Review: DCeased

DCeased by Tom Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rating 5 out of 5 |Grade: A+; Don’t you get it? We ARE The Walking Dead!

Premise

Darkseid, in his latest bid to invade earth, is once again thwarted by the Justice League and driven back to apokolips. Undeterred, he kidnaps Victor Stone a.k.a Cyborg, whom he believes to be one part of the vaunted Anti Life equation. The other is the essence from the Black Racer, the embodiment of death itself.



But in combining cyborg’s life essence with the Black racer's deathly one, Darkseid gives rise to a catastrophe beyond his calculations, which then promptly kills the New God, and destroys Apokolips.

Unfortunately while this was happening, Cyborg was teleported back to earth, and carried with him the corrupted plague that the Anti Life equation had become. It jumps from cyborg, to the world network, enslaving and corrupting anyone who were staring at a screen. The people who were exposed to the equation turned into mindless horrors, who are driven only by the drive to extinguish life, as is the prerogative of the anti life equation.

Within a matter of seconds, hundreds of millions around the globe glued to their screens were infected; several superheroes amongst them. Now, what remains of the League must rally their forces, and go beyond their limits to take back the planet from the impending doom. All the while confronting the loss and corruption of their friends and loved ones.



Detailed Synopsis

Synopsis:

After the slog fest that was ‘Marvel: Zombies’, I was reluctant to pick up an event comic which ran along the same veins. Hence why I’d kept it on the back-burner for the better part of 3 years. It might also be that the story about a plague wiping out humanity, and turning them into mindless zombies, was a bit too real to read in what followed 2019. But reading the DCeased series by Tom Taylor, I regret that decision. 

From the onset, the story takes a somber and dark foreboding tone; the League had just defeated Darkseid’s latest invasion, but there were no cheers. Something terrible was right around the corner. 

Tom King and co. show you how high the stakes are when, in the first few pages, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the freaking Batman succumb to the Anti Life techno-organic virus. 

You know things are bad, when the entire Bat family, with the exception of Damian & Alfred succumb to the virus. Because usually in these sorts of stories, someone like Batman, with his tactical & strategic prowess, as well as an infinite number of contingency protocols would come in handy. 

I’m actually surprised & a bit disappointed that Batman doesn’t have some sort of contingency protocol for this exact scenario. One which involves a fleet of satellites which would allow him to remotely disable the internet across the world. Then I remembered the OMAC protocol. 

But no, when it came to Batman, his end was hard to watch. Despite having a good grasp of the developing situation, because of his expansive Bat network, and even after isolating himself before the Anti Life could enslave him through the net, he goes into panic when the Robins, unaware of the crisis, succumb to the plague. 

In trying to subdue them, he becomes infected with the anti life through the blood (the second form of transmission), having no way of curing it. The one two punch of Batman, realizing the hopelessness, having to put down two of his sons Dick & Tim, and then in turn needing to be neutralized himself, by his father Alfred, was truly gut wrenching to watch. And all of this in the first two issues.

There was this brief moment, when, after getting infected, we see Bats back in action, having slowed down the spread of the plague using Dr. Freeze’s containment suit. You think, yeah, that’s my Bats, and now he’s gonna coordinate the operation being isolated in his command center, and maybe devise a cure to the Anti Life virus. 

His admission of failure, and his impending demise is a bucket of cold water poured down our heads. He does what he can to help the League after his death, shares some final words for Damian, and that’s it. Old man Alfred, who at this point had been witness to many horrors as Batman’s shadow, how much to carry vigil for the fallen Dark Knight and look after his heir. You just want to give poor Pennyworth a tight hug to console him. The really sad part is Damian's teary "Dad", followed immediately by Alfred having to put down his "son".

But it’s not all doom & gloom. Green lantern Hal Jordan, one of the heavy hitters of the League, gets infected early on. But upon his death, real death, the ring choses as its replacement Dinah Lance, a.k.a. Black Canary. And I’ve got to say, Green Lantern Dinah is the best thing that has come out this whole kerfuffle. With her uplifting words, clad in the elegant garb of her emerald uniform, Dinah rises to be the leader she was always meant to be. One who holds the lantern of hope, and a better tomorrow, even when things seem their darkest. It gives you flashbacks to the iteration of the character in the brilliant ‘Young Justice’ series. 

While the heroes are saving people, and taking them back to Themyscira, the one place on earth untouched by plague, one the other side of the world, the wholesome couple that are Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy form a safe haven for survivors of their own, using Ivy’s plants to construct a green impregnable fortress. 

After getting some respite since the whole thing began, the heroes, as well as some villains such as Luthor come together, and having realized the utter hopelessness of the situation, chose to abandon the planet, constructing enormous arcs which can hold a couple of million of the survivors and take them to safety. 

Even when things seem dire, my man Luthor takes a chance to add some levity, while reminding us of the pecking order, when it comes to the world’s smartest people. Now, I’m not arguing by any measure that Batman is smarter than Luthor, his intellect is more focused towards the noble yet narrow minded pursuit of Crime fighting. But one would be remiss if they at least didn’t admit that both minds fall into the same peerage. Lex at least thinks so. 

