Going into Teen Titans: Raven, we presumed it was going to be similar to Mera, Under The Moon: A Catwoman Tale, and the upcoming Harley Quinn and Black Canary releases. It tells the tale of these young superheroes (which is debatable, some are anti-heroes) and how they came to be for young readers. We, for one, love this idea. We think introducing the not so intense story of how they came to be for young readers is fantastic. Coming from Catwoman, which was a satisfactory read, Teen Titans: Raven has a great narrative behind it. But there are some quirks.

As someone who is aware of the lore of Teen Titans, especially Raven, this did justice to her character. Her narrative and coming-of-age is crucial for young readers growing into the character and learning what she is about. What I loved about Garcia's writing style is that it is so comfortable to understand. You are finished with the book by the time you realize it. Garcia truly has a grasp of the characters and the important characters of Raven's story. One character we could have done without was Tommy. I would have liked to see the story go more towards Raven and her narrative of being a strong character alongside her foster family, gaining that insight into who she is (without that male/young love romance trope).

That aspect was such a huge part of the story that we couldn't get away from it. The moment Tommy came into the story, it seemed nonsensical. The timing of it was too perfect. He seemed to drop into Raven's life at a perfect time, and then started to like her abruptly; it all seemed too in line with a perfect ending. Again, this is for young readers, so we understand that this narrative is meant to be for young readers getting into the character. But -- with that -- it further becomes a dilemma -- we don't want young readers to then assume a guy will always be your saving grace. It should very well have been just a Raven story with no love interest included. It is a small quirk, but something that is noticeable about the overall plot. Tommy drives the plot at the end, resulting in Raven figuring out what her powers are because she was betrayed. It was a bit too in-line with the perfect plot points and events.

With the previous books, Mera and Catwoman, they are similar in style. While I was slightly disappointed in the fact that it wasn't the usual Picolo artwork, it worked for what this narrative wanted to do. Based on the cover, I assumed it was going to be that style of vibrancy, but the colors were toned down in most aspects but certain pages and panels that needed the color. We do have harsh purples, blacks, and browns, however, throughout the story. The sketching of the characters are fantastic, there are no weird facial expressions, and you get the gist of each emotion throughout the time you are reading. If anything, Picolo does an outstanding job with the sketching and emotions in this graphic novel. That is something that needs to be seen and heard, and we get both. We get the written aspect and we get the illustrated aspect. Both intertwine perfectly.

Firstly, this volume brings us Raven's origin story so don't expect to see the other Titans yet. Raven moves in with her foster mother's sister and her daughter after an accident, and now, with her empath powers awoken she is overwhelmed by everyone's emotions. Thankfully, her new sister Maxine is there to help her out. Raven is still uncertain about her origins (having been told that her mother had given her up because of an abusive father) and her nightmares keep growing. Max's mom is trying to divine what the circumstances around Raven are, but she keeps it from Raven itself.

The plot initially feels divided into different parts - there's Max's mother trying to find out the mystery of Raven, Maxine's secret, Raven's uncertainty about whether her powers are real and her memory loss, and the romance with the new guy Tommy. They come together to make sense by the end, but it still leaves us with a lot of questions. Among the characters and their relationships, I loved Maxine's and Raven's sisterly bond that snaps in place so easily, the former caring for the latter and helping her navigate her newfound powers (providing her with the headphones, taking her to a diviner, standing up for her). The bully situation, meanwhile, felt shoe-horned in just to demonstrate Raven's growing powers.

The artwork is, in a word, interesting. The character design is good, but the coloring style has me a bit on the fence. The mostly monochromatic style has dashes of colors added in randomly (but mostly focused around Raven) in a loose ink-wash style, which is sorta different from what I have seen of the artist's work on his social media. Nevertheless, the overall effect is still beautiful.

After Raven and her foster mom are in a tragic auto accident, Raven loses both the only mother she has ever known and her memories. She moves to New Orleans with her foster mother’s sister in order to finish her senior year of high school. Raven quickly remembers anything related to school knowledge, but can’t remember the personal things. When she starts hearing weird things and some other unexplained issues arise, Raven begins to wonder if it is actually a good thing that she doesn’t remember her past. What secrets is Raven’s subconscious trying to protect her from?

