DC ROUND-UP: Failed heroes aplenty in The Last God #1 and DCeased #6

This week: Readers get several glimpses of what happens when heroes fail in The Last God #1 and DCeased #6.

Note: the reviews below contain spoilers. If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation on the comics in question, check out the bottom of the article for our final verdict.

The Last God #1

Writer: Philip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Riccardo Federici
Colorists: Sunny Gho with Dean White
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Cover artist: Kai Carpenter

I’m a high fantasy nerd, and have been most of my life. I’ve played iterations of Dungeons and Dragons or the games that came after them for the past twenty years. I was kicked out of my house my senior year of high school for going to the second Lord of the Rings movie. Fantasy has always been in my blood, and recently horror based fantasy stories and campaigns have been one of my favorite sub-genres. So it was without hesitation when it was announced that The Last God jumped right to the top of my anticipated books list. It sounded like it was going to be exactly my style of book, and it was the first book I dug into this week.

Right from the jump we’re immersed in this world. Riccardo Federici’s art hearkens back to the covers of the fantasy novels and Magic the Gathering cards of my youth. His monsters are terrifying and imposing. His heroes are larger than life and awe inspiring. Sunny Gho and Dean White provide colors reminiscent of colored pencils and is a perfect feel for the story.

The story itself is also gripping, giving us the little we need to be taken into this world, but leaving enough mystery to explore through the rest of the series. Phillip Kennedy Johnson has given us interesting and very flawed characters in the Godslayers, and a horrifying enemy in the Plague of Flowers. He set the world so perfectly that i want to see more stories set in the world. I want to see the Rivermen fell the dragons of old. I want to explore the Guild Eldritch. Learn more about the Aelvan nations. I truly hope The Last God #1 is just the start of a long and fruitful series of stories set in this world.

Verdict: Buy

DCeased #6

Writer: Tom Taylor
Pencilers: Trevor Hairsine and Neil Edwards
Inker: Stefano Gaudiano
Colorist: Rain Berodo
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Cover artist: Mark Brooks

Two stories about failed heroes this week, and both focus on an enemy that is not quite zombies. Unlike The Last God, the setting of DCeased is intimately familiar to comics fans. It’s a DC Universe not far removed from the one that we read week in and out. Its the same heroes and villains posturing against each other, the same morality play we see every month. But when survival is on the line, what do your standard definitions of good and evil mean?

At the beginning of the month Tom Taylor left the readers with the worst case scenario. Superman, the world’s greatest protector, had been infected with this zombie anti-life virus, and in taking time to say his sad goodbyes to his family, the virus had time to take hold and doom the planet. What followed was a desperation play.

Hairsine and Edwards sell the horror and hopelessness in this issue with an expert ease.This is a world that has seen hero after hero fall, and is doomed to see more of the same before everything is done. The art is just unsettling enough to tear us away from what we know, and keep us on our toes until the end of the story.

For the second time, Taylor has taken us on an excursion with familiar but different characters, where the world we know is just a little bit changed from what we expect, and for the second time he has shined with this task. Both Injustice and DCeased gave us very good stories with DC characters, and both had extremely satisfying conclusions.

Verdict: Buy

Round-Up

• Tales from the Dark Multiverse: The Death of Superman #1 feels like it was written just for me. Superman #75 was my very first comic, and it has led to a lifelong passion. I was skeptical of this issue, because nobody from the original saga was involved, and I have big feelings about the story. I was very impressed by the turns the story took, and astonished by how close Brad Walker and Norm Rapmund were able to mimic the styles of Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding, especially in the Doomsday fight.
• Harleen #2 wasn’t as good as the first issue for me, though it remained absolutely beautiful. I think my biggest problem with it is just that I’m really tired of the abusive Joker and Harley Quinn relationship, and while the first issue built toward that, this one leaned all the way into it.
• Batman Annual #1 was actually a lot of fun. Tom King‘s annuals have been really good, while the rest of his Batman run has been hit or miss for me, with more misses than hits. The only thing I didn’t love about this issue was the cursive lettering by Clayton Cowles was a little tough to read at times.

Miss any of our earlier reviews? Check out our full archive!