The Bear Necessities — Reviewing ‘Titans: Beast World’ #4

Beasts, beasts, everywhere, and not a single idea on how to stop it. That is unless you are Amanda Waller. She’s got plenty of ideas, but they might just prove truly deadly for the Titans and the world itself.

Heroes rise, and heroes fall in Titans: Beast World #4 by Tom Taylor, Lucas Meyer, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Wes Abbott. There will be spoilers ahead, so beware.

If you were to ask me to nail down exactly fully what Beast World is as a title, well I’d be hard-pressed to really answer them. Not because I’m not paying attention as I read or it’s so high concept I’m not understanding things. No, the issue is that I wouldn’t even know where to begin. In just four issues there have been so many big wild ideas, characters, plotlines, moments, and action all shoved into one space. Keeping track of them all is kind of wild and would be like that Jim Carrey beat in the car from Liar Liar were I to even try to explain.

Long story short, Taylor has a ton of ideas and kind of is throwing them all at the wall here.

I’m not saying this is inherently bad or that all the bits are being handled poorly. Some of the moments are solid and bombastic, as you would expect from a line-wide event. Others are somber and character depth-defining. Unfortunately, as a collective package, it’s hard to track and could become one of those drops in the water-style stories. You know, the ones that you like, but won’t be remembered all that much compared to stories that are akin to throwing a rock in the pond.

In many ways, this would have been a much better second or third issue of the series than a fourth. Chopping out a lot of the stolen Batman/Nightwing focus that was the second issue would have facilitated this. Our climax of Gar seemingly dying because of the further machinations of Waller would have been a harder-hitting mid-series point.

Taylor shifts the focus enough that the whole Titans are the big heroes of the DC Universe currently actually has weight. They are the ones being looked at and called out as the crisis gets worse, chiefly since their member is the threat, albeit because of more Waller interference. Another reason for the disjointed feeling is the companion book Titans. That book’s previous issue was 3.5 for this event and showed Nightwing being transformed and Starfire confronting Brother Eternity (a secret Tamaranian).

Yet in this issue, taking place after that, we see nothing. Sure, those plots are likely to be seen in Titans and over in Nightwing’s arc for this event. It’s still a continuity storyline nightmare that portions of this story are elsewhere and the main mini is coming out so often it’s lapping its tie-ins.

Basically, the issue and the series have a lot to say but it’s coming out as a jumbled cacophony rather than a well-timed orchestra.

But, boy, oh boy, does it look pretty darn super.

Even though there are all these quickly shuffling types of moments, the emotion or power of them is hitting. A couple of scenes are big hero moments, pure action with all the epic poses and feats of strength. I mean we get Giganta turning into a giant bear, and the scale is there. Meyer has a lot of weight and kinetic flow to his work.

Panel choices are on point and allow the various scenes to have visual room to breathe. There is no denying the emotional moments pack a punch, the anger or grief is palpable.

We’re in the middle of a story that is both big bold superhero action but also a really dark event, where Waller and others are making terrible choices. Fajardo balances those tones quite well here. Plenty of the more vibrant superhero colors stand hand in hand with the far heavier darker shadowy colors that make their presence felt. Portions of the story take place in the city at night and in space. Thanks to the choices made with lighting, both those spaces feel adequately dark but with their own beads of illumination.

A lot of this story comes from the very present purple caption boxes, full of ominous tones. Adding the right touch to those and all other words is what Abbott does so well. Every bit of lettering has an impact, whether it’s standard dialogue font or the roar of Giganta Bear that bursts out of its bubble to shake Ivy Town. Taylor’s issues can be on the wordier side at times, it’s part of his style, and Abbott, who pairs with him often, handles it and makes it flow and work on the page every time.

Titans: Beast World #4 is now available from DC Comics.