Teen Titans #11

Raven Rising

Written by Geoff Johns
Pencilled by Mike McKone
Inked by Marlo Alquiza
Colored by Jeromy Cox
Lettered by Comicraft
Associate Editor Tom Palmer Jr.
Editor Eddie Berganza

Our cover by Mike McKone and Lary Stucker shows a rather random collection of people being "sucked into" Raven. I'm not sure why he chose Robin, Beast Boy, Deathstroke and Ravager for this cover. Nor am I sure I can adequately explain what's going on in this cover or in the story. Raven is just too ... out there ... for me.

Our story begins at 2:35 a.m. on Saturday in the Church of Blood, which is somewhere underneath the Redwood Forest. Robin and Starfire have fallen into a deep cavern, and even though Starfire was clearly knocked out last issue, she's perfectly fine now. They find themselves standing on a bunch of bones, and inches away from Deathstroke and Ravager, who have a gun and sword drawn on our heroes. But they're both more creeped out by Rose's insanity than they are worried about their safety.

Deathstroke then offers them a deal. He'll let Starfire and Robin live, and he'll help them find their way back upstairs to help Cyborg and the others, if they let him and Ravager walk away with Raven. Robin immediately rejects this deal, but Deathstroke says they're stuck in the middle of a maze, but he has the layout. Even though you'd think Starfire should be able to simply fly back up the hole she fell down, she agrees to Deathstroke's deal, telling Robin that the Teen Titans need their help more than Raven does.

Back at the cathedral, everyone is still battling the massive army of cultists. Kid Flash gives Superboy a tourniquet because Brother Blood apparently ruptured an artery. Brother Blood then idiotically tries to bite Cyborg, but ends up hitting one of his metallic parts. Beast Boy, still a raven chanting "Raven belongs to Brother Blood," flies up to Raven. But when he comes into her presence, he returns to normal. Cyborg sees this and tells Gar to get Raven out of the cave now, while he handles the fanatics. So Beast Boy turns into an orangutan and starts carrying Raven away.

Deathstroke and Ravager are meanwhile leading Robin and Starfire upstairs. Robin is furious with Starfire for being so willing to turn her back on her friend. He admits that he warned the others to be prepared to take down Raven, but they didn't agree with him. Now Robin believes they were right, and he doesn't want to give up on anyone. He tries to attack Deathstroke, but Ravager stops him, saying she has a limited form of precognitive vision, which enables her to see Robin's every move before he makes it. She also calls Robin cute, but not as cute as Kid Flash.

Deathstroke leads them through a door, saying he's discovered why the Church of Blood has spent years trying to bring Raven into their cult. In the room is a book from 1301 A.D., which reveals the church worships Trigon and believes the eighth generation of their high priest will wed the daughter of Trigon. And on that day, Trigon's army will cleanse the Earth of those without faith. So, Deathstroke argues, he'll be saving the world when he kills Raven.

Beast Boy suffered a nasty cut while taking Raven out of the chapel, so he has to set her down in a quiet hallway and rest for a minute. He notices Raven's jewel is missing from her forehead, which he knows to be a bad thing. Raven then wakes up and heals Gar's wound and explains that Brother Blood's hold on her weakens with distance. She apologizes for the way she contacted the Titans, saying she reached out and her subconscious took over. Beast Boy suggests she open up her cloak and teleport the whole team back to the Titans Tower, but she says she's too weak right now without her jewel, or chakra.

Raven admits she's scared, angry, worried and ashamed by all of this. As Beast Boy comforts her, Brother Blood rises from a random pool of blood. He apparently defeated Cyborg, Kid Flash, Superboy and Wonder Girl off panel, and now has them all imprisoned in blood somehow. Sebastian tells Raven he loves her and asks her to come back to him, but she refuses. The room quickly fills up with the never-ending supply of cultists, and Brother Blood orders his followers to complete his wedding ceremony on the surface with the rising sun. Beast Boy transforms into a cougar, but he's unable to fight off more than a couple of people.

Suddenly, Robin throws a batarang into Brother Blood's bone crown, telling the 13-year-old he really needs a spanking. As Robin battles Sebastian, Starfire starts taking out the cultists and Deathstroke and Ravager grab Raven. Robin knocks Brother Blood back into the pool of blood, and Starfire surprises everyone by turning on Deathstroke. He says he thought they had a deal, and Starfire admits she lied, which impresses Robin. Brother Blood then orders Raven to take everyone away, and, against her will, Raven sucks in Starfire, Kid Flash, Beast Boy, Robin, Deathstroke and Ravager.

They all find themselves on floating rocks in a cold space of swirling galaxies and stars. Deathstroke confirms that his deal with Starfire is officially off, then prepares to attack her. But he's stopped by the appearance of his son, Jericho, who vows to punish all of them.



I have no idea what's going on. As I've said before, I do not get Raven. She accidentally turned San Francisco Bay to blood and summoned the giant skeleton of Trigon by trying to ask for help? Does her power know any limits? But what actually makes me most angry is how Brother Blood defeated Cyborg, Wonder Girl, Superboy and Kid Flash off panel. Yeah, Brother Blood has Superboy's powers. That still shouldn't be enough to take on those four heroes. Yeah, Brother Blood has a hundred devoted followers fighting for him. But they're just ordinary people, right? Why were they ever an issue for our heroes? If Bart Allen can read an entire library in 20 minutes, then he surely can tie up a hundred people in a couple of seconds. I don't get it. But hey, at least it looks like we'll finally resolve that Jericho plot line.

Next time, we'll resume our battle with Gog in Action Comics #816.