DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #4 - DC Comics

DCEASED: WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS  No. 4, January 2023

For those buyers expecting to read about Lobo’s reception following the Czarnian’s decision to join “the greatest heroes in the universe as they gather to fight the galactic armada of the undead”, this twenty-two-page periodical’s plot probably proved something of a disappointing headscratcher. Sure, Tom Taylor’s storyline for Issue Four of “DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods” contains just the sort of ear-ringing explosions and bruising body blows a reader might associate with “the Ultimate Bastich”. Yet despite the Burbank-based publisher’s solicitation promising otherwise, Roger Slifer’s demonic-looking motorcyclist doesn’t actually appear anywhere within the comic.

Instead, its audience is greeted with a somewhat lengthy look at Alfred Pennyworth’s understandable nightmares following him gunning down the anti-living incarnations of Batman, Robin and Nightwing, as well as the former butler’s current cohabitation with girlfriend Leslie Thompkins. Such character development is admittedly touching. However, the incredibly sedentary sequence takes up almost half of the book, so by the time Darkseid threatens both Maxima and her evacuating Almeracians, there isn’t too much room for many pulse-pounding panels.

Intriguingly though, an overwhelming wave of high-octane fisticuffs clearly isn’t the Australian author’s plan for this particular instalment to his mini-series, as arguably this comic’s biggest hook lies in the revelation that the Guardians of Oa are planning to annihilate seven planets and their inhabitants in an effort the thwart the Anti-life Equation, even though “we have a cure.” This horrific genocide even takes the likes of Guy Gardner by surprise and taps directly into the outrageously bloated hubris of the Green Lantern Corps when Ganthet unwisely attempts to incarcerate Superman within a bubble of emerald energy for opposing their appalling plan; “One punch. He knocked out a freaking Guardian with one punch!”

Desperate to liven up all these word-heavy discussions and arguments with their proficient pencilling are artists Trevor Hairsine and Neil Edwards. To be frank, the pair don’t really have much to work with when it comes to Alfred’s emotional farewell to Damian Wayne's cowled alter-ego. But by the time the narrative has moved on to Clark Kent’s aforementioned confrontation the layouts are much more dynamic, with Batgirl’s brutal, doubled-handed uppercut upon a self-righteous Kilowog proving highly memorable.

The regular cover art of "DCEASED: WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS" #4 by Howard Porter & Rain Beredo

Alien [2022] #4 - Marvel Comics

ALIEN No. 4, February 2023

Absolutely packed with cruel close combat, bullet-billowing gunplay and jaw-dropping betrayal, Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s storyline for Issue Four of “Alien” must surely have pleased any fan of Twentieth Century Studios’ “science-fiction horror and action media franchise.” But whilst the action is definitely well-penned, some within this twenty-page periodical’s audience might have a few quibbles as to just how Eli justifiably takes the moral high ground when it comes to the treachery of “Steel Team’s human allies [who] have led them into an ambush”.

In fact, the dislikeable android’s ‘holier than thou’ attitude towards Freyja debatably generates such a strong sense of loathing in the reader, that it disconcertingly overshadows any sensation of sadness felt for poor Nora’s suddenly savage demise, or even Seth’s superbly touching realisation that he’d now never finish building the boat they were making together back home. However, such piety by the sanctimonious synthetic only gets worse when his willingness to allow one of the planet’s survivors to become infected by a mutated insect “carrying some kind of Alien protein” results in the mercenaries' shuttlecraft being totally destroyed and a new, highly intelligent Xenomorph being born.

Happily however, this tremendous emotional response arguably only makes the Eisner-nominated writer’s plot even more enthralling, especially when it’s pointed out that Steel Team still need to save Mel’s encampment simply so they can salvage General March’s beacon and be evacuated off Tobler-9. Indeed, by the time “a new kind of monster” arrives at the colonist’s base and gains entry along with a horde of fast-moving alien warrior drones, this publication is almost impossible to put down; “Seal the door! Seal the door! Everybody grab a--Yyyeeaauuuggh!”

