Out of ‘The Culling’ comes “The Ravagers,” a third series in the Young Justice line dedicated to the Teen Titans in some capacity (along with “Teen Titans” and “Superboy”). The book features some familiar faces in new formats, a few new creations, and lots of weird, neon accented costumes. It also has a tone that is striking, an already fractured team at its core, and some impressive artwork.
Written by Howard Mackie
Illustrated by Ian Churchill– First issue of a new series spinning directly out of “THE CULLING!”- FAIRCHILD, brother and sister THUNDER and LIGHTNING, the monstrous RIDGE, BEAST BOY and TERRA are being pursued by ROSE WILSON and WARBLADE, who want them dead at any cost!- No one’s survival is certain each month in THE RAVAGERS!
The series begins just minutes after the conclusion to ‘The Culling,” where Caitlin Fairchild has led a couple dozen teenage metahumans out of the Colony (where the nefarious organization N.O.W.H.E.R.E. holds metahuman teenagers) to freedom; if freedom can be considered the snowy confines of Alaska without any way to get home. Instantly, her hold on the leadership position starts to slip away; Terra and Beast Boy peace out, Bright Eyes and Windshear (cool names, Howard Mackie!) decide to try their luck in the sky, and the remaining kids fluctuate between confusion, anger, and helplessness.
This is the mood for most of the first issue, where the players are simply trying to decide what to do next, and the cacophony of fearful, overzealous, confused and angry children seems almost suffocating at times. And while this isn’t a pleasant mood to evoke, it sets a tone for the comic that is unique and unexpected. This issue also has a slew of military overtones that manage to, somewhat improbably, offer a relatively accurate summation of the mindset of soldiers in modern US warfare.
Seriously.
First up is Caitlin Fairchild, who many of us remember from her time in Gen13. Here, Fairchild is the ringleader who liberated the teenagers from the Colony, after posing as a scientist there for some time. Fairchild is expecting to be hailed as a liberator, celebrated for sticking her neck out for these kids. Instead, she is met with hostility and distrust.
Then, we get Ridge, the former Ravager (more on that title later) who escapes with Fairchild, and who wants to be in control, and feels that his militaristic training allows him to make better decisions over someone who is an “egghead” and doesn’t have a proper understanding of what the battlefield requires. Ridge is caught between two realities – who he is because of his birth (a person with a conscience) and who is because of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. (a monster). He can’t go back to who he was; but he doesn’t exactly like who he is, either.
We also get to spy on some “red shirts” if we’re using Star Trek parlance – basically, minor characters who exist just to die. These are the collateral damage for our six main characters and their freedom. They were simply following the orders Fairchild gave them, and because of that, are now dead.
Thunder and Lightning, sibling captured by N.O.W.H.E.R.E., show inescapable signs of Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder. Their moral compasses are askew, loyalties in question, and allegiance is to each other and no one else. They must stick together, and therefore wind up doing what one wants at any time, only to completely abandon that for the good of the other. The almost schizophrenic pair fluctuate, more than any others, between confidence and cowardice, anger and fear, and trust and distrust.
Finally, we have Rose Wilson and Warblade, two teenagers who survived a prior culling to be Ravagers. These battle-scarred, hardened soldiers have lost sight of what is right or wrong, and simply follow orders; orders that are unspeakably cruel and vicious. When confronted with feelings of friendship, compassion or sympathy, they just continue to rage against the world.
These are all realities of war, and they are presented subtly but clearly, in this silly superhero comic. This is by far the best comic associated with ‘The Culling,” an event that went out with a complete whimper, while setting up the associated books for their next arcs nicely. This book will, hopefully, also let “Teen Titans” become a book about that team having adventures that don’t always involve N.O.W.H.E.R.E., and will free “Superboy” to be a book that is more tied into the Super-family of books.
Continued belowMackie, a writer best known for his Spider-Man and Ghost Rider work, does a nice job of giving some real meat to this story without making it feel so weighed down that it becomes a bummer. Nothing about this issue suggests that everyone is a clone, so we can check that off of the worry list as well.
Mackie is joined by Ian Churchill on art, another ‘90s Marvel guy working in the New 52. Scott Lobdell seems to be assembling a 1997 Wizard Magazine wet dream team for his corner of the DCnU, with Mackie, Churchill, Tom DeFalco and, to a lesser degree, Brett Booth all occupying major roles in these books. Churchill does a nice job with these characters, but is hampered in a bit by these boring costumes, which seem to feature neon LEDs running up and down most of these characters. This is what the X-Men movie costumes would look like if transplanted into the Joel Schumacher Batman and Robin. But Booth manages to overcome that and do some good work in the not all that exciting locale of the wilds of Alaska.
The biggest problem for me with this book and, by extension, this entire corner of DC, is that it is reinventing one of my favorite comics of all time in a way that has so little to do with the past. To me, the Teen Titans are the premiere team in all of comics. There was a time, just a few years ago, that former Titans were Batman and the Flash, or members of the Justice League (like Red Arrow and Cyborg) – we got to see this dynamic group of characters grow up and become pivotal characters in the DCU. The Titans felt like a Family, almost as much as the Fantastic Four does – and even in later-day incarnations, the love and respect between members was always present.
Here though, both the familial aspect, and the original idea behind the team (teenage sidekicks team up) are gone. We have, yet another, band of misfits who join together because no one else will have them, and that just isn’t what I want from these characters. As happy as I am to have Terra and Beast Boy in the DCnU, I would rather them hanging out with Dick Grayson and Roy Harper than be reluctant Ravagers.
I know that to make the New 52 a real “thing.” many people have seen their favorite characters torn down and built back up in ways they don’t necessarily like, or even recognize. But with the exception of Dick Grayson and Cyborg, the old Teen Titans are all looking pretty shitty right now, whether it be Arsenal and Starfire slumming it with Jason Todd, or Donna Troy and Wally West being MIA.
But I’m trying Ringo, I’m trying real hard to give this new interpretation a fair shot. And by having a compelling book like “The Ravagers” in the mix, it helps a lot. It may take away the Titans Tower shaped hole in my heart, but it’s a start.
As a final note, I want to look at the title of the book, another interesting decision surrounding this book. The Ravagers were/are the name of the group who Harvest sends out to capture/kill teenage metahumans, and yet this book is focused on those that escaped their clutches. Are they, like so many groups before them, taking back the name? Are they hoping that by embracing the title of their oppressors, that they are not-so-subtly giving them the finger and saying that they are no longer being oppressed? If that was the nature of the name, color me impressed.
Even if it wasn’t, I’m still pretty impressed by this book. It isn’t exactly the type of book I find myself wanting to read, but the execution is pretty hard to argue with.
Final Verdict: 8.1 – A surprising buy
