DCeased: Hope at World’s End

DCeased (Collected Editions) #3

by Tom Taylor, Marco Failla (Artist), Renato Guedes (Artist)

In Earth’s darkest hour, heroes will bring hope in this new addition to the DCeased saga, taking place within the timeline of the original epic!

DCeased became a smash horror hit in 2019 by offering a twisted version of the DC Universe infected by the Anti-Life Equation, transforming heroes and villains alike into mindless monsters.

DCeased: Hope At World’s End, previously only available digitally, expands the world of that original DCeased series by filling in that story’s time jump and focusing on characters including Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Stephanie Brown, Wally West, and Jimmy Olsen.

In DCeased: Hope At World’s End, the Anti-Life Equation has infected over a billion people on Earth. Heroes and villains have fallen. In the immediate aftermath of the destruction of Metropolis, Superman and Wonder Woman spearhead an effort to stem the tide of infection, preserve and protect survivors, and plan for what’s next. In the Earth’s darkest hour, heroes will bring hope! The war for Earth has only just begun!

This volume collects DCeased: Hope At World’s End Chapter 1-15

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

179 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 15, 2021

About the author

Once a professional juggler and fire eater, Tom Taylor is a #1 New York Times Bestselling, multi-award-winning comic book writer, playwright and screenwriter.

Well known for his work with DC Comics and Marvel, Taylor is the co-creator of NEVERLANDERS from Penguin Random House, SEVEN SECRETS from Boom Studios and the Aurealis-Award-winning graphic novel series THE DEEP. Taylor is also the Head Writer and Executive Producer of The Deep animated series, four seasons of which is broadcast in over 140 countries.

He is perhaps best known for the DC Comics series, DCEASED (Shadow Awards Winner), NIGHTWING (nominated for 5 Eisner Awards), SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL (GLAAD Award Nominee), INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US, SUICIDE SQUAD, EARTH 2 and BATMAN/SUPERMAN as well as Marvel's FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, ALL NEW WOLVERINE, X-MEN: RED, DARK AGES and SUPERIOR IRON MAN. Taylor is also the writer of many Star Wars series, which include STAR WARS: INVASION and STAR WARS: BLOOD TIES (Stan Lee Excelsior Award winner). Taylor has written for Marvel, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, Boom Studios, Wildstorm, 2000 AD and Gestalt Comics.

He can be followed on twitter @TomTaylorMade.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice set of interconnecting issues that feature different DC Heroes in the midst of the anti-life equation virus.
Zombies. They're zombies.



The biggest story in here revolves around Black Adam, but the others are all really good, as well.
Everything takes place before Superman falls at the end of DCeased, so this is apparently what all the DC characters (including the Super-Pets) are doing during the first bits of the apocalypse.



It's Tom Taylor. And Tom Taylor is really good at selling this kind of stuff. I legit sniffled a few times while reading this. Not sure all of it was even that good but he's just a fantastic writer who can turn spin-off poo into gold. <--for me, at least.



If you're into DCeased, you'll want to read this.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You will cease . . . to exist. You . . . will fall." -- Black Adam, being compelled by the lasso of truth

"Some of us may fall, but not all. And not today." -- Wonder Woman, Amazonian 'til the end

I was surprised by the number of lukewarm or 'meh' reviews for this continuation-of-sorts volume, but I guess nothing will quite equal the original DCeased (which, with its topical worldwide-affecting plague narrative, I happened to read just mere weeks before the pandemic put the U.S. in full shutdown mode last year). Yes, this volume had some spotty artwork issues - there was one panel of a grimacing Superman that was so bad it seemed unforgivable to have made it past the editorial stage - and one of the included chapters (featuring DC's animal characters as protagonists) seemed a little tangential to the main storyline. But more often than not when things DID work - like the conversations between Superman and Lois Lane, the unceasing steely resolve of Wonder Woman, any of the scenes featuring Damian Wayne and Stephanie Brown (those meddling kids formerly known as Robin and Spoiler, but they heroically rise to the occasion and assume 'new' crime-fighting identities here), and even Jimmy Olsen's narration of the horrors happening to the world - this was one involving graphic novel. To give appropriate credit to Taylor and company - the action/drama of the plot is kept at a pitch-perfect dread level, and none of the dialogue ever seems cursory.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s Black Adam’s turn to go zombie in the third instalment of DCeased, the series where superheroes deal with the zombie apocalypse by basically doing the same thing in each book: retreat to a safe place then get overrun as some obscure portal-making character portals in zombies behind non-zombie lines to turn them into zombies! Is there hope to be found at the end of the world? Probably. But not before DC crank out one more volume!

