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Playtime! The Titans play wargames in NEW TITANS #126 [1995] |
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| Minion's planet is destroyed in NEW TITANS #114 [1994]. |
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| Minion masters the Omegadrome in NEW TITANS #123 [1995]. |
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Last Survivor
Talyn and it's sister planet, Kallas, had been at war for thousands of years. The adversarial relationship lasted so long that neither side knew what had started the hostility in the first place. The two planets finally devised a treaty to end years of bloodshed; They biogenetically engineered their people with passivity, not aggression. This allowed both planets to live in harmony for thousands of years.
This tranquility was shattered when an energy force cut a swath of destruction through a star system, devastating the planets of Kallas and Talyn - the home of Jarras Minion. The passive races were defenseless against the onslaught. Minion watched in horror as his siblings were destroyed before his very eyes. In a desperate move, his mother placed Jarras Minion in a battlesuit called the Omegadrome. This battlesuit was developed by Minion's parents, who were both scientists.
Minion cybernetically bonded with the Omegadrome, and escaped the destruction of his homeworld. This event shattered Minion's genetic pacifism, and he swore to track down the force responsible for the death of his planet. That mission led him to earth, where he found the man responsible: former Titans' villian, Psimon.
Thirst for Vengeance
Psimon had returned to earth, where he sought for revenge against all those who wronged him, including his former teammates in the Fearsome Five. Psimon then attacked the Titans, and psychologically tortured each of them, while also unwittingly unlocking new abilities in the Titan, Mirage. Jarras Minion arrived on earth on a mission of vengeance, intending to kill Psimon, who destroyed his planet. With Mirage's new abilities and the arrival of Minion, the Titans were able to contain Psimon. Minion at first wanted to kill Psimon, but Donna Troy was able to persuade him not to. The dangerous villain was placed under custody of the Darkstars.
Minion departed to travel the galaxy, now a boy without a home or family. He once again sought revenge on Psimon, and again, came to his senses. During this mission, he learned his father was still alive and did not perish in the destruction of his planet. Minion once again left to travel the galaxy.
His travels were cut short when he was summoned by Phantasm, who sought his aid. Phantasm needed help to defeat an evil version of former Titan, Raven, who was intent on planting the seeds of Trigon's unborn children into new vessels. Eventually, Raven and her demon allies came into conflict with the Titans. With the help of Minion, the Titans finally defeated Raven.
Following this adventure, Minion stayed with the Titans and eventually became a member himself. Minion was only a member for a short time, and had a somewhat difficult time adjusting to earth culture.
Then the evil incarnation of Raven emerged once more, inciting a conflict in the Vegan star system. During the battle, the planet Tamaran was destroyed. The Titans were able to destroy evil Raven utterly, and restore good Raven into a new spiritual golden body. Starfire decided to rebuild her culture on a new planet; many Tamaraneans were off-world during the explosion – enough to settle on a new planet dubbed New Tamaran.
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| Vic Stone - as Cyberion - is reunited with Sarah Charles in NEW TITANS #128 [1995] |
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Return To The Stars
Following that, Raven, Minion and Garfield Logan elected to remain in space as travelling companions to Victor Stone, now known as Cyberion. Frightened by Cyberion's total embrace of technology, Jarras Minion also had doubts about Cyberion's new attitude and decided to explore the stars on his own. Jarras, a sworn pacifist, made Victor a gift of his Omegadrome war suit before he left. The Omegadrome allowed Victor to try to carry out his Technis Imperative: To recreate the planet Technis at all costs.
Having collected a planet-size assortment of technological debris, Cyberion journeyed to Earth to turn its moon into a new Technis World and populate it with his Titans allies. The JLA and the Titans first clashed, then united, to prevent Cyberion from destroying the planet while saving Vic's soul and downloading it into Minion's morphing battlesuit, the Omegadrome.
Minion remained in space, still travelling the galaxy, although without the aid of his Omegadrome. He has also seemingly re-embraced his pacifist beliefs.
