Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3
Published and © by DC, 1984
Title: “Finale!”
Synopsis: Nightwing and Jericho race to save the Titans from H.I.V.E. – but can the team survive the traitor in its midst?
Writers (co-plotters): Marv Wolfman and George Pérez
Writer (script): Wolfman
Penciler: Pérez
Inkers: Mike DeCarlo and Dick Giordano
Review: DC’s “The Judas Contract” (see reviews) is often compared to the X-Men’s “Dark Phoenix Saga” (see reviews). And for good reason: Both tales offer peak work from classic creative teams, and both serve as high-water marks for the Bronze Age. More importantly, both tales wrestle with deeply human themes including power, corruption, agency and desire. But, by the writer’s design, Tara Markov’s story is ultimately an exploration of evil. In the end, where Phoenix chose heroism and self-sacrifice, Terra is subsumed by her own darkness. The result is a powerful-but-uncomfortable tale both unique and familiar.
Grade: A
Second opinion: “(Marv) Wolfman made no excuses, gave no reason, and made (Terra’s) end, her consumption with hatred for everything, a terrible, sick, twisted thing.” – Martin Crookall, Fantasy Advertiser #89 and Worlds Collide #9, February 1985 … “Virtually the swan song for this incarnation of the Titans. … Recommended.” – The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide (second edition), 2003
Cool factor: The cover is short of iconic …
Not-so-cool factor: … but this splash page certainly is.
Notable: Indica lists this issue as Teen Titans Annual #3. … Death of Terra. … Jericho joins the Teen Titans.
Collector’s note: According to the Grand Comics Database, there is a $1.50 Canadian variant of this issue, as well as a 2020 Dollar Comics edition.
Character quotable: “No one controls me. Not Slade and certainly not you.” – Tara Markov, tapping her inner Leslie Gore
Editor’s note: This review was written May 23, 2025.
