Every comic book has its share of throw-away villains, and The Mad Mod is one that few would miss had he remained buried away deep in the Titans past.

Sure, his history with the Titans goes all the way back to issue #7 of their original run in the sixties, but this doesn’t really hold much weight when it comes to villainy status.

The Mad Mod was a character designed specifically to cash in on the popularity of the sixties vibe present in the insanely popular Batman television show. In the comics, The Mad Mod was a Brit who designed cool mod clothes with the intent of smuggling stolen goods in and out of the country. The scoundrel.

Laughable, I know, but once again the team behind the animated series has managed to extract elements from the source material and come up with an episode that is as whimsical as it is worthwhile on an entertainment level.

The finished product is a Mad Mod who still resembles the mop top from the early Titans books, but has seemingly dropped his smuggling roots and amped up his gadgetry and traps to a level that is almost on par with the X-Men villain, Arcade.

The episode begins without any explanation or back-story whatsoever. The Titans awaken to find themselves tied to chairs, ready for a day of instruction in the school of the Mad Mod (voiced by Malcolm McDowell).

Mod still dresses to the hilt in mod fashion and sports a jeweled scepter that is no doubt a throw back to his second appearance in the Titan comics in which he steals the Queen’s scepter.

We have no ideation why Mod has captured the Titans at all, and really, we may not need one, but the lack of setup does come across like a slap to the face at first.

We only know that the Mod feels the Titans are miscreant teens in need of his re-education. This basically equates to hypnotizing the team, but it is never really made clear what he plans to do with the re-educated Titans. Perhaps Mod is trying to assemble some droogs of his own.

Even the Puppet King’s motives to use his zombie Titans to terrorize the city were at least touched on. Now that I mention it, teen manipulation seems to be a prominent recurring theme in this series.

So far they have dealt with the machinations of Slade, throwing villain after villain their way to test the boundaries of the team and sway them to do his bidding, whatever that may be.

Then there was the Puppet King whose motives were clearly fleshed out for viewers. Now it would appear that Mad Mod has some sort of plan with a manipulated team of Teens as well. Or does he? Despite the lack of exposition, it sure felt like there was more to Mod’s appearance here than just mere nefarious plotting.

Either way, the episode largely consists of the team struggling to resist Mod’s hypnosis at every turn while trying to escape from the Mod’s lair as he launches trap after trap for them to blunder into. Amidst all of this mayhem are countless references to film, art, and popular television shows from the sixties. And that’s about it on the surface.

One could launch into a laundry list of references in homage that could run nearly a mile long thanks to the power of freeze frame VCR’s. Truthfully, this is where the episode gains its popularity amongst so many Titan fans, because without the stack of in-jokes there really isn’t much else here.

There are obligatory references made to A Clockwork Orange ranging from the Mod’s groovy lingo to the theme of hypnosis by force. At one point, Starfire finds herself trapped in a library in front of a hypnotic screen. She attempts to avert her eyes until the chair sprouts appendages that force her eyes open a la Alex DeLarge.

After exhaustively chasing Mod through countless black and white checkerboard patterned hallways, which seemingly recall the similar checkerboard pattern that ran across the top of sixties DC Comics titles, Robin finds himself trapped in an M.C. Escher-esque stairways and halls.

Once the team has regrouped, the episode sidesteps plot by engaging in a musical chase sequence that brings to mind countless episodes of Scooby Doo. This, of course, holds direct correlation to the sixties themselves, but in addition it sets up the series’ first homage within a homage within a homage.

The Titan’s chase sequence, complete with the pre-requisite sixties style music, recalls Scooby Doo, and Scooby Doo’s chase sequences in turn recall The Monkees, who as we all know were making a play on the infamous A Hard Days' Night routine by the Beatles. To bring the whole confusing thing full circle, the Titan’s chase scene includes a direct reference to The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.

Feeling dizzy yet?

Well it would seem that the Mod’s hypnosis technique is akin to his originated influence on the comics. Society took to the sixties cool and absurdity from the Batman TV show in a near zombie like frenzy, and DC used this newfound exposure in every way possible to increase profits. Anything related to the TV show, featuring sixties style sold like hot cakes.

Perhaps there is more to this episode than what is seen at face value.

Taking into context the art that appears throughout the episode, each “mod-ified” to include the Mad Mod’s ugly mug, one can see that the focus on the sixties era remains the central theme here.

From Rene Magritte’s The Son of Man, M C Escher’s bizarre mathematical landscapes, Andy Warhol’s counterculture experiments with color and contrast, to Pablo Picasso’s late frenzy of cubist work produced in his last years, each one is referenced in some way in this episode, and each has a direct tie to the 1960’s.

Even the appearance of Michelangelo’s David dressed up as Mad Mod seemingly recalls the opening sequence of the sixties Brit Comedy classic, Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

The odd ducks out are a re-modified Mona Lisa by Davinci and Grant Wood’s American Gothic, if anyone knows of any connection to the sixties please feel free to shoot it my way.

To digress, the Mad Mod episode seems to be commenting on the way the creation of Mad Mod, the character, infused the sixties vibe into the Titan’s comics during that time period for profit. So perhaps Mod’s machinations are simply to profit off of selling the sixties to an entranced audience?

Well, it worked for DC Comics didn’t it?

In the end, this episode doesn’t do much to advance the series along, but it does go a long way to elevating cultural commentary and homage within the series. Needless to say, it’s a long strange trip, but it sure is an enjoyable one.

Next Week: Slade returns to cause trouble, and a mysterious new villain shows up to stir the pot. Who is Red X? How does he know all the Titan’s weaknesses? Tune in next week to find out in Masks.

Mario Anima