In a continuity of almost fifty years at this time, some errors are going to occur and most readers understand this and let the minor things go.

Some flubs are too huge to let go however and they necessitate a fix if you will.

In early stories prior to the Teen Titans appearing, Wonder Girl, was actually Wonder Woman as a girl.  So, Diana Prince had adventures as a teenager prior to leaving Paradise Island and becoming Wonder Woman.  The stories of Superboy being so successful, this was a no brainer right?

Well, when the Teen Titans came along it was Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash at first and then Wonder Girl joined them.  The problem with this?  Wonder Woman was already active in the DCU and fighting alongside contemporaries like Superman and Batman, while this Wonder Girl was fairly new and is a member of the sidekick generation about the same age as Robin and the others.

The solution, a little sister named Donna Troy.  Donna being close to Diana and Troy, one of the famed areas of Greek mythos and for a long time no one seemed to mind that Donna’s origin story was rather, well, unfleshed out.

Donna was discovered as a baby in a burning building along with two dead bodies. Donna was saved by Wonder Woman and after a thorough search to determine if there were any relatives turned up fruitless, Diana took the orphaned girl to Paradise Island and there the Amazons blessed her with their own strength and talents via the Purple Ray of Healing.  Raised as a “little sister” to Diana, Donna is the ersatz heir to the Wonder Woman mantle.

When it came time for Donna to get married, the story took a turn that most individuals who are adopted get to at one point or another.  Where do I come from?  What happened to my parents?  Do I have any family out there?

Enter, Robin, in his last official detective story as he tries to put the pieces of Donna’s life back together again and give her some peace.

It is determined by Robin’s hard work that the two individuals in the fire with Donna were not her parents, but were part of a baby selling racket.  Instead, what had happened was Donna’s original mother was a woman named Donna Hinkley, she gave birth to Donna but was forced to put her up for adoption as she was dying and could not care for the child.

Donna was adopted by Carl and Fay Stacey, who were forced to give her up for adoption again when Carl was severely injured in a workplace accident.  After the years had gone by Fay had remarried to a man named Hank Evans and had two other children named Cindy and Jerry.

Just repeating that story reminds me of all the episodes of talk shows where adopted kids are reuninted with their parents, however, what really is striking about this story and what brings to mind why comics is a co-storytelling process is the artwork of George Perez.

Most aspiring comics artists learn to draw heroes, villains, explosions, and striking scenes of outer space daring do.  It is those little moments, those moments when there is no action that truly shows the talent of the comics artist.

Right away from this cover you can tell this is not going to be an ordinary story.  No villains fighting, just Robin standing solitary in a burnt out building, his costume mostly concealed by his trench coat, and posters of Donna Troy as she was in her debut and as she is now.  The colors used are muted and the inks are heavy giving a sense of foreboding to the story.  Romeo Tanghal and Adrienne Roy were the inker and colorist for this issue among many Titans issues and here their work truly does shine through.

And I cannot add anything to that, except to say, this is not the end of Donna’s origin, not by a long shot.

Next Up:  Is this the End of Kid Flash and Robin?  Yes.  Yes it is.