Roy <3's Donna

[sweettart1823]

So here is the conclusion of Donna's and Roy's romance in the Titans. It's about 20 pages from Issue 9-25 not all of the issues but about 7 of them.



Alright last time we left off with Roy and Donna going on a date that was interrupted by Red Panzer, and then Kyle.

Sooo, after that date in Issue 9...









Hah Speedy... Anyway Roy and Chanda talk about Cheshire some and this next has nothing to do with anything but it still made me laugh.



The next few issues the Titans go off with Deathstroke, and Cheshire is shot they take her to the hospital blah blah blah.

Next we find them in Issue 13





After Kory everyone starts coming in the room to talk to Donna and she's all like gtfo but they all get together later...





And then they show Dick and Jesse and Vic and Garth and I guess future Wally all off on their own looking sad. Aw :(

Anyway in issue 14...



That's why you knock Garth...

So In Issue 15 the Fab Five all go camping because Donna thinks they all need to get their shit together.







They find Gargoyle and in Issue 16 are all put in a type of limbo as they're younger selves



Roy gets them out by punching Dick in the face, not even kidding. But anyway, they go back home, Donna, Argent, Garth, and Vic all go with Kory to Tamaran. Kory didn't want Dick or Roy to go though and Grant couldn't go. So Roy takes Grant camping and it's really sad and sweet and I wanted to post it so I might later but I ended up not. But anyway I didn't put any of that stuff in here. But I'm just letting you know that happens.

Then more Cheshire issues in issue 21





So someone is trying to stop Cheshire from testifying in court (Chanda) and Roy goes to talk to Chesh. But who shows up? Slade does. So they fight... Jesse shows up and basically Roy just gets his ass kicked

and In Issue 22...





And Donna goes to talk to Roy but GASP he doesn't remember who she is. Then blah blah blah Dark Angel crap. They meet their future earth-22 Kingdom Come children la la la. Then Dick and Roy throw a surprise Party for Donna and it's fun.

But Donna decides she should still break up with Roy in Issue 25



Aww And there you have it. That's Roy's and Donna's Romance from the first Titans Run. I love these guys when they're like this...




Suggested Tags: char: speedy/red arrow/roy harper, char: robin/nightwing/dick grayson, char: wonder girl/troia/donna troy, char: lian harper, creator: devin grayson, creator: mark buckingham, creator: paul pelletier, creator: ale garza, publisher: dc comics, title: titans

Comments

[cuntfucius]

AHAHAH You summed up this entire romance so succinctly!! With how complicated it is, I'm impressed.

I have very mixed feelings on this run -- certain stories just didn't sit well with me, but I will say it at least had very interesting, if odd, metacommentary on Donna Troy and the situation that Bryne left her in. Faerber and Grayson had to work with the concept of a Donna Troy that was created solely off of the memories and perceptions that Wally West had of her -- a guy who no doubt idealized her and had a huge crush on her. When Donna fights with Wally on that island, she yells that she's some Pollyanna fantasy of his, and resents him for bringing her back as he did. It was an interesting concept that wasn't really played with much more, but I took it as this: Donna Troy has less autonomy and agency and is basically a blank slate more and more these days (or at least, at the time this was written) for male writers to project their fantasies on to.

LOLOL I looked way too deeply into it, but it's what got me through the run, outside of Argent being cute, Jesse having a couple of funny moments, Dick and Roy being cute and Donna being... Donna. What Donna did with Roy isn't exactly the most ethical or intelligent thing she's ever done, but it's not like there weren't any genuine feelings of attraction toward him, any care or years of history or even romantic feelings for him. It's kind of like how she broke Kyle's heart and pulled back when she was in grief, essentially saying "You're useless to me when I'm this sad... but the Titans aren't!" I think, as time went by, that was an issue with Terry, too. He began to feel less and less like a part of her life, outside of the dangers she imposed on them, even.

Of course, all of the mentioned above were written like, really terribly and I'm just fanwanking, but at least donna and roy had a very drama-free and peaceful break up. I tell you, it would NOT go down like that if it happened in this recent Titans run.

[sweettart1823]

Thank you :D

I thought it was weird that they had used Wally's memories to get her back. I never thought he would have had a very objective unbiased sort of opinion of her. I get he was in the JLA and all but still. I thought they could have found someone better, would it have been that hard to call Dick up and get him over there? Though you know on the whole being a blank slate thing, that's basically what Robinson called her too. :l We'll have to see how that goes though.

