Ever since DC started from square one with “New 52,” they’ve given room for both mainstays like Batman and Superman as well as lesser-known characters like Animal Man and the concept Dial H. But there’s still more they could do, particularly with one gothed-out girl who has more mainstream popularity than many of the New 52 titles going on today: Raven. Created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez as part of their legendary run on Teen Titans, Raven found a new lease on life as part of the Teen Titans animated cartoon in the mid-00s. But back in comics after the “New 52” relaunch Raven is nowhere to be found. So here’s a shining example of what DC could do when a Third Wave of relaunches comes about.
The Concept:
DC has a lot of material to pull from in relaunching Raven in the “New 52” era. The core of the character is the half-breed daughter of a demon named Trigon and a human woman, trying to reign in her demonic tendencies. I’d take that and push it through the lens of H.P. Lovecraft, turning this into a horrorific heroine trying to co-exist with both sides of her lineage in the DCU. Instead of aligning her with her classic allies in Teen Titans or Red Hood & The Outsiders, I’d have her land more in the “The Dark” sub-line of Justice League Dark and Animal Man.
The Creators:
The Writer – Jeff Lemire: Jeff Lemire is becoming one of DC’s key writers alongside Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison and Scott Snyder, and I’d love to see his take on Raven after what he did to Animal Man.
The Artist – Annie Wu: While she’s yet to make her proper full-length comics debut, iFanboy Upstart Annie Wu has done a variety of smaller work inside DC’s House of Mystery and in various magazine advertisements. Word has it she’s working on a graphic novel for a major publisher right now, but her style would be an arresting visual for Raven and really give the title a distinct look on comic shelves.
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A Raven book if done right and marketed correctly could bring in a new audience, particularly teenage girls. It seems like it would be easy to make this feel like the female character driven ‘urban fantasy’ genre that has been dominating book sales the past few years. If it is well done and you can get a Stephenie Meyer or a Suzanne Collins to recommend it and a few ads on the CW I think it would be a big hit.
No random teenage girl is just going to walk into a comic shop just because she heard there’s a comic targeted toward teens. Most of my friends and family think comics are a thing of the past. They don’t know that comics come out weekly. The reason behind this is because there is no LCS in my town. I have to drive an hour to get to a shop. This is the Industrys biggest problem. There is not enough shops out there and you can’t get comics from major retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. I know people who would read comics weekly like I do but won’t because there is no shop in our town. This is the problem with the comics industry.
Also, no advertising. Buy a goddamned television. Let people know you exist.
They could easily bring her into JLD, that could be fun and fulfill the Jeff Lemiere suggestion . I really only know Raven from the animated U, but I feel like her and Constantine could banter well.
Yeah DC left money on the table when they wandered away from the fans they generated with Teen Titans Go!
DC leaves a lot of money on the table.
Wow, good call on art! Which isn’t to say that Lemire is a bad choice on words (because he’s a good choice too), but the best way to make a book different from superhero books is to make it look different from superhero books.*
*Yes, I’m stating the obvious.
Pyynk: Up until recently Lemire has been a non-superhero writer. I think that’s part of why he works so well.
Conceptually I’d give her more space away from the DCU. Like LBolt said, Raven “could bring in a new audience” but that audience reads a different type of product so why not first hire an accomplished YA novelist to write a book series w/ comic elements and see where it goes from there.
If successful there could be some crossover with the Teen Titans or JL Dark comic book series (i.e. At the end of book 3 – “Follow Raven’s adventures as a member of Teen Titans every month. Book 4 coming soon in 2014”).
Scott Lobdell said DC had big plans for Raven so I’m thinking she might have something to do with next year’s Trinity War.
I always thought there was a whole Eisner/Iger-Quality legacy in DC that you could associate Raven with.
I’d make her a lynchpin character of Earth-sub-Freedom Fighters. She could be Spider Widow’s daughter.
Or at least, y’know, the Elseworlds version. 8)
I agree completely… Raven is an under-utilized character and much more powerful than writers give her credit for.
DC should just do what I did on FanFic, make her older and marry her off to Bruce Wayne 🙂
Now that’s a power couple! The whole father-in-law thing isn’t much fun for Bruce though…