Runner Up: Absolute Carnage #2 – Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Frank Martin and Clayton Cowles
God is Here.
After the events of the last issue there aren’t enough words to describe just how hopeless things are looking for anyone who has ever worn a symbiote.
Spider-Man and venom have been backed into a corner by Carnage and his horde of infected inmates at the Ravencroft Asylum. With no other options Eddie decides it best to break out and punches a hole through the wall for a tactical retreat. Eddie is typically known for his ability to brute force his way through any problem, but Carnage is a new monster altogether and as he sees Spider-Man running out of energy, he gives into the fear that they might die.
In the past, the combined might of Spider-Man and Venom has been more than enough to combat Cletus Kasady. Even when Cletus had help, he still couldn’t hold a candle to the heroes, but now, they’re almost low tier by comparison.
Spider-Man notes that he’s almost out of web fluid, so there’s no way that they’re swinging out of there, so Eddie and the Symbiote utilize one of their badass upgrades, spreads his wings and flies out of Ravencroft with Peter screaming frantically “WHATISGOINGONRIGHTNOWIHATEALLOFIT!” They then land on a roof in the city, defeated and horrified that they may not be able to stop Carnage this time.
Spider-Man says that he’ll try to get a hold of Wolverine and Captain America and Eddie says that he’ll go find any of the lowlifes that have been Symbiotes and the two split to complete their missions. Carnage chooses not to follow after them, instead he waits and plots. This issue then turns into a bit of a catch up game for the other tie in issues while Carnage gloats to Norman that everything is running smoothly and that the world will be painted red soon enough.
Ryan Stegman absolutely smashes the art in this issue with absolutely killer detail, expressions of fear and disgusting visuals, especially in Carnage’s underground lair – The sprawling mass of symbiotic flesh that covers New York’s sewage system, packed full of infected humans is a dreadful sight. In the beginning of the issue, Stegman drew a splash page of Carnage with other panels overlaid, showing one of his eyes of madness and the decayed flesh that’s absolutely under the symbiote. It’s an absolutely terrifying sight that set the tone of this horror show.
Not only were these shots great, but Stegman kills one of the moments that happens in the Miles Morales tie-in where Miles and Scorpion (Mac Gargan) fight off the infected hordes trying to take Gargan’s spine. In the tie-in, the art is more subdued and less violent, but here, Stegman turns it into something to get squeamish over. Gargan tries to abandon Miles to fight the infected alone, but is thrown back into the fight by Venom.
Unfortunately, Carnage is there waiting to pounce. He plunges a tendril into Mac’s back and DIGS around to get that spine. There’s no need to leave anything to the imagination as the blood spurts out, Gargan screams in agony and Kasady looks like he’s having the goddamned time of his life. Mayer and Martin’s colors and inks really sell just how violent all of this is. It’s almost gross just how close they get the color right and how dark the scene is. Miles swoops in to save him, but… no good deed goes unpunished.
Absolute Carnage absolutely does what it set out to do. I have never been more afraid for the Marvel Universe than I am right now. Of course, there have been universal threats, but with how close and personal this feels and the looming feeling of dread knowing that Knull is THIS close to returning is mortifying. Normally a villain will just kill a hero or destroy them and whatnot, but Carnage wants nothing but massacre. If there’s not torture and blood then what is it all worth?
Everything that Cates and Stegman have been building to has lead us here. To say that it’s beginning to lay off would be an understatement. The dividends of fear are fore more exponential than anyone could have anticipated and this will likely go down as one of the greatest Venom/Carnage stories ever written. Absolute High Recommend.
Best of this Week: Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety One-Shot – Clay McCleod Chapman, Brian Level, Jordan Boyd and Travis Lanham
God is Here.
Riot, Lasher, Agony and Phage – four of the symbiotes created by the Life Foundation had been fused together in the body of a War Dog since the incidents of Carnage USA (2012). They hadn’t been seen in years, but now that Carnage’s plot is in full swing, the formerly heroic (?) Symbiotes have been twisted and turned to Knull’s will.
The book begins with the War Dog sitting in the middle of the street in a small Colorado town, hearing the sounds of a child crying. Slobbering with flies buzzing around him, the dog walks over to the crying child and we learn that her name is Sadie. Sadie is lamenting the impending divorce of her mother and father and she’s crying about the fact that they don’t seem to care about how this is affecting their kids as Sadie has a younger brother as well. She vents to the Dog, wishing that they could stay in their home and stay a family while panels of her mother and father screaming at each other at either side of the pages.
Sadie invites the dog in for a little while and as she goes to pack, the dog listens to the mother and father arguing and the horror ensues in an amazing page. It shows the slow and terrifying transformation of the dog into a fleshy, toothy monster as its face and skin stretches back to the point of tearing and tendrils begin to protrude from it’s back. It’s almost disgusting to the point of hearing the sloshy and squirmy noises of the beast as it roars, soon to consume the family.
