Damage #9 Review

The Final Countdown

Writer: Robert Venditti
Art Team: Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan, Hi-Fi
DC Comics
Release Date: September 19, 2018
Cover Price: $2.99

Damage was a New Age of Heroes title I initially had high hopes for at the start, which has faded a bit down the stretch as the title has continued on, milking the guest star of the month gimmick a tad too long. With that being said there is a bit of reason for optimism, as it appears from last issues cliffhanger, that Damage is finally about to confront Col. Jonas once and for all.  So let's see what the possible final showdown looks like, shall we?



As I said in the brief introductory paragraph, you're going to get a showdown between the Col. Jonas and her 'Hunters Squad' taking their turns at breaking down Damage, but strap in folks and enjoy it because that's almost about all you get this issue.

Ethan guides Damage through the various encounters he's being bombarded with, and through some inner dialogue, it seems as if they're (Damage and Ethan) fully in sync now, as Damage cooperates with Ethan commands. The odds are evened up a bit as the Unknown Soldier helps Damage out of a couple tough spots, with the pair ultimately getting the upper hand on Col. Jonas, as Damage denounces his allegiances to her once and for all.   The issues cliffhanger has me mildly intrigued as the character is finally off to a new adventure that hopefully doesn't involve the Hunters and Jonas, which would be a nice change of pace for the story going forward, I'd like to see where this takes the book from here

Overall, Damage was mostly a giant battle this month, but one that brings some closure to the situation and storylines we've been dealing with for so long.  I like that it brings back a newness to the events coming, that hopefully drag it out of constantly featuring a guest star to carry the character throughout his story. Not a perfect issue all in all but some progress none the less which I'll take.

The art team puts in a pretty good effort overall capturing the rawness and size of Damage in battle.  Some other teams have had issue with the supposed size and scale of this character so its good to see him imposing on the page again.  There are a few hiccups at the end of the issue that make it look like a different team takes over but I enjoyed what I was seeing as a whole.

Bits and Pieces:

Damage brings some closure to the Col. Jonas events we've been dealing with since issue #1 of this series.  While that brings a level of newness to the events coming I hope the book attempts to allow Damage to stand on his own some more and get away from the barrage of guest stars to carry a stories momentum.

6.3/10