DCeased #3 Review

Writer: Tom Taylor
Art Team: Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo
DC Comics
Release Date: July 3, 2019
Cover Price: $3.99

Leaving On a Jet Plane ... 

So far DCeased has kicked off with a take no prisoners approach, that has seen some of the heavyweights of the DC Universe taken off the board, as a zombie like infestation runs rampant through the world. Add in some of Tom Taylor's vintage ability to pull at your heart strings, some attention grabbing variant covers, and DC has themselves a hit on their hands.  So lets discuss issue three and see where this story stands when we reach the end.




The book begins by jumping around a bit in the stories first act before settling in on Superman towards the later half of this issue. Events start with Alfred bemoaning the death of 'his family'. He stands over the fallen he put down, after being left no choice when the infestation struck Wayne Manor. Smarter than the average butler, Alfred takes to the Batwing, and puts the guns to good use firing down upon the Horde in anger and frustration.  This was the first of several very powerful scenes in this issue as the infestation strikes everyone from all angles, with Tom Taylor doing a good job of spreading the character love around for the most part, making sure all sides get their due.

From there the story moves over to Harley, who if you remember confronted what looked to be an infested Joker last issue, taking the advice given to her and letting her frustrations loose. Just when all seems well and dandy for ol' Harley, she is confronted by the Birds of Pray, and they don't look much in the talking mood.  The Alfred scene transitions nicely into this area of the title, really highlighting how much an area like Gotham is lost to the wolves at this point. Between all of Batman's allies down for the count, and Alfred's frustrations boiling over in the art, the creative team do a great job of stressing the current situation. All this without long stretches of dialogue bogging down that tense feeling in the story ... imagine that. 

The meat and cheese of the issue really centers on Superman though, who's still at the top of the Daily Planet, as the present group and Damien attempt to cope with the 'Batman news', while simultaneously having hopes of getting their communications up and working.  Superman secures the building, keeping the crew save for now, however says he has to rush home to check on things.  Without spoiling anything outright here, its at this point we get a second heart felt moment from Tom Taylor, that I'm sure will make Jim cry like a baby, and is setup incredibly well throughout the issue in the narrations.

I have been critical of the art in previous issues of this series but have found it to be mostly excellent this issue, with the exception of a few scenes that take place on the rooftop of the Daily Planet.  The art really excels in the underwater scenes of this story, while sequentially following fights and story sequences remains no problem at all, and never has been. Maybe I'm just starting to get used to it.

Overall, while DCeased's general story as a whole hasn't moved forward too much over the course of the last few months, I am still having a great time with the story because of the solid character moments each month.  I still look forward to continuing to follow where this book ventures off to from here, and find the art, especially in the battle sequences, works well with the story at hand ... I just also wish the characters besides Superman would get off the roof and do something to help out here. 

8.2/10