DC Comics 2021
Written by Matthew Rosenberg
Pencilled by Eddy Barrows
Inked by Eber Ferreira
Coloured by Adriano Lucas
Lettered by Rob Leigh
In life, they’ve terrorized the people of Gotham. Now, they are Gotham’s last hope. Task Force X saw villains working their way to freedom. Task Force Z will see dead villains working for a new chance at life! On A-DAY, the attack on Arkham Asylum left hundreds of Gotham’s most cunning and deranged criminals dead…now, a mysterious benefactor has activated the government’s TASK FORCE clause to bring them back as the ultimate army of the night! To lead this team of the undead, only a person who knows exactly what it feels like to be brutally murdered and brought back to life can handle the job…enter: RED HOOD. But when Jason Todd unravels the mystery surrounding Task Force Z’s creation, will he try to destroy it…or embrace it? BANE. MAN-BAT. THE ARKHAM KNIGHT. SUNDOWNER. MR. BLOOM. RED HOOD. THEY ARE TASK FORCE Z, AND DEATH WAS JUST THE BEGINNING...!
Well unlike DCeased this is a very specific story that doesn’t seem to spread throughout the DCU and ravages the planet. Instead it is just another aspect of Gotham City that screams stay out of our city, as if the plethora of villains didn’t already do that lol. So concept wise this stands out and it does so in a very interesting and unique way.
I like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how we see the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job in establishing the personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages introducing the story, the characters and the new world they live in we’re left wanting to know more about how all this is possible.
I’m pretty impressed with the way that this is structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. The layers here open up avenues that we WANT to see explored and while we’ll have to wait and see if they will be or not what they do now is add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the book. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is immaculately achieved.
The interiors here are exceptionally well rendered. I would’ve liked to see Jason’s backside not be blacked out especially if he has an audience but it is what it is. It’s a tushy for cryin out loud. Otherwise the linework is extraordinary and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the level of detail within the work makes the moments pop. We could use more backgrounds, however, with the composition within the panels we do get some nice depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an extremely talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading highlights and shadow work show a great understanding of how colour works.
I’m intrigued. We all know in comics no one stays dead, at least not for long, so to see these characters who’ve died and come back as zombies being led by someone brought back from the dead has an interesting take. I do like the treats they feed them to keep them under control though I have to wonder how they have access to that. Regardless, the story is interesting and it is well told with some solid characterisation alongside these phenomenal interiors making this an absolutely delightful read.