Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3
Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3 is the thunderous finale of 'The Judas Contract,' one of the most consequential storylines in DC's Bronze-to-Copper Age transition — a story that won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book Story of 1984 and permanently reshaped the Titans line. The issue delivers the second in-costume appearance of Dick Grayson as Nightwing and the first time Jericho uses his possession power in battle alongside the Titans, immediately earning him full team membership. Terra's self-destruction — brought on by her own unhinged rage rather than any heroic act by her enemies — set a new standard for how mainstream superhero comics could handle genuine, irredeemable villainy within a found-family narrative. The arc's conclusion also served as the launch pad for an entire publishing restructuring at DC, as the direct-market edition of New Teen Titans (vol. 2) debuted immediately after this issue's release.
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The story was written and co-edited by Marv Wolfman, with George Pérez serving simultaneously as penciller, co-editor, and cover artist — an unusually concentrated creative partnership that defined the Wolfman–Pérez era. For the Annual specifically, Pérez's pencils were inked by Mike DeCarlo and Dick Giordano (with Romeo Tanghal handling portions of the broader arc), and colored by Adrienne Roy, with lettering by Ben Oda. According to accounts surrounding the creation of Jericho, Pérez conceived the character's design, powers, and mute personality largely on his own after Wolfman supplied only the basic concept of Deathstroke having a second son — making Jericho one of the few characters Pérez claims as a personal creation. The Annual shipped on April 26, 1984, despite carrying a July 1984 cover date, closing out the storyline that had begun in Tales of the Teen Titans #42.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published April 26, 1984 (cover-dated July 1984) by DC Comics; written and co-edited by Marv Wolfman, pencilled and co-edited by George Pérez, inked by Mike DeCarlo and Dick Giordano, colored by Adrienne Roy.
- Presents the second in-costume appearance of Dick Grayson as Nightwing, immediately following his debut in Tales of the Teen Titans #44.
- Serves as the formal introduction of Jericho (Joseph Wilson) as an active superhero: he possesses his own father Deathstroke's body during battle, frees the captive Titans, and is invited to join the team by the issue's end.
- Death of Terra (Tara Markov): she loses control of her earth-manipulation powers in a rage, causing the H.I.V.E. mountain facility to collapse around her; her death is presented as self-inflicted rather than heroic, a deliberately subversive storytelling choice.
- The Outsiders (Batman, Black Lightning, Geo-Force, Halo, Katana, Metamorpho) appear at Terra's funeral alongside the Titans; the Titans deceive Geo-Force into believing his sister died heroically.
- Introduces Adeline Kane-Wilson as a recurring supporting character: Deathstroke's ex-wife, mother of Jericho, whose backstory with Slade Wilson is elaborated across the arc.
- 'The Judas Contract' as a whole won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book Story of 1984, and the entire storyline was first collected as a standalone trade paperback in 1988.
- Reprinted in: New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract TPB (1988, with subsequent editions in 2003 and 2017), The New Teen Titans Omnibus Vol. 2 (2012), Teen Titans: A Celebration of 50 Years (2015), and DC Finest: Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2025).
Cast · 35 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
The Titans learn the truth behind Terra and defeat the H.I.V.E's plans.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).