The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC's premier superheroes in the Justice League. The original team later becomes known as the Titans when the members age out of their teenage years, while the Teen Titans name is continued by subsequent generations of young heroes. First appearing in 1964 in The Brave and the Bold #54, the team was formed by Kid Flash (Wally West), Robin (Dick Grayson), and Aqualad (Garth) before adopting the name Teen Titans in issue 60 with the addition of Wonder Girl (Donna Troy) to their ranks.

Over the decades, DC has cancelled and relaunched Teen Titans many times, and a variety of characters have been featured heroes in its pages. Significant early additions to the initial quartet of Titans were Speedy (Roy Harper), Aquagirl (Tula), Bumblebee (Karen Beecher), Hawk (Hank Hall), Dove (Don Hall), Harlequin (Duela Dent), and three non-costumed heroes: boxer Mal Duncan, psychic Lilith, and caveman Gnarrk. The series would not become a genuine hit until its 1980s revival as The New Teen Titans under writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez. This run depicted the original Titans now as young adults and introduced new characters Cyborg (Victor Stone), Starfire (Koriand'r), and Raven (Rachel Roth), as well as the former Doom Patrol member Beast Boy (Garfield Logan) under his new alias of Changeling, who would all become enduring fan favorites. A high point for the series both critically and commercially was its "The Judas Contract" storyline, where the Teen Titans are betrayed by their teammate Terra (Tara Markov).

The 1990s featured a Teen Titans team composed entirely of new members before the previous members returned in the series Titans, which ran from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Subsequent stories in the 2000s introduced a radically different Teen Titans team made up of newer DC Comics sidekicks such as Robin III (Tim Drake), Wonder Girl II (Cassie Sandsmark), and Impulse / Kid Flash II (Bart Allen), as well as Superboy (Kon-El), some of who had previously featured in the similar title Young Justice. Later prominent additions from this era included Miss Martian (M'gann M'orzz), Ravager (Rose Wilson), Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kid Devil, and Blue Beetle III (Jaime Reyes). Concurrently, DC also published Titans, which featured some of the original and 1980s members now as adults, led by Dick Grayson in his adult persona of Nightwing. DC's The New 52 reboot in 2011 later brought new characters to the founding roster, including Solstice (Kiran Singh), Bunker (Miguel Jose Barragan), and Skitter (Celine Patterson), although this volume proved commercially and critically disappointing for DC. In 2016, DC used the Titans Hunt and DC Rebirth storylines to re-establish the group's original founding members and history, reuniting these classic heroes as the Titans, while introducing a new generation of Teen Titans led by Robin V (Damian Wayne) with Aqualad II (Jackson Hyde) and Kid Flash III (Wallace West) as the team's latest members alongside team mainstays Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy.

The Teen Titans have been adapted to other media numerous times, such as a self-titled animated series, Teen Titans Go!, and Titans. Within DC Comics, the Teen Titans have been an influential group of characters taking prominent roles in all of the publisher's major company-wide crossover stories. Many villains who face the Titans have since taken on a larger role within the publisher's fictional universe, such as the assassin Deathstroke, the demon Trigon, and the evil organization H.I.V.E.

Publication history

Original incarnation
Robin (Dick Grayson), Kid Flash (Wally West) and Aqualad (Garth) team up to defeat a weather-controlling villain known as Mister Twister in The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964) by writer Bob Haney and artist Bruno Premiani. They appeared under the name "Teen Titans" in The Brave and the Bold #60 (July 1965), joined by Wonder Woman's younger sister Wonder Girl (Donna Troy). After being featured in Showcase #59 (December 1965), the Teen Titans were spun off into their own series with Teen Titans #1 by Haney and artist Nick Cardy.

The series' original premise had the Teen Titans helping teenagers and answering calls. Comics historian Les Daniels noted that Haney "took some ribbing for the writing style that described the Teen Titans as 'the Cool Quartet' or 'the Fab Foursome'. The attempt to reach the youth culture then embracing performers like The Beatles and Bob Dylan impressed some observers." Green Arrow's sidekick Speedy makes guest appearances before officially joining the team in Teen Titans #19. Aqualad takes a leave of absence from the group in the same issue, but makes several later guest appearances, sometimes with girlfriend Aquagirl. Neal Adams was called upon to rewrite and redraw a Teen Titans story which had been written by Len Wein and Marv Wolfman. The story, titled "Titans Fit the Battle of Jericho!", would have introduced DC's first African American superhero, but was rejected by publisher Carmine Infantino. The revised story appeared in Teen Titans #20 (March–April 1969). Wolfman and Gil Kane created an origin for Wonder Girl in Teen Titans #22 (July–Aug. 1969) and introduced her new costume. Psychic Lilith Clay and Mal Duncan also join the group. Beast Boy of the Doom Patrol makes a guest appearance seeking membership, but was rejected as too young at the time; existing heroes Hawk and Dove, a duo of teenaged superpowered brothers, appear in issue #21; and time-displaced caveman Gnarrk aids the team in two issues.

The series explored events such as inner-city racial tension and protests against the Vietnam War. One storyline beginning in issue #25 (February 1970) saw the Titans deal with the accidental death of a peace activist, leading them to reconsider their methods. As a result, the Teen Titans briefly abandoned their identities to work as ordinary civilians, but the effort was quickly abandoned. Along the way, Aqualad left the series and the character of Mr. Jupiter, who was Lilith's mentor and employer, was introduced. He financially backed the Titans for a brief period. The series was canceled with #43 (January–February 1973).

1970s revival

The series resumed with issue #44 (November 1976). The stories included the introductions of African American superheroine Bumblebee and former supervillainess-turned-superheroine Harlequin in issue #48 and the introduction of the "Teen Titans West" team in issues #50–52 consisting of a number of other teen heroes, including Bat-Girl (Betty Kane) and Golden Eagle. The revival was short-lived and the series was cancelled as of issue #53 (February 1978), which featured an origin story. At the end, the heroes realized that, now that they were in their early 20s, they had outgrown the name the "Teen" Titans. In the last panel, without speaking, they all go their separate ways.

The title appeared again in 1999 for Giant Teen Titans Annual #1 (1967 issue) (), a one-shot special that reprinted selected Silver Age stories in the 1960s-style 80-Page Giant format.

The New Teen Titans (1980–1996)

DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980) introduced a new team of Titans, anchored by Robin, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash and soon followed by The New Teen Titans #1 (November 1980). The series, created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, re-introduced Beast Boy as Changeling and introduced the machine man Cyborg, the alien Starfire, and the dark empath Raven. Raven, an expert manipulator, forms the group to fight her demonic father Trigon the Terrible and the team remains together.

Wolfman and Pérez's working relationship quickly evolved to the point where they were plotting the series jointly. Wolfman recalled that "once George moved to the same town I lived in, only five blocks or so away, we usually got together for lunch and would work out a story over the next few hours. In many cases I would then go home and write up a plot based on it, or sometimes George would take the verbal plotting we did and take it from there."

The team's adversaries included Deathstroke the Terminator, a mercenary who takes a contract to kill the Titans to fulfill a job his son had been unable to complete. This led to perhaps the most notable Titans storyline of the era. 1984's "The Judas Contract", in Tales of the Teen Titans #42–44 and Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3, featured a psychopathic girl named Terra with the power to manipulate Earth and all Earth-related materials. She infiltrates the Titans in order to destroy them. "The Judas Contract" won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for "Favorite Comic Book Story" of 1984 and was later reprinted as a standalone trade paperback in 1988. Robin adopts the identity of Nightwing, while Wally West gives up his Kid Flash persona and quits the Titans. It also featured the introduction of a new member in Jericho, Deathstroke's other son.

Other notable New Teen Titans stories included "A Day in the Lives...", presenting a day in the team members' personal lives; "Who is Donna Troy?", depicting Robin investigating Wonder Girl's origins; and "We Are Gathered Here Today...", telling the story of Wonder Girl's wedding. Tales of the New Teen Titans, a four-part limited series by Wolfman and Pérez, was published in 1982, detailing the back-stories of Cyborg, Raven, Changeling, and Starfire. Wolfman wrote a series of New Teen Titans drug awareness comic books which were published in cooperation with The President's Drug Awareness Campaign in 1983–1984. The first was pencilled by Pérez and sponsored by the Keebler Company, the second was illustrated by Ross Andru and underwritten by the American Soft Drink Industry, and the third was drawn by Adrian Gonzales and financed by IBM.

The New Teen Titans (vol. 2)
The New Teen Titans relaunched with a new #1 issue in August 1984 as part of a new initiative at DC informally referred to as "hardcover/softcover". The New Teen Titans along with Legion of Super-Heroes and Batman and the Outsiders were the first and only titles included in this program. The same stories were published twice, first in a more expensive edition with higher-quality printing and paper distributed exclusively to comic book specialty stores, then republished a year later in the original format, distributed to newsstands. The title was renamed Tales of the Teen Titans with issue #41, while a new concurrently published series named The New Teen Titans (vol. 2) launched with a new #1 following the release of Tales of the Teen Titans #44 and Annual #3, the conclusion of the "Judas Contract" storyline. After both titles ran new stories for one year, with Tales of the Teen Titans #45–58 taking place prior to the events of The New Teen Titans (vol. 2) #1, and a filler issue reprinting a digest-only story and the original preview story from DC Comics Presents #26, the series began reprinting the first 31 issues of the "hardcover" series (sans several back-up stories focusing on Tamaran that ran in New Teen Titans #14–18), the first Annual, and the lead story from the second Annual, before being cancelled with issue #91.

Issue #1 of The New Teen Titans (vol. 2) created controversy when Grayson and Starfire were depicted in bed together, although it had been established for some time that they were a couple. The initial storyline, "The Terror of Trigon", featured Raven's demon father attempting to take over Earth and Raven's own struggle to remain good despite Trigon's demonic blood inside her. Pérez left the series after issue #5. José Luis García-López followed Pérez as the title's artist and Eduardo Barreto followed García-López. Paul Levitz scripted and wrote several issues of the Brother Blood saga when Wolfman briefly left.

Name changed to The New Titans
Pérez temporarily returned with issue #50, when the series took the name The New Titans without the "Teen" prefix, as the characters were no longer teenagers.

