Teen Titans #8

Oh boy, it's a Raven specific issue... I make no bones about it, I can't stand Raven. She's as empty of a comic character as you'll find, and is solely around to fill the “Goth Girl” quota. Her back story has something to do with her being the daughter of Trigon, who isn't even the devil in DC! He's just some demon... I mean, at least let him be the BIG bad, like Satan and Satana in Marvel. Besides the fact that she's an empty shell of a character, she also serves as the Deus Ex Machina character in WAAAAAAY too many Titans books. That was her purpose in the New Teen Titans/New Titans/and I'm sure this series. Which brings us to this issue of Teen Titans, with the cover ominously stating, “Reintroducing Raven!” I fear this is going to be a retelling of Raven's origin, which I'd really dislike... Well, let's crack it open and see what's inside!

Teen Titans #8(April 2004)

Summary: We actually start off with some action! The Titans(in this case Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy) are battling against Mammoth and Gizmo... Gizmo... HAHAHAHAHAH!!! Ugh. Anyway, Superboy is running late due to detention, while Robin is being flown over to San Fran by Batman. Robin is also complaining about lying to his father about being Robin, which is kind of dick-ish due to the whole, “Batman's father and mother were murdered in front of him” thing...

I feel like we need that meme with Batman screaming, "My parents are dead!!!" here.  Also, screw Geoff Johns for writing Tim so callously!

The Titans take down the not-so-Fearsome Two and meet up with Superboy and Robin at the Tower. From there, we get the Raven origin I was dreading... Let's see how quick I can do this... Her mother was a runaway who joined a cult and was boinked by Trigon. Her mom was then taken to another dimension(because reasons) where she had Raven. Raven wasn't allowed to show emotions because... Um, I guess reasons again... Trigon attacked earth, was met by the Titans, and Raven assisted. From there, Raven joined the Titans, turned heel(yes, because reasons again), ruined a wedding and was killed by Starfire. Now she's back, and NOT better than ever. Whatever, says I.

A-fricking-men...

This issue ends with Deathstroke and Ravager hunting for Raven on account of her killing/absorbing/??? Jericho a few issues back.

Thoughts: That dude's name was Gizmo... Like the little gremlin dude! Heh... *Ahem* Anyway, this issue was about what I expected, with a whole lotta Raven origin. I did like that we got a little action sequence with Mammoth and Gizmo(heh heh...), because we really did need something to break up the monotony of Starfire droning on and on about Raven's life story. I know that she was giving us readers the origin(even though I'm sure it could have been searched for online in 2004...), but her telling the younger Titans about Raven's mother seemed so needless... Like, how is that going to help them when they inevitably face Raven? Will they heckle her with shouts of, “Your momma was a runaway! HAHA!!” Did we really need to see them learn more than Raven was Trigon's daughter, joined the Titans and turned evil(because genetics!! Just like Superboy!!!) and was killed as a result? Eh, on the plus side, it seems that Deathstroke and Ravager are going to be reoccurring characters in this series, which I like a lot!