DCeased: Dead Planet #2 Review

Lonely Garden

Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Trevor Hairsine, Gigi Baldasini, Rain Beredo, and Saida Temofonte
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 5, 2020

It's time for another DCeased issue, and while I was afraid I was going to get burnt out on all this anti-life craziness, the last issue's cliffhanger had me wanting more.  A cure???  Jon stabbed???  Holy crap, this is good!  So, let's see what Tom Taylor has in store for us this month...


The issue opens with a crazy cameo, Roy Harper!  I miss Arsenal so much since Heroes in Crisis, and while I am not as amused at the Tom King/Tom Taylor mistaken identity joke on Twitter as some others, Tom Taylor didn't have to take it this far!  I guess Roy is no officially the Rodney Dangerfield of the DCU!

We continue with John Constantine and the Shadowpact as they arrive a bit too late for Roy fans, but still, they look kick ass doing it!  Taylor spotlights each of them, Blue Devil, Ragman, Detective Chimp, Ravager, Jason Todd, and Zatanna, so that everyone is up to speed before the crap hits the fan.  Oh wait, I don't want to spoil too much!

The forward push of the issue comes from a shit-talking Swamp Thing who tells Constantine that a garden (like the one we already have seen in Gotham) is in trouble in Australia.  It gives Taylor a chance to take a swipe at his homeland or those who think that everything down under was made to kill you, but yes, I agree with Constantine 100%.

While Half the team goes off to Australia, the other half head to the Gotham Garden, where we see it has some extra protection and some visitors.  The new Justice League has arrived with a dying Jon, an infected Oliver, and some hope.  While I feel bad for Dinah, I loved seeing Damian and Jason Todd together since you rarely see this much emotion between these two.  I'm not crying!  

After the survivors find out there may be a cure (this is not an overly great thing in their minds), we head to Australia to catch up with the rest of Shadowpact.  It's a good thing we got to know these characters a bit earlier because there is trouble down under, and I can only imagine Tom Taylor laughing at all the readers who will be gasping for air by the end of this issue!  I'm sure he'd say he is laughing with us, but we all know he is laughing at us!  We also get to see that there might be a bigger bad than the anti-life infection if that's possible!

Dead Planet #2 is an outstanding issue of DCeased and continues the trend; in my mind, this book is getting better as it continues.  I didn't think the first DCeased had enough personal moments and genuine feels, but they are here in Dead Planet, and I love them!  Of course, when they happen, death is soon to follow, but I am okay with that in this story as well.

I am still not a huge fan of Trevor Hairsine's art, but it doesn't take away anything from the storytelling.  I wish that there were a couple of pages an issue that I could show off to people who aren't reading the book to get them fired up to grab it, but sadly, there aren't.

Bits and Pieces:

DCeased: Dead Planet #2 is a great issue of DCeased and one that has the classic Tom Taylor combination of action, character work, and feels.  Yea, that usually means someone is dying, but I won't spoil that here.  I think the DCeased books are getting better and better, and I can't wait for the next issue.

8.5/10