Day of Vengeance

Countdown to Infinite Crisis #3

by Bill Willingham, Judd Winick, Ian Churchill (Illustrator)

The Spectre, the living spirit of divine vengeance, has teamed up with the mighty villainess Eclipso to lauch a war against all magic in the universe and only an oddly assorted team of sorcerers, demons and a hard-drinking chimp can stop him, if they fail, the Spectre could destroy everything.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Fantasy

Paperback

First published November 9, 2005

About the author

In the late 1970s to early 1980s he drew fantasy ink pictures for the Dungeons & Dragons Basic and Expert game rulebooks. He first gained attention for his 1980s comic book series Elementals published by Comico, which he both wrote and drew. However, for reasons unknown, the series had trouble maintaining an original schedule, and Willingham's position in the industry remained spotty for many years. He contributed stories to Green Lantern and started his own independent, black-and-white comics series Coventry which lasted only 3 issues. He also produced the pornographic series Ironwood for Eros Comix.

In the late 1990s Willingham reestablished himself as a prolific writer. He produced the 13-issue Pantheon for Lone Star Press and wrote a pair of short novels about the modern adventures of the hero Beowulf, published by the writer's collective, Clockwork Storybook, of which Willingham was a founding member. In the early 2000s he began writing extensively for DC Comics, including the limited series Proposition Player, a pair of limited series about the Greek witch Thessaly from The Sandman, and most notably the popular series Fables

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eclipso gets a new host and then convinces Spectre to declare war on magic. Magic in the DC universe changes as the Spectre goes crazy and starts killing all magic users. I love the interactions of the Shadowpact. Willingham, the genius behind Fables, writes good dialogue and can be quite funny at times. Justiniano was a good choice for artist. Both Shadowpact and The Trials of Shazam spin out of this series as magic is forever altered. Good stuff.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cool I guess!

When magic is under assault by The Spectre who has teamed up with Eclipso whose Jean loring here (after identity crisis) and when he targets all magical users, how will they fight against it and I love the focus here on Captain Marvel (Shazam) and then his fight aided by other members there and I love the role of enchantress here and it really makes it epic and showing the Super-natural side of DC really well and living them with a cool new status quo leading into infinite crisis so yeah its a must read in that regard! Plus some cool Superman action too! A good one-time read!

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

More Countdown to Infinite Crisis: with Day of Vengeance… in which aided by the new Eclipso, the soulless Spectre runs amok trying to kill all magic and magical beings! 6 out of 12. I gotta say, that back-in-the-day D.C. really linked-up all their events pretty well!

[Jim C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read the novel Infinite Crisis I decided to go back and read some of the events leading up to that book. This collection deals with the characters that have magical abilities in the DC universe.

I enjoyed this collection even though I did not know most of the characters. The only ones I new were Superman and Captain Marvel but the story was easy to follow. I liked the stories and the fight scenes were intense. This collection mostly contained action scenes and it does end on a cliffhanger. The artwork was excellent as it portrayed the enormity of the fight scenes. My only problem with this collection was the character Detective Chimp. Not being a serious reader of this genre I thought this character was silly.

This is an enjoyable collection that will captivate the reader. I do recommend that you have some prior knowledge of this universe to really enjoy it.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just aborted reading "The Rann-Thanagar War" book (horrendous writing) and decided to give this a try. Even within just the first five pages I feel *so* much better.

The art is no slouch either - showing us in one page some very creative an appropriate deaths, I'm impressed at the imagination *and* the willingness to restrain the impulse to report the events in words.

I forgot that Willingham actually has a decent sense of humour - the dialogue from the dog in chapter three is priceless. However, Bill's also got a penchant for cheese, so every once in a while he dispels the magic of words with a poorly-placed phrase.

The overall import of this story? It feels like it made only a little real difference to the overall Infinite Crisis storyline, though it did forge a new, loosely-unified team. And it told an interesting tale and brought us at least one new character.

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the four miniseries (The OMAC Project, Rann–Thanagar War, Day of Vengeance, and Villains United) that lead up into the 2005 event Infinite Series, this was my favorite to read. This trade paperback actually had two story-lines, the first one, a Superman/ Shazam team up, "Lightning Strikes Twice" lead in to Day of Vengeance.

This was a fun read. As the cover suggests, two Golden Age heavyweights trading blows, was the main draw and it was as brutal as Ali-Frazier in Manila. The other reason why this was a fun read was because the writer used several little-known D-list characters and made the reader care enough for them that a team book spin-off would result from this six-issue miniseries.

