It’s no secret that when it comes to the Teen Titans, Raven ranks high among fans as their favorite. First introduced by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez back in 1980, Raven found mainstream appeal thanks to her animated appearances in Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!, her lead role in the live action Titans and the mega-popular YA graphic novel series by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo. However, despite her abilities to traverse different dimensions, she’s about to enter a world that’s new even to her—that of DC GO! and its unique vertical format. In Renaissance of Raven, which debuted last week, Raven finds herself teleported to the past, into a fantasy realm of magic and mysticism where doing the right thing may not mean it’s the right thing for her. We spoke with writer Sina Grace about how he took to writing such a unique solo series with his—and many other fans’—favorite Titan.

You've penned a number of stories across the DC Universe for the past few years. What led you to Raven for this new series? Was it an assignment dictated by the DC Wheel-O-Characters, or was this idea wholly from yourself?

I wish I could take credit for the idea of Renaissance of Raven! If I’m getting the story right, I believe the title came from editor Katie Kubert. When I was approached about the DC GO! line, my direct editor Michael McCalister was like, “You don’t have to use that title or the concept…” But before he finished his spiel, my mind had already started working out so many components of the story!

Raven’s one of those characters that I absolutely adore, and there was no way I would pass up the opportunity to tell a fish-out-of-water story with her!

Out the gate, I knew I wanted to send Raven back into the Renaissance, but I also wanted to put her in a high stakes magical scenario where it wouldn’t be endless panels of people freaking out that this pale girl can fly and blast things out of her hands. I found a random deep cut DC location named Galonia and built out a little bit of a Final Fantasy-like backstory for their kingdom. Raven’s in this situation where she gets to be taken as her own person—she’s not a Titan, she’s not the tortured trauma Trigon daughter, and she’s not Beast Boy’s love interest. Question is, does she fall back into old patterns, or does she herself enter a personal renaissance of self-growth?

Raven's backstory certainly lends itself to tales of old myths concerning demons and betrayals—themes that can be found during the Renaissance. Did that have a hand in dictating the setup for this story?

One major rule I had for myself was: No Trigon. So much of her lore and trauma tends to come back to her dad, and I really wanted to explore who this character was outside of that. This story starts with Raven feeling like she’s become caged by assumptions and expectations made of her, so hurtling hundreds of years into the past seems like the perfect escape for her. Galonia is dealing with some political intrigue surrounding its neighboring covens and how magic is used within the kingdom, so Raven definitely left one soap opera and walked right into another.

I want to say that there’s absolutely no way her own demons come back to haunt her when she’s in a completely different century, but…that's a hard promise to keep when it comes to comics about magic and monsters!

What attracts you to Raven as a character, and how did you go into characterizing your version? Did you take influence from the older iterations like the Wolfman/Pérez Titans comics or was there more you found to pick from her appearances in shows like Teen Titans Go! and Titans?

The Raven that I built out in this story is a blend of all the Ravens I have encountered in my own DC fandom, encapsulating all the qualities I love about the character. She’s super hip and vulnerable like Kami Garcia’s version. She’s got a fantastic droll eye roll vibe like how she’s portrayed in Teen Titans Go! There's an edge of “don’t **** with me” anger that you see in the Titans show, and then a ton of the story hallmarks that have been in her canon over the decades. For the long-term Raven fans, this is a fresh version, meaning she’s maybe 18 or 19, romantically linked with Beast Boy (but not full OTP), and has the demon daughter origin we all know and love.

My editors on the project, Michael McCalister and Sabrina Futch, are the perfect Raven yin and yang when it comes to balancing classic comics Raven with post-Teen Titans Go! Raven. Michael came up loving the Wolfman/Pérez stuff, Sabrina totally loves vertical scroll comics, so a lot of our conversations are about marrying both sides to create something new and fantastic.

In a larger, pop culture sense, I really modeled my version of Raven after Olivia Rodrigo’s vibe on her GUTS album. Here’s someone with the weight of the world on her shoulders—there’s a ton of expectation on her shoulders and she’s expected to handle everything right because god forbid a young woman be too angry or mess up. What’s funny is that I had gotten a note from Sabrina about my original ending when I was drafting out the final chapters of the arc. I was a little stumped and went to see Olivia Rodrigo perform GUTS live here in LA. When Olivia sang “Teenage Dream,” I was reminded of all these notes I had taken down when I started the season and found my emotional anchor for the series: “They all say that it gets better the more that you grow / they all say that it gets better, but what if I don’t?” That’s what my Raven fears for herself.

With this new DC GO! format, is the approach closer to monthly comic book issues, or more chapter-based like in YA graphic novels or webtoons? Has the format been easy or challenging for you to map out the beats in outlining how Renaissance of Raven is plotted?

We’re definitely leaning more towards chapter-based, which I’ve had some experience with in terms of vertical scroll comics as well as YA. Our artists on the project are SO, SO good, so I’ve jammed every single episode with the coolest looking stuff, but I also got to slow down and focus on some great character moments as well. The main takeaway I’ve gotten from this form of storytelling is: the readers want to hang out with their friends and see what they’re up to. I leaned into my love of manga (shout-out to the Superman vs. Meshi books!!!) when it came to letting scenes breathe and allowing characters several panels to react to situations…all while roaming new locations like the Cerulean Forest and Ogre Mountain!

We see Beast Boy on the cover, but will any other Titans or DC heroes appear? What can you tell us without spoiling?

I’m very much of a “come up with cool images in your head and see if the story grows from it” mindset when it comes to letting ideas fertilize in the pitch phase, and there was an image I had with a DC character that I absolutely had to have happen, and…it happens.

There are so many phenomenal things that happen, I wish I could share more!!! But instead, I have to do the thing where I say, “readers will just have to find out by reading!”
 

Renaissance of Raven by Sina Grace and Nico Bascuñan can be read exclusively on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE.