Terra
Publication date: 2008-06-23
Series: Kastor’s Korner
Welcome back to another edition of Demanded Characters. We continue to
take a look at the great characters coming out of the Titans, the theme of
the month. We first looked at a hero: beast boy, then villains: the Wilson
family, so this week we will look at a character that is something of both:
Terra.
Last week most would agree that the modern Ravager, Rose, is a must if you
want to build a modern Titan, and Jericho is a must have for the classic
team; but there was not much love for Grant Wilson.
Read last week’s article
The character of Terra was, from the start, a character meant to get the
public’s attention. The team of Perez and Wolfman were always planning to
kill her and make her as evil as possible, but hard to hate, because she
would fluctuate between good and bad so often. Terra was a character on the
edge, she was under age, sleeping with an adult assassin (Deathstroke),
lying to a group of heroes, and a smoker. Not only was she morally
ambiguous but she bordered on disturbing. As a reader you want to hate her
and be disgusted by Slade’s actions, until you see her interact with Gar,
then you feel sorry for her and want to get her out of the mess she has
been pulled into. Her betrayal was much more personal because of her
connection to the Titans. Wolfman and Perez always planned her to be the
bad girl version of the Snow White Kitty Pryde. Terra turns on the Titans,
revealing her true nature, only to lose control in a fit of madness. She
tried to kill Deathstroke and herself, succeeding only in the latter.
Time would heal the wounds and a new Terra would appear in the DCU. This
new Terra tried to leave the old mantel behind, forging a new reputation of
a true hero. She
thought she was a clone and fought along side the young heroes of the DCU.
Thinking she was only a clone she fought hard to make up for the mistakes
of the former Terra. She would be a hero, until she found out that she
might be the original Terra. She was unsure and tried to redeem her past
self’s mistakes. She again died a tragic death at the hands of Black Atom.
A new Terra briefly appeared alongside Supergirl, but nothing much is
known about this new dark-haired hero taking up the mantel of Terra.
So lets take a look at the outfits we have to choose from to get this
confusing and tragic Titan.
I like to call this costume the “Santa’s little helper”. She looks almost
reindeer-like and, while she was not in this outfit long, it deserves to
be on the list.
Classic Terra is a figure that most of us would agree is a must have for a
Perez era Titans team. Whether you are pitting the Titans against a
villain or recreating the betrayal of the Titans with Slade standing by her
side this version of Terra is a must have for Perez era fans.
The late 80’s and 90’s saw a new Terra, sporting a look that pays homage to
the original costume but adds a leather jacket with pushed up sleeves and
spiky hair leaving the bowl cut behind.
The classic yet updated look that she sports during Infinite Crisis is
something that would look good in a more modern display. Something that I
think DCUC needs to do is make sure that we not only can build a classic
team but I’m sure new readers would love to see the modern Titans answer
the call of Titans together.
The final look we have this week is the most recent look of the hero called
Terra. She is young, scantily clad, and mysterious. Not much is know about
this new Terra.
* Some pictures courtesy of Titian’s Tower and Comic Vine
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