It’s hard to believe but the end of the DCeased trilogy is finally here. This final issue of DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods has been four years in the making. The final series in the trilogy has had its fair share of ups and downs but has been overall enjoyable. The penultimate issue of DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods did a lot to show our heroes finally get the big victory over Darkseid and the Anti-Living army. All that is left is for the Justice League to settle things to make sure there won’t be another Anti-Life Equation crisis. Is that even possible? Let’s find out with DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #8.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Trevor Hairsine and Lucas Meyer
Inker: Andy Lanning and Lucas Meyer
Colorist: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
SYNOPSIS
As Clark and Jon Kent meet Kara Zor-El and their Kryptonian family for the first time Damian Wayne meets with the Black Racer and Cyborg to confirm an idea about how to defeat Erebos.
While discussing the plan with Justice League Ares is the only one against the plan. Wonder Woman (Cassie Sandsmark) plays into Ares warrior pride to get him to go along with the plan.
Jon Kent gives Damian a white version of the Batman costume since today is his birthday. Damian thinks it’s perfect and then goes to find Cassie.
The next day Cyborg pilots Warworld to Limbo. Black Racer and Ares lead everyone against Erebos.
As that goes on Cyborg realizes Damian erased their previous conversation. Damian reveals he did so he could extract the Life Equation from Cyborg and place it in himself.
Cyborg rushes to get everyone out of Limbo so Damian can go through with his plan.
Erebos tries to negotiate with Damian but it doesn’t work. Jon Kent and Alfred Pennyworth sit by Damian so he doesn’t face the end alone. Jon then tells Damian he was a great Batman as the Life Equation and Anti-Life Equation collide to create a new Big Bang.
The Justice League return to Earth-2 with Jon telling Cassie what happened.
As time passes Alfred uses his Spectre powers to visit the new universe Damian created and reflects on how he misses his sons. End of story.
REVIEW
DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #8 delivered exactly the ending this franchise needed to have. We already had the big battle of the Justice League vs Anti-Living New Gods that had the epic scale. This final issue was all about cleaning up so the DCeased version of the DC Universe could move beyond the Anti-Life Equation crisis circle they found themselves.
Opening this final issue with Mister Miracle and Big Barda reuniting with their son and Clark and Jon Kent meeting their Kryptonian family for the first time was a great tone setter. This immediately got over how the Justice League did achieve a major victory by curing everyone. Through all the horror there was a reward for them as they saved their loved ones and the universe as a whole from another crisis.
Tom Taylor made sure to recognize this isn’t where the story of DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods needed to end. We already got this ending in DCeased: Dead Planet and that did not put an end to the Anti-Life Equation crisis. For this to be a true ending our heroes needed to go to the source of the DC Universe problems, which was the embodiment of the Anti-Life Equation in Erebos.
And it is only right that it was Damian Wayne who was the one to figure out what needed to be done. Throughout the majority of the DCeased trilogy and spinoff titles we’ve seen Damian’s growth be a sub-plot in this franchise. We’ve seen him deal with losing his entire family and use that to grown beyond the trained assassin to a team player not just defined by his personal tragedy as he became Batman.
Taylor along with Trevor Hairsine and Lucas Meyer emphasized this growth with how while Damian was wearing the Batman costume he didn’t have his cowl on. This wasn’t just something he was doing as Batman. This was Damian Wayne the character who has grown beyond his father’s shadow. The conversations with Black Racer, Cyborg, and Justice League show this. At the same time, Taylor did show that Damian did have his father’s solo act as a part of him, which Cassie Sandsmark appropriately called out.
Damian’s plan was a catalyst for a lot of great character moments throughout DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #8. Cassie as Wonder Woman calling out Ares and playing into his warrior pride was one of these great moments. Far too often Taylor forgot about Cassie in this story as she was relegated mostly to being one of the heavy hitters but nothing more, especially compared to the development Damian and Jon got. This along with the talk with Damian were all long overdue character moments that left you wishing Cassie had more of these moments that would’ve made these scenes even better.
The plan also gave the chance for Darkseid and others to get payoffs to their own arcs as they joined our heroes in the fight against Erebos. Taylor made sure that Darkseid didn’t just fully turn to the light side as he did not hesitate to remind Guy Gardner who he is. It was a moment that reminds you that everyone is united because Erebos is this big of threat not because they are on friendly terms now.
All of this worked to make Erebos be the ultimate end boss of the story. The presentation of Erebos by Hairsine and Meyer delivered on how larger than life the embodiment of the Anti-Life Equation was. This made how it was ultimately taken down by the one without powers in Batman be the end we needed to have. Erebos probably never expected Batman to be his biggest threat in a universe with the likes of Darkseid and Superman. You get that with how desperate Erebos suddenly became in trying to negotiate with Batman.
This made Damian’s sacrifice hit even harder. Damian wearing the pure white Batman costume that Jon gifted him was a great way to symbolize how far he has come and the sacrifice he was going to make. Jon and Alfred both being there to make sure Damian knew he was not alone in his final moments was a touching scene. It made the ending as satisfying as it can be in this long journey with the DCeased franchise.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The journey was not always perfect but ultimately Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, and Lucas Meyer delivered when it counted with DCeased: War Of The Undead Gods #8 being a strong end to the story. The DCeased Universe as a whole will easily go down as one of the best stories in DC Comics modern era.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10