I want to say that I really don't think Donna's that good with relationships. But it's more like the people who write Donna don't seem to understand how to work the relationships out. I dunno..

I know. I think if they would have had a bad drama angsty break up it would have ruined everything for me. Because they are good friends too and I'd be sad if that changed. Which is probably part of the reason I'm not sure I want them to go in the direction of putting them together again. Because I know if they do it's going to be bad and I'll be so angry >> << >>

[cuntfucius]

Oh, I TOTALLY agree with you. Donna's not the best in relationships. The good thing is, she DOES seem to learn, and she's able to let go of her pride and admit when she's been making an ass out of herself. With Terry, I think she tried too hard to be an idealized version of herself for him. She put a lot of pressure on him, I think, because her temper was easy to arouse and she tried to juggle so much that instead of giving strong, focused energy on certain subjects, she was half-assing everything around her (her missions, then her ability to be reliable to Terry, being a wife and a mother, at least by her standards!) in a very stressed out manner. With Kyle, I think there was the issue of the overinvolved male point of view; we constantly got his DEEP ARTISTIC INTROSPECTION OMG but never got into her head. She had one jealous blow up and that temper came up to haunt her again, but she seemed WAY better the second time around after they made up from their fight. Then uh, Bryne.

With Roy, yeah ... she really loves him but it seems like a girl who doesn't know who she is can't really know who she is in a relationship, either, or what she needs. She wanted Roy's attention, but didn't really know why. She was jealous of Cheshire and felt awkward, yet didn't even see her and Roy as a long term thing. In fact, she had the same lack of faith in Kyle the first time they had their relationship, too.

Basically yeah, she's not that good. And maybe it has to do with the fact that all three of the guys she's been with have been dolts (Kyle has been a consistent liar in all of his relationships, Roy is ... Roy, and Terry had the tendency to need to be babied and was incredibly insecure). The relationships all deserved better writing, but Donna doesn't really attract "better writing" >_> so oh well, let's just try to never get her involved with anyone ever again.

[sweettart1823]

It probably isn't helped that she seems to be attracted to guys who are emotionally wounded. And not like stupid things, but really major things. Except for maybe Terry, although I suppose just getting out of a divorce is probably major. Maybe if she didn't have the constant need to try to make things better when it's probably impossible and went for a well balanced nice guy then it could work out. I get it though. She's probably attracted to that because She understands it. But just because you understand and relate doesn't mean it's a good thing, Donna sweetie.

[cuntfucius]

I think it's less of the emotional wounds she's into and more of the "man children that need to be mommied" -- roy, kyle and terry all had responsibility issues and reliability issues when she got with them, and she had to prod them to be better men. It worked for Kyle, and i do think Roy changed HIMSELF, but Terry just kind of slipped downward into bad oocness since they mandated that terry/donna had to break up...

[sweettart1823]

Well everyone does say she's a very maternal person. I think either way it kind of turned into her feeling like she wanted to needed to take care of them. I feel like it's kind of going that way with Roy and how they're pushing that. Her feeling badly about everything that happened between them and now with him loosing Lian it'll probably be that way again. :/

[philippos42]

The way Byrne wrote it in Wonder Woman, Wally was probably the best option. The only humans who remembered Donna were Wally & Hippolyta (who didn't realize Donna was her kidnapped daughter). Diana may have remembered her because she was on Olympus at the time. (This was during her short apotheosis.)

But I think the original idea was that Donna's place in the timeline would just sort of "heal" back to normal. It was in GL & Titans that the idea took hold that Donna was feeling like she wasn't all there.

Really, the whole thing can mercifully be blipped, it was originally just a way to reset her to normal after Byrne's "myriad lives in rewritten history" arc.

[cuntfucius]

This is true -- I just wish it didn't have to happen PERIOD, you know? Wally was definitely the best option, regardless, but it was just kind of needlessly cruel to do to her after everything she went through. And I kind of hated how they took her out of a happy relationship and then put her into another cute relationship only to take her out of it in a messed up way and then killed her.

Then she came back for IC and countdown and was acting like a completely different person who had some MISSION ... that she had no idea she was talking about hahaha.

It really should be blipped, and most recent Titans canon ignores the magical clone thing, so we can safely say maybe all of that doesn't apply anymore... we'll see in the new Who's Who book that's coming out. It was in Titans that Donna felt she wasn't all there, and Marz in GL just had to kind of run with that, which ruined the plans he had for them to reconcile. Funny how when he finally built a solid relationship with Kyle and Jade, she too was yoinked away by editorial mandate and terrible writing.

