Titans: Beast World #4 - Comic Review

 

I'm going to say something that is likely not too controversial, but I fucking hate Amanda Waller. She's a great villain, a character that has earned people's dislike, and her reputation as one of the most dangerous people in the DC Universe, and whilst I think she's often a great addition to stories, I absolutely hate her here. 

Garro's spores continue their rain, which results in Giganta becoming infected this issue whilst trying to help out in all of the chaos. The result is a gigantic bear person smashing Ivy Town to pieces, with thousands dying in the process. We get a pretty harrowing scene of several heroes trying their best to stop her rampage, a scene in which we see the death and destruction wrought. A parent cradles the body of their child, screaming at the unimaginable agony of your child dying in your arms. The book doesn't shy away from showing the effect this 'event' is having on the regular people, and it makes the book a hard read in places.

And this almost brings Superman to a pause. Jon is sent flying by Giganta, speeding towards one of the buildings, unable to stop himself from crashing into it. As he hurtles towards it his x-ray vision lets him see that it's full of people, that his unstoppable flight towards it is going to result in civilian deaths. And then he hits the building, and he fears that he's killed people. Whilst the Flash managed to get everyone out before Jon hit, there's a moment when the young hero believes that he caused collateral damage, that lives were lost because of him, and you can see how much it hurts him in that moment. 

Frighteningly, this is perhaps the lightest part of the book, because this issue is just filled with awful moments. As the heroes are dealing with other things, Amanda Waller sends Peacemaker to find Chester Runk, the Flash ally Chunk. Chester is being chased by a couple of animal people when Peacemaker finds him, and Peacemaker guns them down to save his target; killing Chester's infected children in front of him. 

Meanwhile, Waller is getting Luthor to get his stolen Justice League transporter tech working, so that she can transport Chunk into space to deal with Garro. Her plan is to transport Chunk inside of Garro whilst the giant creature is hanging above Earth. She enacts her plan, and whilst this kills Chunk there's a moment where in his final, panicked last breath, he instinctually uses his powers, and sucks part of Garro into a black hole, ripping his brain apart, and tearing the out of control hero to pieces. The issue ends on a truly harrowing moment, as Raven is forced to watch, prevented from helping by Doctor Hate, as her partner is killed. 

So yeah, I hate Amanda Waller, and I hate Tom Taylor too. That's a joking hate towards Tom Taylor, he's writing a really good story here, but I'm not happy with this turn of events and am still kind of processing one of my first DC heroes being killed. 

The art on this issue is done by Lucas Meyer, with Romulo Fajardo Jr. doing colours, and it's really nice throughout. The art team really sell the destruction and violence of what's going on, and the panels of cities in ruins, buildings being destroyed, and civilians trying to survive as best they can are beautiful in their awfulness. The full page splash of Jon witnessing the destruction of Ivy Town is a terrible moment, but one that does make you stop and appreciate the craft that went into depicting it. 

With Gar apparently dead, I don't know what might come next. I'd have assumed that the spores would either die, or start acting differently, but with two issues to go the threat is probably going to continue on. I wouldn't be surprised if Waller has another idea for what comes next, and if someone like Doctor Hate used magic to take control of the infected I'd accept that pretty easily. Whatever comes next, it's likely to be hard next issue, as the Titans, and wider DC Universe, deals with a big loss.

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