A 1993 comic written by Star Trek’s Walter Koenig? When I saw this comic advertised in one of the many Malibu Comics I’ve been picking up and reading recently, I was very intrigued, and given how cheap and widely available these comics are nowadays (the benefits of waiting until the market crashes, then giving it another few decades until people have really lost interest), it was neither expensive nor difficult to pick it up.

I’ve actually been really impressed with Malibu’s output that I’ve been catching up with recently, so I was really looking forward to reading Raver #1, despite its slightly awkward title.

It pains me to say this, but I needn’t have bothered. I actually have no clue what even happened in the comic, as it’s so clumsily, awkwardly told. Koenig’s script seems to be aiming for mystery and surrealism, with some completely out-of-nowhere philosophical points chucked in for good measure.

It begins with a guy about to do a presentation to a class of badly behaved kids, and there’s some genuine little shits among them…then there’s a guy in what is supposed to be a superhero costume (see the front cover), but it’s not entirely clear who he is, why he’s there or what happened with the class, and it muddles through some truly weird, seemingly unconnected shit. Then the ending just pops up out of nowhere, with a nasty little douche of a kid threatening to hurt some kittens, unless another child climbs down from a tree and takes a punch.

I wouldn’t normally go over the contents of a comic in such detail, because I find it better to offer a brief synopsis, just in case anyone reading would like to pick the issue up for themselves; here, though, I don’t think it matters one bit.

None of it makes sense, or seems to have any purpose or coherence amidst the whole, and it baffled me so much that I had to try and find other reviews online first, just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything obvious, or any clever subtext.

Nope, every review I found mentioned that they were incredibly baffled by what they read, which was very reassuring.

Anyway, in the photo I took of the cover, I tried to show just how shiny and impressive the foil treatment looks. It’s better than anything you’ll find inside, and I’m certainly not going to bother reading any more issues.

Seeing the otherwise wonderful Mr. Koenig’s name on the comic piqued my curiosity, but I should have remembered what curiosity did to the cat before taking the plunge with this one.