The New Teen Titans #21
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe New Teen Titans #21 is one of the most first-appearance-dense single issues of the Bronze Age, packing no fewer than four significant debuts into one book. Most consequentially, it introduces Brother Blood and his Church of Blood — a cult-leader supervillain whose manipulation of public opinion and control over his flock gave Wolfman and Pérez a vehicle for storytelling darker and more psychologically grounded than virtually anything else on the DC superhero rack in 1982. Equally important for DC's long-game cosmology, the issue contains the very first cameo of the Monitor — appearing only as a disembodied voice aboard a mysterious satellite observing the Titans — a seed that would take three full years to flower into the universe-reshaping Crisis on Infinite Earths. Finally, the issue doubles as the launch pad for the Night Force, an entirely separate Wolfman horror series whose sixteen-page preview insert marks the first appearances of Baron Winters and other Night Force principals, making this a genuine crossroads issue between two distinct corners of the DC line.
When an old flame of Victor Stone’s is murdered by the Church of Brother Blood, the New Teen Titans launch a dangerous infiltration to expose the cult’s deadly reach. Caught in their trap, the team must rely on quick thinking and courage as tensions rise—especially when Starfire and Wonder Girl race against time to stop a bomb in Yankee Stadium. A sudden satellite appears in the sky, its voice hinting at unseen watchers and the growing value of their powers.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Written by Marv Wolfman and penciled by George Pérez — the core creative team behind the New Teen Titans revival that had been reshaping DC's fortunes since 1980 — the issue was edited by Len Wein with inks by Romeo Tanghal and colors by Adrienne Roy, and went on sale April 15, 1982, carrying a July 1982 cover date. Wolfman has acknowledged that Brother Blood's occult-manipulation themes grew directly out of his earlier Marvel horror work: his years writing Tomb of Dracula had steeped him in stories of supreme evil exerting psychological control over people, and that sensibility transferred to the Church of Blood's cult dynamics. The Night Force preview tucked inside was the work of a near-identical creative unit — Wolfman, penciler Gene Colan, inker Bob Smith, and letterer John Costanza — the same quartet who had produced the bulk of Tomb of Dracula, making their DC reunion a notable industry event in itself.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First full appearance of Brother Blood (Sebastian Blood VIII), the power-hungry high priest of the Church of Blood, created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez — he would become one of the Titans' most persistent recurring antagonists through the 1980s.
- First appearance of Mother Mayhem (May Bennett), Brother Blood's fanatical chief disciple and his organizational enforcer within the Church.
- First cameo of the Monitor (Mar Novu), appearing voice-only in a two-panel sequence showing his orbital satellite — the character would not be seen fully until G.I. Combat #274 (cover date February 1985) and would become the architect of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- Contains a 16-page preview insert for the new DC series Night Force — the first appearances of Baron Winters, Vanessa van Helsing (introduced as a psychic psychiatric patient later revealed to be the granddaughter of Professor Van Helsing), Dr. Donovan Caine, and Jack Gold; the Night Force preview continued directly into Night Force #1 (1982).
- The Night Force preview reunited the core Tomb of Dracula creative team at DC: writer Marv Wolfman, penciler Gene Colan, inker Bob Smith, and letterer John Costanza.
- The main story, titled 'Beware the Wrath of… Brother Blood!', depicts Cyborg's ex-girlfriend Marcy Reynolds being murdered while trying to escape the Church of Blood, prompting the Titans to infiltrate the cult undercover — all seven core Titans (Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Raven, Starfire, Cyborg, and Changeling) appear.
- The issue contains a notably candid dialogue exchange between Dick Grayson and Wally West about personal religious belief — an unusual moment of character-driven introspection for a mainstream superhero comic of the era.
- The main story has been reprinted in New Teen Titans Archives Volume 4, The New Teen Titans Omnibus Volume 2 (2012 and 2018 editions), and The New Teen Titans (DC, 2014 trade series) Volume 4; the Night Force preview is collected in Night Force by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan: The Complete Collection (2017).
Cast · 20 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in The New Teen Titans #3 (1983), Le Manoir des Fantômes #6 (1983), Gigant #6/1985 (1985), Les Jeunes T. #2 (1985), The Official Teen Titans Index #3 (1985), Os Novos Titãs #4 (1986), New Teen Titans Archives #4 (2009), Clásicos DC: Nuevos Titanes #2 (2011), The New Teen Titans Omnibus #2 (2012), The New Teen Titans #4 (2016), Night Force by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan: The Complete Collection #[nn] (2017), The New Teen Titans Omnibus #2 (2018), American Heroes #23, La Légion des Super-Héros et les Nouveaux Jeunes Titans #16
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