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

[hyaroo.insanejournal.com]

I agree -- I honestly can't see the sleazy super-creep that most of the rest of the world does, at least not in the Wolfman/Perez run. (I haven't read much of the character beyond that, so it's possible he changed.) Sure, Terry Long isn't a particularly interesting character, and doesn't add much to the comic, but most of the time he comes across as pretty okay bloke.

Sometimes, when I was feeling particularly cynical and fed up with the world, I've suspected that the only reason fans disliked him so much was purely based on looks, because Terry Long doesn't look young or handsome and as such is a creep per definition no matter what he says or does... but then I usually reconsider and conclude that it's mostly the way the character is handled that turns people off:

- The age difference is problematic, especially with Donna not yet out of her teens, and in our society seems much too young to marry. If she had been only a few years older, Terry wouldn't have provoked that "cradle robber" gut-reaction. Personally, I feel that the age difference was a problem not in and of itself, but as a result of the social stigmas surrounding it. It seems to me like Wolfman was going for a "love conquers all" thing, but failed to follow properly up on it (which is one of the problems I have with Wolfman as a writer, by the way; he has lots of interesting ideas but far too often fails to follow up on them).

- The other Teen Titans, and Wolfman and Perez, seem just a little too insistant on pointing out what a great guy he is, praising him endlessly for every little thing. Yes, he comes across as patient and understanding for the most part, but being patient and understanding should honestly be the minimum demand for anyone romantically involved with a superhero. Hence, Terry gets a lot of undue praise, which seems more like the author trying to bash into our heads that we're supposed to love him. Few people like to be told how to feel, so naturally they go the other way and begin hating him instead.

- He doesn't actually seem to have that much of a personality beyond being Donna's love interest, not particularly strong-willed or deep. We don't get to find out very much about him as a person, and his hopes, dreams and fears... and that makes it all the easier to, if you already dislike the character, view his actions in a bad light. The scene where he kisses Starfire's hand, for example, can be interpreted in various ways -- that he's just being old-fashionedly "cavalier"ish, that he's trying to make a good impression on Donna's friend, that he's being a disgusting pervert who hits on her and is one step away from asking for a quickie -- since we don't get to know what his true motivations was there, or if he even had any.

- He does have a wandering eye, and he admits it openly, even to the point of joking about it. While his comments doesn't seem to bother anyone in the story itself, and he claims that looking is not the same as acting, I can easily understand readers who feel he's going out of line with his comments, which could easily be taken as hurtful and uncaring: "Hey, honey, I'm going to ogle this lady who isn't you now." Donna doesn't seem to be the jealous type, but still... not a way to win fans there, Terry. (This is probably the worst aspect of Terry Long -- yes, being surrounded by beautiful women who dress in extremely skimpy clothes, it's understandable that he occasionally look... but you'd think he'd at least have the decency to keep quiet about it.)

I think those are the main reasons... what do you think?