DC's Quoth the Raven..."Whatever" (2026-) #1

by Tini Howard, Isaac Goodhart (Artist), Dominike "Domo" Stanton

Welcome, foolish mortals. Not far from the shores of Gotham City, when the nights grow long, the leaves turn red, and a certain crisp chill comes into the air on a twilight lit by the full moon, the lives of heroes and antiheroes from Raven to Swamp Thing, Constantine, Zatanna, Deadman, and more…turn toward the strange and unusual, the occult and delightful, the odd and the audacious. For those looking to give themselves a good, warm dose of the shivers, this anthology of scary stories to tell in the dark is the perfect assortment of fairy tales for troubled times and troubled souls alike. Pick up a copy wherever needful things and comic books are sold. We think you’ll find it the perfect companion to your handbook for the recently deceased.

Genres: Comics

Kindle Edition

Published October 7, 2026

Reviews

[Annemarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good ones, some great ones, and a bunch of okay comics, as is often the case with anthologies. 3☆ average

Super Satanic Panic - Rosie Knight 2☆
(Raven)

Raven, Constantine and Swamp thing in one story! Should have been fun, but their interactions felt... stunted? Weird? Off? I feel like the story had potential but it really wasn't working all that well for me.


House Rules - Lucas Lowman 2.5 ☆
(Deadman)

I really liked the art. Lots of ghost, great Halloween vibes. The story itself was kinda weak, as is often the case in these kind of anthologies. It was fine.


Anansi's web - Domo Stanton 2☆
(Vixen)

Abrupt "ending". I'm guessing this is to lead into the new Vixen series, but at least for me, this wasn't a very good intro. But then again, this is really my first time reading a Vixen focused story, so that probably didn't help.

Fear Knowing - Rebecca Mock 4☆
( Dr. 13 and Traci 13)
I doesn't know these characters, but I really liked this one! We have our scientist investigating a ghost. He doesn't believe in ghosts of course. I liked the ending a lot as well, great spooky vibes

Tricks, treats and comic books - Chris Rosa
(Superboy prime + witchfire) 2☆

Felt very therapist speak/preachy at one point, and overall the way people talked didn't really click for me. The art was great, and I loved the outfits.

Cat's out the tomb - Nina Vakueva 3.5☆
(Catwoman)

This one was cute. Catwoman defying the gods is always fun. Slight twist was good too imo.

For Abby - Patrick R Young 3☆
(Swamp Thing)

The art was really cool, very different from the other stories. This one was one of the stronger ones, though the ending was a bit confusing to me. Why were there IVs?


The lovers at Losthall Manor - Tini Howard 5☆
(Zatanna and Constantine)

This was my favourite one. I loved their interaction and the story was really good too. Ghosts and curses and paintings. Really loved this one.

[F. P. · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

I liked three of the stories in this; the rest I either didn't read, or didn't like what I read. And I thought the first story was meh, even though I like the art style. I find too much paranormal stuff silly; if it's not dark and mythical like Shadowman, for example, I tend to lose interest.

The Swamp Thing story in this is just confusing; I don't at-all understand The Ending That Came Out Of Nowhere--huh??

I liked the Catwoman story, which is very rare for me: I've only liked one other in another collection. Catwoman's almost always drawn like a p!n up, but she wasn't at all rendered that way in this collection's story; the art style's really cute.

Of course, as I think I've indicated in my update, I liked the Jetsons-style characters meet Deadman. So cute and oddball.

[Cybernex007 · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was a very mixed bag, it’s always strange when the headliner story is the one I enjoyed the least. I know it’s difficult to constrain a single story to 10 pages, but there was an odd range where some stories were going great only to loose steam in the second half while others rushed through the entire thing. But I will say aside from a few odd face angles the art impressed me the most throughout this issue, enjoyed it for the most part where the writing was the most disappointing factor across the stories. So a quick rapid fire on my individual ratings of each story before talking in depth:

Raven - 2/5
Deadman - 2/5
Vixen - 4/5
Doctor Thirteen and Traci - 4/5
SuperBoy Prime - 3/5
Catwoman - 4/5
Swamp thing - 3/5
Zatanna and Constantine - 4/5

