Favorite female character - New Teen Titans' era Raven

[perletwo]

Yeah yeah, I know, I'm on a Raven bender lately with her reintroduction in the DCnU. But it was either this or Steph Brown, and that's a hard one to do without letting "toxic" bitterness creep in; besides, Steph's got plenty of boosters here, I figure.

Besides, I was trawling the used bookstore's comic stash today and came across a copy of Baxter paper series New Teen Titans #43, which amounts to a Raven solo story and a good illustration of the things I loved about her. So I've got 8 pages out of a 27-page issue. A note on the art: the credits give the pencils to Eduardo Barreto, but the cover claims - and the DC Database confirms - it's Curt Swan. I'm not a huge Swan fan, and this is serviceable art, but I'd love to see what, say, Gene Colan could've done with this same material; something to keep in the imagination while looking these over, no?



The issue opens with the Titans tying up loose ends from a previous arc, and then going their separate ways on various weekend getaways, leaving Raven on her own in the city. This is fine with her, she insists, and actually means it; after they all go, she muses that she was raised in solitude and now finds it hard to come by. With her recent conversion to "White Raven" and new ability to feel emotions, she's felt so much of her own and other people's that she needs time and quiet to sort it all out. I should note that young-me reading Raven in the 1980s was also an introvert with a great need for space and quiet - still am, but have learned to balance it better as an adult - and that was an aspect of myself I seldom saw reflected in comics or anywhere else really.

Raven settles down to meditate, but a wave of powerful raw emotion from elsewhere overwhelms her.



Phobia leaves, and drunk with power, takes out a couple of random people on the street as she passes.





Raven makes contact with the police investigating the streetfolk's deaths, and assures them it's Phobia of the Brotherhood of Evil. Captain Mandy Wayne-Herrold, newly arrived in town from Santa Fe, notes that she's used to dealing with a very different set of problems. Sarah Simms and some of her disabled kids happen along, and she and Raven chat amiably for a page or so. Meanwhile, Phobia wakes from a nightmare in which she experiences her own deepest fear. (Incidentally, if you've ever wanted to see Phobia mostly naked, this is the issue for you, as she spends a half-page in the shower.)

Phobia goes after her next target while Raven goes to her favorite dimensional nexus to sift through the collective emotions of "all who live" to find Phobia. She narrows it down, but arrives too late to stop her from killing another man.





(I kind of feel like Swan may have been looking to Tanghal to fill in some kind of more atmospheric background on that middle panel there? Again, I'd love to see Gene Colan do this stuff.)



With the help of her cop contacts, Raven identifies the link between the two targeted kills - both were among four candidates for a U.N. ambassadorship. With the third out of the country and the cops' help, she baits a trap with the fourth...



This was perhaps a wee bit of poor planning on the Brain's part, methinks.



This is what I loved about old-school Raven. It's not enough for her to help the victims of a crime, like Mrs. Lodge; it's not enough to just stop a villain, like zapping Phobia; she wants the hat trick of helping heal the bad guys too. Her empathy drives her to help everyone, without distinction of good and bad; and when you think about it, if your benchmark for evil is Trigon, even the worst human villain must seem very small and manageable.

At this point Raven thinks there's nothing more for her to do there; she teleports to Titans Tower and types an entry into the computer: "Phobia - File Closed."

Comments

[crinos]

Yeah, its a shame this ending didn't stick, and Phobia went back to being an evil psycho again.

Was there an explanation as to why the redemption attempt failed, or was it just "Evil again! LOL."

Still, great story.

[skjam]

The Brain has turned minions back to evil before (Madame Rouge), so there's precedent.

I like how Brain hasn't installed a phone jack just so that Mallah can feel useful by holding the headset.

[crinos]

I think this may have been before those were invented.

I mean look at Phobia's phone. I didn't think it was possible to encapsulate the eighties in a single cordless phone, but there you go.

Honestly, I am amazed Phobia can make out what Brain is saying at all. Between his own mechanical voice and how bad sound quality was on phones back then it must sound like an angry guy being dragged through a trash compacter.