[badficwriter]

That's interesting. I know people tend to portray being raised by Amazons as a good thing, but...It ignores the real trauma she's suffered as someone-is-apart. Amazons are just human beings, not perfected angels.

[birdofprey]

Wally's childhood crush on Donna is pretty darn cute.

Still, the only Donna relationship that still fills me with fuzzies is her FRIENDSHIP with Dick. Funny that I feel better about their platonic connection than I do about her romantic interests.

I'm hoping that Roy/Donna stays like this. Like you said, it was a peaceful and drama-free break-up. No more angst or trying to stretch out things that have been put to rest.

[cuntfucius]

Donna's and Dick's friendship really is amazing, and I wish they showcased it a lot more. I also wish they showed the sorely underutilized bond between Donna and Koriand'r, which used to be incredibly strong, passionate, and emotional ...and now has fizzled out into nothingness, since Kory only seemed to interact with her when she needed to talk about Dick. It's why I'm excited by the prospect of Jade and Donna -- I can see a real potential friendship compatibility there, and I like her having strong female friendships (mostly because most of her male friendships, excluding Dick, have an underlying history of the guy feeling more than friendshippy feelings toward her).

We differ in the sense that I love all three of Donna's romantic relationships so far (Yes, even Terry D8 ), but none of them get written with any respect for characterization anymore or any real decency. Terry had to go wildly OOC for him and Donna to break up, Kyle's and Donna's breakup made no sense ...and the last recent strong interaction we had between them was Countdown, and now with Roy and Donna? We have the whole retconning of their childhood romance into being full of angst and CW drama.

It's really a shame, but I'd rather they keep Donna and develop her individually and give her strong friendships than pair her off again (unless it's with Jade, ahem). Mostly because I really do feel the writers project so much fantasy on to her, I mean look at her solo issue: she turned into a wallflower, a shy girl unsure of herself flirting with some random ... male insert into the comic and acting like a guy had never paid attention to her in her life over it. Carol S. said it best: Donna Troy is the Wonder Woman you can do things to. You can get her pregnant, you can get her married, you can make her have love interests (Diana gets them, but they never last or stick), you can kill off people in her life, show that she has a sex life, et cetera et cetera.

[birdofprey]

Hah, yeah she's the middle class Wonder Woman. Amazon and regular woman. Best of both worlds.

I totally agree that Donna and Kory need more screen time as friends. I miss that. I see a lot of potential in Jade and Donna as another strong friendship for her.

[sweettart1823]

Dick and Donna they're like my favorite thing in the world srsly. As friends of course. I love them. I really hope they get more cute friendship moments coming up in the JLA and stuff. I love Donna's relationships but I think her and Dick are always going to be my favorite they're so cute. And they're isn't any angsty drama between them that doesn't happen for a reason.

[birdofprey]

They bring out the best in each other and call each other out when they need to. They're like the mom and dad of the titans (but not in a relationship-y way).

It's just so wonderful to see them two as friends. It always makes me smile. What was it that Dick said when he was discussing his first crush with Babs? Babs said something like "I bet it was Donna." and Dick talked about how "She didn't so much make my breath catch as she made it easier for me to breathe." That's just the perfect description.

[sweettart1823]

They are the mom and dad of the Titans xD I never really thought about it like that before. I mean Donna yeah definitely the mom but now that you mention Dick it so works out. I think my friend said it kind of like They're practically the same person. He's convinced that Dick has to be an alternate version of Donna from some other universe (genderswap universe? Did we ever meet male Donna? kidding...) So obviously they'd get along so well. That's what he says anyway. It's pretty funny xD

I remember that. They're so cute aww. Bffles <3

[ladyinred52]

I'm really worried JLA is going to screw up the dynamic between Dick and Donna. Their friendship is amazing strong, and knowing DC...they will screw it up for the lolz.

[birdofprey]

I hear ya. Which is why (even though I love the whole best-friends-fall-in-love thing) I never want Dick and Donna to date. I actually think they'd make a good couple (albeit boring couple in comic-dom), but inevitable angst and changing writers etc would ruin it. I'd rather not ruin the best guy-girl friendship in comics.

[ladyinred52]

I mean, truthfully, I think they would make a great couple, just because of how close they are and how their personalities seems to fit. But like you said, it would be ruined by angst and changing writers. And I would be sad.

