That's So Raven....Literally? A Writer Girl Look At the Upcoming 'Raven' TV Series

Hola, comrades!

I was just prowling around YouTube, looking for something interesting to pass the time (Hey. I bore easily, okay? Don' judge.) when I stumbled upon a fairly interesting piece of news.

Well, actually, I should give you a bit of backstory. Rewind to my days as a wee little whippersnapper, where my older brother was obsessed with comic books, and affectionately passed his love of the DC Universe on to his little sister. (Yep. That's right. Give me Batman over Spiderman anyday.)

Fast forward. The little morsel of news I stumbled upon? Apparently, in place of the always amazing 'SMALLVILLE' (In case you've never heard of it, it's basically a look at the Man of Steel in his puberty years), which is ending its ten-year run of epicness fairly soon, the CW is looking for a replacement super-show.

Now, a while back, they were talking about doing a series based around my favorite comic book character of all time, Dick Grayson. Started out a dinky kid, then he was Robin, then he became Nightwing, then, eventually, he ended up as Batman. Which sounded pretty great...only it never happened.

Cue violins of disappointment.

But now, as it turns out, they're looking at another character with a special place in my heart - Raven.   

Raven is a bit less of a media figure than Dick Grayson and Clark Kent. While Dick Grayson has showed up alongside the Bat in multiple movies and TV shows, and Clark Kent is freakin' Superman, Raven's only onscreen appearance was in the Cartoon Network original animated series 'TEEN TITANS'. Which was actually pretty good.

Raven's TEEN TITANS Appearance (Kinda anime-ish)

For those of you that aren't familiar with Raven's character, she's basically the daughter of a human woman named Arella and an evil world-destroying demon named Trigon. Trigon conceived Raven so that she could work as his 'Key', or his portal into the worlds so he could destroy everything.

Raven's half-demon-ness gives her some pretty awesome powers, though, aside from being an aide in the destruction of the world she loves. Raven has telekinetic abilities, spellcasting abilities, and she acts as an empath, able to tap into the emotions of other people. Her abilities are triggered by her emotions, making her an especially angsty character, due to her constant struggle to control herself.

Raven's more comic-book appearance

Now, don't get me wrong - I love Raven. I was always a big Dick Grayson/Raven shipper. Why? Because they're both my favoritest characters ever, and them together would be a great big, epic ball of epic epicness. (But, alas, it is not meant to be, according to DC...Grr....)

BUT... a Raven TV show would have to be done correctly. How are they planning to do this? I think Raven is one of the most creative and multi-dimensional characters in the DC Universe, but what exactly are they going to do with a series? Are they going to have her in her third incarnation as teenager Rachel Roth? Are they going to have her as a Teen Titan? Or are they going to not pay attention to the comics and kind of do their own little thing?

Personally, I think Raven's Teen Titan years were fascinating. Not only do you have the romantic aspect of Raven and Gar Logan (Beast Boy), but you have really cool character arcs for her, like 'THE JUDAS CONTRACT' and 'THE TERROR OF TRIGON'. But, on the other hand, then it wouldn't really be Raven-centric, so I doubt they'll do that.

Then again, I'd really like to see characters like Gar Logan, Koriand'r (Starfire), and Dick Grayson show up in a Raven show. I can remember a really cool comic where Koriand'r and Dick were getting married, and Raven crashed the wedding because she was possessed.

So, I guess to sum it all up, I'm both excited and kinda scared for this! If done right, it would be a very dark, broody, and angsty, while still being full of action and character-driven awesomeness. But, if done wrong?

I'm going to start writing some strongly worded hate mail.

Until next time,
- Writer Girl <3
(Song on my iPod Right Now: Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance)

*P.S. - If you guys are reading this, comment below and tell me who'd you want to appear in the series, and maybe who you'd like to see play them! I've got a lot of ideas, I'd like to see what the rest of the Universe thinks!