Task Force Z #6 – Matthew Rosenberg, Writer; Jack Herbert, Artist; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: As this series goes on, it wavers between being an ultraviolent and edgy series and one that has just a little something extra that makes it enjoyable. This issue steps over the line into the latter, as Jason tries to escape from a close encounter with the secondary Suicide Squad led by KG Beast that was deployed against him. The battle of wills between Amanda Waller and Harvey Dent that drives this series has been a big part of the story from the start, but this issue fleshes out another side of the story—the secret science experiment that created the Lazarus Resin on behalf of Powers Corp, and involved obscure DC antihero Resurrection Man. Much of this issue feels more like a corporate satire than a superhero thriller, and stuck in the middle is the notoriously unpredictable Mr. Bloom, who has been a wild card on the team from the start—as well as being the only member besides Jason who isn’t currently dead.
What’s intriguing is that as big a role as he plays in this issue, his motivations are still rather opaque. He slinks around, terrorizing former Senators and using his spindly limbs to infiltrate secret bases, all the while basically a blank slate of creepiness. He’s one of the most intriguing parts of the series—certainly more so than the ongoing presence of Bane, whose role as a zombie is all the more confusing given what’s currently going on in another title. But the best scenes of the issue come near the end as Batman tracks down the Task Force and seeks to withdraw Jason from it—by any means necessary. Rosenberg is a really good Bat-writer at times, and the pained dialogue between the two of them here is some of the best materials this partnership/rivalry has had in some time. I’m hoping that as the secrets of this book get peeled off, we’ll have more material like this in the future.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