Issue #50 told a new origin story for Wonder Girl, her link to Wonder Woman having been severed due to retcons created in the aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Pérez sketched through issues #55, 57 and 60, while only providing layouts for issues #58–59 and 61, with artist Tom Grummett finishing pencils and Bob McLeod as inker. Pérez remained as cover inker to issues #62–67. He would return for the series finale #130 (Feb. 1996) providing cover art. Issues #60 and #61 were part of a five-part crossover with Batman, "A Lonely Place of Dying" and along with issue #65, featured the debut of Tim Drake as the third Robin.

The brief return of Perez and the addition of Tom Grummett failed to move sales for the book, which were starting to decline. Furthermore, the addition of Danny Chase (a teenage psychic) drew negative fan response due to his abusive attitude towards the rest of the team. Believing Wolfman had grown stagnant, DC assigned Wolfman a new editor, Jonathan Peterson, and gave Peterson authority to override Wolfman over the direction of the book.

With Peterson controlling the book's direction, the series was rapidly overhauled. The Wildebeest, a villain who used proxies and surrogates to hide his true identity while vexing the Titans, was expanded to a full army of villains called the Wildebeest Society and revealed to be a front for the remaining members of the supervillain group the H.I.V.E. The group fell under the control of Titan Jericho, who in turn was being possessed by the corrupted souls of Azarath. During the "Titans Hunt" storyline that followed (#71–84), Cyborg was destroyed and rebuilt, along with being lobotomized; Danny Chase and Arella (Raven's mother) were killed and resurrected as the gestalt being Phantasm (an identity created by Chase early in the series); while Raven, Jericho, and obscure Titans ally Golden Eagle were killed. New character Pantha (based on plans for a female Wildcat character Wolfman conceived in the mid-'80s) joined the team, along with Deathstroke and Red Star. Deathstroke was also given his own solo book and the team received its first crossover tie-in since Millennium, with The New Titans #81 being part of the "War of the Gods" storyline.

Peterson also saw the launch of Team Titans, which featured a new genetically modified (and heroic) doppelganger of Terra and Donna Troy, who was depowered in the "Total Chaos" crossover. Peterson left the book before "Total Chaos" concluded, leaving Wolfman to deal with the fallout from Peterson's editorially mandated storylines, including the final break-up between Starfire and Nightwing as a couple, the return of Speedy as Arsenal, and the resurrection of Raven as a villain.

Following Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!, the series saw a revamp: Nightwing was removed from the series by Batman editorial and a roster of new young heroes such as Damage and Impulse were inserted into the team to try and renew interest, along with Team Titan survivors Mirage and Terra II. New Green Lantern Kyle Rayner was also brought onto the title and given a prominent romance with Donna Troy, whose marriage with Terry Long had collapsed in the pages of Team Titans before the book's cancellation. Sales saw a collapse and despite several crossovers with other books (Damage, Green Lantern, Darkstars, and Deathstroke), the series was cancelled with issue #130. The series finale saw the return of Blackfire as an ally, as the Titans purged Raven of evil once again in order to prevent Raven and the revived Citadel Empire from reconquering the Vega star system.

The New Teen Titans and the Uncanny X-Men

The New Teen Titans was widely thought of as DC's answer to the increasingly popular Uncanny X-Men from Marvel Comics, as both series featured all-new members and depicted young heroes from disparate backgrounds whose internal conflicts were as integral to the series as was their combat against villains. The two teams met in the 1982 crossover one-shot entitled "Apokolips... Now", which teamed Darkseid, Deathstroke and Dark Phoenix against both teams. The story was written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Walt Simonson and Terry Austin.

New Titans: Games
In 1989, Marv Wolfman and George Perez began planning a prestige format special, their first work together on the franchise since Perez left after The New Teen Titans (vol. 2) #5. The project was put on hold when it was decided instead to have Perez return to the main book as artist and for their first project back together to be "Who Is Wonder Girl?" instead.

Over the course of 1989 and 1990, George Perez and Marv Wolfman continued to work on Games with over half the project being completed. But the ascension of Jonathan Peterson as editor of the series and Perez moving off of New Titans in order to work on The Infinity Gauntlet for Marvel led to the book being shelved.

In the early '00s, Marv Wolfman and George Perez approached DC about completing the book as a stand-alone graphic novel. The book was completed in 2010 and published in 2011.

The plot had the New Titans be forced by King Faraday to go after a mysterious mastermind who forces his victims to play deadly "games" for his amusement. The story features several major events (the deaths of King Faraday and Cyborg's longtime love interest Sarah Simms and Danny Chase being maimed) that make it impossible to fit into canon, reducing it to an alternate universe side story in Teen Titans lore.

Teen Titans Spotlight
Due to fan backlash over the hardcover/softcover move to the direct market with the main title, a new newsstand Titans book was launched in August 1986 called Teen Titans Spotlight. The series was an anthology series and featured individual members of the Titans in solo stories, often spanning multiple issues. The series also focused on former members of the group (such as Hawk and Aqualad) and the Brotherhood of Evil, detailing the formation of the second version of the group. As the move to the direct market effectively limited The New Teen Titans ability to be part of company-wide crossovers, two issues of Spotlight tied into the Millennium crossover event, with the second issue being the coda for the event.

The series failed to catch on and was cancelled in 1988, along with Tales of the Teen Titans.

Team Titans

The Team Titans were one of 100 groups sent back through time to prevent the birth of Lord Chaos, the son of Donna Troy and Terry Long. Their mission was to kill the pregnant Troy before she could give birth. Mirage, Killowat, Redwing, Terra, Nightrider, Prestor Jon and Battalion made up the team.

Teen Titans (vol. 2) (1996–1998)

Teen Titans was written and penciled by Dan Jurgens. It began in 1996 with a new #1 (October 1996), with Pérez as inker for the first 15 issues. Atom, who had become a teenager following the events of Zero Hour, leads the brand-new team (of Prysm, Joto, Risk and Argent). Arsenal became a mentor about halfway through and Captain Marvel Junior/ CM3 joins the team. The series ended in September 1998.

A contest was held in the letters pages to determine who would join the team. Robin (Tim Drake), won the vote, but editors on the Batman titles banned his appearance, forcing Jurgens to use Captain Marvel Jr. instead. His inclusion failed to boost sales and the series was then cancelled.

Titans (1999–2003)

The team returned in a three-issue miniseries, JLA/Titans: The Technis Imperative, featuring nearly every Titan and showcasing the return of Cyborg. This led into Titans, written by Devin K. Grayson, starting with Titans Secret Files and Origins #1 (March 1999).

This team consisted of Nightwing, Troia, Arsenal, Tempest, the Flash, Starfire, Cyborg, Changeling, Damage and Argent. One new member, Jesse Quick, joined. This team lasted until issue #50 (2002). The West Coast branch of the team, Titans L.A., appeared once, in the pages of Titans Secret Files and Origins #2.

Between Teen Titans and Titans, a new generation of young heroes formed a team in Young Justice, consisting of Superboy, Robin, Impulse, Wonder Girl, Secret and Arrowette. The two series concluded with the three-issue miniseries Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, which led to two new series: Teen Titans and Outsiders.

Teen Titans (vol. 3) (2003–2011) and Outsiders (vol. 3) (2003–2007)

Writer Geoff Johns' Teen Titans series began in 2003, after a three issue miniseries entitled Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, which saw Lilith's death and Donna Troy sent to another world after seemingly dying, along with the disbanding of the 1998–2002 Titans roster and the Young Justice team. The relaunch came on the heels of the debut of the Teen Titans cartoon on Cartoon Network and reflected DC Comics chief executive Dan DiDio's desire to rehabilitate the Titans as one of DC's top franchises. Launched at the same time was a companion series, a revived version of The Outsiders which featured Nightwing and Arsenal, along with several other Titans members (Captain Marvel Jr. and Starfire).

The series featured several of the main teenage heroes from the Young Justice roster (Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl, Impulse) and Starfire, Cyborg and Changeling (now rebranded Beast Boy to reflect the cartoon). Raven later returned to the team, reborn in a new teenage body while Jericho was brought back, having escaped death by possessing and laying dormant inside his father Deathstroke's mind.

The series renewed interest in the Titans, but drew sharp complaints due to shifts in the personalities of the various Young Justice characters. Most notably, the decision to have Impulse rebrand himself Kid Flash and the decision to Jettison his happy-go-lucky person in favor of a more serious personality. The series, under Geoff Johns, also dramatically retconned Superboy's origin with the revelation that he was a hybrid clone based on the combined DNA of Superman and Lex Luthor (a possibility Johns had first suggested in a fan letter published in the Superboy comic book several years before he was employed by DC).

Under Geoff Johns, the Teen Titans were front and center during the build-up and events of the Infinite Crisis crossover. During the lead-in of the crossover, Donna Troy came back in a four-part crossover miniseries with The Outsiders called "The Return of Donna Troy" while Superboy and Cassie Sandsmark became a couple. During Infinite Crisis, Superboy was killed by his evil doppelganger Superboy Prime, Cyborg was severely damaged by cosmic forces unleashed by Alexander Luthor Jr., Starfire was lost in space with several other heroes, while Kid Flash became lost in the Speed Force, re-emerging in the Flash uniform and having aged to adulthood after a failed attempt to stop Superboy Prime.

One Year Later and the post-Geoff Johns Titans

Following the events of Infinite Crisis, the Teen Titans fell into a state of chaos. Wonder Girl quit the group to join a cult she believed could resurrect Superboy, while Robin took a leave of absence to travel the globe with Batman and Nightwing. Changeling and Raven attempted to keep the Titans going, resulting in a massive open call membership drive that saw a large number of heroes come and join the roster, which was anchored by Beast Boy and Raven. New members include Miss Martian, Kid Devil, Zachary Zatara, Ravager, Bombshell (who like Terra I, was a traitor working for Deathstroke), Young Frankenstein, and Osiris.

During this period, Osiris was driven from the team due to a smear campaign launched by Amanda Waller after she manipulated him into killing a super-villain. The smear campaign against Osiris, along with the war between Black Adam and Intergang, led to Black Adam declaring war on the world. In the ensuing series of battles against the super-hero community, the Titans fought and lost a bloody battle with the villain, culminating in the deaths of Terra II and Young Frankenstein. The deaths led to Beast Boy resigning from the team to join the Doom Patrol along with Herald and Bumblebee, while Raven took a leave of absence in order to purge Jericho of the dark forces that were corrupting him.

