Review: Raven

Quick Summary

Pros: The main storyline showcases Raven as a unique character. It also concludes in a way that develops Raven further as a hero. The concept here is unique and leads to a few funny exchanges and a few emotional exchanges.

Cons: Portions of the narrative feel boring. The secondary characters are not memorable. The artwork is lackluster overall and does not complement the story’s tone.

Overall: This is a charming collection about the daughter of a demon trying to live out a normal life. Her new relationships and experiences are fun to see play out and her progression as a character is handled well. However, there are moments where the story seems to drag and the artwork does not help the reading experience. Those interested in Raven as a character may end up liking this volume, as long as they are willing to look past a few problems.

Story

Raven sees Marv Wolfman’s return to a character he helped co-create decades prior. This volume follows Raven as she tries to live out a normal life, while also being forced to contend with a malevolent force of supernatural energy. This situation creates a number of moments that work well from a comedic and an emotional standpoint. Raven shines here as an individual character in a way she hasn’t done in years. However, storytelling problems cause other moments to drag on and for portions of the volume to feel boring. The overall effect is a collection that has a few flaws but is still worth reading.

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Right off the bat, the concept behind Raven leads to a number of great situations. Placing the daughter of a demon in a Christian household and simultaneously having her attend a normal high school is a wonderful concept. It allows for some humorous exchanges, as Raven struggles to comprehend basic conversation with her classmates, and it also allows for some emotional exchanges, as Raven experiences genuine kindness from her new foster family. All of these new experiences are fun to see play out and also help further develop Raven as a character.

Meanwhile, the story also centers around a battle between Raven and a malevolent force that is threatening the souls of everyone in San Francisco. This battle brings up Raven’s complex relationship with her demonic father and shows how she struggles to avoid falling under his dark influence. The conclusion of this battle is also the perfect complement to this internal struggle; it allows Raven to realize that she can draw power from kindness in the same way that she typically draws power from evil. It concludes the adventure with a wholesome message and leaves Raven in a place where she can grow even further as a hero.

While the overall narrative and concept work well, problems start to arise from the minutia of the storytelling. Raven’s battle against the mysterious force often feels repetitive and, thus, a bit boring. She spends a few chapters struggling against the creature in vain, attempting and reattempting various tactics that all have little to no effect. At this point, the story seems to stagnate, and I ended up losing interest a few times.

The volume also struggles in developing an interesting cast of secondary characters. Instead of being unique individuals, everyone, with the exception of Raven, ends up feeling like some sort of living stereotype. None of the secondary characters are that memorable and their inclusion here almost feels unnecessary. Toward the end of the volume, things start to improve and the characters begin to establish themselves, but it ends up being too little, too late. With introductions complete, hopefully the next volume will be able to better utilize these characters.

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Art

Unfortunately, the artwork in Raven is one of the collection’s weakest elements. Alisson Borges starts out the volume with a stylized take on Raven and her new adventures. In some places this works, as Borges does well in depicting how Raven’s Soul-Self interacts with the material world. However, this art style does not do well outside of these brief moments, as characters often appear with strange and contorted bodies and facial expressions. In addition, the tone of these stylized pages does not match well with the darker content shown here.

The end of the volume sees Diogenes Neves take over pencils, though this change does not provide much improvement. Neves’s work better complements the tone of the story but only provides a marginal increase in quality when it comes to the overall visual appeal. All in all, this is a lackluster volume from a visual standpoint, one that does not help complement the story.

Continuity

Raven is a miniseries starring Raven. The series continues her adventures immediately following the breakup of the Teen Titans at the conclusion of Teen Titans Vol. 4: When Titans Fall (Review).

The story here is continued in the Raven: Daughter of Darkness series. This series begins with Raven: Daughter of Darkness Vol. 1.

This volume also references stories from other comic books, detailed below:

• Tim Drake’s recent troubles are mentioned. The cause behind this is detailed at the conclusion of Detective Comics Vol. 1: Rise of the Batmen (Review).
• Raven’s escape from her father is detailed back in Teen Titans Vol. 4: Light and Dark (Review).