The writing was good and the art was dynamite. Covers by Walter Simonson and interior art by Ian Churchill and Justiniano. Justiniano was at the peak of his craft in this miniseries, and it is too bad this reader won't be able to see his art on comic books anymore after that child pornography conviction.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's certainly better than the Rann-Thanagar War trade, that's for sure. Spectre, now rudderless, gets manipulated into turning his vengeance against every magic user in existence, however they use their abilities. There could potentially be drastic implications for every magic user in the DCU. It's set up to be a real game changer of a storyline. The execution is pretty good, too. Like Villains United, we're following a ragtag group of mostly forgotten misfits, and they're done well. The whole thing is actually pretty good, absorbing, with art that's quite good. The first two issues here were actually collected from one of the Superman books, included because of how they relate to Spectre's storyline. Big panels there, I have to say. And wow, Superman is having a really rough Countdown. At any rate, Day of Vengeance is certainly worth a read.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Day of Vengeance. When two Spirits of Vengeance get together, with Eclipso controlling Spectre, there's all sorts of opportunity for metaphysical wonder. But really, Spectre just kills a bunch of magicians and Shadowpact fights him ... until they're sidelined to let Shazam do the big boss fight. Yeah, terrible plot. The only thing this volume has going for it is the formation of Shadowpact, one of several Justice League Magic's that DC has attempted, none of which have lasted long. Unfortunately author WIllingham would never do much good with them [2+/5].

[Katherine (Kat) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 Stars

Individual issues rated below

Day of Vengeance #1: 1/5
Day of Vengeance #2: 3/5
Day of Vengeance #3: 4/5
Day of Vengeance #4: 3/5
Day of Vengeance #5: 3/5
Day of Vengeance #6: 4/5

Action Comics #827: 2.5/5

Actions of Superman #639: 4/5

Superman #216: 3.5/5

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good. Basically grabbing together all the magic users to stop Spectre from going completely fucking insane. While it's a lot at first, and hard to keep up with everyone, the second half is full on war, with plenty of great character moments, and a dower ending that leads into Infinite Crisis in a great way. A 3.5 out of 5.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo tengo y lo leí en la edición argentina en revistas de Camino a la Crisis Infinita, que si no me equivoco venía con un capítulo de Villanos Unidos cada uno. De toda la previa a esta Crisis, y el megabombo que se le dio, creo que esta saga es la que más me gustó, ya que encaraba al Universo DC desde una visión megacósmica y a la vez los protagonistas eran unos pengueles de tercera línea a los que le dejaron brillar con chapa propia. Con suerte en algún momento pueda retomar la saga que vino a posteriori.

[Mohammad Aboomar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book actually exceeded my expectations. After reading the badly written Villains United compilation, this book reminded me of how mainstream comics can be well-written despite the challenges and handicaps posed by editors and pre-decided grand schemes. Well done!

[Judah Radd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is phenomenal. Well balanced with humor, and cosmically exciting, I really enjoyed it. The art was a pleasure to look at, and I wish it was even longer.

Definitely a must for anyone, even if you aren’t a huge DC fan!

[Matthieu Savignac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une mini-série traitant un autre pan de l'univers DC, qui est moins souvent mis en avant : celui de la sphère magique.
Le Spectre, dont la nature a été chamboulée suite à Green Lantern: Rebirth, se voit allié à un autre personnage cosmique revenu d'on ne sait où. Le scénario est plutôt simple : des méchants qui veulent tout casser, des moins méchants qui veulent les sauver.
Basique, mais la force d'écriture de Bill Willingham fait qu'on s'attarde et s'accroche à tous ces personnages différents et à leurs courtes péripéties.

La cohésion de ce Shadowpact est assez intéressante pour donner suite à cette mini-série en une série qui durera 25 issues (entre autres) par la suite.

Le dessin correspond parfaitement à l'univers : c'est fun, c'est frais, c'est du très bon.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite an epic magical dilemma. You always have to figure out a way to defeat your friends just in case they become charmed by evil.

[Richard Schaefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contains the Day of Vengeance miniseries, Action Comics 826, Adventures of Superman 639, and Superman 216

The Shadowpact, a group of scraggly magic users that includes, among others, a super smart, alcoholic monkey detective, is all that stands against a deranged Spectre and Eclipso in their attempt to rid the world of magic. Sounds fun, and it is. Bill Willingham (he’s been around a while but Fables is his most comparable credit to this series) clearly has fun writing it, but not to the point of irreverence; the characters are a bit goofy, but he treats them seriously enough for the situation to have gravity.
Plus, we get to see Eclipso temporarily possess Superman, which is just grand. And Shazam, basically the magic version of Superman, plays a big role. We get to see an interdimensional bar for Magic beings, and Blue Devil and Ragman and… I could go on, but you get the point: Day of Vengeance is a good time.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story and art. Nice surprising turn of events on some of the mainstay heroes of the DC universe. Very enjoyable read. Very recommended

[Rihards Husko · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happens when an unbound, unstable spirit of God's vengeance comes after what he now believes to be the source of all evil - magic? And what if most of the top-tier magical talent has already been taken out? A whole lot of awesome action and mystic mystery, that's what.

