Totally (in)accurate Age's of the Batfamily in a Timeline
Last night I couldn't sleep, so I tried to make sense of the age's of the Batfamily. Some things still make no sense because DC timelines are all over the place, but I still wanted to share:
YEAR 0 Bruce's Parents die:
Alfred 27yo
Bruce 8yo
YEAR 17 Bruce becomes Batman:
Alfred 44yo
Bruce 25yo
Barbara 9yo
Dick 6yo
Cass 1yo
YEAR 21 Dick's Parents die + he becomes Robin:
Alfred 48yo
Bruce 29yo
Barbara 13yo
Dick 10yo
Cass 5yo
Jason 3yo
Tim 2yo
Steph 1yo
YEAR 26 Barbara becomes Batgirl:
Alfred 53yo
Bruce 34yo
Barbara 18yo
Dick 15yo
Cass 10yo
Jason 8yo
Tim 7yo
Steph 6yo
YEAR 30 Dick becomes Nightwing + Jason becomes Robin:
Alfred 57yo
Bruce 38yo
Barbara 22yo
Dick 19yo
Cass 14yo
Jason 12yo
Tim 11yo
Steph 10yo
Damian 2yo
YEAR 31 Barbara becomes Oracle:
Alfred 58yo
Bruce 39yo
Barbara 23yo
Dick 20yo
Cass 15yo
Jason 13yo
Tim 12yo
Steph 11yo
Damian 3yo
YEAR 33 Jason dies + Tim becomes Robin:
Alfred 60yo
Bruce 41yo
Barbara 25yo
Dick 22yo
Cass 17yo
Jason 15yo
Tim 14yo
Steph 13yo
Damian 5yo
YEAR 35 Cass gets adopted:
Alfred 62yo
Bruce 43yo
Barbara 27yo
Dick 24yo
Cass 19yo
Jason 17yo (dead)
Tim 16yo
Steph 15yo
Damian 7yo
YEAR 38 Jason is back:
Alfred 65yo
Bruce 46yo
Barbara 30yo
Dick 27yo
Cass 22yo
Jason 20yo
Tim 19yo
Steph 18yo
Damian 10yo
YEAR 39 Damian appears in Gotham:
Alfred 66yo
Bruce 47yo
Barbara 31yo
Dick 28yo
Cass 23yo
Jason 21yo
Tim 20yo
Steph 19yo
Damian 11yo
YEAR 42 Today:
Alfred 69yo
Bruce 50yo
Barbara 34yo
Dick 31yo
Cass 26yo
Jason 24yo
Tim 23yo
Steph 22yo
Damian 14yo
I mostly made this, so I have some kind of timeline for my fanfiction and it was fun. Maybe someone likes this too :)
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Um, I have a question regarding the Blackest Night arc. In which issue was it revealed that there was something wonky with Bruce's body (I think Hal discovered it and maybe told Dick + revealed that Hal knows Tim's on his Bruce-quest, maybe others do too)?
I'm curious and want to understand, since in certain fanfic, there's a thing about Tim being abandoned / seen as crazy by the hero community, so they didn't reach out to assist Tim (certain fans say it's likely influenced by Dick). I believe that one scene in Blackest Night has something to do with it.
The whole Tim being abandoned and seen as crazy thing is 100% made up fanon and it sucks and I have little more to say on that part. But I got plenty for you on comic recapping:
Bruce's body has a presence throughout the main Blackest Night mini, but the big one is #5 where he's "raised" from the dead.
Hal and Barry are the leading characters of this part of the event, and the ones who have the actual conversations about how Black Lantern "Bruce" was blatantly different from all the actual reanimated dead people, thus indicating that's not his real body (see BN#6 and BN#8 particularly). But the actual "reanimation" happens in a very public setting in front of a whole lot of superheroes, so it's really not a case of any one person discovering the information.
Dick and Damian and the rest of the bats aren't present at the time and I don't think we actually see who/when passes the info on, but they're aware a little later on in Batman and Robin, and start talking about Bruce returning circa B&R#10.
How this actually connects with Tim's story is...kind of awkward and not totally lined up, so I had to line it up myself for my chronological order. Tim returns to Gotham temporarily and is with Dick during the Blackest Night: Gotham tie-in, but then he returns to his brucequest in Red Robin, and later in RR#12 seems to be ready to present his findings as if he's still under the impression he needs to convince Dick--to which Dick is like well actually we have a lot to talk about there.
