Singles Going Steady is Comics Bulletin’s weekly single issue review roundup.
Convergence #5
The best thing about crossovers is that they’re often perfect examples of how super-hero comics ask so much of their readers — and are good gauges of what readers will tolerate. From all reports, the Convergence event seems to be dying in the comic shops, despite the fact that many of these crossovers are pretty good. Fans can smell the desperation behind these sorts of big event comics, especially when they stop the main universe with a dead stop for two months, though (to be fair) this may be more a DC/Marvel thing because I read and hear lots of buzz about Secret Wars.
A few other things about crossovers: they often feature great cosmic villains who nobody has ever heard of. The classic examples are the Beyonder and the Monitor, but here we have some cosmic guy named Deimos (to be fair, Deimos was created by Brainiac, who you’ve probably heard of). Another trope is the obscure hero — in this case that hero is Travis Morgan, the Warlord, who we’re supposed to care about but who instead brings snores. And the crossover is supposed to involve great cosmic battles, which this one does but really who cares because none of it seems to have any stakes behind it. We all know the DCU will continue on unabated — and since the comic hinges on the idea of there being 52 alternate universes if one or two of them die in this event, why does it have any sort of stakes for us readers?
The page where the Warlord charges while riding on the back of a stegosaurus is very cool, though.
– Jason Sacks
Convergence Batgirl #2
Let me just go ahead and get this out of the way now: If DC’s goal was to make me hate the post-Flashpoint DCU, they’ve done a great job. It is stunning to me the number of rich, complex characters with incredibly interesting and colorful histories that they just wiped away so Superman wouldn’t have to wear his underwear on the outside anymore.
Anyway, the big fight in this issue is ultimately secondary to the main storyline, which is how Stephanie (Batgirl), Cass (Black Bat), and Tim (Red Robin), interact with each other. It’s as great as you would imagine, although getting Bryan Q. Miller to write these issues would have been nice. Still, this does undercut how the reintroduction of Spoiler to the DCU has been something like giving fans table scraps.
The ending is appropriately adorable.
– Kyle Garret
Convergence Batman And Robin #2
So I was going to start this blurb off by picking up where my review of #1 ended, that being that these are not good comics. But then it occurred to me that part of the problem is that writer Ron Marz was trapped.
The focus of these two issues are Batman, Robin, and the Red Hood (Scarlet is there, too, for some reason), all of whom still exist in the New 52, almost exactly as they exist here in these two issues. So what’s the point? And that is exactly what the take away from these two issues: what was the point?
– Kyle Garret
Convergence Harley Quinn #2
I keep scratching my head trying to figure out what the joke is here. In Convergence: Harley Quinn, our favorite female psychopath battles Captain Carrot — and of course wacky hijinks are supposed to occur… but they don’t. Or at least not in the way you’d expect. Because Captain Carrot and his pals are the straight characters, and Harley instead is supposed to be the crazy one.
It’s kind of a cute idea, really, to imagine Bugs Bunny as the straight and serious character in his cartoons, and it theoretically could work, but everything here seems so off-kilter and wrong — in a way that’s not funny — that it’s just a frustrating read.
– Jason Sacks
Convergence Justice League #2
After reading issue #1 of Justice League I had high hopes for Issue 2. I was not let down.
I didn’t know that these Convergence crossovers were going to be two-off tales but I’m happy that they are. I’m also happy that this book was written by Frank Tieri and drawn by Vincente Cifuentes, they really seem to have something good going on between story and images, especially when involving the sea creatures that Flashpoint Aquaman brings to fight the all-female Justice League. It’s also excellent writing when Frank truly understands the power that Supergirl possesses. In the end it’s not her power Aquaman has to fear but the true power of obsession.
I hope that DC decides to keep these two collaborators together for a long time. They truly craft an enjoyable story.
– Kristopher Reavely
Convergence Nightwing Oracle #2
I have never cared for the Hawks. I liked Hawkgirl well enough on the Justice League animated series, but the appeal of Hawkman has always been lost on me. So when Nightwing and Oracle, with an assist from Black Canary, take on these two dull as dirt characters, I was on board team Bat. I won’t say who wins except that I was happy about the outcome. It was also an entertaining battle that mixed both Dick’s physical skills and Barbara’s genius.
The ending is a little funky due to the supposed timeline of this “event,” but I’m fine with that because I love the characters.