Similarly as successful in both capturing and keeping any perusing bibliophile’s attention is Julius Ohta’s proficient pencilling, which manages to make all the pulse-pounding action genuinely leap off the printed page. Furthermore Lee’s traumatically painful transformation into some truly horrific, long-tongued monstrosity is so gratuitously graphic, that the images indelibly stay in the memory long after the creature has lost any notion of being even remotely human and violently massacred its former comrades-in-arms without a hint of compassion.

The regular cover art to "ALIEN" #4 by Bjorn Barends

DC Vs. Vampires: All Out War #5 - DC Comics

DC VS. VAMPIRES: ALL OUT WAR No. 5, January 2023

Recited as if taken from a veteran soldier’s war journal, Alex Paknadel and Matthew Rosenberg’s scintillating script for Issue Five of “DC Verses Vampires: All Out War” must surely have hooked its audience straight from the start with Deathstroke’s thoughts and actions concerning the mercenary’s past few days. For whilst Slade Wilson’s ruminations as to Azrael’s gratuitous death at the hands of some bloody thirsty vampires eventually gives way to a more straightforward way of storytelling, the flashback sequence definitely delivers a gut-wrenching message as to just why his team’s surviving members are so disheartened despite miraculously reaching the Flash Museum in Central City.

Furthermore, there’s plenty for this twenty-four-page publication’s plot to hold the attention once Marv Wolfman’s co-creation has miserably failed in his plan to resurrect the vampiric Weather Wizard, as everything shifts focus upon “a Marvel Family showdown at the end of the world”. Indeed, perhaps this comic’s biggest draw is the titanic tussle between a deranged Billy Batson and his sister, Mary Bromfield, as the two “gods” go toe-to-toe above the Missouri metropolis; “I don’t recognise you at all. Which is fine, actually… It makes this easier.”

Similarly as sensational are the layouts by Pasquale Qualano, Francesco Mortarino and Nicola Righi, which persistently assault the senses with their ferociously fast fisticuffs and sense-shattering scarlet-hued panels. Together, this creative team genuinely provide Shazam with a mind-blowing entrance worthy of one who wields “the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight, and other abilities.” In addition, the trio repeatedly remind the reader as to the grisly nature of the planet surrounding the central cast, with even little details like a trail of melting snow or some graffiti scrawled over Barry Allen’s beheaded stone statue giving the impression that they’re actually made out of blood.

Rounding off this periodical in a thoroughly enjoyable way is the sadly short-lived yarn "Dead Cities" by Danny Lore and Haining, which enthrallingly explores what happens to a super-hero who is symbiotically linked with the city he's in – and that municipal has been overrun by the living dead. Half man and half Nosferatu, Jack Hawksmoor’s attempt to assassinate his team’s corrupted leader, Jenny Sparks, provides an intriguing insight into just how The Authority has fared during the dark days of the (new) Vampire King’s reign.

The regular cover art of "DC VS. VAMPIRES: ALL OUT WAR" #5 by Alan Quah

DC's Terrors Through Time #1 [Part Two] - DC Comics

DC'S TERROR THROUGH TIME No. 1, December 2022

Supposedly depicting “the story of the Gotham City Sirens’ first sorta true meet-up”, Peter V. Nguyen’s "The Pueo Promise" possibly pleased some within this anthology’s audience with its abundance of “Scooby-Doo” flavoured antics and girl-powered high jinks. But considering that the Honolulu-born writer pens a story featuring the “fourth pillar” in “DC Comics” publishing line there arguably isn’t much for Harley Quinn to do except scowl from the side-lines whilst both Poison Ivy and Selina Kyle take the lion’s share of the tale’s limelight; “Pamela, wake up! We need you in this fight -- Catwoman won’t last long out there…”

Furthermore, due in part to the author’s lavish art style, many a bibliophile would debatably have been utterly bemused as to what is actually going on within this yarn’s narrative, especially towards the end of the adventure when there’s the distinct suggestion the three anti-heroines are battling an army of undead ‘somethings’ who are all under the thrall of some Greek-looking deity. Such a scenario probably made a lot of sense to Nguyen considering his background in Hawaiian folklore. But for those unfamiliar with the Owl Prince and just how the god somehow conjures up ghosts from one moment to the next, the premise of Kyle subsequently having to relocate “roughly two million cats” to Gotham City in order to save the day is a real head scratcher.

