Waller vs. Wildstorm #3 is the penultimate issue of this DC Black Label series and the creative team continues the great work they put in on the first three issues.
The issue opens with a run of pages in which there is no dialogue and really sets the tone for the issue in which conflict is explosive and relationships are forever changed. Lois is still on the ground in Gamorra gathering information on the atrocities and impact of Checkmate. Meanwhile, King finds himself in Slade’s crosshairs while Waller is running ops and smoking cigarettes in a dark room with Adeline, because it’s the ’80s and they’re bad bitches.
The plot continues to be complicated, with different factions engaging in proxy conflicts through different organizations while the political landscape of a foreign country with its own interests sits in the middle of everything. Thankfully, the characters are all interesting enough and the writing makes their motivations clear in a way that prevents it from being confusing. The team behind this book seems to be committed to representing a wide variety of people on the page. While this is not commented on in the narrative, it is appreciated and doesn’t go unnoticed. Gotta love a book that supports women’s rights (Lois Lane) and women’s wrongs (Amanda Waller).
The art does some heavy lifting in this issue with a significant number of dialogue-free pages throughout. The final beat of the issue in particular hits hard thanks to the framing of the page. It’s not the only great bit of framing though, the reader’s view is deftly guided through the issue cutting back and forth between characters in different locations at the same point in time and highlighting things the characters don’t explicitly call attention to.
All the interested parties are poised to come to a head in an explosive final issue. Which is saying a lot considering how many things literally get blown up over the course of this issue’s 30 pages.
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