Well, I gotta say I approve of the name. Very good with branding. On point, even.
Still, can it live up to Marvel Zombies? Wait, it's not zombies but a plague? Oh, like Contagion! Yeah, that was an ace comic too.
Let's have a quick look at the synopsis...
“I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! It's rider was Death, and Hades was following close behind him.”-Revelation 6:8
A mysterious techno-virus has been released on Earth, infecting 600 million people and turning them instantly into violent, monstrous engines of destruction. The heroes of the DCU are caught completely unprepared for a pandemic of this magnitude and struggle to save their loved ones first…but what happens to the World’s Greatest Heroes if the world ends? New York Times best-selling writer Tom Taylor (INJUSTICE) returns with a terrifying new tale and is joined by artists Trevor Hairsine (LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT) and Stefano Gaudiano (The Walking Dead).
Wait... it's sort of plague zombies but technologically sparked then physically transmitted?
.................Is this like a smartphone STD public awareness campaign??
Greeeeaaaat, I'll just put it here besides the one for Herpes-Bathwater.
Opening up on the Justice League ganging up in the schoolyard to harass Darkseid. Scenes like this make me so thankful for Green Arrow.. like, he is such a welcome relief against the stark stone faces of the rest of the League. Ha! The Uncomfortable Interacting With Others and Emoting League, more like. Wow, I could be a founding member!Seriously though, it's why I was so disappointed with CW's Flash and Green Arrow. Maybe Flash was a bit more like his comic counterpart, but they were both going for the gritty Batman sort of serious hero, but the core part of their character is their cheerful, humorous and understanding, empathetic personality. I get they were trying to avoid going too camp, but when you have to introduce other characters as comic relief when you should be able to have your main character be that - it's not right. It's like how I feel, when Harley Quinn's first cinematic appearance is slugged with her trashy New52 persona instead of her actual personality.
Right, the other thing I wanted to talk about with these opening pages is the fact that every other Justice League comic seems to recycle the whole "OHMIGAWSH BATMAN IS KEEPING TABS ON US! SHOCK HORROR!" I'm not one to normalise this stalky behaviour but it's like.. did they never meet Batman before this? Like, he's openly told them before he has a contingency plan in case any of them go rogue... does this just constantly get retconned?
This is a core part of Batman's character and it's also very important to have someone on the team be prepared, because frankly no one else on the League is going to do it. Like, Flash and Superman and Wonder Woman would never think bad of their colleagues, but then again, how many times have the heroes been corrupted and used against the people they love or the people they've sworn to protect?
Who else is gonna stop a super powered time bomb? A paranoid loner smarty-pants Bat, that's who.
Scene change, and likewise the art shifts dramatically.
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| Harsh, but I like villains being villains |
This panel... no, this whole page made me laugh, but I don't think it was supposed to.
Darkseid talks about summoning Death and has this whole weird plan involving Cyborg and stuff, then he just straight up grabs this death metal Tron robot knight thing when it appears out of the random portal. Like, just no chill. Normally it takes Darkseid like ten hours to get off of his throne and DO SOMETHIN' but here he's like 'yes yes yus yaaaasss' and doing alllllll the things, strutting all the catwalks, picking up the groceries and redecorating the house.. even finding time to feed the pets and bond with the children. It's nice. You do you, Darkseid.
Plus it's weird to see Darkseid speaking to a... Baraka-jawed but certainly more eloquent Desaad.
They're being all scientific and methodical about ... whatever they're doing. Something about taking over the world or somesuch. I personally think that Darkseid wouldn't be happy if the general populace just rolled over and submitted... like, he's a warlord essentially. Anyway... they stab the Black Racer/Dark Knight/Death/whoever with their USB knife but like many people pluggin' in USB's it takes a few times to get it right. In this case, they screw it up royally and all their text messages come to life and start swirling around.
I prefer my zombie and/or infection stories to be more visual than spoken. Particularly here, where the text is kinda hard to read on the whiteout background it's on, we're not sure who is doing the voice-over or how far ahead in the tale they're talking. Plus, it's just too quick, which is a nice indicator that you haven't thought your premise through enough and you want the audience to be shoved through quickly before they realise.
Also... what exactly is the virus? It just looks like brainless dorks using social media...
OHHHHHHH, THEY HIT ME WITH DAT SOCIAL COMMENTARY!~
Well... hang on. Later - well, like ten seconds later people are tearing their faces off because of this virus and the "voice-over" tells me that they're enslaved. So.. they're running wild but still fundamentally enslaved? Is... is this more social commentary.
