TITLE: Raver Issue #1
YEAR: April 1993
COMPANY: Malibu Comics
Creator/Writer: Walter Koenig
Penciller: Dan Day
Inkers: Dan & David Day
Leterrer: Tim Eldred
Interior Color Design: David Day
Interior Colorists: Malibu Packrats
Cover Artist: Dan Day
Cover Color Design: David Day
Cover Colorist: Albert Calleros
Walter Koenig will always be known for his role as Pavel Chekov in “Star Trek” and Alfred Bester in “Babylon 5”.
Aside from acting, Koenig is also known for teaching classes at UCLA and also known for his written work for films, one-act plays, and episodes for TV series plus a few books.
In 1993, Koenig created his own comic book “Raver”, a three-issue mini-series published by Malibu Comics.
“Raver” is a comic book series that you had to stay with it because the first issue leaves you with many questions.
The story begins with a man named Norman Walters who is going to give a talk to third graders about his career in buying and selling. When he sees the children, they are all misbehaving and when one of the kids starts yelling at Norman, he starts to shriek and immediately appears in a timeline wearing a superhero outfit and imagining monsters? Or are they imaginations? If they are, why are the people behaving normally and pretending they are not seeing anything awry?
As Norman/Raver tries to make sense of his life and potential powers he may have, who is this man? And is Norman and Raver and the timeline’s a figment of his imagination?
While “Raver” is an intriguing series, the first issue doesn’t reel you in, in fact it’s quite confusing unless you read the next issues after the first. You learn that due to a psychotic breakdown, Norman’s mind invents bizarre nightmare worlds with real villains and real victims. So, Norman becomes Raver, a superhero but there is one problem. He doesn’t know what kind of power he will have when he enters one world after the other. In fact, it’s a power that often mirrors that world’s enemy. So, Raver must beat each villain and never fail or else, that would destroy Norman Walters.
A fascinating series from Walter Koenig and one can hope he continues to write more “Raver” stories in the near future.