The previous issue of DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods was a disappointment. We are at the point that set-up is no longer needed but that is what DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #6 focused on. This is a battle for the fate of the DCeased version of the DC Universe that’s more than three mini-series in the making. So going into the penultimate issue DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods has a lot of work to build hype back up for the upcoming final issue. Let’s see if that happens with DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #7.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Trevor Hairsine and Lucas Meyer
Inker: Andy Lanning and Lucas Meyer
Colorist: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
SYNOPSIS
Lobo arrives on Earth-2 in time to help the heroes Spectre (Alfred Pennyworth) rushes back to Earth-1 to get the antidote to cure Batman (Damian Wayne) after he was infected by the Anti-Life Equation Virus.
As the battle against the Anti-Living army intensifies Anti-Living Yellow Lantern Darkseid Boom Tubes in with Warworld and additional Anti-Living forces. When Superman (Jon Kent) and Brainiac face off against Anti-Living Darkseid the latter is immediately infected by Anti-Life Equation Virus.
Anti-Living Brainiac goes to his ship to help Darkseid. Cyborg follows and with his immunity to the Anti-Life Equation Virus is able to defeat Anti-Living Brainiac. Cyborg then gains full control of Brainiac’s ship and uses it to turn the tide of the war to the heroes side.
Anti-Living Darkseid activates a protocol to have Warworld launch a massive beam attack to destroy Earth-2. Shazam (Cassandra Cain) takes over the fight against Anti-Living Darkseid. This gives Superman the opening to block the attack from Warworld though he is knocked out.
As Clark Kent catch Superman an army of Kryptonians from Kandor that Cyborg freed arrive to help fight the Anti-Living army.
Spectre returns to Earth-2 carrying a large quantity of shipping crates containing the cure to the Anti-Life Equation Virus. Batman is immediately cured of the virus.
Superman, Shazam, and Mary Marvel finally pin Anti-Living Darkseid down long enough for Lobo to administer the cure.
Now back to normal Darkseid swears he will make the ones responsible for making him a pawn pay. End of issue.
REVIEW
DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #7 is more of a return to form for the high expectations of this series. You can still see how all the set-up to get to this point does cause certain aspects to be rushed more than needed. But even then, we do get to the point needed for the next issue to provide an epic finale to the DCeased Universe.
What made all the difference for DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #7 is the focus on scale. We are well beyond the point that the smaller moments dominate the focus of the story. That’s been done enough in the trilogy of DCeased series plus the side comics.
Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, and Lucas Meyer address that by showing how chaotic the war is on multiple fronts. We see the heroes truly battling for their lives and the future of the DC Universe. It was so refreshing as we were at a point that it did feel that most of the heroes were just standing around waiting for something to happen. Showing all of the heroes actually fighting the Darkseid’s Anti-Living army made the moments like Damian Wayne’s Batman being infect or Mister Miracle being killed by his son more meaningful. We got to see the “War” promised in the title of DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods.
With showing the scope of the fight there was a build to make the big moments Cyborg and Jon Kent’s Superman got standout even more. It is thanks to both of their actions that we see such a big turn around. With Cyborg, Anti-Living Darkseid infecting Brainiac was an unintentional error. Because with that move Cyborg was given all the reason he needed to take control of Brainiac’s ship and all of his technology.
Cyborg defeating Brainiac and gaining control of Brainiac’s ship came across as the payoff to his character arc in DCeased. We saw the powerhouse Cyborg has been positioned to be for the last decade but hasn’t always gotten the chance to show. This was his moment and it was fantastic.
Jon also got his big moment that equally felt like something Taylor was building towards for the character. Up to this point Jon still has leaned on others to help with decisions. But here there was no time to waste. With the power of Warworld’s attack Jon was the only one capable of stopping the attack. Taylor worked in Cassandra Cain as Shazam well here to help Jon the opening to make this quick decision to step up as Superman and stop Warworld’s attack.
In doing so it made the returning Kryptonians that Cyborg freed from Kandor an epic moment. With that splace page by Hairsine and Meyer the turn around for the heroes side was no longer something that would be short-lived. All the elements where here to make this the payoff DCeased was building to.
Ending the issue with Darkseid being cured now moves the story to the conclusion we needed to see. Though it is not the cleanest because up to this point Taylor and Hairsine have completely focused on making the Anti-Living Darkseid, Supergirl, and New Gods the big threat. We know from DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #3 that Erebos is the big threat. But building up Erebos and the others who Darkseid claims he will seek vengeance on have been poorly built up. It has been a major drop of the ball heading into the final issue of DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods that this part of the story has lacked a build.
FINAL THOUGHTS
DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #7 set-ups the final issue of the DCeased trilogy to end in epic fashion. The way we got there didn’t always work but this issue made up for all the previous stumbles. We got big moments for Cyborg, Superman, and others that felt like true payoffs to what Tom Taylor and Trevor Hairsine have built with this trilogy of comics. Now, hopefully the finale will deliver a strong finale to the story.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10