The New Teen Titans #22
The New Teen Titans #22 (August 1982) is a landmark Bronze Age issue that introduced three characters who would go on to define the Titans mythology for decades: Blackfire (Komand'r), Starfire's treacherous older sister; the Confessor, Brother Blood's sadistic inquisitor; and Bethany Snow, a television newscaster secretly embedded in Brother Blood's cult — a sharp piece of media-manipulation storytelling that felt bracingly contemporary. The issue also marks the first time the Titans' public image was weaponized against them by a villain, with Brother Blood using a sympathetic on-air personality to make the heroes look like the aggressors, a narrative device that would recur throughout the Wolfman–Pérez run. Arriving at the height of the title's cultural dominance — when the book rivaled the Uncanny X-Men for readership — this issue concluded a two-part story that firmly established Brother Blood and the Church of Blood as the Titans' most ideologically menacing adversaries, grounded in real anxieties about cult influence and media complicity.
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Written by Marv Wolfman with pencil breakdowns by George Pérez finished by inker Romeo Tanghal, and colored by Adrienne Roy with letters by Ben Oda, the issue was edited by Len Wein and carries a cover date of August 1982. Wolfman and Pérez were by this point collaborating so closely — plotting stories jointly, often in person — that the creative voice of the book was seamless; Wolfman has noted in the omnibus introduction to this period that Brother Blood's full origin was deliberately withheld, planting long-form mystery as a structural tool. The two-part Brother Blood story in issues #21–22 was conceived as a direct engagement with real-world cult phenomena, though Wolfman himself later acknowledged that giving Brother Blood a literal devil-like appearance undercut the subtlety of that social commentary.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: August 1982 (DC Comics, Vol. 1, #22); story title: 'Ashes to Ashes!'; the second part of a two-issue arc begun in New Teen Titans #21.
- First appearance of Blackfire (Komand'r), Starfire's older sister and future recurring villain; she appears in cameo form here and does not yet adopt the Blackfire alias, which she receives in issue #24.
- First appearance of Bethany Snow, a television news anchor secretly loyal to the Church of Blood, who turns public opinion against the Titans by framing their rescue mission as an unprovoked assault.
- First appearance of the Confessor, Brother Blood's torture-specialist enforcer, who subjects Robin (Dick Grayson) to interrogation before throwing him into a dungeon pit with the other captive Titans.
- Creative team: script by Marv Wolfman; pencil breakdowns by George Pérez; finished art and inks by Romeo Tanghal; colors by Adrienne Roy; letters by Ben Oda; edited by Len Wein.
- The issue was reprinted in New Teen Titans Archives, Volume 4 and is included in the New Teen Titans Omnibus Vol. 2 — both collecting the full Wolfman–Pérez Bronze Age run.
- Brother Blood (Sebastian Blood VIII) — who debuted in issue #21 — appears here in his second issue; his cult, the Church of Blood, is depicted as having political reach through compromised figures including a U.S. senator.
- An in-issue continuity error notes that the TV station Bethany Snow works for is referred to by two different call signs (WUBC and WUBS) within the same issue.
Cast · 22 characters
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Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
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Even though the other Titans rescue Robin and his crew, Brother Blood uses it to his advantage to make the Titans look like the bad guys to the general public.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).