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11/03/2003: 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.