Robin and Wonder Girl eventually rejoined the Titans (now located in San Francisco, California) and helped foil Bombshell's plan to frame Miss Martian as Deathstroke's latest mole in the team and allowed Raven to cleanse Jericho of the Azarathian corruption that had turned him evil. Geoff John's final arc on the series would introduce a new villainous "Titans East" team, led by Deathstroke and Batgirl Cassandra Cain.

Soon after, events related to the Countdown story arc impacted the Titans. Duela Dent and Bart Allen are killed; Cyborg leaves, and Supergirl joins and Blue Beetle is invited to train, but the two eventually leave, with the members joining the Justice League of America and Justice League International, respectively. The Titans fight the future, evil adult versions of the group (Titans Tomorrow) and Clock King and the Terror Titans, who are part of Darkseid's underground fight club for metahumans.

After the Batman R.I.P storyline, Robin leaves and Wonder Girl leads the team. Red Devil loses his powers after Brother Blood absorbs them. Miss Martian returns with several teen heroes liberated from the Dark Side Club. A new team is formed: Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle and the now-powerless Red Devil are joined by Kid Eternity and Static, with the new Aquagirl, Miss Martian and a reformed Bombshell signing up.

During the events of the Blackest Night crossover, some dead Titans are resurrected as members of the Black Lantern Corps. In the Titans: Blackest Night miniseries, an emergency team consisting of Donna Troy, Cyborg, Wonder Girl, Starfire, Beast Boy, Kid Flash and the new Hawk and Dove, is formed to defend the Tower. In the ensuing battle, the Hawk is killed after her predecessor Hank Hall tears her heart out. At the end of the Blackest Knight crossover, Hank Hall is resurrected and resumes his partnership with Dove. In the main series, Ravager and Jericho fight their father Deathstroke and the dead members of the Wilson family, resurrected as Black Lanterns.

During this time, several back-up stories begin to run in the series: one called "The Coven", starring Black Alice, Zachary Zatara and Traci 13 and later, one starring Ravager.

Later storylines involve the corruption of Wonder Girl at the hands of various factors (designed to address complaints about the character's abusive attitudes towards her teammates post-Infinite Crisis), Kid Devil is killed in battle, while Kid Eternity is revealed to have been beaten to death by the Calculator after being kidnapped by him.

J. T. Krul became the writer with issue #88 and penciler Nicola Scott became the book's artist. The issue's teaser shows a line-up of Superboy, Wonder Girl, Raven, Beast Boy, Kid Flash and Ravager. The Titans undergo this roster change in issue #87, the final issue before Krul's run. Following a mission to an alternate dimension to rescue Raven, the team splits. Bombshell and Aquagirl are missing in action, Miss Martian is in a coma and she and a powerless Static leave with Cyborg to go to Cadmus Labs in order to find a way to restore his powers.

Damian Wayne, the current Robin, is announced as a new team member, officially joining in #89. A series for Static was announced. In January 2011, new Titan Solstice debuted in the January 2011 Wonder Girl one-shot. She entered the main Teen Titans title following the crossover with the Red Robin series. During the crossover, Tim asks the Titans for help in tracking down the Calculator after he tries to kill his friend, Tam Fox. Tim rejoins the team as Red Robin (rather than Robin) but Cassie would remain the leader. Following this, Damian quits the team.

The book concluded with a three-part storyline spanning issues #98–100, which saw Superboy-Prime return to destroy the team. A large group of former Titans arrived and the series ultimately ended with Prime trapped in the Source Wall, seemingly for all eternity. The remainder of the issue consisted of pieces of artwork showcasing the various Teen Titans who appeared in that incarnation of the title, contributed by various DC artists.

Titans (vol. 2) (2008–2011)

A second ongoing Teen Titans series, titled Titans, launched in April 2008 with a cover date of June 2008, written by Judd Winick. The first issue was drawn by Ian Churchill and Norm Rapmund and the second was by Joe Benitez and Victor Llamas. The opening storyline follows the events of the Teen Titans East Special one-shot released in November 2007, revealing that Cyborg's team survived the attack, except Power Boy, dead after being impaled. The team's new line up consists of former New Teen Titans Nightwing, The Flash (Wally West), Donna Troy, Beast Boy, Raven, Cyborg, Red Arrow and Starfire.

In the series' first story, Trigon makes a series of attacks on every member, former or current, of the Teen Titans and Trigon has "another child" that, unlike Raven, will assist him in his attack. After reclaiming Titans Island and establishing a headquarters on the East River, Cyborg sets out to create an East Coast Titans team. During a training session, the team was massacred by an unseen force. Though Cyborg survives, Titans' members past and present are attacked by demonic entities across the globe. Raven, sensing Trigon's presence once again, calls upon her former Titans allies to defeat her fiendish father.

After rescuing several Titans and questioning Trigon himself, the Titans learn that Trigon's three children have prepared his second invasion for him. Raven's three grown half brothers — Jacob, Jared and Jesse are responsible. Working as a team, the Titans thwart the Sons of Trigon and stop Trigon's invasion plan. Following this adventure, Raven chooses her adopted family over her biological family, Red Arrow decided to join his former teammates (although both he and Flash retain their JLA membership) and the Titans were back together as a team.

Following this, the team settles at Titans Tower (the New York base), to recover from the events. While Dick and Kory attempt to make a decision on where their relationship will lead, Raven and Beast Boy go out on a "not-a-date". During this, Raven reveals that since she faced her brothers, she has begun to feel as if she is losing control and slipping back under her father's influence. Although Beast Boy rejects the idea, he is unexpectedly blind-sided as Raven gives in to her darker side, under the influence of her half-brother's coaxing. Using her teleporting powers, she and the sons of Trigon vanish, leaving a distraught Beast Boy to warn the others. Using a gemstone that carries Raven's pure essence within it, the Titans free Raven of her father's evil. As a result, Raven leaves each Titan with an amulet that can be used to cleanse any evil influence from her body.

Following this, Jericho arrives, frantically asking for help to separate himself from Match's body. Jericho has turned renegade again and fights the Titans. He is under the control of the numerous people that he has taken command of over the years. Nightwing resigns from the Titans due to his new responsibilities in Gotham.

Brightest Day: Titans – Villains for Hire

A Comic-Con announcement stated that Cyborg, Donna Troy and Starfire were leaving the team to pursue the JLA. Red Arrow, with his daughter Lian, has already relocated and is no longer involved with the Titans, but he got a spotlight in issue #23 after what happens to him in Justice League: Cry for Justice #5. After a series of spotlight issues, Final Crisis Aftermath: INK writer-artist creative team Eric Wallace and Fabrizio Fiorentino took over. Deathstroke took over the team with the Tattooed Man and Cheshire.

One of the new members included Carla Monetti a.k.a. Cinder, a young redheaded woman with the ability to manipulate fire. Osiris, a member during the One Year Later gap, who had been brought back to life after the events of Blackest Night, returned as a member. The final issue of the limited series, Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal ended with an advertisement stating that Arsenal's storyline would continue.

The team debuted in the one-shot issue Titans: Villains for Hire, where they are hired to assassinate Ryan Choi (the Atom) in his home in Ivy Town. The issue quickly became the subject of controversy due to Choi's violent death. Allegations of racial insensitivity dogged DC over the decision to kill off a relatively high-profile Asian character.

Following the one-shot, in the team's inaugural storyline they were hired to assassinate Lex Luthor following the events of War of the Supermen. This is revealed to be a ruse set up by Luthor and Deathstroke to draw out the real assassin, a shape-shifter named "Facade", who had apparently killed and impersonated a woman on Luthor's security detail.

Following several adventures, the Titans are confronted by Ray Palmer and the Justice League for their hand in Ryan's murder. The Titans are nearly defeated, but manage to escape thanks to an intervention from the newly resurrected Isis. Following the battle with the Justice League, Titans concluded with a two-part storyline which saw Jericho's return. The series ended with Arsenal battling Slade for control of the team and the Titans ultimately disbanding and Arsenal taking Jericho under his wing, leaving Slade alone once again.

The New 52 (2011–2016)

DC Comics relaunched Teen Titans with issue #1 (cover dated November 2011) as part of DC's New 52 event, written by Scott Lobdell with former Justice League artist Brett Booth providing interiors. The relaunch was controversial, because it was originally designed as a direct continuation of the previous Teen Titans series before Dan DiDio declared that all previous incarnations of the Titans never existed; this in spite of the fact that early issues of the 2011 series (as well as "Red Hood and the Outlaws" and "Batwoman") made explicit mention of the previous Teen Titans teams.

The new team is formed by Tim Drake, now rebranded as "Red Robin" in order to protect teenage heroes from a villain known as Harvest and his organization "N.O.W.H.E.R.E." A running theme for the 2011–2014 series was Harvest kidnapping young heroes for experimentation and enslavement as part of the villainous scheme for world domination.

The 2011–2014 series featured several crossovers, "The Culling", which had the team meet the Legion of Super-Heroes, as well as "Death of the Family", which focused upon a meeting of Batgirl, Red Hood and the Outlaws, and the Titans, as the Joker kidnapped Red Hood and Red Robin. The 2012 "Zero Month" issue provided the New 52 origin of Tim Drake, recasting him as a young computer hacker who was adopted by Batman to protect him from retaliation from the Penguin.

The 2011–2014 series and Scott Lodbell's writing drew negative reviews, though the Lodbell created character Bunker was positively received by fans. Criticism included the meandering Harvest/N.O.W.H.E.R.E storyline, an arc that revealed Kid Flash (Bart Allen) as a futuristic fundamentalist Christian terrorist hiding in the 20th century, as well as the elimination of the franchise's lore. The character of Raven and Trigon was originally embargoed by Lobdell, but the characters were brought back due to fan demand. The 2011 series also spawned a short-lived spin-off, The Ravagers, which ran for 10 issues and featured Beast Boy, Terra and Caitlyn Fairchild of Gen¹³ in major roles.

The series was relaunched in July with a new issue #1 with Will Pfeifer as writer. The series continued with the characteristics of the main characters, but ignored the events of the Ravagers spin-off, presenting Beast Boy both green and in line with his animated series characteristics. The series also added an African American version of the super-heroine Power Girl to the roster.