We get our late title card and cut to Sadie going up to the attic to grab her brother, Billy, and show him the dog. Unfortunately, elation turns to horror as they come to find their father pinned to the ceiling by the slimy and slithering mess of symbiotic fluid as their mother looks on in cold fear. He is soon absorbed into the form of Riot as the panel layout shows as a small spiral as the symbiote enters his eyes nose and mouth before he is shown as an absolutely terrifying beast, the father half absorbed and looking on with wide eyes as Riot says “Come to daddy,” to the children.
Their mother screams at them to run away as she too is attacked and taken over by the Agony Symbiote. The chase begins as they kids try to get away from the possessed bodies of their mother and father, who plead with them, saying that they can finally be together again, a family. One of their neighbors knocks on the door and asks about the screaming. When Sadie tries to scream for help, Agony sprays acid in his face and we have to sit and watch in horror as his face dissolves, melting with a gross hiss as he screams in death. Sadie manages to hide herself and Billy in the attic until Riot sniffs them out and breaks in.
Sadie and Billy seem to know a little bit about Symbiotes and she cranks the music on her radio loud and it manages to do little but peel the symbiote away a little bit, revealing her father before they crush the radio. They crash through the ceiling and the siblings make their way to the bathroom, listening to their “Dad” taunt them about being a family again, if only they’d just join him. Sadie and Billy hide in the bathroom, lying in the tub as it drips with an eerie SPLCH sound. Sadie tells Billy that everything will be okay and as we all know, it is never okay as Phage drips right onto Billy’s head and infects him.
Riot, Phage and the unbonded Lasher converge on her and she uses a lighter and hairspray as a last resort to weaken them. It soon runs out and she is forced to run downstairs, right into the arms of Agony who has prepared the body of the neighbor as dinner.
The dinner scene itself is absolutely terrifying and combines the worst of the Texas Chainsaw dinner scene and the recent family dinner from Resident Evil 7. Sadie is bound by Lasher and crying as she is forced to listen to the rest of her possessed family say their grace to Knull. They act like a normal family, but with their jagged teeth, spiralled faces and red speech bubbles, nothing is wholesome. Everything is dangerous. Everything is Carnage.
They begin to pour a little bit of their symbiotes into a glass of possibly wine and try to offer it to Sadie. As it gets close to her lips, she smashes the glass and stabs Lasher, freeing her for just a moment. She runs and runs, the door right in her sights and repeats that she’s gonna make it. She’s going to make it!
She doesn’t.
I didn’t expect Separation Anxiety to be any good. I thought it would have been a cash grab on one of those old Symbiote stories, but this was an excellent lesson in horror. The writing is chilling and the art is absolutely disgusting in the best ways. Brian Level did an amazing job in hi layouts with the paneling being some of the best parts of this as almost every scene weaves itself as either something formless or an object pertinent to the moment. Chapman captured the hope and terror of child fear like a champ, making you root for Billy and Sadie as they tried to make their futile escape only for it to be ripped from their hands like everything in Absolute Carnage so far.
If this is the quality that all of these tie-ins are going to have, then I am all aboard for this ride. HIGH Recommend.
Best of this Week: DCeased #4 – Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo and Saida Temofonte
This book went out with a bang and it’s only been four issues of the six!
Captain Atom is one of the strongest heroes of the DC Universe. He’s right on par with Superman and under the reigns of the government, he’s an asset that they have complete authority over. The Atom, likely Ray Palmer, has dived into the body of an infected girl to see if there were a way to solve the crisis before it gets any worse, but then he goes dark. Captain Atom tells Amanda Waller to just way for The Atom to chime back in, but she orders him to go outside and clean the mess up.
He does so, but soon realizes that something is horribly wrong. The next thing we see is The Atom tearing his way through Captain Atom’s body, infecting him with the Anti-Life Virus.
We cut to the aftermath of the last issue with Clark bringing Martha Kent to the Daily Planet, crying about Jonathan as the entire Kent Family embraces each other over the loss. One of the big themes of this issue is the loss of family as there will he two big examples later on, each feeling more devastating than the last.
Soon after Superman returns, he’s ready to go back out there and rescue more people, but Dinah reminds him of the danger everyone could be in if he were to become infected. He counters that with the fact that he’s been using x-ray vision to counter the effects of the virus as it’s transmitted through screens. Lois makes a transmission to any hero or villain still alive and tells them to all come to the Daily Planet building.
It’s one of the few bits of hope that we get in this issue as we see that some people have boarded up their homes, some of the Titans are still alive and even Lex Luthor is listening in. Best of all, the transmission makes it to Themyscira and Wonder Woman makes her presence felt as she tells her mother and an arriving Mera that she’s going to Metropolis.
