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Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo ’s latest original graphic novel in their young adultTeen Titansuniverse is out , asTeen Titans : Beast Boy Loves Ravenarrived at comic shop and Word stores this hebdomad . The newest chapter features the much - forestall meeting of the classic Titans ' part in a DC Universe reimagined by the superstar team of Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo .
Garcia and Picolo have done an incredible job at build up a intimate yet fresh DC Comics cosmos for their stories to take place in . The first graphical novel , Teen Titans : Raven , followed Raven dealing with the trauma of mislay her foster mother and discovering her powers and connection to her malefic father , Trigon . Meanwhile , Teen Titans : Beast Boytook a close look at Garfield Logan ’s lifespan and the changes he undergo while learning more about his animal shapeshifting powers . Teen Titans : Beast Boy Loves Ravenintroduces the two characters , as they are both offer service by Slade Wilson .
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We spoke to Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo aboutTeen Titans : Beast Boy know Ravenand how exciting it was to connect the two character ’s mankind while expanding their cosmos even further .
What was it like to revisit this domain again ?
Kami Garcia : This was one we were waiting for and hope we were going to get to write , because we both jazz Beast Boy and Raven . And we really were desire this book would happen , because we wanted to show them together . So , it was really fun to publish - and it was even more fun to get the Thomas Nelson Page back with Gabriel ’s art .
Gabriel Picolo : I remember when I was drawing Teen Titans : Raven . I was really not sure that I was going to get a 2nd book to work on , because that was my first published Scripture ever by DC . I did n’t know if it was going to do well . But then they greenlit Teen Titans : Beast Boy , and then I was like , " Yeah , the third book is gon na take place . "
The third Quran was always what Kami and I desire , so when I finished Beast Boy , I was like , " I ca n’t hold back to protrude Beast Boy do it Raven . "
How exciting is it to see both story ramp up towards this one ?
Kami Garcia : It ’s really nerveless . And it turned out cool than I call back - because obviously I wrote the script , and I ’m like , " Oh , this is gon na be so fun . " But Gabriel and I talk about thing we want to see happen on the Thomas Nelson Page before I started flesh all of it out , but go the artistic production come back it look even well . The dialogue go bad with it utterly , and it just front even better than I imagined .
Gabriel Picolo : I liked how we used some characters from other book , so we get to see Max again in this one . And we see a lot of visual elements that we used on the other book , so we get to see the emotion streams of Raven ’s powers ; we get to see Beast Boy when he ’s not exactly turning into animal but emulate that specific beast ’s power . I sleep together that we mystify to repeat that on this book , so there ’s really this sentiency of persistence .
What was it same to go from being a fan of these characters to building this world alongside Kami ?
Gabriel Picolo : It ’s a lot of fun . I be intimate that we ’ve been on this for three years already , so we understand each other ’s creative voices a band . It ’s very light to , if I have any suggestion to make on the hand or drawings or a specific panel , she ’s always there to hear me . It ’s very fun and very well-fixed to do .
And we love these characters so much . Kami is a heavy devotee of Raven , and I ’m with child fan of Beast Boy . It ’s very natural for us to go on these case .
Kami , it must experience pretty cool to be work alongside Gabriel for these projection . It ’s such a well - designed world , and the point are awing .
Kami Garcia : Yeah , it was really coolheaded for me because when I peddle the series , I had them wear out regular wearing apparel , and they would not look like superheroes . And when DC was showing me artwork and hooey , I liked it all , but none of it cluck in a style that I was like , " That is it . "
And then I was on Pinterest , and I see Gabriel ’s " casual Teen Titans , " and I was like , " This is exactly what I was going for . He ’s already doing the affair that I want to do . " And it was so nerveless , because when I show it to DC , they already were aware of him . They were like , " Okay , we can require him if he desire to do a comic . "
I ’m evidently way honest-to-goodness than Gabriel , and it was just coolheaded to see somebody in their 20s , who was self taught and work really hard to pull back these thing that they get laid to share with other people . To watch it come full roach and him to be capable to get of a sudden do it and get paid was expectant .
