Titans continues its Brother Eternity storyline in the midst of the line wide Beast World event. This time, Brother Eternity attempts to salvage his plan for world domination. Consequently, the Titans must foil Brother Eternity’s plans and hold the line until the beast crisis ends. Let’s take a look!
Royal Blood
Starfire takes much of the lead in this arc. As a result, readers get a decent reinterpretation of her tragic backstory. Back when Koriand’r was princess, her mother essentially warns her not to minimize the problems of the world from a seat of privilege. Ironically, she would then go on to spend much of her childhood in bondage following an alien invasion. In that time, her religion would erode until she finds a way to save herself. Today, Starfire faces her core trauma of an alien invasion with all-new determination. In fact, Starfire maturely assesses the scope of the Beast World, and realizes they need to step up before they lose the planet. Yet, things go left when Xand’r, the totally not shoe-horned original character, interprets the backstory differently.
Considering how badly things have been going, I appreciate Starfire taking the situation seriously. In direct continuation from Beast World #3, Starfire makes it her mission to stop Black Adam. In addition, all of the other Titans are keeping busy too. Moore’s panels portray the Titans with bright, exciting momentum in spite of the dire tone. Flash and his sidekicks evacuate citizens, Cyborg fights bird men solo, and Raven takes out spores. Most importantly, Donna has the herculean task of wrangling Garro with the Lasso of Persuasion. In comparison to previous issues, the Titans have been making up for their underwhelming activity.
Stepping Up
Meanwhile, Nightwing and Oracle have set up command in the Titan’s Tower with Detective Chimp, Dr. Bridget Clancy, and her two children. The latter being the lucky few civilians the heroes allow to take refuge within their heavy force field. As other families mutate and tear each other apart, Clancy’s kids unsubtly watch Teen Titans Go! unbothered in the Tower. Honestly, I can’t seem to figure out why Nightwing is relying on a doctor he knows and a talking monkey to solve the crisis by themselves. It would make more sense to recruit a better team of experts. Moreover, it is hard not to think of Oracle as an honorary Titan. She and Nightwing have been friends and dealt with similar absurdities their entire lives. After offering a spot to the brand new Swamp Thing, making Oracle a full member of the team seems like a no-brainer.
By the time the antagonist makes his move, the Titans look silly again. For one, there is no reason Tempest should have any emergency access to their building during a lockdown. As a reminder, the Titans are absolutely aware that he is under Brother Eternity’s parasitic influence. There shouldn’t be a way to automatically open the force field during a quarantine in the first place. Not only does Brother Eternity gain access to the building where children are, but he is able to get uncomfortably close to Batman and the others inside. Lastly, why does a random doctor need to tell you how Starro or the beasts you’ve been fighting work? You know how it works! Cover your mouths to prevent infection, the big one controls the small ones, and removing a parasite turns them back to normal.
Recommended If…
- Reading Titans religiously.
- You think the Titans don’t need common sense to fight an alien invasion.
- You’re also into the Beast World event.
Overall
Overall, the book is entertaining to read, but consistently ridiculous. Readers have to constantly suspend their disbelief to believe the Titans have everything under control. I give the characters like Nightwing and Starfire points for vocalizing how they have mishandled things so far. However, Tom Taylor makes the Titans team feel enormously irresponsible. Regardless of how likable Clancy, Detective Chimp, or the kids are; none of these people are qualified or necessary to tackle a pandemic of this magnitude. Even Brother Eternity making up a working strategy in the middle of his loss is embarrassing. Still, I do feel as if the Titans team are slowly stepping into the shoes of the Justice League, as it is the main goal of the series.
Score: 6.5/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purposes of this review