Tom Taylor’s third DCeased outing, Hope at World’s End, isn’t very good. Black Adam behaves ruthlessly but pragmatically before making a very stupid mistake to turn zombie for narrative reasons. Then it’s just more of the same: heroes help civilians run away from zombies, zombies attack, some superheroes get turned/die, rinse and repeat.

Like the heroes at the end of the first book, a couple of Flashes have a peace-out moment and jump on the Cosmic Treadmill to save a buncha people in their city before blipping out of their zombie-ridden world. Maybe they’ll have a part to play in the next and final book? If not, that’s a pretty funny done-in-one storyline.

The Battle of Jotunheim has a very Battle of Helm’s Deep-flavour to it, which I kinda liked, and when Damian hotwires the Invisible Jet and heads to Gotham, he accidentally kills undead Kite Man, smearing him across the windshield, which was a funny bit (it’s a reference to Tom King’s Batman run). Karl Mostert’s art is good in the Super Pets issue - the only issue with decent art - and Superman has a clever way of dealing with Black Adam at the end.

Mostly though Hope at World’s End is a pointless addition to the overall storyline, adding nothing more than extra carnage to impart that, yes, when they said worldwide havoc, they meant worldwide, and here’s where more zombie stuff happened that’s more of the same but in a different location.

It’s rarely entertaining, often repetitive with the same style of action playing out over and over, with a helluva lot of uneven, ugly art. I was frequently bored, waiting for the book to get to a point before realising it didn’t have one. Ho-hum at World’s End is definitely an easily-skippable volume in the overall series.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom Taylor seems to have turned DCeased into a cottage industry with his 4th miniseries. This one takes place between issues #4 and #5 of the original series, fleshing out some moments that were glossed over initially. It's a solid entry but not great. I like that Taylor inserts some of his characters from Suicide Squad: Bad Blood. There's a lot of different artists on this and some of them aren't very good.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A wholly unnecessary look at events, moments, and characters left out of the original DCeased series. It's a book-length deleted scene!

Numerous illustrators are roped into providing unimpressive art for this half-hearted cash grab.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another good one omg!

This feels more like an anthology series as we focus on so many short stories like how the heroes saved the world while telling the larger story of heroes vs the Anti-life army led by black adam and its epic! I love the story with Wally and Damian taking up Batman's legacy and the young trinity teaming up which was so nice and I just loved it! Taylor even in the face of armageddon shows how these heroes work so well together and gives them these moments that makes you love them and I love the ending war and how they are able to save some people and the meta-commentary of facing the virus (when this was initially released, corona-v was a thing and well the ending of the book says to keep fighting and be cautious and I appreciated that one).

A perfect book which ties into the larger DCeased story and shows the POV of different angles and I like the way Jimmy olsen narrates it, my boy finally getting some lime light! So yeah a definite recommend from my side!

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew nothing about Black Adam prior to reading “Hope At World’s End”, a follow-up to Tom Taylor’s 2019 “DCeased”, which was DC’s attempt at making a superheroes-in-a-zombie-apocalypse story.

The only thing I knew about Black Adam is that the Rock is supposedly playing him in an upcoming movie, and that he is somehow related to Shazam.

In this series, he’s a bit of a dick, and that’s before he becomes a flesh-eating super-ghoul. Apparently, he’s the dictator of a Middle Eastern country called Khandaq.

I’m a bit confused about the timeline in this series. It tends to jump around between past, present, and future events without any warning. I mean, I “got it” when Quentin Tarantino did it in “Pulp Fiction”, but I scratched my head a few times with this. In one scene Jimmy Olson has two healthy eyes, in the next scene he has a patch on one eye, and a few pages later, we see the accident which caused him to lose the one eye. I realize that this was probably meant to indicate where things stood in terms of the story timeline, but fuck me if I hadn’t a clue what was going on.

I personally just wanna see more superheroes get torn to shreds by zombies, and/or more zombie superheroes killing whole swaths of survivors.

