Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Wouldn't zombie Bane just be Solomon Grundy?

From 2022, Task Force Z #2, "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow." Written by Matthew Rosenberg, pencils by Eddy Barrows, inks by Eber Ferreira. The cover has the more delightful, "Bane, Bane, go away!"
I am super-not-up on current DC continuity, and I thought this was going to be in the DC zombie DCeased continuity, since I know there were a bunch of spin-offs for it. Nope! This was in regular continuity, and was yet another Jason Todd/Red Hood title. I'm really curious about his sale numbers now, since I feel like he's popular enough he keeps getting new titles, but he's not quite popular enough to maintain them? Or, like Venom in the 90's, everything he gets is designed to be a limited series, so a creative crew can do their story then hand it off. This also appeared to be kind of like something the Amazing Spider-Man books did a bit ago with Clone Conspiracy, namely, bringing back a bunch of dead characters in one go. Here, several have returned to life via the "Lazarus resin," which seems quicker than trundling their corpses all the way to a pit in Tibet or whatever.
So far, Task Force Z hadn't hit the ground running, as Jason nearly gets frozen to death by Mr. Freeze and eaten by the Arkham Knight. (I haven't played that game, I have no idea who that was in continuity!) Bane and Man-Bat had been killed, again; and Jason is barely saved by Bloom. Still, this is just a minor setback, or so his handlers claim: as long as their heads were still intact, they could be revived. Jason tries to tactfully suggest, do they have to? Really? The Arkham Knight, Astrid Arkham, apologizes to Jason for trying to eat him, but explains she can't quit the Force either, as without the resin she'd die. (I think with a full dose or treatment, she might be okay, but the handlers might be stringing them along with partial medication.)
The Force's next mission is pitched to Jason as a meeting, but they find a gathering of the Kobra Kult in an abandoned theatre, which leads to a fight after Man-Bat Leeroy Jenkin's that one. I also don't know how long he's had these, but Jason appears to be using electrified crowbars as his weapon, which...feels like a bit much. Bane is doing pretty well, until he caves in the floor and falls, possibly out of the title; but the Arkham Knight turns out the lights to release another member, the vampire-like Sundowner. The mission's sort-of a win, except Jason gets shot, by the revived corpse of Deadshot! 

I'm not positive how I got this comic--possibly in a pack or something? But, still, it was better than I was anticipating. I like the idea of Jason, who's usually the loose cannon, forced to be the adult in the room with the corpses.

1 comment:

Mr. Morbid said...

It’s Jason. The Arkham Knight in the game is Jason. Well duh right? Ha ha.

I remember seeing an ad for this while checking out other comics online to read & im still not sure who asked for this or why it was made other than to continue to cash in on the whole Suicide Squad/Task Force X name. My first initial reaction was to dismiss it. I mean Rob Liefield’s Bloodstrike already covered this territory before, including having a Jason Todd-like type character as the field leader. That being said, at least it seems like they’re playing it more for fun than being deadly serious? Maybe, idk. I’ll give it a legit chance before writing it off completely.

The pair of electrified crowbars really ARE a bit much, but if it’s helping him heal mentally, what the hell, why not? 🤷‍♂️