DC Comics
(W) Scott Snyder, (A) Greg Capullo, (I) Jonathan Glapion, (C) FCO Plascencia
Ever wonder what would happen when a pure superhero writer tries to go full Grant Morrison? That’s what Dark Knights: Metal has been through its first two issues, and it continues in issue #3. Writer Scott Snyder wasn’t kidding when claimed this was the most ambitious story he’s ever written. It’s a big, bombastic multiversal tale in the tradition of DC Comics’ great events, which is a polite way of saying it’s a complete mess.
A messy story is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when it allows an artist such as Greg Capullo to go nuts. Since he burst onto the scene back in the 1990s, Capullo has made a name for himself as one of the industry’s premiere horror artists. That pedigree is put to the test here, with the Dark Multiverse leaking into the DC’s main Earth. Capullo, along with inker Jonathan Glapion bring the terrifying nature of the Dark Multiverse to life.
The big highlight to Dark Nights: Metal is that Scott Snyder’s thesis appears to be “Batman is the worst.” It’s a topic that myself and my fellow Comics Bulletin colleagues discussed earlier in the year, and to see a premiere Batman writer use this approach feels vindicating. After years of Batman being portrayed as an infallible god, seeing him make mistakes on a cosmic scale is a refreshing change of pace. While we all know things will ultimately revert back to “normal” – this is one of the Big Two after all – the journey makes reading this event worthwhile.