Titans: Beast World #3 – Tom Taylor, Writer; Lucas Meyer, Artist; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: This has been a very fun event so far, with an army of beast monsters on the loose, many of them possessing powerful heroes like Batman and Power Girl—and overhead, the mind-wiped Garro the Star Conqueror, seemingly directing the spores towards a sinister end. This story works on several levels, with huge-scale battles like Jon Kent vs. a Phoenix-possessed Power Girl. At the same time, there is a more intimate battle to save the possessed heroes, such as the Wolf-ized Batman, who is safely in custody. A really cool detail here is that the doctor investigating Batman’s case is Bridget Clancy—the former Super at Dick’s Bludhaven apartment building, who was last seen in the 1990s Nightwing book heading off to medical school. This is the kind of plot point that you’d really only get from someone who has written Nightwing and clearly did his homework.
And of course, for every heroic figure there’s a counterpart—and at the core of this event is Amanda Waller, who has been given exactly the opportunity she needs to turn the public against superheroes. She was the one who had Doctor Hate affect Gar’s mind and brainwash him, and while Donna Troy is working to undo the brainwashing, it doesn’t seem like it’s working so far. And with Waller lurking in the background, she’s ready to make her next move—contacting Lex Luthor for a stolen item that will put the final touch on her plan. This is an interesting parallel with what’s going on in King’s Wonder Woman at the moment, with another villain who is having a lot of success turning the public against its heroes. Waller is a bit one-note here compared to how the character was originally conceived, but there’s no question she’s an intimidating villain and somehow makes the spectacle here feel like the secondary threat.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
