DCeased: Dead Planet #5 Review

 

You're a Deadman!

Writer: Tom Taylor

Artist: Trevor Hairsine, Gigi Baldassini, Rain Beredo, and Saida Temofonte

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: November 3, 2020

I have gone through times where I've gone through DCeased fatigue.  It's more the whole post-apocalyptic/zombie genre that I get tired of, but I am a Tom Taylor fan, and he always has a way of pulling me back in, like a cool, Australian mafioso.  Coming into this issue, I was getting near that point again, and thankfully, Taylor did his thing, and I am back.  Let's get into the reasons why...

Constantine is the man with a plan, and right there, that has me excited.  Not just because "I love it when a plan comes together!" but knowing Constantine, you just have the feeling that things won't work out exactly as you think, and toes and other body parts will get stepped on.  Throw in Taylor's penchant for killing off characters, and that's a recipe for a bloody good time! 

Constantine starts by lying to Doctor Fate, then he gets information from Etrigan to use Swamp Thing, then gathers a team and... well, things get crazy.  Tom Taylor has done an excellent job in Dead Planet of showing more of the over-taken Earth than he has in both DCeased and DCeased: Unkillables combined, and here we get Nanda Parbat, which is awesome.  

Things aren't going so well in Nanda Parbat, and Constantine and his crew do not make things better...yet.  See, part of the plan seems to burn everything down to get what they need to make it all better.  Nobody seems to know the entire program but Constantine, which makes this issue so good.  We see the beginning of the end for humanity or maybe the end of the suffering, and it all hinges on the asshole, Constantine!

Did I mention that Tom Taylor likes to kill his characters?  Well, he doesn't disappoint here, unless, you know, love the characters he kills.  I didn't get as many feels as I thought I would here (those came earlier in the issue from Damian), but I am sure some will.  We also get a new look for a character I love, but again, it didn't quite sink in as much as I thought it would.

We do end with Constantine and the Spectre, and it was such an excellent way to continue guessing at Constantine's overall plan and how many people will get fucked by it before the end.  I am guessing quite a few, maybe even himself!

I liked this issue a whole lot.  Having many of the book's more powered-up characters off doing New God stuff let Taylor focus on the street-level characters who are a bit more vulnerable.  It upped the tension overall, and having to trust Constantine made it even more so.  I am finally getting used to Trevor Hairsine's art (I know, it's taken me a while!) and even think the book looks good at points.  That is not backdoor shade since he has won me over with a style I usually am not down with.

Bits and Pieces:

Just as I was getting a little tired of the DCeased story, DCeased: Dead Planet #5 and Tom Taylor pulled me back in.  Constantine has a plan, and he doesn't care who he screws over to save humanity.  So many people are going to die!  Is it weird that I can't wait to see that?

8.8/10