R.E.B.E.L.S. #7

Tony Bedard has really improved this comic over the last few months. The opening sequence with the Dominator Admiral trying to escape Dox's force field using an endangered "space-whale" instantly gives the reader an emotional reaction. What was so well done was that Bedard has the Dominator do a similar thing at the end of the issue, giving the book some nice parallel plotting.

Dox and his expanding team of REBELS spend the issue trying to get the Gil'Dishpan, an aquatic race known for the teleporting, to evacuate their planet and sign up to fight off Starro. During the negotiations, a neat new Starro-slave shows up and leads an attack on the alien planet's methane-oceans. After some neat sequences showing off Gil'Dishpan defenses, this shark baddie succeeds in getting most of the Gil'Dishpan leaders under Starro control. As Dox and the REBELS evacuate the planet, the Dominator joins up, but leaves a little surprise behind for Starro. The Dominator's actions are cold hearted, but they may have been the right move. I do hope that a fair amount of aliens did warp away from the planet though...

Bedard continues to drop bits of dialogue that show how great his handle is on the cosmic side of the DCU. There are references to LEGION and other space books that really tie this series back to the early 90s. The references add a lot for me, but don't seem like they'd be overpowering for a new reader.

Andy Clarke's art is fantastic. He uses a lot of cross-hatching, but the detail here is incredible. Every character and alien looks on-model, no easy task with this wide-spread a cast. Plus his design of the new aquatic alien controlled by Starro is a neat addition. I'm surprised how much I'm finding myself intrigued by all these leader-types in Starro's army.

Excellent