Warning! Contains a preview for Task Force Z #7
In a new preview for DC Comics’ Task Force Z, the Red Hood takes on Batman‘s entire rogues gallery. As Jason Todd is caught in a horrific nightmare that sees him paying for the darker tendencies and sins of his past, it makes sense that Jason would be so troubled. It certainly doesn’t help that he’s currently been working alongside undead Gotham villains in the DC Universe.
As seen in previous issues of Task Force Z, Jason Todd was hand-picked by Two-Face to lead an off-shoot of the Suicide Squad. Having Amanda Waller’s permission to build a probationary team as a trial run, the difference between this new team and Task Force X has everything to do with a pill developed from the resurrecting waters of the Lazarus Pits. While baptism in a Lazarus Pit can bring back the dead (as it did for Jason following his murder at the hands of the Joker), these pills are only half-measures. Two-Face and his staff give these pills to recently killed foes such as Bane, Mr. Freeze, and Man-Bat, controlling the dosage so they come back as undead zombies who can theoretically be controlled, promising them more pills and a full resurrection for their compliance. That being said, the entire thing has actually been the master plan of Mr. Bloom, resulting in Two-Face and Red Hood’s zombie team falling apart.
Now, the new preview for Task Force Z #7 from writer Matthew Rosenberg and Eddy Barrows sees Jason caught in some sort of nightmare where the more lethal methods of justice he once used have come back to haunt him. Fighting off multiple villains such as Catwoman, Penguin, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and more, Red Hood eventually crosses crowbars with Joker who implies that Jason is a villain and a killer just like the rest of them. Furthermore, Nightwing and Batgirl tell Red Hood that he’s only made things worse as everyone around him turns into zombies, presumably having been killed by Red Hood himself in this dark dreamscape. Here are the preview pages and synopsis for the upcoming issue:
TASK FORCE Z #7 – Solomon Grundy. Victor Zsasz. Madame Crow. Copperhead. No, these are not this year’s nominees for sexiest maniac alive…they are the new recruits for Task Force Z! What does this mean for Red Hood and Bane? Will Mr. Bloom’s Lazarus Resin heist spell certain doom for the Resurrection Twins? How many rhetorical questions can I possibly squeeze into one paragraph’s worth of copy? 1) A lot. 2) Yes. 3) Three.
It should also be noted that Red Hood’s manifestation of Joker is dressed as Batman in this nightmare, implying that Jason’s psyche has darkly conflated the two into one being, telling the former Robin that they’re proud of him. It’s a very dark means of proving that Jason is well aware of the formative effect the Clown Prince of Crime had on his life when he killed him. While Red Hood’s nightmare is certainly justified, he’s going to have to wake up at some point to face the truth of his situation that his team has shrunk to just himself, Two-Face, and the zombified versions of Bane and Mr. Freeze, desperate for more Lazarus pills before they become lifeless again.
This issue’s synopsis also teases that Red Hood’s team will be getting a new member (Solomon Grundy would fit right in with a zombie team). It’s also an indication that Red Hood may find more pills to keep his other teammates going as well as they track down Mr. Bloom. Having Batman‘s trust to make things right, here’s hoping Red Hood can prove his own nightmare wrong, making up for the sins of his past when the full Task Force Z #7 releases on May 3.
