DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #8 - DC Comics

DCEASED: WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS  No. 7, May 2023

Poignantly penned straight from its start, this “final, cataclysmic conclusion” to “DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods” definitely delivers a fitting end to an “epic saga that began over three years ago”. Indeed, despite the mini-series’ heroes seemingly deducing just how to emphatically defeat Erebos within mere moments of them celebrating their initial victory over the “primordial deity” on the surface of Earth-2, the ‘sword of Damocles’ palpably still hangs over all the sizeable cast’s heads as their skilfully steer Warworld straight through the giant personification of darkness’s near impregnable flesh.

Much of this enthralling atmosphere is arguably due to the way Tom Taylor pens Damian Wayne as ever the secretive caped crusader, who trusts no-one except the personification of Death with the actual details of his suicidal plan. This distrustful intrigue repeatedly causes the reader to question whether or not the young Batman’s grand scheme is actually going to work, especially when it involves both an alliance with “the tyrannical Lord of Apokolips” and the mission’s super-powered strike team physically dying for a whole minute so as to allow the likes of Kal-El to be carried though a deadly Doom Tube.

Somewhat disappointingly though, there may well be the odd bibliophile who feels the Dark Knight’s eventual demise is a tad drawn out, thanks to the Spectre surprisingly deciding to allow Superboy to visit his doomed friend until the very last moment. This tearful goodbye is debatably a bit too sickly sweet and contrived considering just how long it takes for “the heart of the anti-life equation and the life equation” to collide, and perhaps the sheet space might have been put to better use depicting Ares' ultimately fatal fight against Erebos in outer space rather than a sedentary Damian being told how great a costumed vigilante he’d become.

Happily however, pencillers Trevor Hairsine and Lucas Meyer still manage to keep the readers’ attention with their excellent layouts, even whilst Batman is simply sat on the floor of Warworld alongside a tearful Jon Kent awaiting his fate. In fact, one of the highlights of this comic is the creative team’s decision to have Bruce Wayne’s son don a shining all-white Batsuit, which is subsequently wonderfully inked by Andy Lanning and coloured by Rain Beredo.

The regular cover art of "DCEASED: WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS" #7 by Howard Porter & Rain Beredo