So I guess the implied order of events is (1) Dick and Tim fight black lanterns while, elsewhere, unknown to them, "Bruce" is "reanimated" and everyone else realizes that ain't his real body, (2) Tim peaces out immediately afterwards and so misses when, (3) someone comes to tell Dick/Damian/Alfred what they all saw with Bruce, making them start to realize things are strange here and be more open to the idea Bruce might be alive. Then (4) Tim returns, and off screen after RR#12 both sides share what they've each learned, and Tim convinces everyone of his specific theory.
A lot of the conversations and logistics and behind-the-scenes workings are missing, but after that RR arc I place B&R#10, and Dick and Damian talking about Bruce coming back. And then we have all the comics surrounding Bruce's actual return (Time Masters: Vanishing Point and Return of Bruce Wayne in particular), by which point everyone is aware of the whole situation, and a team of various heroes has come together to figure out how to get their Batguy unstuck from time.
Yeah! This one's pretty simple. If you just read straight down the bolded comics, you're good.
Optionally, you can start with the first meetings between the future members. I've only read some of these, but it's:
Robin Plus Impulse #1
WF3: World's Finest Three (Superboy/Robin) #1-2
Superboy and the Ravers #7 - Kon and Bart
Impulse #28, #41 - Bart and Cissie
And then we get into the actual Young Justice content:
Young Justice: The Secret #1 (1998)
JLA: World Without Grown-Ups #1-2 (1998)
Young Justice vol 1 (1999) #1-2
optional DC One Million tie-in: Young Justice #1,000,000
Young Justice #3-4
Secret Origins 80-Page Giant #1 (1998)
Young Justice: Secret Files and Origins #1 (1999)
Young Justice #5-7
Young Justice 80-Page Giant (1999)
Young Justice #8-10
Young Justice Special #1 - tie-in to No Man's Land
Young Justice #11
Heck's Angels crossover: Young Justice #12 / Supergirl vol 4 #36 / Young Justice #13 / Supergirl #37
Young Justice #14 - tie-in to Day of Judgement
Young Justice #15-19
Young Justice had its own event, Sins of Youth, with a bunch of oneshots for various characters. Honestly just pick the ones for characters you're invested in:
Young Justice: Sins of Youth #1
Superboy vol 4 #74
Young Justice: Sins of Youth Secret Files and Origins
Sins of Youth: JLA, Jr. #1
Sins of Youth: Aquaboy and Lagoon Man #1
Sins of Youth: Batboy and Robin #1
Sins of Youth: Kid Flash and Impulse #1
Sins of Youth: Starwoman and the JSA, Jr. #1
Sins of Youth: Superman, Jr. and Superboy, Sr. #1
Sins of Youth: Wonder Girls #1
Sins of Youth: Secret and Deadboy #1
Young Justice: Sins of Youth #2
And then we finish up the series (with a couple extra notes to keep you up to date on the solos):
Young Justice #20-34
Our Worlds at War tie-ins: Young Justice: Our Worlds at War #1 / optional Superboy #89-90 / Young Justice #35-36 / Impulse #77 / optional Superboy #91 / Young Justice #37
Young Justice #38 - tie-in to Joker: Last Laugh
Young Justice #39-44
World Without Young Justice: Impulse #85 / Robin #101 / Superboy #99 / Young Justice #45
optional Impulse #86
Young Justice #46-55
The team ended with Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1-3. At that point, half the members faded into the background and the other half moves over to Teen Titans vol 3, found over in my Titans reading order.
How old do you think Tim was during his own Robin series because i REFUSE the fact that he’s supposed to be 16
He was 13 when introduced, 14 by the time the Robin ongoing started, and 17 when it ended. This is 100% confirmed absolute pure canon and I have done much more detailed explanations and math here and here. I think it's sort of the perfect kid sidekick range.
I'm not actually sure exactly what is appalling to you about 16 (do you think he should be older?? younger???), but I can in fact tell you with perfect precision that he was 16 from issue #116 (which features his birthday!) through #147 (which is right before the One Year Later jump occurs).
hi! i read your dc timeline (fantastic job btw) and had trouble following all the titans/teen titans/young justice/outsiders stuff. so i was wondering what's the difference between those four groups/how many iterations of each group there were/who were their members?
