Over the decades since they first appeared the Teen Titans have been through a lot, with the original line-up, and many of the second generation members moving out of their adolescence and into adulthood, even taking on different personas. It's a book that sees a lot of change as the characters move on and the universe around them alters, so making a big change like having the Titans open a school for young heroes feel like not only a logical step, but a brilliant new energy to the series.
One of the things that makes this title so good is that it's essentially DC creating their own version of the X-Men. It's a school for young powered individuals to come and learn the craft of being a hero, whilst some core members of the institute go out in bright costumes and save the day. It might not be the most original thing, but it's a dynamic I like, and one that the X-Men aren't even doing anymore, so it's filling a void really.
Here the people in charge of the academy are the original members of the team, Starfire, Nightwng, Donna Troy, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg. These former teens, now just Titans are the teachers, the ones who are making it their mission to help the new generation of heroes; whilst the previous incarnation of the Teen Titans, with characters like Crush, Red Arrow, and Kid Flash are upper class-men, and still go out on missions between lessons.
Coming in fresh is a new batch of young heroes, and they're an interesting bunch. There's Gorilla Gregg, Tooby, and Stitch to name just a few. The new group are mostly unknowns, and gives writer Tim Sheridan a lot of room to do new and interesting things, and take the series in new directions. And these kids seem like a nice bunch for the most part, even from the brief time we get with them here. As much as I'm looking forward to seeing how the Red X mystery unfolds I'm just as excited to get to know these kids more. Especially Stitch, something about them has really grabbed me.
The one thing in the book that doesn't seem to work for me at the moment, and might not even after a while, is how the faculty staff have their titles before their super hero names. There's Miss Starfire, Mr Nightwing, and Mister Beast Boy; all of which just sounds really, really weird. I understand that these heroes probably don't want to just out their identities to these kids, and want a degree of respect shown to them, but Mr Beast Boy just sounds bad. I'm hoping this is something that won't last for long, and the kids will just call them by their hero names instead.
The first issue of Teen Titans Academy has a lot of work to do, it introduces a new status quo for the team, brings in a host of new characters, and tries to give us a taste of how this school will be going forward, all whilst setting up a mystery that's going to be an important part of the first story arc. Despite juggling all these balls it manages to make it a really interesting and entertaining issue, and that's not an easy thing with so much stuff going on.
I've always liked the Teen Titans and the Titans, and love this concept of turning them into teachers for the next generation. The series seems to be wanting to try new things, whilst also acknowledging things from the history of these characters. It's fresh and familiar at the same time, and has a lot of charm. Plus, any book that has non-binary characters in it, and calls out JK Rowling for being 'problematic' is always going to get extra points too.
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