The Judas Contract disturbed me. Which was almost assuredly the point

 I recently read The New Teen Titans - The Judas Contract for the first time. I went in knowing that it was a very important story in the run that defined the Teen Titans, even though the team had been around since 1964. I also I knew it was controversial. And I also knew the basic plot lol

It was like watching The Usual Suspects or Fight Club in 2025. The twists are well known, even if you haven’t seen them.

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The Teen Titans have brought the very young and very powerful (and very unstable) Terra onto the team. Unfortunately, she is the partner and lover of their nemesis Deathstroke the Terminator. She helps get them captured by an evil organization. When they inevitably break free, she completely loses it and accidentally kills herself in her meltdown.

Oh, where to start.

The storyline is where Dick Grayson, the original Robin transitions to Nightwing, which is a huge deal. It introduces Jericho, a mainstay of the Titans for a while.

But the real point is Terra.

I read the 2017 edition and Marv Wolfman wrote in the introduction that their goal was to make Terra the anti-Kitty Pryde, which is wild to me. That seems incredibly specific and potentially petty.

And the character is either clearly designed to be disturbing or Wolfman and Perez have some serious issues. Or both.

Terra has many child-like design elements. A page girl haircut, a slight overbite, a small frame. At the same time, she many troubling unchildlike behaviors. She smokes, which in 1984 meant you were either a bad guy or Wolverine. She’s a minor in a physical relationship with Deathstroke who is old enough to be her dad. And she’s really eager to kill people.

In fact, you can read Deathstroke as the victim in the relationship. Which is really problematic. Beast Boy/Changljng is also depicted as the victim in their interactions, even though he treats her terribly. (This is easily the nastiest version of Beast Boy I’ve read)

Most striking of all, in a series that had a lot of focus on character development, both Raven the empath and the literal narrator explicitly state there is no reason for her to be a bad guy. She’s just evil. Wow.

It’s easy to invoke misogyny but I think it’s appropriate In this case.

The Judas Contract is striking. If I’d have read it in 1984 when it came out, it would have knocked me off my feet. I can see why is still remembered forty years later. However, I cannot get over how… problematic it is. And how intentional that choice was.