Titans: Beast World Tour: Metropolis #1
Scheduled to arrive in stores: December 5, 2023
Cover date: February 2024
Cover: Mikel Janín
Variant Covers: Clayton Henry and Marcelo Maiolo, Cully Hamner
Reviewed by: JP Rocha
“Primal Pain”
Writers: Nicole Maines and Steve Orlando
Artist: Fico Ossio
The story starts with Jon Kent being strangled and electrocuted which turns out to be a future vision of Dreamers. This vision is followed by a second vision of the explosion of buildings. Dreamer runs into action with the hope to do something about these visions while looking for the help of Jon Kent. Together they find Livewire, but she has already been transformed by the beast spores. Dreamer stops Livewire, while Jon protects the denizens of Metropolis, but now we see Dreamer is now on Amanda Wallers’ radar.
“Turtle Boy”
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artist: Anthony Marques
Jimmy Olsen is infected by a beast spore turning him into Turtle Boy. Bibbo Bibbowski and Professor Emil Hamilton rush to help turn him back.
“Don’t Stop”
Writer: Zipporah Smith and Joshua Williamson
Artist: Edward Galmon
Superman, with technical support from Lois Lane and Kelex, fights off beast spores and Fortress of Solitude invaders. Was their victory too easy as we see Brainiac checking in on the situation?
Story – 3: “Primal Pain” – This is a basic event tie-in story. An event monster attacks and Dreamer has to deal with it. The focus of this story is Dreamer trying to get control of her powers which have been elevated from the Lazarus Planet event. This is the least interesting of the three stories.
“Turtle Boy” – This issue is Silver-age in style, with Jimmy turning into Turtle Boy. This Bibbo story is a fun spin on the event tie-in. We see Bibbo, Professor Hamilton, and Jimmy reacting to the circumstances resulting from the Beast World event. After Jimmy accidentally consumes a beast spore, he is transformed into Turtle Boy. The beast spores are attracted to beings with the most power. So Professor Hamilton knocks Jimmy unconscious and the spore jumps into Power Girl who is nearby.
“Don’t Stop” – This story starts with Lois preparing a pourover coffee in the Fortress of Solitude. While Lois and Kelex help Superman while also defending the Fortress of Solitude from infected invaders, the real goal of the story is to slow down the event allowing its characters the chance to react. We even see a text conversation on Lois’ phone with Jimmy that allows us to see how the rest of the Daily Planet is reacting to the events as well. The secondary goal of the story is to tie-in upcoming events in the Superman books.
Art – 3: “Primal Pain” – Fico Ossio has a more stylized art that fades from realistic to cartoony page to page. The strength of the art is the heroes Dreamer and Jon Kent as well as Livewire both human and infected. Of the three stories, Ossio’s art fits in most with the DC house style.
“Turtle Boy” – Overall this story has the best art in the book. Anthony Marques’ cartoony style is fun and fits the story being told well.
“Don’t Stop” – The art for “Don’t Stop” is more loose and abstract. While not bad, this art is the least appealing in the book. The coloring in this story has a negative effect on the art. A more traditional coloring style could have raised the art profile.
Cover Art – 3: The main cover by Mikel Janín features the first story “Primal Pain” which is the least interesting story in the book. Jon Kent, Supergirl, and Dreamer are surrounded by a beast infected Power Girl and Livewire, fighting just above the Daily Planet building. The art is great, but the image layout is uninspiring.
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