How did the reply to the first two books feel ?
Kami Garcia : It was incredible for me , because I matte up like as much as he was already doing insouciant Teen Titans , the work he did on these books is so different because he really took possession in a different way . And also the fictional character we create , like Max , we produce from scratch . It was so cool to see a to the full populated mankind .
And Gabriel is such a pro ; I depict a impression or an emotion or the tone I want a character to have , and he sent me all these astonishing designs . As someone who collaborates with a lot of people , it ’s really rarified to find someone that you have a instinctive shorthand with ; that you just really require to tell the same variety of story . I felt very lucky , because he also require to draw relatable role and do the same affair with the storey I want to do .
Gabriel Picolo : I remember when we announced the series back in 2018 . It was huge on social medium and people really loved it , but I think the beneficial part was check all those people show up at book sign language and outcome like Comic Con . I remember in 2019 , when Teen Titans : Raven come out , and we were doing a book tour , we get to see a lot of cosplays whenever we lead to comic memory or bookstores . That was incredible .
specially seeing not only Raven and Beast Boy but seeing characters that we came up with in a book - like Max , like Kami was saying . Seeing those part being cosplayed really showed that people were into what we were doing .
What was it similar to convey Beast Boy and Raven ’s romance back to the cutting edge ? It ’s been a while , though they ’ve hinted recently in the current Teen Titans Academy run for that they ’re together . But since the Teen Titans animated series , it ’s something that fans have craved for a very recollective meter .
Kami Garcia : Yeah , peculiarly because we ’re both fans of the animated series . Also , we both feel like they ’re kind of a natural dyad . Even though they ’re very unlike , they influence well together . So , it was fun to see that on the page .
Gabriel Picolo : As a fan , that ’s the kind of content I know that I would be lust . I would be screwball about this variety of content . And then I ’m getting to do it to really make this book , which was surreal . I ’m just in honey with this book , and I desire multitude like it as much as I do .
When re - inclose these characters to each other in the book , what was the estimate behind link up them through Deathstroke ?
Kami Garcia : When I originally pitch the serial , I turned in an origin tale for each part , a group volume , and then what I called Teen Titans : Beast Boy and Raven - which was the least developed of them . It was just kind of like , " I ’d like to see them together . " And then Gabriel and I really figured out how that would look .
And it was fun , because when I said to Gabriel that it was work to be Deathstroke , he was like , " I do it Deathstroke . I can totally draw that . " Once we depart , then we verbalise about it more and call back about how we can incorporate more . But HIVE and Deathstroke were always part of the plan , just because in a serial publication you have to have some sort of connective tissue paper .
What I really like too , which caught me by surprisal in a good room , was Max playing a reasonably healthy office in the story .
Kami Garcia : Yeah , I just fell in love with the way Gabriel drew her and the way his artistic production brought her to living , and the dialogue I was publish . We both were just like , " We ’re gon na miss her . " I have it off Gabriel peculiarly was like , " I ’m gon na miss drawing her , " so my cloak-and-dagger hope was to give a fiddling bit of an open door at the last of Raven in causa we could get her back .
Gabriel Picolo : I think she was too undecomposed of a character to just leave it there as a light thread . Because she has a king , and she can have a persona in this fib . Not like Beast Boy ’s champion - they ’re really gracious , but it would be much harder to include them in whatever is happen right now .
What was behind the determination to include Damian Wayne in the story ?
Kami Garcia : Damian was in my original slant . I love Damian ; I ’m a A-one fan . But the one reason why get Damian felt very instinctive to this was that they ’re all a little lose ; they do n’t really fuck how to utilize their exponent , and they do n’t meet in needfully . They have this weird person coming on the panorama being like , " I have selective information that can help you . "
And Damian feel like he would naturally buy into that . He does have a pile of trouble controlling his snappishness , dealing with his ira , and being fierce . It felt like he was the sort of person who call for a growth arc .
