Red Stewart reviews Conspiracy of Ravens…
With all the recent announcements regarding the upcoming Birds of Prey film in the DC Extended Universe, I’ve been wracking my brain for a way to make a quip out of the fact that I finished reading a graphic novel that focuses on a team of women who also have avian-based personas. Alas, I was unable to come up anything, so this introductory paragraph will stand as a sign of my comedic failure.
Pathetic attempts at joking aside, Conspiracy of Ravens is a significantly different project from a conventional superhero comic. Though it features some similar tropes like superpowers and costumes, it’s much more akin to a Jane Austen novel, depicting women slyly rebelling against the constraints of society as they deal with personal development, education, family, and the reality of their situations. Published by Dark Horse Comics, Conspiracy of Ravens was written by Leah Moore and John Reppion, with most of the art done by Sally Jane Thompson. The question is, does this fowl-themed work prove the robustness of the indie comic market, or is it a letdown? The short answer is it’s too familiar and overstuffed, but is almost saved by gorgeous penciling. If you want the long answer, read on!
Conspiracy of Ravens follows a collegiate girl named Anne Ravenhall who, upon inheriting her great-great-great-aunt’s estate, uncovers a family secret: her relative was a part of an intricate vigilante group called the Dissimulation. If this sounds oddly similar I would not blame you- as I just said above, the biggest problem with Conspiracy of Ravens is that it rehashes previous templates in the fantasy genre. Kid discovering a crazy magical thing about their family? Try Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, or even something as recent as Skulduggery Pleasant. I get it, it’s a common story idea because it works, but as a writer in this day and age, you have to go above and beyond to make this notion unique to your own self. I am firmly of the belief that every person has a one-of-a-kind imagination, and with that comes the responsibility of passionate creativity.
I don’t doubt that Moore and Reppion had good intentions with Conspiracy of Ravens (and I’ll go into detail about those intentions below), but the execution wasn’t the best here, and it definitely failed to differentiate itself significantly from other fantasy titles. I could talk about the other cliches implemented in the comic, from the “main character’s best friend is a tech wiz” to “everyone needs to band together to be at full power” to “protagonist falls in love with friend’s sibling,” but that would drag out this review.
Instead, I want to speak about a second facet present here that hurts the storytelling potential of Conspiracy of Ravens, and that is its faltering to the Kagome Effect. This is a term I’ve coined to describe sci-fi/fantasy stories that throw their protagonists into bizarre circumstances and have them blindly accept said circumstances without questioning them much or exhibiting anything resembling a realistic reaction. The name comes from the first time I consciously saw this, and that was during my reading of the first volume of Inuyasha wherein the main heroine, Kagome Higurashi, gets transported to the Sengoku period of Japan and doesn’t panic in the slightest.
Such is the case here. Anne finds out that, as a member of the Dissimulation, she has genetic access to a gemstone of her aunt’s that grants her control over an enchanted unkindness of ravens, which she inadvertently uses to swiftly transport herself between locations. Though a little startled, she quickly embraces this, as well as the consequent history and mythology concerning her family’s past. For a story that is deliberately set in the real world, this makes for a slightly jarring development, and one that is mimicked three other times by three other girls of the future Dissimulation. You would be correct in noting that I missed one member, and that is because that particular one does show some resistance to the idea, but, as a result of time skips and forced happenings that I cannot go into for fear of spoilers, she quickly accepts things as well.
And that last part exposes another major issue with Conspiracy of Ravens, which is that it has way too big a cast. As we learned from last year’s Justice League movie, when you are introducing new characters to audiences, you have to take the time to flesh them out so fans can get invested in them. Otherwise they don’t end up caring about what happens. Obviously releasing individual solo entries are one method of subverting this, but doing everything in one masterstroke isn’t impossible, and Conspiracy of Ravens is far from being the first solo project to take on such a task.
