It's safe to say Titans was met with a fairly mixed reaction when the first footage of the series debuted in 2018. The shot of Dick Grayson shouting "F*** Batman!" was enough to turn some prospective viewers off right away. And even those onboard for the series might have hesitated at the thought of forking over eight bucks a month for yet another streaming service, especially with Titans the only original series on the DC Universe service at the time of its debut. (That's the only way Americans can get the show, though it is debuting on Netflix internationally as of today.) Not to mention that it gets a little harder all the time to keep up with all the DC Comics shows on the air.

The Evolution of Dick Grayson

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All the Times Batman and Robin Broke Up 16 IMAGES

A True DC Universe

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Superhero Horror

Titans Season 1 Photos 32 IMAGES

The Doom Patrol

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There are plenty of excuses for not watching Titans. But frankly, none of that matters. If you consider yourself a hardcore DC fan, you really need to be watching this show. Here are a few reasons why.Strange as it seems, the last time a live-action DC project truly did justice to Dick Grayson was the 1966 Batman TV series. Since then, Robin has tended to either be mischaracterized or outright ignored. Even Christopher Nolan only adapted Robin in the loosest sense for his Dark Knight trilogy.Titans is the series that finally breaks that trend. As much as Titans is an ensemble series, at the end of the day it's more concerned with telling the story of Dick Grayson than anything else. The first season features a detailed, cohesive character arc for Dick. It paints him as a young man disillusioned by his father figure and trying to find his own path in the world. When the series opens, Dick is adrift and in danger of becoming even more lost in violence than Bruce Wayne. But after a chance encounter with Rachel Roth, Dick finds himself unwittingly becoming the same sort of mentor Bruce was to him. By breaking from Batman and forming a team, Dick is beginning to achieve redemption.The first season of Titans establishes a foundation for Dick Grayson that we can expect to see built up in the years to come. For the first time, fans are being given the opportunity to see Dick Grayson slowly evolve from Robin to Nightwing in live-action.One of the frustrating things about DC's live-action TV projects is that fans never get a complete version of the DC Universe in any one series. Different characters and franchises are segmented into different projects. DC has often tended to shy away from allowing more than one live-action incarnation of a character to exist at any given time. Because of Batman Begins, Smallville was never able to use Bruce Wayne. Even the Arrowverse, which touches so many different corners of the DC Universe, has some major holes that we may never see filled.Titans is the rare DC show where it never feels as though the writers are struggling under these sorts of limitations. The first season casts a very wide net in terms of guest stars and cameos. Hawk and Dove show up in the second episode. Subsequent episodes introduce everyone from Donna Troy to the Doom Patrol. DC icons like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are freely name-dropped in the series. Not only are character crossovers common, they happen freely and often. No need to wait for an annual crossover storyline here.The end result is that the world of Titans has a depth and variety that's hard to find in other DC shows. That variety is only going to increase as other DC Universe shows like Doom Patrol and Swamp Thing make their debuts in 2019 and establish a shared universe to rival the Arrowverse.As much as the darkness and violence of Titans may seem off-putting to some DC fans, the adult-oriented approach has its definite merits. Sure, Titans lacks the lighthearted charm of shows like The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. But it offers something very different in return - a horror-flavored take on the DC Universe.Horror takes many forms in Titans' first season. At times the series delivers full-on supernatural horror when it focuses on Rachel and her demonic heritage. Other times there's more of a campy, B-movie quality to the show's horror, as seen in "Doom Patrol" and its handling of those kooky DC characters. Other times the horror is more psychological in nature, as seen in "Asylum" when our heroes are captured and subjected to cruel torture.This emphasis on horror winds up being one of Titans' strongest suits. Rather than try to beat the Arrowverse shows at their own game, Titans is able to chart its own path and distinguish itself amid a sea of superhero TV shows. And again, the horror elements will only become more crucial as Titans paves the way for spin-off projects like Doom Patrol and Swamp Thing.We've mentioned the Doom Patrol several times so far, and for good reason. Titans' fourth episode introduces this unusual super-team, and that alone justifies giving the series a look.The Doom Patrol is the closest thing DC has to the X-Men. They're a group of bizarre super-powered misfits struggling to find a place in a world that hates and fears them. They even live in a lavish mansion with an eccentric professor who trains them to use their abilities to better the world (or maybe just for his own selfish ends). "Doom Patrol" captures all the zany charm of these characters, to the point where they basically steal the show from the Titans themselves.It's a good thing then that a Doom Patrol spin-off series is right around the corner. If you watch Titans for no other reason than to prepare for that show, it'll still be time well spent.

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter , or Kicksplode on MyIGN