In Keystone City, Superman and Green Lantern Canary find Flash and Kid Flash who are doing their best to stay down as them becoming infected would be a nightmare for the world. In Gotham, Harley is being rescued by Ivy, who kills the infected versions of Catwoman, Huntress, Batwoman and Batgirl. I really liked this because, on top of finally getting one over on the Joker, Harley is saved by the true love of her life, albeit in a gory and bloody manner that I’d hoped I’d never have to see for some of my other favorite characters. But they do make for a really adorable couple.
Back in Metropolis, however, things have taken a horrible turn for the worse. Hairsine struts his stuff in an amazing double page spread that shows an infected Giganta tearing her way through the city like a Kaiju. She looks absolutely monstrous with a giant scar running down her face, eyes and clothes caked with the blood of untold tens or hundreds of people that she’s likely killed or eaten. With only Black Lightning, his daughters, Green Arrow, Robin and Superboy to defend the Planet, things look incredibly dire.
That is, until a surprise Batwing appears and distracts her… only to get knocked out of the sky, but saved by a returning Canary, Superman and the two Flashes. Wonder Woman also appears and prepares to cut the head off of the infected Giganta as she is knocked over by Superman. However, he stops her, pleading that there may still be something left there.
The little bit of hope that he may have had is crushed as Cyborg reappears and blows a hole straight through her head, explaining that none of them are alive anymore. While it’s a mostly clean shot, the few bits and blood that do fall out feel gnarly as hell and her dead eyed expression is enough to send chills down the spine.
While the other heroes are talking, the Batwing’s hatch opens and Damian somehow expects it to be Batman only to be met by Alfred. He hugs his grandson and tells him Bruce’s last words before his untimely passing and we’re brought back to another tearful embrace.
*HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD*
But this somber moment doesn’t last as Hawkgirl appears, crashing down into Diana’s arms, telling everyone that Captain Atom is infected and that he’s about to explode. Superman and Wonder Woman do their best to contain it, but the sheer power of Captain Atom proves too much as his eruption destroyed Washington DC, then Baltimore and eventually…Metropolis where Black Lightning tells his daughters to close their eyes as he embraces them, the bright light engulfing them all.
*SPOILERS OVER: PRESS ON*
DCeased has gone way beyond the gimmick that a lot of us thought it might have been. Exploring themes like the loss of family, love and hope versus hopelessness, we see these characters placed in a new light where they have to adapt to a harrowing situation that no one was prepared for. Black Canary taking over as Green Lantern after Hal gets infected is a new and fresh take for her and she absolutely fits the role like a glove. Superman having to dissociate in order to keep himself focused on saving people gives him more depth as it clashes with who he is as a hero. Diana is far more willing to cut the head off of Giganta where normally she would try to talk her down or knock her out, she’s ready for the high stake over the situation. Also seeing Damian actually show his feelings, crying as Alfred hands him the briefcase of Batman’s gear, gives a lot more humanity as he’s been showing a lot of it because this is legit one of the first times he’s been truly afraid and didn’t have a plan.
Trevor Hairsine’s art by itself is enough to sell the book on. It has a flavor of horror that hearkens back to some of DCs Vertigo stories, but also has the color and flair of normal superhero stories. The feelings of despair are very clearly shown and the gore, for how little there is in this issue is still unsettling to see. It’s all very high quality and appropriate for the story. Unlike most Marvel Zombies books, I’m actually scared for everyone here and I love it. High recommend.
Runner Up: Justice League Dark Annual #1 – James Tynion IV, Ram V, Guillem March, Arif Prianto and Rob Leigh
The world needs more Swamp Thing stories.
This annual was dark, far darker than most of the Justice League Dark tales so far because of how self contained it was and the sheer weight of the situation therein. Sure, it wasn’t a world ending cataclysm like the one they just stopped, but that doesn’t make it any less horrible. I’d never heard of Ram V before, but their storytelling, combined with Guillem March’s art makes me feel like I’ve been pulled back into the old days of Vertigo.
Magic is broken. After Wonder Woman and Zatanna used the Ruby of Life to repair the damage they did to magic after defeating the Lords of Order, magic itself is repairing itself, but in a manner that throws the old rules out of the window.
Consequently, the Parliament of Trees has been destroyed and now Swamp Thing has no one to answer to as the new Parliament of Flowers is seeking a new champion. After confronting Constantine about coming on as a consultant for the League, the con-man convinces Swamp Thing to go on the search for the new Avatar before he loses his humanity like Swampy did. Swamp thing tries to act like he doesn’t care, but goes off to find the man.
The story descends into something of a tragedy as we’re introduced to Oleander Sorrel, a flower botanist, and his wife Natasha.
What makes this story so great is that, like the best Swamp Thing stories, it focuses on other characters and their own personal situations. The pair suffer in a broken marriage after the death of their son which causes Natasha to leave Oleander and himself delving deeper into his work, later resulting in his death. He becomes the Avatar of Flowers, but refuses to let go of his humanity after Swamp Thing tries to convince him that he is no longer a man.
