REVIEW: ‘Titans: Beast World Tour – Star City’ Issue #1

Titans: Beast World Tour – Star City #1 is published by DC Comics and features stories by many creators. The first story is titled “Like Father…” Written by Joshua Williamson, art and colors by Jamal Campbell, and letters by Troy Peteri. The second story is titled “Birds of a Feather,” written by Ryan Parrott, art by Roger Cruz, colors by Adriano Lucas, and letters by Wes Abbott. The third story is titled “The Jungle Society of America,” written by Robert Venditti, art by Gavin Guidry, colors by Alex Guimarães, and letters by Steve Wands. The fourth and final story is titled “…Like Son,” with story and art by Brandt & Stein and letters by Frank Cvetkovic. The Beast War has spread to Star City, the city of archers and canaries.

After a couple of issues with interesting and inventive ideas for structuring these tie-ins, this issue reverts to the norm. The first and fourth stories are connected but with an entirely different creative team on each side. The first story shows Oliver Queen and Connor Hawke, the two Green Arrows, first encountering the beasts. The second story sees both Black and Red Canary, with the former training and advising the latter. The third story follows Red Arrow as he battles members of the Justice Society. And the final comic concludes the first. The stories are a load of fun, moving quickly at a rapid pace.

Most of the characters inside Star City have similar abilities, but that is cleverly used for comedic purposes. It also means that characters must work harder to save civilians because they aren’t as powerful as their enemies. There are some fascinating concepts brought up that have not been questioned throughout the whole event. Whether the spores themselves have sentience to deciding which person to save, this issue makes its characters think beyond just fighting animalistic versions of their fellow superheroes and villains.

The characters within this issue are joined by someone else, giving them someone to bounce off and learn from. In all but the third story, a young hero is paired with an older one. Conner has Ollie, and Dinah has the almost brand-new Red Canary. The relationships are vastly separate within the stories. The Green Arrow tales are all about family, with Ollie trying to reconnect and understand his son. Conner is incredibly caring and devoted to protecting life, even more so than his father. There isn’t enough time within issues like this to delve so heavily into the full story of the separation and difficulties in detail. Still, the writers within those stories do attempt to. It is fascinating that different writers, like a baton, pick up on the same story, and it must have required immense communication and planning.

The story with the Canaries has fantastic writing, with a great discussion on decision-making within it. Red Canary is brand new to the superheroics, and few are as experienced as Dinah Lance. Red Canary’s struggles to decide what to do make her stutter and stall, losing time to save lives and protect herself. Black Canary is firm with the younger woman, recognizing the seriousness of the situation, especially when the younger hero goes out on her own. The narration within this story is terrific. Written from the perspective of Red Canary, it is filled with admiration for Black Canary and rife with worry and anxiety. It’s a great exploration of what it must be like for the younger heroes.
The third story is also a team-up, with Red Arrow meeting Stargirl and Huntress. What changes within that tale is there isn’t a hierarchy, and it’s more of a team effort. Just as exciting as the other stories, this book comes with slightly more baggage as elements of the JSA story are added. They are all explained well, and it doesn’t affect the overall aim of the story, however.

The art is incredible and adventurous across the book. All of them embrace the fun that can be had within the concept of the event, turning people into animal versions of themselves. What’s fun is that sometimes the transformed heroes aren’t even mentioned by name, leading the audience to try and figure it out by the costumes themselves. The designs of the altered heroes are all brilliant and hilarious at times, depending on the artist’s aims. There are a lot of creatures within the first and fourth stories, and the level of detail is remarkable. A new idea is trialed within these stories, too, which makes the creatures even more terrifying.

The colors are consistently tremendous. These bright and vibrant costumes are on virtually all of the characters, which is celebrated within this issue. From red to green, both tones are intensely bright in every story. That consistency is also found within the lettering, despite the four individual letterers working on the comic.

Titans: Beast World Tour – Star City #1 is a return to the norm for the anthology tie-ins. Four entertaining and engaging books by several creators spread the event’s effect across an entire city. This concept has grouped the various clans of superheroes within their locations. It has led to fewer stories than other events, which is more cost-effective for the consumer. The interconnected stories felt like a fresher approach to the tie-ins, but this format gives opportunities to more creators and more points of interest.

Titans: Beast World Tour – Star City #1 is available now wherever comics are sold.