I know, I’m a bloodthirsty sick fuck.

[Molly™☺ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever wonder what the side characters get up to during a world-ending crisis? A lot of action interlaced with humour, apparently. Somehow, Taylor has managed to incorporate jokes amongst tragedy and it works. In fact, it rather nicely balances out. The Kid Trinity of Damian, Jon and Cassie work very well together and are at the heart of this volume. It’s a very easy read that’s only really bogged down by some of the pages dedicated to characters of little importance or investment, but it’s an overall hit.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

This is another solid instalment in Tom Taylor’s sprawling DC zombie epic DCeased. This time, this maxi series focuses on the time in between the huge time jump between DCeased #4 and #5, which was just hastily summarized in the latter issue. It focuses not only on some of the more minor heroes and their sacrifices (like the Flash family in a really cool issue) but also on the effort to gather as many survivors as possible and stop Black Adam after the Anti-Life Equation takes him.

While Tom Taylor is still a master at characterization and crafts some stellar set pieces, this series doesn’t have the same impact as the rest of DCeased and feels a bit more PG, due in a large part to the very flimsy, cartoony art in the second half of the series, as well as an uncharacteristic cop-out in the climax, ruining what would have been a really impactful moment. It doesn’t feel at all similar to the brave choices that Taylor has made in most of his other DC work.

[Bill Riggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

It isn’t as yo to par as the regular installments of the series but there are still some surprisingly poignant moments and acts of heroism. In my opinion the super pets issue was one of the best stories in the series.

[Alek Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a lukewarm addition to the DCeased series. Things felt a little too PG, especially on the back half of those 15 issues. The shift in art style definitely shows that.

While trying to add some filler/in between to the moments that transpired in the DCeased event. There were quite a few contradictory moments if you ask me.

So far "The Unkillables" has been a better addition.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book via Kindle Unlimited.

I really should have reviewed this book closer to when I read it because damn, I don't really remember what happens other than Black Adam kills a bunch of people to protect his home and then the Justice League come to him for help and he says no. He really should've said yes, huh?

[Josh Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This installment in the DCeased series was a bit of a mixed bag. There were certain issues that were excellent, but the cartoony art in the second half of the book was wildly inappropriate for the story and subject matter. Hopefully they’ll right the ship in the next book.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part, this is primarily heroes and people trying to survive and protect other refugees. It's filled with a lot of scenes featuring heroic actions and sacrifices, while in between are those small human moments were people often connect and mature in times of stress. Those little moments are worth more and in this case it mainly focused on the younger trinity: Damian, Jon and Cassie. Some of my favorites are those between Damian and his mom.

This continues till the end where it comes down to the idealism between Superman and Lex Luther resulting in a conclusion point, although not necessarily the end, leaving the story open for at least one more book.

What bothered me most was the art work. It starts out fantastic with a darker look, appropriate for the setting, then flip flops back and forth between that and a brighter "standard" superhero art look. But when it comes time for the finale, it switches to a four color animated/cartoony style. Not only is it a jarring change but it doesn't quite fit the tone of dread that the writing has been building up to. It's a shame because otherwise this would have earned another star.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 3 out of 5]

DComposição: Esperança no Fim do Mundo é o quarto volume da saga de zumbis da equação antivida do universo DC Comics. Depois de três voumes sensacionais, Tom Taylor finalmente está dando os seus sinais de cansaço. As histórias aqui publicadas vem de quinze edições digitais de DCeased que depois foram trazidas para o papel. São histórias sobre o universo de DComposição antes da grande decisão que salvou todas as pessoas restantes na Terra. Diferente dos outros encadernados, este aqui não se concentra num arco de histórias só, mas em momentos dispersos da continuidade desta realidade e também focando em diferentes personagens, como Jimmy Olsen, Wally West, Adão Negro e a Justiça Jovem. Deve ser por causa dessa estrutura das histórias que não curti tanto esse encadernado como os demais. A arte também fica devendo nesse quesito, muitos, muitos, muitos artistas diferentes foram convidados a dar conta deste quarto volume. Geralmente isso acarreta num resultado geral bastante irregular. E foi o que aconteceu na minha humilde opinião.

