Teen Titans: Raven

I bought this YEARS ago. It’s an okay story, a little basic but the illustrations make up for it 100%

Gabriel Picolo has been making Teen Titans art for years; these characters are basically his children. For DC to hire him on a Teen Titans book, and then again for Teen Titans: Beast Boy, coming Summer 2020, must have been a dream come true for him, and even just as a fan of his work, this has been incredible to see.Then there’s the writer, Kami Garcia, who in her acknowledgements states she needed to be convinced to write a graphic novel, much less a Raven story.Make NO mistake, the art is an absolute treasure, and this book can still be immensely appreciated and enjoyed based on its art alone. However, this contrast in the artist and writer’s interest, willingness, and dedication to these characters is hard to ignore, and is why the story falls flat.While typically a story in this medium should be judged on its writing and art together, DC Ink and DC Zoom’s line of YA graphic novels makes that very hard to do. It seems as though DC just slapped together a bunch of novelists and artists, expected the novelists to be good at writing in an entirely different medium, and expected the artist to just illustrate whatever the author wrote. When instead, DC should have carefully paired up artists and writers with good synergy, who would work together to create a story where they both played to each other’s strengths.But what we get is KAMI GARCIA in huge lettering on the front cover and a barely noticeable credit to Gabriel Picolo. It’s also worth mentioning that Picolo was not allowed a foreword like Garcia was, which I thought was extremely unfair.While the reader does not need any prior knowledge of the Teen Titans or Raven to understand or enjoy this story, the team producing it should still understand core aspects about these characters, which Gabriel Picolo absolutely does. Kami Garcia, however, barely wrote a Raven book. So much of this story has nothing to do with Raven, and it’s clear that that’s because Kami Garcia doesn’t know who Raven is. Garcia adds a bunch of original characters and concepts that have nothing to do with Raven or the real story at hand, that it ends up reaching a climax with poor build-up and an even poorer resolution.Back to the art, while Gabriel Picolo’s art is phenomenal and really the only reason you should buy this book, and you should, something seemed off. I don’t know if it was the editor, or Garcia herself, but Picolo’s art and coloring is very subdued compared to the Teen Titans art Picolo’s fans are used to seeing on his socials. They are vibrant with colors that pop, where this book is gray and maybe sometimes purple. The pictures included with this review are an example of a subdued page, followed by those that exhibit Picolo's strengths as a colorist. These few panels where things are more fully colored, you can see Picolo’s skill shine through; perhaps his vibrant pages could have even brightened Garcia’s dull writing.More on that, though, is that in the sneak peek we get for Teen Titans: Beast Boy, there’s already a noticeable difference in how it’s colored. So maybe Picolo has more freedom in the next one.Kami Garcia is still the writer for the next one, which is very unfortunate, but I’ll be buying the graphic novel regardless, because these are fantastic lookbooks of the characters, and it’s incredibly satisfying getting to Gabriel Picolo’s art in this officially licensed capacity. He’s come so far, and that’s worth supporting no matter who writes the book.

In "Teen Titans: Raven," Kami Garcia delivers a beautifully crafted story that follows Raven Roth as she navigates the complexities of starting over after a tragic accident steals her memories. Moving to New Orleans to complete her senior year, Raven's journey is fraught with challenges as she grapples with her identity and the supernatural occurrences that begin to unfold.Garcia effectively captures Raven's internal struggles and the pain of losing her sense of self, which resonates deeply as she learns to embrace her new life and the supportive relationships she forms with her foster sister, Max, and her friend Tommy. The blend of personal growth, friendships, and supernatural elements creates a compelling narrative that keeps readers engaged. As Raven confronts her past and the darkness within her, "Teen Titans: Raven" is a powerful exploration of resilience and the journey to reclaim one’s identity amidst adversity.

Love the artist

Definitely not the same Raven I know from the teen titans show but I can see it blending in. The Raven prior to putting all her emotions into her mirror. I like that she's just trying to be a normal teenage girl and that she has mild amnesia. We don't get to meet her as super moody for no reason but instead as herself being affected by her powers little by little. The story plotline itself was... Okay and I think could have used a BIT more work BUT it was a nice introduction and I'm easily pleased. Only thing is I wasn't big on the weird and sudden romance and to be quite honest, put that completely out of my head.The art style was really beautiful and I thought the choice to make Raven be the pop of purple throughout the novel a cool choice, leaving the rest of the characters looking mostly black and white. I also like that the Raven in this story is a bit more Witchy with her telepathy powers and she can read minds. I'm not too caught up on the lore but has Raven always been able to read mines?! Overall I enjoyed it and I got the rest of the series which follows, including Beast Boy and the one with her and beast boy :)

Everything was fine, but the product was bent in the corner, didn’t appear new.

In today's day and age, you tend to expect things to push a woke agenda and that ruins a lot of potentially good stories. However, this story defies expectations and is actually trying to tell a compelling story. This prompted me to follow up and buy the Beast Boy book. Again, the writer tries to tell a good story which falls in line with how we expect the characters to act based on how we know them from past media.A few of the characters hold different opinions or beliefs than I do, but as long as the writer focuses on making a good story over pushing a belief or agenda, I'll continue to support the series. I generally hate fan made or even company sponsored stories built on existing universes or characters because they break character traits, become sloppy, push woke agendas, or overall disrespect the existing lore. This Raven Book and the sequel Beast Boy book seems to have been written by someone who genuinely loves the Teen Titans universe and I look forward to see where things go from here.