Review: Convergence DC Comics Crossover event graphic novel

 

Description:

Once, there were infinite Earths. Untold timelines. Innumerable Elseworlds. Then there came a Crisis…a Zero Hour…a Flashpoint. Worlds lived. Worlds died. Now they all must fight for their future!

The evil alien intelligence known as Brainiac has stolen 50 doomed cities from throughout time and space and brought them to a place beyond the Multiverse—a sentient planet of his own design, a world with the power of a god.

As heroes and villains from dozens of worlds battle each other for their very existence, it’s up to a ragtag band of warriors from a slain Earth to put an end to this threat that bends the Multiverse to its will. Reality itself hangs in the balance…

This is it! The entire DC Universe from the dawn of time through the New 52 stars in CONVERGENCE — an unprecedented event that brings together your favorite characters from every era and series. Whether familiar or forgotten, none of them will ever be the same!

Collects: Convergence #0-8
Authors: Jeff King, Scott Lobdell and Dan Jurgens
Artists: Carlo Pagulayan, Stephen Segovia, Andy Kubert and Ethan van Sciver
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Oct. 13 2015
Parental Rating: Teen

Review:

Note: the next few reviews will work through the whole series of Convergence comics and tie-ins, in the form of nine published trade paperback collections. This review is of the core story collection.

Convergence is both a fascinating and beautifully executed concept and an inconsistent mess. Which, I suppose, is emblematic of the whole notion of a convergence.

The story, in broad outlines: Brainiac has crossed time and space and the DC Comics multiverse, and extracted dozens of cities. They come from different times, places, planets, universes, eras. Fan favorites and outlier oddities from across the history and the archives of DC Comics are included.

Each has been trapped for an entire year under a dome that has the effect of dampening and suppressing the powers of the mighty heroes. No super-strength. No power rings. Heroes and villains are reduced to ordinary humans. At least, those who were human to begin with.

Now, one year later, the domes are coming down, super-powers are returning, and a Bracket-style series of competitions begins.

Hero vs Hero is nothing new. What sets Convergence apart is how fully it embraces the Geek-culture debates of “who would win?” Which Superman from which Earth and which era would win? How would Steampunk Batman fare against Captain Marvel? The possibilities are almost endlessly intriguing.

The first hint of the messy delivery of the concept comes just from the number of cities: 50 makes for a nice, round number. But anyone who has watched any kind of elimination tournament, from a Chess competition to college basketball’s annual Madness, quickly realizes that 50 does not make for an even bracket layout. It will need tie-breakers or byes or some other system to drive it toward a single champion, the purported and oft-repeated goal of the overseer.

I will unpack more of the messiness in my reviews of each of the eight other era-specific TPB collections. They all tell the tales of the individual battles, the skirmishes between cities and heroes, the attempts at cooperation or annihilation.

This collection is the central one, that tells the overarching story. Collecting the 9-chapter Convergence series comics, this is about the battle between a small band of displaced heroes and Brainiac, his right-hand man Telos, and the mighty wizard Deimos. Can our heroes conquer a villain who is the living planet on which they walk? Can they force Brainiac to return and restore the cities, prevent the Convergence and save the different DC universes, allowing them to survive?

The narrative, like any decent epic, is both grand in scale, sweeping in implication, and ultimately relational at core. And this one hinges on the journey Dick Grayson of Earth-2 takes, both as he matures and steps up personally, and as he builds a sympathetic and empathetic relationship with Telos. This growing friendship becomes a key pivot on which much of the plot turns.

The art of Convergence, like the story as a whole, is a mixed bag. The panel layouts are at times stunningly breathtaking and innovative. Most impressive is issue #0, which had many amazing panels and pages, a creative feast for the eyes. A personal favorite is the huge spread of a forced-perspective on Brainiac, backed by an array of Metropolises (Metropoli?) all twisted together like a Hollywood special-effect. Special kudos to Ethan van Sciver for that work.

The graphic narrative of the art and the textual narrative come together in a particularly striking sequence in #0, with echoes of the biblical temptation of Christ story, as a Brainiac incarnation with visual elements of Roman emperors makes an offer to Superman.

Unfortunately, subsequent chapters of this Convergence collection are inconsistent artistically. Due in no small part to the constantly shifting artists. I have no concept, I'm sure, of how difficult it would be to publish these original books on a weekly schedule. With the high demands on the time and skills of any one artist, I should not be surprised that they pulled in several contributors.

But it comes at the cost of stylistic consistency. There is a clear baseline style and technique throughout, which mitigates the effect somewhat. But unlike, say, Archie comics that keep a very similar look regardless of artist, there are many subtle but perceptible differences from one chapter to the next, as the artists change.

The Convergence TPB tells an intriguing story, with some memorable gems in the art. And it mostly succeeds in its efforts to recast the DC multiverse. But some holes and inconsistencies take away from the overall enjoyment, leaving it with 3.5 capes out of 5.

ISBN-10: 1401256864
ISBN-13: 978-1401256869
Language: English
Pages: 320 pages