It was Atlan who taught Garth language and survival rituals and kept the young boy from going feral as he scavenged his way through the undersea.

Garth did develop an intense fear of schools of fish, however, that haunted him into his teens. As Aqualad, he fought crime and had many adventures above and below the sea with his mentor. When Aquaman assumed the throne of Poseidonis, Garth became a member of the royal court. Garth was one of the founding members of the Teen Titans, and was a member of that team in many of its incarnations although later as a reservist since he began to feel he was of little help out of the water.

His girlfriend for many years was Tula (a.k.a. Aquagirl) until her death during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.Īs a result of his grief and repeated telepathic abuse by Mento, among other factors, Aqualad lost his ability to control marine life. While he later regained this power during the Millennium event, it came with the condition that his commands must now be phrased as requests to the creatures to perform desired actions, although the animals apparently need little persuasion. Shortly before Zero Hour, it was Garth who convinced Aquaman to come out of his depression and back into action. The two of them investigated a downed submarine and fought a villain named Charybdis. During the battle, Garth at one point thought he spotted Tula in the distance. After disagreeing with Aquaman, Garth left his mentor and swam off to investigate the Tula sighting. It was not, in fact, Aquagirl, but a 'shark-girl'. Garth was captured by her people and chained up to a rock, left to be killed by a deadly whirlwind.

He was rescued by Atlan, who transported him to another dimension. Ītlan took Garth to the Grotto, a convergence between dimensions, and spent the next several months to a year (although only days or weeks passed on Earth) training Garth in his mystical heritage, preparing him for his eventual role as the guardian of all undersea humanoid communities.

Aqua lad and aqua boy