InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "the white comet of Akagi"

sun_soraya (sun_soraya) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-09-07 23:45:00

Entry tags:

char: raven/rachel roth, char: starfire/koriand'r, char: terry long, char: wonder girl/troia/donna troy, creator: george perez, creator: marv wolfman, group: teen titans, publisher: dc comics, title: teen titans

A serious competition for Terry Long?!
As requested I continue posting random 80's Teen Titans stuff.

So... not happy with Terry Long being Donna's lover? Too old? Too annoying? Too creepy? And on top of that a silly haircut? Well, in New Teen Titans #11-12 (1981) he's getting a rival:

See for yourself if the new guy in town can keep up with Terry!

The context: in an intense battle with Deathstroke Gar got shot and is now on the brink of death. To save their friend the Titans fly off to Paradise Island where Gar hopefully can be healed by the Amazon's Purple Ray. While the girls take Gar down to the island the boys leave for a different mission in Africa. And somewhere else...

Meet Hyperion from the Titans of Myth! And before the obvious encounter with Donna, let's take a quick look and compare him with Terry:

Hair: ... well, give Terry a shave and put some flowers in his hair and they could be brothers.
Age: with more than 30.000 years Hyperion wins here - to be fair, Terry might look old but he's actually only 29.
Factor of annoyance: most of us were a bit angry at Terry because he ruined Dick's speech at the campfire scene, but at least you can get a word out in his presence... not so sure here.
Factor of creepiness: ... I always found the Titans of Myth pretty creepy, too.

Hera help me, too, for I cannot bear his enormous ego...

You heard Kory, Dick is the only real man on earth!

And off they fly... to Tartarus once again. After battling a few cyclopses they manage to free the other Titans of Myth:

Together they decide that it's about time to throw Zeus and the other younger gods from the throne. Also: Kory, Raven and the Amazons are on their way to rescue Donna (bringing even Athena herself along), but Donna being Hyperion's new first lady doesn't really care.
Instead in the next issue they head off to Mount Olympus...

Epic battles are fought there and in the end the Titans of Myth win, turning the younger gods into stone.

Momma's here and she doesn't approve of Donna's new boyfriend.
They try to talk things out. Athena being the awesome mod explains that the new peaceful world the Titans of Myth were talking about unfortunately comes without freedom and free will.

And war they get! Kory frees Zeus and before the situation gets even worse, Athena can finally talk sense into everyone. Everyone? Not quite! Hyperion still has something to bitch about.

I know this single page was already included in the Donna&Terry love story post, but it's the epilogue, I can't leave it out...

I'm so bold to say that with Kyle Donna's taste in men changed for the better.

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	darkknightjrk 2009-09-08 03:54 pm UTC (link)
	"Batman (just no)" Maybe it's because I've recently watched JLU again (they do do a lot of things better then the comics), but I never really saw what was so bad about them as a couple. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	aaron_bourque 2009-09-09 08:58 am UTC (link)
	It's fine in JLU because their characterization fits, at least that'd be bluefall's argument. However, in the mainstream comics, just no. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

psychop_rex
2009-09-10 04:55 am UTC (link)

I'm not so sure I agree with that. They're far from an obvious match, of course, but they've had some interesting interplay in the past. In Matt Wagner's version of the first teamup between Batman, Wondy, and Supes, Clark and Bruce follow Diana to Themyscira. Bats, of course, lands separately - he's the first to see Diana, and he's so overwhelmed by the island's aura of paradise in general and her beauty in particular that he briefly breaks character, goes all gooey, and gives her a big ol' smooch. Of course, this doesn't go down too well, given the fact that she's bathing at the time, and he backpedals furiously the moment he's himself again, but it is specifically acknowledged at the end of the story that the encounter added a new layer to his battle against crime - he's seen beauty and paradise; now he hopes to be able to recreate it one day.
Also, there's a Bats/Wondy teamup where several of her villains possess several of his villains, giving them mythological powers. Naturally, both heroes get involved in the fight, and in the process, Bats gets briefly possessed by Ares's son Phobos, the demigod of Fear. He very nearly gives into this completely, revelling in the ability to do instantly what he's sought to do through initimidation for years, making every person in the city terrified of him - then Wondy steps in, and reminds him that fear is not, in fact, what his mission is. She helps him overcome Phobos and cast him out - had she not been there, he might well have been lost forever. Afterwards, while it's hardly lovey-dovey, the two share a moment where they're considerably more open with each other than the two normally are, with the implication that they could possibly be closer if they chose.
So while I agree that a Batman/Wondy hookup is unlikely, and that there are better candidates for Diana's love, it's not an impossible thing - it could actually work fairly well, given the right writer.

