Jeff F. King

Convergence
Author: Jeff King, Scott Lobdell, Dan Jurgens, Carlo Pagulayan, Stephen Segovia, Andy Kubert, Ethan Van Sciver
Publisher: DC Comics
Published In: Burbank, CA
Date: 2015
Pgs: 320
_________________________________________________

REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
Brainiac has stolen cities from throughout time, space, and the multiverse and placed them on a sentient, godlike planet of his design. A battle for existence, survival of the fittest between the heroes and villains of the purloined cities. The heroes of slain worlds must unite to end the threat to the Multiverse before reality itself is doomed.
_________________________________________________
Genre:
Aliens
Comics and graphic novels
Disaster
End of the World
Fiction
Multiverse
Superheroes

Why this book:
Many superheroes battling outsized threats with the universe/multiverse hanging in the balance.
_________________________________________________

Favorite Character:
Love the image of the giant Brainiac tormenting/testing the New 52 Superman. And classic Brainiac in the pink shirt and white boots. Though they start to seem to be aspects of the same Brainiac, or subservient program parts of the whole. Hmmm. Telos.

Least Favorite Character:
Never trust a guy with a devil derivative name in storytelling. Deimos. Was he an alternate universe version of Deimos or was he from the Skartaris of Earth-1...0...37? I love a good multiversal story, but Deimos feels like filler and his whole story doesn’t ring.

Favorite Scene / Quote:
When the aforementioned giant Brainiac traps and torments the New 52 Superman.

When Silver/Bronze Age Superman gives Grayson the pep talk and leaves him with the “if you are anything like the Dick Grayson I know.” Love that. First real one of “those” moments.

Loved the image of the heroes going back to face the original Crisis.

Loved the two Earth-2 Jay Garricks standing side-by-side.

Pacing:
Too much filler spent building up Deimos. Too many pages padding out the length of the story, pages lost in the Skartaris-Deimos-Warlord pastiche.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
For all his svelty voiced coercion in the early parts of the story, Deimos’s braggadocio when he made his power play pretty much insured that the good good guys weren’t going to side with him. The evil guys will. The anti-heroes might...might not. The villain with a heart might not.

After he kills Machiste and the rest of Warlord’s crew and turns on the heroes of New 52 Earth-2, why does he keep Yolanda Montez around. The motivation doesn’t synch for me.

Hmm Moments:
When the New 52 Superman escapes into the world desert, only to find the classic Brainiac there. The way this Brainiac acts and the things he says lead us to the conclusion that he is either an aspect, a subroutine, a child program of the overall Brainiac. Though whether the giant from the first of the story is THE Brainiac or just another aspect of something else remains to be seen.

Lots of images that aren’t part of the story, but could have happened offscreen. Love, love, love the image of up-armored Lex Luthor vs Superman-Red and Superman-Blue.

Parallax siding with the angels. But, of course, Parallax was biding his time. The scene where Talos puts him in his place. And Wonder Woman calling Jordan out for not being trustworthy, instead of it coming from a dimensional counterpart of Bruce Wayne is cool.

WTF Moments:
The place, itself, has a consciousness. That’s a cool twist.

Meh / PFFT Moments:
Having Skartaris play a central role in the early parts of the story when they’ve got the whole multiverse to play with seems odd...and limiting.
_________________________________________________

Last Page Sound:
I was prepared to be disappointed, which, unfortunately, is how I read comics these days. This surprised me. The filler Deimos sections were disillusioning. But, then, the short run into the climax and the climax gave me that “I love comics” feeling.

Author Assessment:
A big thank you to the storytellers for finishing strong.

Knee Jerk Reaction:
it’s alright

Disposition of Book:
Irving Public Library
South Campus
Irving, TX

Dewey Decimal System:
741.5973
KIN

Would recommend to:
genre fans
_________________________________________________… (mais)

Convergence is a major event in the DC Universe of superheroes. It blatantly reverses a major event in the DC Universe called Crisis on Infinite Earths. It is poorly executed. The plot line of this story is so convoluted that unless you are keenly aware the subtleties of the DC Multiverse you will get lost. The story is seen through the eyes of various heroes and their supporting side kicks.This at times adds a sense of drama and makes the story seem disjointed. The changes in illustration styles add to the disjointedness of this story. While the story does end on a happy note, the journey to get there was was far from pleasant.… (mais)