[icon_uk]

Ummmmm Phone jacks existed for landlines for many, many years before this scene, it's portable phone handsets that didn't need phone jacks (Though the base unit, like the phone Phobia is using, has one). Brain would just need to have mouthpiece and an earpiece hardwired into him and the phone jack to link to the network

[perletwo]

It is quite a brick of a handset though, and I don't recall cordless being standard in hotels - multi-line landlines were more often to be had, if my memory serves. (Unless it's a deluxe accommodation feature I never made it up to? When I traveled it was on my dime and a budget.)

[icon_uk]

She'd only stay in the finest hotels and in a suite. Like yourself, during that era I only ever stayed in hotel rooms of such a size that a cordless wouldn't have been particularly useful.

[crinos]

Yeah, I kinda fail at technology. My bad.

Also, now I have this image in my head of the Brain having a modem installed into his body, and him making those weird dial up connection noises and Mallah being all WTF?

[kurenai_tenka]

I don't even read Marvel, but I got to the second page and wondered what Loki was doing there. -.-;

[perletwo]

Nah, can't be Loki. Not horny enough.

[icon_uk]

Wearing a fur coat OVER a full length cloak? I think I can see what they were looking for, but it just doesn't quite work here.

[perletwo]

Yes, this. It does not help that as drawn, this fur coat speaks less of luxe and elegance and more of poodle clippings from the local doggie salon. Or a shaggy sheep pelt, like the redheaded vampire wore in the first couple of Twilight movies....

[icon_uk]

She was saving up for one of the new DeVille collection

[perletwo]

But of course! The spots would accentuate her eyebrows!

I also love that she strolls through the lobby of a swank hotel in that getup, cloak and coat all blase, and nobody bats an eye. I know, it's New York, but still. (Vegas I could see, they'd just be all 'eenh, Cirque du Soleil back in town?') Given the era, you'd think there'd be a PETA activist right there to toss blood on her or something...

[icon_uk]

A PETA activist picking a fight with Phobia would have the life expectancy of a drummer with Spinal Tap.

[lucky_gamble]

So what does Raven exactly do, power wise? I loved her Teen Titans version (powers,attitude, look) but the comics version always seemed incredibly bland/limited/weak when she wasn't going Dark Phoenix.

Also...I feel ashamed for starring at Trigon's crotch for this long. I mean it's right there, staring at me! I can't help it @_@

[icon_uk]

Basically she's an empath, with a sort dislocated soul.

She was raised to repress ALL extreme emotion (in case Trigon should find a weakspot he could exploit ) as a result she makes Vulcans look whimsical by comparison but can sense and manipulate the emotions of those around her (She made Wally West fall in love with her in order that he would join the New Teen Titans in the first place (He'd retired from the Kid Flash role to go to college until she intervened)

She can heal wounds by absorbing them into herself and dispelling them through effort (She has limits though, she can't cure things like genetic conditions or amputated limbs, just speed up the natural healing process)

She can teleport herself by slipping between dimensions (and summon large quantities of smoke that way, which was sometimes useful), and astral project through her "soul self".

She doesn't have the telekinetic powers that the toon Raven did (though her soul self has a sort of solidity to it if she wishes it to, and can act as a shield), nor can she fly.

The Toon Raven was terrific, but by making her snarky and sarcastic they sort of leaned away from the fact that Raven was raised to be a pacifist, with absolute control of her emotions being required at ALL times.

[cainofdreaming]

Just remember, when you gaze into the crotch the crotch also gazes into you...

[perletwo]

[icon_uk]

Context please! :)

[cainofdreaming]

Jaime. Giganta. Sexy battle. :D

[perletwo]

I can contextualize that in one page!

[junipepper]

Also...I feel ashamed for starring at Trigon's crotch for this long. I mean it's right there, staring at me! I can't help it @_@

Can. Not. Un-see.

[bruinsfan]

It's nice that they're showing how committed Raven is to helping everyone, even villains. But I confess I preferred an earlier Phobia/Raven confrontation in the Perez era when Phobia messed with Raven's mind: cue Trigon looking out of Raven's soul-self and traumatizing the entire Brotherhood into a pile of quivering catatonics.

You'd think after that little joyride Phobia wouldn't be too keen on using her powers directly against Raven again...

[icon_uk]

That issue also has the nice little moment where the Brotherhood find Raven seeking temporary sanctuary in a church, and Phobia gives her a chance to escape, on the grounds that she won't engage in battle in a church.

[kajivar]

I miss this Raven so much. I'm in complete fear of what Lobdell is going to do to her.