Raven (Rachel Roth) Appreciation 2020

[Tzigone]

Rachel Roth is just her civilian disguise. It’s what she uses when/if she attends high school and other social settings. Raven is her birth name.

Okay, but plenty of people default to "Conner" for Kon-El and think of it as his "real" name, even though it's not his first given name, either. Though for me, I haven't read much with her since she was given Rachel as a civilian name (she used Raven in college originally, if I recall correctly)

Also, New 52 comes in. I haven't read relevant stories, but the wiki says Rachel is her birth name there and Trigon renamed her Raven. Not my thing.

So with Conner and retcons, I wondered what name people thought of her as. Glad Raven is the winner, since I'm on the losing side elsewhere.

[Masterff]

Okay, but plenty of people default to "Conner" for Kon-El and think of it as his "real" name, even though it's not his first given name, either. Though for me, I haven't read much with her since she was given Rachel as a civilian name (she used Raven in college originally, if I recall correctly)

Also, New 52 comes in. I haven't read relevant stories, but the wiki says Rachel is her birth name there and Trigon renamed her Raven. Not my thing.

So with Conner and retcons, I wondered what name people thought of her as. Glad Raven is the winner, since I'm on the losing side elsewhere.

Actually its difficult:

Kal El is born as Kal El and got raised as Clark Kent and became then Superman.
There were 3 types of him:
-Clark as the mask and Superman as what he really is
-Superman as the mask and Clark as his real person
-Superman and Clark as masks and Kal El as the real person

Conner started as Superboy and then got the name Kon-El and last name Conner Kent.
But actually he only gets adressed as Kon El in the anime or? others call him Superboy and Conner.

So for Clark I would say it depends which Era do you take
Conner is now used to Conner or Superboy..

[bluelolly]

How old is she now? Her mother said she was 16 years old in Rebirth(Marv Wolfman's 2018 Raven:The daughter of the darkness). But after moving from Teen Titans to Titans, she doesn't look like 16.

[Electricmastro]

Raven as she appeared in Dark Knights Rising: The Wild Hunt #1 (April, 2018). Art by Howard Porter, Jorge Jimenez, and Doug Mahnke.

[wonder39]

That one's kinda odd, too, because that aspect really wasn't there in her earliest appearances and only came in a little later.

I looked up the preboot and Post-COIE Ravens in the wiki and the difference in the list of powers is pretty shocking. I'm not really keen on adding tons of powers myself, but a lot of people loved their characters powered up.

I'm used to her soul self, her empathy (including healing), her ability to project emotions on others and her ability to teleport. Not sure when flight and telekinesis came in. I guess the rest came with the reboot?

I Think in the original run, she clarifies that it's not teleporting, it's " moving between dimensions"....

Anything past old school Raven ( not the newer Rachael) just misses something. The depth of character isn't there. She's not as visually interesting. Flying s so much less interesting then appearing is a thick cloud of smoke. Also, the waybtheybusually depict her soul self now is meh... just looks like smog and not that glorious black glowing bird spirit look....sigh

[Alphaxman]

I Think in the original run, she clarifies that it's not teleporting, it's " moving between dimensions"....

Anything past old school Raven ( not the newer Rachael) just misses something. The depth of character isn't there. She's not as visually interesting. Flying s so much less interesting then appearing is a thick cloud of smoke. Also, the waybtheybusually depict her soul self now is meh... just looks like smog and not that glorious black glowing bird spirit look....sigh

To me The Raven post 2011 is a completely different character. I know characters need to progress so they won't become stagnant, but she nearly nothing like the woman I grew up with in the 80s through the early 90s. I miss her simple yet elegant cloak and dress. I miss her bone-straight black hair devoid of highlights. I miss her guarded emotions. I miss her bird effigy soul-self. I miss the rings of Azar. I miss her "teleportation" display. I miss her deep friendship with Joey. I miss Trigon being dead and that she moved passed him.

I MISS HER:
white raven.jpg

[9th.]

To me The Raven post 2011 is a completely different character. I know characters need to progress so they won't become stagnant, but she nearly nothing like the woman I grew up with in the 80s through the early 90s. I miss her simple yet elegant cloak and dress. I miss her bone-straight black hair devoid of highlights. I miss her guarded emotions. I miss her bird effigy soul-self. I miss the rings of Azar. I miss her "teleportation" display. I miss her deep friendship with Joey. I miss Trigon being dead and that she moved passed him.

I MISS HER:
white raven.jpg

Why didn't they keep Raven in white or is her other designs more popular? I haven't read everything so this could've been explained in a story somewhere.

[orionblue]

To me The Raven post 2011 is a completely different character. I know characters need to progress so they won't become stagnant, but she nearly nothing like the woman I grew up with in the 80s through the early 90s. I miss her simple yet elegant cloak and dress. I miss her bone-straight black hair devoid of highlights. I miss her guarded emotions. I miss her bird effigy soul-self. I miss the rings of Azar. I miss her "teleportation" display. I miss her deep friendship with Joey. I miss Trigon being dead and that she moved passed him.

I MISS HER:
white raven.jpg

I agree - I consider this look (blue or white) and the depiction of her soul-self the iconic looks. This for me is truly Raven.

[warzon]

RAVEN 2.jpgthe one and only Raven in my eyes.

[warzon]

RAVEN 4.jpgI wish DC would do a reverse Flashpoint so we can go back to this look.

