DCeased: Unkillables #3
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Karl Mostert, Trevor Scott, Neil Edwards and Rex Lokus
Lettering by Saida Temofonte
Published by DC
Review by Justin Partridge
‘Rama Rating: 8 out of 10
Spoilers ahead.
DCeased: Unkillables comes to a shockingly heartfelt conclusion in its third and final issue, as a ragtag collection of villains and anti-heroes are overrun and forced to take their orphaned wards on the run, seeking the safety and solitude of the fabled “Gotham Jungle.” It’s a familiar set-up when it comes to zombie fiction, as the “villains” of the civilized world find new purpose and meaning protecting innocents in this now-fallen world. Writer Tom Taylor even mines a great deal of horror movie shocks and tensely doomed set pieces between the main characters and the Anti-Life Hordes as the worst road-trip of all time reaches its conclusion.
But what is so beautifully unfamiliar about Unkillables #3 is the way Taylor and the art team spend their page count leading up to what you would assume is a horrifying ending to a horrifying story, only to pivot at the very last minute and deliver a stirring, broadly painted denouement. Not everyone lives to see the end of DCeased: Unkillables #3, but at the very least this finale shows that it wasn’t all in vain, sending this series into the already announced next installment on a rare note of beauty and optimism.
We open this third and final issue en medias res, as the orphanage Jim Gordon, Red Hood, Cheetah, Lady Shiva, Cassandra Cain, the Creeper, Deathstroke, Ravager, and Solomon Grundy (and Ace, The Bat-Hound) were protecting is now under siege thanks to a rampaging Bane. With their precarious shelter turning into an undead death trap, our squad of “Unkillables” are forced to take their charges on the road, aiming for the question mark that is Gotham City.
From the jump, Tom Taylor and the appropriately blood-soaked and snarling artwork of Karl Mostert, Trevor Scott, Neil Edwards, and Rex Lokus deliver a pretty harrowing road narrative, zipping our cast along from problem to problem, clipped by Taylor’s tersely funny and self-aware narration. The absolute show-stopper sequence of this section has Deathstroke’s motley crew dealing with the ongoing and long-teased problem of the zombie Mirror Master, who attacks their caravan bus first through the driver’s side mirror and then through the reflective square windows of the interior.
This sequence is highly effective, highlighting again the high stakes of the series and horror-movie trappings it makes us of. The art team hones the sequence even further by casting the sequence in jagged, broken-looking panel borders, giving it the look of a collection of broken window panes instead of mere comic book panels.
But it’s when the cast makes it to Gotham’s city limits, that’s when Unkillables #3 starts to reveal its real heart and power. Though our wayward warriors see the Gotham Jungle, an infected Wonder Woman stands in their path, forcing the adults to make a last stand in order to get the children to safety. Though the inevitability of some of the character deaths are pretty loudly telegraphed with Taylor and the art team giving them “end beats” with their loved ones and their newfound alliances (like the “tree lobsters” Grundy and the Creeper), what happens when it all starts to go wrong is anything but expected.
With a lone “SHAZAM!” thundering through the frame, the comic transforms from yet another bummer ending to a horror riff into a soaring, genuinely affecting finale, as Taylor weds together the bright heroism lost to the Anti-Life Equation even amongst the cold, practical survival tactics honed in a post-DCeased world. That heady feeling of optimism is hammered even further home by the final pages inside the “Jungle”, also revealed as a supernatural haven built and run by gal-pals Ivy and Harley and maintained by Zatanna and John Constantine. The final beat might ring too close to some of the better moments of Injustice for some, but it doesn’t make the turn any less powerful. Especially once Karl Mostert, Trevor Scott, Neil Edwards, and Rex Lokus trade the blood soaked, cramped streets of the fallen cities for the virdiant, warmly lit interior’s of Ivy and Harley’s fortress of the Green.
Your mileage will definitely vary when it comes to these kind of superhero horror riffs, but I am happy to say that DCeased: Unkillables #3 plays well just as an example of stirring single-issue comics. Though it can and does get bogged down in the bloody business and dire stakes of zombie stories, DCeased: Unkillables #3 delivers a much-needed catharsis and optimism to its brand of horror; something often cast aside in favor of cheap shocks and thrills. This finale isn’t perfect, but at least it’s hopeful. And sometimes, that’s enough.