In this issue we get to see the events leading up to the unfortunate demise of a range of characters, albeit via the now (over?) familiar 9 panel page. It’s a great way to understand what some of the problems the respective heroes were facing. If anything, it’s kind of like an angst bomb has been dropped in the DCU. For fans of Wally and the rest of the deceased gang it’s another chance to spend time with your favourites before…..well we already know what Harley told us so it should come as no surprise that we get to see everything she said……kind of!
Tom King’s pacing may, for some, be a bit of a concern. We are now officially a third of the way in and other than getting the “sort of” confirmation of Harley’s perception of reality, nothing has really changed. With the way that King entwines the past elements with the present, including Barry’s reaction to Wally’s demise seen last issue, I am not sure that we need a full issue based on introspection. Maybe I am being impatient; remember there are issues that are getting fed into the main arc now, rather than having separate one-shots. Was this one of those? The dialogue is pretty great, to be honest. We get to see the heroes at their most vulnerable, without a single villain around to take advantage. The only disadvantage to the fate Lagoon Boy and the large chunk of the issue he takes up, is that I don’t really care either way about the character. With the size of the DCU, I suppose that was going to happen, eventually.
The art is another split affair, this time with Clay Mann providing bookend art on page 1 and page 20, with Lee Weeks on the majority of the book with pages 2 through 19. This may be another nod to the fact that this was planned, originally, as a one-shot companion piece. By now, we know what we are going to get from Mann and for those who have been following Weeks on his too short Batman run, they should also have some pretty high expectations. Weeks though seems to have melded his own tendencies to match the style of the art that we have come to expect from Mann. It’s not that the art is bad in any way, it’s just not as dark as we have seen recently. The figure work is still great and for the most part, the faces work well enough for the emotional payoff, with Weeks spending more time on Wally, whose journey is probably the most well-known of those featured. Colors are provided by the excellent Tomeu Morey, whose work just makes this series look so unique. Letters are provided by Clayton Cowles who again is in top form, making the task of reading the book a very easy one.
This book is progressing nicely. My main concern is the pacing; too slow and we may find that we have a chaotic ending within everything thrown into the mix. Go too fast and we run out of issues and require fillers, which as we know, with the inclusion of the one-shots has actually happened. Still, putting those worries aside, you can not argue about the high quality of the writing, the art and the overall production values of this book.
Writing – 4.5 Stars
Art – 4.5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Tom King
Art by; Clay Mann & Lee Weeks
Colors by; Tomeu Morey
Letters by; Clayton Cowles
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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