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THE TEEN TITANS gather as a team. |
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Teen Titans
Toni Monetti is the daughter of a
former U.S. Senator from New Jersey who is now a very affluent man. Toni has
had a very pampered life, and wanted for nothing. Deep down, however, she
felt like there was something missing in her life.
About the time she turned sixteen, Toni's skin became more pale, and her
flesh had a silvery coat to it. This was actually a manifestation of her alien
DNA and powers coming to bare at age sixteen, although she didn't know this
at the time. At a pool party for her sixteenth birthday, Toni was mysteriously
teleported away.
Awakening on the alien ship of the dreaded H'San Natall, Cody met other super-powered teenagers in the same situation. Together, they rescued another meta-human teenaged girl who was raised in a virtual-reality simulator program. The group of teenagers escaped the aliens and returned to earth, where they found safe haven with the wealthy Loren Jupiter and his enigmatic associate, Omen.
During the adventure, the teens learned that they were half-alien, and their mothers were impregnated by the H'San Natall years ago. All born on June 21st, the kids were part of a sleeper agent program by the H'San Natall to defeat the super-powered beings already on Earth. The group stayed together, and with the funding of Loren Jupiter, became the newest incarnation of the Teen Titans. The heat-generating Isaiah Crockett became Joto; Toni Monetti's silver plasma powers earned her the codename, Argent; With enhanced speed and strength, Cody Driscoll took the nickname, Risk; And the alien girl who could absorb and project light adopted the name, Prysm. Atom decided to remain on the team to learn how to readjust to his life as a teenager, since he was de-aged by Extant during the Zero Hour Crisis.
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| The new Teen Titans gather in TEEN TITANS #3 [1996]. |
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Toni didn't take adventuring very seriously
at first. After a battle with Haze, fellow teammate Joto
seemingly died, leaving the team devastated. Argent took his death particularly
hard. In his memory, she vowed to become a better hero in her own right. Complicating
matters, Mr. Jupiter disbanded the team. Argent sought training advice from
Robin, and accompanied him on a mission to stop drug runners. It was during
this mission that Argent discovered her father was involved in the drug ring
as well. Not knowing how to handle it, she kept the information to herself
for the time being.
Deciding to band together once more, Argent was instrumental in initiating
a membership drive to keep the Teen Titans together. The team stayed together
for a time with new members Fringe and Captain Marvel Jr. joining as well.
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| In Titans #8 [1999] Argent is forced to turn her father in |
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After another altercation with the H'San Natall and The Veil, The team discovered
that Joto was indeed alive. They rescued him, but Prysm and Fringe elected
to remain in space. The rest of the team decided to go their separate ways
and disbanded.
Toni in Titans
Argent aided the Titans again during the Technis Imperative conflict, which
involved the Justice League as well as all Titans, past and present. The two
teams eventually worked together to save the earth and former Titan teammate,
Victor Stone (Cyborg).
The original five Titans then decided to reform the team. Argent was asked
to join, and she enthusiastically accepted.
The Titans were involved in a case involving the highly
addictive speed drug, Velocity 9. As the Titans investigated the case, it
became apparent that Argent's father was involved with the distribution of
Velocity 9. Now forced to make a choice, Argent allowed the Titans to arrest
her father. Argent tearfully told her father she loved him, but has now also
found a new family, with the Titans.
Shortly afterward, a mysterious android from the future known as Indigo attacked the Titans and Young Justice, resulting in the apparent deaths of Troia and Omen. At Troia's funeral,
Nightwing disbanded this version of the Titans. While Argent resumed her life, a new Teen Titans formed with the former members of Young Justice at the core.
Argent is able to create various plasma energy constructs, including silver
knives, shields and slides to travel on. Upon creation, the plasma energy
become instantly tangible.
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Teen Titans #1 to 24, October 1996 to September 1998
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| A 1997 commission of Argent by George Pérez. |
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| A 2005 commission of Argent by Andy MacDonald. |
Less than a year after the cancellation of the New Titans with #130 [1996], DC Comics decided to re-launch the Teen Titans concept. Dan Jurgens spear-headed the new concept and characters, with George Pérez providing inks. Jurgens' Titans team was a group of teenagers united by a common origin: the sinister H'San Natall alien race produced alien/human half-breeds. The Teen Titans group included H'San Natall seedlings Argent, Risk, Joto and Prysm. The team was led by Atom, who had been de-aged to a teenager during the Zero Hour event.
Writer/Artist Dan Jurgens set out to create a diverse cast: "I tend to approach a group title differently from a solo character. What I think of first are the personalities and their family and social backgrounds. I knew I wanted an interesting blend of personalities. I start by pulling various elements together, adding characterizations, then powers and talents. First, I create an individual personality, then fit that into the concept of a team comic book for an interesting mix. There are a thousand comics out there right now that have young people with powers. You can pick them up by the dozen each week. I want us to be a little different by having more character-oriented stories; I want to create characters here that the readers are really going to become interested in."