Teen Titans: Raven is the first graphic novel in the Teen Titans series. Those readers who are looking for the group will need to hold off for another book because this volume is all about Raven. It really doesn’t matter if readers are knowledgeable about any other stories that include Raven because this book is intended to give a starting point for this character. Unfortunately, if you are a really big fan you might find flaws, but as a reader who just enjoys good stories, this book fits the bill. I will be looking for future stories about the other Teen Titans and hopefully Raven herself.

Raven has always been one of my favorite characters in comics. When I heard the Teen Titans, and Raven specifically, were going to be making their way into the DC Ink line, I was ecstatic. The news that Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures) would write this new take on Raven only furthered my excitement. And she and artist Gabriel Picolo did not disappoint.

I loved this book. Kami Garcia writes Raven exactly as I would expect and the art is absolutely perfect. But beyond that, I've fallen in love with a new character - Max. Max is Raven's foster sister who provides an anchor to Raven from their initial encounter in the book and beyond. Max and Raven both have secrets, but they accept each other without prying or forcing those secrets out. There is a shared understanding between these two teenage girls that feels so encouraging.

While the book begins with tragedy, that has a lasting impact, it doesn't dwell on it. It would be easy to go full dark mode with Raven and her story, but there is a lightness here that is appreciated. It's perfect for young teens and a very easy entry point into the life and story of this amazing character. Plus, the artwork is stunning! I want just about every panel enlarged and framed for my walls, especially the ones with the Raven shadow.

My one question - do teenagers really drink coffee regularly nowadays? (Also, I feel old writing and questioning that).

I can't wait to see how Raven's journey continues (and Max's too) and see what happens next with the collection list and the Teen Titans. I look forward to meeting Beast Boy and the others!

As far as Raven backstories go, this one does a pretty good job. If you know anything about Raven, her backstory is so far beyond just tragic. Her mother is forced into a contract with the demon Trigun and has a child as a result. Trigun then attempts to exploit Raven as a means to garner more power and to eventually break free from his prison. And if you’re as big a fan of Teen Titans as I was, you know this is the reason why Raven has to keep her emotions in check. The details may differ from version to version but it all basically revolves around the same story.

Which is why I enjoyed this one.

This story takes it back to the beginning after Raven loses her memory due to amnesia. We go through the story getting the opportunity to see what really happens with Raven when she lets her emotions get out of control. Most of the time in her various versions, we only get to see the Raven who has already learned to control her emotions and her abilities. So, it was kind of cool to delve into what it’s like when she has no control. She goes through high school and attempts a normal life, all while trying to remember her foster mother and the memory that she’s lost.

Oh, and did I mention her foster mother comes from a family of voodoo priestesses? Because that’s awesome. It was pretty cool to see that part of New Orleans history mixed in with the story. True, it’s very minor and basically sticks to the background until the end of the story, but it’s still one of those things that adds an extra bit of flare to Raven’s story.

And let’s not forget: the artwork. Holy cow, the art was simply incredible! When I first saw the cover, I was completely blown away but I also thought it looked really familiar. And then I saw the illustrator and I knew why. Gabriel Picolo is a fabulously talented artist I’ve followed for years on Instagram, and when I realized he was the illustrator for this graphic novel, I knew I had to try and get it. He magnificently gave life to all of the characters, including the iconic Raven, while still adding his own personal flair to them. I was so, so happy with the artwork and I can’t wait to see more from him.

Okay, now for the not so great part. Honestly, there was nothing too bad about this story that stuck out to me and made me want to quit reading it. There were some issues with the pacing. Which, of course, I understand that it’s a graphic novel so it’s going to move at a faster pace than a normal novel. However, there were places where the story seemed to jump between plot points so quickly, I had to go back and reread them to make sure I didn’t miss anything important. There were also times where the information didn’t come across as well as it should have and caused me to think something had been skipped over or left out. But really, this only happened in a few places and barely detracted from the actual story.

