In Meta-Messages, I explore the context behind (using reader danjack's term) "meta-messages." A meta-message is where a comic book creator comments on/references the work of another comic book/comic book creator (or sometimes even themselves) in their comic. Each time around, I'll give you the context behind one such "meta-message." This time around, it is a really weird example as while I can provide the context, I can't tell you what the joke is, really, as it escapes me. Either way, it is a fun bit, though!

Okay, to set the scene, it is 1980. Marv Wolfman, one of Marvel's top writers, has left Marvel in a dispute with Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter over Shooter's new rule that people cannot edit the comic books that they write. Wolfman and Roy Thomas (who also ended up leaving Marvel in a similar dispute) believed that they should be grandfathered in. Both guys had been Editor-in-Chief of Marvel before and they felt that exceptions could be made for them. They were two of Marvel's biggest writers, after all. Shooter wouldn't make exceptions for them and so they both left for DC Comics.

Wolfman has taken on a number of assignments for DC, but one of the seemingly minor ones was a relaunch of the Teen Titans, which Wolfman had written a little bit for in the past before the series had been canceled in 1973. The series had already seen a revival just four years earlier and that revival barely lasted to the end of 1977, so there certainly was not a lot of buzz about this book. However, it had two major things in its favor. It had Wolfman, who was a top writer in the industry and it had one of Marvel's top artists, George Perez, who had worked with Wolfman on Fantastic Four and agreed to draw this new book. The industry was shocked, though, by this new book, which introduced a group of new heroes to join Robin, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash in a new Teen Titans (the new heroes were Starfire, Cyborg and Raven, plus a revamped Beast Boy named Changeling), selling really well right off the bat and then actually growing in sales! It was essentially a "Marvel" approach to a DC property and it went over really, really well.

It was soon DC's highest-selling comic book series and was possibly the best selling comic book period in the early years of the 1980s. So everyone was paying attention to this book.

In the second issue (by Wolfman, Perez and finisher Romeo Tanghal), we met a new character known as Deathstroke the Terminator...

And yes, right off the bat, everyone thought that this guy was super-cool.

It turns out that a young punk kid named Grant Wilson took the contract in place of the Terminator and he got his powers, sort of. This new villain attacked the Titans but was defeated easily. The Terminator saved him, but the kid was not grateful...

The Terminator felt he was duty-bound to team up with the young punk, but things went horribly wrong and yep, sure enough, the kid was the Terminator's son!

So that set up a rivalry between the Terminator and the Titans. It was a really big rivalry at the time. So big that Chris Claremont, whose X-Men run with John Byrne was a clear influence upon the New Teen Titans, decided to make a sort of joke about the new character in an issue of Spider-Woman...

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Deathstroke and the Terminators. For serious!']

A little while back, I wrote about Bree Morrel, a character that Claremont introduced during his run on Spider-Woman with artist Steve Leialoha. I noted at the time that her first appearance was notable for another reason and, well, here is that reason!

Spider-Woman #39 (by Claremont, Leialoha and Bob Wiacek) sees Jessica Drew's boyfriend, David Ishima, framed for the murder of his boss. When he investigates, he doesn't know that Jessica is tailing him and they are both captured and learn that the actual murderer was Deathstroke...and the Terminators!!

It's obviously a joke about Deathstroke the Terminator, who debuted about six months before this issue came out, but I can't seem to get what the joke is precisely...

She then drops him up with the cops (including Bree Morrel, introduced in the same issue). Maybe that last bit is the joke? "You're not the best?" Maybe it's a friendly bit of gamesmanship about New Teen Titans versus Marvel? I dunno. If anyone has any thoughts, feel free to share 'em!

Also, if anyone else has a suggestion for a future Meta-Messages, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!