Minion has no super powers but his Omegadrome battlesuit is a weapon be to reckoned with. Minion cybernetically bonded with the Omegadrome, allowing transformations to be triggered by a thought. The battlesuit had morphing capabilities, allowing it to take any shape and generate weapons with massive firepower. Minion usually took the form of a muscular, hulking, silver behemoth. Minion also morphed the suit to use as a spaceship, capable of light speed. The suit's armor coating is virtually indestructible.
Minion has since given up the battlesuit to Victor Stone, who has merged with it as Cyborg.
DC Secret Files, supplemented by titanstower.com
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New Titans #114 [1994]: Arsenal agrees to the Titans under government jurisdiction. Minion's home planet is destroyed by an unseen force. Nightwing, Starfire, Pantha, Red Star, Baby Wildebeest and Flash decline membership for the time being. Only Changeling, who has been secretly corrupted by Raven, accepts membership. Continued in Damage #6, the team's last mission. First appearance of Jarras Minion.
New Titans #116-117 [1994]: Psimon cuts a swath of destruction through a star system, devastating the planets of Kallas and Talyn (home of Jarras Minion). Eventually, Psimon returns to earth, where he seeks revenge against all those who wronged him, including his former teammates. To that end, Psimon viciously attacks Mammoth and Shimmer - driving a spear through Baran's head. He then transforms Selinda into glass and shatters her, killing her instantly. Next is Gizmo: Psimon uses his powers to continually shrink Gizmo - until he reaches the subatomic level. Psimon then attacks the Titans, and psychologically tortures each of them, while also unwittingly unlocking new abilities in the Titan, Mirage. Jarras Minion arrives on earth on a mission of vengeance. Minion intends to kill Psimon. With Mirage's new abilities and the arrival of Minion, the Titans are able to contain Psimon.
New Titans Annual #11 [1995]: A YEAR ONE tale featuring Arsenal's Titans team. The Time Trapper reveals Mirage, Deathwing and Terra are all from this timeline. Mirage is a street urchin from Brazil. Terra destroys the Time Trapper's message before it reveals her origins, and later unearths the original Terra's coffin to find it empty. Minion adjusts to like on earth. Supergirl recounts how she first met Arsenal and when she was asked to join the team.
New Titans #123 [1995]: Minion relates his life story to the team and discovers he has a new 'home' with them. The definitive Origin of Minion.
New Titans #126 [1995]: A great downtime issue featuring Arsenal's Titans team and art by Rick Mays. Arsenal assesses his new role as leader. The Titans play wargames. Fellow Titan Donna Troy tries to reach out to her, but Rose rejects her, still reeling over the death of her mother. Fellow Titan Impulse confesses a crush on her but she is oblivious to his affections. Mirage continues to exhibit new abilities.
New Titans #127 [1995]: Minion quits the Titans and returns to space.
JLA/Titans: the Technis Imperative #1-3 [December 1998 to February 1999]: The original Titans were reunited in a mini series that also featured the Justice League of America. With a story by Devin Grayson and Phil Jimenez, and art by Phil Jimenez, everyone who had ever been a Titans was reunited. Former Titan Vic Stone threatened to carry out his Technis Imperative and turn the earth's moon into a new Technis world. The JLA and Titans first clashed, then united to save the earth and Vic Stone. The mini series was designed as a primer to restart the Titans series with the five original members (Nightwing, Troia, Flash, Arsenal and Tempest) as the core. Minion gives Vic Stone his Omegadrome.
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Arsenal's New Titans Team |
The Premise
The Titans were pressured to place themselves under the government's watchful eye, due to increased public scrutiny [NEW TITANS #93-114]. Sarge Steel was their chief liaison, and Nightwing stepped down as leader and allowed Arsenal to take command. Arsenal led this new group of Titans [NEW TITANS #114], and was consistently challenged by the burdens of leadership. Many members left, but new faces emerged as well. Arsenal's team consisted of Darkstar (Donna Troy), Green Lantern, Supergirl, Damage, Mirage, Terra II, Minion, Impulse and Rose Wilson. Eventually, each members' dedication to the team began to waver, and the team disbanded.
