Leviathan revealed! The mystery is a mystery no longer, as the heroes close in on the person who’s made their lives so difficult of late. It all comes crashing down, in Event Leviathan #6. SPOILERS AHEAD
Thriller or chiller?
The trade dress on the front of the book sells Event Leviathan as a “6-issue mystery thriller.” While I applaud DC for trying to tell the uninitiated reader what’s inside, I think this one’s a bit misleading. With the exception of the second issue, it’s been anything but a thriller. And now, with this final installment wrapping things up, it’s not even much of a satisfying mystery.
Thinking back over this event, I can’t see how I, or anyone else, should have been able to look at the evidence and deduce that Manhunter—the original—is Leviathan. There’s no click in my brain, no “ah hah!” moment where the reveal suddenly adds significance to the previous five issues.
What is this book about?
Event Leviathan was promoted in such a way that we were led to believe that its titular villain was a face we’ve seen before, perhaps recently. Is it Jason Todd? Is it Talia? Readers on this site expressed hope that it would be the opposite—a completely fresh villain. In the end, we got what I think is the worst possible outcome: an existing character that nobody cares about.
Did you think it was Manhunter? Now that you know, do you even care? Why should you? I didn’t, I don’t, and heck if I know. Maybe he gets more interesting when he shows up again in Action Comics, but right now, all I can think is “who cares?” Maybe there’s a secret cadre of Manhunter fans spread out across the world, and this is precisely the story they wanted, but I doubt it.
Consistency
I won’t spend too much time talking technical stuff here. Bendis still doesn’t know how to write most of these characters, and Maleev doesn’t do enough to overcome it. There are a few pages that are well-done, and one is particularly poignant, but beyond those, it’s a pretty bland book.
A very personal disappointment: I was looking forward to Silencer showing up in this book, but now I wish she never had. Bendis reverses the end of Honor’s arc in her own book, but we never get any indication why. And since her title recently ended, I don’t imagine we’ll find out any time soon, if ever. It’s a complete waste of the best new character DC has created in a long time, and she deserves much better than this.
Recommended if…
- You liked this event.
Overall
Event Leviathan #6 is the perfect conclusion to this book, because it has all of the same problems that have plagued it from the beginning. Poor dialogue, bland visuals, and a mystery nobody cares about add up to one of the most forgettable minis to come out of DC in recent memory.
SCORE: 2/10
