Judging from the news leaked about the ‘Titans’ live action program, and the now available official trailer (released at the San Diego Comic Con), the DC Universe show will focus primarily on Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing and the girl known as Raven. Having already looked at Nightwing’s keys, this time I'll focus on Raven, since I wouldn’t at all be surprised if she steals the show, which could happen since the first season looks set to retell the Raven-Trigon story arc.

In the DC Universe, Raven, created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, was a girl with a human mother (Arella Roth) and an inter-dimensional demon called Trigon for a father. Raven’s mother Arella was a runaway who was seduced by Trigon the Terrible so that the latter could create a vessel from which to conquer our dimension. Arella’s tragic life only got worse after she gave birth to her half-demonic daughter. It was at this point that Raven’s mother realized that neither she nor her daughter were safe on earth and so sought sanctuary in the mystical realm of Azarath.

As she matured in Azarath, Raven’s powers began to manifest themselves. Due to her demonic side, Raven possess dark magic-based powers inherited mostly from her father. She is also capable of teleportation, has telekinetic abilities and empathic powers that allow her to heal others. She may, in fact, be one of the most powerful characters in the DC Universe. In Azarath she was trained to control her emotions and her 'soul self' (a shadow emanation that she can use to astral project or to fight with in combat). The tragedy of Raven is that she feels very deeply but can never fully embrace her emotional side for fear of losing control and having the demonic half of her persona take over.

When the Justice League refused to help her, Raven used her powers to manipulate the, then defunct, Teen Titans into reforming. Needing their help to fight off her father, the initial act of manipulation that brought the young heroes together eventually led to a rift forming between her and some of the other members of the Titans (like Cyborg) who later mistrusted and resented her.

The character of Raven has already appeared in various animated DCU features. Her live action appearance on 'Titans', where she will be played by Australian actress Teagan Croft, is the first time this character comes to the small screen.

DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980) – First Appearance of Raven

I’m guessing 'Titans' will deal with the early, younger, versions of the characters on the team since its inspiration stems from one of the most successful incarnations of the Teen Titans: the 1980s reboot of the team by Wolfman and Perez. The first appearance of this team, including Raven, is DC Comics Presents #26. Since this is also officially the first appearance of Cyborg and Starfire as well, returns on this book are consistently strong. Currently 9.8 graded copies of this comic sell for an average price of $625.00 with a 28.6% return on investment in that grade over the last thirteen years.

New Teen Titans #3 (January 1981) – First Appearance of Trigon the Terrible (Cameo)

The first appearance of Trigon the Terrible is in a cameo in the third issue of the Wolfman/Perez run on New Teen Titans. This comic is also the first appearance of the Fearsome Five (long time Titan antagonists). Currently everybody is trying to pick up the second issue of this run (first Deathstroke the Terminator), which makes this issue easy to find for low prices. 9.8 graded copies can also be had for well under $100.00, but returns are mixed. The subsequent issue, #4, features Trigon's first full appearance and is also worth seeking out.

Tales of the New Teen Titans #2 (July 1982) – Full Origin of Raven

This very well crafted mini-series featured a camping excursion that turned into a fireside exchange of origin stories. Raven’s tragic tale is told in the second issue of the series and it seems to be slowly gaining interest in terms of sales. The number of graded copies sold sees it currently sitting in third place in the series, with 48 sales completed in the last six years. This places it behind the Cyborg issue -with 151 sales: largely pushed up by his big screen appearance in 2017, and issue #4 (the Starfire origin, with 57 sales). It does sit ahead of issue #3, the Garfield Logan/Changeling origin story (29 sales). Probably, you should pick up all four, since returns are strong on the whole series and Starfire and Beast Boy/Changeling will also be featured on the 'Titans' live action show (Starfire will be played by the lovely Anna Diop and Beast Boy by Ryan Potter). The Raven issue currently sells for around $95.00 in 9.8 graded form, with a positive 34.8% return on investment. Will the Titans series push it even higher?