Tales of the New Teen Titans 4

Tales of the New Teen Titans 4
Sep 1982

Starfire
by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Ernie Colón

Starfire has been a bit of a mystery up to this point. There has been very little revealed information about her. The biggest reveal (prior to this issue) was in New Teen Titans 1 when she crash landed on Earth. Her future teammates, the other Titans, helped her fight off Gordanians who were trying to recapture or kill her. In the roughly 18 months since then Raven, Wonder Girl, and Changeling have had spotlight arcs on their past but there has been little to nothing about Starfire. Cyborg is the only other of the “new” New Teen Titans not get a spotlight arc although his past has been spotlighted to a greater degree than Starfire’s has up to this point.

Starfire tells the story of her past, before she came to Earth. She grew up on Tamaran. Her father was the king. Komand’r, her older sister resented Koriand’r and had an evil streak in her that did not fade as they grew older. Once they were old enough they were sent to Okaara to study with the Warlords of Okaara. Both were excellent students but Komand’r was expelled for excessive cruelty and not exemplifying the lessons she was taught. She did not return home but instead betrayed Tamaran to the Citadel, which had been at war off and on with Tamaran for over a century.

The Citadel defeated the Tamaranians with the help of Komand’r. In return Koriand’r was given to her sister as a slave. Koriand’r remained a slave for 6 years during which time her sister did everything in her power to break her spirit. Before Koriand'r regained her freedom, both sisters were captured and experimented on by the Psions, a cruel scientific race which was at war with the Citadel. Starfire and her sister gained starbolt powers as a result of the experimentation. They escaped from the Psions but there was no reconciliation to be had between the two sisters. Komand’r still despised her sister.

The story ends with a very brief account of how Starfire arrived on Earth a few months moths later.

There is an amazing amount of information packed in this issue. George Perez does a wonderful job laying it out and making it a pleasure to read.

Young versions of two of the future Omega Men (Primus, Kalista) make cameo appearances in one of the scenes where Koriand'r and Kommand'r were training with the Warlords of Okaara.

This is very much a prequel to the story that runs through New Teen Titans (1980) 23-25 and concludes in Annual 1. The annual was the first issue I remember buying and reading of New Teen Titans. It wasn’t until about 2012 that I went back and bought and read the first 3 installments in that story. I didn’t realize then the importance of this issue at that time.