Teen Titans Academy #1

Teen Titans Academy #1DC Comics 2021

Written by Tim Sheridan

Pencilled by Rafa Sandoval

Inked by Jordi Tarragona

Coloured by Alejandro Sanchez

Lettered by Rob Leigh

Welcome to Teen Titans Academy! Packed with both new, super-powered teens and numerous dark secrets, Teen Titans Academy’s student body includes Shazam; a new Australian speedster; a trio of Goth(am) teen expatriates obsessed with Batman-and one member of this first class will become the deadly Red X. Original New Teen Titans including Nightwing, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy take on the role of teachers and mentors for superpowered teens. Their goal: to shape the next generation of heroes.

First thing about this that i noticed, after comparing to Avengers Academy, is the new and improved Starfire. Headmistress, not at all flighty and has her act together in a way that I personally have longed to see ever since her debut in the 80’s. It is a refreshing change of pace and honestly I do wish that Garth, Lilith, Karen and Mal were also faculty here and that they would play on the first black superheroes in comics here as well. The Original Teen Titans had such a diverse cast of characters with Hawk & Dove, Flamebird, Harlequin (Duela Dent), Golden Eagle, Tula and Gnaark so I sincerely hope that in this new reality we’ll see them all make guest appearances and take the kids on field trips. I mean the possibilities are infinite.

I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is laid down exceptionally well. From the opening to seeing and meeting the inaugural class to learning about how the current team fits into the grand scheme of things what we see is a well thought out and executed sequence of events. I will also say don’t knock the old villains, Clock King may ot be as scary but then neither was Dr. Light when the Titans went up against him. The character development that we see is extremely nice to see as well. The dialogue is fantastic and as we get to know bits and pieces about the kids it leaves us wanting to know more. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the characters and the story it manages to bring us full circle.

The interiors here are fantastic. Sure what we see is classic comic book style stuff and at times it can be interchangeably generic but given time this team will tighten that up and we’ll see Donna as Donna, which on page 13 she’s not immediately recognisable. I will say that I am pretty impressed with the fact that the pencils and inks look like the work of one person and that’s saying something about the skill and talent that we see. I would like to see backgrounds be utilised more, if one person is doing the pencils and another the inks there is no reason to flesh out the Titans Tower and really give us a sense of what this place is and what it means to be there. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a solid eye for storytelling. The colour work is fantastic! How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is exceptional stuff.

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That it’s Dick Grayson, who regardless of what anyone thinks, who is in charge should come as no surprise and if there are going to be teachers at an Academy. After all teenage sidekicks who are all grown up, who would know how the kids feel better than they do. Though it does remind me of Mr. Jupiter in a way and that I can be reminded of the past as the future is a wide open place it gives me hope that the Titans can rise once more and become something great again. DC definitely got this one right and with the creators as well.