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aaron_bourque
2009-09-10 06:58 am UTC (link)

Oh, there's an attraction, of course. But they're fundamentally opposed, philosophically, than even Superman and Batman. Diana is practically the Goddess of Truth, and Batman is all about deceiving and deception, for survival. And paradoxically, they've got similar senses of honor, so if they hook-up, they'd always be trying to make it last, and they never could because their world-views are just that opposed.

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	psychop_rex 2009-09-10 09:40 am UTC (link)
	It'd make for some interesting stories, though, wouldn't it? What if, for example, Hippolyta decided that Wayne Industries' international presence would make it ideal to help spread the word of peace that the Amazons are so intent on? 'Dear, could you ask your boyfriend a teensy weensy favor...?' (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

aaron_bourque
2009-09-11 05:44 am UTC (link)

'Dear, could you ask your boyfriend a teensy weensy favor...?'
Bruce would say no, because it would break the Bat/Bruce separator line, Diana have trouble with the concept of secret identity, they'd have a fight, possibly make-up, and go on from there, each mentally, subconsciously adding to the tally of "I'm not happy in this relationship." Eventually, that list gets too long for one or both of them, and they end it. Their friendship is always slightly awkward afterwords, and months, maybe years later, they'll keep wondering "What the hell was I thinkin?"

I don't like seeing painful romances that are doomed to failure and kinda fail whilst their occurring.

Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque; having seen these sorts of things in real life (they burn brightly but quickly, and in the end, no one's happy)

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psychop_rex
2009-09-11 07:27 am UTC (link)

Well, sure, if you wanna be a killjoy... Anyway, how would it break the line between Batman and Bruce? All he would have to do is make a public announcement as Bruce Wayne that Wayne Enterprises was entering a new partnership with the Island of Themyscira, for the purposes of spreading international peace and goodwill. There's nothing to link Batman to that - he hangs out with Wondy as part of the Justice League anyway, and it's not like the two of them would make public appearances. It actually might help bolster his secret identity - if a visitor to Wayne Manor happened to stumble across Bruce and Diana hanging out, they could simply say that they were having a business lunch or something. Diana has no secret identity to protect, and if Bruce Wayne is involved in a business venture with her country, that's a perfectly legitimate reason for the two of them to spend a fair amount of time together.

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aaron_bourque
2009-09-11 08:53 am UTC (link)

Wayne's charity works are already global. If he makes some sort of overt connection to--for all intents and purposes--a foreign government, people will look into it. It also raises the question of why he never did something like that before. It also creates a connection between Batman and the Amazons and Bruce and the Amazons. That's not to say he wouldn't entertain the idea if he weren't dating Diana, but again, the scrutiny would be something he'd want to avoid.

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psychop_rex
2009-09-11 09:07 am UTC (link)

How does it create a connection between Batman and the Amazons and Bruce and the Amazons? It's not like Diana would become his new sidekick if they ever hooked up. They're both adults with separate superheroic careers of their own to deal with - Bats spends his time fighting crime in Gotham and Diana... well, I haven't been keeping up with her book, but she does what she's been doing. The two have been seen together before - rarely - and if they hooked up, they'd be seen together again - slightly less rarely. So what? They're both known members of the JLA, and, from what I've gathered, hang out together in 'Trinity' all the time as well. (I could be wrong about this; I haven't actually read any of 'Trinity'.) I think you'd have to be a pretty dedicated conspiracy theorist to find a link between Batman-Diana and Bruce-Amazons, especially given Bruce's mania for covering his tracks.

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