ratcreature | The Judas Contract

I read the The New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract TPB (written by Marv Wolfman, pencils by George Pérez, inks by various) today, and though I had fun reading it, it was still weird in a way. The cause for this feeling was mainly that of course Dick's transition from Robin to Nightwing has been retconned to much more confrontational versions, and I'm familiar with the retconned history. So while I was reading the pre-Crisis story, in my head I had this "parallel track" going on, kind of like a cognitive dissonance, where I was thinking how the "real" version, i.e. the changed sequence of events as we now have to imagine them having happened in the current DC continuum/universe, went down. Unfortunately DC doesn't have a minitrue at hand to update all their "documents" to fit the current history to help with the problem.

Of course I'm well aware that it's futile to want to make it really fit, despite valiant efforts of such sites as the Unauthorized Chronology of the DC Universe which made real progress in that direction, yet I can't help myself, I cling to consistency. And I don't really want to give up constructing a consistent version of the characters' histories for myself that incorporates as much of the continuity as possible either. Though I think my definition of "consistent" is shifting to a more accommodating fuzzy logic one. *g*

Anyway, now for some other stuff I noticed while reading the Judas Contract:

I thought the way Brother Blood is written here was much better than what I encountered in the current Outsiders. I mean, he's cunning, and creepy, and he realizes this elaborate plan to allow his followers to spread into other countries more easily -- I liked him as a villain here.

Slade/Wintergreen? Way slashy. Slade/Terra? Way creepy. But I liked reading more of Deathstroke's story.

I was surprised how much I liked Kory. Okay, I'm still not quite over her looks and skimpy costume, but I'm getting there.

I've been wondering what kind of job/occupation Dick has during this. Is he a journalist or was this just a cover like the disguise? And when Slade barges into Dick's place (Slade says Dick is at home) I was wondering why Dick needs a nameplate on his desk at home.

I really like the scenes showing the friendship between Donna and Dick. Though now that I get to know her character I'm becoming even less fond of the recent Graduation Day storyline.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

# Slade/Wintergreen? Way slashy. Slade/Terra? Way creepy. But I liked reading more of Deathstroke's story.

Ditto, ditto, and ditto. It's tough, because despite everything, I find myself liking Slade's character more often than not, and his having an affair with a 15-year-old girl is reeeeally tough to get past.

# I was surprised how much I liked Kory. Okay, I'm still not quite over her looks and skimpy costume, but I'm getting there.

Ditto again, and I think

sanj had much the same reaction.

# I've been wondering what kind of job/occupation Dick has during this.

AFAIK, none. I'm not entirely sure how's he's supporting himself, except again that his "split" with Bruce was a retcon. In this continuity, there's no reason to think he's not living off of money Bruce gave him. Don't know about the nameplate, though.

I'd be curious to know your overall reaction to Terra, though.

I didn't wonder so much about the money, as about what he's doing with himself besides being a Teen Titan, all the others have jobs or school. And at least according to the retcon version Dick didn't stay in college long. But what we saw in the panel was clearly a work area. He was writing something on a typewriter, there were filing cabinets, that nameplate...

My reaction to Terra was kind of complicated. I was mostly annoyed with the character, but a lot of it was a more meta annoyance at the writers not so much the character (except for that awfully transcribed accent, I can't stand that kind of thing). I mean, she's the only girl/woman on the team who is not traditionally "feminine," i.e. she's not being supportive emotionally and understanding, she's sexually aggressive, etc. and of course she has to be a wacko sociopath without any motivation whatsoever. My inner feminist found that very grating. I could have quite liked her if she had been a more interesting kind of motivation, like if her disdain for humans without powers had been more developed, turned into a kind of real motivation for her desire to kill the Titans.

It's tough, because despite everything, I find myself liking Slade's character more often than not, and his having an affair with a 15-year-old girl is reeeeally tough to get past.

I've never really had a problem with this. This is in large part because of the fifteen-year-old girl in question (it's not as though he took advantage of her blushing innocence, and like 'Rith I'm pretty sure it was her idea to start with), but also, well, I don't consider having sex with a consenting fifteen-year-old nearly as bad as trying to kill a bunch of teenagers for no better reason than because your psycho son tried to kill them and failed. If I can forgive him for the main plot of the Judas Contract (and for better or worse, I pretty much have, although I still think the Titans, and Gar specifically, let him off too lightly on that count), then sleeping with Tara is no big problem.

This is, however, a good moment to mention an issue late in the run of Slade's own book, wherein he gets drunk, picks a girl up in a bar, and is appalled to then find out (before anything happens) that she's sixteen. And then he gets upset with her father (who turns out to be selling her), and he has all these issues, and there's a big fight and he gets mauled and--anyway, this is the point where Wintergreen steps in and basically tells him to get his head out of his ass and stop screwing up (he specifically cites hitting on a teenager, there), or Wintergreen is going to split before Slade ends up getting them both killed. It's a great issue just on its own merits, but I think the subtextual point it's meant to be making about Terra (which episode Wintergreen calls "moronic") is that that wasn't normal behavior for Slade, but a warning signal that he'd gotten into a Very Bad Mental Place and needed to be shaken out of it. Or possibly beaten out of it, given who we're talking about. (And even if that's not what Wolfman meant, it's what I say it meant. So there. ;)

As for Slade and Wintergreen, well, obviously they love each other, even if Addie hadn't kindly underlined the point for us. And it's true that in DEATHSTROKE, Wintergreen is presented as the opposite number of Addie's second-in-command, who's hopelessly and unrequitedly in love with her. But somehow I've just never got the sense that they have, or want to have, a sexual relationship. Well, okay, maybe occasionally, when they're stuck in the jungle after a mission gone sour trekking back to civilization. That sort of thing. Once they get back to civilization, though, I'm pretty sure they go find women to celebrate with. (Mind you, Wintergreen would be better for Slade, or at least less likely to try to kill him, than most of the women he does sleep with...)

The Judas Contract

Various

Re: Various

Re: Various