I was thinking about Raven and...
Wow... Did I said that out loud?... Uh, this didn't quite came out as I intended it to...
Let's start over....
I was reading some "Titans" comic trade paperbacks from DC, and I started thinking about this character...
And while Beast Boy was all the time hitting on her, it started spinning some questions into my (geeky) mind.
Now that's better. Better intro.
Lemme just add, before starting, that I'd like to use this new feature, Comic Talks, to randomly start some discussions about stuff that boggles my mind... Dive deep into plot holes, annoying or mind-bottling points and facts~
Anyway, let's start for real now:
The early years.
When Raven first appeard in the comics, it was during the 80s "New Teen Titans" run under the pen of the fantastic artist George Pérez and classic writer Marv Wolfman.
She was introduced as part of the newcomers in the new Titans' character roster.
Raven, daughter of the demon Trigon, etc..etc.. (use wikipedia for the rest if you're interested in the backstory).
Anyways!
She was, like most of those character, in her teens/late-teens. Robin was older (and now I don't find his costume that ridiculous, he's always been that circus-kid to me, and if you ever went to the circus, that's a pretty normal costume for a grown man).
Let's try to stay in-subject and focused her, a'right?
This was how she looked originally.
I like it.
:P
Changes in perspective...
Raven slowly turned evil and helped her daddy Trigon runs amok, the Titans grew up (Robin became Nightwing...)
and
DC Comics made the now-famous event Crisis, which simply rebooted the DC universe (to simplify their storylines, create a new blank canvas for the newer generation and shake their universe a bit).
Comic events are quite usual nowadays, with all the Civil War, World War Hulks, 52, Blackest Nights, etc..
I'm not a big fan of those...most of the times... (because of all the tie-in books, the "changing the status quo"-again-again..etc..)
Back on Raven now.
George Pérez slowly introduced changes in her design to make her age a bit and prepare the reader to see her turning into her demonic-self.
It was subtle, but she was changed in the end.
Raven ended dead. Yep. It's sad I know, but hey, this is fiction! Being dead =/= staying dead!
If you want to read more about the Crisis event, check my Batman Year One Review, but the important fact about that, in this Comic Talk is that while DC was rebooted and stories started over taking places in the mid-80s (timeframe in which Batman Year One seems to take place from what appears in the book), many past stories/events that wouldn't be retold nor "erased" were kept in continuity simply taking places later one.
The Wolfman/Pérez titans run, while definitively taking places in the 80s in the stories themselves (dates appear here and there) were supposed to take place now in the future-90s because they've been written before and around the time of the crisis but not erased.
Understood that part?
Any questions?
(hey! no worries, that would chunk of text will be a bit detailed in a paragraph below)
And now...
Finally, time passed, we're now in the late 90s/2000s.
Geoff Johns, love this writer, started a new Teen Titans comic series and brought back Raven for this news series. How's that? A cult brought her back/resuscitated Raven in a new body, a younger body.
Yay! She was back!
We're coming to an end and my point here!
Stay focused one more minute please!
So, while other characters, like Dick Grayson/Robin, aged normally, Raven had a life-reboot.
See, we can estimate around ~20 years in comic time passed since the 80s/~30 real-life years
Like this: (beware! a quickly-done exemple in text!!)
---Crisis-----------------
1980-¦-1990--2000-2010
~mid-80s/after the Crisis: Batman Year One - Robin joins him around his Year Two and was around 12 years old, Bruce was around his twenties himself
- When he was a teen Robin was in the teen titans.
- Batman was in his 30s during the 90s No Man's Land event and Dick/Nightwing wasn't a teen anymore
- Bat's older in the One Year Later storylines (almost or already 40s?)
- Nightwing's currently Batman and should be in his late 20s/30s himself
So my big problem and question lies in Raven now.
(all these stories about age are just deductions and don't import that much with my final point)
Raven was a teen in her original appearances and late teen/in her early 20s in the original comics. But she's been resurrected in a younger/teen body, right? (and changed costume after the One Year Later story/event)
First...
Then...
Now...
So instead of being in her...what?...late 20s/30s she's now back into a 16 years old body (as said in Titans Vol. 3).
Yep.
And it is now that Beast Boy started hitting on her.
Does it make him a pedo? Or is it alright for Beast Boy, who's aged and looks pretty grown up nowadays (often seen with some facial hair on). I know he was the youngest one back in George Pérez comics, but doesn't change the fact that she's 16 now!! And Beast Boy looks pretty much mid-20s now!!
Is it legal? I mean the situation isn't your regular "Older dude likes younger chicks" here!
This hurts my mind....
And it doesn't help that some writers seem to draw her a bit older every time/make her sexier looks.
I mean, ~raaawr~
She's still 16!!!! RAAAAH!!
Anyway, I leave you with that, don't hesitate to comment/add in your own input below~
(not just you Frobman! anybody can, I mean YOU there reading this, you can comment on this blog as well without a blogspot account!)
"Am I in trouble guys?!"
Beast Boy's as confused as me...
