Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Raven #4: A Review

By Zak Edwards
January 8, 2017 - 14:44

At four issues into Raven, I am at as much of a loss as to what is happening as Raven herself. The series, seemingly intent on being an extended dream sequence on par with that singular sequence in Dr. Strange, spends much of every issue explaining what is going on, but by a narrator who is genuinely confused. While I’m sure it makes sense for many people who are longtime fans of Raven and the Teen Titans, for this guy, it’s somewhat alienating. I have two theories.

The first is the problems that can come with these sorts of “legacy” hires in the industry, when people who defined a title are brought back to make that magic again, but really can’t. Lightening in a bottle is difficult to capture once, much less twice. Even if that magic is captured again, it’s really only amazing for the people around for the first trip. A book that goes for that kind of nostalgia, though, ends up captured by its past, hardly accounting for the way books change. Chris Claremont is a brilliant writer who defined the X-Men, for example, but that style was a foundation, not where we are today. Even at their best, it can feel like a regression, which has been the main criticism of Claremont’s X-Men work in the past five or ten years.

The problems could also be generational, with longtime Teen Titans scribe Marv Wolfman attempting to update the very approach that canonized his Teen Titans run in the seventies and eighties. Certainly many people picked up on his writing of the teenage characters early on, who all sounded like a fifty-year-old on Facebook complaining about “kids and their screens!!!!” He listened, though, and much of that had evaporated by the third issue to focus on whatever threat is happening now (one character simply refers to it as “the white,” is as good an explanation as any). Either way, the heavy monologuing and angst feels a bit outdated, especially as the story itself seems scattered.

The story features plenty of inconsistencies which may be a result of the book’s outlandish and ill-defined villain. Threats that seem resolved suddenly reappear, new players are introduced and quickly dealt with, and Raven herself teleports about on a whim, making for sudden scene changes that muck up any semblance of continuity. Perhaps my brain is simply not built for this sort of story, but Raven is at once forgettable and topsy-turvy, which makes for a difficult read every month.

tl; dr Review: Overall, I have not been impressed with Raven. Between the confusing villain, outdated feel, and general lack of consistency, I think even classic Teen Titans fans will feel the series falls short.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12