DCU Comic Book Reviews

SHADOWPACT #7

The Laws Of Battle

January 2007

Written by Bill Willingham

Pencils by Tom Derenick

Inks by Wayne Faucher

Cover by Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher

Synopsis

At the Oblivion Bar, Detective Chimp tells the rest of Shadowpact that the two hellhounds that remained behind after the battle with the Huntsmen are actually Ragman and Enchantress magically transformed.  After they are returned to human form, Rex the Wonder Dog suggests a daring plan:  he will transform into a hellhound and infiltrate the Hunstmen to learn why the Shadowpact are being attacked.  Later, Blue Devil, Nightshade, and Ragman are in Metropolis when they are attacked by the Congregation.  At the Oblivion Bar, Nightmaster and Detective Chimp agree to formulate rules of engagement to guide how Shadowpact will operate.  Somewhere in Germany, Enchantress calls in an old favor to acquire the Heren-Ramsgate Cauldron (equivalent to a powerful computer for magic users) for the Shadowpact.  In Metropolis, the team defeats the Congregation and Nightshade wraps them up in darkness.  However, the Congregation unleashes the revealing light of truth, which blinds not only Shadowpact, but everyone in the area.  Meanwhile, Enchantress has returned to the bar with the cauldron and Nightmaster and Detective Chimp have completed Three Universal Laws of Superheroics.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was another solid, enjoyable issue.  There are some great moments to e found in here, from Nightmaster’s attitude towards Flippy, Rex’s desire to be a bad dog, Rex’s genuine question to Ragman about being a dog, and the little kids coming up the team and asking all about them.  I also got a kick out of Nightmaster calling the Gotham police department and actually getting a little respect rather than the police hanging up on him.  “Hi! I’m Batman.”  Click. 

Maybe it’s just because I am used to decompression storytelling, but I really thought the hellhound situation would’ve lasted longer than it really did.  At first I was surprised that the solution was found so easily (and actually occurred between issues since Detective Chimp is repeating on the second page what he had already learned).  Then it occurred to me that I don’t think Willingham is all that interested in extended plot points regarding the various attackers.  Rather, he seems more interested in the interaction of the team and how these group of misfits are attempting to come together as a group.  So far, in each of the three attacks, they begin to lose the battle and only win by late intervention of other team members.  I am guessing that the team will defeat the Congregation early in the next issue before moving onto the next big threat. 

Three Universal Laws of Superheroics?  This is going to be so good.  The nod to Asimov is related to the writer’s creation of the Three Laws Of Robotics in the novel I, Robot.  They are:

Law One     A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate a higher order law.

Law Two      A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with a higher order law.

Law Three:  A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with a higher order law.

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