Teen Titans Spotlight: Raven [Paperback]

Marv Wolfman (Author), Damion Scott (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401219535
• ISBN-13: 978-1401219536
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.2 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,247,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK..., February 4, 2009

By 

teabiscuit (Sydney) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teen Titans Spotlight: Raven (Paperback)

First up, let me confess that I was introduced to Teen Titans via the cartoon show. After witnessing its all-encompassing awesomeness, I sought out every other form of Titan media, including the 80's Wolfman/Perez 'New Teen Titans', which served as a source for the show; the Geoff Johns relaunch (DC's current run of 'Teen Titans"); J. Torres' 'Teen Titans Go!', which is a comic based on the show; as well as Judd Winick's current 'Titans'. They were all pretty great (especially the later books by Sean McKeever in the current 'Teen Titans' series), though, for me, none matched the wit and charm of the show.

Raven, who is my favourite character in the show, is easily the one who is most changed in all the comics. Her comic representation is humourless, removed and definitely an outsider in the Titans universe - especially in the Wofman/Perez stuff. Anyway, on to this 'Spotlight on Raven'.

This trade, which collects a mini-series published in 2008, is a strange one. Though it's written by Wolfman, it takes place in the world of the current 'Teen Titans' - for those vaguely in touch with the crazy DC Universe, it's set some time after the Infinite Crisis, featuring the new, younger Raven who was introduced in book 2 of the Geoff Johns run ("Family Lost"). However, its art style is totally removed from anything you would have seen in DC comics - extremely busy with colourful anime-style characters with bold lines. The artwork affects the story telling - many pages are framed in unconventional montage styles which can be pretty confusing to follow. It takes a while to get used to, but I found the style to be pretty cool, and a refreshing change. Though Raven looks a bit uninspired (the artist paints her as somewhat of a goth, with long flowing black dresses and Doc Martens - obviously from the mind of someone who has no involvement with youth subcultres whatsoever), she often looks great, and the character designs are generally top-notch.

Now, for Wolfman's writing. It mostly stands alone from he DC Universe, so you can pick this up as a stand alone story. That being said, the plot is mostly superficial, feels forced, and in the end, is just totally pointless. The dialogue was OK... but nothing special. In stark contrast to the art, the writing was just... forgettable. I read an interview with Wolfman in which he said he could write for Raven forever, and after reading this... jeez, that's a pretty depressing concept of eternity. At least the art is polarising, as opposed to wafer thin. [Also, Wolfman's sole way of writing his characters' cries of pain is "UNHUNHUNHUNHUNH"... it is kind of hard to take scenes seriously when it looks like the people in it are all laughing like Beavis and Butthead].

As for the plot - basically, Raven is trying out high school with her new body under the name Rachel Roth (they briefly mentioned this in 'Teen Titans' book 3 "Beast Boys and Girls", which was a pretty nice read). She has nightmares and experiences emotional issues (seriously), and... so forth. Not quite as cool as it sounds.

So... basically, it was a quick, mildly interesting but aesthetically pleasing tale, featuring the blase Raven from the comics. If you're after Raven characterization similar to the cartoon, you're out of luck - I suggest trying Torres' 'Teen Titans Go!' comics for something closer. On that note, if you're like I was a few months ago, and looking to expand outside of the cartoon, I suggest you head straight to book 6 of 'Teen Titans', "Titans Around the World", and read everything that comes after it in that series - that's where the series takes on a more light-hearted tone that echoes the show (and some of it was written by Adam Beechen, a writer on the cartoon).

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bad story, great artwork, January 10, 2009

By 

T. Paukune "sparklyblitz" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teen Titans Spotlight: Raven (Paperback)

I took a long time getting through this comic, even though it is a very short. It was SO boring. The dialogue is terrible, there is no character development, and it seems to go nowhere.

Take the dialogue; instead of the characters saying "I think they're going to. . . ." they say "I think they are going to. . . .". The constant lack of apostrophes and abbreviations with words gets very redundant very fast.

And there are neat looking characters, but they don't have ANY personality.

The story ends so poorly, though I won't ruin it for anyone who wants to read it. I'll just say that it is WAY too convenient and easy. There is very little action in this comic until the VERY end.

Raven herself is not at all like Raven from the TV series (I wouldn't know about the classic comics), and she only uses her Empath powers a few times. She is rarely in her super-hero outfit. She can only absorb emotions and leave her body. No throwing objects or anything else. Just meditation and emotion absorption.

I only gave it 2 stars for the crazy artwork. I really liked it, at times it was bad (like the detail just not being there and the focus of the picture is in the binding of the book, including important dialogue being obscured with it), but for the most part it's very interesting and different. The color work is great. I really liked the style, but many may not.

I am a huge Raven fan, but I would not be very fast to recommend this one. :(