He was not Donna's history professor. Donna was not a college student at all (at least not during that era), but was already a professional photographer. She said he didn't know how old she was at first. This is not the first time I've seen the idea he was her teacher, and I'd like to know where the idea comes from - was it retconned in later? I'd really like a source on it. Or to find out if it's fanon like Stephanie-Brown-raised-in-poverty-in-Crime-Alley when she really had a house in suburbs.Terry was always problematic from the fact that he was Donna’s college professor when they started dating to him hitting on Kory right in front of Donna. I don’t think he was character assassinated so much as DC just realized all the issues with him.
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And he made a comment about Kory's looks at one time and kissed her hand another, but did not actually hit on her (I found those comments somewhere from cheesy-to-skeevy, but everyone else seemed to find them charming) that I recall - he was not trying to get anywhere with her. Now, Roy hit on Kory, even though he knew she was dating Dick. I found that distateful, too, but that's just the way it went. Same with sexual harassment from Gar and Kory (towards Dick early on when he said he wasn't interested). There was a 10 year age gap, but there was 8 years between Vic and Sarah Charles, and they are adults. Not my preferred age gap on fictional couples, but hardly earth-shattering. Maybe less than Bruce and Talia.
Doesn't work for me. It was a significant plot point that Superboy thought Tana treated him like a kid - he even talked about her calling him "Kid." That entire dynamic falls flat to me if Tana is a teenager - he cannot reasonably perceive her to be treating him like a child if she is his peer. I get that it doesn't matter to you, but that's a really, really important part for me. As I said, it's the most interesting part of Tana's storyline for me. Elsewise, she's just a generic reporter - nothing wrong with her, but nothing stand out, either.I don’t think you need to have them both be adults to see the difference between how they treat Kon. One genuinely cares for him the other was trying to make him a villain.
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That's the biggie to me - not that Tana is good and Knockout evil. But how he perceived the treatment from each of them in terms of how they treated him. One who told him to study and one who told him to have fun. One for whom sex was very much on the table (only convenient interruptions stopped it from going that far) and one for whom it was not. Not that it was all about getting laid for Kon - I mean, he could have found someone to sleep with him easily enough. But that he perceived Knockout as treating him as an equal and "adult" and respecting him instead of talking down to him. And of course that was completely wrong. He read into her what he wanted to see - she didn't even pretend to be good. But the thing is for me, when he's on that edge and choosing between them (ultimately choosing Knockout), they need to both be adults for that storyline to play out like it did. And I liked how it played out a lot. My fix for a reboot might actually be less romantic involvement from Tana. Maybe a kiss when he was going to die, then a withdrawal from him after he got better. Seeing him with another grown woman when Knockout pursues might really drive home to Tana that despite any attraction, this is not something to be pursued. And then that would further exaggerate him thinking Tana perceives him as a kid (which she would and should, though she still respects him, actually).
But if you want them more involved, his post-stopped-aging insecurities also work a bit better with Tana as adult, too.