Freedom Fighters #12 – Robert Venditti, Writer; Eddy Barrows, Penciller; Eber Ferreira, Inker; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 5/10
Ray: This year-long miniseries set on Earth-X comes to a close with a bang in Freedom Fighters #12– one of many in this explosive series with the tone of a Michael Bay blockbuster.
When we left off, the Freedom Fighters had successfully turned the tables on the Nazis and Uncle Sam had regained his full power, but Hitler’s deranged grandson had killed his father and taken command of the empire. He planned to detonate the mountain, killing the Freedom Fighters and taking a chunk of the country with him. That leads to a tense opening segment as the heroes rush the mountain and get a message from the villain.
Human Bomb makes the decision to detonate the mountain first to stop the nuke, and his teammates say a tearful goodbye. The mountain goes up in a massive explosion – and then Human Bomb walks out, completely fine. That’s probably the biggest problem with this series. Despite the massive stakes, it feels surprisingly nonconsequential.
For a series with a lot of political themes on its mind, it never really goes beyond the surface level on its concept. Freedom Fighters #12 has some fantastic visuals, including the return of some of the other national avatars crushed by the Nazis. The reveal of Poland’s avatar and what it represents nearly brought a tear to my eye, but it’s gone as quickly as it arrives.
It feels like there are a dozen more interesting stories going on around the fringes of this comic that we never got to see. The ending has Black Condor finally getting his revenge, but it also feels like this final issue really puts the bow on turning the series’ most prominent black character into a literal monster.
Corrina complained at the start of this series that it was a very skin-deep take on a Nazi regime, and I’m forced to agree. I feel like this book could have survived that if its heroes didn’t also feel skin-deep for most of the story.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