Seeing as how Batman, the brains of the League, was already taken out of the board, Superman has to step up and put his considerable intellect into use, in addition to his monumental strength. And although he pauses and falters from time to time, owing to his kind nature, and the boy scout needs to protect everyone, he too knows what needs to be done, when the chips fall down. This iteration of Clark is such a pleasure to watch, juggling his roles as the prominent leader of the League, the hope for what remained of humanity, as well as the family man worried about the safety of his loved ones. Naturally, they had turned him into a zombie, just to raise the stakes of horror and hopelessness that pervaded through the series. 

This tied back to what Barry Allen & Wally west, the two speedsters were up to during this whole thing. One would assume that superspeed would be quite a useful talent in speeding up rescue and rehabilitation efforts. Batman didn’t think so. Seeing as how the Anti Life equation is spread through technology & infected blood, next to Superman, the two speedsters are the ones who would be able to cause the most destruction if they happen to be infected. Imagine a zombie Barry Allen, whizzing around the planet at the speed of light, spreading the infection to every living being. You don't have to, cause that’s exactly what happens. 

Even Superman is not fast enough to catch up to Barry, and he goes for the ol’ ‘Unstoppable force meets the immovable object’ paradox; literally railroading Barry to smithereens. But Supes should’ve remembered how objects traveling at light speed tend to have properties different from real time, as parts of Barry lodged in the Man of Steel turns him into a mindless zombie. But to be fair to Superman, there was very little time to think of consequences, when Barry was spreading death at lightspeed. 

The superhuman constitution of Clark means that the Virus takes time to succumb to his will. He uses that time to say final goodbyes to his family while flying off into the sun. But the brief emotional weakness might’ve spelled doom on them as well, as on route to killing himself, Superman succumbs to the equation. 

So Anti life had gotten its strongest slave. What remained of the heroes, led by Diana & Dinah must carry out evacuation efforts, saving those who remained from this God forsaken planet, all the while fending off one of the strongest entities known in existence. 

It is now that Diana gets time to shine; as she, using a shard of kryptonite left by Batman, crafts the Magic imbued Sword of Athena, essentially a kryptonite sword, to face Supes in battle. When Diana inevitably falls, Green Lantern Dinah must take up her sword, and hold vigil over the last of the Trinity, while leading the remnants to safety. Once again, Dinah, with the Lantern outfit, holding the Kryptonite sword is resplendent in Emerald Magnificence. 

As a Zombie horde of Atlanteans led by Aquaman invade Themyscira, The Amazons led by Hippolyta, stay back as the final bulwark to allow the arcs to take off and escape. In one of the most badass yet tragic scenes of the series, the entirety of the Amazons, stand and die in face of the legion of unfeeling, under hordes, all to give hope for a better tomorrow. 

It brought such a tear jerking reaction in me. Which is made all the more tragic by the fact that Hippolyta died thinking her daughter would carry on their legacy, but Diana soon succumbed to the virus herself. On another note, the leading ladies of DC also remind marvel just how much more of a cringe embarrassment the whole girl power scene in endgame was. 

The arcs containing the survivors seem almost in mortal peril against the Zombified Superman, when the entire freaking Green lantern corps arrives, late to the party, but serving the purpose to keep back the last Kryptonian. 

The anti life equation, computing the unfavorable odds, decides instead to ram zombie supes into the sun, using him as a parasite sucking up the star’s energy, and in time turning this system into a cold, decayed, discarded husk, incapable of supporting life. 

The Green Lanterns help the survivors of Humanity to colonize a new planet, while Earth is left to the Plague. The End. 

Wow, I honestly wasn’t going for a detailed play by play. But this whole story has so many events going on, all of which are tied to the narrative, I can’t really do them justice without context. Oh well, onto closing arguments.

Some Thoughts:

As I mentioned earlier, this whole event is filled with so many great panels that I’d like to take some time briefly touching upon them.

When this whole thing is going on, one might wonder, Atlantis, which is similarly isolated as Themyscira, could be a good location where the survivors could gather, barring some issues with environment & breathability.



You are then immediately reminded how the Anti Life virus is also spread through blood. And with so much death and destruction, even in the oceans, all the gallons of blood which stains the ocean, which attracts the predators, which then travels as if having a life of its own, infecting the entirety of Atlantis, through the very waters which they use to breathe. And in quite a Jaws inspired full spread panel.



Now Aquaman, he doesn’t get much to do in the story, having been infected much early on. But I Gotta say, he has the honor of starring in some of the most impressive full page, gore filled panels. I mean, in one page, a zombified Arthur is riding a freaking Sharktopus in a sharknado to battle. That is the height of awesomeness. That is a WIN.



One has to give the writer credit, for impeccably pacing the story. Over the course of the series, who knows how many people & heroes become infected and die. And while they’re sometimes given poignant send off and time to grieve, for the most part the survivors have to hide their grief and take action for the greater good. By not delving too much on all the death and destruction, the story is allowed to be ever progressing smoothly.

