DC Comics 2020
Written by Tom Taylor
Pencilled by Trevor Hairsine
Inked by Gigi Baldassini
Coloured by Rain Beredo
Lettered by Saida Temofonte
The Justice League is trapped on Earth, and they’ve discovered that life still survives on this dead planet! Survival is precarious, though-and with billions of infected still roaming the surface, death lies around every corner. But it isn’t just the anti-living our heroes have to worry about, because John Constantine, Swamp Thing, and Zatanna are about to discover another evil growing…
So this one has been my favourite because of those left on Earth, namely the Shadowpact. Opening up this issue the way it does was a blessing and a curse for me as I named my ginger cat after the hero whose spotlighted. Though it is nice to see that there are spots around the world where humans still remain alive in groups. This is what I imagine would happen, small pockets of resistance just waiting and hoping that they can outlast this. It is just another added element from Tom that makes this the kind of story we want to read.
The way that this is being told is utterly fantastic! Maybe outside of John and Zee the rest of Shadowpact are considered D listers and to see them be able to live and thrive and prove to the world they are not to be messed well it makes me wish the series would come back. I mean this team of heroes is what fans want to see, okay maybe just me but still. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information so that everything moves forward is just beautifully done. The character development is pretty amazing to see. After being there five years and being battle hardened it is interesting to see the new developments in their personalities. The pacing is sensational and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way we see just how well everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
I am such a huge fan of this and honestly I didn’t think I would be. The way that this is being written, how the book is structured and to see the layers within the story as we do showcases Tom’s brilliance, skill and talent as a writer. I am in awe and completely gobsmacked by how I perceive this book and this storyline.
The interiors here are rather extraordinary. How Trevor manages to fill up the panels so we don’t see or sometimes need backgrounds is a nice trick. Though when we do see them they are a whole nother story. Though I wish he’d taken advantage of Ivy’s powers and really cut loose when they were all outside talking. The linework is fantastic and to see the faces and facial expressions as well as the body language furthered the characterisation even more. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a marvellous eye for storytelling. To be able to lay inks down on these pencils is amazing to me and the talent and the eye to get it just this way is something special and Gigi really shows off some stellar work. The colour work we see is amazing! The way that we see the myriad of hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is exemplary! The techniques in application are gorgeously rendered and they make me smile.
This is the kind of storytelling that I want to see at DC! It doesn’t branch off into every title, which is just annoying, it has this stellar work from Tom with the layers, characterisation and just how he’s able to make this seem plausible. Then there are the interiors which are just mindbogglingly good. All said and done this is the kind of comic that I want to read because it’s just that damn good.