[Chelsea &#x1f3f3;️‍&#x1f308; · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t think this was entirely necessary. Basically, it’s a lot of the same themes from Dead Planet and the first DCeased installment, but not quite the same heart. It was mostly action scenes, but I did enjoy some of the character interactions.

I loved the scenes between Steph and Damian! I wish DC remembered how great their relationship is. I enjoyed Damian finding friends with Cassie and Jon. It was jarring seeing Talia actually act like a mother. Nothing I’ve ever read with Damian portrayed her as a caring mother who actually considered Damian’s feelings, so it was an improvement that felt out of character. Not sure how to feel about that.

The plot itself didn’t really grab me because there was so much going on. So, not exactly a recommend from me.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hope At World's End is a lackluster side-story in the DCeased universe. At a high level, it's Jimmy Olsen narrating the battle against undead Black Adam for Ivy's green cage. The story ranges all over the place. D-level characters like Wink and Pied Piper get starring roles. The artwork flows from great to acceptable, then mostly stays near the bottom of the barrel. There are a handful of thrilling scenes, but nothing like the core DCeased narrative, nor even the Dead Planet sequel. Re-read the main saga instead.

[Leyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historias cortas en torno a la esperanza, como indica el título. La verdad, no han estado mal, pero después del viaje que ha sido Planeta Muerto, me ha decepcionado un poco. Además, el dibujo de los últimos números no me ha gustado nada, y eso no ayuda.
Lo mejor, eso sí, es Jimmy Olsen; él merece 5 estrellas como 5 soles, y hasta pocas me parecen.

[Sem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty apparent why these bits weren't made into a full-format mini-series in the DCeased line-up. They're okay but not much more, especially the ending copout of "oh, we just decided not to sacrifice ourselves".

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another DCeased spin off series this time featuring Jimmy Olsen, Black Adam, Martian Manhunter, Superman and Wonder Woman to name but a few as the worlds superheroes and supervillains try to stave off the escalating Anti-Life Virus.

Similar to Unkillables this isn’t up to the standards of the original DCeased series and at times the artwork here deteriorates into mediocrity. The only reason to read it is that it’s part of the series but apart from that I’d give it a miss. The stories here are a uninspiring (such as the story of the girl and the horse), repetitive or both.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this installment, it kinda fills in and broadens bits from the first. More characters, more mayhem and more wtf moments. I enjoyed seeing more characters and finding out what happened in other places when everything was going down. CARNAGE!
Fuck me, I am LOVING these... Roll on the next!

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

DCeased: Hope at World's End collects issues 1-15 of the series written by Tom Taylor with art by Marco Failla, Renato Guedes, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Karl Mostert, Daniele Di Nicuolo, Dustin Nguyen, Trevor Scott, and Jon Somnariva.

A story that takes place during the events of the original DCeased in which the heroes of Earth battle an infected Black Adam and an army of the undead.

This series was originally published digitally but later collected in trade form. I like the overall narrative of the book being told from the point of view of Jimmy Olson. It helps ground the book to a character the reader can relate to. I really like some of the diverse corners of the DC Universe that Taylor taps into and references. The thing that hurts this book is that because it takes a step back in time, we know the outcome of most of these characters. It also has a ton of different artists working on the book. I prefer arcs to have a consistent art style. Overall, it's still an enjoyable entry in the DCeased universe.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

DCeased has had two sequels, so now it's time for an interquel as Tom Taylor puts the focus on the fall of mankind between DCeased and Dead Planet.

There's a lot to like here as always - there's a vast cast of characters but they all seem to have something to add to the proceedings. It seems like disparate threads, but everything ties together quite nicely at the end, and I enjoyed the focus on lesser known and/or newer characters like Wink and the Aerie from Taylor's Suicide Squad run.

The only real downfall to this volume compared to the other three DCeased entries is the art. DC's digital first outings always seem to suffer on the art front for some reason, and this one's the same. Whether it's the widescreen format making it easier to pick out unfinished art or the weekly release schedule rushing the artists involved, this one's definitely not up to the standard set by Trevor Hairsine and Karl Mostert on the other books.

So not a bad entry to the DCeased canon, and one that feels like a worthwhile story to tell rather than just for the sake of it, but it does fall down a little in the visual department.