Similarly as bizarre, though much more followable, is “Half-Life” by Zac Thompson, which follows the exploits of two survivors eking out a living in a post-apocalyptic Washington Exclusion Zone. Wary of eating radioactive berries, the pair inadvertently wander into the lair of a truly-mutated Chimera and are only saved from a gruesome death by the Swamp Thing bravely allowing himself to be eaten instead.

Pencilled by Andy McDonald, this ten-pager’s artwork definitely provides the futuristic fable with some pulse-pounding pace, as the multi-headed crocodilian crashes through a man-made shelter in its eagerness to consume human flesh, and subsequently slices Alec Holland’s alter-ego to pieces using the aeroplane rotor engine it inexplicably has lodged in its chest. The design of so grotesque a creature really is highly memorable, so it’s something of a shame that the grisly brute is finally only laid low by getting old, and having its mechanical maw defeated by one too many entangling vines.

The regular cover art to "DC'S TERRORS THROUGH TIME" #1 by John McCrea & Mike Spicer

DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #3 - DC Comics

DCEASED: WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS  No. 3, December 2022

Opening with a genuinely upsetting update as to just how Adam Strange succumbed to the spread of the anti-living, Tom Taylor’s script for Issue Three of “DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods” must surely have disconcerted many fans of the Australian author’s alternate Earth “where a corrupted version of the Anti-Life Equation has infected most of Earth's inhabitants with a zombie-like virus.” For whilst the twenty-two-page periodical subsequently moves on to a slightly more tongue-in-cheek depiction of Lobo literally tearing up a disease-ridden Thanagarian warship, the haunting image of the space adventurer’s young daughter tearfully screaming at the sight of her undead dad permeates the entirety of this publication’s plot.

Indeed, it’s debatably difficult to imagine a more harrowing sequence for this “blockbuster final arc” as a desperate, jet-propelled archaeologist unwisely asks a certain Amazon-Olympian demigoddess for help to intercept the next Zeta-Beam transmission and discovers the Justice Leaguer to be as rabidly unhinged as his home planet has become unrecognisably ruinous; “Computer… Lock rocket pack to co-ordinates. What the hell happened here? Wonder Woman? Hey! Diana! Oh @h--"

Fortunately, for those within this book’s audience who like a little more humour in their comics, the Stan Lee Excelsior Award-winner does off-set this shocking start with an amusing depiction of Keith Giffen’s co-creation initially being overlooked as a worthy warrior to help save the Universe. Enraged by a flock of crazed Hawkmen brutally murdering the extra-terrestrial who poured his drinks in the Rylex System, the Czarnian singlehandedly outfights an entire invasion force with little more than a handful of Thanagarian grenades and his infamous large gutting hook, whilst simultaneously still quipping about him being “the Main Man”.

Just as enjoyable as Taylor’s penmanship is Trevor Hairsine’s artwork, which manages to add both plenty of gravitas to poor Strange’s fate, as well as mirth to Lobo’s interrupted alcoholic libations in equal measure. Furthermore, the former ‘Marvel Young Gun’ somehow manages to maintain the attention when pencilling this publication’s more sedentary scenes concerning Ares sudden materialisation at Princess Diana of Themyscira’s funeral. This sombre, rather word-heavy memorial is made all the more dialogue-driven when the God of War uses it to wax lyrical about the imminent death of the Universe. Yet the cremation ceremony still proves a riveting read courtesy of the physical hostility which the British illustrator manages to imbue all the Amazonians with during their interactions alongside the unpopular deity.

The regular cover art of "DCEASED: WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS" #3 by Howard Porter & Rain Beredo

DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #2 - DC Comics

DCEASED: WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS  No. 2, November 2022

Containing one of the most gruesome deaths imaginable for a major antagonist of the “DC Comics” universe, along with a sense-shattering assault upon the planet Korugar, Tom Taylor’s penmanship throughout Issue Two of “DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods” must surely have bewitched many a bibliophile within this book’s audience. Indeed, it’s difficult to imagine a more spell-binding ride than the one which this particular twenty-two-page periodical provides, as super-powered parents grieve for their lost son and Soranik Natu witnesses the cataclysmic fall of the mobile weaponized satellite Warworld.

