Task Force Z #7 - DC Comics

TASK FORCE Z No. 7, July 2022

Initially appearing to depict a fairly uncomplicated narrative involving Jason Todd violently recruiting KGBeast’s former team-mates to thwart Geraldine Powers’ sale of “unapproved chemical weapons to known international terrorists”, Matthew Rosenberg’s script for Issue Seven of “Task Force Z” probably wrong-footed a fair few of its readers two-thirds of the way through the comic. For whilst the Red Hood’s plan to brutally abduct the likes of Victor Zsasz, Madame Crow and Copperhead is entirely successful, the sudden duplicity of Mister Freeze arguably transforms the former Robin’s mission into a total waste of resources.

Indeed, by the twenty-two-page periodical’s conclusion, many within its audience probably felt that Dick Grayson’s controversial successor ended up further from victory than when the book started, requiring an inordinate amount of Lazarus Resin with which to resurrect both his “new recruits” and some of his own ailing squad members. Thankfully however, this doesn’t mean for an instant that the publication-long plot is a wasted effort, as it still contains plenty of scintillating ‘villain-on-villain’ confrontations, such as Bane verses Solomon Grundy and Anatoli Knyazev against Copperhead.

Furthermore, this publication’s coverage of Todd tackling one of Gotham City’s most notorious serial killers single-handedly in a deserted vehicle scrap yard is debatably one of the mini-series’ most intense matchups to date. Unarmoured and visibly slower than the self-mutilated Zsasz, Jason’s battle to the death really demonstrates how far Batman’s ‘failed’ protégé has fallen from his mentor’s famous moral standpoint, as well as the murderous lengths he’ll stoop to when dealing with extremely dangerous sociopaths; “You’re gonna kill me over Deadshot? Man-Bat? That Sundowner girl? I was working for Waller, man. You can’t blame me --”

Artists Jack Herbert and Daniel HDR also need a considerable ‘pat on the back’ for making this comic’s storytelling so enjoyable, courtesy of characters such as Fries displaying some enjoyably exaggerated facial expressions and body language depending upon whether the criminals have been fruitful in their felonious endeavours or not. The aforementioned duel between Victor and the Red Hood is also so dynamically drawn that you can almost 'taste the testosterone' emanating from the two highly aggressive combatants as they ferociously try to eliminate one another amongst the rusty, unwanted automobiles.

The regular cover art of "TASK FORCE Z" #7 by Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira & Adriano Lucas