He seeks out his wife and watches over her until Jason Woodrue, a very old DC villain that really hasn’t been seen since the early days of The New 52, whispers in Oleanders ear. Oleander listens and suddenly a boy that looks very close to their son appears at the door. Natasha is happy, then another child appears and another until Natasha is absolutely blind with love for her new kids.
But not all gifts are good. There’s no way that Woodrue doesn’t get something out of this himself. There’s always an underlying plot and Swamp Thing manages to uncover what really happened to Oleander. The fire that killed him was actually a pool of caustic that he laid in his flower bed and kills himself in. Oleander did die in the pool, but his memory lived on in the flowers that he planted. This revelation stuns Oleander and the children he created out of flowers begin to dissipate. He grows weary, knowing that Swamp Thing was right and Woodrue manages to convince him to rest for a while before feasting upon his flower flesh, regaining his own connection to The Green.
This annual definitely fit the title. It was Dark, not only from a storytelling standpoint, but also visually. Natasha’s post crying face was heart wrenching to see and Gullem March squeezed every bit of emotion out of it that he could. Her lips quivered, her eye makeup ran just a bit and there was a hopelessness that could be felt. Oleander’s transformation was a beautiful kind of macabre with his appearance, composed entirely of flowers, looking very sinewy and skeletal at the same time. Colors are very warm, juxtaposed against an ever growing sense of dread that culminated in the most haunting scene of Oleander growing more and more flower children. The shot is perfect as Oleander is shown to be a hapless man whose only intent is to make his wife happy, but his methods are horrifying almost wrong.
When the children begin to disappear following the revelation, light is shown on them while the background remains dark. Their petals waft away with the night winds as Natasha has to watch in horror, likely to be absolutely broken by the experience of losing her kids. Woodrue eating Oleander afterwards, however, is brutal. The color shifts to a deep red and Woodrue furiously munches on the flowers, gnawing and tearing his way into Oleander’s body and emerging as a new creature unto himself.
I haven’t been able to find anything about this Ram V person, but I want to read more of their work. This book was absolutely stunning and I hope that it does well enough to warrant another Swamp Thing mini-series or full run. Amidst the cancellation of the show after just one season, it’s definitely something the world needs more of. This story was chilling, well paced and had a great focus on someone else while keeping it’s main star tangential as he should be in things like these. This is a definite high recommend from me.
Best of this Week: Wolverine Vs. Blade – Marc Guggenheim, Dave Wilkins and Travis Lanham
It is quite possible to just have TOO MUCH AWESOME in one book.
Wolverine Vs. Blade had been advertised for a while, but that didn’t stop it from hitting me like a train from out of nowhere. Hile the story is very one note, it still fits both of these characters and the art elevates it to a level that I haven’t been excited about from Marvel since Clayton Crain was doing Carnage USA and X-Force. It blended the line between almost 3D and photorealistic and the writing turned this into an awesome buddy-hero story with hilarity and badass banter.
Taking place in Wolverine’s X-Force days, prior to Avengers vs. X-Men and before Blade became a full time member of the Avengers, we open to Blade and Wolverine in the middle of taking down a Cult of vampires known as “The Creed.” The book wastes no time on the banter or the action as Wolverine makes a nod to one of their previous interactions where blade stuck him full of Vampire blood while slicing a vampire head into pieces.
Wolverine shines in these opening pages in the always badass black and grey. His face is alive with burning vampire hating rage, showcasing his sharp canines and HEAVILY muscled body as he slashes and slices through vampires with the reckless abandon that he’s known for. The vampire LOOK scary, but Wolverine IS SCARY, especially covered in their blood and surrounded by the still burning remains of their bodies.
After thinking they’ve completely torn through the cult, Blade offers Wolverine a marshmallow from the fire that he’s about to set. Wolverine thinks he’s joking, but then, in a moment that I regret laughing heartily at, Blade shows off a single white marshmallow and gives us ONE of the best shit eating grin in this entire book.
Cutting to six months later, Wolverine is being attacked by very minor villain, Dragoness, who has been turned into a vampire. For no other reason, I think, than to flex his art skills and give me something to fawn over, Wilkins draws Wolverine standing with his back to a window and arms flexed so hard that I almost thought his veins were going to EXPLODE. He was Huge Jackedman levels of vascular and needed to rehydrate like hell, but I couldn’t look away from how ridiculous and magnificent he looked. However, he cuts through one of Dragoness’ wings and sends her spiraling into a conveniently placed piece of sharpened wood. Soon after, he finds the item that she was fighting him for; a mysterious box radiating with magic.