Thanks! The differences between these groups is fairly easy to answer. The membership and iterations...not so much. I will first link to my (Teen) Titans reading order, which gives the gist of each era, and my Young Justice reading order (both preboot only).
Like any teams that last more than a few years, all four of those teams have had various iterations with various lineups. At the most basic level:
"Teen Titans" was initially a team of the original sidekicks (think Dick, Donna, Wally, etc), but has since become the default name for DC's current team of young heroes, whoever they may be.
"Titans" is specifically used for teams with that original generation of sidekicks, but now grown up as adults.
"Young Justice" is for the 90s generation of kid heroes (okay, some introduced in the 80s; think Tim, Bart, Cassie, etc), and has really only been used as a name for that group/generation.
And "Outsiders" is actually typically a Batman-led team of fully adult heroes that has the least overlap here--except for one particular iteration of the team in 2003 with young adult heroes, including Dick, Roy, and Kory.
tl;dr: The Titans and Young Justice are based on specific groups, the Teen Titans are any kid heroes, and the Outsiders are mostly irrelevant just with one major exception.
This means that:
Young Justice and the Titans have existed at the same time, one as the teen generation of Tim/Bart/etc, one as the young adult generation of Dick/Donna etc.
The Teen Titans and the Titans have existed at the same time. Though the naming is more confusing here, the idea is the same: the Teen Titans are the teen heroes (typically Tim-generation for this, maybe even younger), and the Titans are the Dick-generation young adults.
In recent years, the Teen Titans and Young Justice have existed at the same time. Young Justice remains the Tim-generation, and the Teen Titans are either an even newer, younger team (think Damian, Crush), or just DC's latest attempt at capitalizing on the famous name (typically with the characters known from the animated show: Raven, Cyborg, etc).
The Outsiders may or may not have existed in conjunction with any number of these, because they usually draw from a whole different set of potential characters.
As for the number of iterations and list of members...Yeah. Putting that under a cut.
A Pre-Flashpoint History
I’m going to thoroughly cover Titans/Teen Titans/Young Justice here, but I will be a lot less detailed on the Outsiders because I don’t know them as well.
The Teen Titans I (60s, 70s) sprang out of a team up between Dick Grayson/Robin, Wally West/Kid Flash, and Garth/Aqualad. The team was officially founded and formed by the fab five: those three, plus Donna Troy/Wonder Girl and Roy Harper/Speedy.
This team would have like a dozen other members at various points over the years, including Lilith Clay, Mal Duncan/Guardian/Herald, and Hank and Don Hall/Hawk and Dove.
They also briefly had a mostly-offscreen spinoff, the Titans West, which included such members as Gar Logan/Beast Boy, Bette Kane/Flamebird, and Hawk and Dove.
The Teen Titan got together in mid adolescence, and had a lot of cheesy adventures against such foes as Mad Mod and Ding Dong Daddy. They broke up when many members starting going off to college or otherwise moving on in life.
The New (Teen) Titans (80s), reassembled by Raven to fight her father, were half a reformation of old members (Dick, Donna, Wally, plus Gar now going by Changeling) and half new members (Raven, Koriand'r/Starfire, Vic Stone/Cyborg). As they were already all 18-19 when the team started--minus youngster Gar--the "Teen" was soon dropped from the name. Wally would end up leaving this team, and others like Joey Wilson/Jericho, Kole, and Danny Chase would join. Former Titans and allies, like Roy and Garth, would periodically show up to help out as well.
This run took a more serious tone and had a lot of character progression. It's when many of the first generation of sidekicks changed identities: Robin to Nightwing, Wonder Girl to Troia and later no codename, Speedy to Arsenal, etc. It also introduced such villains as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke (including the famous Judas Contract story with Terra), HIVE, Brother Blood, and Komand'r/Blackfire.
The original Outsiders I were also formed in the 80s, led by Batman and including iconic members like Black Lightning and Katana.
In the early 90s, the New Titans fell apart for a variety of terrible reasons and had massive shifts in membership. Half of them left or died or were completely changed; others like Leonid Kovar/Red Star, Pantha, and Miriam Delgado/Mirage joined, and the whole thing was a mess.