Although an all-new concept with all-new characters, Jurgens still provided ties to past Titans teams. The Teen Titans were funded by Loren Jupiter, who had funded the original Teen Titans for a time; allies included Omen (who was revealed to be former Titan, Lilith) and Neil Richards (former Teen Titans villain, the Mad Mod); a storyline in issues #12-15 featured a reunion of the original team.
The team seemingly broke up following events of #16. Following that issue, a number of one shots provided a spotlight for individual members. These double shots (February 1998) featured: Argent/Robin, Supergirl/Prysm, Atom/Impulse and Risk/Superboy. Issue #17 featured a membership drive, and new members Fringe and Captain Marvel Jr. joined the team. Former Titan Arsenal also joined the supporting cast.
These changes failed to invigorate the title. It seemed readers didn't accept these new characters as "Titans" and the book, while not a failure, failed to reinvent the franchise. The title was canceled with issue #24.
Short List of Notable Appearances
Teen Titans #1-24
Teen Titans Annual #1
Titans Beat Promotional Flyer
Robin & Argent Double Shot
Superboy & Risk Double Shot
Supergirl & Prysm Double Shot
Impulse & Atom Double Shot
New Year's Evil: Dark Nemesis #1
Dan Jurgens Take on Teen Titans Members - from Wizard #60 [1996]
RISK: "Cody Driscoll is loose, flamboyant and bored stiff by school and other aspects of everyday life. And he's hyper, in the truest sense of the word. His abilities are increased over those of the average person by a multiple of five: five times the speed, five times the strength and five times the ability to get into trouble. I could see him emerging as the real star of the book, and he's certainly a character who is very different from the Atom, which should prove interesting."
SLAG: "lsaiah Crockett has heat-based powers. He can do incredible things with waves of heat and, when he's touching it, he can even melt steel or concrete with his bare hands In many ways, he is the most stable and normal member of the group, because the last thing I to write was yet another sullen black youth from the ghetto. lsiah is very solid middle-class, with a very healthy family relationship."
ARGENT: "Toni Monetti comes from a very wealthy family, one where material things have been more important than love and understanding. She seems bright and happy and perky, but she is really very lonely and isolated. Her power is the ability to create and fire plasma energy bolts that become instantly tangible."
PRYSM: "Audrey Spears comes from the most bizarre family situation of all, in that she did not grow up on earth, but was raised by aliens in a controlled atmosphere, something like living in a 'Brady Bunch' or other sitcom world. She can capture and reflect light, fire light beams and travel at light speed. By emptying her body of light, she can become nearly invisible. She is potentially the most powerful of all the Titans."
ATOM: And then there's the Atom, a Silver Age DC character who went from thirty-something to teenager in Zero Hour two years ago. The shrinking hero will be team leader-, and Jurgens is looking forward to him being in the Titans, "The Atom has always been fairly conservative both socially and politically, and now he's a kid again. He appears to be I7, even though he's really in his mid-30s, and has been married and divorced," says Jurgens, "How is he going to handle that?" Jurgens believes the Atom (a.k.a. Ray Palmer) is a pleasant throwback to the heroes of yesterday. "He becomes a DC Silver- Age character that's preserved in a way, and need not become a dark, brooding character like many Silver Age characters have become. Hal Jordan has gone nuts, Aquaman is a hermit that lives under the sea, Hawkman is.. well, you figure it out."
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Dan Jurgens:
"Toni comes from a wealthy family which has always given her everything
she wanted except love. A trip to the mall came to replace her parents'
love. Toni can project silvery plasma bursts that appear as knives, apparently
under her mental control."
Devin Grayson:
"Argent is thrilled to be a part of this team. What could be better?
As long as they don't find out about her dad, nothing can go wrong! Her
biggest fear about heroing was that someone might get killed, but she learned
with Joto that heroes always come back! uh...don't they...?"
Jay Faerber:
"Argent is probably the best thing to come out of Dan Jurgens' book.
I really like how we got to see this party girl mature into a capable heroine
right before our eyes. And her father's ties to the mob make for some great
story potential."
"Toni's been a Titan for awhile now, but still feels like the "new
kid on the block." She used to have a crush on Nightwing, but that
sort of fizzled when she realized she's the ONLY Titan who doesn't know
his secret identity. She's closest to Garth, and in her eyes, he can do
no wrong. She likes Donna, too (when she's not mothering her!), and wishes
she'd get more involved with photography again, so Toni would have a shot
at being a model. She admires Jesse's success as a businesswoman, but can't
understand why in the world she's WILLINGLY single. That just makes no sense
to her. And she thinks Roy is the hottest single dad she's ever seen."
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