Titan (Dark Horse Comics)
Encyclopedia
Titan was a Dark Horse Comics
superhero.
He first appeared in Comics' Greatest World
: Golden City Week 3 (1993).
He was created by Barbara Kesel
and the other members of Team CGW
.
He was part of the Comics' Greatest World "16 issues, 16 weeks, 16 bucks" event.
He was then a regular character in Catalyst: Agents of Change issues 1 through 4 (February-May 1994).
In June of that year, he starred in his own one shot.
He was then the feature character in the Will To Power mini-series, which ran from June through August 1994.
Sergeant.
Sgt. Wells was physically and mentally abusive to both Frank and his mother.
At a young age, Frank’s super-strength manifested and he began protecting his mother from his father’s abuse.
Eventually, Sgt. Wells was sent to ’Nam
, where he was killed by a sniper. The Wells family moved off the base into town, where the other kids bullied Frank. Over the years, the bullying grew steadily worse until high school. Frank stole a football uniform and ran onto the field during a game. Taking the ball, he plowed through the players on both sides, leaving a “trail of broken bodies littering the field .”
Never even looking back, Frank left town, eventually finding his way to Golden City and the woman known only as Amazing Grace. Almost immediately upon arrival, agents of Grace picked Frank up. He was put through a rigorous series of tests, greatly impressing everyone, from Grace to her top aids and scientists. Everyone that is except Madison:
Against Madison’s objections, Grace unveiled Frank as the American icon, Titan.
He was eventually given a boy sidekick named Elmore Meyer AKA Golden Boy.
However, on Golden Boy's first solo mission a villain captured Golden Boy, resulting in the loss of an eye and his being retired from duty (actually, Madison mind-wiped him so he would forget his time with Titan).
Despite this early setback, Titan proved himself over the next few years.
However, eventually Grace finds other heroes and (at least in his mind) betrays Titan.
This betrayal came in Grace’s announcement of “a new age for Golden City” and “a hero for that new age .”
That hero was not Titan but newcomer Rebel.
While Titan is easily more powerful than Warmaker, he is overconfident and has no self-control.
Titan is near invulnerable but when the villain aims his wrist cannon at him, instead of taking the hit, Titan pushes Warmaker's arm causing damage to a skyscraper.
This endangers the lives of both the people in the building and the pedestrians on the street below.
Later, after Grace has defeated Warmaker, Titan attacks him for no reason.
Warmaker strikes Titan knocking him into Rhapsody, who falls and is killed.
The US attacks the city attempting to force Grace's surrender.
She forms Catalyst: Agents of Change
to defend the city.
The team consists of Titan, Rebel, Ruby
, Mecha
, and Warmaker, who has made a deal with Grace in exchange for freedom.
Titan, along with Mecha and Warmaker, defends the city's food source, a wheat-field, from the US attack, while the rest of Catalyst protects the city itself, which the army is attacking with missiles.
The government then sends in Grenade, a cyborg soldier, to attack the heroes.
When Catalyst defeats him, Grenade releases a radioactive cloud and then self-destructs.
Using public opinion (she had the fight televised on CNN), Grace is able to force a truce with the government, gaining independence for Golden City.
Later, Titan and Grace disagree over her motives leading to his resigning from the team to "find America."
He then decides someone needs to champion the people and goes to join the National Security Council as a field agent.
His first assignment puts him up against The Inhibitors, a group of genetically created super-powered creatures designed by Dr. Stanley Kirby and his own former sidekick Golden Boy.
The NSC then sends him to Arcadia to protect Congressman DeMarco from the vigilante X.
X attacks the congressman and Titan chases him, confronting both Scream and Monster, before X convinces him he is a dupe for a drug lord.
Next, Titan is sent to Steel Harbor to quell the gang wars which have spilled out of the slums and into Castle Pointe, the home of Steel Harbor's elite.
He faces down Mace Blitzkrieg’s Prime Movers before going completely over the edge.
Now quite crazy, Titan faces the Wolf Pack, Counterstrike, and Motorhead, before Grace snatches him up and brings him back to Golden City.
Titan defeats Catalyst then flies to Cinnibar Flats to challenge Vortex.
Titan’s rampage at the army base causes the deaths of many US soldiers, including Lt. Eileen Anderson, Vortex’s only human friend.
Vortex is angered by the death and kills Titan.
They attempted to autopsy him but couldn't cut open his body due to its invulnerability.
Suddenly, for unknown reasons, Titan's body went through some kind of change, becoming vulnerable.
In that exact moment Special Agent Bert gained powers similar to Titan.
es, including the power of flight, super-strength, and a heightened ability to withstand pain.
He is a hero in the mold of such archetypal characters as DC's Superman
and Astro City's
Samaritan
.
Late in his career, Titan began to manifest more and stronger powers.
Grace speculates that he has either "tapped into some new power source, or whatever was limiting him before has been stripped away".
