Review by Ian Keogh
Beast World Tour is the side dish collection showing the effect in various locations of humanity infested with a spore transforming them into feral animal beings. For the main course see Titans: Beast World.
The title refers to a world tour, but in fact the only stopover outside DC’s version of the USA is Atlantis, with Metropolis, Gotham, Central City and Star City covered. Wonder Woman’s home of Themyscira seems to have been swerved in looking at the home towns of Superman, Batman, Nightwing, the Flash and Green Arrow. In most cases there are an assortment of stories about the location, with only Nightwing and Amanda Waller having longer stories.
In the main series Waller’s plotted the theft of some valuable technology from Superman, only to have it stolen from her in turn by Doctor Hate, whose motives as yet remain uncertain. Chuck Brown uses a cast comprised almost entirely of folk with black skin, some African American and some from other worlds, which is novel, but secondary to his delivering them well and intriguing with motive. On the other hand Keron Grant’s art always looks good, but sometimes prioritises that over clarity as per the sample art. Deadeye’s personality is well developed, and this ends with the potential for something more.
Tom Taylor sends the Jon Kent version of Superman to Gotham where transformed people are being coerced into gladiatorial combat. Among them is Robin, seen on Sami Basri’s sample art as having undergone a most embarrassing transformation, prefaced in a short story beforehand. Rescue isn’t as simple as might be because the spores transforming people have a habit of transferring if a more powerful host is available, and who’s more powerful than Superman? It’s a page-turner, but why do superhero comics so frequently have people with fractured or broken ribs performing as if a plaster and paracetemol is all that’s required to overcome the limitation?
The remainder is the mixed bag to be expected from teaming established writers with newcomers and artists yet to establish a track record. Among those who impress are Edward Galmon on Superman, Daniel Hillyard’s cartooning for Harley Quinn, Ivan Shavrin on Red Hood and Valentine De Landro on a form of Suicide Squad, although De Landro does have a track record.
Alien spores transforming people already using animal themed powers is the theme employed throughout. To highlight just the single treat, look out for Killer Moth being hunted down by Spoiler as presented by Kyle Starks in eight moody pages from Kelley Jones.
As long as superhero publishers persist in using graphic novels tying-in with crossover events as tryouts for new creators the chances of them ever being better than average are slim, and Beast World Tour doesn’t buck that trend.
