TITLE: Tales of the Teen Titans Issue #45
YEAR: August 1984
COMPANY: DC Comics
Co-Creators/Co-Editors: Marv Wolfman & George Perez
Finisher: Mike DeCarlo
Letterer: Ben Oda
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
It was not long after Tara had been killed and the betrayal on the team hit the Teen Titans pretty hard. But because she was a former Teen Titan, they decided to have her buried as a hero, not as a villain to prevent any problems that may come with her being revealed as the traitor of the group.
Garlfield is having a hard time dealing with Tara’s death and that he had been used, that he has been lashing out and Wally, has a health secret that he has kept secret and he is hurt that no one invited him to Tara’s funeral and that he was replaced so quickly.
For issue #45, it starts out with Aqualad in terrible shape. His beloved Tula is dying and they need to get to water quickly. But as they arrived to the Teen Titans HQ, no one is there and with a little bit of strength, Aqualad tries to carry her to the pool area to no avail.
As Garfield pursues criminals, he goes on the attack by killing (or severely maiming one of them) by chomping on one’s neck as a doberman. He then turns into an elephant and tries to crush one of the criminals but stopping him is Cyborg, who tells him that Teen Titans never kill.
But Garfield tells him that rules are meant to be broken.
But the two argue and how everyone is too busy to be around him since the death of Tara and Cyborg realizes that no one wanted to talk about what happened and that before finding out about Tara, they were a family. But now, things are not going so well.
Meanwhile Donna is trying to get permission to marry a human and wonders if she would have to surrender her Amazon power (this issue features Dianna Prince aka Wonder Woman), we see how Raven is still trying to avoid human contact but she feels solace in being with Joseph.
But everyone in the Titans receive a distress signal and when they arrive, they see Dick Grayson trying to revive Aqualad and his girlfriend.
What happened to Aqualad and Tula and who is responsible?
Overall, another wonderful issue of “Tales of the Teen Titans”, continuing to show the fallout after the Judas Contract storyline. Things have not been the same with the Titans after that and emotions are still raw. But unfortunately, the H.I.V.E. is back to cause problems and the only way to deal with this problem is taking it head on.
Another wonderful issue of “Tales of the Teen Titans” by Marv Wolfman and George Perez!