Comic Talk: DCeased Dead Planet 3 Review

The Review

All images are courtesy of DC Comics, Inc.


The third issue in this series sets up the three major obstacles for this seven-issue series (or a potential follow up series). The Justice League and other heroes are trying to find the cure or Life Equation, the villains holed up in the Australian bunker are getting ready to retake the world for themselves, and Trigon is getting prepped to rise up from hell and wipe the earth clean so that they can reclaim the souls hell has a claim on since they are currently trapped in the anti-lifers.

The art is generally more consistent and in line with the change in style from the second issue. There is still the issue of the sound effects not being the best, but in general, I really liked this issue. Story-wise, I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of this series with what has been set up in the first three issues. Should be all kinds of comic book craziness.

If you’ve enjoyed the series so far, there is no reason to stop now. Keep buying this.

High Point(s)

  • All the plot reveals in this issue

Low Point(s)

  • Damian feels a little out of character during the Batman/Gordon reunion

 

The Editing

General Note: Constantine’s tie is solid black almost the entire time, except for the occasional red highlight that shows up every so often. It was red in the second issue.

The Cover

Standard David Finch, overly dark illustration. The only real issue is that Wonder Woman feels tacked on to the image. Especially since Wonder Woman has had almost no interaction with Zatanna and Constantine so far.

Page Two & Three

They finally got rid of the red outline for the creators. The smaller text is still hard to read, but it's better.

Zatanna casts a spell to blind or distract Plastic Man and doesn't use any backward words.

Page Four

The sound effect is pretty much lost in the fire effect in the second panel. It also isn’t continued into the third panel for whatever reason.

The dialog bubble and the starburst font are bad in the third panel.

Page Five

Either rewrite the two narration boxes in the first panel to not say “I” and all that (hasn’t happened at all in the first two issues and isn’t done again in this issue) or remove them. If removed, you can move the narration box from the second panel into the first and the narration from the fourth to the second.

Page Six

The sound effect for the gunfire isn’t great.

Remove the “THP”s from the third panel. It looks like Swampthing was already shot rather than currently being shot. Remove the “BRRT”s in the same panel or change them to a sound that reflects the sound of a bullet entering a body.

Page Seven

Sound effects on the previous page for all the gunfire, but now the firing guns are silent.

Page Nine

Doctor Fate’s belt is different from the previous issue.

Page Ten

An off-panel dialog box using the same box style as the narration boxes again.

Page Eleven

Mary Marvel’s costume is different than the first issue. The bolt should reach at least her navel and have a gold border around it. There’s also no hint of her gold belt.

Mary looks weird in panel four.

Page Thirteen

Constantine’s dialog bubble is too close to the border of the panel. Cross the border or don't.

Dunno what’s going on with the diagonal line through Etrigan’s leg.

Page Fourteen

Off-panel dialog box using the same box style as a narration box.

The sound effects in the last panel are bad.

Page Fifteen

Sound effects are bad all over this page, and completely inappropriate in the last panel when the bullets entering Swampthing’s body make a “BANG” sound.

Also in the last panel, Zatanna’s speech bubble crosses the panel border on the side but is cut off on the top. Pick one effect.

Page Sixteen

In panel three, Maxwell Lord says, "I don't talk orders…" vice "I don't take orders…"

In panel two, Max's arms can move but are bound in panel four.

Page Seventeen

The sound effect in panel two gets lost in the art.

Page Twenty-two

Remove the first narration box in the fourth panel. Heroic sacrifices were not mentioned at all in this issue. Even including the time it was in the first or second issue, it still doesn’t really fit. The second narration box could move into the third panel.

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