Overall, I enjoyed reading it. There was a lot of nostalgia from the animated Teen Titan days while reading this and that may have influenced my opinion on the actual story. But, every author is going to tell the same story differently and in their own way. So, if you love the teen titans franchise as a whole, I would recommend this to you.

Teen Titans: Raven is notable for a few reasons. First is the author, Kami Garcia, whose Beautiful Creatures novels were well-received and quite popular in my middle school classroom. Second is the grounded artwork of Gabriel Picolo. There's supernatural stuff happening here, of course, but the overall feel is of a day-in-the-life book for youth.

DC Ink presents graphic novels in this approachable and polished format. It's a different kind of reading aesthetic, and this is my third venture into this illustrated world. I'm looking forward to seeing more of these titles and I'm envious in some ways of the younger generation who will be enjoying these books alongside DC's other offerings or, perhaps, discovering graphic novels for the first time through work like this.

Books like this are vital for young readers and they are entertaining for adults too. Now that I've read the digital copy I'll be on the lookout for a hard copy sometime soon. A really great reading experience.

I thought this was a pretty good introduction to Raven, a DC character I didn't know much about. She's in a car accident that takes her memory, but in a weird way. Math comes back, but not really information about her family and her past. I liked the color scheme in the book a lot. It definitely made me want to learn more about this character.

To compare it to the book about Mera that's also in this new line of DC books, this one cleared the low bar of actually being about the character in question, rather than a story about the title female character and a man.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC.

I grew up watching Teen Titans so as soon as I saw this arc up I knew that I needed to request it. Ultimately I really loved this story. The art was not just beautiful but also felt like it fit very well with Raven’s story. As for Raven’s story, I really enjoyed seeing Raven before she joined the Titans. Kami Garcia did a great job at building Raven’s character while keeping her true to the character that I loved growing up.

I grew up watching Teen Titans and it held so many amazing aspects. Raven was my favorite character throughout the series so when I first saw this, I knew it was something I wanted to read. I was so impressed with this background story of Raven. She always was a strong character but you knew there was more to her rough exterior. This graphic novel did a fantastic job to exploit that. The story was intriguing and I was enraptured the entire time. As adaptations come out, it is always a little nervous about how it is going to go. I'm so glad that Kami Garcia was chosen to do this. It seemed like she understood Raven's character so well but still made Raven a different version that Garcia created. I cannot wait to continue this series.

Along with a fantastic story the artwork was phenomenal. It truly brought this story alive and the imagery was perfect. I loved the color combinations used. I don't know if this story would have been as successful in a novel format. The medium used to tell Raven's story with the combination of Garcia's story telling and Picolo's art was exactly what was needed.

This was fantastic!! I really loved Raven and her story. Kami Garcia did a great job with the writing and dialogue. The art style was nice, although I wanted to see a bit more color. However, the color was strategically placed in this comic and I appreciated that. I really can’t wait to see more of Raven’s story!

Rating:
3/5 cool aunts

Format:
eBook. I would like to thank NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What it's like:
The art style, teen angst, and mental abilities brought to mind the new reboot of Sabrina (Netflix) and Jessica Jones.

What I loved:
The art is really cool. I love the water color style, the splashes of purple in particular are really neat. I like the premise of a girl who has lost her memory and is trying to re-discover herself. Add in an interesting ability she didn't know she had, a backdrop of a standard high school experience, and some New Orleans voodoo priestess vibes and I am here for it. I also enjoyed all the SECRETS lol I don't have to know what they all are yet, but they definitely added a suspense to the second half of the story that I enjoyed.

