This volume collects several issues from around the middle of Marv Wolfman's and George Perez's acclaimed Teen Titans run. The story mainly concerns the arrival of Terra, a girl with the ability to control earth. After liberating her from the criminals who were holding her parents hostage, the Titans allow her into their ranks on a provisional basis. They're not ready to tell her all their secrets yet - a wise choice, since Terra has some secrets of her own...

This was DC's hot title in the early 1980s, giving Chris Claremont's X-Men a run for its money with large doses of relationship drama and many simultaneous, long-range subplots. It isn't quite as good, but it holds up pretty well for the most part. The hardest sections to get through involved the Brotherhood of Evil, a group of super-powered terrorists led by a brain in a jar. They spout seriously cliche villain dialogue, and half of them do it with a silly accent. I was glad to see them finally go away.

By the end of the book, we begin to learn the truth about Terra, and see the birth of a new antihero. It would just get better after this. ( )