Okay - I'm going to be a bit blasphemous here so bear with me. I have the original Teen Titans Judas Contract in their original form and after hearing the announcement that DC is going to be releasing an animated version of it that is true to the "art and theme" of the original, I got a bit excited.

For some reason I fondly recalled this as being one of my favorite Titans arcs, and like any good fanboy, I dug it out of my storage box and re-read it.

(And here's where the Blasphemy comes in)

Now - I'm as big of a Teen Titans fan as any - HOWEVER, after watching the Teen Titans animated cartoon's version of the Judas Contract that was put on cartoon network a year or so ago, I realize that Terra was never really that interesting in the original comic form. The cartoon spruced her up and made her more than what she ever was on the printed page.

In the comic, she was a one-dimensional villain who did not have any purpose outside of the betrayal and she was slightly unbelievable in a handful of the scenes.

I couldn't believe that a japanese influenced animated series obviously meant for younger kids that often slapped its source material in the face actually made Terra more interesting than the original source material itself.

I enjoyed the Teen Titans Animated series as much as the next guy, but I always watched with the understanding that obviously Marv Wolfman's version was superior in every way. I guess at this point I'm just a little disturbed that Wolfman's Titans may NOT be the definitive version of the Titans. Perhaps over-all they are the best, but even then it seems to skip a missed opportunity every now and then.

Yeah...

Um.

That's really all I have to say, other than how many of you are looking forward to these DC Direct releases?

I know I am ;)

Yeah, that's the problem with reading old comics, or basically watching\reading a lot of the stuff that entertained us as children. When we were young it was the greatest thing ever, now that we're old we can see some of its flaws better.

In Wolfman's defense, He never intended Terra to be a major Titans character. During the 80's the two biggest comic books were Claremont's Xmen and Wolfman's Titans, both comics about teenage super-heros and the team relationships of adolesence. And being about similiar subjects that meant they dealt with similiar topics resulting in thousands of fanboys and flamewars of "Wolfman STOLE that idea from Claremont!"
"Nuh-uh, Claremont STOLE it from Wolfman!"
"Uh HUh times infinity!"
"Nuh-uh times infinty plus one!"

This use to drive Wolfman nuts so when Kitty Pride, the precocious little tweener that everyone loved was introduced in the X-men, he decided to create the anti-Kitty, Terra. Where Kitty was nice, Terra was mean. Where Kitty loved everyone, Terra hated everyone. Where Kitty brought the group together, Terra tore the group apart.

What makes the Judas contract revolutionary was that, yes, in the past comic books had betrayers, but they always did what was right in the end. They always helped out the heroes when things got tough. Terra was the first betrayor that never repented, even to the end. Despite what Beat Boy thought, Terra started out as a B***, acted like a **** and died like a B****. Everyone was expecting her to do the noble thing (like in the cartoon) and help the Titans out against Deathstroke.

The story at the time was quite shocking and a big surprise. But on re-read its not as good. Why? Because Terra starts out as a B***, acts like a b*** and dies like a B***. In a book where Character growth and growing up played such important parts, the lack of Terra's characther growth is shocking. Through the story everyone grew up except her. Dick goes out on his own, giving up the Robin suit to become Nightwing. BeastBoy finds love (well... Sort of), and Wally grows to realize that perhaps Super-heroing isn't for him. All the characters grow and change, except for Terra.

BTW, for more info on what Wolfman thought of terra read Mark Wolfman's introduction to the Judas Contract for the old tpb. He reveals that Terra was a mcGuffin, there simply to betray the Titans. As a result he never really fleshes out her character like Terra was fleshed out in the cartoon.

I agree wholeheartedly. I like the Teen Titans show (not as much as other parts of the DC Animated Universe, but still) and found Terra to be interesting, so I went and read The Judas Contract. I was surprised at how one-dimensional she was in the comic as opposed to the cartoon as you said, as I figured I'd read the comic and start hating how dumbed down the characters were.

Still, I think Terra was one of the highlights of the Teen Titans animated series, and I still really like The Judas Contract. I am interesting in seeing the future DC Direct releases, for sure!