After a lot of spiraling, the team was almost entirely swapped to a largely new group funded by the government and led by Roy/Arsenal, including Gar, Miriam, Grant Emerson/Damage, Kyle Rayner/Green Lantern, Bart Allen/Impulse, Rose Wilson, Martix Supergirl, a maybe-new-maybe-not version of Terra, and more. This group was still under the New Titans name and in the same run, despite little member overlap. They split up when the government pulled funding.
Apparently there was another iteration of the Outsiders II briefly in the mid-90s, but I truly cannot tell you much about it. Still unrelated to the younger generations.
The Teen Titans II (mid 90s) were the first group to use the name with zero tie to the founders. Led by a de-aged Ray Palmer/Atom, this group consisted of teens kidnapped by aliens and genetically modified--Toni Monetti/Argent, Isiah Crockett/Joto, Audrey Spears/Prysm, and Cody Discoll/Risk. This run only lasted a couple years.
Young Justice I (late 90s/early 00s) sprang out of a team up between Tim Drake/Robin, Superboy (later named Kon-el), Bart Allen/Impulse, and Secret. The team shortly added Cassie Sandsmark/Wonder Girl and Cissie King-Jones/Arrowette, and later Anita Fite/Empress, Slobo, and Ray Terril/Ray. Under the vague mentorship of Red Tornado, this group had wacky coming of age adventures.
This is also when teams start to overlap:
The Titans I (late 90s/early 00s) formed out of the original (teen) Titans just really missing each other, okay? This team melded together the original fab five (Wally now the Flash; Garth now Tempest), Cyborg and Starfire of the original New Titans, Grant/Damage of Arsenal's New Titans, Toni/Argent of the second Teen Titans, and new-to-the-titans Jesse Quick. Other old Titans appeared here and there (Rose Wilson as Lian's babysitter <3), and a number of the starting group left along the way.
Events in 2003 broke up both Young Justice and the Titans simultaneously, and members shuffled around.
A few of the now-former Titans joined the Outsiders III (mid 00s), the one version of that team relevant here. The team was formed by Roy and initially led by Dick, and included members like Grace Choi, Anissa Pierce/Thunder, Metamorpho/Shift, and later Jennifer-Lynn Hayden/Jade and Kory/Starfire. This team was kind of a disaster (compliment) and the series took an adult tone with mature themes.
(Note: I dig the 2003 Outsiders, but there was no reason for them to be called the Outsiders. It’s just hollow name reuse for no reason.)
Meanwhile, the Teen Titans III (mid 00s-early 10s) formed with a combination of older members from the New Titans--like Kory, Vic, and Gar (Beast Boy again)--and younger members from Young Justice--Tim, Cassie, Kon-El Conner Kent, and Bart. Others like Raven and Mia Dearden/Speedy joined later.
Honestly I’m having a hard time cleanly describing the tone/identity of this series. It was a superheroes series about a team of young heroes/sidekicks. Idk. It exists and ran for a long time.
After the Infinite Crisis in 2006, everything in DC jumped One Year Later. Over the course of that missing year, the Teen Titans had a variety of rotating, mostly second-string members. But that’s really just briefly seen in 52 and never had any real appearances, so whatever.
After One Year Later, the team did have a major shake up. All the young adult members left, leaving just the teens, and many new members joined. And left. And joined. And left. I think Cassie is the only consistent member. There is a lot of turnover in the back half of this series, but some Teen Titans here include: Rose Wilson/Ravager, M’gann Morzz/Miss Martian, Eddie Bloomberg/Kid Devil/Red Devil, Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle, and Amy Allen/Bombshell.
This constantly-rotating team would last all the way until the New 52.
Meanwhile the older generation kept switching:
The Outsiders also had a shake up after One Year Later, when it turned out they were all now fugitives for accidentally maybe doing some bad stuff. (Most important to me, Roy left so what is even the point now. “Dick is still there,” yeah but he’s not being a bitch (entertaining) anymore; he’s just grumpy.) Much of the team was gone by now, but they added Owen Mercer/Captain Boomerang Jr and Katana.
