Comics are Awesome III

[Dominic]

Curiosity only carries so far. Curiosity may sell an issue or two. But, it will not keep readers for a long-term series.

Next week's issue of "Convergence" should be worth checking over.

[andersonh1]

Convergence The Flash #2
Part one of this book was dull and disappointing and it took way too long for anything to happen. Part two is much better, though it still doesn't make me like Barry Allen. Quite the opposite in fact, as Barry spends the issue being sarcastic and stubborn, while the Superman of the Tangent Universe comes across as fair and reasonable. I don't know how accurate Barry Allen's characterization is to the late Bronze Age. I've read very little from that time, and none of the Flash other than his appearances in Crisis, which paint him in a very different light than the character we see here.

Tangent Superman is a bald black man who is telepathic and who has superhumanly fast reflexes and reactions, so he's nothing like the main universe Superman. He and the Flash spend a number of pages trying to figure out why Telos, who is obviously highly advanced and who has access to space and time and can turn everyone's powers on and off at will, should indulge in something as basic and brutal as gladiatorial combat and survival of the fittest. In the end it's the Flash who starts the fight and keeps it up, with Tangent Superman continually asking him to stop before finally resorting to attacking his mind with telepathy, where he is able to see how Barry Allen is detached from time. The continuity error with Barry mentioning the Speed Force is mentioned, with Tangent Superman remarking that he shouldn't know about that since his successor discovered it. And of course he is able to determine that Barry will die in the Crisis destroying the Anti-Monitor's cannon, and he yields the fight so that Barry can go on and save the universe.

I have to say, while I enjoyed the issue, I came away from it more a fan of Tangent Superman than Barry Allen, who was pretty difficult to sympathize with. But this was definitely a case where the second half of the story was a major improvement on the first.

Convergence Hawkman #2
My favorite book of the week, easily. After tracking down the Thanagarian agents last issue and learning of the coming Crisis and end of the multiverse, Katar and Shayera decide that the end may be a forgone conclusion, but they can still choose how to react to it and how they'll face it, and they head out to fight their chosen opponent. They end up facing off against bat and rat-people from Kamandi's time, some Jack Kirby creations. Two against an army doesn't go well for them, and they're captured. They manage to free themselves, and are assisted by the Thanagarian agents who were inspired by Katar and Shayera's examples.

Once again, Jeff Parker packs a ton of story into a single issue. The heart of the story is the relationship between Katar and Shayera, who make a great team. Their dialogue is respectful and affirming, and I enjoyed it so much more than the acerbic arguing we get so often among characters these days. In the end the two of them look into the Absorbacron in an attempt to learn where they are and who their enemy is. They see the destruction of worlds in the Crisis, and just begin to see what's going on around them, and they fly off together wondering what their future will be, but certain they'll have one together.

Convergence Adventures of Superman #2
Last issue ended with Superman and Supergirl trapped in the Phantom Zone, with the criminals there ready to kill them both, and Gotham invaded by armies of apes. I thought they were from Ape City, but it's more animal/human hybrids from Kamandi's time, and Kamandi himself turns up as well. Lucius Fox opens the portal out of the Phantom Zone, and Superman tells Kara to go while he holds off the criminals. She gets out, and then rescues him using a grappling hook from the Batmobile to pull him out, leaving the criminals trapped inside.

Then the two of them go and deal with the apes, which isn't much of a challenge. There's a bit of subterfuge where Superman pretends to be vulnerable to their weapons in order to be taken to where their missle is set to destroy Gotham, but he and Supergirl easily disarm the missle and defeat the apes once that's done. The earthquake that's happened at the end of most of these second issues happens, and the two determine that they need to enter the fight against Telos.

This is the third issue of the week where characters learn of the Crisis before it happens. In this case it's Supergirl, and it starts to perhaps feel like it's a bit overused as a plot device. At least in the Flash it's crucial to the resolution of the plot. Here it causes Kara to become despondent and overly protective of Superman, but I'm not sure it turns out to be an essential element of the story. Superman also seems oddly easy to injure, which doesn't seem like it should be the case for the Silver/Bronze Age version of the character. But I guess being outnumbered six to one by people as powerful as he is makes an adequate explanation.

Convergence The New Teen Titans #2
The story pits the Titans against the Tangent Doom Patrol, and Cyborg is in the middle of the fight. The Doom Patrol want his power cells to save their city and return home, but that will kill him. He's abducted early on, so the Titans spend much of the issue trying to track him down and rescue him. Cyborg gets a great scene where he's taunting the Doom Patrol as they start to extract his power cells, but it's partially a ruse to allow the Titans to locate him. In the end the two teams come to an agreement rather than one wiping the other out.

Marv Wolfman juggles the many characters of both teams very well and shows what an old pro he really is. He set up the Teen Titans deliberately as a mix of old and new characters, and he planned out the personalities so that there would be plenty of drama as they bounced off each other. All these years later, he still knows his characters and that work still provides a good solid basis for the story. Every character has at least a scene where they get a chance to stand out, and multiple characters have a story arc that gets some resolution, even with only two issues.

[Dominic]

Did Flash destroy the Tangent city? I would be of two minds about that. On the one hand, the re-used "Elseworlds" and event worlds in "Multiversity" are a waste of page space. On the other, it would not be encouraging to see DC using the worlds form the "Multiversity Guidebook" as fodder for this sort of thing.


"the Flash" from the early 80s was trying to be a gritty book (reference the death of Iris and such). Maybe the "Convergence" issue was trying to draw on that?

[andersonh1]

Did Flash destroy the Tangent city? I would be of two minds about that. On the one hand, the re-used "Elseworlds" and event worlds in "Multiversity" are a waste of page space. On the other, it would not be encouraging to see DC using the worlds form the "Multiversity Guidebook" as fodder for this sort of thing.