Elsewhere in Germany, Blade is taking down a Vampire Count who fires at him with eye beams that curiously look like Cyclops’. Blade allows the vampire to think he has him on the ropes before setting off explosive charges that trap the vampire under rubble. Blade is the undisputed king of banter in this issue as he offers to pick up a rock or two before the sun rises and kills the vampire for a little bit of information. When the vampire says he’d rather die, Blade gives another grin as the sun rises and burns the vamp to ash.
Both men are given information from their sources, Wolverine in Doctor Strange and Blade in some fellow he dangles off the side of a building. They learn about the prophecy of a Vampire Messiah named Varkis. Logan sees a pictogram that looks like him fighting Blade and Blade learns that Varkis may be a mutant. Armed with their information, the two make their ways separately to South America for a final confrontation.
The fight is epic.
Both men ripple with brutal and blood energy and their musculature is a sight to behold. Blade impales Wolverine with his sword, but Wolverine, being the badass that he is, rips it out and slashes blade across the face, destroying his glasses. Wolverine pounces at him again, but Blade hits him with an anti-vampire glave and Wolverine stands confused. The two work out their equal confusion until Varkis appears, looking like Wolverine, but still with bone claws.
He tells the pair that he was created from a portion of Wolverine that was sliced off and grown using magic as Wolverine has left many parts all over the world, but none have spawned a whole person. Wolverine tries to take on Varkis while Blade cuts through more lesser vampires until Wolverine remembers the picture and suggests he and blade recreate the battle ON VARKIS. Wolvie aims low while Blade aims high and Varkis is thoroughly killed.
Blade gives his last shit eating grin as he says he forgot the marshmallows this time after they blow up another temple. It’s a nice call back to earlier and the perfect cherry to top this wonderful book.
This book was a treasure. Wilkins art was amazingly dynamic, making every fight scene feel like it was brutal, bloody and horrifically violent. His colors straddle the line between very dark and amazingly bright when they need to be. The red from Wolverine’s eyes in the X-Force costume stand out alongside the red of Blade’s sunglasses as they glean with their movements and create little motion lines as they go. Most of the book takes place during the night and Wilkins makes great use of lighting to set the mood, giving a real goth or Castlevania-esque feel to things.
Guggenheim is in top form for the characterization of Blade of Wolverine. Logan is no-nonsense and violent to a terrifying degree as he always should be. Blade is snarky and effortlessly cool like Wesley Snipes before him. If there were to be a mini-series between these two, I would love it if this team came together again, but for a One-Shot, this was absolutely fantastic.
If you want to see amazing art and basic story that still is a riot to enjoy, this book is definitely made for you. Dave Wilkins wows on every page and Guggenheim brings his skills back to the best of the mid-2000s Marvel style. If it did have any pitfalls, it would have to be that it should have been even longer. High recommend!
Best of this Week: DCeased #3 – Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo and Saida Temofonte
Hope is dead.
Tim Drake, Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne lie dead on the floor of the Batcave as Alfred makes his way to the Batwing, unable to mourn their deaths and wanting to help stop the zombie threat. Harley Quinn finally gets the catharsis that’s she’s been looking for by pumping an infected Joker full of lead. With her face full of glee, it soon turns into a look of determination as Batgirl, Catwoman, Huntress and Batwoman are set upon her, bloody and rabid with infection.
These first few scenes are horrific and shocking to the extent of which this infection is spreading. The Batfamily is normally the most prepared for things like this to happen, but in one fell swoop, they’re almost all gone. That’s the brilliance of Tom Taylor’s plotting with this story, the inability to know what the hell is going to happen next. Batman would have come up with a cure, a plan, but with Tim and Dick being infected and him unable to fully prevent himself from succumbing to his wounds, the world’s greatest planner is no longer a factor. Barbara would have been an excellent second, but any hope of that was lost the moment she showed up covered in blood.
The world has turned to hell and even Superman can’t bring himself to smile or be hopeful as he looked into the faces of friends and companions, their eyes replaced with the rabid rage of infection and none of the love that they once had. He removes the infected from the Daily Planet office and shores up defenses on the outside before promising Jonthan that everything will be okay before he flies back home to Smallville.
The best way to describe Clark’s emotions as he makes his way through the Planet is hope being replaced by despair. The captions say it best, the hardest part of dealing with the infected is dissociating. These people are no longer Clark’s colleagues. They’re rageful monsters bent on killing, thankfully none of them can make a scratch on him, but the internal scars are far more painful than anything on the outside. Even when he promises that he’ll be back to his son, there’s this underlying feeling of doubt. We don’t know that he will, he doesn’t know that he will, but he’s Superman, right? He has to have hope?
Elsewhere, Garth and Mera are working to make his magic stronger before noticing the sky grow darker, dark with blood. They watch as Aquaman tears through Atlantis’ warriors, infecting and spilling their blood as it flows through the water and gets Garth. Mera barely escapes, but the fear on her face is palpable, she knows that all is lost.