Due to the backlash against the removal of the previous incarnations of the Titans (and the ripple effect it had upon characters such as Nightwing and Donna Troy), DC launched a new miniseries called "Titans Hunt", which restored the original 1960s version of the Titans to canon. The series states that all memory of the original Titans was erased by Lilith to protect the team from Mr. Twister. It also alludes to further reality alterations to the DC Universe; these are then picked up on in the DC Rebirth initiative, beginning a week after "Titans Hunt", which restores Wally West to canon, along with various aspects of the Pre-Flashpoint continuity.

DC Rebirth (2016–2020)
The June 2016 DC Rebirth relaunch established two Titans teams: the Titans, with Nightwing, The Flash (Wally West), Lilith, Arsenal, Donna Troy, the Bumblebee and Tempest; and the Teen Titans, consisting of Damian Wayne as Robin, Wallace West as Kid Flash, Jackson Hyde as Aqualad, Beast Boy, Starfire and Raven. Titans writer Dan Abnett confirmed in an interview with Newsarama that Titans characters the Hawk and the Dove, the Herald, Gnarrk and others would be appearing in the new series as well. After the Lazarus Contract event, Wallace West is fired from the Teen Titans and joins Defiance, Deathstroke's version of the Titans. However, Wallace returns to the Teen Titans in issue #14. In Super Sons #7, Superboy (Jonathan Samuel Kent) acts as a temporary member.

As part of the "New Justice" banner for DC Comics, both teams underwent changes in their roster, with Nightwing, Donna Troy, Raven, Steel (Natasha Irons), Beast Boy, Miss Martian and eventually Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), and Robin, Kid Flash, Red Arrow (Emiko Queen), Crush (Lobo's daughter), Djinn, and Roundhouse for the Teen Titans. The Titans series ended its run at issue #36 (April 2019), while Teen Titans is ended its run in November 2020 at issue #47.

Infinite Frontier (2021–2022)
In the Teen Titans Academy series, the adult generation of Titans (Nightwing, Starfire, Donna Troy, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven) serve as faculty of a new superhero academy designed to mentor the heroes of tomorrow. Its upperclassmen are the active Teen Titans squad (Bunker, Roundhouse, Crush, Kid Flash III, Red Arrow II, and Jakeem Thunder), while its new students include three bat-themed Gotham residents (the brawny Megabat, techy Bratgirl, and bat-like metahuman Chupacabra) collectively known as the Bat Pack; the established superhero Billy Batson; paraplegic speedster Bolt; EMP-generating Brick Pettirosso; nonbinary ragdoll and apprentice to Doctor Fate, Stitch; Raven's star pupil, Dane; tubular shapeshifter Marvin "Tooby" Murakami; ice-wielder Summer Zahid; simian superhero Gorilla Gregg, nephew of Grodd; Hero dial wielder Miguel Montez; green-prehensile-haired Tress; and the amnesiac, super strong, Matt Price. As the new students and faculty of the academy attempt to establish their new school, they are plagued by appearances of someone assuming the costume of Red X, once worn by Dick Grayson and another mysterious copycat.

As time goes on, the team discover that Dane is the half-demon antichrist, and under the alias Nevermore (reflecting his similarities to Raven), is destined to bring about the apocalypse. In the first story arc's conclusion, the mysterious third Red X is revealed to be Brick, operating under the false belief that Dick Grayson is his father; he was manipulated by the second Red X, who bears a longstanding grudge against Grayson. Dane and Brick's attacks on the Academy cause the structure to collapse, but the students manage to prevent all but minimal casualties. Matt Price fires optic blasts in the final confrontation, indicating to onlookers that he might be Kryptonian, but Grayson deduces he must be something else, as the blasts give off no heat, more closely resembling Darkseid's Omega Beams. Teen Titans Academy is one of the series which leads directly into the events of the major company crossover "Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths", which sees Nightwing, the Titans, and the other younger heroes step up in the Justice League's absence to defeat a possessed Deathstroke's dark army and save the multiverse.

Concurrently, in the comic book limited series Titans United, the core roster of Titans is joined by new Titans Red Hood (Jason Todd) and Superboy (Conner Kent), in place of Cyborg; no story is given for how the roster was assembled. This is intended as a commercial tie-in to the concurrent Titans TV series but is set in, or something very much like, current DC continuity.

Dawn of DC (2023–present)
Following the events of "Dark Crisis" and during the run of writer Tom Taylor on Nightwing, Superman approaches Nightwing with the proposition that he serve as the leader of the new superhero team, after the Justice League disbands. This leads to Nightwing unveiling a new Titans Tower in Bludhaven with the team consisting of him, The Flash (Wally West), Donna Troy, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire and Raven. This will lead into a new Titans series written by Taylor and illustrated by Nicola Scott.

Titans Tower

Titans Tower is the headquarters of the Teen Titans. The first tower was located in New York City, while later series depict it in California, usually the San Francisco bay area. Although the location and actual look of the tower has changed throughout the various series, there are a few defining characteristics, such as always being shaped to resemble the letter "T". In some series the tower is often colored like sky blue or silver.

The latest Titans Tower is located in Bludhaven, now being rebuilt over a destroyed prison. This acts as the headquarters for a new team of Titans, who now act as the world's protectors after the Justice League has gone into a hiatus.

Enemies

Collected editions

Silver Age Teen Titans

New Teen Titans

New Titans

The Titans

Teen Titans (vol. 3) (2003–2011)
Note: Issues #27–28, penciled by artist Rob Liefeld and written by Gail Simone, are not collected in any of the trade paperbacks and were reprinted in DC Comics Presents: Brightest Day #3 (Feb. 2011), which also included Legends of the DC Universe #26–27 (tying in with characters spotlighted in Brightest Day). Issues #48–49, which tie in with the "Amazons Attack" Wonder Woman story, are likewise not collected in any trade paperback.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Vol. #
! Title
! Material collected
! Pages
! style="width:20%;"| ISBN
|-
| 1
| A Kid's Game
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #1–7Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files and Origins 2003
| 192
|
|-
| 2
| Family Lost
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #8–12, ½
| 136
|
|-
| 3
| Beast Boys and Girls
| Beast Boy #1–4 (1999 miniseries)Teen Titans vol. 3 #13–15
| 168
|
|-
| 4
| The Future Is Now
| Teen Titans/Legion Special #1Teen Titans vol. 3 #16–23
| 224
|
|-
|
| Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Insiders
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #24–26Outsiders vol. 3 #24–25, 28
| 144
|
|-
|
| Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Death and Return of Donna Troy
| Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1–3Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files and Origins 2003DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #1–4
| 176
|
|-
| 5
| Life and Death
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #29–33, Annual vol. 3 #1Robin vol. 4 #146–147Infinite Crisis #5–6
| 208
|
|-
| 6
| Titans Around the World
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #34–41
| 192
|
|-
| 7
| Titans East
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #42–47
| 144
|
|-
| 8
| Titans of Tomorrow
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #50–54
| 144
|
|-
| 9
| On the Clock
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #55–61
| 160
|
|-
| 10
| Changing of the Guard
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #62–69
| 192
|
|-
| 11
| Deathtrap
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #70, Annual 2009Titans vol. 2 #12–13Vigilante vol. 3 #5–6
| 192
|
|-
| 12
| Child's Play
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #71–78
| rowspan="2" | 208
|
|-
| 13
| Hunt for Raven
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #79–87
|
|-
| 14
| Team Building
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #88–92,Red Robin #20,Wonder Girl vol. 2 #1
| 168
|
|-
| 15
| Prime of Life
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #93–100
| 200
|
|-
| colspan="2" |Ravager – Fresh Hell
| Backup stories from Teen Titans vol. 3 #72–75, 78–82
| 144
|
|-
| colspan="2" |Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Book One
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #1–12, ½, Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files and Origins 2003
| 368
|
|-
| colspan="2" |Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Book Two
| Teen Titans vol. 3 #13–19, Legends of the DCU 80-Page Giant, Beast Boy #1–4, Teen Titans/Legion Special #1
| 320
|978-1401277529
|-
| colspan="2" |'Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Book Three| Teen Titans vol. 3 #20-26 and #29-31 and Outsiders Vol. 3 #24-25
| 296
|978-1401289522
|-
| colspan="2" |Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Omnibus| Teen Titans vol. 3 #1/2-26, 29–46 and 50, Legends of the DC Universe #2 Titans Secret Files and Origins #2, Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files 2003, Beast Boy (1999) #1–4, Teen Titans/Legion of Super Heroes Special #1, Outsiders (vol. 3) #24–25, Robin (vol. 4) #147–147, Infinite Crisis #5–6 and Teen Titans Annual #1.
| 1426
| 978-1401236939
|}

Titans (vol. 2) (2008–2011)

The New 52 Teen Titans (vols. 4–5) (2011–2014)

DC Rebirth Titans (vol. 3) (2016–2019), Teen Titans (vol. 6) (2016–2020)

Teen Titans Academy (2021-2022), Titans United (2021)

In other media
Television

 The Teen Titans appear in a self-titled segment of The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, consisting of Speedy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Aqualad.
 Hanna-Barbera planned to make a Teen Titans TV series, set in the same universe as Super Friends, though nothing came of it.
 The New Teen Titans appear in the 1984 Keebler PSA "New Teen Titans Say No to Drugs", consisting of Wonder Girl, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Kid Flash, and Protector.
 The Teen Titans appear in a self-titled TV series, initially consisting of founding members Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy. Additionally, Thunder and Lightning, Hot Spot, Wildebeest, Titans East, Red Star, Kole, Gnarrk, Melvin, Timmy Tantrum, Teether, Bobby, Kid Flash, Argent, Bushido, Herald, Jericho, Killowat, Pantha, and Jinx appear as honorary members throughout the series.
 The Teen Titans serve as partial inspiration for Young Justice.
 The Teen Titans appear in the Mad short "Teen Titanic", consisting of Robin, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, Blue Beetle, Superboy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Aqualad.
 The Teen Titans appear in the "New Teen Titans" segment of DC Nation Shorts, consisting of Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy.
 The Teen Titans appear in Teen Titans Go! (2013), consisting of Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy.
 A Teen Titans animated series meant to be loosely set in the DC Animated Universe was planned, but abandoned.
 Two iterations of the Titans appear in a self-titled TV series, with the first incarnation consisting of founding members Dick Grayson, Aqualad, Wonder Girl, and Hawk and Dove as well as later recruit Jericho while Grayson eventually joins Kory Anders, Rachel Roth, and Gar Logan to form a new incarnation years later. As the series progresses, Jason Todd, Rose Wilson, Superboy, and Krypto join the group while Aqualad, Wonder Girl, and Hawk and Dove rejoin.
 The Teen Titans appear in the DC Super Hero Girls episode "#TweenTitans", consisting of preteen incarnations of Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven.