The Raven story hurt me the most, the art itself is great but the terrible dialogue choices and the rushed plot left me yawning. There is a proper balance for writing a young character, the teen titans series strikes that balance well…this is the opposite end of the spectrum. And I’m sorry the story itself is so choppy. Apparently there is some small town out there with a bunch of murders popping up and the new mysterious mayor is blaming Raven of all people. Guided by Dick’s investigative teachings, Raven heads out and meets up with Constantine and for some reason Swamp Thing who is for some reason especially helpful today. I’m not even sure why he shows up for the 4 panels where he does basically nothing. Raven and Constantine then set out and find the mayor doing some ritual killing…I’m not entirely sure if that was a vision of not as they don’t catch the mayor until later. First Raven catches some cult members, interrogates them in a sewer, and balances using her powers to get them to talk…ultimately revealing the mayor made a deal with Trigon for power and is trying to get the power from the land his ancestors failed to steal when they landed. They find the mayor in his cult cave and stops him before he kills again. There we go, painful dialogue where Raven calls Constantine cringe sprinkled along the way.

For the next story focused around deadman I adore the art style of, especially for this Halloween vibe, but the ending just didn’t sit right with me. It felt too improperly explained. We find deadman making a literal house call, he has been at for a month, where there are teleports of haunted constructs popping up and he has been unable to find the source. It seems to be getting more powerful the closer to Halloween, while also creating an aura of fear around the holiday. As the parents head out for the night when their babysitter arrives to watch their two kids, they make sure she knows the rules of no costumes and no candy. They don’t even have a tv but are allowed to order pizza…as long as it’s plain. So a pretty depressing lot for these two rich kids, which is why they are apparently so suggestible by anything “Mr Brand” mentions to them about how costumes and candy can be cool. Because of course the kids can see deadman. But tonight Boston has a plan to finally lure out the source. He causes all kinds of ghostly things, objects moving and doors slamming, sending the babysitter and the kids running as the apparitions start right back up again. The kids aren’t afraid with Boston confirming this is all part of the plan, they run to the basement where the ghosts can’t apparently go because there is Halloween decorations don’t there. I think the whole thing is that they hate Halloween, but also look like Halloween characters? Ultimately Boston finds the source in the attic, a couple of older souls all chained up to a heart in the middle of the room. I think the deal is that all these old people ghosts hate the racket of Halloween and have created an aura of fear to rid the house of Halloween altogether. Boston is basically like “that’s not cool and it’s okay to be afraid” and freed the ghosts just like that so they can properly pass on and fun and Halloween cheer can return to the house. Alright then, lol.

The next story centered around Vixen actually got me super excited for the upcoming vixen series. While I highly doubt it will connect to it, the glimpse this series gave into the rich lore waiting to burst free from Vixen’s corner of the DCU was more than enough. Speaking from a perspective of my vixen knowledge being low, I had 0 clue that her totem came from a giant ancient spider named Anansi. This story has vixen go on what should be a standard JLU operation to find a kidnapped tribe ambassador in some creepy castle off the coast of Tanzania. Instead Vixen finds the castle empty as her comms are cut off, only for the halls to be filled with spirits from times when wealth flowed freely in these halls…some such spirits passing around the totem she now wears. The vision ends with a spirit rubbing at her with a bladed weapon (idk the name, lol) and as it vanishes she falls only to find her totem missing. At this point vixen has figured out this is the work of Anansi, but hasn’t figured out why. She proceeds into the castle completely defenseless, crawling through thick cobwebs until coming upon a room with the person she is looking for hung up. As vixen approaches the web snaps and the person starts to fall, only for vixen to run in with bird powers activating…even without the totem. She is surprised by this, only to be even more shocked when the person she just saved is holding the totem and transforms into Anansi body horror style. The story actually ends with vixen being webbed up, and Anansi taunting her current status in the world…claiming that she should be standing next to other powerful warriors but has slacked and become a background character. Maybe it’s time for the power to be taken back? So Vixen, are you going to get out there and be a great hero or die right here?! I mean how can they end the story like that?! It makes me real excited to see vixen put in the spotlight with her own solo series for a change, but dang they are ripping into her for not getting the chance prior, lol.