Even Atlantis isn’t impervious to all of this, granted it’s because Aquaman was attacked by infected diving out of a boat, but that doesn’t make things any less terrifying. This also helps us to learn that the infection can spread through blood and given how fast Aquaman and Tempest can swim through water, and how far spread the infection already is, nothing is safe.
On his way to Smallville, Superman does his best to save anyone not infected along the way. He catches up to Jefferson Pierce, aka Black Lightning, and his daughters, telling them to head to the planet before reaching the home of the Kents. Martha is okay, but Jon… Superman makes one final act of kindness before flying his mother to safety, leaving any hope that he might have had in the barn with his father.
That’s what I loved about this book. It is hopelessly nihilistic because of how tragic everything is and how all of it can even break Superman. Hairsine’s art invokes the feeling of terror that I felt the first time I watched 28 Days Later, seeing these ridiculously fast and violent killing machines tear through everything in their path. The shading on everything makes the inkers inks feel even more dark and bleak especially as Aquaman is slicing through Atlantis in a nice double page spread with a black background.
DCeased is definitely much better than I initially gave it credit for. With Hairsine’s art and Taylor’s bleak writing, this is definitely worth checking out, high recommend!
Best of this Week: Batman: Damned #3 – Brian Azzarello, Lee Bermejo and Jared K. Fletcher
It ended as it began; with a fall.
Barman: Damned has finally reached its epic conclusion and it was absolutely worth it. Brian Azzarello wrote this to be his most haunting and dark story to date since Joker and Lee Bermejo gave everything he had to make the art in this book better than almost everything in the previous issues.
Constantine starts the issue with a monologue about control and how no human truly has it. We’re surrounded in a constant maelstrom of chaos and those that seek true control know this fact better than everyone. Obviously as this speech is being made, Batman is the one being referred to as a heart forms from the body of a bat inside of a decayed skeleton.
This imagery, gruesome and disturbing, let’s on more than it appears, making a lot more sense by the end of the book. Batman awakens in a coffin and struggles to get out before being saved by a gigantic Swmap Thing as his roots break into the coffin and lift the grave from the ground, mostly destroying the cemetery. Swamp Thing is a very ominous force in this story, staying large and speaking slowly, with some questionable statements about what’s truly at stake in the search to solve how the Joker died.
Constantine shows up and immediately starts bickering with Swamp Thing with the Avatar of the Green telling Batman not to trust the con-man as a mysterious figure works their way through the darkness, bringing angel statues to life. Striking as much fear as the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who, the statues spring to life and attack Constantine only for Swamp Thing and Batman to fight them off. The scream for Batman to be theirs, the lettering indicating that the being that had been speaking to Batman in the past was talking through them. One of them creates a nasty gash on Batman’s face, leading towards his mouth and he smashes it and chases after the woman in the shadows. She whispers of fates written, promises made and secrets kept, which sends Batman spiraling out and causes the angel statues to fall.
Constantine jokes about beating the Angels and Batman says that he wishes that he could find answers to what’s plaguing him and Gotham City to which Constantine relies of the veil between life and death being thin as he takes him to someone that may be able to help. The pair arrive at a club hidden from humanity, but not those that have magical knowledge or seek it. Zatanna appears and, at Constantine’s request, acts as a medium with Deadman joining them all as just a guest.
Things start to take an even darker tone as Zatanna’s spirit calling appears to be very painful, washing the pages in a harsh red. Batman believes that she’s calling the spirit of the Joker or the woman that’s been following him and instead the spirit of a young Bruce Wayne appears, pulling Bruce, Constantine and Deadman in the body of a rat into Bruce’s memories. There, they see the young Bruce being caressed by a horrifying Enchantress who reveals that Bruce made a deal with her. I think all the way back in the first issue, she would make him fearless and the only payment that she would need was his tears. I think the implication was that she had some sort of hand in the death of the Waynes and symbolically Bruce Wayne died as well.
I have never been more afraid of Enchantress that I have of Bermejo’s interpretation of her. Her hair is scraggly, her mody is meatless, all skin and bones. Her fingers are gnarled and her face… mannequin-like with her mouth connecting to her eyes, all of it hollow with terror and malice with her teeth falling out and the skin cracking, almost like porcelain. Deadman bites her foot to distract her while Constantine picks up Joe Chill’s gun and shoots her three time. To me, this seems to be a clear mirror of the deaths of the Waynes as she is shot in the head, chest and in one last unseen place. Thomas was shot in the head, Martha in the chest and we never see how the Child Bruce dies, but with Enchantress’ death, Bruce’s spirit is released from her deal.
