Full disclosure. Not familiar with this character at all, other than really enjoying the look of Cover Artist Yanick Paquettes rendering for this title. Really Mythical looking cover that I suspect brought a few people to give this book a try. Another reason for me giving this book a read is , of course, a chance to read the writing of Comic legend Marv Wolfman (Amazing Spider-man, Daredevil, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Nightwing and much , much more).
I enjoyed the book overall, although I was bit lost to some of the references. If you have no background on this character, I would recommend doing a bit of research on her origin before diving right in. Some issue and serie’s references within the comic might have been helpful also. Mr. Wolfmans story was paced pretty well and parts of Raven’s past were illuminated via the storyline itself so some of the questions of the first few pages were answered by the end of the issue. I think it was Stan Lee who once said(correct me if not internet) to create a comic like it was the readers first experience. This book was a good example of that.
There were a few independently running storylines through out this issue that left the reader with questions for the second issue which is a good thing to me. Marv Wolfman did a pretty good job of introducing us to a supporting cast which is always important.I actually think it’s great that they have called this a limited series of 12 issues. We need more of these instead of running “series” that get to 7 issues and then the plug gets pulled(Hi Mickey!!) .”Limited series” are not bad words.
Artist Pop Khan has a nice style of art suited to this book.I can definitely see some Jim Lee influence in his renderings Facial expressions/reactions were done well and the paneling was well laid out for it. It felt a bit like a “70’s book ” in some parts in the vein of Marv’s Tomb of Dracula series. I’m not sure that was anything more than a happy accident but time will tell.
I’m not sure if I’d buy the second book but the art on this one brought me here so you never know. If you’re looking for a book with a supernatural vibe and a strong, though vulnerable, female lead this book may be for you. If you have a history with this character I suspect this would probably also be a series for you as DC seems to be gearing up a nice 12 issue run with Wolfman at the helm.
P.S Pop back by on Monday Jan.29th when I’m going to take a look at “Dissonance ” from the Image line.Until then.Cheers
