Voices in my head.
This week, the mystical conflict introduced another of its
occult cast – leading to a very surprising and welcome cliffhanger.
Tom knows the DC Universe very well, and pulls ideas out of
disparate corners of the DC mythos to help build up a world where heroes are
divided, some more than others.
But the problem this year has been the expandability. With
such a large cast and the limited number of issues, introductions and
departures feel rushed – although Tom does do justice to most of the
characters.
Mark Millar and Bruno Redondo divide art duties and it’s not
their best effort. There are some visuals that really strike as amazing, but
the overall quality is below par for this book.
SPOILERS FOLLOW……………
Superman is convinced by Shazam and Sinestro to spare Constantine, both for
widely different reasons. But in their journey back to the Hall of Justice,
Deadman is able to possess Shazam and with a little help from Zatanna, able to
rescue Constantine.
Boston
continues to try and contact Jim Corrigan, the human host of the Spectre, but
Billy is able to forcefully eject him from his body – with a little help of the
Spectre.
Deadman realizes that the host of the Spectre is no longer
Corrigan, but before he can escape, he’s fatally wounded.
He returns to Nanda
Parbat and the entity that gave him this ability allows him to pass it on to
another deceased soul – Nightwing aka Dick Grayson.
Meanwhile, at the Tower
of Fate, Batman and
Constantine have a confrontation about the failed plan to capture Superman’s
soul with Zatanna playing peace-maker.
Realizing Xanadu’s premonitions are coming true, John and
Bruce visit the Swamp Thing, and find him decidedly against helping the
Resistance. Apparently, Superman’s regime has forced humanity to stop wasting
natural resources – something the Avatar of the Green agrees with.
As they leave in defeat, John decides that the Swamp Thing
needs to be taken care of.
Coming back to the start of the issue, it’s interesting to
note how Superman interacts with Billy. He almost seems like the old caring Clark, respectful of a younger compatriot’s opinion – and
he actually thanks Shazam for saving him. This is in stark contrast to how he
behaves with Constantine,
threatening him with heat vision inches from his cheek.
Sinestro on the other hand wants to torture him back at base
camp. Makes your insides squirm that someone like Billy Batson is among a group
of murderers and dictators – and if you know his final fate, that makes the
feeling worse.
Our newest DC occult character is Boston Brand. Codenamed
Deadman, he is a ghost of a murdered acrobat (in some cases, a mentor to Dick
Grayson at Hayley’s Crisis pre-Robin) who was given this ability by Rama
Kushna, the deity of Nanda Parbat, for balancing the world.
He is able to possess bodies and him doing this on Shazam
gives us an insight into how Shazam in being portrayed here. Despite Boston’s
reasonable arguments, Billy refuses to believe Superman is anything but good –
so much, that he is able to forcefully draw Deadman out of him, something most
people can’t do (maybe you should’ve possessed Supes, Boston after rescuing
Constantine. Food for thought.)
Now I get to my main point – Nightwing is back!!! Most of us
were under whelmed by how he was bumped off in Year One, and as I said before,
he seemed an obvious choice to be the new Deadman due to connections to the
Circus. Hopefully he will be able to help Bruce a little and get closure before
finally moving on.
Swamp Thing was also introduced and he actually made some
really good points for not getting involved in this fight against Superman.
Through I do wonder whether he would act in this without being provoked –
obviously Constantine
will do something that will force his hand.
This introduction of new characters before we have the
chance to mourn their loss is a severe problem this week. Rory and Boston both died in
single issue appearances, thus rendering their roles a little contrived for
plot reasons. Xanadu, Detective Chimp and Dr Fate have been spectators at best
– with Zatanna and Klarion playing minimal roles.
I know the central focus of the Resistance will be on Constantine, but the
large yet transient cast is proving detrimental to the flow of this series.
SPOILERS END…………….
There were some interesting character interactions, but the
large cast is proving a problem in focusing on the story at hand.
Characters are introduced and then got rid of at the drop of
a hat, leaving little time for focusing on their contributions to the
overarching plot.
The artwork is also below par, especially from Mark Millar,
despite some intermittent stunning visuals.
So, I give it 7.5 out of 10.
+The character interactions
+Shazam gets some nice character moments
+The cliffhanger!!!
+Some stunning visuals
-Overall artwork was poor in
nature
-Characters proving too
expendable too fast
-Flow of the issue a little
frantic
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