The Real Power At Powers International
It's the penultimate issue of Task Force Z and boy do we have a lot to do to get this series done. I mean, not only do we have to storm Powers International with our proper Task Force Z team that's led by Jason Todd, but after the last issue we have to figure out where the resurrected, pumped full of venom, and then made to think he was Bane, Gotham fits into all of this and how his sister is going to deal with his return... Not to mention the Bat-Family's take on all of this. Yeah, this has turned into a weird series, which is saying something for a series that's based on zombie villains working together as a team, but as weird as it has become, I hope that the weirdest takes a powder for a bit so we can see Mr. Bloom get what's coming to him. Let's check this issue out.
For this issue we have a bunch of strange choices made...... and I mean stranger than bringing Gotham back to life and saying he was Bane this whole time. For starters, the timeline of events feels off right from the get-go when we start this issue off with a flashback, not to mention the way that the story progresses with the way that it wants to present how and when Jason Todd finds out about things, but timelines and pacing aside........ I'm not entirely sure why we have Gotham in this issue, not to mention Gotham Girl showing up because I have to assume Jason Todd got a hold of her, but she ultimately serves no purpose in this issue beyond possibly being a sneak attack or distraction that becomes one of many that doesn't actually work out by the end of the issue.
Now that we're at the endgame of this series things just start to happen and they don't feel like they fit into the story or work with the characters that they're trying to use. For example, we have Deadshot who didn't want to be brought back from the dead and was willing to re-kill himself to save Jason Todd, now he's an enemy and it's because Mr. Bloom brought him back to life and it's decisions like this and the willy-nilly use of the Batman-Rookie suit and the way that it's used here, on top of everything else I've already talked about that makes this issue feel like a hodge-podge of interesting ideas that are just thrown into this issue because we're at the end and there was no team to flesh them out, but since they were cool the creative team still wanted to use them. Usually, in this series, we get amazing cliffhangers, but even that here left me scratching my head at what's been the point of this series now and that's not a fun place to be with one issue left.
All in all, Eddy Barrow's art continues to be great in this issue and has always been a high point for me, but the fun and wacky story of Red Hood leading a team of zombie villains has just kind of escalated out of control to the point where things just seem to happen simply to happen in this book and all the fun has been replaced by convoluted backstories or wow moments that aren't thought out enough. Yeah, Mr. Bloom continues to be scary and unpredictable and while that's a fun aspect of the character, I would like to know why he's doing any of this in the long run...... or how Powers International will be able to survive after this...... because damn did they mess up putting Mr. Bloom on the payroll.
Bits and Pieces:
Sadly, this issue is probably the weakest moment of the series for me and that's not something I want to see with only one issue left to round out the series. Yeah, the art continues to be great, but the way that the characters are used, the pacing and even the way the story progresses here feels off and I can only hope that we had to do all of this to get to one hell of an ending that's going to blow us all away and puts Jason Todd in a great place moving forward.
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