– Kyle Garret
Convergence Speed Force #2
“If you see a turtle in the first act, you should make him silly.” I think Anton Chekhov said that, or maybe Chuck Jones, and I’ve always found that to be a very good rule to go through in life. If nothing else, if your story has an anthropomorphic turtle who runs really really fast, you should make him the subject of a few jokes — especially if he’s in a comic where the Flash fights Wonder Woman. Right?
Instead we get a sweet story about how Wally West loves his kids, and how hardcore and frustrating this otherdimensional Wonder Woman and her Amazons are and this comic is just fine, middle-of-the-road super-hero comics — neither especially great nor completely unreadable. A silly wisecracking turtle would have made it memorable, but sometimes it’s better not to dream big when you’re reading crossover comics.
– Jason Sacks
Convergence Superman #2
Continuing on the crossover of Convergence I was expecting more horrific tales of badly created universes with terrible characters. Instead I got an enjoyable story of Superman and Lois and the love they share.
Dan Jurgens writes and illustrates the book, and both aspects are excellent. The crossover plays little to no role other than using characters from the Flashpoint series. It also allows us to witness a battle between a fully developed Superman and a Flashpoint Shazam. It doesn’t end well for one of them and we all know it’s not going to be Superman that loses. There are some truly touching parts including scenes between Superman and Thomas Wayne but the best moments are between Clark and Lois.
In the tale Lois stands defiant of all who might threaten her, she’s aware that not only is she pregnant but it’s Superman’s baby, which really means that anyone that threatens her is in for a world of hurt.
As usual Jurgens delivers solid art, while Norm Rapmund and Brad Anderson bring excellent colour and ink. Superman #2 almost makes me forgive Jurgens for Superman #1… almost. –
– Kristopher Reavely
Convergence The Atom #2
My favorite comic of the first wave of Convergence crossovers? Well, it was probably Shazam! like it was for most everybody else. But my favorite unexpected favorite, the comic that knocked me on my ass, was The Atom #1, a deadpan surreal masterpiece of misdirection. Atom #1 was about a hero who went crazy inside the damn dome but somehow kept every element of himself that made him human. There was some odd business with a giant hand, and something else about voices inside our hero’s head, and at the end another Atom emerged from the Atom’s head like Athena from the skull of Zeus, and it was quite wonderfully weird.
The Atom #2 gives logical reasons for all the weirdness that had come before. There’s another Atom who was shrunk to microscopic size when a one-eyed assassin “killed” him but he was manifesting as an ever-expanding hand, and the new Atom helps the old Atom battle a talking fighting lizard in bikini bottoms who calls our hero a lunatic… You know what? Maybe this second issue is just as surreal as the first, just maybe a little more stealthy with it.
I’ve read many complaints about the lack of dynamism in Steve Yeowell’s art, but it’s delightful here. It gives everything a deadpan wackiness that acts as an implied meta-commentary on crossover comics or maybe superheroes but just works for me. The panel where the second Atom takes human form out of the first Atom’s hand is an image that I’ll dream about.
– Jason Sacks
Convergence The Question #2
I’m going to have a hard time reviewing this without swearing a lot.
I love these characters. I love Renee Montoya so much I have a hard time explaining it. I love this Huntress and this Batwoman. I love the exchange between Huntress and Batwoman regarding Renee’s sleeping arrangements. I love that scene and it or something like it will never happen in the current DCU and that makes me very sad. The complexity of relationships between these three women, between Renee and Two-Face, between Renee and her family, is absolutely wonderful, and the ending nearly made me cry.
Greg Rucka is a fantastic writer and he knows these characters inside and out. Cully Hamner has become one of my favorite artists currently working because of the strength of these two issues. Even if it’s not these characters (which is most likely the case), I hope this duo works together again.
I expected The Question series to be the best of the Convergence bunch; I was not disappointed.
– Kyle Garret
Convergence Titans #2
Yes, this story is incredibly, well, simple. And by simple I mean it doesn’t really make much sense and that there was a clear goal in mind to try to fix Roy Harper’s life, but that the way it’s done is just too convenient. But you know what? There was really no other way for it to happen. Any attempt at trying to undo the stupid, stupid things that were done to Arsenal were going to be hard to swallow, but that’s not the fixer’s fault.
And, yes, the moment doesn’t land like it should, not only because of the aforementioned fix, but because we know none of this matters. This is the end for these characters. It’s like when a major character dies on the series finale of a TV show. It’s emotional, sure, but not as emotional as if it had happened earlier in the season. You’re never going to get any new episodes, anyway, so it really doesn’t matter.
Still, it was nice to see Roy written intelligently again, and by that I don’t mean that he’s written to be smart but that he’s written by someone who isn’t stupid.
– Kyle Garret