What was meh:
Some of the story board layout felt a little disjoined, it didn't quite always flow in the way I expected, so I had to stop and figure out where we were. In this book I felt like they had some interesting story elements to work with but they were sort of disjointed and awkward in their presentation. Especially the reveal of the cousin and aunt's (secret?) life. I put secret in parentheses because I was a little confused by how far their more magical world extends, who knows about it, etc. I assume that is something we will learn more about with future installments, but I either wanted more now, or actually less would have been fine too, but somehow we got a weird amount of info that I don't really know how to make sense of. For most of the book we know almost nothing, and then BAM they hit us with A LOT of info. Overall I had quite a few questions about the "world" in this story, the most basic one is: Is there a difference between "gifts" and just general witchiness? I'm cool with either or both, but I expected to know the answer by the end of this book and I didn't really.

I was also a little disappointed by the writing. While the premise is pretty neat, and there are some cool elements in the story, the daily problems and drama (the way it was written) in the first 3/4 of the book just didn't hold my interest. There was a lot of random elements that felt thrown in to cater to the audience rather than add to the plot (like girls asking boys to prom with roses? Is this a necessary detail?). Pages in graphic novels are limited, it's one of the reasons why I like this medium, because the author and artist have to be very efficient with the imagery and text to tell their story. Every piece should instill insight into the character or setting. Unfortunately, I felt like too often we were being told something I didn't really care about and not enough about the mystery part of the story, or how magic operates in this world.

Who I'd recommend it to: Fans of witchy New Orleans + X-men vibes!

Favorite line:
Flowers die. Plastic jewelry lasts forever.

I love the graphics on this! It's all grey tones which complements Raven, our main character so well. This is a very easy to follow graphic novel that sets up the premise of Raven. She has suffered a horrible tragedy and she must piece together her memories, while also attending high school and battling normal high school bullies. Are demons bigger than high school? It's a fun set up and I'm interesting in reading more of her journey. It gives you just enough to get to know the characters and their stories but has definite room for more.

eARC provided by DC Ink and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Admittedly, I often don't read DC Comics and went into this knowing nothing about Raven and her story. I was very pleasantly surprised! While this wasn't something that was amazing/life changing for me, it really made me want to dig further into Raven's story in the greater comic universe. I felt like this was a really solid introduction and back story, though I felt like I wanted a little bit more. Though I guess that's what the whole DC universe is for!

One thing I LOVED about this was the art style. Something about it just hit different and I'm really glad I got a chance to experience it. Definitely makes me want to look out for more from this artist!

Rachel "Raven" Roth loses her memory and her mother in a car accident, and gets sent to live with her aunt and cousin in New Orleans. But something isn't right. Raven is hearing voices, and there's something weird going on with her family.

Lemme be the first to say that aside from watching the cartoon a lot in the early 00s, I am not a Teen Titans fan. I haven't kept up with the show and I haven't read any of the comics. So me picking this up was a weird spark of...je ne sais quoi.

Overall, it's not great, but again, I'm not a long-time fan of Teen Titans, so I missed a lot of the subtext of who Raven is and her backstory (admittedly, Raven was my favorite of the Teen Titans because she was goth, mysterious and had a bitchin' jewel belt). I kept trying to figure out if this was her original backstory or a revamp or what, because in my head in the cartoon she was like 15 or ageless or something. I dunno.

However, if you set aside the Teen Titans portion of it (of which I don't know how much seeped into this story? Besides the villains?), it was pretty good. The artwork was good, the dialogue was well done, and I liked the mystery of who Raven was and figuring out what was going on with Max and her mom. I do wish that it had more focus to the plot and was a little longer, but overall it was decent.

Not one of my favorites, but an engaging read.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Teen Titans Raven
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Starting over is never easy. After a car accident raven loses her memory and her home. Leaving her to live with her aunt and cousin who have some secrets of their own. Raven gets to enjoy the normal high school experience, except for the voice in her head telling her to do horror things. Raven meets Tommy and feels excepted for who she is. Until everything goes wrong. With the help of her family she learns more about who she is and what she needs to do next.

I loved this book so much!!! Thank you @netgalley and @kamigarcia for this advanced readers copy! I am blown away and I can’t wait to continue the teen titans story!! I grew up loving watching Teen Titans and Raven has always been my favorite so this was just so perfect for me!

