Task Force Z #11 - DC Comics

TASK FORCE Z No. 11, October 2022

Crammed with numerous frenzied fights, two seriously strong powerhouses in the shape of Gotham Girl and her late brother, Henry Clover, as well as some truly disturbing body horror, Matthew Rosenberg’s script for Issue Eleven of “Task Force Z” certainly delivers the goods as far as good old fashioned comic book action is concerned. However, it’s doubtful that many within this publication’s audience actually understood who was fighting whom and for what reason, without them having first read “DC Comics” solicitation synopsis; “I didn’t come here to fight a bunch of rent-a-cops. But I don’t mind the warm-up.”

Thankfully though, this quibble is a relatively minor one once Red Hood takes his “fight to Powers International” and foolishly faces all of his former team-mates in a battle royale of the most savage order. Indeed, Jason Todd’s furious assault upon the likes of a zombified Man-Bat, Arkham Knight and Deadshot is so well-paced it arguably doesn’t matter what the lead protagonist’s motivation is – especially when it superbly sets up the former-Robin’s one-sided confrontation with the insanely formidable metahuman he previously murdered in cold blood when he thought they were actually Bane.

In addition, the American author does a first-rate job in providing Mister Bloom with a genuine moment of terrifying mutilation when an absolutely aghast Geraldine Powers discovers “the psychotic scarecrow” is keeping Doctor Acheron’s severed head in a glass jar because the decapitated scientist still “won’t stop screaming.” So grotesque a scene really helps to show that the gangly super-villain is capable of ignoring any moral compass, and subsequently adds to Two-Face’s intense fear when Task Force Z’s boss is later cornered by an armour-suited Bloom beneath the city’s centre.

Adding even more macabre magic to this twenty-two page periodical is Eddy Barrows’ sense-shattering layouts. Along with Eber Ferreira’s inks and Adriano Lucas’ colours, the Brazilian artist quite beautifully captures all the raw emotion on show by this comic’s considerably-sized cast, with Gotham Girl’s evident appreciative delight at having her dead relation returned to her, along with Powers’ sheer shock at Acheron’s ignoble fate, being just two of this book’s numerous visual highlights.

The regular cover art of "TASK FORCE Z" #11 by Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira & Adriano Lucas