[birdofprey]

Unfortunately, they'd be "boring" because they would work too well, and there's no entertainment value in that (or at least DC thinks so). So, I'll just ship them in my head and pretend they're DC's real power couple and avoid angst and drama, cuz I'm sold on them already :)

[sweettart1823]

Sort of like, if it were real life they would probably work really well together. But it's comics so they would be ruined and then they wouldn't be as good of friends anymore.

Besides they're totally a power couple without needing to date ;)

[nagaoka]

Second to last page, did anyone else do a double take on that middle right panel?

[sweettart1823]

Yes..

[birdofprey]

Not until you mentioned it. HAHAHA

[sistermagpie]

Wow. Roy reacts really well to someone telling him that they went out with them to sully themselves!

[auggie18]

Roy knows he's a dirty boy.

[cuntfucius]

AHAHAHH the word "Sully" was suuuuch poor word choice by grayson in this scene, I understand what Donna means and understand her motives completely since what she went through and what she WAS at that time, currently, was really screwed up -- and of course she'd want to have a physical relationship with the guy that Wally was jealous of in his childhood concerning Donna because it was a big SCREW YOU to the confusion she was feeling on who she was but

yeah

sully

lol

[icon_uk]

Once you've dated genocidal terrorists, there really isn't much more "down" you can go.

Mod note

[kingrockwell]

Could I bother you to edit in the issue breaks?

Re: Mod note

[sweettart1823]

Yep, I edited in what issue was what. I was really just being lazy sorry xD

Re: Mod note

[kingrockwell]

No big problem. Thanks!

[jaybee3]

Donna really didn't behave well during this time IMO. Telling him I only hooked up with you because "I was screwed in the head", "I wanted to play the bad girl", "I didn't know what I want" when she KNOWS he's always loved her? Not cool. He acted cool about it though.

[cuntfucius]

She acted all over the place during that entire run. I guess it makes sense since the creators couldn't really make her act like HERSELF, since she uh ..wasn't herself, and everything we thought we knew about Donna's character was erased and screwed up by Bryne. This entire arc was kind of the start of Donna's character becoming ":( I don't know who I am!!!"

[cuntfucius]

-- er, accidentally hit enter too soon. When before that was only an annoying tiny aspect of her character that people revisited from time to time.

I really really understand Donna's motives in doing this, and I think Roy is still less of a victim here than Donna is, herself, from what happened to her (Family exploded, was mentally tortured and forced to feel the pain of some screwed up lifetimes she supposedly lived such as an abused wife or a junkie on the streets, had her entire identity wiped and then was killed, then was brought back an empty shell of herself with big spots where memories SHOULD be and just the memories of what wally had of her. She couldn't remember kyle, she couldn't remember terry and robbie as much as she wanted to, et cetera), but the way they wrote her explaining herself was really really stupid lol devingrayson.

[levyrasputin]

mh.. dear, do you remember when Donna says she doesn't remember Terry and Robbie as much as she wanted to..?
Because I can't remember that, I only remember her crying on the bed (#15, IIRC) embracing a pic of Robert.

[levyrasputin]

As messed up as it is, I don't think that Roy and Donna's relationship was that unbalanced, or that she was taking advantage of Roy's feelings for her. I mean, take the breakup, he seems to have been always quite aware that being with her at that time of her life was risky, but took the risk anyway, and he seemed to get another relevant detail in the bright side of things: Donna is the kind that pushes everyone away when she's wounded; the fact that he pulled him closer when she was facing an identity crisis shows that she honestly trusted him enough for that.
(mh... I got a feeling my english is awfull tonight. I apologize. ° °; )

TL;DR: I do not see one taking advantage of the other, nor Roy (of Donna's identity crisis) neither Donna (of Roy's life-long feelings for her). They were elements of the play, but not a tool for one to manipulate the other - and I'm not saying you implied this, just saying....

[big_daddy_d]

Donna and Roy, now that is a couple I ship and continue to have hope for. If DC doesn't screw it up..seriously.. CfJ just made plenty of shit hard here. That and someone always seems to want to throw Cheshire into the mix in some weird attempt to complicate things.

[levyrasputin]

Funny thing, the breakup is actually the part that made me warm up to them as a couple the most. Mind, I adore them as friends, but the no-drama break up made me think for the first time, how good they could work good as a couple, too. Because they got reciprocal attraction but, mostly, mutual respect and affection that is rarely portrayed in a good way in comics. =)
I keep my finger crossed that DC won't screw the bond they have over, and thanks for posting this, it put me in a good mood somehow.^^