Raven (comics) - Definition and Overview

Raven is a fictional character, a superhero in the DC Comics universe, specifically the Teen Titan comics.

In the Teen Titans comics

Raven first appeared and remained a prominent character in the second variant of the Teen Titans comic book series: “The New Titans” (1980–1991). She remained central to the beginning and ending plot of this series.

Raven’s background story begins with her mother: A lost young woman named Arella, sought out the occult. Offering herself up as the bride of Satan, she allowed herself to be taken by the man who appeared during the ritual, and only afterward did he reveal his true, demonic appearance. Horrified at what she had done, what had happened to her, and fearful of the demon’s child she carried, she was on the brink of suicide when she was found and taken to Azarath, a dimension to which a community of pacifists had fled from Earth to live in peace. Thus Raven, daughter of human and demon, was raised by Azar and her followers, taught pacifism, taught to control her demon heritage. She learned to heal by absorbing other’s pain, and she learned to project her soul out of her body for short periods of time. And she learned to suppress her emotions, for any strong feelings could awaken the evil within her. Knowing her demonic father Trigon would soon invade Earth, Raven broke with Azarath’s teachings to seek allies to turn him back. Rejected by the Justice League, she sought out heroes her own age.

The series begins with Raven attempting to gather together a group of teenage superheroes. She convinced Robin to start recruiting, and they collected Wonder Girl, Changeling, and the cyborg Vic Stone. Kid Flash declined, trying to be Wally West instead. Raven, an empath, needed him on the team, and so she interfered with his emotions, made him feel that he loved her, to convince him to join. With all of them assembled (including Starfire), they were able to face the threat Raven had assemble them for: Trigon. The Titans fought Trigon twice, once in his home dimension, trapping him there (The New Teen Titans (first series) #5–6, 1981), and once on Earth. That second time, he was able to release the evil in Raven, and she stood as his second as he began remaking the Earth in his twisted, hellish image. As the Titans battled on against impossible odds, the soul of Azar guided Arella cleansed Raven of her father’s evil. Raven’s soul, became a conduit through which the souls of all of Azarath came to corrupt Trigon with purity and “destroy the Destroyer of Worlds” (The New Teen Titans (second series) #1–5, 1984–1985).

Raven vanished in that battle, only to reappear weeks later, amnesiac. Found by the "Church of Blood", she was recruited to help him stage Brother Blood’s "resurrection" (having faked his death in an earlier battle with the Titans). In the midst of Blood’s worldwide telecast she freed herself of his influence, using her powers to release the thousands of onlookers who were under his thrall as well. Rejoining the Titans, she reveled in the emotions she was finally able to experience. At this point "The New Titans" comic book series ends.

Raven in the next two Teen Titan comic books series Titans Hunt and the Darkening(1991–1994) and Checkmate(1994–1996) plays more of the role of villain then hero. The Titans (both the team and the series) fell apart when the "Wildebeest society" (guided by the now-corrupted souls of Azarath) began hunting them down. Raven was killed, and the evil in her soul took possession of a new body. Though her former Titans contacts, she began implanting what she believed were the souls of her slain brothers and sisters (fellow children of Trigon whose mothers had committed suicide rather than give birth to children of evil) into people such as Changeling and Frances Kane. She accidentally implanted Raven’s true soul into Starfire, and was forced to seek her in outer space. There it was revealed that the seeds of Trigon’s children were actually pieces of his own essence, planted for his own resurrection. The Titans arrived, with Starfire carrying Raven’s soul, and Trigon was destroyed forever (again), leaving Raven as a disembodied, but again pure, spirit.

Raven would not appear in the following two teen titans comics, but was resurrected in the latest comic variant which production started in 2003 and is still in print today. Captured again by the "Church of Blood" (now revealed to be Trigon worshippers) Raven’s soul was bound to the body of a teenaged girl. (The body was "...made from the sacrifices of Blood’s disciples," which might mean they created it mystically, or it might mean one of them sacrificed her own life so Raven could take her body.) Sadly, Blood’s influence has reawakened her dark side, which Raven must again strive to keep in check.

In the Teen Titans animated series

In the Animated Series "The Teen Titans" (2003-), Raven appears much younger (as do all the other characters) then in the comic book variants, her custom though is relativity unchanged. Raven's personality is also more child-like and emotional and slightly more sterotypically gothic. Raven is straightforward, moody as well as sarcastic. However, she does show signs that she cares very much for her friends.

Her powers are pretty much the same as in the comics, except for the fact that she has to say "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" to help her focus her powers. She has to meditate often to make sure her powers remain at bay. When she gets excessively emotional, her powers tend to take a form, called her "Soul Self" in the comic books (Her soul self is not recognized by name in the animation, but it is featured.) Her soul-self tends to take the form of demonic under-the-bed sort of creatures, like pitch black four-eyed baby birds or rats, or obviously, a giant raven. Her soul-self can also transform her bodies appearance to a variety of demonic forms and sizes. Worst of all, when she can't control her anger, she transforms into a demonic Raven usually with four glowing-red eyes and sprouting black tentacles from under her cloak, also referred to by fans as “Red Raven”. The four eyes seem to symbolize her demon father, Trigon.

Raven often has a complex that her fellow Titans don't like her, probably because she's the daughter of a demon and has a very unique and complex lifestyle that her friends don't really understand. Her room inside Titans Tower is decorated with things from her past as well as statues and pictures about of the creepy-crawlies her powers like to conjure up. Needless to say, she gets mortally offended when anyone steps foot in it.

In the first season, episode 6 “Nevermore”: Raven's is angered by a villain and transforms into Red Raven, grabs the villain with her tentacles and drags him under her cloak (What happened to the villain under the cloak is only perverted speculation) seriously traumatizing the villain. Later Beast Boy and Cyborg find a mirror in her room, which accidentally transports them into her subconscious. Here, they discover that Raven is slightly schizophrenic (each personality represented as wearing a different colored robe, including Green (bold), Gray (shy and apologetic), Pink (ditzy), Orange (uncouth), etc.). When they find the real Raven, she tells them that Red (anger) was let out by accident. When Red Raven (complete with four glowing-red eyes) transforms into a huge hulking beast, questions about what’s going on occur and Raven comments "Let's just say I have issues with my father," obviously a hint in the animated series that the beast is a incarnation of her father, and refering to a background story based off her comic book variant. After the episode, “Red Raven” was let loose briefly during Raven's famous battle with Terra in a giant mud pit (Season 2, Episode 25 “Aftershock (1)”. After her furious personality was unleashed, she could have easily killed Terra if she had remained calm and restrained her self.

Raven’s father in the animated series may have a different name then in the comic book, this would not be unusual as some the character have rare or skewed names based on the comics. In episode 6, one of Raven’s personalities refers to her fathers influence as “Ada”.

Many fans of the comic books question how deeply Raven’s upcoming plot with her father will enter into the demonic, apocalyptic and mortality, mainly because of the show's more child oriented style. Based off brief descriptions of future episodes on the net it may not be expected that Raven’s possession and battles with her father will lead to her inevitable death (or repeated deaths and reincarnations) as in the comic series. In most resent episodes though Raven’s apocalyptic destruction of the earth and battle’s with her father seem inevitable, though the show reveals as few clues as possible, the hints seems horrific enough to sit well with comic book fans of the series.

References

Overview of Raven (http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/raven.html)

Overview of teen titan comics (http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/titans.html#teen)

Detailed synopsis of each episode (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/EpisodeGuideServlet/showid-13878/Teen_Titans/)