DCU Comic Book Reviews

VILLAINS UNITED INFINITE CRISIS SPECIAL

A Hero Dies But One

June 2006

Written by Gail Simone

Pencils by Dale Eaglesham

Inks by Art Thibert with Drew Geraci

Cover by Karl Kershcel with Dave McCaig

Synopsis

The warden of Enclave M Prison attempts to flee with his wife and daughter, but the Royal Flush Gang find him and tell him he better open the gates to the prison.  Elsewhere, other members of the Society are making sure the rest of the world’s prisons are also opened at the same time.  At Society headquarters, Lex Luthor puts the plan in motion.  Dr. Psycho and Warp depart for their piece of the plan.  In Gotham City, Barbara Gordon (aka Oracle) learns of the escape plan at Arkham Asylum and sends her agents to recapture the agents.  Meanwhile, the Secret Six gather together to determine on which side of the law they will stand.  Deadshot suggests that as long as they get paid, it doesn’t matter.  Oracle realizes the plan is to empty all of the prisons.  She contacts as many super heroes, including those retired, to help stop the mass escape.  She also contacts J’onn J’onzz (Martian Manhunter), who provides telepathic help to ease the fear some of the heroes may have been helping.  Meanwhile, the Secret Six free Scarecrow from prison and then learn from him the plan from the Society:  all of the villains are to gather in Metropolis.  They pass along the information to Green Arrow who passes it to Oracle who informs all of the super heroes of the plan.  With the help of Lady Blackhawk’s fleet of plans, the heroes arrive moments before the army of villains.  Dr. Psycho is in the lead, followed by Doomsday.  And the battle for Metropolis begins.

Review

“And the shining truth in that moment is that never was the line between hero and villain so inescapably clear.”

I loved this issue.  I have always been a fan of Oracle and to see her in the spotlight, orchestrating the hero’s battle made me all giddy inside.  It was so cool to see her reach out to all of the heroes (especially Manhunter, a character and book I really like) and get them involved.  One of the themes running through the Crisis has been what it means to be a hero.  This issue shows what it means, especially when they are standing in Metropolis, waiting for the villains’ army to come to them, seeing Doomsday in the lead.  No one moves.  As Oracle states, they know what Doomsday did to Superman, but still they do not move.  It was a great moment and for anyone following the Crisis, it resonates.  Being a hero is complicated and not easy, but it means never giving up and never backing down, no matter the odds.  This is especially true what the big names of the DUC super hero world are absent (check out the list Oracle reads from).  The basic theme of the upcoming 52 will be life without the big guns and this shows that there will always be

One of the complaints I had during the original run of Villains United was that the issue focused more on the villains/heroes in the Secret Six than on, you know, the villains in the Society.  This issue more than makes up for that.  This time the focus of this issue is on not only on the Society, but also on the villains throughout the DCU.  Perhaps that is why I liked it so much.  Lex (actually Alexander Luthor) had a plan and he put it into motion and we get to see all the parts.  Plus, I really liked Calculator’s comments about Luthor and about being on the right side of God.  And who couldn’t enjoy Talia spilling hot tea all over Dr. Light. 

The only part of the issue I did not like was the final page.  The single page of the heroes and villains fighting combined with the quote from Oracle above was the perfect way to end the story.  The short dialogue among the Secret Six was unnecessary and actually took away from the impact of the previous page.  It was done to set up the upcoming Secret Six min-series, but it was extraneous to the point it lessened the impact of what should have been the final page.-- MRB 

Comic Connection

In Superman, issue #651, the film of Superman’s life states that the last thing Superman did before disappearing was to battle Doomsday.

 

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