn't he eventually die, or is he still in hiding from those atrocious days?!?

[Ares]

Danny Chase has a good chance of being one of the single biggest cases of creative tone deafness in comics, right up there with One More Day, Countdown, the New 52, Secret Empire, etc. It takes a special kind of willful obtuseness and denial to not understand why creating someone that annoying would be a turn off, and to blame the fans for not liking what you did.

It didn't help that Danny was going around in plainclothes, since I believe he felt costumes were stupid. He'd fit right in with the Runaways.