DCeased: Dead Planet #3 Review

Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Trevor Hairsine
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 2, 2020

I have been enjoying Dead Planet enough so far, but I need something to kick the story into the next gear.  Hopefully, the shit going down in Australia does the trick and gives us something big and cool while we wait to see if our heroes can dig that cure out of Cyborg.  So, do we finally get something from Australia besides Men at Work, Vegemite Sandwiches, and Nine Million animals and insects ready to kill everyone?  Let's find out...


The issue opens, showing us that Plastic Man did not kill everyone as it looked like at the end of the last issue.  Blue Devil saved Constantine, Zatanna, and Bobo though there isn't much explanation, just that he and Ragman are now dead.  It felt a little rushed, but so did the next scene as Zatanna uses some backward word magic to throw Plastic Man into the Hellfire and watch him melt.

We do get to see the evil inside the bunker, and it's a decent bunch of bad guys lead by one of the worst drawn Oswald Cobblepots I have ever seen.  I mean, the guy is in good shape, but it does not look like any Penguin I have seen.

I said it's a decent bunch of bad guys, and it is, but the reason they are there is not that interesting.  You see, guys like Cobblepot, Maxwell Lord, and Jason Blood have a lot of money, and they prepared for the apocalypse and made sure they had a place where the social hierarchy remains intact.  Our heroes are appalled that this group makes ordinary people work menial jobs to stay protected and to that I say a big, "So What!"  I'd cook some meals for Etrigan to keep from becoming one of the anti-living.  Yea, they are also torturing the Flouronic Man to capture some Green, but that bit wasn't well defined.  It was pissing off Swamp Thing big time, though!

We also get to see that Superman (Jon) will recover from his stab wound and that while Batman wasn't big on PDA, Damian encourages it.  That part felt off in a way that usually doesn't happen in a Tom Taylor book.

Besides that, though, not a ton happens besides the reader finding out the Australian Bad Guy Billionaire Club is building an amazing (or "O") army and that our heroes will need a Miracle to get that cure unlocked from inside Cyborg.  There is a nice bit at the end where we see how desperate the heroes are, because how else can anyone explain giving Constantine the Lasso of Truth?!?

This was a down issue for me.  I am not a Trevor Haisine fan, and this issue does nothing to change that!  The story itself was full of setup and a little dull and didn't have me excited for issue #4.  I will read and review it, but there is no rush.

Bits and Pieces:

DCeased: Dead Planet #3 is a setup issue and a bit of a letdown overall.  If you like Trevor Haisine's art, you can go up a couple of points, but this was a disappointment for me.  I hope the next issue gets me back on board because this has been one of the few bright spots in my current DC pull.

5.9/10