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Roy Harper and Wally West’s return marks two more members of the original team in the Academy’s roster, and the final missing member just made a splash.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Teen Titans Academy #9, on sale now from DC Comics.
Teen Titans Academy #8 saw the original Titan and current Flash, Wally West, rejoin the team. That same issue ended with yet another original member of the Teen Titans returning: Roy Harper. Though Wally and Roy’s reunion brings closure to their Heroes in Crisis stories and reunites them with their friends on the original Teen Titans roster, there’s still one member of the very first team missing. While everyone is focusing on the big reunion going on, they get caught off guard by another old friend, one who finally brings together all the members of the original team.
Stitches had a special surprise for the teaching staff old and new in Teen Titans Academy #9 (by Tim Sheridan, Mike Norton, Hi-Fi, and Rob Leigh). During the homecoming dance, she showed the teachers just how far she took the “Enchantment Under the Sea” theme. As a large body of flowing water filled with fish magically hangs above everyone’s heads, a huge surprise emerges from the blue.
Aquaman’s former sidekick and magical prodigy Tempest sprung forth to surprise his friends. Stitches had arranged for Garth to come and surprise the Titans and it looks like he might be joining them as one of the teaching staff. With the original Aqualad on board, alongside Roy and Wally’s return too, that brings all five of the original Teen Titans onto the Academy’s team.
The original Aqualad was created by Robert Bernstein and Ramona Fradon with his first appearance in the 1960’s Adventure Comics #269. His grown-up mystical alter ego debuted in the 1996 Tempest series and was created by Phil Jimenez. He’s kept a low profile recently with this being his first reappearance in some time. After the original Titans reunited in Rebirth, he returned to Atlantis and was last seen helping the Justice League Dark by defending his underwater home from Merlin’s devastating attack.
The rest of the Titans are clearly surprised by his return to the team, but they’re not exactly the most excited to see him. For starters, he got them all pretty wet and they didn’t seem very happy about that, especially after having gotten all dressed up for Homecoming. Garth also hasn’t always been the most appreciated as a member of the Teen Titans in the past. In fact, Roy Harper replaced the character in the original run, as he was deemed to be more interesting than the aquatic sidekick.
That trend of Tempest being underappreciated continued here. When he saw Roy Harper again for the first time in forever, he wasn’t overcome with joy in the same way that the rest of his friends were. He casually asked where he had been, which basically confirmed that Garth had no idea what had happened to the archer at Sanctuary. This could mean that none of the Titans reached out to Garth to tell him that one of his oldest friends was dead. Considering how big the deaths at Sanctuary were to the entire superhero community, it stands to reason that Aquaman didn’t even let his former protege know about the tragic news either.
Throughout the rest of the issue, this running joke is maintained, with Cyborg expressing how great it is to have Roy back while he completely ignored Garth. It looks like, even if he does join the staff as Mr. Tempest, then he’ll keep being ignored by his friends. Perhaps after that, he’ll leave and fade back into obscurity once again.
For now though, even if they don’t really want him there, he’s a part of the Teen Titans Academy. How long that will be the case is anyone’s guess but, at the very least, it reunites the original members of the team. Plus, it gives the pupils of the superhero school the full rosters of two of the Titans’ most iconic teams to learn from.
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