Batman sees his dead body and thinks that he’s dead and Constantine says that it’s likely the past that he needs to let go of that’s dead. Batman rebuffs him and decides to head to the one place that he hasn’t since going on this adventure with Constantine, the Gotham City Morgue. Constantine departs and tells Batman to be careful what he says to some “Almighty force.” Once inside, Batman meets the man in the green hood that ran away from him in the first issue who tells him that he “fought hell for his soul and stands before him in judgement,” and his identity is made clear; He is The Spectre, the embodiment of the Rage of God in the form of a man.
*Spoilers Ahead if you wish to read on your own and don’t want to know how things turn out*
It is here that we understand the grand picture of what happened and how Joker dies. In what turns out to be their last fight, The Joker simply stabs him. One stab to the left side of his body, likely puncturing the lung, and he knew that the injury was fatal. He fights the Joker, sending him over the ledge of The Gotham Bridge where he holds on for dear life. Batman holds out his hand, thinking of saving him because that’s what he does… but in fear of what Joker will do if there’s no Batman around, he closes his hand and the Joker plummets to his death, leaving Batman to die of his wounds.
This was Batman’s figurative fall. His moment of embracing fear, breaking his deal with Enchantress and allowing her to try and take his soul, was what caused all of this. He chose weakness and all of Gotham suffered for it, but Heaven was watching too. A drawer with an unknown body is opened and Batman is told that he will be judged as he has judged others and after peeking under the white sheet over the body, he laments that he wishes the Joker were still alive before his soul is sucked into the drawer and presumably the body.
The next scene we see if the fall from the start of the series and a Joker with much shorter hair rising from the water and laughing. I believe that this is a reincarnated Joker with Bruce’s now tortured soul at the helm of it as we see a final shot of Joker running his hands through his hir much like in The Killing Joke as in the final page, the heart from the opening is paid off as the final bits of panel bordering resembles a heartbeat monitor as they form the laugh “Ha” over and over.
This book was a stellar package of amazing. Bermejo’s art and his photorealistic style continues to amaze in his representations of our favorite characters. Constantine looks like a lithe snarky prick as he always should. Swamp Thing looks imposing and terrifying as more of a formless creature of The Green with a face that occasionally forms fists and his wooded, mossy appearance almost makes you feel like you touch him. As previously stated, Enchantress was horrifying and made to feel like more of a threat than she ever has. Zatanna was more beautiful than her first appearance, if only because she was in her classic costume.
Everything had an unsettling tinge of horror to it. The bat in the beginning as he opens to form the heart was very creepy. Swamp Thing, while being a good guy, still came off as terrifying with his glowing red eyes and lack of mouth. Zatanna’s spirit summoning aroused more thoughts of possession than anything else has either her face or the faces of the spirits were superimposed over hers. Bruce, as he was entering his memories slumped over, looks like he’s died, especially with the page being colored red.
Brian Azzarello crafted a great horror mystery that tied in so much of the magical community that Batman does his best to avoid and what circumstances would cause him to fall from grace. Batman comes off as heroic still, but he’s unfocused, something is in his head. He’s uncertain, especially because he doesn’t want to acknowledge what he did, so much so that it’s blocked from his memories. It’s a head trip to read because by the end you feel an unfortunate feeling of disappointment in the Dark Knight.
He’s supposed to be a hero, standing for justice and never giving in to his fears, but watching him close his fist and seeing the Joker’s fingers disappear from the ledge just sends a shock to the senses. Watching him take this journey, as Constantine keeps him from the Morgue as he was originally supposed to go to first, seems like he’s suffering through trials or stages of grief after what he’s done.
This story is truly the quality of what I expect from DC Black Label. With this stellar debut and it’s amazing ending, I only hope that future releases are this good. Batman: Last Knight and Superman: Year One have had amazing first issues and as long as they remain consistently good like Batman: Damned then this imprint will go down in history as one of the greats in prestige books. High recommend.
Best of this Week: The Batman Who Laughs #6 – Scott Snyder, Jock, David Baron and Mike Cipriano
Gotham City is Laughing.
The Batman Who Laughs mini-series continues to be absolutely terrifying in every aspect of its creation. From the horror styled art, to even the idea that Batman has to become his greatest enemy to defeat them, this book has it all in spades while at the same time continuing to make TBMWL one of the more scary of Batman’s villains.
Wearing the Mask of TBMWL, Bruce activates his Last Laugh Protocol, sending out drones to spread an anti-Joker serum in the case that the Grim Knight and TBMWL succeed in their plans. He also sends Jim Gordon and his son James to gear up for the coming fight.
As Batman taunts his foe by teleporting another Bruce Wayne away before TBMWL can kill him, the Evil One notes that he knows that Batman can see the thousands of Bruce Wayne’s in the various universes. Bruce Waynes that have married, had kids or been able to grow old because they found true happiness, but our Batman says that the one common thread they have is good hair, joking in the face of danger.