He becomes immune to Madison's mind control and his body becomes too dense for Grace to deconstruct and transport.
Over the course of the Will To Power storyline he is constantly growing stronger and stronger.
At one point he moves the Vortex force field, including everything within it.
Eventually, Titan is killed by the mystic King Tiger and is able to return from the dead.
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
superhero.
He first appeared in Comics' Greatest World
Comics Greatest World
Comics' Greatest World was an imprint of Dark Horse Comics. It was created by Team CGW. Originally conceived in 1990, it took three years for the line to be released, which led to an industry-wide perception that it was created to capitalize on the speculator mania of the early 1990s. When the...
: Golden City Week 3 (1993).
He was created by Barbara Kesel
Barbara Kesel
Barbara Randall Kesel is an American writer and editor of comic books; her bibliography includes work for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Crossgen, Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics.-Biography:...
and the other members of Team CGW
Team CGW
Team CGW, short for Team Comics' Greatest World, is the group of five creators of the Comics' Greatest World line for Dark Horse Comics.The members are:* Mike Richardson, Dark Horse Comics' Publisher* Randy Stradley, creative director...
.
He was part of the Comics' Greatest World "16 issues, 16 weeks, 16 bucks" event.
Publication history
He first appeared in the third month of the event making a cameo appearance in Golden City Week 2 and featuring strongly in Golden City Weeks 3 and 4 (July/August 1993).He was then a regular character in Catalyst: Agents of Change issues 1 through 4 (February-May 1994).
In June of that year, he starred in his own one shot.
He was then the feature character in the Will To Power mini-series, which ran from June through August 1994.
Origin
Frank Wells was the son of a US MarineUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
Sergeant.
Sgt. Wells was physically and mentally abusive to both Frank and his mother.
At a young age, Frank’s super-strength manifested and he began protecting his mother from his father’s abuse.
He hated me for being different. In his mind I was better than he was.
Eventually, Sgt. Wells was sent to ’Nam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, where he was killed by a sniper. The Wells family moved off the base into town, where the other kids bullied Frank. Over the years, the bullying grew steadily worse until high school. Frank stole a football uniform and ran onto the field during a game. Taking the ball, he plowed through the players on both sides, leaving a “trail of broken bodies littering the field .”
Never even looking back, Frank left town, eventually finding his way to Golden City and the woman known only as Amazing Grace. Almost immediately upon arrival, agents of Grace picked Frank up. He was put through a rigorous series of tests, greatly impressing everyone, from Grace to her top aids and scientists. Everyone that is except Madison:
You’re making a big mistake. I don’t think Frank here has the guts to do the job.
Against Madison’s objections, Grace unveiled Frank as the American icon, Titan.
He was eventually given a boy sidekick named Elmore Meyer AKA Golden Boy.
However, on Golden Boy's first solo mission a villain captured Golden Boy, resulting in the loss of an eye and his being retired from duty (actually, Madison mind-wiped him so he would forget his time with Titan).
Despite this early setback, Titan proved himself over the next few years.
However, eventually Grace finds other heroes and (at least in his mind) betrays Titan.
This betrayal came in Grace’s announcement of “a new age for Golden City” and “a hero for that new age .”
That hero was not Titan but newcomer Rebel.
The Warmaker Incident
When the super-villain and US government prisoner, Warmaker, escapes from The Vault, a super-prison located in Golden City, all the local heroes, including Titan, have to face him.While Titan is easily more powerful than Warmaker, he is overconfident and has no self-control.
Titan is near invulnerable but when the villain aims his wrist cannon at him, instead of taking the hit, Titan pushes Warmaker's arm causing damage to a skyscraper.
This endangers the lives of both the people in the building and the pedestrians on the street below.
Later, after Grace has defeated Warmaker, Titan attacks him for no reason.
Warmaker strikes Titan knocking him into Rhapsody, who falls and is killed.
Catalyst
Grace uses Warmaker's escape and the death of Rhapsody as an excuse to secede from the United States.The US attacks the city attempting to force Grace's surrender.
She forms Catalyst: Agents of Change
Catalyst: Agents of Change
Catalyst is a superhero team appearing in comics published by Dark Horse Comics under the imprint Comics Greatest World. It first appeared in Comics' Greatest World: Golden City Week 4...
to defend the city.
The team consists of Titan, Rebel, Ruby
Catalyst: Agents of Change
Catalyst is a superhero team appearing in comics published by Dark Horse Comics under the imprint Comics Greatest World. It first appeared in Comics' Greatest World: Golden City Week 4...
, Mecha
Catalyst: Agents of Change
Catalyst is a superhero team appearing in comics published by Dark Horse Comics under the imprint Comics Greatest World. It first appeared in Comics' Greatest World: Golden City Week 4...
, and Warmaker, who has made a deal with Grace in exchange for freedom.