Only like a year (irl) later, Batman decided he wanted this to be his team again, and almost the entirety of the team swapped out for the Outsiders IV, which was more like the original/standard line-up, with only a few from the unusual 2003 iteration.
With the Outsiders a team of real adults again, many of the young adults were freed up. And you know what that means! Titans II (late 00s): these friends truly cannot stay away from each other. It’s a combination of the original team and the NTT: Dick, Roy (now Red Arrow), Donna, Wally, Kory, and Vic.
And also Gar and Raven kept moving between the Titans and the Teen Titans, because DC couldn’t decide how old they were supposed to be after Raven’s de-aging.
Despite the great line-up, these Titans were not to last, as DC was making a lot of changes and half the characters had other things to do. Dick had to replace a missing Bruce as Batman. Wally was always over-taxed as the Flash on the JLA and the Titans. Roy’s daughter was killed, leading him to relapse, in what everyone naively thought was the worst writing Roy would ever have before the New 52 proved just how much worse it could get. The team fell apart.
Slade Wilson/Deathstroke swooped in to form the Titans: Villains for Hire (early 10s) a team of villains and morally grey characters like Cheshire, Osiris, and [deep sigh] downward spiral Roy (now Arsenal once again), all with their own agendas.
(Note: it’s dumb as hell that this team was called the Titans. It was even more hollow name re-use. Come on, DC, just make up a new name for once.)
In the very end, the villain part split and there was a glimmer that a healing Roy and a resurrected/not evil (long story) Joey Wilson might make a new Titans team, an abandoned idea that lingers in my mind to this day...
But t’was not to be because--
A Prime Earth History
Flashpoint blew up and rebooted the entire universe.
This recap will be shakier, as I have not read anything from the latter part of it. (Still trapped in the New 52 over here.) Also I’m going to stop recapping the Outsiders entirely, sorry.
In the New 52, all history and most of what made DC good was erased. The Titans had never existed.
The (New 52) Teen Titans IV (early/mid 10s) were, in their continuity, the first team of that name. This team included rebooted, in-name only versions of Tim Drake [redacted]/Red Robin, Cassie Sandsmark/Wonder Girl, Kon-El/Superboy, Bart Allen Bar Torr/Kid Flash, Kiran Singh/Solstice, Miguel Barragan/Bunker, etc.
The theme of this run was “bad writing” and the tone was “awful”. Somehow it lasted the entire New 52 and into Rebirth.
My knowledge is really, really shaky after this:
The (Rebirth) Titans III (late 10s) formed with the original generation finally reunited, after fans revolted in the face of DC trying to erase Wally West from existence. This team had the fab five and fellow original (Teen) Titan, Lilith/Omen.
Then the (Rebirth) Teen Titans V (late 10s) formed, with a bunch of iconic young adult characters like Kory, Vic, and Gar, plus teenager Wallace West/Kid Flash (not that one; there are two Wally Wests now) and Damian Wayne/Robin. Apparently Damian is the leader of this team despite being the only child on it and. why. I don’t understand.
At some point that team revamped and became entirely a team of youngsters like Damian, Wallace, the new Red Arrow/Emiko Queen, and Xiomara Rojas/Crush.
Young Justice II (late 10s/early 20s) reformed after a while, with the universe slowly restoring bits from New Earth. This team was Kon, Bart, Tim, Cassie, and a few new peers like Jinny Hex and Teen Lantern.
The (Teen?) Titans Academy (early 20s) I believed formed with the idea of older, established Titans like Vic, Donna, Kory, etc mentoring a whole bunch of very new young heroes who I’m looking at the wiki list for and boy that’s a lot of names. Huh. I think this one is still ongoing?
Which means we have reached the present, and my list now ends.
I wonder if this makes the top 5 for my longest posts.
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Not sure where else to ask this but I figured you might know -- when exactly does kon move in with the kents? is there a particular issue or is it explained in teen titans (which I haven't gotten to yet)? babs says something about kon's grandparents in batgirl 39 (?) but I'm not sure if that was a joke or an actual reference to ma and pa lol
Okay yeah. So:
Kon's Superboy run ends with #100, where his apartment building blows up. And at the very end, Superman shows up for closing speech, that also includes leading Kon-El to the Kent's farm, where he thinks Kon should make his new home. This is the origin of it.