Bruce tells the evil Batman to meet him at Wayne Manor for their final confrontation and it is amazing. Jock and Snyder do their best to portray this fight from two perspectives; the normal one and Batman’s as he sees TBMWL as a distorted and disturbing monster. Meanwhile Gordon and James don two prototype Beyond Suits and confront the Grim Knight.
The Batmen fight is an absolute treat to read. Smaller panels with normal points of view show the fight as it is, with TBMWL in his leather suit wielding a chain with a Batblade at the end. The larger panels, however show what Batman sees; TBMWL twisted, teeth jagged, spikes intense, awash in David Baron’s bright reds. He’s dangerous.
Bruce gives his all in the fight, punching and kicking with desperation and using his ace in the hole, a young Bruce Wayne, as bait for the Evil One to go after. At the same time, The Gordons are getting their asses kicked by The Grim Knight who uses mind games to get James to betray his father.
Earlier in the issue, Jim and James had a heart to heart where James tried to ask his father to complete the treatment that would stop him from becoming a psychopath again, but Jim says that he doesn’t trust James anymore after all he’s done. He notes that his human face has always been a mask and that someday he might trust his son again, but now is too soon. He may have been right as The Grim Knight starts choking him as James watches.
TBMWL, however, does not take the bait and chooses to continue his assault. He slashes and slices at Batman before throwing a Batarang in his eye. He says that the happiest Batman, calling back to his previous statements, is the one he’s about to stab in the heart with the last bit of his own Joker serum and he gives Bruce a final coup de gras.
This penultimate issue absolutely justifies Snyder’s decision to bring the count up to seven issues because of how much story there’s left to tell. This issue brings the pain, the intensity and darkness that the best Batman stories are made out of.
Watching Batman spiral down the path to becoming a Joker is heart wrenching, especially as Alfred has to watch it happen. Watching Gordon fail to reconcile with his son is heartbreaking. Watching the Batman Who Laughs continue to win is terrifying.
Jock is a master of his craft and teamed with David Baron, the line art and coloring is a master work of horror and anguish. Even the lettering includes a hidden message capable of inducing dread throughout the run of the book if eagle eyed readers take notice.
Suffice to say, this is a high recommend and the final issue is hotly anticipated.
Runner Up: The Immortal Hulk #19 – Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose, Paul Mounts, Rachelle Rosenberg and Cory Petit
I think I’m going to be sick. Sick with disgust, fear and absolute love for this amazing series and the levels it goes to push the envelope of horror storytelling in a superhero universe.
Beginning with an impressive analogy, foreshadowing the events of the book, a young Captain Fortean is trying to impress a young Betty Ross with the importance of spiders to the ecosystem as they watch a butterfly trapped in its web. He tells her that spiders keep the rest of the insect population in hand so that the world isn’t in chaos. As they drive away, the butterfly escapes from the web.
Continuing the events from the last issue, Hulk is in the middle of battle with RickBomination, who displays an ability to dissolve Hulk’s body parts with his acid. Truly it’s a gruesome display from the fluid splashing off of Hulk’s arms, to the acid dripping from both of Rick’s mouths, to the slop of flesh falling off of Hulk’s hand as it fails to regrow.
Elsewhere, a kill team utilized by Shadow Base is taking care of witnesses and kills one of the hotel staff. This act is witnessed by Jackie McGee, the reporter that’s been following the Hulk and his exploits for the entirety of the series and her new friend: a newly resurrected and terrifying Harpy, Betty Ross-Banner.
Betty’s new form is a thing of nightmares. In her original Harpy form, Betty was a green skinned beast, resembling a centaur/manticore like monster consisting of wings and feathered legs. She was also the Red She-Hulk, pretty much exactly what it sounds like. This new Red Harpy is…something else. With a jaw that seems very snake-ish, the talons of her hands and feet are razor sharp, capable of grappling, ripping and slicing through anything. Her display of violence against the kill team is brutal and horrific.
She rips off heads, tears bodies in half and just strikes fear into the hearts of the men. The expressions on their faces are not unlike any previously seen in the series, but they still carry with them the sheer terror of what they’re facing. Jackie tries her best to stop Betty’s rampage, but her voice is mousy, unheard as Betty goes absolutely mad.
Throughout the book, Betty narrates that everything about her is her own. Her rage, pain and violence is all hers. Her new Harpy form is hers and after years and years being defined by her relationship to Bruce, she has something all on her own again. She is not endlessly loving, she is not forgiving, she is no one’s friend or soulmate and that if she is seen as a monster, then this is the perfect world for her. The truly horrific bit is saved for the end and it is disgusting.
This issue had a big focus and did a great job of reintroducing Betty Ross-Banner in a meaningful way after her “death” at the hands of Bushwacker a few issues earlier. It also teases a release from her role as just Bruce Banner’s love interest and more into her own kind of beast, more ferocious than her Red She-Hulk past. I’m excited for what the future has in store for her and the rest of the Gamma Monsters.
Ty Talks Comics 