Feb 1985
“We Are Gathered Here Today…”
by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Mike DeCarlo, Dick Giordano, John Costanza, Adrienne Roy, Carol Flynn
The cover says it all. This is the big, double-sized, wedding issue where Donna Troy and Terry Long get married. The wedding takes place at the estate of Changeling’s adopted father, Steve Dayton, the fifth richest man in the world. Gar spends a lot of time and effort trying to make sure everything goes off without a hitch, and for the most part it does.
All of the Teen Titans are present, including former members of the team (Lilith, Mal Duncan, Karen Beecher, Roy Harper), except Raven. There is just one moment that does not have anything to do with the wedding and that is page 8, which shows Raven battling with her emotions as she feels the temptation to follow in her father’s footsteps.
There are a number of other guests who are not regulars in the series. Some of the guests are family to either Donna or Terry. Others are superheroes or former superheroes in civilian attire, the most notable of whom are Diana Prince, Clark Kent, and Bruce Wayne. There are also a number of contributors to the creation and production of the New Teen Titans and Tales of the Teen Titans comic books that are present for the ceremony and the reception.
This issue is filled with lots of little moments. It starts early on the day of the wedding, before the guests have arrived and follows all the way through to the end of the day after the wedding and the reception are over. I was surprised by how many moments got to me. I felt myself tearing up on more than one occasion. Many of the moments don’t involve Donna and Terry.
I never really noticed how odd Donna and Terry seem as a couple until someone pointed it out, decades ago. I’ve never been able to shake that impression from my mind. He is 10 years older then her, divorced, and he has a child with his ex-wife. He doesn’t seem like the sort of guy to pair her with. They are definitely not a standard comic book couple.
George Perez varies the panel layouts as he usually does, to great effect. There are four splash pages but no double page spreads. There are over 30 panels on page 20 which depicts the exchanging of vows. There are eight large rectangular panels on that page which show Donna and Terry exchanging vows. The large panels are surrounded by a border of 26 small panels, each of which depicts the face of one of the attendees reacting to the moment. I recognize some but not all of the 26 faces
It seems like the colors in the collected edition I have are better, in places, than those in the original issue. It may just be my copy of the comic book but the colors seem faded in places or just wrong.
I like this issue a lot more than I thought I would. I don’t recall if I first bought or read it when it was published but I know that I have had it in my collection for a long time. I don’t have any strong recollections of reading it before. I was prepared to be unimpressed.
The Tower
- the letters column gets a new title and a new logo which includes Jericho along with the other six members of the team
- Marv previews the next few issues which will include the return of Cheshire, the trial of the Terminator, plus a number of guest artists including Rich Buckler, Curt Swan, and Dick Giordano
- There is one letter about the demise of Terra and what she meant to the team, although all may not share the letter writer’s opinion of Tara Markov
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