In the wake of Superboy, Kon would soon move over to have the Teen Titans as his main book, but in between--
Kon does indeed have a short appearance in Batgirl #39-41, where it is confirmed that he's now living in Smallville.
(The grandparents thing is indeed mostly a tongue in cheek thing about how Kon ended up on the same cruise as Cass and Babs. That's not how he and the Kents see their relationship--at this point they barely know each other, and later it will become more parental--nor is it the public cover story or anything, since the people of Smallville know Clark and know damn well he doesn't have a teenage son.)
Batgirl #41 is actually the first time we see Kon's new room, and find out he's now being called Conner.
And then he starts appearing regularly in the newly started Teen Titans (vol 3, 2003), where the new status quo is fully established.
How would I get into teen titans but like everything? I want the fab fave AND the Kori, Raven, BB group but idk where to start
Yes okay so!!! Short answer: New Teen Titans if you can. Also Titans vol 1 (1999). Maybe Teen Titans: Year One if you want an easy intro. And a full guide here:
Guide to (Teen) Titans Comics
I'm going to list things here chronologically, but you do not have to read everything, or read it in order if you don't want to. (I've still only read a few issues here and there from the original run, myself. It's the 90s series that got me into the fab five.)
I recommend starting at the beginning, but jumping ahead to the next section if you're having trouble with an era.
Overview:
The original, Pre-Crisis team, beginning with the fab five
The New Teen Titans team of the 80s, which is the blueprint for the famous Kory/Raven/Vic/etc team
The fab five return to prominence in the 90s Titans, blending in the NTT team
The "Teen Titans" name becomes more generic in the 2000s, but the original generation remains as the blend of fab five and NTT
The Original Team
This era is very dated and often corny, but it's also the inception of the team. This is the original era of the fab five, who will be joined by many others, including briefly Beast Boy.
The Brave and the Bold vol 1 #54 (first meeting of the original trio: Dick, Garth, Wally)
The Brave and the Bold vol 1 #60 (addition of Donna)
optional modern prequel: Teen Titans: Year One - an easy introduction and light read, though with its own interpretation of the characters
Teen Titans vol 1 (1966-1978) - the original run of 53 issues. If you want just a few issues, I recommend: #1, #4 (Roy!), #22 (Donna's origins), and #53 (final issue, and reveal of an early mission that explains why Roy is a founder)
The Teen Titans break up by the end of the run, splitting into their own lives. But they won't all be apart for long:
New Teen Titans
The origin of the second team you named, with plenty of guest spots from the original Titans that aren't leads.
Now in the 80s, we leave the corny antics behind for a more mature tone with a lot of focus on civilian life and character arcs. This era is dated for different reasons, most notably some stuff that has not aged well.
It's flawed, but I still adore this series. And, 40 years later, it's not hard to argue this remains the seminal Titans run to this day.
...It also changed names or reset ordering multiple times, and had a bunch of tie-in miniseries, so the list of how to read is going to be kinda long. I swear it's worth it.
DC Comics Presents #26 (optional) - a preview of the team before the book launched
New Teen Titans vol 1 (1980) #1-9 - the real start of the team
Best of DC #18 (optional)
New Teen Titans vol 1 #10-20
Tales of the New Teen Titans (1982) #1-4 - tie-in miniseries
New Teen Titans vol 1 #21-25 / Annual #1 / #26-34 / Annual #2 / #35-37
crossover into Batman and the Outsiders #5
New Teen Titans vol 1 #38-40
series changed names to Tales of the Teen Titans #41-44 / Annual #3 / #45-58
(NOTE: TotTT technically continues after #58, but it's all reprints)
numbering restarts in New Teen Titans vol 2 (1984) #1-12 / Annual #1
New Teen Titans vol 2 #13-14 - tie-ins for Crisis on Infinite Earths
New Teen Titans vol 2 #15-23 / Annual #2
Teen Titans Spotlight (1986) - another miniseries, this one spotlighting various characters. Only the first two issues are really referenced in the main run.
