When the alternate DCeased world becomes infected with a corrupted version of the Anti-Life Equation, hope is found in an unlikely source—The League of Super Pets. Krypto the Superdog, Ace the Bat-Hound, and Detective Chimp prove they can be A-List heroes when they help an orphaned child and a horse reach the Gotham Garden in DCeased: Hope at World’s End #8.
The DCeased storyline began with Darkseid corrupting Cyborg’s analog to solve his Anti-Life Equation. However, Darkseid miscalculated the results when the virus corrupts Cyborg, and he returns to Earth, rapidly infecting the population highly exposed to digital devices connected to the internet. Those infected try to claw the virus out of their heads before succumbing to a zombie-like state that makes them eager to transfer the virus through blood-to-blood contact. Before Alfred kills an infected Batman, the Batcomputer estimates 600 million people across the globe were infected during the initial outbreak and believes the number will rise to the billions in the coming days.
Hope at World’s End offers a refreshing perspective by including the League of Super Pets in a major storyline usually focused on the Justice League’s activity. Furthermore, the Super Pets' aid to the orphaned girl and a horse reflect how superheroes help humanity build hope for a brighter future. DCeased: Hope at World's End #8 is written by Tom Taylor, Karl Mostert, and Trevor Scott. The issue opens with a young girl named Amy dropping her horse figurine, and its head breaks while the narration reads, “there was a girl, who lost a horse. It fell, and when it fell, it was broken.” With the Justice League dead, Amy is alone and surrounded by zombies before she is accompanied by Ace, Detective Chimp, and a horse named Comet. Ace smells “Death moving,” and a horde of zombies attacks them. Detective Chimp gets scratched but does not turn “because this was an equation dreamed up by arrogant gods… and they don’t think of animals as sentient.” When Krypto joins them, and they arrive at the garden sanctuary, the narration’s final sentence reads, “there was a girl who lost a horse and a horse who lost a girl. They fell together. But they weren’t broken. They held each other together.”
The opening quote of the issue shows how Amy’s hope for a world protected by heroes plummeted uncontrollably when she witnessed the Anti-Life Equation infect Earth’s population. After her hope fell, it fractured completely when she discovered the Justice League was infected and could no longer protect her. However, part of her hope is rekindled when super-powered animals rescue her from the undead, indicating that the Super Pets are equally valuable as the Justice League because both represent hope for humanity (unlike other iterations where the zombie apocalypse starts with the Super Pets). Detective Chimp points out the flaws in the Anti-Life Equation because it emphasizes how Darkseid’s arrogance clouds his judgment so much that he only considers humans as conscious living creatures, ignoring animals’ emotional capacity. The final sentence in the issue changes the meaning of the opening sentence by saying humanity and their hope diminished together, but they never dissipated because humanity needs hope to believe in a better future.
DCeased: Hope at World’s End #8 allows readers to witness the League of Super Pets’ full potential during the zombie apocalypse. Ace the Bat-Hound, Krypto the Superdog, Detective Chimp, and Amy work together to prove that super pets are A-list heroes because, like the Justice League, they give humanity hope (in an adorable, pet-friendly way).