Raven (Teen Titans #1)

After an accident kills her foster mother and leaves Raven with amnesia, she is sent to New Orleans to live with her foster mother’s sister. There, she quickly bonds with her new foster sister and finds school friends while finishing her senior year. She also starts to have nightmares, hears the thoughts of people around her, and can seemingly cause bad things to happen just by thinking about them. Recovering her memories might explain these strange phenomena, but Raven isn’t sure she wants to be the person she was before. Garcia (the Beautiful Creatures series) reframes Teen Titans comics character Raven as a young adult discovering her powers, focusing more on issues of identity and navigating teen social spaces than on superheroic battles (though this reboot has some of that, too). Picolo’s spare, effective use of color and slightly edgy art helps situate the story in a supernaturally tinged world of high-school drama. Readers without prior knowledge of the character may be confused by the jumpy plot and vaguely developed characters, but Garcia’s exploration of the connection between memory and identity offers a promising entrée to the Teen Titans series. Ages 13–up. [em](July) [/em]