New Teen Titans vol 2 #24-39 / Annual #3 / #40-49 / Annual #4
series changed names to New Titans #50-55 / Annual #5 / #56-59
New Titans vol 2 #60-61 - part of Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying
New Titans vol 2 #62-70 / Annual #6
I recommend stopping here. The series gets very bad after this. (And what they do to my dearest boy, light of my life, apple of my eye...) But, respecting the completionist urge:
New Titans #71-79 / Annual #7 / #80-86
New Titans #87-92- crossover with Deathstroke and Team Titans
New Titans Annual #8
Titans Sell-Out Special (1992) - oneshot
New Titans #93-99 / Annual #9 / #100-114
Optionally, get continuity for Starfire in the third story of Showcase ‘94 #11
The run continues here with an almost entirely new team, led by Roy, that is far less known. Most of the original New Titans return for the last few issues.
New Titans #0 - tie-in to Zero Hour
New Titans #115-122 / Annual #11 / #123-130
Something Completely Different
The 90s tried out an entirely new Teen Titans with entirely new characters in Teen Titans vol 2 (1996). I've heard decent things about it, though never read it.
If you're just sticking with established characters, the fab five takes the spotlight for a single arc in Teen Titans vol 2 #12-16.
90s Titans
Here we reach comics that feel more modern. This iteration returns the fab five to precedence, but blends in the New Titans line-up and a few new faces, to turn them into a cohesive generation.
Like I said, this run is what made me fall in love with the fab five. imo, it starts very strong, though quality starts to slip later on.
JLA/Titans #1-3 - the miniseries that kickstarts the new run
Titans vol 1 (1999) #1-2
Titans Secret Files and Origins #1 (1999)
Titans vol 1 #3-19 / Annual #1 / #20
Titans Secret Files and Origins #2 (2000)
Titans vol 1 #21-50
Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1-3 - the team ends as it began, with a crossover miniseries
Messy Generations
So at the same time as Titans was Young Justice (1998), which focused on the new generation of kid heroes. (Happy to make another post for how to read YJ if you like.) But when the TT cartoon came out in 2003, DC decided to split up both teams--in the above miniseries--to launch a new run that would hopefully capture fans of the show.
At this point, we split into two pieces. Some of the old Titans join with some of Young Justice in Teen Titans vol 3 (2003). Meanwhile other former Titans (or, well, Dick and Roy, and later Kory) start up Outsiders vol 3 (2003).
Which (or both, or neither) you consider to carry the spirit of the Titans is up to you. I love Outsiders for Dick and Roy, but the team overall is not very Titans, and I lost interest after Roy leaves. Meanwhile TTv3 carries the name and more characters, but is of consistently meh quality, and eventually shifts to just the younger generation.
These series crossover plenty, so I'll list them together. Pick the bits you're interested in.
Teen Titans/Outsiders: Secret Files and Origins #1 (2003) - inception of both teams
Outsiders vol 3 (2003) #1-3
Teen Titans vol 3 (2003) #1-6 (in which they massacre my boy, light of my life, apple of my eye, again)
Outsiders vol 3 #4-7
Teen Titans vol 3 #1/2 - that's issue "one half"
Teen Titans vol 3 #7-12
Outsiders vol 3 #8-15
Teen Titans vol 3 #13-16 / Teen Titans/Legion Special / Teen Titans vol 3 #17-20
Teen Titans/Outsiders: Secret Files and Origins #2 (2005)
optional: Outsiders #26-27, where the unrelated original team of Outsiders return
Outsiders vol 3 #28
Teen Titans vol 3 #26-28
Infinite Crisis begins and bleeds into everything:
Outsiders vol 3 #29-30
Teen Titans vol 3 #29-31
Outsiders vol 3 #31-33
Teen Titans vol 3 #32
Robin #146-147
Teen Titans vol 3 Annual #1 / #33
Here we jump ahead with One Year Later.
Roy and Kory leave the Outsiders and I no longer consider this run even Titans-adjacent, so I'll stop including it here. It'll last until issue #49, where it changed to a whole new Batman-led team.
Meanwhile any older characters leave the Teen Titans, and it is purely the younger generation after that:
Teen Titans vol 3 #34-47
Teen Titans vol 3 #48-49 - tie-ins to Amazons Attack, which is not good
Blue Beetle vol 7 (2006) #18
Teen Titans vol 3 #50-54
The Titans / Teen Titans Split
DC made a stupid problem for themselves. People still love the older generation of Titans and want them back. But the younger generation has now also taken the same name. What to do?
