Comic Review: DCeased: Dead Planet #1

DCeased: Dead Planet #1

DC Comics

Writer: Tom Taylor

Artists: Trevor Hairsine and Rain Beredo

I honestly can’t believe I’m sitting here talking about a DC zombie book and not tearing it apart. It seems like the last thing I would ever hold an interest in, yet here I am. I’m reading all of the DCeased spinoffs, I read the first series in its entirety, and now I’m here strapping in for the sequel. DCeased: Dead Planet #1 is a riveting beginning of an end.

This book takes place five years after the original DCeased. The remaining heroes are on a new world protecting it as if it were there own. At least, until their ex-planet hits them up again and the new League drops everything to go back for one last booty call. Don’t they know you can never go home again?

Jokes aside, this does manage to convey exactly how Taylor and Hairsine succeed to make this superhero-zombie book work. It’s dark and edgy, it comes with the territory, but it isn’t only that. At the first sign of hope, these characters are willing to risk everything to save everything. This isn’t a book that lives and dies on gore and brutal deaths, it’s the heart underneath all that. For every heartbreaking death, there are ten thoughtful character moments that feel right. It never forgets that things shouldn’t be the way they are now and there’s something better on the horizon. Even though there’s a death in this issue that absolutely tore me apart, I still closed the issue feeling hope for the future.

On top of a fantastic grip on the characters, Taylor’s writing also sings in this issue due to being built upon his own continuity. He’s not bound by anyone else’s ideas, he’s set free by his own with no interruptions. It feels cohesive in a specific way that most Big Two books aren’t able to manage. This is one story, told front to back with no (visible) changes to make it fit with something else. The team is allowed to do their own thing, and it makes every issue that builds upon the last infinitely more satisfying.

I’m a bit of a Tom Taylor fanboy at this point, but he’s only one piece of the puzzle. Trevor Hairsine’s art is incredibly atmospheric and a perfect tonal fit for this book. His style doesn’t quite mesh with the DC House Style and I love that. It’s a bit weird and off-beat, which works for a weird and off-beat title such as this. He manages to convey the heart of the character interactions, as well as pull dynamic action sequences and gut-wrenching horror out of his hat. He’s not an artist I’m familiar with, but throughout the course of this series, he’s made it clear that he’s a name worthy of recognition.

DCeased: Dead Planet #1 continues to defy all odds and deliver an experience that’s satisfying on countless levels. With a script that’s so full of horror and darkness, it still manages to come out ahead of all that and present superheroes as the positive influence that they are. The art is stellar, and intensifies emotions across the entire spectrum, elevating the book to new heights. This book shouldn’t work, but over and over again, it does.

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