Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, and Rain Beredo have been with DCeased from the beginning, and now they team up once more for what could be the last time. DCeased started as a wild idea and has lived on in various mini-series. This new world has been explored nicely and has created some fantastic teams of characters along with wild combinations of power sets. Most recently, we got Cyborg overtaking Brainiac and adding those abilities to his own, and we also have Alfred Pennyworth becoming the spirit of vengeance, Spectre. It’s time to wrap up this eight-issue miniseries.
The continuation of Alfred Pennyworth being the narrator is excellent, especially considering the ending and how it relates to him. When I first read this issue, I felt like I had missed something, or maybe thought it was written as after the big battle, but instead, Tom Taylor has sped up things. We now see several characters, like Mister Miracle and Supergirl, healed and reunited with their families. I admit I feel a bit cheated by not seeing how the heroes saved these characters, but it is great to know they’ll have a happier ending in this Elseworld. As for the art on these pages, you can see a bit of change as Trevor Hairsine and Lucas Meyer work on other reunions, making me wonder if the pages changed. Or maybe it could be to keep the series on schedule?
I like how Tom Taylor uses a moment from DCeased #2 to help his ending come full circle, but the trick is with a different character. Taylor has the younger characters grow into their legacies appropriately. Damian Wayne has a much better future here in DCeased instead of being the “Batman 666.” Taylor also gives me something I didn’t realize I was missing: the relationship between Damian and Alfred. The characters’ situation is already fantastic, but adding their connection and Alfred’s narration helps add depth to the pages. We get one big battle for this conclusion, but the impact and story are way more personal, which is quite a change from what I expected.
The ending on its own does feel light, but should be satisfying for trade waiters. Tom Taylor gives excellent interactions with some memorable phrases; for example, Damian tells Cyborg, “I’ve been talking to death” – even Cyborg has to respect the power of those words. We get another great team-up, and I enjoy Taylor’s use of titles as Old and New Gods team up. Reading Ares and Black Racer team up to face Erebos is an excellent play on “Death following War” into battle. This creative team has crafted an entertaining adventure and capped it off with a hopeful ending based on a tale rooted in death.
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