Well you see, uh. The Teen Titans and the Titans are now two completely different teams. Just go with it. The new run of Titans had a great line-up, blending the OGs and NTT, but didn't last long and ultimately accomplished very little. Again, listing the two runs together, as they intersect a lot.
Titans East Special #1 - prelude to the Titans reforming
Titans vol 2 (2008) #1-4
optional mini DC Special: Cyborg #1-6
Teen Titans vol 3 #55-61
Titans vol 2 #5-10 (they keep massacring my boy!!!!)
Teen Titans vol 3 #62-68
optional Terror Titans #1-6 - miniseries related to Teen Titans
Blackest Night tie-ins: Titans vol 2 #21-22 / Blackest Night: Titans #1-3 / Teen Titans vol 3 #77-78
Titans vol 2 #23 - This issue fills me with anger. If you have not read all the stuff before this, it is very important to me that you know everything in it about Roy is wrong and bad.
Teen Titans vol 3 #79-87
The Teen Titans get to continue on as normal:
Teen Titans vol 3 #88-91
Red Robin #20
Teen Titans vol 3 #92-100
However, once again the older generation is thrown apart. From here on out, Titans weirdly becomes about a team of mercenaries led by Deathstroke. Why this was not just made a new run I have no idea. It's also not good fyi. It kicks off in Titans: Villains for Hire Special, then ends the Titans run with #24-38.
Reboots
After that, the universe rebooted for the New 52.
The New 52 is bad. The New 52 brought us Teen Titans vol 4 and 5 (both still about the Tim/Cassie/Bart/etc generation). Do not read these runs. And if you even think about bringing up New 52 Roy or Kory I will stomp you with my hooves.
Then we reboot again for Rebirth, and my expertise ends. I know the original Titans finally return from the war with Titans vol 3 (2016). I cannot weigh in yet if it's good. I know there is also a new Teen Titans vol 6 (2016) run, with most of the cartoon's characters, led nonsensically by Damian Wayne, which I suspect is not great but cannot confirm yet.
And then nowadays we have uh. Teen Titans Academy, I think? Look, at this point, I am as lost as you, but pretty sure all the worthwhile stuff is already listed above.
I hope this is helpful! Feel free to ask any follow ups :)
As a person who knows more about comics than I do, do you know at what point in the timeline Barbara learns Tim’s secret identity?
OKAY I spent a very long time digging on this and finally have most of an answer. tl;dr: circa 2001, between Officer Down and Our Worlds at War.
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Babs isn't told Tim's identity through Knightfall, Contagion/Legacy, Cataclysm, and No Man's Land. This is last confirmed in Birds of Prey #19 (part of Hunt for Oracle, Jul-Sept 2000), where she complains about it:
"Oh. It's Robin's little secret, huh? I know the secret identity of every member of the Justice League, but I can't be Trusted with yours?"
There's a short period between that and Officer Down (Mar 2001), then another short period before Robin #89 (June 2001), where it's first revealed she knows, to Tim's surprise. (Fun fact: this is right when Steph has just learned Tim's identity too.)
"...So watch your back, Tim. Oracle out."
"Tim? She called me 'Tim.' Jeez...Did Bruce tell her too?"
Publication-wise, Babs actually was shown knowing earlier, in Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood (June-Nov 2000), where she and Tim work together out of costume and she casually uses his name, with Tim unsurprised. Cry for Blood doesn't have super clear continuity with the main batbooks, though, so it's simple to just say it should be chronologically sorted after the above issue for obvious reasons.
All that happens before Our Worlds at War (2001) and Joker: Last Laugh (2001-2002), but it isn't until Bruce Wayne: Fugitive (2002) that her knowing is shown on-panel again. In BWF, she says Tim's name and others casually say it in front of her, so the memo has clearly gotten out.
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Additional Facts since I skimmed so many comics for this: Robin and Oracle talk for the first time in Prodigal, Detective Comics #680, 1994, by which point Tim already knows who Barbara is. And they meet in person for the first time in Cataclysm, Nightwing #20, 1998 (not counting a time-displaced Batgirl in Zero Hour).
(and shoutout to @silverwhittlingknife sharing the incredible spreadsheet that made it super easy to list out joint appearances of these two)
