DC/RWBY #6 // Review

It was a perfectly rational idea. Open a portal to another world that will allow everyone on Earth to gain superhuman powers. And with Lex Luthor in charge of it...what could possibly go wrong? As it turns out--A LOT can go wrong, which becomes apparent in DC/RWBY #6. Writer Marguerite Bennett continues her story with artist Soo Lee and colorist Marissa Louise. Bennett and company have quite a lot to clean up before the final issue of the series. It’s a very large ensemble, and there is a hell of a lot to cover to try to get to some level of closure.

Catwoman is being given a whole lot of dust to handle the threat posed by the unintended consequences of Luthor’s plan. She mentions something about being altruistic, but really...NO ONE benefits from the kind of danger that comes from everyone having powers. It’s a mess out there, and there are a hell of a lot of problems with everything that need to be worked out as Batgirl, Nightwing, and RWBY head off into a burning city filled with monsters and a great deal of danger. Batman and Alfred are missing. They’re out there somewhere. 

Bennett’s storytelling is a bit lopsided. Granted, she does have a lot to cover in a very short span of time. However, the mix of fantasy elements and interpersonal adventure doesn’t quite hit the page in a way that is all that compelling. The danger and conflict come across as being very vague and distant. There's simply too much going on in and within the story to feel the threat of the very immediate danger that’s really there. And there are far too many people in the midst of the action to really feel much of a connection with any of them.

Lee does a pretty good job of juggling everything. However, it still isn’t given the kind of space it needs to really feel the impact of the action that’s going on. Louise allows the world of the action to develop in a way that feels much more moving than it has any right to be. Everything is quite immersive even if it’s hard to tell what’s going on at any given moment in time. It’s all a big cluttered mess. And that’s really too bad because it seems like an interesting idea. It would just take longer for it to develop. 

There need to be more actual events going on for each character to have more of a presence on the page. This would also allow the threat to develop in a way that is much more engaging. It feels like Bennett tried to do too much in too small a span of time. It’s very difficult to manage the kind of ambitious storytelling that Bennett is really trying to do with the series. The story needs to be large enough to fill six issues and interact with enough of the DC Universe to really live up to its title. However, there just isn’t enough time for everything. And there isn’t enough time spent on any one thing. It feels cluttered.

Grade: B-