“What if there’s a zombie apocalypse and you only have enough money to buy one candy bar?” -Tommy

Highly recommend reading! If you love teen titans as much as I do you will absolutely love this story! It is beautifully done!

Thank you to NetGalley and DC Entertainment for an e-arc of Teen Titans: Raven!

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2019 for two reasons. The first being it's a graphic novel and I love those, they're so quick and easy to flip through. The second because Raven is one of my favorite Teen Titans, I've always wanted to know more about her, she's always fascinated me, and she's just really cool. Unfortunately for me I did not love this book as much as I was hoping to although I still enjoyed it.

Lets start with the art style. The art was really cute and I liked that the minimal coloring was pretty much restricted to Raven and things that related to her or important moments. It was an interesting way to center around her and keep your focus on her and her story line without getting distracted by other things happening in the panels. Occasionally there were full color spreads and they were stunning.

The storyline for this book though didn't really do much for me. I was hoping to learn more about Raven or really immerse myself in her origin story but everything kind of fell flat with no big payoff. She spends most of the book with amnesia not knowing she has these powers while the people she lives with keep an eye on her trying to find the best way to help her. Once she unleashes these powers there's this confrontation at the end that just did not go off with a bang and it felt like not much came of it. And there's a romance that didn't really seem necessary, on the other hand I would have liked to know more about this love interests reasoning for doing things.

There is going to be a Beast Boy (officially my fave) book and I don't know if Raven's story will crossover into his or not but I will check it out because I did enjoy the art, just the story was lacking for me.

I haven’t always been a fan of graphic novels but this one sounded very interesting and I figured I’d try it out.

The first thing I want to say is the color usage in this novel is so eye catching. The illustrations done by Picolo are incredible, breathtaking, and really do push the story to that level that a simple book may not have. The visual aid, especially when aimed at the younger generation of readers, is really helpful and takes this book to a new level.

Author Kami Garcia did a wonderful job telling this story filled with action, relationships, and mystery. Raven’s character is so interesting to me and the way she handles her situation, which is filled with tragedy, is so true to the age she is. There were times I found myself wanting to comforter her or be angry for her or whatever she was going through, I wanted to go through with her. I really felt a bond with the character and I think that is in huge part to Garcia and the writing as well as Picolo and the illustrations.

Whether you are a fan of graphic novels or not, this is one to pick up and check out. I am going to be looking for more to check out in my near future and this has made me a fan.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars
I really enjoyed reading this graphic novel. I thought that the artwork was extravagant! I did find Raven to be a bit childish, but she IS a high school student. I thought that this book was an accurate representation of Raven.

I was excited to heard about this book, and am so excited I was able to read an advance copy! I've been a fan of Raven since watching Teen Titans as a kid, and was excited to see this fresh take on her story. I'm not the biggest 'comic fan' so I don't know much about the original stories there characters star in, but I do watch the comic/superhero movies when I can, and have found that like other retellings and adaptations, I tend to either love or hate the 'new' versions when they come out. Thankfully lately I've enjoyed many of the stories DC characters are seeing in teen literature, and I love this introduction to teens and young adult readers to these characters who have inspired so many fans already! In this one, Raven can easily be related to and seen as just another teen, and as we read more about what makes her special, she handles events in a way that many teens might and it reads as realistic and makes it easier to connect with her and see her as definite friend material!

I received an ARC of Kami Garcia’s graphic novel Teen Titans: Raven from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I’ll admit that I was unfamiliar with the character prior to reading the ARC, but it definitely hooked me into the Teen Titans world. Raven is a girl who suffered a tragic accident that left her without her foster mother and her memory. After relocating to New Orleans to live with her estranged aunt, some strange things start occurring when Raven gets emotional, leading her down a path through old, dark magic toward the truth of her past and the question of her future. With beautifully realized art from Gabriel Picolo that perfectly accentuated the dark tone of the backstory, along with just the right amount of romance and teen angst, Teen Titans: Raven is a graphic novel that high school librarians should not pass by. A perfect addition for fans of Maximum Ride and other canonical comic texts.