[David Muñoz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a huge downgrade compared to the previous 2 series in the world of ‘DCeased.’ In this 15 issue series we get another prequel-like story showing us some in-between events that occurred before the end of the original ‘DCeased’ storyline. It all starts with a perspective from Jimmy Olsen. We see his first encounter with the anti-life virus and how he meets up with Superman. From there the story focuses on what is called the *Anti-Life Army* and their attack on the safe havens the heroes have made for survivors. The army is made after Black Adam is infected which in turn leads to his whole people being infected. Some other characters unfortunately see themselves turned into the zombie-like monsters and thus begin the attack on Gothams garden, a safe location made by Poison Ivy housing millions of survivors. We also get a couple of issues showing different characters and how they managed to make their way to the garden. It all leads to the giant battle between Black Adam's army and the surviving heroes protecting the innocent in the garden.

Tom Taylor is still the writer in this world of ‘DCeased’ so I’m really sad to say I straight up disliked this read. It felt so different compared to the previous two and not in a good way. The overall plot isn’t too bad of an idea, but the added characters and super fast pacing ruined it for me. Some issues were just rushed, uninteresting, filler and the whole climax of the series was just meh. I mentioned in his two previous series in this world that his pacing is normally done brilliantly. This time around though, it feels way too fast. Each issue felt rushed and lacked any actual depth. It just seemed like Taylor wasn’t as interested in this one cause I would finish an issue in like 5 minutes and gain nothing from it. There was also a lot more corny dialogue and moments that kinda made me forget this was even a horror-esque world. It kinda felt like the read was more for younger kids and that could’ve been the point, but nothing indicates that directly and as something that started as a ‘Black Label’ story, I don’t know why’d you’d switch the tone so drastically. Just doesn’t work for what the series is supposed to be.

The artwork was unfortunately not a saving factor in this story. Possibly adding more to why I didn’t like it. The series has multiple artists throughout the read, however the main one is Marco Failla. I in no way think the art is bad, it’s just not for me. I just don’t think it matches the type of world this whole series is supposed to be about. It just makes everything feel toned down. That’s not all Failla or the other artists fault either, as Taylor in general is giving us a more toned down story. Just all in all was not for me.

Overall; this one's for sure skippable. The previous two mini-series were so much better and this one feels so distant compared to them. It is a very fast read so if you’re *really* curious or are a completist with you’re reading, it won’t be *that* much of a waste of time, but it’s not the best from Taylor.

[Nate]

Unnecessary and not very good. Like Unkillables, this takes place during the events of the first series. It mainly deals with Black Adam, who has turned into a zombie, wreaking havoc on everything and Superman and co. working to stop him. We get some side plots with Damian and Jon and the Flashes. The whole thing is predictable and not as exciting as the first two books. The best part is the standalone story featuring Detective Chimp, Ace, and Krypto.

There's a rotating crew of artists, and the quality is decidedly up-and-down.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the singles but didn't want to put them all in my list so I'm glad to see they released this collection.

Didn't like it, nope. Not a fan of zombie stories, especially ones like this where some people are immediately turned and others are given the opportunity to talk or hide their infection first. it's not consistent so it always comes off as lazy to me.

The fact it's not "just" zombies is kind of neat though. There are some bits that are definitely inspired, it's just that as a whole it's not that good.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this third volume of the DCeased saga we see other heroes and villains dealing with the aint-life equation. I found this book a bit underwhelming after the last two volumes. It wasn't bad in my opinion just felt like repeating some of the same story beats from previous issues. I did find the Black Adam stuff to be interesting and i enjoyed the Flash family issue. The art was a bit uneven in this volume also.

[Chris Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another decent DCeased book that doesn’t measure up to the first one. Just like The Unkillables, the writing just isn’t as sharp as in the first book. And because this takes place before the end of the first book, we already know what ultimately happens with key characters, so the suspense isn’t there. There’s some enjoyment to be had, so this is still worth a read if you like the series.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series was almost like deleted scenes from the original DCeased series, as we got to see what was going on in some other parts of the world rather than what was just covered in the main series. A good addition to the main series.

[Zbigniew Gacek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historia kręci się wokół walki z Black Adamem, który okazuje się na serio twardym zawodnikiem. Sporo historii uzupełniających wydarzenia co się działo z różnymi postaciami podczas Apokalipsy. Różne style rysowania, raz lepsze , raz gorsze ale ogółem dobrze się czytało.