Teen Titans #15, DC Comics, May-June 1968

Ripped from yesterday's headlines... the Titans finally go to Hippieville, USA, which fits perfectly into the Space Hippies celebrations here at Siskoid's. "Captain Rumble Blasts the Scene" is you typical Teen Titan plot, as they try to help a misguided youth who's been running packages for some ne'er-do-wells. When the Titans intervene, it sets off a gang war between Captain Rumble's bikers and those poor peace-loving hippies. Carnage ensues.

Because for a hippie story (and for this series), it's incredibly violent. Obviously, you expect the bad guys to be violent, but they may be overdoing it a bit by trying to run over all those filthy hippies.
But the Titans aren't any better. Here's Robin, disguised as a hippie (they go undercover, you reach?), ripping a guy off his bike with a string of beads.
Playing a bit rough, don't you think, Robin-o? Not that hippie Kid-Flash (hat sold separately) is doing any better, making a truck crash into a wall. Tell me if that guy doesn't look like he's going to intensive care as a bare minimum.
Since there's a lot of fighting, I'd like to highlight a couple of figthing styles, if I may. I really jive to the groove of the tone of Wonder Girl's Amazon antigrav fighting:
Wow. Less stellar is Kid-Flash's patented superspeed crotch slam.
Double wow. I just don't know who that hurts more.

But the Titans are superheroes, you expect them to be violent as well. Thing is, even the hippies get into the action! Throwing flowers in bikers' faces! Harsh! Or how about when the troubled teen's hot girlfriend drops an artistic mobile on the bad guys? A mobile with CINDERBLOCKS in it! Not appropriate for all cribs! At some point, even the Bob Haney stand-in who annoyingly narrates the tale in poetic doggerel ("Robin's advice is fav and gear, and my song ends right here / But stay in the Titan groove, cause DC is really on the moooooooo-ve!") gets into the action:
Lesson: Violence breeds violence. Also: Hippie-speak breeds violence. I hope we reach.

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