DCeased: Hope At World’s End has been an interesting companion piece to the original DCeased series. Tom Taylor has used Hope At World’s End to fill in the gaps for what happened to a lot of major heroes and villains that were not seen in the DCeased or Unkillables series leading into Dead Planet. One of those major characters that has been spotlighted was Black Adam. As we discovered in DCeased: Hope At World’s End the decisions Black Adam made during the events of DCeased led him to become one of the infected Anti-Living characters. Now with the Anti-Living Black Adam leading an Anti-Living horde for one of the strongest strongholds on Earth can those inside Jotunheim survive? Let’s find out with DCeased: Hope At World’s End Chapter 6.
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Renato Guedes
Colorist: Rex Lokus
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: As the “Battle For Jotunheim” is about to begin Aerie tells Raza and the others that they have to assume that Nightshade and Hyve are part of the Anti-Living horde marching towards the stronghold. Manticore tells Aerie and Wink that they should leave as they are the only ones with hopes of getting out of this alive. Wink says that they don’t run and instead, they need to find help from other heroes.
Aerie isn’t sure they can find any heroes to help them. Wink mentions that Aerie can go find Themyscira with some help. Wink tells Aerie they will have to do it alone because of how far the Aegean Sea Aerie must use all their speed to get there. Aerie tries to say something but Wink says that they can’t waste any more time. Aerie then asks to be teleported outside.
Outside Jotunheim, Aerie promises to return and shares a kiss with Wink before departing. Aerie flies at max speed, reaching supersonic speeds in the process.
Outside Jotunheim, Black Adam leads a horde of Anti-Living to the stronghold.
Inside Jotunheim, Raza and Manticore get everyone ready to defend the stronghold. As they do that Raza admits to Wink that Jotunheim’s defenses won’t be able to keep Black Adam from entering for very long. Raza says he plans to use his energy sword to cut Black Adam in half when he appears. Wink mentions that the plan will likely lead to Raza becoming an Anti-Living.
Wink then says that they have a plan and will just need Raza and the others to fire at Black Adam as soon as he appears.
Not long after Raza spots Anti-Living Black Adam and orders everyone to open fire. The gunfire slows Anti-Living Black Adam down long enough for Wink to teleport on top of him. As soon as Anti-Living Black Adam is about to hit Jotunheim, Wink uses their power to teleport Anti-Living Black Adam inside the mountain.
Inside Jotunheim, Wink teleports in unsure if Anti-Living Black Adam will survive or escape being stuck in the mountain. As Wink tells that to Raza and Manticore the entire mountain begins to shake.
Over the Aegean Sea, Aerie gets directions from various birds on the location of Themyscira. Eventually, Aerie runs into Wonder Woman and tells her about needing help.
Outside Jotunheim, Anti-Living Nightshade uses her powers to create a portal to the inside of the stronghold. As soon as they get inside Jotunheim Anti-Living Nightshade slashes Manticore’s back, beginning his transformation into an Anti-Living.
Eventually, Anti-Living Black Adam powers up and cracks the mountain in half. Wonder Woman arrives just in time to save Jotunheim from immediately falling. As Wonder Woman holds up Jotunheim the Anti-Living Black Adam appears right next to her. End of issue.
The Good: As with other issues in this digital series, Tom Taylor continues to impress with his sense of urgency in DCeased: Hope At World’s End Chapter 6. There is a great sense of escalation throughout this issue that builds on the events we have seen throughout the DCeased franchise. This adds a rewarding aura around Hope At World’s End as you see how every issue builds on one another with each plot thread being developed.
At this point, we know how desperate things are on Earth during this time period. There is no time to be arguing over the right thing to do. That is exactly where Taylor shines with DCeased: Hope At World’s End Chapter 6. You can tell how desperate everyone inside Jotunheim is that they are willing to throw any idea they have to survive. At the same time, the characters have to be thoughtful in their actions because one wrong move and everything will be lost.
That is best seen with how Taylor developed Wink throughout DCeased: Hope At World’s End Chapter 6. As the situation was only getting worse outside Jotunheim, Wink stepped up to be the leader that everyone there needed. Taylor did a wonderful job making Wink a natural leader as she was able to get everyone to rally around the plans they had. Whether it was getting Aerie to push forward and look for Themyscira or calling Raza out for his risky plan to take out Anti-Living Black Adam. Wink kept a level head through it all and was able to come up with different plans to give those trying to survive in Jotunheim some sense of hope.
Wink stepping up in this way allowed all the other characters in Jotunheim to shine as well. With everyone in Jotunheim likely being characters fans are not very familiar with having Wink step up in this way made it easier to care about these characters. You could feel that there were no more heroes and villains in this scenario that DCeased put them in. It is all about what are the best choices that these characters can make to survive the horde of Anti-Living that is coming to kill or turn them.
The whole situation made the short display of power we got from Aerie even more impressive. Aerie’s speed came across as them tapping into their full power. There was no more holding back as Aerie needed to fly faster than they ever had. This made the fact that Aerie was able to find Wonder Woman so quickly a rewarding turn of events that gives hope to what is going on.
The character development of both Manticore and Raza added to the impact of DCeased: Hope At World’s End. Like Wink and Aerie, these are not characters that are well-known. But even then you do care about what happens to them because they are now in a position to protect those that they can. Which made the moment that Manticore was turned into an Anti-Living by Nightshade hit hard. It’s a credit to Taylor’s talents as a writer that when this moment happened you as the reader felt the shock and pain Raza and the others had on their faces.
While Wonder Woman appears to provide everyone in Jotunheim with the help they need the appearance of Anti-Living Black Adam does put into question how things will turn out. While we know Wonder Woman will survive “The Battle of Jotunheim” due to her role in the finale of DCeased there is still uncertainty with everyone else. Taylor makes you question if Wonder Woman will be the only one who survives what is about to happen. That questioning gives a good hook ending for this issue and leads into the next stage of “The Battle of Jotunheim.”
Now I’ll admit that Renato Guedes’s art style is not necessarily for me. That said Guedes’s art does work well once the Anti-Living horde that Black Adam is leading appears. It is in those moments with the Anti-Living horde that Guedes style works best. Guedes gets across how terrifying the Anti-Living horde is. The art also does the job of making you wonder what will happen next with the appearance of Anti-Living Black Adam at the end of the issue.
The Bad: Nothing.
Overall: DCeased: Hope At World’s End Chapter 6 continues the trend of excellence that this entire franchise has been known for. Tom Taylor expertly makes you care for every character that appears in this issue. In the process, he is able to elevate new characters in Wink, who step up in a major way throughout this issue. The appearance of Anti-Living Black Adam at the end of this issue provides a strong hook that gets you to question what will happen next.
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