• Story: Tom Taylor
• Art: Trevor Hairsine/Gigi Baldassini

The pairing of Taylor and Hairsine really is perfect, both writer and artist complementing one another so perfectly that DC has yet another undead hit on its hands, and it’s been made to look easy. At the heart of this franchise is Tom Taylor’s clear love for the Super and Bat families, so it’s delightful to see similar warmth being shown to other DC stalwarts. Constantine, Harley Quinn, Swamp Thing all get meaningful character time in the runup to catastrophe in the final act, with the hint of a dark agenda greater than the Anti-Life Equation’s. I love it, the inks by Baldassini really add depth to Trevor Hairsine’s pencils and the two bounce between light comedy and absolute horror on a dime. There may be a cure but there’s no hint any of the heroes will survive to make it work – in the age of Covid-19 that story really resonates.

In fact the book is full of heart, from the moments with Cassie and Damian to the amusing scene with Swamp Thing, and I love how Hairsine never loses focus on the drama of the scene, no matter how many characters Taylor packs into it. Rain Beredo’s colours make that artwork sing too, adding drama by how they’re pinpointed sparingly, and the skies he gives the corrupted earth really add a murky texture to set an overall mood that the line work alone can’t do. It’s widescreen comics at their very best, the creators clearly love their characters and the pacing is flawless. I’m really intrigued by the two-pronged conclusion: will the surviving Shadowpact survive and if so what do they face next?