A nice, modern Raven comic, serviceable for both old school and newer fans.
I enjoyed 'Teen Titans: Raven', due to nostalgia, concept, and the dramatic, diverse stories being told today. Looking at the cover and the YA author's name, I'd thought it was a prose novel at first. But it is a graphic novel for teens, and a good, well-drawn and painted one at that - what a cool, unique grey, black and purple colour palette.
In this review, I'll neither summarize nor spoil anything about the plot that isn't in the blurb, and I won't explain everything about Raven as a character, as people even remotely familiar with DC comics and the 2000s animated series would already know about her and her nuances.
Read my review of a previous Raven comic for more info.
'Teen Titans: Raven' is a retelling of her origin story. A new canvas for her to work with, as it were. And it is mostly set in and is about high school.
Seventeen-year-old Rachel Roth/Raven is as pale, skinny, gothic, antisocial, snarky, vulnerable, sensitive, insecure, and purple-haired and lipsticked as she usually is. Only now she's an amnesiac foster teen. How original.
But with no memory of her identity as a half-demon and a harbinger of the apocalypse, as far as she knows she's just an ordinary teenager. Maybe this is exactly what she needs.
This is her fresh start.
Raven, confused and afraid of being a blank slate, is on a personal journey to try to find herself; to figure out where she came from and where she is going, why she has empathic and mind reading powers, what the scary voice in her head is, what her nightmares are about, why she can astral project in her sleep, who she was vs who she is now, what her favourite music is, what her favourite book is, what her favourite candy bar is, what she can do, and what she will choose - no matter who or what may intervene - for her own life and future.
She has many awakenings.
But Raven doesn't go into the dark, the unknown, alone. There's her indigenous foster sister (foster cousin, really) Max, who has her own problems and secrets, and Max's mother (Raven's foster aunt) Natalia. There are big themes of sisterhood and family, and women supporting women, in this comic. Add in the POC rep, as well as cultural and historical context and relevance, and it gets better.
As the story centers around high school and is mostly slice-of-life - for a supernatural protagonist - there isn't much action in the comic. It isn't really about superheroes, or the Titans, but about friendships, sisterly bonds, first love, insecurities, teen angst, the adolescent "finding yourself" metaphor, and abusive parents. LBGTQ content exists in two of Raven's school friends, Lola and Lily.
I don't like the one-dimensional mean girl cliche (that's the second comic/manga in a row where I've seen this! It's 2019 - stop it already!), and it leans towards girl-on-girl hate with no resolution to it. For modern feminism and sisterhood, I'd thought I'd see none of this trash by now. Hell, the mean girl is such a throwaway template that her hair colour changes sometimes from one panel to the next!
Yes, Trigon is in this, as is Slade Wilson/Deathstroke. Who does he work for? What exactly does he want with metahuman teens? No doubt they will form into the Teen Titans and rebel.
At the end there's a preview of an upcoming 2020 Beast Boy comic, another origin story retold, set in this series. An endearing, charming, nostalgic buzz of a teaser to end an endearing, charming, nostalgic retread of Raven's origin.
Diversity, mercenaries, witchcraft and the occult. Regardless of its flaws, not least the pacing issues and unresolved subplots, 'Teen Titans: Raven' has something in it for anyone.
Its storyline and themes are simple, yet not so simple as they appear.
I really like how it ends, but Raven's story is just beginning.
Final Score: 3.5/5
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