Titans: Beast World Tour – Waller Rising #1: Assembly

Having looked at the lineup for DC’s Beast World event, and still being so early into it, it’s already safe to say that while the last issue of Beast World, Titans: Beast World #1, was absolutely essential in terms of plot, the same can’t really be said for Waller Rising. To get a random group of heroes together across such a vast universe is always an exciting concept when executed properly and everything makes sense, but Chuck Brown’s writing feels forced and is like a scramble for order up until the last few pages of the comic where the entire mess unravels and the reader is exposed to the necessary points to understand the rest of the event.

Brown’s contribution to the event, while rocky, does have a couple key points that uplift it. Following the namesake, this comic is very Amanda Waller heavy, and if you’ve been keeping up with Dawn of DC as a whole, it would’ve crossed your mind by now why Waller has been lurking around the shadows for some time now, especially in the Titans and Green Arrow titles. The woman notorious for her larger-than-life desire for power is back scheming, this time clashing with her own nephew, introduced here as Deadeye, a metahuman tracker with psychic capabilities. His problems with his aunt will eventually lead to Waller’s demise.

Besides a new team forming and Waller being addressed as one of the event’s main antagonists, there’s not much to help uplift this issue of Beast World.

Even the villain of the week, Dr. Hate, doesn’t live up to the excitement, or any excitement for that matter. He eventually falls under Waller’s control; a god-like being under a high ranking government official’s supervision. It’s underwhelming not because of the destruction the character is capable of, but also, for a reverse Dr. Fate, his existence merely mocks the great character.

While multiple villains may span across the DC Universe during this event, locking one up such as Dr. Hate was a huge mistake, in terms of the plot.

There is a lot of room to come back from this issue as the end of this chapter sees the formation of a brand new team of superheroes that will most likely make an appearance again before the event comes to a conclusion.