Fight Or Flight — Reviewing ‘Titans: Beast World’ #3

Earth’s premiere superhero team rose to protect the world, only for one of their own to become a bigger threat. As Beast Boy’s spores rain down upon the population, the Titans must scramble to correct this wrong before it’s too late.

A new year opens as the first half of Titans: Beast World ends with the third issue from Tom Taylor, Lucas Meyer, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Wes Abbott.

Despite what the cover showcases, this third event issue corrects the mistake of the second by actually focusing on the Titans themselves. Batman took up a bit too much real estate last time, and the Wolfman-Batman is more a prop and background here. As he really should be.

Not because I don’t like Batman, but because the guy has a billion titles. This is meant to be the Titans’ time as the premiere team of the DC Universe (for the moment). Having the major League members front and center pretty much undermines that idea.

Taylor does a better job in this issue of spreading the wealth. We get plenty of moments with some of the Titans big hitters (Donna Troy most notably) as well as some other superheroes who tackle and also fall prey to the Garro (Beast Boy as Starro) spores. It even presents a space for Taylor to jump on board the Jon Kent Superman train again, as the character makes an appearance. Donna being a major force — the one holding back Garro — was pretty darn cool.

One moment, though, I felt could have used a small change: when Doctor Clancy reveals she knows that Nightwing is her neighbor Dick Grayson. Honestly, this is a character I forgot that we had even met in the first place. The assumption that everyone not only reads the Nightwing series but remembers a character who hasn’t appeared in quite some time was a bit of a stretch. Just a few lines could have identified this character better, especially since this is a major line-wide event and not Nightwing’s solo book.

There’s a big artistic change here as Meyer steps in for Ivan Reis and Danny Miki. With this series being basically biweekly, likely made on a tight schedule, the change makes sense. While it would be great for these books to be planned out far enough to keep the same team together, at least the change is a solid one.

Reis’s work is very much a superhero house style that works for these big books, and Meyers is easily reaching that same energy. I’m not sure I recall seeing his work in the past, but I dug it here. Everything is sharp and smooth and full of emotional power, screaming superheroes with every panel. Characters are kinetic as can be, big action moments just soaring through the pages and threatening to burst right into reality. Smart paneling choices pull us in and out of the action, allowing us to be right in the thick of things as necessary.

Paired with the colors from Fajardo makes it even better. Most of the colors are very much the neutral type of palette, where things are toned down in a more realistic style. It creates a good baseline for the world, a space similar to what we might encounter in real life. It’s the superbeings, the aliens, the fantastical that take on the far brighter poppier colors. These elements should always stand out as not being the norm, because they aren’t, and the right distribution of color levels makes that work perfectly.

One of Taylor’s regular collaborators is Abbott, who brings the same level of power to the letters to this book that he does on Nightwing and Titans. Voices feel accurate, popping with character personality and emotion, and tones are crystal clear. It all moves across the page logically and gracefully, making sure never to encumber the action or create walls of text. Even the more verbose pages can feel balanced when the right choices are made for placement.

All in all, it’s a nice departure from the Batman/Nightwing fest that was the second issue, setting us up for hopefully more big bold emotional moments to come.

Titans: Beast World #3 is now available from DC Comics.