The two options are this- either develop a select number of the cast while giving everyone else a mini arc, or make the overall work long enough that everyone can be given a chance to shine. For an example of the former, look at the first Incredibles: most of the movie was centered around Bob and Helen escaping from their suburban and marital downsides, while Dash and Violet were given their own side-plots of being true to themselves. Were the latter two perfect under a smaller spotlight? Of course not, as shown by Violet mastering her force field power in the nick of time. But everything was well-paced and strong enough that this flaw didn’t matter.
An example of the latter, on the other hand, is Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s seminal Watchmen. Dropping readers into a brand new world headed by six main figures and numerous secondary ones was an ambitious project, but Moore and Gibbons successfully handled it by spreading the plot out over the course of 12 issues and over 400 pages, giving the creators more than enough time and space to delve into what made their characters tick. In contrast, Conspiracy of Ravens hits about 130 pages, yet has us deal with a similar number of characters. That doesn’t bode well for the story, and having read it I can say that almost no one gets anything resembling character development, which is a shame because that Austenian DNA mentioned before lends itself to some potentially interesting situations. You see a lot of family issues at play in the comic, from the constant control exhibited by Anne’s divorced parents to fellow Dissimulation teammate Jen’s conflicted relationship with her father to the social pressure other Dissimulation member Felicity is hinted at carrying. There was a lot of room for growth here, yet Moore and Reppion seemed more intent on just moving the narrative from point A to point B.
Now, I did mention that the two writers had good intentions, and that is completely true. Despite my complaints about the story and characters, I can’t help but admire the writers for crafting something that is clearly intended to appeal to young girls. This is not an adult comic (there’s no sex, no real violence, and all the enemies are non-human in some capacity), instead being meant to be read by female audiences, primarily children, tweens, and teens. It’s always good to give that underserved demographic role models, and Conspiracy of Ravens at least succeeds at that part. These characters are partially relatable, fun to watch, and blend well enough. And though the majority of them lack any discernible flaws, they’re far from being Mary Sues.
Where Conspiracy of Ravens deserves unanimous praise, however, is in the Sally Jane Thompson’s art. When I initially saw a page from Conspiracy of Ravens, the first thought that came into my head was that it reminded me of Craig Thompson’s Blankets. Both feature detailed facial expressions, great use of inking, and a kind of “simplistic” approach to rendering their characters, with more effort put towards emotional conveyance and less towards skin texture.
If you liked Blankets, you’ll love Thompson’s approach to drawing, but even that comparison doesn’t do justice to the artwork on the pages. Outside of a periwinkle tint applied to the work as a whole, all the coloring is restricted to a monochrome scheme. And yet, for a comic that is full of lavish apparel, diverse personas, chimeric imagery, and natural and man-made vistas, it somehow works. This is a book that should have been lush with colors and tones, however Thompson (assisted by Niki Smith, Anita Magaña, and Allyson Haller) somehow manages to convey the same thing with solid blacks, whites, and blues. It’s a true testament to her talents as an artist, and Moore and Reppion’s own communication skills.
Overall, though, Conspiracy of Ravens was a mixed bag for me. I understand that I’m not in the intended audience for this Dark Horse publication, but it’s not like the rehashed concepts were hard to spot, and it doesn’t make them any less boring to see. Conspiracy of Ravens feels more like it was created to rush through all the exposition and worldbuilding to set up a more interesting or wacky sequel, leaving us with a beautifully drawn story that is ultimately unexceptional.
However, I could see very well see how parents interested in purchasing a non-superhero comic for their daughters would find this graphic novel inviting. Like I claimed above, these tropes persist in today’s fiction because they work. And let’s face it, with all the darkness going on in today’s world, escapism provided by stories like Conspiracy of Ravens helps keep us sane by providing another terrene to jump into for an hour or so. Plus, the art is just a true labor of love, and anything with that much effort put into it is worth supporting.
At $15.00 SRP, you’re technically getting your money’s worth. The question is, will it engage you specifically?
Rating – 6/10
Red Stewart