Film
 The Teen Titans appear in Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, consisting of Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy.
 In May 2007, Warner Bros. announced a Teen Titans film was in development, with Robin as a confirmed member and Akiva Goldsman and Mark Verheiden writing the film. In 2014 however, Goldsman announced the development of Titans (see above), leaving the film's production in question. Heroic Hollywood's El Mayimbe later announced on Collider Heroes that Warner Bros. was developing both a Teen Titans film with Cyborg, among others, and an all-female group of heroes.
 The Teen Titans make a non-speaking background cameo appearance in Justice League: The New Frontier.
 The Teen Titans appear in films set in the DC Animated Movie Universe (DCAMU).
 They first appear in Justice League vs. Teen Titans, consisting of Starfire, Raven, Blue Beetle, and Beast Boy as well as new recruit Robin and occasional ally Dick Grayson.
 The Teen Titans appear in Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, consisting of current members Starfire, Blue Beetle, Raven, Beast Boy, and Robin as well as founding members Dick Grayson, Speedy, Kid Flash, and Bumblebee.
 The Teen Titans appear in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, consisting of Dick Grayson, Starfire, Blue Beetle, Raven, Beast Boy, Robin, Speedy, Kid Flash, Bumblebee, Superboy, Wonder Girl, and Wallace West.

Video games
 The Teen Titans appear in a self-titled video game (2005), consisting of Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy.
 The Teen Titans appear in a self-titled video game (2006), consisting of Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy.
 The Teen Titans appear in DC Universe Online.
 The Teen Titans make non-speaking cameo appearances in Cyborg and Starfire's endings in Injustice 2, with Cyborg, Starfire, Superboy, Wonder Girl, and Beast Boy appearing in the former ending and Robin, Raven, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy appearing in the latter ending.

Miscellaneous
 The Teen Titans appear in Teen Titans Go! (2004), primarily consisting of Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy. Additionally, a villainous alternate universe incarnation of the Titans called the Teen Tyrants appear in issue #48, consisting of Red Robin (Robin's evil counterpart), Tempest (Aqualad's evil counterpart), Arsenal (Speedy's evil counterpart), Red Raven (Raven's evil counterpart), and Blackfire (Starfire's evil counterpart).
 The Teen Titans appear in Smallville Season 11, consisting of Superboy, Speedy, Blue Beetle, Miss Martian, Zan and Jayna, and Raven. This version of the group are students of Jay Garrick's school for the gifted.
 The Teen Titans appear in the Injustice: Gods Among Us'' prequel comic, consisting of Superboy, Beast Boy, Wonder Girl, Starfire, and Red Robin. Additionally, Dick Grayson, Cyborg, and Raven appear as former members.

See also

 List of Teen Titans members
 List of Teen Titans comics

Explanatory notes

References

External links

 Titans at DC Comics.com
 Teen Titans, The New Teen Titans , The New Teen Titans vol. 2  and Teen Titans vol. 2  at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
 Teen Titans (1964) at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on March 28, 2016.
 Teen Titans (1980) at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on March 28, 2016.
 Sean McKeever on the Teen Titans in His Future

1966 comics debuts
New Teen Titans
DC Comics American superheroes
Characters created by Bob Haney
Characters created by George Pérez
Characters created by Marv Wolfman
Child characters in comics
Teenage characters in comics
Teenage superheroes
Comics by Bob Haney
Comics by George Pérez
Comics by Dan Jurgens
Comics by Geoff Johns
Comics by Marv Wolfman
Comics characters introduced in 1964
DC Comics superhero teams
DC Comics titles

Teen Titans


Jaxa of Köpenick (sometimes Jaksa or Jacza of Copnic, , Jaksa being an early Sorbian and/or Polish form of James) (fl. 1151–1157) was a prince of the West Slavic Sprevan Duchy of Kopanica. He was an opponent of Albert the Bear during the formation of Brandenburg in 1157.

Slavic rebellion and war for Brandenburg

Jaxa, a prince of the Slavic Sprevani in Köpenick (present day borough of Berlin) was probably a relative of the Hevelli (Stodoran) prince Pribislav and as a result had a claim to rule over the Stodrans after Pribislav's death. Unbeknownst to Jaxa and most of the Stodoran nobility, Pribislav, around 1140, had made an agreement with Albert the Bear, bequeathing the lands of the Stodorans to the latter. Pribislav died in 1150, and his widow sent for Albert. In the meantime she hid the duke's corpse, afraid that if the testament became known before Albert took control of Brenna (Brandenburg) a general rebellion would break out. However Albert was delayed, and the stench of the decomposing corpse gave away his death. The nobility of the Stodorans deliberated as to their next step, while Jaxa was also informed. Albert arrived first and took control of Brenna, with Jaxa showing up shortly afterward on the same day. The circumstances of the transfer of power in Brenna, and the duplicity of Pribislav's widow in the end did provoke a Slavic uprising (although many German peasants joined) against German rule.

The region of Köpenick and Brenna stood astride the main land routes from west of the Oder into the Kingdom of Poland. For this reason who controlled these lands was of central importance to Polish rulers. Hence, Mieszko the Old, Duke of Greater Poland (later High Duke of Poland) actively supported Jaxa and the Slavic rebellion, fully aware that as long as German nobles were busy fighting Slavs to the west, they could not intervene into Polish affairs. Other Polish regional dukes also sent armed contingents to support Jaxa.

In early 1151 Jaxa besieged Brenna. Albert the Bear, having anticipated this move, had strengthened the defenses of the city and stocked it with additional provisions. Unsure of his support he expelled the inhabitants, retaining the wealthiest of them as hostages. Still wary of the loyalties of his own men, Albert left the town before the siege started. Consequently, the Slavic warriors in his service defected to Jaxa's side, killed the German soldiers that served alongside them, and opened up the gates to the Sprevani prince.

The capture of Brenna contributed to the spread of the uprising. Jaxa gained the support of all still pagan Slavs and many of the already Christian Lutici. Additionally, even German peasants who had recently come to the area as colonists joined his uprising for economic reasons. Most troubling for Albert, even rank and file knights deserted his army to join Jaxa, justifying their actions by saying that they were not aiding a pagan chief but rather a "Polish prince".

Small scale operations and minor battles between two sides occurred until 1156. Sometime between 1154 and 1156 Albert made a failed attempt at re-seizing Brenna through a surprise attack. Major operations did not begin until 1157 when Albert received troops and other support from Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Frederick was planning an expedition against Poland, and putting down the uprising was a necessary preliminary move. The Poles, in an attempt to avoid war with the Emperor and placate him, withdrew their troops which had been part of Jaxa's army. As a result, in June 1157, according to the chronicle of Helmold, Albert took Brenna from Jaxa's forces. The capture of the town is generally regarded as the beginning of the Margraviate of Brandenburg.

Historical identification

The exact identity of Jaxa of Köpenick, the leader of the Slavic revolt, has been subject of dispute, partly because there might have been several individuals with the unusual name "Jaxa" (or its variants) alive at the time. This is complicated by the fact that it is also not clear whether Jaxa was a pagan or if he had converted to Christianity.  While Jaxa led a pagan revolt, some sources claim that he himself was a Christian, having converted through the Polish Bishopric of Lebus. Likewise the coins issued by a Jacza de Copnic show a ruler holding a cross, however it is not clear that Jacza and Jaxa were the same person, although undoubtedly both were associated with Köpenick. Other sources on the other hand refer to Jaxa as a pagan or a heathen.

The Polish numismatist Marian Gumowski identified Jaxa with a Polish noble from Lesser Poland, Jaksa of Miechów, who in 1145 married a daughter of Piotr Włostowic, the castellan of Wrocław and palatyn to Polish Duke Bolesław Wrymouth. According to this version Jaxa/Jaksa did not become prince of Stodorans until 1154. If the identification is correct then Jaxa's death can be placed at around 1176. Marek Cetwiński also identified Jaxa, prince of Kopenick, with Jaksa of Miechów.
According to this thesis Jaksa's coins could have been fabricated at silver mines of Rozbark and Bytom.

This thesis has been disputed by other scholars, for example the Polish historian Gerard Labuda, who argued that the two were distinct persons. In this Labuda followed the Polish Renaissance chronicler Jan Długosz who had posited that there were in fact three different Jaxas alive during this period. According to British historian Norman Davies Jaxa was most likely a Sorb or Lutician.

Commemoration
A monument for him can be found on the Schildhorn peninsula in the Havel.

References

External links
 Bibliography at LitDok East Central Europe

Princes in Germany
12th-century births
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Margraviate of Brandenburg
History of Berlin
Polabian Slavs

Jaxa of Köpenick


Jepsonia is a small genus of flowering plants containing three species. The Jepsonia is a perennial with a cormlike caudex, toothed leaves, and a cyme inflorescence that blooms in the fall. Jepsonia plants are native to California and Baja California.

Species include:
Jepsonia heterandra - foothill jepsonia
Jepsonia malvifolia - island jepsonia
Jepsonia parryi - Parry's jepsonia

External links
Jepson Manual Treatment

Saxifragaceae
Saxifragaceae genera

Jepsonia


James Webb Huston (October 26, 1953 – April 14, 2016) was an American author and lawyer, best known for his popular military and legal thrillers. A graduate of TOPGUN, he served as a naval flight officer and worked in naval intelligence before going on to become a New York Times best-selling author.

