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

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Well, there are worse sins than writing self-insert fantasies. The problem with Terry Long is mostly, I think, that Wolfman made him aggressively "normal." He's very creepy at first, but once he settles in, that tones down and he's more just... an ordinary guy. He's a mediocre college professor of no real note, he's a divorcee, his friends are coarse, wisecracking schlubs, he struggles with writer's block, there's nothing special or destined about him, he's JUST LIKE YOU AND ME! Which... I guess sounds like kind of a neat idea for the first ten seconds - "an extraordinary woman with an ordinary guy!" and all - but it just doesn't work. Ordinary people don't belong in superhero comics. I mean, you look at Clark/Lois, and the truth is, Lois is every bit as extraordinary as Clark is. She doesn't have his powers, but her courage, her persistence, her talent as a reporter and passion to use that talent for justice, they make her special. It's always been clear why Clark loves Lois.

But Terry..? Terry is so determinedly, persistently, meticulously not particularly special or interesting in any way that the idea that he fits in with the Titans, that he's worthy of Donna, that his life and their lives should overlap at all, much less intertwine, makes no sense. The way these extraordinary characters respond to all these ordinary chumps doesn't feel organic or rational. Every scene begs the question "why is this guy here?" And the only explanation is that "well, Wolfman wants him to be." Which just... never, ever goes over well with the fanbase. Doesn't mean that Wolfman himself is necessarily a creep, just means that his writing experiment failed in a really big way.

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

I did wonder about those several instances of college girls turning their inappropriate charms on him actually, but I wrote it off as american colleges are weird since that "Hot" Prof trope turns up all over the darn place. Maybe that was an effort to make it seem a bit more "reasonable"? That was his normal person power, to appeal to ALL young women with his knowledge of history and ability to give you an A, just as Donna appeals to all with her great attitude and skintight costume!

:/

I do see what you mean, that he's so usual. But that was why I liked that wedding scene with Hippolyta, that she listed those 'greater guy than usual great guy' aspects of him. Then again, if it had to be told not shown, that's a storytelling fail.

I did see the ultimate pointlessness of the guy too, I guess, but I'm a sucker for marriage and I just think, if only they could've found a way to take him above any beyond, and made him fit. The optimist in me is thinking "but they could have..!", but I guess the readers can counter easily with "Yeah, but they didn't. I just come right around to the Could've! again. You can't keep a good romantic down! Even though comics really really try.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Maybe he makes bad and mildly inappropriate jokes about things being kinky in the classroom, too, and that makes the girls think he's open to a little sexual grade persuasion...?

But that was why I liked that wedding scene with Hippolyta, that she listed those 'greater guy than usual great guy' aspects of him.

Which unfortunately, he seems to be a little too touched by. Note to Terry: when your newlywed wife shows up in her culture's version of sexy lingerie, do not say "you remind me of your mother."

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

Oh man teachers should never make jokes about kink. It causes me to shudder heavily.

And okay, yes, THAT was creepy. Understandable that a History guy would be wowed by meeting a historical badass, but, dude seriously.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Again, I fail to see your logic here, a superhero can only be involved with someone inherently extraordinary? Why? Narratively it's not essential, and plotwise it's not either.

Trying to raise Lois on a pedestal as a counterargument doesn't remotely convince me, since Terry is shown to be loyal, loving, kind and a devoted father, and on a personality level, I rate those as highly as being an investigative journalist. It probably a subjective thing.

Superheroes are, essentially, ordinary people too, with ordinary likes and dislikes. He doesn't need to be "worthy" of her, he just needs to be a good man, which all instances and statements indicate he is.

Peter Parker and MJ, Cyclops and Madeline Pryor (That ended badly)

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

You really think there's nothing extraordinary about MJ? You genuinely can't see any specialness in her, any way that she copes with and reacts to the world around her that's heroic, any trait she has that's above the average? You can't look at the Pete/MJ relationship and see things that she offers him that no one else does, ways that she compliments him that his other relationships can't provide? Really?

Y'think Jim Gordon's "normal"? Y'think Jaime's family is "average"? You really think any successful ongoing character in a comic book remotely qualifies as not extraordinary in some way?

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Not at all, I think MJ has marvellous qualities as a person, but I think Terry does too, as I already mentioned, they're just different qualities. She's had more focus, because she's (in a sane world) married to one of the most iconic characters in the world, just like Lois, but that doesn't mean I can't see loving father and husband Terry in the same light based on his significantly lesser page time.

See also:

[box_in_the_box.insanejournal.com]

Chuck Austen pairing off Havok with "Nurse Annie" (whom Austen openly STATED that he based on his wife, WTF).

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

it might make more sense if the age difference wasn't there. If they were more likely to move in the same social circles and met that way

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

He was a Professor who was an expert in Ancient Greece, she was essentially RAISED there! :)