This series had dropped the "Teen" from its name, but Marv Wolfman was still writing very Claremontian stories with equal parts sci-fi action and soap opera. Annual #6 was particularly well done. It was a space opera story approaching the length of three regular issues, 53 pages split into three chapters with art by Paris Cullins, Curt Swan, and Tom Grindberg respectively.
Chapter One (by Cullins) explains the origin of the alien princess Xyannis of Tamaran. It's basically Red Sonja in space. When the planet Tamaran is conquered by Gordian invaders, one nobleman shoots his daughter to space in a rocket to escape the devastation, a la Jor El. She's found by junk traders, sold as chattel on the planet Junkworld, and endures years of sexual slavery. She finally ends up the property of an ambitious thief who treats her as an equal and exploits her powers to threaten the infrastructure of Junkworld. Failing to foment a revolution, she flees back to her birth planet of Tamaran, playing the part of a persecuted refugee. A war breaks out between Tamaran and Junkworld. Quite a lengthy prologue!
Chapter Two (by Swan) draws the Titans into the conflict. The main character drama concerns Starfire being in love with Nightwing but also royally married to the Tamaran prince Karras, the brother of Xyannis. Her sexual relationship with both men is no big deal on her planet but quite difficult for Dick Grayson to stomach, moreso since Karras is a nice guy. Karras also has a Tamaran concubine that he loves more than Starfire. Anyway, the Junkworld invasion of Tamaran is repelled, but the Titans realize that Xyannis is not the innocent victim that she pretends to be.
Chapter Three (by Grindberg) is the showdown, culminating in a duel between the siblings Xyannis and Karras. Both of them end up getting killed by Xyannis' thief lover, who also dies. But at least Starfire reconciles with her sister Blackfire, whom she must admit is doing an excellent job ruling Tamaran. That relationship has major overtones of the rivalry between the Shi'ar space princesses Lilandra and Deathbird in X-Men stories; one gets the impression that Claremont and Wolfman followed each other's work closely. (The 1986 Transformers movie also prominently featured a junkyard planet.)
This page comes early in Chapter Three. Karras has just challenged his sister Xyannis to ritual combat. If he wins, she will reveal the location of bombs she has planted to destroy Junkworld, in revenge for the constant rape she suffered as a teen, though Wolfman doesn't say so outright.
Grindberg does a good job emulating the Perez style which made this series DC's flagship for a while. The hatching on Al Vey's inks suggest that the Image style was having an impact even before Image Comics formed in 1992. Tamaran is all about beautiful men and women wearing next to nothing, supposedly because their planet is so humid, but also because it’s a trope of the “barbarians on alien worlds” theme of Space Opera. Blackfire appears in panels one and five. Panel four is Xyannis' thief lover.