Early life
Huston was born and grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana. His father, James A. Huston, was a Purdue University history professor and highly decorated World War II veteran who published several books on military and diplomatic history.  In 2009, James A. Huston was awarded the French Legion of Honor, the highest civilian decoration in France. James W. graduated from high school in 1971, and attended the University of South Carolina on a Navy ROTC scholarship. Attending the program during the last years of the Vietnam War was tumultuous; anti-war protests on campus were frequent, and many were directed at the ROTC. During his senior year he completed an exchange cruise on a French Navy destroyer out of Brest, the EE Kersaint. He then studied English Reformation history and English literature at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1975 with a BA in History and a minor in English. He was commissioned into the U.S. Navy as an Ensign on the day of his graduation.

Naval career
After a year of flight training in Pensacola, Florida, and a year of F-14 Tomcat training at Naval Air Station Miramar, California, he became an F-14 Naval Flight Officer and was assigned to fighter squadron VF-84—nicknamed the Jolly Rogers—based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The unit flew off of the USS Nimitz, one of the largest warships in the world and the first of the Nimitz class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. VF-84 participated in the making of The Final Countdown, a 1980 movie starring Kirk Douglas and Katharine Ross. Huston flew in many of the film's flight scenes, and directed others. He was selected to attend the elite Navy Fighter Weapons School, popularly known as TOPGUN, and graduated in 1978. After his tour with VF-84, Huston taught Seapower and Maritime Affairs at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, from 1980 to 1981.

Legal career
In 1981, Huston resigned from active duty in order to attend law school at the University of Virginia.  After graduating in 1984, he moved to California to join San Diego-based law firm Gray Cary Ames & Frye, and began flying in the Navy Reserves out of NAS Miramar. After a few years, he transferred into the Naval Intelligence Reserves, where he remained—monitoring intelligence reports and briefing personnel when called upon—until retiring as a Commander in 1997. He was elevated to partner at Gray Cary Ames & Frye in 1990, and led the firm's tort and product liability practice group. Huston joined the international law firm Morrison & Foerster as a partner in May 2004. He was the chairman of the firm's trial practice group, and has been involved in numerous high-profile cases. On September 2, 2010, Huston was named one of the top ten product liability litigators in the country by the legal newswire Law 360.

Inspiration for first novel
Writing op-eds for a local newspaper kick-started Huston's literary interests in the early 1990s. After two years of writing editorial pieces for the Escondido Times-Advocate and the San Diego Union-Tribune, he decided to try fiction. His first and second novels met with "hundreds" of rejection letters, and were never published. His third, Balance Of Power, combined Huston's military and legal expertise with political intrigue and was an instant success, with film rights sold to Jerry Bruckheimer and the Walt Disney Company. The book was based on an obscure clause in the U.S. Constitution that had captured Huston's imagination—Congress's power to issue Letters of Marque and Reprisal—and he had found his voice. Balance of Power set the tone for his subsequent novels, which feature politics, law and military action.

Influences and writing habits
Huston's favorite author was Patrick O'Brian, who wrote the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels about the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. He also admired the works of Ernest Hemingway and Marilynne Robinson—Hemingway for his crisp prose and captivating stories, and Robinson for her use of language and depth.  Huston started out writing for an hour or so each night after his children went to sleep. He completed his first two novels on a computer but has dictated the drafts of each novel since, using voice-recognition software to convert his words into text.

Personal life
Huston was the father of five grown children and lived near San Diego with his wife of 36 years, Dianna. He had three grandchildren.
Huston died on April 14, 2016, in San Diego after a long battle with multiple myeloma.

Books

Fiction

 Balance of Power (1998).
 The Price of Power (1999)
 Flash Point (2000)
 Fallout (2001)
 Shadows of Power (2002)
 Secret Justice (2003)
 Marine One (2009)
 Falcon Seven (2010)
 Blood Flag (2015)

Non-fiction
 100 Questions & Answers About Myeloma (2005) (with Asad Bashey MD)

Recurring characters

Jim Dillon, attorney and top congressional aide. He appears in Balance of Power and The Price of Power.

Lt. Kent "Rat" Rathman, versatile and legendary Navy SEAL. He was introduced in The Shadows of Power and reappears in Secret Justice.

References

External links
 Morrison & Foerster biography
 Amazon.com's James W. Huston page
 Law Firm
 James W. Huston in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

1953 births
2016 deaths
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American novelists
American male non-fiction writers
American male novelists
American military writers
American thriller writers
Aviators from Indiana
Deaths from cancer in California
Deaths from multiple myeloma
People associated with Morrison & Foerster
United States Naval Flight Officers
United States Navy officers
University of South Carolina alumni
University of Virginia School of Law alumni

James W. Huston (author)


The Ukrainians in Kuban () in southern Russia constitute a national minority. The region as a whole shares many linguistic, cultural and historic ties with Ukraine.

Ukrainians first settled in the Kuban region in 1792. Until the mid-twentieth century the majority of the population there identified themselves as Ukrainians. Due to Russian and Soviet national policiesincluding the Holodomormost of the population became Russified, and the percentage of those who identified themselves as Ukrainians dropped from an official 55% (1926) to 0.9% (2002).

Ukrainian settlement
In Kuban many Ukrainians were settled in areas which were inhabited by Russians when in 1792 the Empress Catherine II gave the Black Sea Cossack Host the rights to these lands. Her decree of June 30th and July 1st 1792 handed these lands over to the Black Sea Cossacks "for eternity". The territory involved included the Phanagorian peninsula and the lands on the right bank of the Kuban River.

Between 1792 and 1793 25,000 people settled the area, marking the first wave of Ukrainian settlement to the Kuban. The Cossack navy, consisting of 51 boats with 3247 people, landed on the shores of the Kuban on August 25, 1792. A second group of 600 people arrived with cattle overland. In October 1792 a third group arrived under the command of otaman Zakhary Chepiha. The final group arrived from Ukraine in 1793 under the command of Antin Holovaty.

Between 1806 and 1809 about 562 Ukrainian Cossacks who had settled previously beyond the Danube were granted a pardon and arrived on the shores of the Taman Peninsula.

Between 1809 and 1811, 41,635 settlers arrived from Poltava and Chernihiv. This marked the second wave of settlers from Ukraine. During the 3rd wave in 1820–1825, 59,455 men and women migrated. The fourth wave of 11,949 people arrived from the Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Poltava regions in 1848–1849. In all, from 1792 to 1850 105,000 people moved to Kuban from Ukraine.

The lands settled by the Ukrainians were known as the Lands of the Black Sea Host. 40 kurin settlements were allowed, which were not only administrative units, but encompassed specific territories. Settlers from Ukraine founded a town which became known as Yekaterinodar. In 1860 the Kuban oblast was formed.

After the February Revolution of 1917 a temporary Kuban Military government was formed. Two sides struggled to obtain supremacy: a pro-Ukrainian and a pro-Russian faction. The pro-Ukrainian faction supported autonomy for Kuban and the formation of a Union with Ukraine. Also Ukrainian cultural life flowered. Ukrainian-language schools opened and 6 newspapers began to publish in Ukrainian. In May 1918 a delegation headed by the head of the Kuban Rada M. Riabovol visited Kiev. Diplomatic ties were announced between the Kuban People's Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic.

To cement its hold in Kuban, the Soviet government allowed a period of Ukrainianisation in the 1920s where Ukrainian cultural life was allowed to flourish. This was suddenly and brutally stopped in 1929, in an era known in Ukraine as the Executed Renaissance, and escalated in 1932, exacerbated by the events of Holodomor.

Ukrainization was effectively outlawed in 1932. Specifically, the December 14, 1932 decree "On Grain Collection in Ukraine, North Caucasus and the Western Oblasts" by the VKP(b) Central Committee and USSR Sovnarkom stated that Ukrainization in certain areas was carried out formally, in a "non-Bolshevik" way, which provided the "bourgeois-nationalist elements" with a legal cover for organizing their anti-Soviet resistance.

In order to stop this, the decree ordered in these areas, among other things, to switch to Russian all newspapers and magazines,  and all Soviet and cooperative paperwork. By the autumn of 1932 (beginning of a school year), all schools were ordered to switch to Russian. In addition the decree ordered a massive population swap: all "disloyal" population from a major Cossack settlement, stanitsa Poltavskaya  was banished to Northern Russia, with their property given to loyal kolkhozniks moved from poorer areas of Russia. This forced end to Ukrainization in southern RSFSR had led to a massive decline of reported Ukrainians in these regions in the 1937 Soviet Census compared to the 1926 First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union.

Forced russification
In 1930 the Ukrainian People's Komissar Mykola Skrypnyk as one of those involved in solving the nationalities question within the USSR put forward suggestions to Joseph Stalin:
1)	That the Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR be valid on the territory of the whole USSR
2)	That the territories of Voronezh, Kursk, Chornomoriya, Azov, Kuban regions be administered by the government of the Ukrainian SSR
3)	That Ukrainian colonies in the Russian SFSR and other Soviet Republics be given national-political autonomy (VS. p 36)

In 1932–1933, the policies of forced collectivization of the Ukrainian population of the Soviet Union, which caused a devastating famine that greatly affected the Ukrainian population of the Kuban. The number of documented victims of famine in Kuban was at least 62,000. According to other historians, the real death toll is many times higher. Brain Boeck thinks the figure more in the "hundreds of thousands". One source estimate that during the Soviet famine of 1932–1933 Krasnodar lost over 14% of its population. The Kuban corresponding to the famine had a reversal of the previously attempted policy of Ukrainisation. Prior to the reversal of Ukrainianization, the policy was failing in the Kuban with most local districts not completing it partially due to opposition by local Cossack nationalists and Russian chauvinists in the Kuban including by sabotage despite punitive threats from the state to complete the process made in May 1932.

The large Cossack stanitsa Poltavskaia sabotaged and resisted collectivization more than any other area in the Kuban which was perceived by Lazar Kaganovich to be connected to Ukrainian nationalist and Cossack conspiracy. Kaganovich relentlessly pursued the policy of requisition of grain in Poltavskaia and the rest of the Kuban and personally oversaw the purging of local leaders and Cossacks. Kaganovich viewed the resistance of Poltavskaia through Ukrainian lens delivering oration in a mixed Ukrainian language. To justify this Kaganovich cited a letter allegedly written by a stanitsa ataman named Grigorii Omel'chenko advocating Cossack separatism and local reports of resistance to collectivization in association with this figure  to substantiate this suspicion of the area. However Kaganocvich did not reveal in speeches throughout the region that many of those targeted by persecution in Poltavskaia had their family members and friends deported or shot including in years before the supposed Omel'chenko crisis even started. Ultimately due to being perceived as the most rebellious area almost all (or 12,000) members of the Poltavskaia stantisa were deported to the north.  This coincided with and was a part of a wider deportation of 46,000 cossacks from Kuban.