The series lacked some focus, as team members were introduced, then not used, then reintroduced into the series.
"The Titans have had a series of problems in the past year," says Titans writer Marv Wolfman. 'They lost a number of members. They were sued by the government and people generally hated them. Finally, their leader Dick Grayson - Nightwing - left them."
Left in such disarray, the road to rebirth has been a long one. "Even before Zero Hour, Ray Harper, once known as Speedy and more recently known as Arsenal, was approached by Checkmate's leader, Sarge Steel, to align the Titans with the government," Wolfman says. "It seems that the JLA has broken ties with the government and Checkmate wanted a new superhero team to replace them. After going over the problems and being assured [his team] will have complete autonomy, Roy agreed to sign with Checkmate.
"Trouble is, he had no members to go with him. On his own and with Sarge Steel, new members are found recruited and a brand new Titans is formed." Wolfman reports that this new group will have a slightly different focus than past Titans teams. "Long ago, when the Titans were first created, the team featured already-existent heroes. In many ways we are going back to that original premise," be maintains. "Arsenal leads a group consisting of Damage, Green Lantern and Impulse, characters who either have their own titles, or in Impulse's case, is featured in Flash. Also in the New Titans are Mirage and Terra from the now-defunct Team Titans. Finally, rounding out the title is Donna Troy, now a Darkstar. So we're bringing in characters from other books as well as several already-known Titans.
"Interestingly, all the heroes mentioned are in one way or another orphans whose past lives are shrouded in mystery," he continues. "Where the last Titans team came together to fight Raven's demonical father, Trigon, the new team comes and stays together because they are all in a similar situation. The Titans is a place for these people to get together, to find themselves, to be with others like themselves. They are not coming together to fight some great battle, but to understand themselves and to grow. This common need will allow them to become close and eventually became friends.
"So the role of the New Titans is a club for the young DC heroes, a way of getting together with their peers, a place where they can be with their own kind and learn from each other as they grow."
"The book has gone under a lot of changes in the past few years, but all were evolutionary," Wolfman says. "Heroes died, new heroes replaced them, tempers flared and, because they were young, mistakes were often made. That is the way life is. But now we begin with a new group. A revolution, so to speak. New heroes, all with their own lives, hopes and desires. This allows us to create a very different kind of Titans book."
The Commentary
The Arsenal-led Titans didn't last too long [from NEW TITANS #115-130]. Sales on the book had slid, and many readers had already left the book. When the series was canceled in 1995 with #130, the Titans team was still active, although with some members having left. It wasnt until TITANS SECRET FILES #1 that we saw the final dissolution of the team.
The team had potential. Check out NEW TITANS #126 and NEW TITANS ANNUAL #11 to see what the team might have been.
Minion as a Titan
Minion's Titans Membership:
New Titans #114 [introduced]
New Titans #117-122 [meets the Titans]
New Titans #123-130
New Titans Annual #11
Minion was an odd addition to an already-overcrowded Titans cast: An alien pacifist with a passion for revenge in a morphing battlesuit. Perhaps the annoying factor was the way Minion was written: every time he seemed to revoke his thirst for revenge, he was back as battle-hungry Minion the next issue.
Minion's time as an actual Titans member was limited. He helped fight Psimon in New Titans #117. Then he took off for space again. He was summoned back to earth by Phantasm in New Titans #120-122 to battle evil Raven. Following that, he remained with the Titans. Thus, his official membership encompassed #123-130. By the end of the series, he 'longed to travel in space once more' - a desire that came out of left field; No doubt a hasty attempt to tie up loose ends as the series was canceled.
Minion appeared in JLA/TITANS #1-3. In it, Minion gives Vic Stone his Omegadrome.
For the best Minion Titans appearances, New Titans Annual #11 and New Titans #126 offer some nice bits of character interaction, and New Titans #123, which is the definitive Minion origin issue.
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