15 DC Comics Graphic Novels You Must Read Before You Die
9. The Judas Contract (New Teen Titans)
During the 1980's, The New Teen Titans was one best selling comics on the market and was often compared to Marvel's juggernaut The Uncanny X-Men (not to be confused with Juggernaut, unstoppable master of memes). The story that pretty much defined that entire era was The Judas Contract.
The story established a lot of cornerstones of the Teen Titans, such as Robin taking up the Nightwing identity and showing Deathstroke as a truly devious mastermind. It also helped set the tone of the series our team of bright and energetic young heroes go through a pretty traumatic ordeal.
A lot of the story's darkness comes from Terra herself. She isn't a damsel in distress, forced to betray her friends; she is even crueller and more sadistic than Deathstroke himself, gleefully betraying the team for her lover and inadvertently crushing herself to death while trying to kill them. Adding to the tragedy is Beast Boy's unrequieted love for Terra and his unflinching belief throughout the story that she can be redeemed.
And yes, the previous paragraph did just mention that the teenage girl was bumping uglies with a man old enough to be her grandfather. The Judas Contract is really good, but it's also just a little bit icky.