Like, I suddenly realize, most of the other Infinite Crisis preamble book, Day of Vengeance doesn't star any of DC's most famous heroes in its core cast (though Captain Marvel makes an impactful appearance as well). I'm not entirely sure why that is - perhaps I just find the diverse group to be more engaging and fun than the others, but it really works for me. You have an immortal talking detective chimp, weird Batman, blue Hellboy, knight guy (tm), wizard chick, and wizard chick #2. I know it sounds like I'm being dismissive or making fun of the crew, but I really am not. The fact that I remember them all, and fondly at that, is a testament to the writing.

Again, like most of the other pre-Crisis books, Day of Vengeance proceeds at a fairly breakneck pace. The beginning of the book is a little confusing for me, mainly what happens, who's the woman in the cell, and who is Eclipso. But once the ball gets rolling, it's pretty easy to keep track of what's happening. Seeing the ragtag bunch of magical beings reluctantly coalesce into a crew that intends to take on one of the mightiest beings in the universe is an exciting arc, and their see-sawing between success and disaster is thoroughly engaging. And the consequences of what occurs within the mini-series' pages are likely to reverberate throughout the mystic cosmos for quite some time.

I'd also like to call out Justiniano's pencils for the vivid, expressive way everything is brought to life. And some of the action shots are just... really cool. Honestly, everyone in the visual department, from inks to colors to letters, did an excellent job on this book.

Day of Vengeance is, in my humble opinion, the best of the four mini-series leading into Infinite Crisis. It has a fun cast, a gripping and nail-biting conflict, outstanding art, and a good mix of comic book silliness and world-ending seriousness. It's good stuff.

[Kinan Diraneyya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Day of Vengence is a Count Down to Infinite Crisis story. As with all DC events (and Wold of Warcraft expansions), the writers suddenly break the laws of the universe to allow for something epic to happen. Like when Sue Dibney became the first female in the DC universe to be raped.

All the same, an evil spirit convinces The Spectre that magic is the source of all evil. And just like that, The Spectre begins his crusade to eliminate magic and all of its users. Too bad the idea never occurred to The Joker; it sounds way easier to convince someone that bats are evil.

The heroes who set their goal to find and kill The Specter are a gang of less known DC magic users led by Detective Chimp. While not as generic as good guys can get, they aren't particularly interesting either, except for the ape, who, in the beginning, appoints Jim Rook to be the leader then goes on to call all the shots himself anyway. It is as if the writer decided to make a character more interesting only to regret and take it back two pages later.

Detective Chip's plan is for everyone to keep The Spectre busy, buying him enough time to bring the good guy's secret weapon to the battlefield. The fight itself is generally impressive. However, the anticipated weapon turns out as ineffective as a pencil-attached eraser, but the whole thing slides off as if it were OK, resulting in quite the underwhelming ending.

The secret weapon itself is yet another unknown magic-user, Black Aline, or according to the ape, the strongest magic user in the universe. And just as I suspected, hers is the kind of wiki article that is half That DC Event (Day of Vengence in this case) and half other appearances, which only serves as another demonstration to how cheap these events can get.

I have only read one other comic book by Willingham, Fables vol. 1, a very well written book in regards to both of its story and its dialogs. Unfortunately, this one is far from that, but at least it has good art and a few enjoyable fight scenes.

[Hugh Pfabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, the bad:
Like other prequels to Infinite Crisis, this one is left very open-ended. Like the others, we seem to have the heroes solve the major problem of the miniseries, and then, suddenly, it turns out that the problem isn't solved... and we're leaving it to Geoff Johns' plans for the post-Infinite Crisis storylines to solve things.
Again, here we also have what feels to me like an unnecessary death at the end. It feels like clearing house of some prior lore in these books.

That said, the good:
This is a very fun read. I really enjoyed it, and I really enjoyed seeing so many magical characters being brought into it, whether as major characters or as cameos. It does a nice job of giving a comprehensive feel to the magical side of DC.
All of the main characters also get what feels like an appropriate amount of time to shine as well as good insights in who they are, with just a couple of exceptions. I think this is something that few writers manage for team books.

The exceptions:
Blue Devil has a few panels explaining who he is, but other than that, he is basically just some muscle. It's disappointing, because there's a lot more to this character (at least, that's what I remember from the old issues of his own book I used to pick up for something like 50 cents in the cheap bins).
Then there's Jean Loring and Eclipso... eh. I appreciate that Eclipso is first depicted in his Darkness Within (and following solo series) embodiment, since it has been largely written off since, but the Eclipso/Jean combo just doesn't feel right to me. I don't mean that having him possess her feels wrong, but the way she acts, the bits of her thoughts that we see, the net effect of her... (sorry for so many ellipses) just never feels right, and sometimes feels way off. Doesn't seem like Eclipso. Doesn't feel like post Identity Crisis Jean. Doesn't feel like what would make sense for a combo of the two.
Just my personal opinions, though.