Gabriel Picolo : One matter I like about him is that , because of him in this Word of God , we begin to get a big picture . Because Raven and Beast Boy meet , but they ’re still very much fall back . They do n’t know who ’s against them , and Damian has that compute out . He can be helpful , and we can see a group forming at the end of the ledger .
How did you make these power such an important part of their relationship ?
Kami Garcia : One thing that was really of import to me in doing this was that the Romance language is petty to their friendly relationship and the way they bond . They bond first as friends , even though Beast Boy obviously has a puppy love on her . They come together as friend , and they honor each other and need to support each other . And from that , we get a relationship .
I did n’t want a physical connection to be the fashion that the people register this volume would define the relationship . I wanted to show that they worry about each other , and they have intimate moments and unfold up to each other in a manner that has nothing to do with making out or smooching or physical impinging .
To me , when your power is something that you either perceive is eldritch - or if you ’re Raven , and you ’re half - demon and really do not want to tell people that - the musical theme that you would have to deal that with someone and trust they accept it and accept you makes you really vulnerable . I knew Gabriel could nail that , because he does such an astonishing caper with making the character emote and show their formula . So , I wanted to seek to make moments where I would be setting that up with the talks in the scene , and then he would bring that to life on the varlet - to show that quote- unquote intimate , forcible and romantic contact is n’t necessarily the only fashion that you could connect with someone - and also not necessarily the effect of making love and romance .
Trigon plays a big part in this account book . What was it like to illustrate and show how Rachel is still struggling with Trigon ’s hold ?
Kami Garcia : That ’s at the core of her being as a character , the struggle with , " My dad is trying to take control of me , because I ’m part daemon . " It felt like abandon that would really not be servicing the reliable character . And the one thing Gabriel and I talked about a lot and both agreed on was that , even though we ’re making characters somewhat more grounded and change some things about them , we do n’t want to change the core of them .
Because we ’re fans , and we do n’t want to break thing for the fans .
Gabriel Picolo : The thing I find particularly difficult about Trigon is that he is one of the most brawny beings in the whole DC Universe . So , it ’s very unvoiced to depict him . And whenever he ’s show in this comedian , he ’s not at his 100 % king . We ’ve made certain that he ’s always , especially in the second part of the leger when he show up , link to the jewel on Raven ’s neck .
You ’re not seeing Trigon at his 100 % . Because if we saw him , he was travel to destroy that thaumaturgy because of just how grandiloquent he is . We had to recall ways around that .
Kami Garcia : Another job for a writer is , " How do you limit these powers that are so heavy ? "
Gabriel and I spill about in book one , because he ’s vast , but he can evidently alter in size of it . Gabriel said , " What if we do a thing , like when she has a dream , we see big elephantine Trigon ? But then other times we see him big but not building - size of it enceinte ? "
It was this given and take of us let the cat out of the bag it out , which is what we do a lot . I ’ll say to Gabriel , " This is what I want with Raven ’s powers . I ask to show visually that Raven is plunge other people ’s emotions . " And he was like , " This is very hard . " But finally he was like , " What if there ’s almost a path or a scream from her to other the great unwashed , and I tinge it a specific color ? "
I think a lot of what build the book work is that Gabriel and I really have a true collaboration . We put our head together ; we solve problems together .
You spoke about want to keep it grounded but also colligate to the DC traditional knowledge . How hard was it to navigate what fictitious character you want , like which aspects of character you want to change or keep ?
Kami Garcia : In the pitch , the rule for me was that I did n’t need someone to be able-bodied to calculate at them at school and say they had powers . The big one was that Beast Boy can not be green all the clock time , because this is problematic . So it was like , " Well , what do I do ? " And then I write in the pitch that we ’ll just have this dark-green stripe in his hair , and he will grow light-green sometimes .
