Revenge begets revenge.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Yasmine Putri
Letterer: Wes Abbot
What They Say:
An entire medieval world will be forever changed when a spaceship crash-lands from a doomed planet. Monarchs will die, kingdoms will rise, and what seemed the end of the world for many…was only the beginning! An epic high-fantasy story set in a DC Universe where nothing is what it seems… From worldwide bestselling writer Tom Taylor (DCeased, Superman: Son of Kal-El) and acclaimed artist Yasmine Putri comes a generational tale of good and evil within a brand-new DCU!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Non-continuity DC books continue to be where I’m at and this second installment of a twelve-issue run only reinforces why. Tom Taylor is showing a really solid understanding of characters and how to place them in new situations, retain what makes them who they are, but really challenge them in how they react. Just being able to make a real impact on characters with events goes a long way toward hitting a sweet spot for me. Yasmine Putri is on board for the artwork and color design on it and it looks fantastic. I love this take on the characters and seeing them presented in this setting and exploring the way things can be adapted and reworked from familiar things. That’s half the fun right there but this team is firing on all cylinders right out of the gate.
With the death of Jor-El at the end of the previous issue, that sets everything into motion here as one would expect. But there’s a kind of caution to some of it that’s definitely appreciated as you expect Kal to just go right to war. But he wants answers out of Oliver so they can find the Green Man that they know is behind all of this with the prophecy. Bruce is doing his best to try and keep things calm and I appreciate that the queen knows that Jor-El wouldn’t want a lot of others to die in his name in this kind of situation. Even Harley is trying to defuse things, but Bruce is intent on real justice at this point. It’s an amusing time visiting Oliver in the cells in the castle as there are quite a few others there that we get our first look at in this continuity in intriguing ways.
What really sets things in motion here is the news spreading around the world. We see how Jefferson Pierce in the kingdom he rules has orchestrated this for the Green Man because he viewed it as the best way to protect his people as so many that use magic have disappeared in El’s lands. The kids are interesting here and I like the kind of refined dynamic that it all has. But the real change is when we see Lois going to Themyscira to bring the news, dealing with Hypolytta first before revealing to Jor-El’s daughter, Zala, what happened. Her training with her lover, Diana, has all the right kind of controlled rage that you know is going to explode in a way where she’s not going to check in at home first to see what the plan is. She’s simply going to act and does so in a simple and brutal way.
In Summary:
This series definitely go underway in a great way with a lot of background brought into it quickly. This issue delves into a lot more background and expansion but in that natural way that Tom Taylor is able to do through the locations and dialogue so that it’s not forced. I really like seeing the way all the sides here are dealing with what happened and how it’ll spread out from there, while trying to get a handle on how Kal is really thinking and intending to do here. Putri’s artwork is one again fantastic and perfect for this kind of property and they deliver in spades with what we get, making for a fantastic result. I love the look of it, the color design, and the whole execution of the series right now. It can’t come out fast enough.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: December 7th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
