They Wouldn’t Let Poor Raven Play in Any Mind Warp
Games
Writer:
Marv Wolfman
Artist:
Alisson Borges
Colorist:
Blond
Letterers:
A Larger World
Cover By:
Mike McKone & Rod Reis
Cover Price:
$2.99
On Sale Date: October 19, 2016
**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE
BOTTOM**
Growing up is hard to do, as the song’s ineloquent
lyrics claim, but really it’s easy because it’s inevitable. You rail against
adulthood your whole life and claim you’d never “sell out,” but one day you wake
up and suddenly a sportsjacket with leather patches on the elbows seems like a
sensible thing to wear. The difficult part of growing up is that you think you
know what life’s about, but people keep treating you like a stupid kid. I guess
adulthood comes when you realize that you really don’t know crap and even the
most seemingly confident people are still fumbling around more than half the
time. If I can impart any wisdom to the youth of today, I’d say that the sooner
you can acknowledge your own helplessness and innate stupidity, the better off
you’ll be. You should still have goals and pursue them doggedly, but with the
foreknowledge that everything can be derailed by something stupid like a freak
volcanic eruption. But hey, at least you’re not the daughter of Trigon! So you
don’t have that hanging over you. Let’s see how crummy Raven’s life is, so we
can feel better about ourselves! Read on!
Explain
It!
Remember how the Flash used to have “Flash Facts”
where Barry Allen would demonstrate a trait of sometimes dubious science when
there were pages to fill? Anyone? Well, Raven’s followed suit with “Raven
Factoids,” though so far they seem downright narcissistic. Raven Factoid Number
One: her physical body and soul can divide into two separate entities. Well, no
duh Raven. How about you tell us what music you like and what’s your taste in
boys? We’re not going to fill the pages of this month’s Tiger Beat with stuff about your spiritual self. Anyway, there’s a
little more to it: if Raven and her soul stay apart for too long, then shit
goes wrong. Fast. I didn’t know that she had the same problem as Larry Trainor
from the Doom Patrol, it always
looked to me like she could just separate her negative self at will and for
however long she wanted, but Raven’s never been very talkative so perhaps she
bore the burden alone. Right now, she desperately trying to get her soul, which
looks like a horrifying bird monster with massive talons, back in her gut
before the stated Bad Stuff happens. As the were-bird flies higher and higher
into the night sky, a voice from nowhere booms, “NO…STILL NOT READY” and she
plummets to the ground. Before she can turn into paste, however, the feathered
Sasquatch shoops back into Raven’s skin and she teleports back to the bedroom
at her Aunt and Uncle’s house, safe and sound. Her Aunt Alice even goes to
check on her—it’s the Christian thing to do.
The next day at Madison High School, Raven is at lunch with her new gang of
friends…that she acquired using her powers as an empath! That makes sense! I
was wondering how one of the most unlikeable teenagers was able to find a
gaggle of preppie pals just by attending a class. Well these folks think Raven
is the bee’s knees, even though she did behave strangely when Archer was
possessed last issue, all muttering incantations and whatnot. While they’re all
joshing on each other in the cafeteria, a girl named Antt—because her name is
Annabel Tompkins-Tang, naturally—and she’s all abuzz with pep and prodding
questions. Raven doesn’t have to answer because someone comes rushing in with
news about Taylor! That’s the girl from last issue that was all scanning Raven
with magic or something, and then wound up on her own personal dimension where
she had to attend a carnival forever or something? Speaking of which, Archer,
who was possessed last issue if you will remember, wakes up at 2:36 AM with
possessed eyes and heads on over to a local factory with freaky tentacles made
of light spewing out of the top, and there is Taylor, hitting a High Striker
game where she’s unable to ring the bell. Then Archer is suddenly in a cage
high up in the air, and he falls out to reveal his legs are attached to a
bungee cord. He boings around a few times before feebly wishing for it to
stop—and Raven can somehow sense his pain from all the way across town. Now
that’s an empath! She bolts out of bed and hops into her soul form, where she
learns Archer is also missing (that’s some quick turnaround) and she overhears
Taylor’s last-known location.
Raven mojos over to the factory and senses something
is wrong, what with all the light tentacles swirling around everywhere. She can
tell Taylor and Archer are in this light…and one other unnamed male. She tries
to step into the light, but a booming voice says, “NO…NOT READY…STILL NOT READY…”
and bumps her away. Just then, the cops show up with some television crews, and
that takes away Raven’s chill entirely. Some folks in hazmat suits show up and
appear ready to enter the factory, but the surrounding people get possessed
eyes and start swarming the place! Meanwhile the glowing tentacle monster is
swiping people up and stuffing them in its center mass. The thing keeps
growing, and flicks Raven away again like so much trash, severely damaging her
costume—and thank goodness, because that feather-face shit really sucked. As
this ball of light takes up four blocks of space, absorbing more and more
people by the minute, some secretive figures are watching it happen on the news
and decide the time is right to get involved! And I dunno, based on the costume
we see I think it might be some Brother Blood business. We’ll have to wait and
see!
Though I’m left with more questions than answers,
despite the issue opening with a “Raven Factoid,” I was reasonably engaged and
interested in the mystically mysterious goings-on. I also really appreciated
the fact that the San Francisco authorities reacted to the crazy things
happening at the factory, because it annoys me when earth-shaping cataclysms
are happening and it seems like citizens just sleep right through them. The art
looks very good, though some panel compositions could have been better, and I’m
definitely excited to see Raven’s costume redesign. Which probably looks just
like the one she wore in Teen Titans Rebirth #1. But hopefully there will be a
page of her trying on different looks for the approval of some mind-controlled
light monster fodder.
Bits and
Pieces:
There's a lot more world-building and not a lot of world-explaining, but this is a pretty engaging issue that should pique the interests of Raven fans. There appears to be some set-up for welcome changes to the character we saw a glimpse of in Teen Titans Rebirth #1. This is a solid comic, but nothing I'd say you should drop everything for and read. If something unbelievable happens in future issues that require your eyeballs' attention, I'll let you know.
7/10
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