Back to the comic - Superman visits Big Barda and Scott Free in their home of Appropriate Titles.
He's trying to lead a rescue mission to get Cyborg back from Apokolips then he forgets how good his hearing is compared to like... anyone else, he's like "Can you hear that?" before mysteriously jumping out of a window. Seeing one street of drug crazed junkies tearing their faces off to get the bugs out, he concludes the whole world is in crisis and immediately runs to get his own family.
Now, I don't read the Supersons so I forgot Jon was a think. Damian, is known to me. Point is, I'm not sure how extensive his powers are but he manages to not hear his father super-speeding in, smashing the window and ka-chowing Lois' phone out of his hands. See, I wish they spent more time with the build up to the apocalypse from Apokalips because - how did Superman even know the phones spread it? If it's spread via the internet - are the Supersons playing a straight console game or are they playing online?
And - the art style has changed AGAIN! We're less than 20 pages in at this stage. Calm yourselves!
Alright, Batman's got all this figured out. Although he sure got home fast after that intense battle for the Earth that no-one got to see on paper and may or may not have been near Metropolis? Or is there another prequel or tie in somewhere? I still want to know why Cyborg's systems can grow him back his fleshy body bits. Like, whaaaaat...And just because Batman doesn't like social media doesn't mean he isn't trolling them looking for criminal activity or background data for his files. Plus, he must have one (probably managed by Alfred) for his billionaire playboy persona.
Seriously though, what is the time frame here? Are you telling me DAMIAN of all people was content to sit back and play video games instead of actively kicking Darkseid butt?
Batman is using analog systems (again with that contingency plan) but forgets he's not the only person in the mansion and goes into the kitchen to discover that Alfred has made him a snacc but it's a bit more bloody and teethy than usual.
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| Still no excuse to use nasty language. |
Trouble in Bat-Paradise... both Nightwing and Robin have been infected and just happen to be home to threaten Bat-daddy and Alfie-Boy.
Damian is with the Superfamily and seems a bit more restrained and less.... like Damian than usual?
He even gets comforted by Lois and instead of rejected any attempted coddling he just looks sad.
Superman wants to get the League together but is talking about everything on an end of the world basis. Which it kinda is, but they don't explain how he knows this.
The Short End of the Jester Schtick
As you may have noticed, there is no Harley Quinn in this issue.
I figured I might as well start off at the start so there's some context of what was going on - something I often didn't have when I started off collecting Harley Quinn.
Now, I really felt that this issue could have been slowed down heaps and that it could really benefit from some momentum building. All I got from this is that the virus somehow either spread from Username: PatientZeroLOL who took a photo of Cyborg and somehow got everyone else on the extremely populated street or it's in the cloud somehow and goes from there. Like, would it work if someone WASN'T glued to their phone and left the street immediately or is it immediately/aggressively active or something? My last phone only really had an email/GPS app and the rest was just part of the phone like cameras, messaging etc. Would I have been affected?
I would have liked to have seen one issue at least just dedicated to HOW this has started and how it got to where it did. Sure, I get that it's efficient and once it gets you, you can transmit it by blood for... some reason. Nanobots? I don't know. Again, cool concept and all but there's a reason most zombie movies start the way they do. Maybe they'll go into it in a bit more detail but I don't want to be just thrown in the deep end like The Walking Dead and have what happened explained by exposition later.
Mind you, I liked the coma patient discovers ruined world upon waking trope a la 28 days later so Walking Dead did good on building suspense and the world building was good - BECAUSE THEY TOOK THE TIME TO DO IT. Ironically, comics are competing with the smartphone users for attention so maybe that's a factor.
Wotta Comedian!
Green Arrow: You know, I thought that was going really well, right up to that last ominous sentence.
Flash: Do you have a tracker on Superman?
Batman: ... No.
Green Arrow: Anyone else concerned about that slight pause there?
Desaad: It is the end of all free will. For the one who controls it, it is the domination of all sentient races.
Cyborg: Yeah? Well, I try not the kink-shame anyone.
Lois: Jon? I think I heard my phone buzz. Have you seen it?
Jon: Damian? Where is it?
Damian: How would I know?
Jon: You're, like, a super-detective. Batman's son should be able to find a phone.
Damian: You have x-ray vision.
Jon: That's... ....actually a good point.
Lois: We'll hear from him soon. If anyone can intimidate a super virus it's Batman.
Jon: Dad said, from what he heard on the streets, this started on social media and, well...
Damian: Batman isn't exactly social.
Jon: Exactly.
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