Darkseid is invading Earth. Again. Over the course of a week, the Justice League beat him back. His forces routed, his jaw broken by Superman, Darkseid takes up the League’s suggestion that he get off the planet. But his final words are ominous.
When the dust clears, the League wonder what happened to their colleague Cyborg.
Guess who Darkseid came for?
It turns out that the Apokoliptian tech in Victor Stone’s body contains the half of the Anti-Life equation for which Darkseid has long searched, and he has no qualms about killing the hero to get it. But Cyborg turns the tables and infects Darkseid, with massive – let’s say apocalyptic- consequences.
Cyborg, sent on his way as Desaad realises what’s happening, arrives back on Earth. Vic’s personal internet instantly connects with the worldwide web… and the Anti-Life Equation is unleashed.
Within minutes, the world goes to hell.
I’m no fan of the zombie genre, I don’t find the concept of brain-eating undead types attractive. The gothic eerieness of I Walked With a Zombie, that I liked. I laughed and cried at Shaun of the Dead. But I can’t be bothered with straightforward zombies, even when they’re being used as metaphors, a la George Romero’s oeuvre.
But a good pun gets my attention and DCeased is a pretty good one. Tom Taylor at the scripting helm is always a good bet. And artists Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano and James Harren are all pretty decent, to understate matters.
I enjoyed this non-continuity comic hugely. Taylor’s trademark smart dialogue is here in spades, not only giving the Super Sons real spark, but gifting Cyborg the most personality he’s had in decades… well, ever. He displays real guts as he gets sassy with the two scariest men on Apokolips. Darkseid and Desaad have dramatic charisma to spare, there’s a pleasingly intense Wayne Manor moment and Superman is the awe-inspiring hero he should be. The initial spread of the Anti-Life Equation is nicely 21st century yet fits in perfectly with what New Gods creator Jack Kirby set up – it’s like he planned it all along.
Hairsine’s storytelling, inked by Walking Dead alumnus Gaudiano and moodily coloured by Rain Beredo, is excellent – look at the expressions, the body language, how Barry moves around Batman as he demands a truth he can pretty much bank on.
The offworld pages, fully illustrated by Harren, map less onto the current DC house style, and are all the better for it; the looser, less constrained style suits the horror that is Apokolips’ cavernous dungeons and the evil creatures who live there. My favourite panel is that one, above, with Desaad looming toward Cyborg in a zoom that would do Flash proud.
The one tweak I would make to this excellently crafted book would be to darken the narrator’s lettering, it’s in a faint typewriter-style font that reads as faint grey unless you go to panel view on a digital reader. It’s a pain, but likely in the script rather than a choice of always excellent letterer Saida Temofonte.
How about that cover from artist Greg Capullo and colourist FCO Plascencia? I can’t think of a single image that would better grab a superhero fan who also likes zombies. Even I love the hands going through the unfortunate SWAT fella’s head. >ulp<
Overall, this is a lovely surprise of a comic book, great looking with a compelling script whose twists and turns, if Taylor is on form – and he always is – are going to be tough to anticipate. I’m in for the next five issues of heroes in a real crisis.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
Glad to hear you like this one! I heard the premise and pretty much decided I’d wait until I read reviews before jumping on. Since it’s out of continuity — I didn’t realize that — I’ll probably wait until it’s on sale as a digital collection. But I definitely agree with you about what you’ve shown of Cyborg’s dialogue — it’s nice to see him showing such bravado.
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It doesn’t actually say in the comic it’s not in continuity, but it seems pretty evident. I think I read it in an interview.
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Meh. The cover’s nice though yeah. In fact maybe they should’ve just had Capullo draw the damn thing instead, idk. Seeing as how this is more a straight forward zombie tale then we got 10 years ago with Blackest Night, I’m glad it all happens out of regular continuity because really, doesn’t the current DCU have enough issues as it is at this point?
Cyborg’s tech containing the other half of the Anti-Life formula is fine and convenient enough for the purposes of telling the story without having to go into decompression mode, but infecting the world with the Anti-Life Equation Infection through the internet isn’t anything new at all. Grant Morrison did the same thing back in Final Crisis. I know it’s an easy and very effective method of infecting an entire populace in the 21st century, but couldn’t they have used another way to do it? Idk….
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The shorter length and less sprawling nature of this appeals to me – Blackest Night felt too huge, and very repetitive. Very fair point about the nature of the spread.
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Yeah it just seems a bit on the lazy side, even though again, it’s a very realistic and very effective way to spread a viruses besides spreading them in the air.
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