Teen Titans: Raven, Beast Boy, Beast Boy Loves Raven, Robin
Ignore the #4 of the series, as I’m actually reviewing the whole series up to 4. I usually review the #1, but goodreads put it somewhere in 2023 and I don’t feel like digging it up now.
I read this teen titans series about a year ago and only got around to rereading it this time around (because I forgot I read it).
This is a reimagining of the teen titans in a more slice of life manner. They still have powers, and there’s still batman and presumably the other justice league, but it shows much more of the slice of life and the heroes are actually teenagers and go to school and do stuff that other teenagers do. They just happen to be either peak human plus plus, or they have the power to summon demons and talk to ghosts or turn into animals and what not.
They also aren’t super good at what they do yet, so beast boy can’t quite transform into what he wants at will, and raven can’t control her powers much, but the robins (Daimon Wayne is a robin here too, as is Dick Grayson) are already well trained.
The series starts off with Raven, where you’re introduced to this universe’s Raven who’s just a confused girl with a very interesting past. She goes to a typical high school, gets into the typical high school situations, and ends up an even more confused person than when she first started after she finds out what her parentage is.
The following book slowly introduces the other characters, book 2 talks about Beast Boy, book 3 talks about the relationship Beast Boy has with Raven, and this last book talks about how the Robins have to reconcile their differences and how they each view each other as being favorites of their adopted father.
The whole series is quite heart warming and geared towards the young adult crowd, but still has enough adult themes and action to move it along such that its not just another episode of “yet another high school dramedy”.
The villian is of course Slade, of Deathstroke fame (from which deadpool is derived from), and the authoress portrays him quite well as being the competent, savvy, and very deadly and driven person that he is.
All in all, if you’ve ever watched the teen titans cartoons or read teen titans from the 80s and 90s, this is a very refreshing take on it that’s not as mature and dark as the Titans tv show, or as silly as the teen titans go show.
recommended!