The next story focused around Doctor Thirteen and Traci Thirteen genuinely surprised me in how much I loved it and didn’t know about these characters. Doctor thirteens whole thing is that he investigates paranormal mysteries as a skeptic hellbent on finding the true scientific explanation for the story. This is in stark contrast to his daughter who actually believes in the mystic side of the world, and may have her own powers…not sure on that front. Either way the dynamic here is fantastic with their competing views, even though in this story Doctor Thirteen only drags his teenage daughter with him to cases as his mother recently died. This story they find themselves in Henceworth Manor. All the basic stuff which seems like ghosts but is really just an old big house. Doors slamming but and getting stuck and wind through old timbers making noise. While the doctor walks around with the madam of the house, track walks with Marguerite, a caretaker who also lost her mother. But the group meets back up outside in the decimated gardens where they are attracted to a smell from the old koi pond. The madam claims a bad winter killed all the fish and no one could remove the smell, but join a closer look the doctor could tell the pond is infested with black fungus…common in folklore it signifies sin, but inhaling it causes hallucinations and loss of memory…so a great place to stay the night with your young child! Traci looks into the water and freaks out as Marguerite can see it on her face…Traci also saw the lady in the water! They head back inside where Marguerite is ordered to make dinner after that outburst and the Madam of the house retired to bed. The doctor seems embarrassed by Traci seeing something in the water, claiming it was a trick of the light and she was frightened by the story. But that night Traci received a visitor from a wispy ghost in her room whispering to her. Traci stepped out and heard screaming filling the hall. Her father also heard it and found her, but when he realized she wasn’t the one screaming…they ran to the madam’s room to find her dead in the floor! The doctor yells for Marguerite to call for help, perhaps it’s a heart attack, all the while Traci is attracted to the room connected to the bedroom. The ghost which whispered to her is there calling her. The doctor runs over and swings the door open to find a child’s room and a stench filling the air. Marguerite tries to stop him, but he is adamant about getting to the bottom of this. He approaches the wall where he finds a crack and more mold. He takes his flashlight and bashes the wall open as Marguerite begs him not to look upon her mother’s dead body stuffed in the wall. Marguerite falls down and claims she wasn’t well and was hidden away by the family who owns the house. Her body is covered in spores which drive her mad and everyone else in this house. Marguerite is arrested while still claiming the ghost of her mother killed the madam of the house as revenge as she would have been the true heir. But as the story comes to an end Traci steps back out towards the koi pond where the ghost appears behind her this time. Traci falls back in fear and into the pond, as the ghost tells her that her true fear is knowing the truth…that her father is wrong and ghosts do exist! I love this nuance, because you could once again just as easily claim that Traci, while submerged in toxic spores, is hallucinating this. It’s such a great dynamic.

The superboy prime story started really strong, capitalizing off the recent Superman arc in the best possible way by continuing Prime’s relationship with witchfire, which I legit love so much, while providing a cute message about supporting comic book stores and community. We get great scenes where the store hosts a Halloween pop up outside as they continue to rebuild, leading into prime getting out of his comfort zone and cosplaying as Constantine, who I’m sure is seething somewhere, while Witchfire dresses as Zatanna. But mid way through it really just fizzes out, the dialogue becomes super clunky and artificial as they sound like two computers trying to fake emotional progress when Witchfire and Prime talk about their experiences being more comfortable with one another. The. They are attacked by Neron’s demons, while still mind numbingly talking about their journeys. Thankfully the story ends on a bit of a bang as Prime returns bad to make some comic book recommendations to some eager customers. “Did you hear vertigo’s back…”

