Review: THE RAVAGERS #1

THE RAVAGERS #1
Written by Howard Mackie
Art by Ian Churchill
Release Date: May 30, 2012

Wave two of the New 52 continues with a very Wildstorm-centric book, The Ravagers #1. This books spins out of Teen Titans, a book that I am not overly familiar with, which could have spelled doom for me and this book before I ever opened the cover. This is not a bad comic, and Mackie does definitely try to spell out what is going on without blatantly reiterating everything that has happened prior to this point. That said, as a new reader picking up a #1, I felt completely in the dark as to what was going on, who is fighting who, and what the eventual goal of this book is. I have to admit that as a first taste of a book that features a ton of Wildstorm characters I’m not overly familiar with, I got lost in the chaos of who was cannon fodder and who the main stars of this book were going to be. I assume the cover crew will be the ongoing team, but even then some of the members were non-existant in this first issue of the book. The dialogue itself wasn’t bad, Fairchild is a reluctant and unsure leader, but I couldn’t get myself past the confusion. For Teen Titans readers this could be a very different scenario, but alas, I was left confused.

The art, however, didn’t confuse me at all. Ian Churchill keeps this book visually engaging and kept me entertained despite my plot confusion. As Churchill tends to do, there are some excessive muscles on display throughout this book, but I felt his style fit this title very well and I appreciated him penciling Fairchild as more of a powerhouse than a pinup bombshell. These are some great superhero book pencils and I have to believe they would be well received by the target market of this book.

Despite my confusion I will be giving The Ravagers a second chance, if for no other reason than Churchill’s art. Hopefully as the book progresses the cloud of confusion may begin to leave my brain and this book will really find it’s own voice.

Verdict: 6.0/10

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