Task Force Z #10 - DC Comics

TASK FORCE Z No. 10, September 2022

Repeatedly chucking its audience all over the place as far as this narrative’s timeline is concerned, it is hard to imagine many bibliophiles were able to properly follow Matthew Rosenberg’s choppy storyline for Issue Ten of “Task Force Z”, at least with just a single reading. For whilst the twenty-two-page periodical certainly contains some sense-shattering action sequences, such as Peacemaker lethally braining an inbound intruder with a single blow, the decision by its “hard-hitting” writer to persistently relocate the action back and forth between the zombie team’s latest headquarters and the old Chop Shop “twenty-four hours later (but still months ago)” gets frustratingly disorientating rather quickly.

In addition, it’s arguably not made particularly clear just what Amanda Waller’s main goal is apart from ordering her “rent-a-geniuses” to “figure out how to put memories into a dead guy.” Ultimately, this rather puzzling plot thread reveals that throughout this mini-series the super-strong villain Bane has actually been the ‘pumped-up’ crime-fighter Gotham in disguise, with the implication being that Edmund Dorrance’s real son “somehow survived during the A-Day.” However, as it’s crystal clear that the United States government agent doesn’t trust either Two-Face or Mister Bloom, the notion she’d willingly allow Jim Gordon’s arch-nemesis the opportunity to overwrite her undead team’s minds with his own homicidal one is unconvincing at best. 

Fortunately, what this book’s penmanship debatably lacks in logic it more than makes up for with violent action, courtesy of Red Hood’s confrontation with Mister Bloom and the masked maniac’s mind-controlled minions – KGBeast and Madame Crow. Initially, this pulse-pounding bout of meta-human pugilism looks set to be decidedly one-sided considering that Solomon Grundy literally smashes his way into the fracas on the former-Robin’s side. But once the fists, feet and severed limbs start flying all over the place, an eventual winner is far less certain - particularly when Task Force Z’s “criminal contortionist” also turns traitor; “It must have been Copperhead. Bloom must have gotten to him too.”

Equally as enjoyable as this reckless rampage through the streets of Gotham City are Eddy Barrows’ layouts, which help project this comic’s significantly sized cast with plenty of raw emotion, even when its more sedentary scenes are overflowing with dialogue. Indeed, despite the brevity of her appearance in this publication, Waller arguably steals every panel in which she appears, courtesy of some wicked pencilling demonstrating all the character’s ruthlessness, strength of will, and utter arrogance.

The regular cover art of "TASK FORCE Z" #10 by Eddy Barrows & Adriano Lucas