"The Revolt at Harrison High"'s splash page shows the Titans being attacked by an animated gas pump... and it's all downhill from there. This one starts with the teen idols being called to the President's Commission on Education. They seem to think it's a principal's office for superheroes, but no, they want the heroes to tackle a real problem in America: the drop-out rate!Like most government wars against concepts, it's a pretty shoddy affair. The Titans fly to Harrison ("Averagetown, America" - which isn't much of a change for this series), and discover that a supervillain has been giving high-paying (read: criminal) jobs to high school drop-outs, so that if you put the villain out of business, everyone will go back to school. It's that simple, folks.
The villain in question: Tremble in fear at the mighty girth of... Ding-Dong Daddy Dowd! Well, that's another one that won't be remembered in Who's Who 20 years later. He runs a garage that apparently specializes in vehicles for criminals, from Batmobile-escaping drag racers to ice cream vendors with machine guns. Or how about that jeep on the cover? It shoots surfboard out its trunk! (What is it with Bob Haney and stabbing people with surfboards?)
But while Aqualad gets a nasty bump on the head there, he does later get the awsome moment of the issue. After being outwitted by Ding-Dong Daddy Dowd's Vehicles of Villainy (alliteration mine), they try to infiltrate his drop-out pit crew. As a sort of rite of passage, they beat up some bikers. Aqualad gets thrown into a barrel of water by a biker that was apparently pulled from Victorian London, but that's not gonna stop Aqualad, is it?
Yow! The big question is, just how deep is that barrel?!?I'm not sure how bad these bikers are though...
"Grab the chick and muss her hair." Times really have changed if that's all they want to do to her. But as we already know, Wonder Chick takes good care of her hair... even when it's just a wig. And she definitely knows how to "endear" herself...
By showing off some Rosario Dawson-like talent! Don't call Haney a sexist though, she's the one that makes the collar.Lessons learned in this Educational Extravaganza:
1. Girls can kick your ass.
2. Only boys with mechanical aptitude are ever likely to drop out of high school.
3. "A Teen Titan gets mad when you ruffle his cool!"
More lessons to come, so stay in school, kids!
Comments
Apparently, he was patterned after Big Daddy Roth who designed hot rods and drew the classic "Rat Fink" caricatures.
Probably more than you want to know, but I love the Silver Age Titans and their Haney-esque rogues gallery!
Thanks for that!
As for Statement 2 ("Only boys with mechanical aptitude are ever likely to drop out of high school"), that was actually pretty common in the Sixties and early Seventies when I was in school. (I'm fairly sure in the back of that comic you scanned, or one of the same time period, you'd find a full-page comics-style ad touting the benefits of a HS Equivalency degree.) My parents fretted constantly that my kid brother, who wasn't very good at academics but was a whiz at most forms of mechanics, would drop out as soon as he legally could at sixteen and get a job fixing trucks for my uncle - who'd done that himself! Until fairly recently, a working-class boy or girl not only planning to graduate but taking college-prep classes (like both Tammy and I did) was looked at...oddly in most parts of the country.... :/
Best,
Tim Liebe
Dreaded Spouse-Creature of Tamora Pierce
- and co-writer of Marvel's White Tiger comic - #3 out now! :)
And good luck with White Tiger, I'm a big fan of Marvel's old Kung Fu properties. That reminds me, when oh when are they gonna come out with an Essential Shang-Chi Master of Kung Fu? That is way more overdue than Nova, Monster of Frankenstein or Marvel Universe Deluxe! Come on now!
Siskoid - surely you're mistaking us for somebody Joe Quesada is actually aware WORKS for him! ;) Somewhere on WHEN FANGIRLS ATTACK there's a posting quoting Quesada's recent comment, "Marvel has no women writers" - which makes Tamora Pierce and Stacie M. Ritchie what exactly? I'm sure Ms. Ritchie's husband is as surprised as I am to discover neither of our wives are actually women.... >:)
When it comes to our dealings with the Upper Echelons of Marvel, I sort of feel like David Spade's old joke about his relationship with Michael Jackson - "I don't make fun of his nose job, and he doesn't know I exist! It's professional courtesy, okay?"
It's no real consolation, but Tammy shares your desire for ESSENTIAL SHANG-CHI, MASTER OF KUNG-FU. That book is what got her into reading Iron Fist, Daughters of the Dragon, Sons of the Tiger - and eventually the original White Tiger, Hector Ayala. It's good to see Misty and Colleen back in their own book, and we're liking Fraction's IMMORTAL IRON FIST - even if Danny IS really cheesed that his ex took over he and Cage's old outfit, Heroes for Hire! :D
Glad you're liking our White Tiger book,
Best,
Tim Liebe
Dreaded Spouse-Creature of Tamora Pierce
- and so on
And it's at a point where I tune out Quesada when he opens his mouth. He's one of those George Lucas-types to me, where some of the stuff made by people under him is really good, but a lot of his decisions and comments are really ill-informed. Fact is, there's some great work being done by women in comics these days. It's a real PR snafu to proclaim that there are no women writers in his stable, especially when there are.
and thanks for pointing out that Ding Dong Daddy was on the cartoon show Fortress Keeper, I must have missed that episode.
though with the name ding dong daddy I'm worried about the number of hentai cartoons based on him posted on the web