Likely in connection to the affairs in Poltavskaia Ukrainization was officially reversed in a decree on 26 December 1932 in which there was a two week deadline to transfer all publishing and paperwork in the region to Russian, and the Ukrainian language was effectively banned in Kuban until 1991. A representative of the Ukrainian state publishing house claimed 1,500 Ukrainian teachers in the Kuban were either deported or killed though number has not been verified. The professional Ukrainian theatre in Krasnodar was closed. All Ukrainian toponyms in the Kuban, which reflected the areas from which the first Ukrainians settlers had moved, were changed. The names of Stanytsias such as the rural town of Kyiv, in Krasnodar, was changed to "Krasnoartilyevskaya", and Uman to "Leningrad", and Poltavska to "Krasnoarmieiskaya". Russification, the Holodomor of 1932–1933 and other tactics used by the Union government led to a catastrophic fall in the population that self-identified as being Ukrainian in the Kuban. Official Soviet Union statistics of 1959 state that Ukrainians made up 4% of the population, in 1989 – 3%. The self-identified Ukrainian population of Kuban decreased from 915,000 in 1926, to 150,000 in 1939. and to 61,867 in 2002.

Ukrainian demographics
 1792–93 – 25,000 settled from Ukraine territories (first wave))
 1806–09 -562 Danube Cossacks were resettled to the Kuban
 1810 – 562 former Zaporozhian Cossacks were resettled from Bessarabia
 1809–11 – 41,635 people from Poltava and Chernihiv regions (Second wave)
 1820–25 – 59,455 people from Kharkiv, Poltava and Chernihiv regions (3rd wave)
1848–49 – 11,949 people Kharkiv, Poltava and Chernihiv regions (4th wave)
 From 1792 to 1850 over 105 thousand people resettled to the Kuban from central Ukrainian territories.
 The final major resettlement from Ukraine took place in 1862–66 with 1142 people.

In the census for 1926-7 there were 1,222,140 Ukrainians in the Kuban region, who made up 55% of the population of the area.

Russian census figures
The 1897 census combined both the Russian and Ukrainian population together. Together they made up 97.64% of the population. The number of Ukrainian language speakers was 859,122 (49.1%). The number of Russian language speakers was 732,283. (41.1%). The ethnographer Pavlo Chubynsky stated that the number of Ukrainians in the Kuban was understated and that they also made up 60% of those who put down Russian as their language were of Ukrainian ethnicity. The ethnographer and statistician O. Rusov also noted a similar number in his writings.

In the census for 1926 it was noted that there was a total population in the Kuban region of 3,343,893 of which 1,644.518 (49.2%) stated that they were Ukrainian, and 1,428,587 (42.7%) stated they were Russian.
Other figures from the same census state that Ukrainian speakers made up 55% of the population of the area.
In the 2002 Russian census it states that only 2% of the population speak Ukrainian and only 0.9% have been marked as being ethnically Ukrainian.

Ukrainian cultures in the Kuban

Ukrainian language

The rise of a Ukrainian self-awareness produced an anti-Ukrainian sentiment within some layers of the Russian empire. To curtail this movement, the use of Ukrainian (Little Russian) language within the Russian empire was initially restricted by the Valuev Circular and later banned completely by the Ems ukaz. Some restrictions were relaxed in 1905 and others ceased to be policed for a short period of time after the Revolution in 1917.

In Kuban, with the repealing of formal restrictions by the Russian government on the use of Ukrainian language, the official use of the Ukrainian language began to blossom. During the brief period of Kuban independence some 1391 beginning school, 180 middle schools, 151 high schools, 2 seminaries 124 professional tertiary establishments included education in the Ukrainian language.

By 1922 there were 33 schools that taught primarily in the Ukrainian language.

In 1927 there were 746 Ukrainian language schools. Ukrainian textbooks began to be published in Krasnodar in 1926 with the crossing over of most institutes of higher learning to Ukrainian language instruction.

In 1920 in Krasnodar the first Institute of Folk Education (later renamed the Krasnodar Pedagogical Institute) was established. To better serve the local population, the medical institute was also Ukrainianised. A teachers' college for the preparation of Ukrainian language teachers was also opened in 1922.

By 1927 there were 6 Institutes of higher learning that taught in Ukrainian.

Мost Ukrainians speakers speak a Ukrainian dialect, which differs only slightly from standard literary Ukrainian.

Local Publishing
The sending of Ukrainian language publications to Kuban had been kept in check by the Russian post office. It wasn't until 1923 that people in the Kuban could subscribe to a Ukrainian language newspaper from Ukraine.

In 1921 the first Ukrainian language magazine "Zoria" was published. Ukrainian language newspapers such as "Novy shliakh", "Chornomorets", "Chornomorsky krai" were soon established. In the 1920s close to 150 Ukrainian language writers lived in Kuban. All were repressed after 1932 either being shot or exiled.

Ukrainian music of the Kuban

Music was one of the most important loves of the Ukrainians in Kuban. There are many Ukrainian folk songs sung in the Kuban region. Many of the songs are about Cossack heroes from Ukraine such as Morozenko, Baida (Cossack), Doroshenko, Sahaidachny, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Maksym Kryvonis, and Danylo Nechay. A characteristic of Ukrainian folk songs of Kuban is the replacement of particular words to better reflect the local history and conditions. Where the word "Dunai" (the Danube) is used as a generic word for river, it is replaced by the word Kuban. Particularly popular are songs by the Sich Riflemen from Galicia, composed in the early 20th century, which juxtapose the word "rifleman" (Strilets) with the word "Cossack" (Kozak).

In 1886 A. Bihdai published 14 books containing 556 Ukrainian folk songs. A similar publication named Malorusski pesni (Little-Russian (Ukrainian) songs) containing over 200 Ukrainian folk songs was collected by H. Kontsevych from singers of the Kuban Army choir.  Close to 3,000 Ukrainian folk songs were recorded in Kuban by Oleksander Koshetz, who spent 3 years collecting materials.

In 1966 a collection of songs of the Kuban Cossacks published in Krasnodar included the text of "Shche ne vmerla Ukraina", the Ukrainian Nationalist Anthem, which at that time was banned in Ukraine.

In the early 20th century a significant movement was organised for the support of people learning to play the Ukrainian folk instrument known as the bandura. The bandura movement became quite significant until it was repressed in the 1930s. A number of Kuban bandurists were founding members of the first professional bandurist capella organized in Kiev in 1918 under Vasyl Yemetz. Kuban bandurists were also prominent in the formation of the second bandurist capella in Prague in 1923.

In recent times there has been a revival in the singing of Ukrainian folk songs led by the Kuban Cossack Choir and its director, Viktor Zakharchenko. In a concert at the Ukraina Palace in Kyiv in 1990, the Kuban Cossack Choir was the first to sing the Ukrainian National Anthem, which they announced as a Kuban folk song. Ukrainian folk instruments are no longer officially banned and are returning to use, being taught at the Krasnodar Music college.

See also
 Kuban bandurists
 Balachka – Ukrainian Cossack dialect

Prominent Ukrainians from Kuban

Mykhailo Teliha – bandurist
Anton Chorny – bandurist
Fedir Shcherbyna – historian
Mykola Riabovol – politician
Vasyl Ivanys – Otoman, historian
Hryhory Kontsevych – Composer, conductor
Yakiv Kukharenko – Historian, ethnographer, otaman of the Kuban Cossack Army
Viktor Zakharchenko – Artistic director of the Kuban Cossack Choir
Yuri Bulavin – bandurist, concertmaster of the Kuban Cossack Choir

Prominent Ukrainians associated with the Kuban

Vasyl Yemetz – bandurist
Mykola Mikhnovsky – historian, lawyer
Symon Petliura – politician, journalist, military leader
Hnat Khotkevych – writer, composer, bandurist
Oleksander Koshetz – Composer, conductor
Antin Holovaty – Cossack politician, bandurist
Mykhailo Hrushevskyi – politician, historian, ethnographer

See also
Ukrainians in Siberia

References

Sources
 Українське козацтво – Енциклопедія – Kiev, 2006.
 Serhiy Z. Zaremba. З національно-культурного життя українців на Кубані (20-30-і роки ХХ ст.). Київська старовина – 1993 #1, с. 94–104.
 Evhen D. Petrenko. Українське козацтво. Київська старовина – 1993 #1, с. 114–119.
 Renat Pol'ovyy. Кубанська Україна. К. Дiокор 2003.
 Valeriy N. Ratushnyak. Очерки истории Кубани с древнейших времен по 1920 г. – Krasnodar, 1996.
 Volodymyr I. Serhiychuk. Українізація Росії. К. 2000.

External links
 YouTube: Ukrainian singing group "Mlada" from Russia sings a Ukrainian folk song «Там у вишневому саду, там соловейко щебетав», stanitsa Elizavetskaya, city of Krasnodar, Kuban

Ukrainian diaspora in Russia
Kuban
History of Kuban
History of ethnic groups in Russia
1790s in Ukraine
Ukrainian diaspora
Kuban
Ukrainian irredentism

Ukrainians in Kuban


Love of God can mean either love for God or love by God. Love for God (philotheia) is associated with the concepts of worship, and devotions towards God.

The Greek term theophilia means the love or favour of God, and theophilos means friend of God, originally in the sense of being loved by God or loved by the gods; but is today sometimes understood in the sense of showing love for God.

The Greek term agape is applied both to the love that human beings have for God and to the love that God has for them.

Bahá'í Faith
The teachings of the Bahá'í Faith hold that the love of God (philanthropia). ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion wrote:
"There is nothing greater or more blessed than the Love of God! It gives healing to the sick, balm to the wounded, joy and consolation to the whole world, and through it alone can man attain Life Everlasting. The essence of all religions is the Love of God, and it is the foundation of all the sacred teachings."

