Pretty much out of the gate, you should recognise that we aren’t in Kansas. For starters, Darkseid is there; that’s Darkseid that has been in Justice League Odyssey since its inception. As things escalate, there are other nods, Nightwing inclusion being the main head scratcher and the mesh up of current Green Arrow with the more traditional and my personal favourite, Black Canary look. Aesthetics aside, Darkseid finally manages to unlock the Anti-Life equation, in both it’s physical and digital form, with the unwilling help of Cyborg. From there, anyone who has a digital device, and possibly access to the DC Universe app, when they look at it will turn into a flesh eating zombie. Guess it pays off that the UK is DC Universe exempt.
Tom Taylor is great at messing up existing timelines and reference points; as mentioned, he did a great job on the Injustice comic books. Without having to keep within the chains of continuity, Taylor is allowed to deconstruct the regular and in its place go for something different. The logic of the story cannot really be faulted either. The digital element may make some readers go “huh?”, but with Cyborg’s inclusion, it does carry a sense of logic, albeit the type of logic you find in comic books. The dialogue works well enough, Taylor has spent time with most of the major characters, kind of, to get their voices down. I especially liked the almost “Tower of Babel” homage that played out early doors.
The art is provided by a couple of artists; regular readers of my reviews know how much I love art by committee, especially as the styles in question are so different from each other. To start with, you have Trevor Hairsine, whose work you may see on the Divinity runs from Valiant and a host of Heroes in Crisis covers more recently. Hairsine’s figure work is great, with solid postures that reflect the characteristics of the heroes well enough, though at times there seems to be some Bryan Hitch influences on show along with some David Finch, the latter in the perhaps over detailed faces. Stefano Gaudiano provides inks over Hairsine pencils in away that uses strong lines for the characters, giving them a bigger presence. James Harren style is more blocky can quickly falls into the realm of cartoony. It is a distracting jump to say the least. Rain Beredo delivers a dark color scheme that practically scream “horror” from page one. Finally, letterer Saida Temofonte works hard to show different voices for the cast as well as the monologue elements by using a variety of fonts.
Zombie versus superheroes isn’t a new thing; Marvel did this awhile ago, though they may have dallied with subject matter for too long, after all who cares is “D” list character get turned into zombies? With this type of book, Taylor and gang are going to have to make journey really interesting to counter the familiar zombie trope.
Wrtiting – 3.5 Stars
Art (Hairsine) – 4 Stars
Art (Harren) – 3 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Tom Taylor
Art by; Trevor Hairsine with Stefano Gaudiano and James Harren
Colors by; Rain Beredo
Letters by; Saida Temofonte
Published by; DC Comics
Author Profile
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I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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