Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day (2003)

For those about to embark upon the remainder of your lives, happy National Graduation Tassel Day.

May 17 is the day. Across the nation a parade of graduates will be commemorating today, or a day like this soon enough, taking their tassel and moving it right to left in a symbolic recognition of their academic achievements.

Those earning graduate degrees will mirror that motion, moving tassels from left to right.

We will symbolize the day with a three issue, mini series published July to August 2003, Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day.

The trilogy was important for several reasons; not the least of which were the deaths of Donna Troy and Omen. It also meant the end of both title books allowing for new Teen Titans and Outsiders books to begin.

While never officially offered as a reason for cancellation, it’s long been rumored Young Justice was given the axe to make way for a new Teen Titans title to compliment the then new Teen Titans animated series on Cartoon Network.

Unlike the above-mentioned story, most graduations are a time of celebration. Nearly four-million high school seniors graduated last year. That same number are expected to graduate from college in the coming year.

About 66.2 percent of those high school students will attend college. The most popular college majors are Business, Health Professions, Social Sciences and History, Engineering, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Psychology, Communication and Journalism, Visual and Performing Arts, Computer and Information Sciences and Education.

About 136,000 of those high school graduates will enlist in the armed forces.

The Titans began as the Teen Titans in 1964. Over time they changed team members and affiliations. Marv Wolfman and George Perez launched the uber popular The New Teen Titans in 1980 which became Team Titans then the Teen Titans again in 1996 followed by the Titans of this story arc.

The Titans returned in 2008 and were rechristened once more for the New 52 and five years later for DC Rebirth and are currently under the Infinite Frontier banner.

Young Justice was formed in 1998 with members Superboy, Robin and Impulse. They would be joined by Wonder Girl, Secret and Arrowette.

The title would be relaunched in 2011 in an unrelated series as a literary version of the animated show. The comic book would conclude with issue 25, a month before the cartoon ceased to air.