Christianity

The Old Testament uses a rich vocabulary to express the love of God, as a concept that appears in many instances. The Lord expresses his love through the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah and says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness" (Jeremiah 31:2). However, the exegesis of the love of God in the Old Testament has presented problems for modern scholars. The love of God appears in a number of texts (e.g. Hosea 1–3, and then in Ezek 16 and Isa 62) but resolving the references to produce a consistent interpretation has been challenging and subject to debate.

Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 'The Difficult Doctrine of Love, says both the love of God and the wrath of God are ratcheted up in the New Testament over the Old.  Also the concluding verses of several epistles emphasis love ( 1 Corinthians 16:22, Ephesians 6:24, 2 Thess 3:5).

Many of the most stunning promises in the Bible are for those who love God, notably Romans 8:28 (all things working for good for those who love God) and Deuteronomy 7:9 part of the prelude to the 10 commandments (those loving God being blessed to a thousands generations, where many of the worst curses in the Old Testament where curses went to 4 or 10 generations).  Jonathan Edwards said his chief obligation was to raise the affections of his congregation as high as he could toward God in volume 4 of the Yale edition of his works, entitled "The Great Awakening."

Both the terms love of God and love of Christ appear in the New Testament. In cases such as in Romans 8:35 and Romans 8:39 their use is related in the experience of the believer, without asserting their equality. In John 14:31 Jesus expresses his love for God the Father. This verse includes the only direct statement by Jesus in the New Testament about Jesus' love for God the Father.

Greek polytheism
In polytheism, that which is loved by the gods (τὸ θεοφιλές) was identified as the virtuous or pious. Socrates famously asked whether this identification is a tautology (see Euthyphro dilemma).

"Philotheos" and "theophilos"
In Greek, philotheos means "loving God, pious", as philosophos means a lover of wisdom (sophia). , using the word philotheos in the plural form, speaks of certain people as φιλήδονοι μᾶλλον ἢ φιλόθεοι (lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God). The word Theophilos was and is used as a proper name, but does not appear as an adjective or common noun in Greek, which uses instead the form theophilês, which means "dear to God" but also "loving God".

However, Eric Voegelin used theophilos to mean "lover of God": "In the Phaedrus, Plato has Socrates describe the characteristics of the true thinker. When Phaedrus asks what one should call such a man, Socrates, following Heraclitus, replies that the term sophos, one who knows, would be excessive: this attribute may be applied to God alone: but one might well call him philosophos, a lover of wisdom. Thus in the classic sense and reference of 'philosophy', actual knowledge is reserved to God; finite man can only be the lover of knowledge, not himself the one who possesses knowledge. In the meaning of the passage, the lover of the knowledge that belongs only to the knowing God, the philosophos, becomes the theophilos, the lover of God."<ref>Eric Voegelin, Science, Politics, and Gnosticism (ISI Books ), p. 41</ref>

HinduismBhakti is a Sanskrit term meaning "loving devotion to the supreme God". A person who practices bhakti is called a bhakta. Hindu writers, theologians, and philosophers have distinguished nine forms of bhakti, which can be found in the Bhagavata Purana and works by Tulsidas. The philosophical work Narada Bhakti Sutras, written by an unknown author (presumed to be Narada), distinguishes eleven forms of love.

Bhakti movements

Devotees of Krishna worship him in different emotional, transcendental raptures, known as rasas. Two major systems of Krishna worship developed, each with its own philosophical system. These two systems are aishwaryamaya bhakti and madhuryamaya bhakti. Aishwaryamaya bhakti is revealed in the abode of queens and kingdom of Krishna in Dwaraka. Madhuryamaya Bhakti is revealed in the abode of Braja. Thus Krishna is variously worshipped according to the development of devotee's taste in worshipping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, as father, friend, master, beloved and many different varieties which are all extraordinary. Krishna is famous as Makhanchor, or butter thief. He loved to eat butter and is the beloved of his little village in Gokul. These are all transcendental descriptions. Thus they are revealed to the sincere devotees in proportion to the development in their love of Godhead. Vaishnavism is a form of monotheism, sometimes described as 'polymorphic monotheism', with implication that there are many forms of one original deity, defined as belief in a single unitary deity who takes many forms. In Krishnaism this deity is Krishna, sometimes referred as intimate deity – as compared with the numerous four-armed forms of Narayana or Vishnu. It may refer to either of the interrelated concepts of the love of God towards creation, the love of creatures towards God or relationship between the two as in bhakti.

Islam
The love of God, and the fear of God, are two of the foundations of Islam. The highest spiritual attainment in Islam is related to the love of God. "Yet there are men who take (for worship) others besides God, as equal (with God): They love them as they should love God. But those of Faith are overflowing in their love for God." (Quran 2:165)Another Islamic concept is that God's love leads towards good deeds "And feed with food the needy, the orphan and the prisoner, for love of Him (ie. God)."

Islam, as Christianity, has numerous mystics and traditions about the love of God, as in:

"O lovers! The religion of the love of God is not found in Islam alone.
In the realm of love, there is neither belief, nor unbelief." (Rumi)

The concept of Divine Love, known as Ishq-e-Haqeeqi (Persian), is elaborated by many great Muslim saints to date. Some Sufi writers and poets may have taken human love as a metaphor to define Divine Love but the prominent mystics explain the concept in its entirety and reveal its hardcore reality. Rabia Basri, the famous 7th century mystic, is known as the first female to have set the doctrine of Divine Love. In Islamic Sufism, Ishq means to love God selflessly and unconditionally. For Rumi, 'Sufism' itself is Ishq and not the path of asceticism (zuhd). According to Sultan Bahoo, Ishq means to serve God by devoting one's entire life to Him and asking no reward in return.

Judaism

The love of God has been called the "essence of Judaism". "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." ()

Other
Goethe expresses the sentiment of love of God alongside the opposite sentiment of hatred of God in his two poems Ganymed and Prometheus,  respectively.

See also

Agape
Bhakti
Chesed
Christian mysticism
Divine filiation
Fear of God (religion)
Ignatian spirituality
Love (religious views)
Mystical theology
Misotheism
The Seven Valleys
Unio Mystica

Notes

References

 Thomas Jay Oord Defining Love: A Philosophical, Scientific, and Theological Engagement Brazos Press, 2010. 1-58743-257-9.
 Thomas Jay Oord The Nature of Love: A Theology Chalice Press, 2010. .
SCHWEIG, G.M. (2005). Dance of divine love: The Rasa Lila of Krishna from the Bhagavata Purana, India's classic sacred love story. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ; Oxford. .
HAWLEY, John Stratton: Three Bhakti Voices. Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir in Their Time and Ours''. 2nd impression. Oxford 2006.

External links

 Flash Animation About the Love of God (3.6 MB)
 Why Love God? Study Topics Site
 About the Divine Love of God for Man
 Spiritual Methods to Help One Practice Loving God
 What Is Divine Love?
 What Is God's Love Like?
Souls who loved God?

Theism
Mysticism
Love

Love of God


Gleichenia dicarpa, commonly known as pouched coral fern or tangle fern, is a small fern of the family Gleicheniaceae found in eastern Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand. It forms tangled thickets in wet places such as swamps and riverbanks.

Taxonomy
Collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander in November 1769 at Mercury Bay in New Zealand, G. dicarpa appeared in the 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae, authored by prolific botanist Robert Brown. Its genus name honours the German botanist W.F. von Gleichen, and its species name is Ancient Greek for "two fruit". Common names in New Zealand include tangle fern, Spider fern, and swamp umbrella fern. Australian common names include pouched coral fern, and wiry coral fern.

The taxonomy of G. dicarpa is more complicated than previously thought; a genetic study of the DNA of Gleicheniaceae from New Zealand and Tasmania indicate that a smaller shorter-branched "upland" form from New Zealand is in fact more closely related to the Tasmanian G. alpina than to other New Zealand G. dicarpa. Furthermore, G. microphylla is also nested within various populations of  G. dicarpa.

Description
G. dicarpa consists of numerous fronds arising more or less vertically from a thin many branched rhizome.  Each frond can reach 2 m (7 ft) in length with pinnae up to 4 cm (1.6 in) long. The smallest end-branches, known as pinnules, are a mere 1 to 1.5 mm long and recurved margins that give them a cup- or pouch shape. In fertile fronds, two spores lie within the pouch. It is these pouches which give the fern its common name. The spores are yellowish and darken to black when ripe. Fronds growing in sunnier areas often have a bleached yellow coloration.

Distribution and habitat
G. dicarpa is found throughout eastern Australia, from Queensland through New South Wales and Victoria and in Tasmania. It is widespread in Tasmania, where it is found up to altitudes of 900 m (3000 ft). It is widely distributed in New Zealand, where it is found on North, South and Stewart Islands, as well as the Chatham Islands. It is also found in New Caledonia.

A common plant, often seen growing under waterfalls, in peatlands, under cliffs and in tall open forest. It can grow in nutrient poor conditions, preferring high humidity and good levels of sunshine and moisture. Its tangled roots collect detritus and prevent erosion. It can also be a pioneer species of disturbed ground.

Cultivation
Although not commercially available, G. dicarpa can be readily propagated from spores, and grows as long as it is not allowed to dry out and is not otherwise disturbed. It prefers acidic soil and sunny aspect.

References

dicarpa
Flora of New South Wales
Flora of Queensland
Flora of Tasmania
Flora of Victoria (state)
Ferns of New Zealand
Plants described in 1810
Pakihi

Gleichenia dicarpa


Clermontia peleana is a rare species of flowering plant in the bellflower family known by the common name Pele clermontia. It is one of several Hawaiian lobelioids in genus Clermontia that are known as `oha wai. This plant is endemic to the island of Hawaii, where it is known from a few individuals. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

There are two subspecies. When the plant was placed on the endangered species list, only subsp. peleana was believed extinct, and it was known from eight remaining wild plants. The last of the eight died in the year 2000, and the species was then only known from one cultivated plant. Breeding efforts produced a number of seedlings that were transplanted into the species' native habitat, and by 2007, one of them was flowering.

The other subspecies, subsp. singuliflora, was last seen on Hawaii in 1909 and Maui in 1920. It is currently declared as Critically endangered. In the summer of 2010 several actively reproducing specimens were discovered in the forests of the Hawaiian volcano Kohala, a place it had never been seen before. Seeds were collected and propagation efforts will be made.

References

External links
USDA Plants Profile

peleana
Endemic flora of Hawaii

Clermontia peleana