Written by by Kami Garcia
Art by Gabriel Picolo
Published by DC Comics
Apparently, there are three books—Raven, Beast Boy, and Beast Boy Loves Raven. I never saw the first two but all are by the team of Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo, whose names appear much more prominently on the cover of the book than the title. The name “Teen Titans” appears even smaller! This is odd since the characters look like no previous version I’ve ever seen. It’s almost as if DC is trying to hide the fact that these are superhero characters. Hmm…
Oh, well, that has nothing to do with the book itself, which starts off with a good job of bringing the reader up to speed from the two preceding volumes.
Raven, at least to me, gives off Daria vibes, with her generally deadpan face and the way her dialogue reads in my head. Not a bad thing. Just an observation.
Gar, on the other hand, comes across as kind of generic, almost Archie-like. Again, just an observation. The point is, I had to get used to these two as they are nowhere near the characters I enjoyed reading so much four decades ago. Wait! Surely, it can’t have been FOUR decades!
But yes, it has been. The New Teen Titans was arguably the best superhero book being published by DC or even Marvel in the first half of the 1980s. I not only never missed an issue, for a while I purchased two copies, the second for my then-girlfriend who was a ringer for the TT’s then-newest member, Terra! If you know anything about Terra. You can see where that didn’t work out well for me in the long run. Terra, either. To this day, (SPOILER) DC gets flack for showing the character of Slade—aka Deathstroke, the Terminator—in a sexual situation with the underage heroine, whom he had been using for his own evil agenda all along.
Slade turns up here, too, presumably a metaphor for human trafficking as he is preying on vulnerable young people, again for his own nefarious goals. Raven’s still having Daddy issues as well, as she always did in the comics, her father being a giant, red, multi-eyed, horned demon named Trigon. Here, he too, feels like a metaphor for a grooming, abusive adult male figure whose damage to his daughter’s head never goes away.
It all feels pretty heavy, and sadly all too relatable for so many potential young readers these days. But there’s a sitcom romance as well, and some action scenes featuring a couple of unbilled co-stars. The romance is the best part, faster than real life, but slower than such a story might call for. The dialogue is sweet and the artist gives all the characters some fun facial looks and body language. There’s even a secondary romance.
As teen books go, Beast Boy Loves Raven is probably what they used to think of as a “girls’ book,” but it hits on a lot of the insecurities I myself had when I first started reading The New Teen Titans more than …aHeM!…40 years ago. We don’t categorize things as “girls’ books” or “boys’ books” anymore, nor do we limit the ages. Adult fans of good comics will like this one, too. If only we didn’t have to wait for another volume to see what happens next.
Booksteve recommends.
