Tiny Titans #17

History

Tiny Titans was conceived and produced entirely by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani — Baltazar handling all writing, art, coloring, and lettering — and published under DC's Johnny DC children's imprint beginning in February 2008. The series ran 50 issues through March 2012 and won the Eisner Award for Best Publication for Kids in both 2009 and 2011. Issue #17, on sale June 17, 2009 (cover-dated August 2009), was produced during the same period that DC's main Batman line was running the 'Battle for the Cowl' event, and Baltazar and Franco riffed on that storyline almost simultaneously, inserting Bat-Cow into the Tiny Titans' version of the Batcave — a piece of in-the-moment topicality that, ironically, outlasted the crossover it was spoofing.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Bat-Cow, created by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani; the character was later adopted into main DC continuity in Batman Incorporated Vol. 2 #1 (2012) by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham.
• First appearance of Mr. Mxyzptlk in the Tiny Titans universe; Raven summons him using her father's book of spells, and the other Titans tease him about his size until he retreats.
• First appearance of Bat-Mite in the Tiny Titans universe; Raven summons him to antagonize Mxyzptlk, pairing the two classic fifth-dimensional imps together in kid-friendly form.
• The story 'Battle for the Cow' directly parodies DC's concurrent 'Batman: Battle for the Cowl' crossover event, with Robin and Cyborg tasked by Alfred with recovering Bruce Wayne's stolen cape and cowl — taken by the farm cow who becomes Bat-Cow.
• Robin's birthday story features him cycling through multiple historical Robin and Batman-family costumes as gifts, including references drawn from Justice League of America issues, the Tim Burton film era, the New Titans comics, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
• Written, drawn, colored, and lettered entirely by Art Baltazar, with Franco Aureliani as co-writer; the issue was published by DC's Johnny DC imprint on June 17, 2009.
• Material from this issue was later collected in the DC graphic novel Tiny Titans: Beast Boy & Raven, which collects stories from Tiny Titans #1–4, #6, #8, #12–14, #17, #20, #26–27, and #44.
• Bat-Cow subsequently appeared as a playable character in the video game LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, demonstrating the character's cross-media reach after originating in this issue.

Cast · 28 characters

Full credits

Key issues in Tiny Titans