Titan, along with Mecha and Warmaker, defends the city's food source, a wheat-field, from the US attack, while the rest of Catalyst protects the city itself, which the army is attacking with missiles.
The government then sends in Grenade, a cyborg soldier, to attack the heroes.
When Catalyst defeats him, Grenade releases a radioactive cloud and then self-destructs.
Using public opinion (she had the fight televised on CNN), Grace is able to force a truce with the government, gaining independence for Golden City.
Later, Titan and Grace disagree over her motives leading to his resigning from the team to "find America."
Will to Power
After leaving Golden City, Titan discovers Tent City, a newly formed suburb of refugees trying to get into Grace's paradise.He then decides someone needs to champion the people and goes to join the National Security Council as a field agent.
If this country needs a hero to solve its problems, then I'm just the guy to do it.
His first assignment puts him up against The Inhibitors, a group of genetically created super-powered creatures designed by Dr. Stanley Kirby and his own former sidekick Golden Boy.
The NSC then sends him to Arcadia to protect Congressman DeMarco from the vigilante X.
X attacks the congressman and Titan chases him, confronting both Scream and Monster, before X convinces him he is a dupe for a drug lord.
Next, Titan is sent to Steel Harbor to quell the gang wars which have spilled out of the slums and into Castle Pointe, the home of Steel Harbor's elite.
He faces down Mace Blitzkrieg’s Prime Movers before going completely over the edge.
Now quite crazy, Titan faces the Wolf Pack, Counterstrike, and Motorhead, before Grace snatches him up and brings him back to Golden City.
Titan defeats Catalyst then flies to Cinnibar Flats to challenge Vortex.
Titan’s rampage at the army base causes the deaths of many US soldiers, including Lt. Eileen Anderson, Vortex’s only human friend.
Vortex is angered by the death and kills Titan.
Autopsy
After his death, Titan's body was taken by the government.They attempted to autopsy him but couldn't cut open his body due to its invulnerability.
Suddenly, for unknown reasons, Titan's body went through some kind of change, becoming vulnerable.
In that exact moment Special Agent Bert gained powers similar to Titan.
Powers and abilities
Titan has many of special powers that are commonly found in SuperheroSuperhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
es, including the power of flight, super-strength, and a heightened ability to withstand pain.
He is a hero in the mold of such archetypal characters as DC's Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
and Astro City's
Astro City
Kurt Busiek's Astro City is a comic book series centered on a fictional American city of that name. Written by Kurt Busiek, the series is co-created and illustrated by Brent Anderson with character designs and painted covers by Alex Ross...
Samaritan
Samaritan (comics)
Samaritan is a fictional character in the comic book series Astro City. Created by writer Kurt Busiek and artists Brent Anderson and Alex Ross, Samaritan is the premier superhero of the world, much in the vein of Superman and Captain Marvel...
.
Late in his career, Titan began to manifest more and stronger powers.
Grace speculates that he has either "tapped into some new power source, or whatever was limiting him before has been stripped away".
He becomes immune to Madison's mind control and his body becomes too dense for Grace to deconstruct and transport.
Over the course of the Will To Power storyline he is constantly growing stronger and stronger.
At one point he moves the Vortex force field, including everything within it.
Eventually, Titan is killed by the mystic King Tiger and is able to return from the dead.
As a Hero
- Warmaker/Elvis Westbury
- Grenade
- The Inhibitors (aka The Chosen People)
- Proph/Dr. Stanley Kirby
- Lethargy
- Microwave
- Eagle
- Golden Boy/Elmore Meyer
- Unnamed; Possibly "Dog"
- X
- Boss Roscoe Ligotti
- The Prime Movers
- Mace Blitzkrieg
- Airborne
- Deadlight
- Hurricane Max
- Killerwatt
- Blackbelt
- Ignition II
As a Villain
- GraceGrace (Dark Horse Comics)Grace is a fictional character, a Dark Horse Comics superheroine. The character first appeared in Comics' Greatest World: Golden City Week 1 , created by Barbara Kesel and the other members of Team CGW....
and CatalystCatalyst: Agents of ChangeCatalyst is a superhero team appearing in comics published by Dark Horse Comics under the imprint Comics Greatest World. It first appeared in Comics' Greatest World: Golden City Week 4... - Wolf Gang
- Hunter/Wolf Ferrell
- Cutter
- Breaker
- Burner
- Bomber
- Counterstrike
- Motorhead
- King Tiger
- Vortex
List of Appearances
- Comics' Greatest World: Golden City 3-4
- Catalyst: Agents of Change 1-4
- Titan Special 1
- Will To Power 1-12
Significant Stories
- Comics' Greatest World: Golden City 3 - First appearance
- Catalyst: Agents of Change 4 - Leaves Catalyst
- Will To Power 9 - Battles Grace
- Will To Power 12 - Death
Awards
- Titan came in second in the Favorite Villain category and had an honorable mention in the Least-Favorite Hero category on the 1994 CGW Reader Survey.