Writer: Tom Taylor
Pencils: Trevor Hairsine & Neil Edwards
Inks: Stefano Gaudino
Colors: Rain Beredo
Letters: Saida Temofonte
The DC world as we knew it is over. With the infection of the Anti-Life Equation spread throughout all social media the Earth is lost. Batman is dead and sadly Superman has succumbed to the Anti-Life Equation. Now it falls to a handful of heroes to both save what is left of the human race while stopping Superman from destroying the two arcs that will take humanity to a new world where they can rebuild. So begins DCeased #6 which is the final issue of this marvelous mini-series that has been incredibly enjoyable and some elseworlds fun.
DCeased #6 tells the story of how the earth falls. There is no hope of saving our planet. Two of the Holy Trinity have fallen. Batman was one of the first casualties of the Anti-Life Equation, which turns those exposed to it into frenzied Zombies out to destroy all life. While Superman was exposed to the Anti-Life Equation last issue but was unable to take his own life by flying into the sun before his change was finalized and now he has returned to earth with destruction and death his only concern. Damian Wayne, who has assumed the mantle of the Batman, has his father’s contingency Kryptonite but Wonder Woman is wary if that will be enough. Instead she wants to combine Superman’s two greatest weaknesses, Kryptonite and Magic, as she feels this is the heroes only chance of stopping the Zombified Last Son of Krypton. While Wonder Woman, Cyborg, and Green Lantern (Dinah Lance) deal with Superman the rest of the heroes need to prepare and load the arcs for their escape from earth. They must also defend the arcs, not just from Superman, but from any metahuman who has become a zombie, including Aquaman and the Atlanteans who take it upon themselves to invade Themyscira, one of the last safe places for humans on earth. All of these confrontations are profound and the outcome is tragic no matter which side wins, since honestly by the end of the series there is very little hope even with an appearance by everyone’s favorite Corps. Tom Taylor and company do an excellent job of wrapping up the series, which may either be the end of DCeased, or maybe the beginning of a series of DCeased mini-seriesthat could span years. I for one hope that the latter be the case.
Tom Taylor is an amazingly engaging writer. What could be seen as a rip off of the Marvel Zombie concept of the early ‘00s somehow became an incredibly gripping story that kept me completely entranced throughout the seven issues (6 issues of the main series & 1 special). Taylor may be best known for his time at Marvel but he has an incredible grasp of the DC pantheon of characters and makes me want to see what else he can do with these characters. Trevor Hairsine’s artwork has been fantastic over the course of this series but sadly his tardiness caught up with him and some of the pages in this issue were drawn by Neil Edwards, whose artwork was just different enough that it took me out of the book. Edwards pages dealt with the Amazons vs. the Atlanteans, which was a horrific site to behold and I would have liked to have seen it all drawn by Hairsine. Yet Hairsine’s depiction of the throw down between Wonder Woman and Superman was epic and had all the weight and gravitas that this moment needed it to have. I hope to see more of his work in the DC Universe and hopefully alongside Taylor as these two make an incredible creative team.
Verdict: DCeased #6 was a riveting finale of what has been a tremendously satisfying conclusion to one of the best mini-series DC has produced this year.
