REVIEW: ‘Task Force Z,’ Issue #4

Task Force Z #4 is a horror comic published by DC Comics. Written by Matthew Rosenberg. The pencils are by Eddy Barrows and Kieran McKeown. The inkers are Eber Ferreira and Dexter Vines. The colourist is Adriano Lucas with Rob Leigh on letters.

Red Hood has been leading Task Force Z, a team of reanimated corpses. They included late superheroes such as Bane, Man-Bat, and Deadshot. The agency has been very clandestine, the real owner a shadowy figure called Crispin. Hunting for people stealing the same chemical capable of bringing the corpses back to life, Red Hood has been frozen, shot, and healed repeatedly. At the end of the last chapter, he discovered that Crispin was actually Two-Face.

In this issue, Red Hood has a tense discussion with Two-Face. Whilst he is away from the main base, members of his untrustworthy group make machinations of their own. True allegiances are revealed before the Task Force is sent on another undeadly mission.

Task Force Z #4 is where things get even more insane. If a tale about a group of zombies being part of a clandestine operation isn’t enough chaos on its own, this issue shakes the entire comic again. So many plot threads have been running at the same time, and they are beginning to overlap and interfere with each other. The first part of the comic is dealing with the enormous revelation that the last ended with, and it simply does not let up beyond that. That does not mean that there are too many plates spinning as Rosenberg never loses control of the story. There are so many twists that it would be impossible to have predicted ll of them. There are some awesome action scenes, a perfectly written face off and the issue concludes with another mission. This operation is the ultimate demonstration of everything beginning to fall apart. And there is one last flip of the tables just to finish the issue off.

There is a huge cast of characters in this series, and the writer is utilising all of them brilliantly. Many of them are enlisted as a shock factor so the readers can get a pang of excitement as a fan favourite appears. Each issue has featured a cameo or full display from Gotham’s illustrious possibilities and this chapter is no exception. Red Hoos has been a phenomenal lead character. He is as smart and tactically astute as his former mentor, but can still be tricked and isn’t as likely to have planned for every eventuality. Mr. Bloom is absolutely terrifying. Because we don’t know much about him, he is very unpredictable. Even those that may be considered allies to Red Hood, such as Deadshot, are impossible to judge. 

The art of the comic is fantastic. McKeown and Vines have joined the art team and their work brilliantly fits the tone of the comic. They appear to draw the scenes containing Two-Face in asides away from the flesh-eating monsters. It provides different designs than what was seen in other issues, in particular the different lines on Red Hood’s costume. The same inking techniques are used that Ferreira has illustrated in the regular pages, so there isn’t a distracting shift in the art style. The partnership of Barrows and Ferreira works its magic on the rest of the comic. The imagery gets perhaps even more disturbing than what was already on display, with graphic injuries getting worse as the pages turn. There is a different type of battle in the issue, more in the style of a traditional comic fight. It’s a nice break from the intense violence and is superbly choreographed.

The colours are spectacular as always. The atmosphere of the situation is compounded by the different tones used. The bright green that occurs when Bloom uses his power instigates a nauseating feeling. The red that covers the room when Todd meets Dent denotes imminent danger. And there is a putrid brown colour in the sky about Gotham, just telling us that something isn’t right.

The lettering in this comic is extremely creative. There are so many unique word balloons for the various monstrous characters.

Task Force Z #4 is more than just a zombie comic. Rosenberg has been telling an in-depth, complicated story that is just as much of a thriller as it is an outright horror. A star-studded cast of both dead and alive characters makes the comic so fun as there is just no telling what will happen next. The art team has made it visually fascinating ad the script is nerve-wracking.

Task Force Z #4 is available where comics are sold.