The Obscurity of DC Club Presents: Obscure Book Club, Week 2 (Sunday, Feb 13 - Saturday, Feb 19) -- Tempest!

Hey everyone and welcome to Obscurity of DC’s second week of the Obscure Book Club. Our next book (and Valentine’s Day special) will be…

TEMPEST!!!
AGE SUGGESTION: 12+

Number of issues: 4

In this series, a recently retired Aqualad, Garth, is faced with the task of finding his true power, to help him find himself. But when Garth’s supposed-to-be-dead girlfriend shows up, he gets a bit distracted. Will Garth get his powers in time to defeat the great evil that has flooded the seas? Or will he watch as everything he once knew gets destroyed?

Some discussion questions:

  1. Who do you think should Garth end up with: Letifos or Tula?
  2. Do you think Tula is the same as she was before her death? Why or why not?
  3. Did you like Letifos more, or Tula more? Why?
  4. If you were in Garth’s place, how would you react when Letifos told you her thoughts about Tula?
  5. What was your favorite part of the series? Why?

Do you have an interest in exploring the unknown? Do you like discussing comics? Do you like pineapple on pizza? If so, The Obscurity of DC Club is the club for you! Join here if you’re interested!

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Cool, it’s one I’ve been interested in looking at before because in the past Phil Jimenez has called this one of the works he was the proudest of. The last issue of the series was also where Jimenez publicly came out as gay and dedicated the series to Neal Pozner, who was Jimenez’s editor and partner, who had passed away from AIDS a couple of years prior.

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I’m gonna answer my own questions again!

  1. 100% Letifos. If Garth couldn’t tell Tula wasn’t herself, it wasn’t a good relationship IMO.
  2. I don’t think Tula is the same. She seemed more mysterious and angry since her resurrection.
  3. I liked Tula more. Letifos seemed pretty uptight and unfair, especially to Garth.
  4. I would’ve probably been upset, but I’d like to think I would think about what Letifos said.
  5. I loved when Letifos and Tula fought while Garth was getting his powers. That was easily one of my favorite fight scenes in a comic.
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Alright, I just read this! Phil Jimenez was a big draw for me to check this out. Also, my only knowledge of Garth comes from DC Super Hero Girls. :see_no_evil: :sweat_smile: So it’s nice to see his actual comic persona.

Obviously going in I had very minimal knowledge of Garth’s origin, but they did a good job getting you up to speed. I liked the elements of tragic myth that seem to be part of his background and what happens to him over the course of the series.

At the end when he is saying goodbye to Tula at her grave…that was definitely the emotional heart of the story for me. The added context that Jimenez is mourning his partner and dedicates the book to him definitely adds to the gut-punch here.

I’ve not experienced that type of loss with a romantic partner, but I have with a parent. That guilt that if you are able to start moving on and feeling less pain, that you are somehow forgetting or betraying their memory - that is a real struggle I have experienced. It took a long time for me to realize what Garth does in those final panels:

That got a lot deeper than I expected. I like Tempest! Interested to learn more about him. :blush:

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I’m glad you enjoyed it. It’s always nice to know you’re not alone even if you find out through fiction.

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Just finished Tempest #1 and that was a DENSE book. Tons of exposition, character histories and new names/locations/mythologies to try and figure out. I know of Aqualad by name but don’t think I’ve ever read a book with him in it so this is all very new to me.

I like the artwork and am intrigued by the “mere mortal” that is pulling the strings. I’m always partial to Aquaman stories because I love the way they draw the action and panels underwater. The lack of gravity, the need for the whole panel to be filled in with something, even if it’s just blue water and the way the motion is drawn has always been a favorite of mine.


Just got done with Issue #2 and am not liking this much at all. The lack of knowledge on these characters is an issue as I don’t care about Tula and Garth’s relationship at all, don’t know anything about Letifos or Atlan and the reveal of Slizzath had no impact as it was the first time I’d ever seen or heard of him.

I’m also struggling with the stakes of all this. I get that Slizzath is a bad guy but I don’t see the threat to anyone or anything other than Neptune, Poseidon, Tempest and Letifos, all of which I just met.

On to issue #3 where I hope we’ll find answers and a hook that interests me.


Well, I know a little more I guess. Slizzath wants to have everything in the ocean dead and reanimated as part of his corpse army? Tempest’s entire family have been hiding in the armory for years? Tempest just learned of all of this yet immediately knew the weapons in that armory were designed specifically to fight Slizzath?

One issue left to go and I’m sure we’ll see Letifos return to help the battle against Slizzath soon enough. I’m guessing she’ll be the one to kill Tula but let’s find out.


Done with all four issues and yeah - I didn’t care for that. It wasn’t a bad story so much as one that I just didn’t care about. It had no emotional impact for me, I felt no connection to any of the characters and I didn’t feel like anything was truly in danger at any point. I also felt like each issue had a great moment that should have been the final page/panel only for the issue to continue for another page or two unnecessarily.

  1. Tula because that’s his true love. He never showed any emotion for Letifos at all, much less love. He loved Tula enough to ignore all the red flags about her return and just accept it simply because it meant having her back in his life.
  2. No. She was essentially a puppet controlled by memories. There was no soul there, I don’t think. Only a caricature of who she once was.
  3. Letifos because she was true to herself and seemed to care about Garth/Tempest and the fate of the undersea. She seemed like a no nonsense warrior and I always like those characters.
  4. I’d reject them and tell her to shut up and get out, just as he did. Love is always going to win out and when anyone tries to tell you that the person you love is bad for you you’re always going to reject what they say no matter how much evidence there is to support it.
  5. My favorite part was definitely when Letifos sliced open Tula and showed her for what she was. It was obvious to me that Tula was not herself and it was frustrating that Tempest couldn’t see that for himself. It was satisfying to finally have that revealed and to have Letifos do it felt right.
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Tell me how you really feel

Lmfao jkjk.

I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it, but I hope it gave you at least a bit more of an interest in Tempest? Hopefully you like next week’s story more.

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  1. Ignoring the story entirely, Tula s his true love so to speak, so I would hope he would end up with her, after reading the story, Letifos, as she seems to be more of an equal and partner, that he would continue to blossom with.
  2. N, she seemed to be a shade of her former self.
  3. Letifos, just seemed true to herself and character, which I like.
  4. As they say love is blind, and if you are my friend accept it or get out of the way.
  5. The fight between Letifos and Tula of course.
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