There is this contrived twist towards the end, when Victor Stone, being Patient Zero of the Plague, chose to stay back to restrain an infected Wonder woman. Using her lasso, he interrogates Zombie Diana, and through her the Anti Life equation itself. It’s revealed that Cyborg was the cure all along, his Techno-Organic constitution was the lynchpin stabilizing the Virus, and his death would’ve caused it to fizzle out.

Why then, eagle eyed viewers question, didn’t Diana think of doing this before, perhaps with a moral zombie which would’ve been easier to subdue. Well the simple answer is, for the story to happen. Things wouldn't have been nearly as thrilling if a quick fix solution to the pandemic was discovered. Also, the survivors would’ve had less of an onus to abandon ship, if they thought there was even a sliver of chance of curing the infected and reclaiming the planet.

Another aspect which I have to give credit to the writers is the narrative decisions which they chose to make, at key points in the story. Particularly when it comes to the Trinity. Batman is arguably DC’s most beloved character, and especially in recent years has displaced even Superman as the Flagship hero of the publisher. So, making the decision to kill him off early and not play a role in the events to come, is a good example of a writer killing off their darlings. Even though the darling in question is not exclusive to the story. This allowed the other characters to develop and contribute to the evolving narrative. Characters such as Dinah Lance, Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy all benefited from this decision.



I’m sure there was some version of the story, where, as my head cannon went, Batman would find a way to stave off the infection with the containment suit, direct the reclamation of the planet and curing of the Plague using his considerable intellect, and maybe in the final moment after that mission was accomplished pass on in a poignant death. While I’m miffed, I do appreciate how things actually played out.

The same could be said about the death of Superman. With Batman gone, the Big blue boy scout would’ve been the perfect symbol for the survivors to rally around. And, so far in the story, Supes had used his considerable repertoire of abilities to stay several steps ahead of the encroaching plague. Using his super speed and strength to combat the infected heroes, using his X ray vision to not be accidentally infected through some technology, as well as organizing and directing the survivors to safe haven.

The decision to have him turned, just took away the brief glimmer of hope which had been cultivated so far in a terrible situation. While highlighting his all too human empathy and emotions, which have always been Superman’s greatest strength and weakness, this also gave us a formidable adversary to overcome in the 11th hour.

For the most part, the writing for this series seems to be based on the principle; ‘If your characters are at a crucial crossroads in the narrative, one leading to hope, and the other leading to damnation, take the option which leads to the worst outcome.’ And this approach clearly works with how engaging the story is.

The artwork

Gory, Amazing fight scenes, emotional, violent, dark, horrifying, frightening, clean, minimalistic.

One of the Issues I had when reading Marvel Zombies was how mundane and uninspired the artwork seemed to be. I mean, this was supposed to be superhumans vs superhuman zombies duking it out towards mortal consequences. Yet it just felt like another episode of the freaking walking dead; Too much drama, and not enough action.

Then again marvel characters always had the problem of being a bit too relatable. DCeased on the other hand, gives the demigods of the DC pantheon the epicness they deserve. Whenever a key character gets turned the threat that they pose is brought to fore in its gory glory. Especially Superman.



The action scenes, of which there are quite a few, are bloody, gory, dynamic, and never overstay their welcome. The action & combat always function towards furthering the narrative. For example there is one scene, as mentioned before, when the Amazons make a last stand to allow the survivors to escape.

This war scene, while epic, is not on the forefront. Because narratively, at this point, the focus is on the evacuation efforts carried out by the heroes. So, towards the end, we are left to wonder about the final moments of these brave warriors. Which makes the whole affair that much melancholy.



In another point towards the climax, a Zombified Superman stared down the entirety of the Green lantern corps, including the Guardians. Based on previous instances, despite being 7200 plus strong, this bout might go either ways. Instead of indulging her in a full sized brawl, where Zombie Supes rips through a whole lot of lanterns before being put down, the story takes a more subdued approach. Albeit one which makes sense in context of the setup.

For most of the panels, the coloring, atmosphere, and emotions of the characters, they all paint a dark picture. Taylor & co. have endeavored to communicate this as a horror story, featuring metahumans, rather than the inverse. The foreboding sense of fear, uncertainty and pessimism all help to elevate the sense of helplessness which pervades across the pages.



As befitting of the genre, the story and action doesn’t shy away from displaying blood, gore and violence as is required. But not in excess, and not the kind of fetishism evident in more mature comics such as The Boys. It maintains the clean frames as evident from a mainstream publishing platform, while not compromising with some PG bullshit, the kind that marvel movies are known for.



The story takes place in a wide variety of locations, many of which are familiar to mainstay fans of DC stories. Across the various locations, even when the story is taken to outer space, the art is able to keep pace and maintain the consistency across the pages. It also makes good use of the environment, such as the ocean or the sun, to create some magnificently rendered pages.




I would suggest this story to anyone, (not children) who has even a passing interest in the Universe and characters. And even those who are fans of the Zombie genre. Trust me, all the hype surrounding the series is warranted. You will be entertained.

Ciao.



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