Tales of the Teen Titans #43
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeTales of the Teen Titans #43 is the second chapter of 'The Judas Contract,' widely regarded as the defining story arc of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez's celebrated New Teen Titans run — a run that made the title one of DC's most popular books of the early 1980s. This issue delivers the first full appearance of Joseph Wilson (Jericho), Deathstroke's mute son whose body-possession power and gentle nature offered a deliberate thematic counterpoint to his villainous father, and simultaneously introduces Adeline Kane-Wilson as a fully realized character who reframes Deathstroke's entire backstory. The entire 'Judas Contract' arc, of which this is the pivotal setup chapter, won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book Story of 1984, and the narrative beats seeded here — Terra's betrayal confirmed, the Titans captured, Dick Grayson on the run and about to reinvent himself — made the story a template for how superhero comics could sustain long-form, morally complex plotting across an extended cast.
In "The Judas Contract Book 2: Betrayal!", Dick Grayson faces a terrifying ambush in his civilian guise, barely escaping the relentless Terminator. With the Teen Titans captured and delivered to H.I.V.E., Dick must race against time to uncover the truth behind the betrayal—before it’s too late. Written by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, with dynamic art by Pérez and inks by Dick Giordano and Mike DeCarlo, this pivotal issue delivers high stakes and relentless tension. The cover, by George Pérez, captures the moment of dread with striking precision.
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The issue went on sale February 21, 1984 with a June 1984 cover date, and was written and co-plotted by Marv Wolfman with co-plotting and pencils by George Pérez; inking duties were shared between Mike DeCarlo and Dick Giordano, with coloring by Adrienne Roy and lettering by Ben Oda. Both Wolfman and Pérez served as co-editors on the arc, with Janice Race as associate editor and Dick Giordano as executive editor. The character of Jericho had been gestating for years: Wolfman had settled on the name from an unused earlier Titans story and conceived of the character as Deathstroke's son, while Pérez co-designed him as part of a conscious effort to establish the team's own identity separate from the Justice League — what Pérez called avoiding a 'Justice Little League.' The issue was produced as the original New Teen Titans title had just been renamed Tales of the Teen Titans to free up the New Teen Titans banner for a concurrent higher-quality Baxter-paper edition, meaning 'The Judas Contract' was effectively the grand finale of the newsstand series before that structural shift.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First full appearance of Joseph Wilson / Jericho (son of Deathstroke), created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez — a mute metahuman with the power to possess other people's bodies through direct eye contact.
- First full appearance of Adeline Kane-Wilson, Deathstroke's ex-wife and mother of Joseph, who reveals to Dick Grayson the full scope of Terra's betrayal and Deathstroke's secret history.
- Story title: 'The Judas Contract: Book Two — Betrayal!' Written and co-plotted by Marv Wolfman; co-plotted and penciled by George Pérez; inked by Mike DeCarlo and Dick Giordano; colored by Adrienne Roy.
- The issue went on sale February 21, 1984, carrying a June 1984 cover date.
- Deathstroke methodically neutralizes each Titan using individually tailored traps — a letter bomb for Starfire, drugged darkroom chemicals for Wonder Girl, an electrified chair for Cyborg, and poisoned envelope glue exploiting Changeling's vanity — before delivering them all to the H.I.V.E.'s Rocky Mountain headquarters.
- Dick Grayson is the sole Titan to escape capture, here functioning entirely without a costumed identity; his encounter with Adeline and Joseph at Titans Tower sets the stage for him to adopt the Nightwing identity in the following issue (#44).
- The 'Judas Contract' storyline, which this issue is the centerpiece chapter of, won the 1984 Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book Story.
- This issue has been reprinted in: The New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract trade paperback (first published December 1988, with subsequent editions in 2003 and 2017); The New Teen Titans Omnibus Vol. 2 (2012) and Vol. 3 (2018); and DC Finest: Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (April 2025).
Cast · 11 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Terminator attacks Dick Grayson in his secret identity. Dick escapes and learns that the Terminator and Terra have captured the rest of the Teen Titans and delivered them to H.I.V.E.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
Key issues in Tales of the Teen Titans
Variants (2)
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