Teen Titans: Raven

My friend got me the third of this series, and I bought the other two for myself so I could read them to understand what was going on, and it's so good!! We both grew up as big TT fans, and we have both been fans of Gabriel's work from IG so when we seen the novels we both knew we had to read them, and I owe a thanks to my friend for giving me the kick start to finally start them as I had been putting it off. It's such a good storyline, I'm not going to say anything about it because spoilers, but if you grew up on Teen Titans this is definitely worth reading!! And as always Gabriel's art work is phenomenal, he captures the characters so well!! I've read all three of them and can't wait for the fourth one, let my friend borrow to read and she really likes it too!!

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.

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 :)

Perfect

I’ve been meaning to read this for some time m now and I’m so glad I did. The story is so creative, empathetic with age (not her powers hahaha), and the artwork is so clear and lovely to admire. It really brings the dialogue to life. I can’t wait to get the Beast Boy story next!

Overall, a great read and I highly recommend this comic.I love the art style - the colors and overall desaturated tone really just works with this story and in general Raven herself. And when the novel uses color, it uses it to great affect.It was really nice seeing Raven having a family. Usually Raven is a character I think of as always have been alone in her life, having no one or has been isolated until she joins the other titans. However, I think her family is a great addition, personally, I would love to see them in some other works.Especially, Max. Who was a fantastic character! I hope we will see her more in the overall series and in general in DC. She was a great addition to Raven's story and clearly had her own story being told. I felt like she existed when Raven was gone, which is not always the case with secondary characters. The story's focus is still obviously on Raven, but, we got enough of Max for me to want to see more of her.Also she an absolutely fantastic hero name– Soulstorm.I give the story 4 out 5 Stars. Just because I felt like the pacing was not always there and the ending felt a bit rushed and anti-climatic. While the story itself wasn't overcrowded with multiple storylines, they could've been more connected or one of them could've taken centerstage and the others could've fell more into the background.It's a great story, but there were problems. Not enough to get me to stop reading or enjoying the story, but still.Overall I highly recommend this Graphic Novel!

No se arrepentirán de comprarlo. La historia es breve e introductoria. Pero el arte es hermoso. ✨

This was the most amazing comic I have ever read.Thank you so much for this,it is just like art work.

After a very long time i got to know and meet my favourite character Raven again and about the book their is only one word 😍🤩

Ich mag die Serie wegen dem Illustrator Gabriel Picolo. Ihm gelingt es immer super Emotionen zu transportieren und die backgrounds sind immer so schön detailliert. Wer unsicher ist kann einfach mal auf seinem Instagram-Account vorbeischauen, dort sind einige Zeichnungen aus dieser Reihe zu finden.

As a fan of Picolo's art and the teen titans, i was waiting to get my hands on those comics. I couldn't resit to take them all.I loved to read it again and again for the story and the drawing. What a pleasure !