Terra (comics) - Publication History

Publication History

The character was created with an intended finite life span. Co-creator Pérez states, "from the very start, that this girl was going to be a traitor and that we were going to kill this character off." When creating the look of the character, Pérez noted that:

I wanted her to be cute but not beautiful. She looked like a young girl. I gave her a substantial overbite, her eyes were wide, her body was slim, she wasn't particularly busty. I wanted her to look almost elfin, so that when you see her for the first time wearing full-make up and dressed in a provocative outfit where you know she's just been in bed with Deathstroke that it does jab you a bit."whoa good god! This little girl is a slut!"

A new Terra appeared in Supergirl #12 while a Terra limited series was being developed, written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, with illustrations by Amanda Conner. Gray commented about the series, "Terra as a character has never had a definitive origin. That includes Terra 1 and 2. This mini will address that fact in some surprising ways and open the door to a new corner of the DCU. Aside from that the emphasis will be on heroism, true blue hero stuff." Palmiotti later stated, "Terra is an enigma for obvious reasons. Every hero in the DCU is in the dark about who she is and why she’s doing what she’s doing, which is running around the planet saving and helping people. We’ve been working with Terra for months and months trying to find and develop what’s special about her. In the end, it was a very simple angle, make Terra a superhero with plenty of emphasis on heroism. Everything she does is to help other people and in the service of life." The 4-issue miniseries was temporarily shelved for a number of reasons, until its biweekly publication spanning November and December 2008. The new Terra previously appeared in Teen Titans #52-54 as part of "The Titans of Tomorrow...Today!" storyline and in the first issue of the Terror Titans limited series. Following this, she briefly appeared in Teen Titans #69 in the climax of the recruitment drive storyline, and became a supporting character in the ongoing Power Girl series.