But then once I get with Gabriel , he was like , " What if his eyes call on green when he ’s channeling the powerfulness ? What if he ’s really the beast , and he turns fleeceable when he ’s in the brute form ? But then when he ’s not , he ’s human colored person . "
My rule was just that I do n’t want you to look at someone ond be able-bodied to order they ’re a potent superhero or whatever . And once I got with Gabriel , that ’s when we got into the nitty gritty of how we make that employment . What are the rules ? How do we show the change ?
In the start , Beast Boy does n’t make a full transformation . I did not counter when I was write the pitch , how hard that would be to show . And then I was like , " Okay , Gabriel , what are we live on to do ? What if I interpret the animal somehow , and I tell you which animal it is ? " He ’s like , " Well , I can show which animal it is . " A lot of it is just I propose something , he institute something more , and we put our burnt umber and goober pea butter together to make a Reese ’s .
Gabriel Picolo : Even Damian has this variety of technical school - wear kind of kit ; he has a utility belt , but it ’s not super campy . We are always very conservative of the flavor . It ca n’t be too much of a superhero costume , even though they have all that paraphernalia .
How intriguing was it for you to keep thing grounded ?
Gabriel Picolo : I had more trouble with that on the first book , on Teen Titans : Raven , specially because Kami and I were still discuss a lot of material and still finding a middle ground between our theme . But after that , peculiarly in the third book , it ’s very well-heeled . We have intercourse each other very well , so we screw how we want things to look .
Kami Garcia : I do n’t even have to differentiate him ; he make love certain thing I do n’t care . He ’ll just be like , " I know you do n’t like this . So instead , I ’m going to nod to this part of the costume this way . " He just knows things where I ’m gon na be like , " Ugh , do we really have to have the masquerade party ? " And he ’s like , " This is what we ’re going to do instead . "
I sense like that ’s the nerveless matter when you work with someone for a prospicient time . You know those things about them , just like I know what Gabriel likes to draw . So , in Beast Boy Loves Raven , it was like the ultimate kickshaw because I was like , " I ’m gon na let him start the animal he has n’t drawn that he wish . I ’m gon na let him draw them holding hands and doing precious thing and travel to cafes , and all the things that Gabriel eff to draw . "
It is fun , because when you work with the same soul , you may tailor the project to them - at least I can as a writer . I know that Gabriel is going to get the handwriting pages and be excited to draw them , at least most of the fourth dimension . He is n’t when it ’s like , " Show a whole street of Nashville . " Then he ’s like , " Really , Kami ? " And I ’m like , " It ’s only one ! "
Lastly , I desire to talk about the futurity of this series . How does Damian Wayne ’s arrival lead into the upcoming Robin story ? And how exciting is it to expand this creation even more ?
Kami Garcia : It ’s incredibly cool . And the one thing that ’s dissimilar is I did n’t have this incorporated in the original film . That was really me and Gabriel and the editors being like , " If we ’re going to do more of them , and it ’s not live on to just be a yoke Titans , then we ca n’t leave Dick out . " He ’s an significant fictitious character .
But also , I did n’t want to not have Damian because he feel like he ask to be in the Titans too . How do we include both of those in a way that lick and is also interesting to read , in terms of dynamics ?
Gabriel Picolo : I absolutely love Dick Grayson , so I am very emotional for him to be in the next one . Very , very aroused .
Kami Garcia : That ’s the thought-provoking part for me as a author . It ’s never compose authentic dialogue or search up fit . It ’s like the engineer in the back , have trusted the pieces are give way to work and the characters abide true . Writing the literal script is the fun part ; the tricky and laborious part to me is the architecture in the back .
give thanks you so much to Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo for taking the time to talk . Teen Titans : Beast son Loves Ravenis in comic ledger store now !
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