DC/RWBY #5 // Review
Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang have popped in from another universe. They’re magic, so they’ve brought a whole lot of trouble with them. The DC Universe is already crisis-prone. It doesn’t need any more danger. People have been getting powers. Villains have been granted the ability to be MUCH more dangerous than usual. It’s been a pretty complicated situation. And now Superman has been taken over by evil powers. Things have just gotten worse in DC/RWBY #5. Writer Marguerite Bennett continues a tour through the DC Universe with artist Soo Lee. Marissa Louise handles the color in another fun jump through one of DC’s more popular properties.
It’s a Grimm. That’s what they call it. It’s a powerful entity that has taken over Superman, and it could use him to pretty swiftly destroy everything in Metropolis before moving onto Gotham City and then the rest of the world. He’s the single most powerful force on Earth. How could RWBY possibly stand up to him? Luckily enough, they have access to the one thing that’s stronger for Superman than Kryptonite. If they can keep him from destroying everything, they might stand a very real chance of defeating Grimm.
Superman has been weaponized before. (Kind of a lot, actually. It’s kinda...his thing.) Bennett finds a really fascinating way of defusing the problem of the Kryptonian weapon that was developed on a farm in Kansas. It's kind of a cheesy solution, but Bennett finds a way to make it feel interesting and insightful. The writer is actually exploring relatively novel territory for Superman. That's a hell of an accomplishment considering the characters involved have been around for nearly 100 years. Bennett’s approach to the DC Universe has turned up some intriguing things in the first four issues. Finding relatively uncharted appeal for Superman seems like it might be one of her greatest successes with the series.
As good as the emotional component of the fifth issue of the series is, the art doesn't quite deliver the psychological impact of the drama to the page as well as it could. That being said, the issue is not without substantial appeal. There is some very beautiful rendering of some of the more iconic aspects of the DC Universe. It's brought to the page in a style that is not altogether common. There was a very distinct visual fingerprint in every one of Lee’s panels that expresses an aesthetic that doesn't even make it to the page in mainstream DC.
Bennett and company have a couple of issues left to go in the series. The overall arc of the plot has had a nice composition to it. Having been in several different locations, the series returns to Gotham City next month before wrapping up in August. It's been a fun and well-structured journey through the DC Universe with a couple of characters who aren't from around here. Though it's difficult to imagine them becoming an integral part of the DC Universe, it's nice of them to visit every now and then. 2021’s crossover with the Justice League was fun. It’s going to be nice to watch this year’s crossover wrap up at the end of summer.
