DC Comics 2020
Written by Tom Taylor
Pencilled by Karl Mostert
Inked by Trevor Scott, Neil Edwards & Mostert
Coloured by Rex Lokus
Lettered by Saida Temofonte
It’s the epic finale of the next chapter in the DCeased saga as heroes and villains collide with one epic purpose: to escape the coming of the infected population of Gotham City and a monstrous Wonder Woman! It’s time to ride the fury road one final time…to survival!
So I have to admit that this was abso-freakin-lutely amazing to read. While I am not really a fan of big promoted events this arc was something special and congratulate the creative team for the level of quality work they’ve produced for us. One of the things about comics, and in a large way at DC, is putting together a unique grouping of characters that aren’t in the mainstream thought. Personally I wanna go back and see The Red Bee, Red Torpedo, Magno Master of Magnetism etc, etc, so seeing this varied gathering of survivors is exactly the kind of thing that I love seeing.
I am in love with the way that this is being told. The way we see the story & plot development through the sequence of events unfolding as well as how the reader learns information moves the story ever onward perfectly. So to see their base being overrun and then to see odd friendships form through action well it’s precisely this that showcases what comics are truly capable of. This of course leads directly into the character development that we see and the incredibly hard choices one has to make. It all feels so amazing in character considering the state of the world and honestly Commissioner Gordon steals the spotlight in some incredible ways. The pacing for this is utterly phenomenal to see and as it takes us through the pages revealing the horrors of their journey we see how this brings the ebb & flow of the story to the reader.
Now that I have seen this, I could definitely go for a Maxi-Series that fleshes this grouping out even further and takes us to the places we didn’t see. Also to expand the emotional sides and characterisation of some of these folks. Again a testament to how this was done is that I want to see and know more. While we shouldn’t be flooded with this as the saying goes, too many cooks spoil the broth, so it can have that chance to stand out, be different and really wow folks.
The interiors here are absolutely stunning! The pencils that lay down the linework we see and how the varying weights and techniques are utilised to bring this level of attention to us is mindbogglingly magnificent. Then the talent and skill required by the inkers to make that linework hit the pages and make the work pop is stupendous stuff. The imagination and creativity that we see and how the living dead look, operate and fight is this incredible symphony of choreography. I am very happy to see that backgrounds are utilised as they are and how they manage to bring us depth perception, scale and that overall sense of size and scope of the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is beautifully rendered here as well. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is done with aplomb. Seriously that we see the atmosphere of a dead world with dead people running amok it creates this sense of believability to what we see.
DC holds a special place in my heart, hell I am covered with their heroes after all, and when I see books of this quality and this calibre it reminds me why I fell in love with them in the first place.