[Marik Swift]

Looking to get into Raven, mostly via roleplaying, so have a few questions.

Is Raven is the the type to get tattoos and/or piercings?

What type of job do you see her doing?

[orionblue]

Looking to get into Raven, mostly via roleplaying, so have a few questions.

Is Raven is the the type to get tattoos and/or piercings?

What type of job do you see her doing?

Good questions - and as the character has been changed and de-aged over the years with power sets tweaked a bit it can be challenging to answer.

For me, the Wolfman/Perez Raven (the iconic version in my eyes) was a vegetarian mystic healer who was into yoga and meditation. She probably would never get a tattoo (but who knows - Johns in his revamp and update of the Teen Titans had written a story where she got a tramp stamp of a raven...I liked the idea but was not into the tramp stamp aspect)...as for piercings - besides having her ears pierced I believe that she would be open to other piercings specifically a nose piercing (I always thought that Wolfman/Perez purposefully styled her ‘regular’ wardrobes after southeast Indian garbs like saris and that visually they styled her more towards southeast Indian culture where more women depending on their beliefs/caste system would have nose piercings).

As to the question of what she would be doing? I like that she is a part of the Titans (not teens), and would prefer her in the role of healer and mystic and pacifist trying to help others in non-violent ways. One of her most pivotal and iconic roles was during the Runaways storyline where she wanted to help the runaways regardless of what they did to survive and the Omega Men Koriandr storyline where she was essentially trying to heal warriors in the midst of all out war and almost submerged in all the emotions and on the verge of losing control to Trigon but still soldiering on to help others.

I think that the essence of the character has been diluted a bit through the years and in her de-aging. I would like D.C. to bring her back to her iconic self. Sorry for the long response, but your questions made me think.

[nj06]

To me The Raven post 2011 is a completely different character. I know characters need to progress so they won't become stagnant, but she nearly nothing like the woman I grew up with in the 80s through the early 90s. I miss her simple yet elegant cloak and dress. I miss her bone-straight black hair devoid of highlights. I miss her guarded emotions. I miss her bird effigy soul-self. I miss the rings of Azar. I miss her "teleportation" display. I miss her deep friendship with Joey. I miss Trigon being dead and that she moved passed him.

I MISS HER:
white raven.jpg

Agreed. Current Raven just doesn't do it for me. I also don't like her red-highlights and I prefer her pre-Flashpoint/2011 self. I feel like the way she was portrayed in the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon really influenced the way she is portrayed now in the comics and the animated films.

[Marik Swift]

Good questions - and as the character has been changed and de-aged over the years with power sets tweaked a bit it can be challenging to answer.

For me, the Wolfman/Perez Raven (the iconic version in my eyes) was a vegetarian mystic healer who was into yoga and meditation. She probably would never get a tattoo (but who knows - Johns in his revamp and update of the Teen Titans had written a story where she got a tramp stamp of a raven...I liked the idea but was not into the tramp stamp aspect)...as for piercings - besides having her ears pierced I believe that she would be open to other piercings specifically a nose piercing (I always thought that Wolfman/Perez purposefully styled her ‘regular’ wardrobes after southeast Indian garbs like saris and that visually they styled her more towards southeast Indian culture where more women depending on their beliefs/caste system would have nose piercings).

As to the question of what she would be doing? I like that she is a part of the Titans (not teens), and would prefer her in the role of healer and mystic and pacifist trying to help others in non-violent ways. One of her most pivotal and iconic roles was during the Runaways storyline where she wanted to help the runaways regardless of what they did to survive and the Omega Men Koriandr storyline where she was essentially trying to heal warriors in the midst of all out war and almost submerged in all the emotions and on the verge of losing control to Trigon but still soldiering on to help others.

I think that the essence of the character has been diluted a bit through the years and in her de-aging. I would like D.C. to bring her back to her iconic self. Sorry for the long response, but your questions made me think.

Thanks for the advice.

From what I've read of her, I agree on the tattoos. I don't really tattoos being something she would really do. Like I can see her having them, but I think it would more likely be something like "demonic marks mistaken as tattoos" rather than actual tattoos she got herself. I can definitely see her with more than the normal amount of piercings though - nose, tongue, navel, upper ears.

As for her job, what about something like a teacher or a nurse. I feel like either of those would fit her well...

[Sutekh]

As for her job, what about something like a teacher or a nurse. I feel like either of those would fit her well...

Counselor or addiction recovery specialist seem like ideal jobs for her. Less med school type requirements, less hassle with arguing whether or not 'healing powers' count as actual 'medicine.'

And it lends itself to leading her towards adventure, either dealing with a client haunted by nightmares that turn out to be supernatural omens or sendings or attacks, or reveletory of past traumas that she can help them unpack, or in helping to stamp out dealers or people preying on these vulnerable populations. A mix of street crime and a dash of supernatural stuff, would be cool. Make it sort of 'mystic noir.'

And yeah, she seems like the sort who might go for piercings / bindi stones / henna, but nobody on Azar seemed all that into ink, and were all about smooth solid colors, so I think tattoos would be out of character.

Definitely agree that I prefer old-school teleporting empath w/ bird-soul-self to what we have now. I liked the flying darkforce using version from the cartoon, as well, but don't really like them being merged, and that version creeping into the comic book version.

I feel like that's kind of an issue, not just with Raven, but with Jackson Hyde slowly becoming more and more like Kaldur'ahm, from Young Justice, and that's kind of annoying.