DCeased #6

By Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Neil Edwards, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo, and Ben Abernathy

DCeased concludes with issue #6 and it is a dearly departed title that will be missed. The final issue begins after the unfortunate turn of Superman in the previous issue and centers around the survivors trying to take down the zombified Superman while preparing massive arks, filled with millions of people, to leave the earth. For the past year, DCeased has been one of the best stories to come out by focusing on a great horror story without the annoyance of a lot of tie ins, filler issues, and issue delays that can happen with limited series like this.

Tom Taylor manages to make some of the most hopeful, fun, and colorful superheroes into terrifying monsters in the DCeased series, all while tying them into a story that fills the reader with true dread and sadness for the world being destroyed in front of their very eyes. Taylor’s handling of Superman in this series is superb and seeing Superman in his undead state really sells the idea that all hope is lost. In fact, all of the characters are great to see in this series. We get plenty of moments of great insight from Lois Lane’s narration, Jon filling the shoes of his father to be the hope of the survivors, Green Arrow having some quips to lighten the book a little, and plenty of other scenes that will make you like the characters and hope they survive this ordeal. Shortly before the end of this issue, we get a little bit of dialogue between Cyborg and Wonder Woman that may give us some hints on how this series could continue into a sequel. If so, readers will be eagerly awaiting to see how the information learned in that exchange will play out in a sequel.

The art by Trevor Hairsine, Neil Edwards, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo, and Ben Abernathy perfectly fits this book. It is easy to have a horror book filled with nothing but blood and guts but what makes the DCeased series different is the sense of sadness and dread mixed with hope. Both the light and dark aspects of this series is put on the page masterfully. There are moments in this book where it feels as if all hope is lost but something like Jon taking off his jacket to reveal the “S” logo on his chest, will fill the reader with a newfound hope. Again with the characterization mentioned earlier, the Superman moments are especially great to see on page. Seeing the carnage and destruction brought on by the undead Superman will give the reader an uneasy and disturbed feeling that is perfect for this book. The most impressive example of this is a scene in which Superman flies into the sun to absorb its power. This page has an eerie beauty to it that makes it hard to look away from it despite the disturbing context.

The only unfortunate aspect of DCeased #6 is that it is the final issue. This series has had a great story, portrayed the characters in this grim scenario well, and had art that fits it perfectly since the beginning.