Donna Troy and Terry Long: A Love Story

[xdoop.insanejournal.com]

In this post I will be showing the classic romance of Donna Troy and Terry Long, by Marv Wolfman and George Perez.

We first meet Terry in The New Teen Titans #8.




Later...




Then in #9...


This scene from #12 takes place after the "Titans of Myth" storyline, where Hyperion entranced Donna and made her fall in love with him.


#13 has Donna taking her anger out on some criminals.




#20 is narrated by Wally West, who's writing a letter to his parents.






In #28...








#29...


#30...




#31...




#34...




#38 is the "Who is Donna Troy?" issue.







Dick helps Donna find out the truth about her past; her mother Dorothy Hinckley gave her up for adoption because she had terminal cancer and was dying. She was adopted by Carl and Fay Stacey. When Carl died in a job-related accident, Fay had little money left and was forced to give Donna up for re-adoption, where she was put into a child-selling operation. The bodies in the fire Donna remembered were of the people who were planning on selling her. Donna is reunited with Elmira Cassiday, the woman who ran the orphanage Dorothy went to, and Fay, who had gotten remarried.

Tales of the Teen Titans #42 takes place during the "Judas Contract" storyline.




In #45, Terry has his bachelor party.










#48...




#49...














In the double-sized #50, Donna and Terry finally get married.




























Later, Diana tells Donna and Terry that they need to come with her.

Comments

[bluejaybirdie.insanejournal.com]

*shudder*

Good God, he's such a creeper...the age difference squicks me too.

[scorpiokyle.insanejournal.com]

i can't help but think of Cracked's list of creepiest comic characters whenever I see Terry Long now.

http://www.cracked.com/article_16230_p2.html

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

Terry will just never not be creepy.

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

Awrite, I'm the only one, but:

AWH THAT WAS SWEET AND TOUCHING.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Whilst I abhor the sutdent/teacher part of their relationship, I don't really find Terry as creepy as others do. He'd bore me rigid, but Donna seems to like him well enough.

And there's just SO MUCH pretty Perez art...

[kagome654.insanejournal.com]

Yeah...there's really nothing about Terry to like or miss, is there? I feel a little bad about their kid, mostly because the first time I saw him was when Kyle was babysitting and took him to the zoo. It was kind of cute.

Also, I hate Donna's wedding dress.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

I always forget that not only is Terry a creepy douchebag, his friends are creepy douchebags too. COME ON TITANS! YOU KNOW A MAN BY THOSE HE CALLS "FRIEND!" I can maybe see getting snowed by Terry, since you want to believe Donna's happy, but JAYZUS, Dick, was that bachelor party not enough of a warning bell for you?

[volksjager.insanejournal.com]

Ouch, 80's fashion. That Terry long seems like a douche,the sort of guy who steals panties from Laundromats.

I think Donna (I have no idea what handle she uses these days) and Powergirl should date, they could really compare notes on how crap retcons have effected their lives and help one another :)

[fungo_squiggly.insanejournal.com]

I have to say, I don't find the Terry Long in these scans all THAT creepy.

In fact I'm vaguely disappointed. Surely he has creepier moments? Otherwise, his creepiness has been greatly exaggerated.

What's with all the fros?

[tacobob.insanejournal.com]

I've always been a big fan of George Perez, but it seems everytime he gets to make a character (or drawns them first) he always gives them those big white guy afros..You have Mister Creepy short pants above, Starfire, Deathstroke's kid..er Jericho. Alexander Luthor, Jr and I'm sure more than few others.

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

Ah, the '80s. When good taste said "Fuck it." and took the decade off.

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

So how does this all go wrong, anyway? I just checked wikipedia, and all it gave me wad the fact that a guy called Terry Long was the leader of some white supremacist group in Canada.

[buttler.insanejournal.com]

Oh man, Terry Long. So disturbing.

In that panel with Donna taking her keys out of the little bowl, I couldn't help thinking, "Get used to the keys-in-a-bowl thing, hon. Something tells me that's Terry's kind of party."

[freddylloyd.insanejournal.com]

In anticipation of the inevitable complaint that Terry Long was Marv Wolfman's self-insert, I'll point out that:

a) Terry looked much more like New Teen Titans editor Len Wein in the early 1980s (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42274165@N00/1118250470).

b) Marv Wolfman is truly inserted into the wedding celebration: penultimate panel on the page numbered 16. (I think Perez might be in the middle of the bottom row of page 20.)

[ozlelila.insanejournal.com]

Okay, I'm convinced. Not that Terry's creepy, but how great the Wolfman/Perez run was. Surely these have been collected? I must get my hands on them....

[thebigapricot.insanejournal.com]

What Lyta was thinking:

"Great Hera, Donna Troy. I took you in and gave you grace, wisdom and beauty. You are Wonder Girl! Your sister is frigging Wonder Woman! And of all the men or women you could couple with you choose this older, creepy divorced man? Oh well, he's going to die, so what the hell. Sad about the kid though."

[tahngarth.insanejournal.com]

"Hello, I'm Terry Long, and I'm a badly dressed 80's self-insert"

[interrobamf.insanejournal.com]

AND THEN HE DROVE OFF A CLIFF AND EVERYBODY WAS HAPPIER.

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

So uh, am I the only one that doesn't really mind the guy? At all? He seems pretty much OK to me. But then again, I'm reading this as a complete outsider to the Titans, and to Donna Troy.

[kingrockwell]

I was a little leery of the flirting with Starfire, but past that there's nothing really that bad about the guy other than the age difference. He seems like an okay guy who has a douchebag for a brother, really. Definitely doesn't live up to the reputation.

[hollasa.insanejournal.com]

I've never minded Terry Long either. Ten years is not a huge age difference, after all.

I'm trying to remember - I remember reading a post-WW-reboot version of the wedding scene in which Kory is the maid of honor - anyone remember what that was from?

Thanks, OP!

[nevermore999.insanejournal.com]

I never really minded him either when I read the run. He was a guy, he seemed to make Donna happy, so I didn't care.

Then again, I looked at a lot of it through "80's filter". If he was modern character, he'd annoy the snot out of me. And I'm terribly naive about a lot of things.

I really did like the wedding issue though. Mostly for Gar's conniptions and teh fluff.

[schala_kid.insanejournal.com]

Terry Long aside, I like the Dick and Donna as brother and sister relationship, and I like the fact that Donna is the only woman (not counting Bette Kane) that he hasn't sexed up.

I dunno I just think their relationship is more significant and stronger without the romantic involvement and I'm afraid some future comic editor/writer will probably screw that up.

[sandoz_iscariot.insanejournal.com]

There are probably characters creepier than Terry Long, but he's so ill-conceived that he gives off bad vibes. Like, the age difference might not have seemed so bad if they hadn't made him a professor with a gaggle of female students Donna's age. (And WTF is up with them throwing their panties at him? No one needs an A that badly.) It's like, "Dude...why are you hanging out with teenagers, again?"

[book_of_daniel.insanejournal.com]

To this day still the best comic book wedding ever. George and Marv loved these characters. This book was so damn great back in the day it makes me ache to think how f***ing awful the new Titans book is now.