Oh, hey, look, things are getting worse.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Marco Failla
Colors: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
What They Say:
Full-scale evacuations are underway with Jon, Damian, Cassie, and more assigned to oversee and protect a processing center on Nantucket. A glimpse of the future trinity soon takes a dark turn…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a lot of time spent dealing with Khandaq previously and then getting things in order when it came to the next generation kids a bit, DCeased: Hope At World’s End looks to move us to the next phase of the story. Tom Taylor has managed this well overall, giving us time with big action, a little bit of a breather, some character material, and then reminding us that he likes to make it even darker before the dawn. I continue to like his take on all of this, guided by years on seeing his work on Injustice, while also having an affection for Marc Failla’s take on these characters. Not all of them are “traditional” in some ways, notably the look for Jon, but I like the style of it all and that it helps it to feel like it really is moving into its own continuity.
With this stage of the battle where there’s still a sense of hope, the teams have spread out and the “kids” are at Nantucket where survivors from North and South America are being brought to, checked, and then taken to Poison Ivy’s garden place in Gotham where it’s well defended. The kids aren’t exactly thrilled with all of this as it’s basic duty and not a lot going on. But we also see the people that are problems (which should be a lot more based on real-world experience) such as those that don’t believe phones caused problems with the anti-life equation coming through them and are still using them. That sparks its own fights that they have to try and tamp down which is amusing since anytime Batman has to deal with things, his mom is right there ready to behead anyone that’s too much.
There’s a lot to like in seeing how things play out here, getting to watch the character dynamics, and seeing them being true to the uniforms they wear with some small differences. When Black Manta ends up being picked up and brought there unconscious, he awakens to wanting to fight and be left alone rather than joining up to help. It works well to let Damian and Jon show their ways, even with Talia mentally narrating it, as well as just watching the minor tussle with Cassie at first. This is one of those times when Talia should have been able to do some beheading, but it’s also when things turn from really bad to really worse and sets us up for some really big action in the next installment.
In Summary:
DCeased continues to be an utter delight every time a new installment comes in as I want to see so much of this world. I could easily get into several ongoings dealing with different stories and characters that could operate within it. This issue is a transitional one as it shows us some of the planning going on to save people as the big threat starts to roll in. We get some good time with the kids and it has me really enjoying it, especially since I’m not reading any ongoings with them and it feels fresh and fun. Taylor continues to nail the tone for this really well and I’m enjoying Failla’s artwork a lot with it.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology and Amazon Kindle
Release Date: September 22nd, 2020
MSRP: $0.99
