Their enemies are at the gates. The members of The Vigil have been separated, their powers diminished, and their weaknesses targeted. What now? Your Major Spoilers review of The Vigil #6 from DC Comics awaits!

THE VIGIL #6

Writer: Ram V
Artist: Devmalya Pramanik/Norm Rapmund
Colorist: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Editor: Jessica Chen & Ben Meares
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: November 14, 2023

Previously in The Vigil: /…/ /Who Are the Vigil?/ /New member The Wild Card file loading… The metahuman group the Vigil seems have to added a fifth member to the group…identity unknown. Powers unknown. Theory is they were picked up from a field mission, but no other details at this time. Remember, discretion is key–you are being watched. Stay vigilant. /…/ /you are being watched./

EVEN WHEN IN CHECKMATE, YOU CAN ALWAYS CASTLE

Five issues of cat and mouse games have led The Vigil to their lowest point. Low on power, Arclight has been pinned down in a train station in India. Nia Saha’s home is overrun by commandos. Saya has gone off the grid. Dodge is trapped in Vigil headquarters. The situation has been so desperate that the team has actually conscripted the villain known as Dynamo, who nearly killed them all, to stand as the last line of defense against their attackers. But it’s Castle, the final team member, whose abilities haven’t been accounted for. As an assassin takes a kill shot, the bullet stops in mid-air.

And that’s when the really unexpected parts of our story begin.

THE VIGIL WILL RETURN

First of all, DC’s “We Are Heroes” sub-imprint didn’t really seem to have a lot of narrative cohesion, other than showcasing a number of new heroes of Asian descent, but The Vigil has been remarkable in its quality and consistency. This issue’s careful play-by-play by Castle, whose ability to play the odds and engineer the old “Batman Gambit” have been very nebulous to date, and rank among the hardest super-powers to visualize on the page. Ram V and Pramanik do so, using clever storytelling techniques, and emulating the kind of dramatic reversals that you see in movies like Glass Onion, where what you see is 100% accurate… It’s just not the whole story. The end of the issue takes a surprising turn, tying into The Outsiders and The Unstoppable Doom Patrol, giving us the first indications of long-term editorial synergy at DC since about 2016.

BOTTOM LINE: MORE OF THIS PLEASE

With DC launching so many books as a six-issue miniseries, I worried that The Vigil #6 would fall off the end of the pier, becoming another example of an interesting premise that never gets followed up on, but this issue wraps up the team’s origin story well, with strong writing, clever plot points, better-than-average art, and a gobsmacking ending, earning 4 out of 5 stars overall.

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The Vigil #6

80%

80%

The End of a Successful Slow-Burn Story

Never has a single smile been so disturbing and said SO much.

• Writing

  9
• Art

  7
• Coloring

  8
• User Ratings (1 Votes)
  8.8