Now the Catwoman story was a genuine surprise to me in how much I loved this, the art is great and it’s a quick fun story. We find Catwoman up to her typical burglar antics, making out of some private collections real clean…only to inspect her loot and recognize one of the treasures. It is one part of a two part set of bracelet looking antiquities belonging to a forgotten Egyptian queen devoted to Bastet, the goddess of cats. Selina grabbed one of the lost possessions stuck in private collections. But as she slept that night, the bracelet lit up with power as the spirit inside is finally close enough to its other half. It takes control of Selina’s body, having her put on the bracelet as she hops across town, breaks into the museum, fights past some statues which come to life (typical), and finally reunites the bracelet with a small cat sarcophagus. A statue of Bastet even comes to life thanking Selina and promising her a reward in another life. Selina wakes up dead tired lol she was working out all night, only to find a new cat in her apartment…this one wearing the bracelet she just stole. Whelp, make yourself at home, lol.

While the next swamp thing story didn’t blown me away from the story itself, the art is really what elevated it. The story follows two men who decide to dump a dead body in the swamp, the younger one is worried about the stories of the swamp thing while the other dismisses them as fantasy…then the pair are trapped as it begins to storm, forcing them into a nearby house, overrun with vines, they didn’t even realize existed. The younger one is skeptical and worried about this place as the older trudges forward…and gets caught in more vines. Then comes my favorite part, where we have a two page spread with a really intricate paneling system which is designed to look like a house. The pair explore the house as swamp thing noticed them and rips the older one open with vines from the inside out. The younger one tries to run, his self preservation taking over as swamp thing appears before him. The young man finds himself full of regret of a love he lost, the man he let slip away, and Swamp thing can see that lost love in the young man’s eyes…and in a moment of hesitation he lets the kid go with the chance to find that love once more.

The real point of these holiday specials is to give newer creators an outlet to get some work out there with some preexisting characters, but it’s also nice to see someone who has been at DC for a minute bring a solid story to the table…and in this case Tini Howard takes on Zatanna and Constantine in a pretty funny story. It starts with Constantine waking up Zatanna at 2am where he reveals there is a real haunted house which is full of valuable art and only shows up one night a year. He waves her to come but if she doesn’t there is no telling what he will get up to without supervision. So off they go to the mysterious once a night house, to admire and make sure no paintings are stolen. It’s white and impressive lot and they come across some skeletons holding paintings, robbers who were lured in and could never leave. Constantine’s curiosity gets the better of him as he pulls a painting away from the skeleton to see what was so worth it…only for a spiritual curse to lash out from the painting. Engulfing both of them as they are teleported into the paintings and take the roles of two love stricken characters in the paintings that were separated. Constantine and Zatanna finds the mage’s separated but with two halves of the same spell to get them out of this curse. They have to find each other if they ever hope to leave. Hilariously, Zatanna finds John when she sees his lighter from the nearby watchtower. She teleports up there and the two quickly work together to recite the spell before sunset and the house disappears with them in it. But this isn’t just about them, this is about the two spirits trapped and tormented and finally get their reunion through Zatanna and Constantine…so of course Constantine had to put in a good kiss before they complete the spell and return to the real world. The curse is broken and Zatanna shrinks down some of the paintings to be taken to proper archivists.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.9 stars

[Nidhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

me singehandely bumping up the rating for this due to my intensely enduring love of constantine and zatanna. johnzee, you will ALWAYS!! BE FAMOUS!!!! aside from that one, which was, of course, my favorite, everything was pretty solid and appropriately halloween-y except maybe the vixen one (though probably bc idgaf abt her and was waiting for the constantine/zatanna story) and the raven/constantine one (while i can appreciate the constantine double feature, it fell pretty flat and the art style and characterization felt off to me). tl;dr half a point docked because i had to read about people who weren't zatanna and constantine!! but very solid either way

[Lizzy DeMarco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed most of these stories!

[Craig Schorling · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Prime/Witchfire, Zatanna/Constantine, and Dr. 13/Traci 13 were the highlights and carried this anthology for me. The rest were just ok but nothing noteworthy.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable! My favorites were Superboy Prime's story about the importance of community and kindness in fandom spaces and Catwoman's about an ancient Egyptian cat, lol

[Mark Cubillos · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were some great stories and the rest were good. I really enjoyed this issue.