The New Teen Titans

The New Teen Titans by Perez and Wolfman is surely the best version of the team, and it's also the inspiration for the 2003 television series.

This series is definitely a reboot of the team, so it's a great place to start, even if you've never read another DC comic. The characters' detailed histories will be explored over the course of the series, but in this first issue we see: Dick Grayson, who's tired of being in his guardian's shadow; Gar Logan, who has some hidden pain (though those of us who are familiar with the Doom Patrol will know what happened to them in the October 1968, Doom Patrol #121); Victor Stone, who would rather be a regular human than a cyborg; Wally West, who wants to quit being a super-hero; and Donna Troy, who wonders where she came from. Additionally, we're introduced to Starfire, initially called Princess Koriand'r, and the 'witch' Raven.

Everyone has their own motivations for joining the team, and their personal lives and histories will intersect with the events of the comic on many occasions. Part of what makes this series so great is that Perez and Wolfman have the ability to make us care about Donna Troy more than Wonder Girl, Dick Grayson more than Robin, Victor Stone more than Cyborg, and so on.