"the Flash" from the early 80s was trying to be a gritty book (reference the death of Iris and such). Maybe the "Convergence" issue was trying to draw on that?

It's entirely possible.

The issue doesn't explicitly show the Tangent city being destroyed, but Flash is declared the winner and Tangent Superman disappears, so it seems likely that his city went as well. But the Tangent Doom Patrol survives over in New Teen Titans, so if they were in the same city, they may all have survived. It's hard to say.

There are at least two Barry Allens around, assuming it's not just a continuity mistake between writers. One is the version from this issue, taken from before the Crisis, and one from issue 6 of the main series taken from within the Crisis itself, since the Psycho Pirate is the last thing he remembers.

[Sparky Prime]

I'm a bit confused about something in Convergence... In issue 6, we see Guy show up as a Red Lantern along with Zilius Zox, Rankorr, Bleez and Skallox with Guy explaining they patrol sector 2814. So that would mean this must take place before the end of the Red Lanterns seeing as Zox and Skallox were killed, Guy was left de-powered (and left the ring behind) after purging Earth of a hate virus and I think Bleez and Rankorr are the only remaining Red Lanterns. Yet in issue 7, Guy is suddenly shown to be a Green Lantern again with no explanation. And Green Lantern Jediah Caul is in both issues with the group, but I've found out he was killed off at the end of the Threshold series. And his presence also goes against Guy's agreement with Hal that the only Green Lantern allowed in the sector is Simon Baz.

[andersonh1]

I'm a bit confused about something in Convergence... In issue 6, we see Guy show up as a Red Lantern along with Zilius Zox, Rankorr, Bleez and Skallox with Guy explaining they patrol sector 2814. So that would mean this must take place before the end of the Red Lanterns seeing as Zox and Skallox were killed, Guy was left de-powered (and left the ring behind) after purging Earth of a hate virus and I think Bleez and Rankorr are the only remaining Red Lanterns. Yet in issue 7, Guy is suddenly shown to be a Green Lantern again with no explanation. And Green Lantern Jediah Caul is in both issues with the group, but I've found out he was killed off at the end of the Threshold series. And his presence also goes against Guy's agreement with Hal that the only Green Lantern allowed in the sector is Simon Baz.

It must be DC's new "loose continuity" policy. I hope they figure out what a mistake that is before long, or we'll see a lot more of these errors.

[Sparky Prime]

It must be DC's new "loose continuity" policy. I hope they figure out what a mistake that is before long, or we'll see a lot more of these errors.

I'd hope it was just oversight due to this event taking place during DC moving their offices... I'd hate to think these sorts of errors would become a regular thing. Either way, goes to show DC needs to be paying more attention to continuity, not less.

[andersonh1]

And speaking of poor continuity that involves Guy Gardner...

Convergence Green Lantern Corps #2
Not only does this book commit the cardinal sin of having a poor story and bad characterization, it's also impossible to fit anywhere in pre-Crisis continuity. All three Lanterns wear the classic GL uniform and mask, just to point out one instance. John did wear that uniform pre-Crisis, but he ditched the mask. Hal had quit the Corps and didn't have his ring, and Guy was comatose and didn't have his either. Even allowing that he woke up from his coma while under the dome, as the issue reveals, where did he or Hal get a GL ring? And there is no time when all three would have been active together as shown here until the Crisis was nearly over, and by that point Guy had his vest and turtleneck uniform and the breakaway group of the Guardians had made him a GL. The Convergence issue makes Guy very introspective despite his usual abrasive attitude, which really doesn't fit his character in the mid 80s. John and Hal are easily beaten by their opponent, the "anti-God", but can't figure out how to beat him when they come back for another try. But somehow Guy Gardner, the least thoughtful of them all, comes up with the answer.

Easily the worst of the Convergence tie-ins. Most of them have been quite good, but I just can't recommend this as a good showcase for either continuity or character of the three human GLs of the time.

[Shockwave]

With a title like "Convergence" is it possible that various timelines and continuities are merging together, thus causing various versions of certain characters to appear together when they never did? Kind of like that episode of TNG where Worf is shifting through alternate timelines and eventually they wind up with a ton of various different Enterprises all in the same place.

EDIT: Also, on that map of the DCU a while back, did it show anything for Eternia, Despondos or Etheria from MOTU? I only ask because there was a brief cross over with MOTU and DCU a while back and it's still canon in the current story. In fact, Skeletor mentions that on his way back to Eternia from Earth, he kept going to the wrong Eternia and encountering various other versions of himself.

[Sparky Prime]

With a title like "Convergence" is it possible that various timelines and continuities are merging together, thus causing various versions of certain characters to appear together when they never did? Kind of like that episode of TNG where Worf is shifting through alternate timelines and eventually they wind up with a ton of various different Enterprises all in the same place.

Sort of, but it's not timelines and continuities merging together... The story behind Convergence is that Brainiac saved a bunch of cities from universes moments before they were destroyed or erased from existence and preserved them on a sentient planet that exists outside normal time/space called Telos. In Brainiac's absence, Telos decides to lower the domes protecting those cities and tells them to fight to see which deserves to exist.

EDIT: Also, on that map of the DCU a while back, did it show anything for Eternia, Despondos or Etheria from MOTU? I only ask because there was a brief cross over with MOTU and DCU a while back and it's still canon in the current story. In fact, Skeletor mentions that on his way back to Eternia from Earth, he kept going to the wrong Eternia and encountering various other versions of himself.

Nothing from MOTU is listed on the DC Multiverse map, although there are still 7 universes on the map that remain unknown.