Social media ruins everything in DCeased No. 1

Superheroes? Check. Zombies? Check. Criticizing the world’s dependence on the internet? Check. DCeased has everything you could want in the beginning to a zombie invasion story.

Since it was first announced, DCeased has been one of DC’s most anticipated comics of the year. Batman punching zombies? What more could you want? Many fans have been curious to see how writer Tom Taylor (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man) would bring a zombie invasion to the DC Universe. With the release of the miniseries’ first issue on Wednesday, fans finally have their answer: social media.

Yes, social media causes a pandemic; an infected Cyborg spreads a techno-organic because his system uploads it to the internet. A few Facebook likes and retweets later, the disease has spread like juicy gossip.

Social media users inadvertently share a corrupted version of Darkseid’s Anti-Life Equation (one that’s even worse than the plague in Final Crisis.) The reader doesn’t even have time to think when Darkseid, consumed by the aforementioned virus, blows up Apokolips. (In a powerful sequence, Taylor twists the infamous saying “Darkseid is”  by writing “Darkseid was” beneath a shot of Apokolips’ explosion.

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The issue’s eye-opening ending, with an infected Tim Drake biting Batman, confirms that DCeased will at least partially be a classic zombie story. Based on the success of Marvel Zombies, this series has the potential to be a lot of fun and its first installment sets the stage for what should be a wild ride.

This story doesn’t need to be heartwarming; there’s nothing wrong with a trashy zombie movie being translated into a comic book. But Taylor teases that DCeased will be driven by the relationships between DC’s beloved characters. In one scene, a desperate Superman saves his son Jonathan from the disease. In another, Batman unsuccessfully tries to ward off his infected sidekicks. It’s a safe bet the rest of the series will feature similar interactions.

At the end of the day, the best part of this series might be the metaphorical criticism of the internet. As the virus spreads, everyone literally loses their minds, a not-so-subtle jab at the effects of social media. Thanks to the internet’s dominant presence, Taylor’s story shows that the world has indeed gone mad.