True, part of this comic does get a little bogged down with a somewhat lengthy conversational piece between Guy Gardner, Superman and Brainiac on Earth-2. But even this sedentary, wordy-heavy moment of exposition arguably proves to be incredibly enthralling, courtesy of the ex-Baltimore policeman turned intergalactic law enforcement officer demonstrating all the conceited, childish personality traits which have supposedly made him “the most despised” of all the Burbank-based publisher’s Green Lanterns; “I’m an eleven on the Guy Gardner greatness scale. And the scale only goes up to six. That’s how good I am.”

Just as arrogant though is Kyle Raynor and his medically trained wife, who together inadvertently thwart Sinestro’s Yellow Lantern Corps from inflicting a devastating opening salvo upon the unliving Darkseid. This utterly unfounded hubris is genuinely infuriating and may well have caused the odd reader to smirk with some misplaced sense of satisfaction when Ganthet’s protégé gets his clock well and truly cleaned by an insanely rabid Supergirl. However, such a feeling was probably fleeting at best, as the horrendous blow subsequently leads to the grisly demise of Korugar’s numerous would-be rescuers.

Helping to instil a palpable sense of threat and fear throughout all these pulse-pounding proceedings are Trevor Hairsine’s layouts, which do a tremendous job of depicting the unsettling ‘Elseworlds’ like environment within which this mini-series’ narrative is set. Whether it’s the heavily damaged Home of the New Gods, complete with death-dealing Boom Tubes, or Natu’s overwhelmed planet, the British artist’s pencilling conjures up all manner of nightmarish events – not least of which is the sticky fate of Hal Jordan’s arch-nemesis.

The regular cover art of "DCEASED: WAR OF THE UNDEAD GODS" #2 by Trevor Hairsine & Rain Beredo

Batman: Gotham Knights - Gilded City #2 - DC Comics

BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS - GILDED CITY No. 2, January 2023

Opening with an adrenalin-fuelled confrontation concerning the Dark Knight and his former protégé Dick Grayson, as well as closing with artist Abel pencilling a genuinely shocking battle between some Wild West ‘super-heroes’ and a graveyard full of the undead, Evan Narcisse’s storyline for Issue Two of “Batman: Gotham Knights – Gilded City” probably delighted the vast majority of its audience in November 2022. But whilst these aforementioned action-orientated sequences are arguably well-penned, the writing behind the rest of this twenty-two-page periodical’s plot probably left something to be desired; “I’m sure some TV News producer at WGBS thinks they’re so clever.”

To begin with the motivation between the original Dynamic Duo furiously going ‘hell for leather’ at one another isn’t particularly convincing, considering that both combatants essentially want the same thing, and it is only the manner in which their mission is accomplished which the pair disagree upon. Of course, Nightwing’s move to Bludhaven to rid himself of the Caped Crusader’s shadow is certainly shown to give the former Robin a sizeable chip on his shoulder, especially when an incredibly arrogant Batman unapologetically tells the already irate costumed acrobat that he will go wherever he wants when an operation demands it.

But frankly neither character comes away from this fracas in a good light, with both appearing egotistical, self-righteous and unwilling to compromise – at least until Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego supposedly submits to taking “that hit from my Escrima stick so you could figure out what was happening”. Furthermore, the two protagonists settle their differences with such suddenness, that it is debatably difficult to comprehend just what all the fuss was about in the first place. Indeed, within moments of trying to batter the Dark Knight half to death, Grayson is next shown bemusingly telling him how good it is to see his old mentor again.

Much more enthralling is the secondary narrative concerning poor Abraham’s investigation into the disappearance of his brother from a nearby coal mine during the Wild West. Crammed full of shady characters, brain-hungry zombies and some truly sinister shenanigans, these scenes are much more riveting, and definitely provide this comic with a sensational cliff-hanger as the clearly distressed labourer shockingly loses his life just as it appears he’s discovered a clue as to the dreadful demise of his sibling.

The regular cover art of "BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS - GILDED CITY #2 by Greg Capullo