Overall, a fun, solid read, and well worth the money.

[Sami Naik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew that there will be limited stories showing the readers how powerful is Spectre and I happened to read Day of Vengeance today. It was a miniseries that was tied in the continuity before the events of the Infinite Crisis.

Day of Vengeance is a book of magic consisting of six 22-page episodes. The story is about Spectre with a mission to finish all the existing magic and to stop him from pulling this madness, a superteam Shadowpact is assembled of a few notable superheroes that include Nightmaster, Black Alice, Captain Marvel, The Phantom Stranger, Blue Devil, and a few more. Spectre is manipulated by Eclipso that overpowers Shadowpact.

This story itself is surely continued somewhere because I am not sure why Spectre is killing magic. Maybe a lot of tie-ins are involved because all this is connected to Infinite Crisis. Spectre had a mighty showdown in the story, one against Captain Marvel and the other against Doctor Fate. Both clashes were extraordinary knowing how powerful all of them are.

If the readers are interested to read this story or those who have read must remember that Day of Vengeance ultimately finishes with its Infinite Crisis special issue. The title is The Ninth Age of Magic.

[Richard Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two words: Detective Chimp.

That's what DC really stands for, after all. My final stop on the road to Infinite Crisis, this super-fast read continues my adventures of the Spectre but also introduces the wonderful Shadowpact. The hastily-formed group of magic-based heroes is like the Guardians of the Galaxy, and I was slightly obsessed with their antics between this and their own comic's end in 2008. It's not wonder I slid so easily into Abnett/Lanning's GoTG, which coincidentally really started to take flight following Shadowpact's demise. Written by Bill "Fables" Willingham, it seamlessly slides between mythology, DC lore and high-concept action. Even better, it works just as well as a standalone!

NB: Read as part of my DC Crisis and Beyond Journey: #19

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Willingham's Fables is one of my favorite books ever but his regular DC fair has never thrilled me. Here we got a conflict that makes next to no sense and a ragtag bunch of magic users who gather to solve said conflict. No explanation of why the bigger DC magic users aren't around other than it furthers the lesser characters. Onto them, this is not the vehicle to showcase them. As I read, I didn't feel like I needed to know more because the stakes were so high. Justiniano's art was good though and helped convey the magic battles. The Superman story here was decent but Ian Churchill's art was dated. I would have liked to see this conflict with Eclipso been elongated (wink, wink). Overall, a subpar story that could have been told in a different book and given time to breathe.

[Xander Haan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Day of Vengeance - 5/5 Stars

I’m doing it… I’m giving this 5 stars! Why? Because this blew my expectations out of the water. I got this book a LONG time ago from a whatnot auction back when I didn’t know what that app was and accidentally spent a little too much money on it. It was a random book I knew nothing about but it came packaged with another book I actually wanted. I thought it would be bad.

But NO! This is a Shazam + Justice League Dark book almost. It’s just a giant fight against eclipse and the spectre and it’s got some awesome characters taking the spotlight. And it was a whole lot of fun and a really good time! I’m glad I own this book now after reading it and it’s a shame it took me so long to get to it.

Onto the next book!

[Jefferson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Após o Espectro perder seu hospedeiro Hal Jordan, o espírito da vingança deseja acabar com toda a magia do universo DC.

Eu gosto do Espectro e acho que esse personagem na mão certa conseguiria fazer uma grande série. Mas o grande problema dessa história aqui, foi chamar esse escritor horrível chamado Bill Willingham para escrever isso. Tudo parece jogado de qualquer jeito, um grande potencial jogado no lixo.

Porém é importante acompanhar para a Crise Infinita que está por vir.

[Brannigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a bridge event between Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis. This is the story of magic and how it changes drastically. The Shadowpact team is created and made up of some minor heroes that together become an awesome team. I’m a big fan of Ragman and he’s part of the team so I really enjoyed the story and plan to read more of Shadowpact.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cool, a bunch of underdogs help Shazam fight the Specter who is being misguided by Eclipso who has possessed the body of the Atom's ex-wife. (I think I got that right). Oh yea that's only after Eclipso takes over Superman and has him fight Shazam.

I actually really like Detective Chimp though I initially thought I would hate him. Great art in this too.

[Cameron H · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot like Villains United, this was a book comprised of a bunch of characters had little to know familiarity with. I’m not sure if this concept ever went anywhere, but I hope DC did something with the Shadowpact.

[Xavier Marturet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fue un placer traducirlo para Planeta DeAgostini, y estuvo bien la historia, aunque no es la mejor del mundo. El equivalente de "una peli de domingo".

[Adrian Santiago · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historia llevada bien, pero sin sentido.