Review: The Ravagers #1

I was anticipating another great “teencentric” book from the company that does them so well. But Ravagers is a hit and run of fantastic art and nothing more!

If you have not been reading the “Culling” storyline – the crossover that has been going through Teen Titans, Legion Lost and Superboy – you will find yourself lost in a quagmire of action and a befuddling storyline! Even if you have been reading the crossover, this issue does nothing to engage the reader with the cast of characters that have escaped the clutches of N.O.W.H.E.R.E.! There is no time to flesh out the core characters, besides what you have seen in other books, and the reader has no vested interest in them when everything goes from bad to worse. You will be privy to brutal slayings and a sheer lack of respect for human life, as the escapees take out their fear and anger on surrendering guards and each other in order to live free.

New characters like Ridge, Thunder and Lightning, do little to make the reader feel anything for their plight and background characters, Bright Eyes and Windshear, come off more interesting. Caitlin Fairchild, the scientist that worked for N.O.W.H.E.R.E., is placed as the central character that tries her best to form this rag tag group into something more, but her plight is laughable and she comes off more whiny than Luke Skywalker in “A New Hope!” Any chance of reconnecting with characters that longtime Titans fans will recognize, Beast Boy and Terra, are doused as they leave the book by page five! My only hope for this book was when Warblade and Rose Wilson were unleashed upon the masses and a true culling began. Unfortunately, they didn’t wipe out the entire cast!

I will give this book a second chance to draw me in , but if issue two follows the same formula as the first one — it will be staying on the racks. So far, DC’s “Second Wave” has been mired in mediocrity, and The Ravagers is no different! Besides Worlds’ Finest, “Second Wave” doesn’t stand a second chance!