Behind the Secret Origin
of Brother Bloodby Marv Wolfman
The story of Brother Blood
From NEW TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #2
Welcome to THE NEW TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #2 ... a very special annual, one which has been more than two years in the making, spanning continents and states, and one which totally disrupted every possible schedule a guy can get involved with.
Before I get into that, a personal note: I just received a frantic call from TITANS In-House editor and buddy, Mike Gold. that this lettercol is late. Swell, I'm sitting in my new place still eight or so days shy of the furniture arriving (it's probably lost right now somewhere in Dayton on its way out to California). So I'm sitting here in an empty house waiting for the gas and electricity to be turned on, suitcases are strewn over the floor, a stuffed moose given to me by TITANS Associate Editor Barbara Randall at my side, and I'm working on the floor with my lap computer writing a letter column for a magazine which has not received any letters. Talk about dedication ... or stupidity. I'm not sure which.
At any rate. I am very pleased with this Annual for a great variety of reasons. To explain, let's go beck about two years. I was just beginning to make long-range plans for the Titans which I knew included the return of the Church of Brother Blood. Now, ever since George Pérez, Titans co-creator, and I first envisioned him, Blood has been, without doubt, my favorite Titans villain. And no-I don't consider The Terminator a villain-just the antagonist. I've long felt Blood had everything a good villain should have, all brought up into the 1980's. I have also always felt there was a sense of history, and therefore scope, to Blood and his cult. There were twists and turns in his character, personality, powers, etc., that made him special. Indeed, several years ago when there was possible interest in a Teen Titans live-action movie, I worked up the treatment which featured Brother Blood. You get the idea-I like him,
We had stated long ago that Brother Blood was 700 years old. In his first appearance we sew he was able to walk through Raven's soul-self. We saw him in that first appearance kidnap Dick Grayson and, for seemingly no understandable reason, put Dick through a series of mental tortures. The Confessor used mind-probes on Dick to gain a "confession"-but we never told you whet "confession" the Confessor was searching for. We've seen in the background of the NEW TEEN TITANS for the pest year or two signs indicating the construction of new churches of Brother Blood. We've also seen the arrival of a winged man from another world who has been brought into the cult of Blood and told he is the angel Azrael. Further, we've seen the empath, Raven, kidnapped by Blood's forces and brought to his Church, and lastly, we've seen Dick Grayson "convened" into becoming a believer of Brother Blood. Surely there is a master plot at work here, with clues sprinkled throughout the various Titans' comics. Something is going to happen- very soon.
But, before anything could happen, I needed to have the origin of Brother Blood-the lynch-pin story which would tie everything together. And so I began working on this story more than two years ago.
I won't go into the creative process because it is impossible to explain-but, simply put, everything that had been set up in the past Titans stories which dealt with Blood and his powers had to be explained. As I had always known his origin-if not in complete detail, certainly it was sketched in enough that I hadn't contradicted myself anywhere.
I had originally plotted the Blood origin to be a Titans Annual, but more and more as I worked up detail after detail I discovered the Titans were not anywhere in the origin. What I had first conceived as a 10 page story with a 30 page Titans adventure became a 42 page story rich with detail and mood. And deservedly so-heroes are very often defined by their foes ... if Brother Blood was to be as strong a villain as I wanted, he had to have the space to tell his story properly.
When I realized the Titans would not be in this story, I arranged with DC to publish a Teen Titans Special. While this was being worked on I began searching for an artist.
Most of you have probably never heard of the British black-and-white magazine of several years back called Warrior. Simply put, Warrior published stories by the best of the British writers and artists. It's no coincidence that many now well-known Britishers are well-known in the American market- most notably Alan Moore. Dave Gibbons. Alan Davis. etc. had strips in Warrior.
In searching for an artist. I went through Warrior and noticed one Jim Baikie. Jim had only drawn a one or two part story, I forget which-but his art immediately caught my eye. I then went after Jim. called him and offered him Blood's origin.
As you know. Jim accepted the job, and the results are here for your enjoyment. After Jim did this story he visited America, agreed to draw a two part VIGILANTE story for me which was written by Alan Moore, After that, he took on another DC assignment, ELECTRIC WARRIOR. written by Doug Moench. All these came after the Blood origin, but all have already been printed. As I said, two years in the making.
By the way, before I get a call from Jim complaining about my calling him British, let me state Jim is from the Orkney Islands at the northern tip of Scotland. Nationalities defined, let's move on.
Time passed. Continents rose and sank. At last it was time for this story to be published. But, in the interim, we decided to introduce another Titans magazine called TEEN TITANS SPOTLIGHT ON. It was suggested that rather than publish this as a Teen Titans Special, why not make it SPOTLIGHT ANNUAL #1? 1 didn't want to do that, and DC didnt want yet a third, or is that a fourth, Titans comic on sale in May, so we decided to publish this in the form it was originally intended-as a Teen Titans Annual. But, I said, the Titans aren't in the story-it wouldn't be fair to the readers. Paul Levitz, our Vice President in charge of whatever it is he's in charge of, suggested expanding the Annual, adding another full-length story which would feature the Titans, and, on top of that, keep the price down below what we would normally sell a 54 page offset comic for.
While we looked around for an artist, I happened to call John Byrne on some Superman business and, almost not expecting him to accept, offered him the annual story. To my delight, John agreed. I then sent him three very rough paragraph-length ideas and asked him to choose which one he'd prefer drawing. John picked the idea that leads off this issue.
This, then, is the second Titans annual. As I said. I'm very pleased with the two stories. I certainly hope you feel the same. If you do. or even if you don't, please let us know. Your letters will be saved and held for our next Titans Annual. At least then I won't have to ramble on for page after page and I can let you do the talking.
So take care, and don't forget THE NEW TEEN TITANS. TEEN TITANS SPOTLIGHT ON, and TALES OF THE TEEN TITANS ... published every month.
-Marv Wolfman