Description:
A CONVERGENCE
tie-in graphic novel, starring heroes from ZERO HOUR and KINGDOM
COME!
Once, there were
infinite Earths. Then there came a Crisis…a Zero Hour…a
Flashpoint. Worlds lived. Worlds died. But some worlds must now fight
for their future—in the Convergence!
The evil alien
intelligence known as Brainiac has stolen 50 doomed cities from
throughout time and space and sealed them behind impenetrable domes.
Now, after a year, the domes will come down—and the heroes and
villains of 50 dead worlds must battle to be the last one standing!
In this volume:
JUSTICE LEAGUE
INTERNATIONAL: It’s no laughing matter as Blue Beetle and Booster
Gold lead the team against heavy-hitting heroes from the grim world
of Kingdom Come!
CATWOMAN: Selina
Kyle must defend Gotham City against a Dark Knight like no other—the
Kingdom Come Batman!
SUPERBOY: The
wisecracking Teen of Steel is Metropolis’s only hope against three
of Kingdom Come’s greatest warriors: Red Robin, The Flash and
Superman himself!
GREEN ARROW: The
Emerald Archer and his son Connor Hawke must join forces against
familiar faces—the Black Canaries of Kingdom Come!
SUICIDE SQUAD: Bane
and Cyborg Superman, two of the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel’s
deadliest foes, spearhead an invasion of Kingdom Come’s Green
Lantern stronghold!
The heroes and
villains of ’90s DC Universe battle against one of the greatest
Elseworlds tales ever told in CONVERGENCE: ZERO HOUR VOL. 1!
Collects:
Convergence: Catwoman #1-2, Convergence: Superboy #1-2, Convergence:
Green Arrow #1-2, Convergence: Suicide Squad #1-2, Convergence:
Justice League International #1-2
Authors:
Various
Artists: Various
Published By: DC
Comics
Published When: Oct.
13 2015
Parental Rating: Teen
Review:
Heroes
from the Zero Hour era vs heroes from the Kingdom Come universe. This
should be thrilling! What sets this collection apart from all others
is how many stories finish with definite winners and losers among the
champions. Are we in for mass municipal destruction? Or is something
else going on in Convergence? This TPB collects some of the best
stories in all of Convergence, and I give it 4 out of 5 capes.
Catwoman
Catwoman
has worn a variety of outfits over the years, and that history of
changing fashion helps to place this story. From the cover and the
first full-page spread we meet a Catwoman clad in head-to-toe
form-fitting purple with thigh-high black boots. This sets the
story’s protagonist as ‘90s-era Catwoman, a post-Crisis,
pre-Flashpoint, Zero-Hour era setting.
As
in many of the Convergence tales, a plot sleight-of-hand drops her
into a different city – she is in Metropolis, looking to pull a
job, when the dome isolates the city. She becomes a defender of the
marginalized, a vigilante guarding the people of one of the poorer
trapped districts. This brings her into conflict with Intergang as
they seek to control the city’s pharmaceutical trade, both legal
and non.
The
lifting of the dome brings her champion opponent sweeping in, Batman
from the Kingdom Come universe and Earth-22. His swift appearance
begs the question if he had advance notice of the conflict to come,
or perhaps one of the mysterious sudden transportation we meet in
other Convergence tales, including Green Arrow in this collection.
Justin
Gray’s story is great fun, especially the interplay between ‘90s
Catwoman and an older, more hardened Earth-22 Batman. She credits him
for the inspiration to turn vigilante-hero, and ultimately saves
Batman from bullets that would have evaded his bat-armor.
The
art is evocative, playful, and remarkably consistent in even small
details. One example: Catwoman rescues Sally the scientist in part
one, and as they make their getaway Sally loses the shoe off her
right foot. All six times across two issues when Sally’s feet are
shown, she is always missing her right shoe. Getting it right every
time illustrates the attention to detail Ron Randall brings to this
story.
The
collection also include two awesome covers
by Claire Wendling. Using muted
hues and eye-catching, stylized poses, she
sets the tone for the tale, especially the
second cover with
the Cat vs Bat confrontation.
Green
Arrow
This
tale contains another instance of the displaced-hero motif that
appears in so many of these Convergence stories. This time Green
Arrow was in Metropolis on an undefined search, when he is trapped
with all other citizens. As one with no superhuman powers to lose, he
grabs a motorcycle and his bow and quiver and continues his heroic
deeds.
He
eventually encounters Connor Hawke, with the big revelation that they
are father and son, and he does not take well to the revelation. But
there is no time to process the surprise, as the dome disappears
minutes after learning of the connection. And scant minutes after
that, both disappear and are transported to an empty city, to battle
their opponents, Dinah and Livy, the former and current Black
Canaries of Kingdom Come.
Parking
the questions of how a visiting Green Arrow and
defender-of-the-oppressed monastic son Connor would be deemed the
Champions chosen to defend Metropolis, it is a very enjoyable
confrontation concept: Father and son vs Mother and daughter, with
the added bonus that in Kingdom Come Oliver Queen is the father of
the daughter, too.
Author
Christy Marx gives the four lots of interesting and natural dialog,
as they wrestle with the surprises, confusion and emotions of their
first meeting.
She
also gives us a story with a definite winner and loser in the
Convervence showdowns. A conclusive victor / vanquished result is
rare in most Convergence stories, but unexpectedly happens in four of
the five in this collection.
The
art team of Rags Morales and
Claude St-Aubin keep the visuals
interesting, even as much of the story in both parts 1 and 2 unfold
in conversation. They also handle the confrontations and fights well,
but it’s their work in the chatty parts that stands out.
Justice
League International
Given
Ted Kord’s “regular” life, as a brilliant inventor, and a
successful and filthy-rich head of a large company bearing his name,
he seems a natural fit to play a leadership role with the Justice
League. However, given his alter-ego life, as a goofball hero using
acrobatics and clever inventions rather than superhuman powers and
abilities to fight crime as Blue Beetle, his playfulness and lack of
seriousness pulls him away from serious consideration for leadership.
Yet
here he is, leading this crew, and having them mostly follow his
lead, both before their powers return and after, as they battle a
crew of powerful heroes from the Kingdom Come universe.
Author
Ron Marz gives
space to both sides of Kord in this tale. There’s plenty of
wisecracks coming from Blue Beetle, and the final panels end with a
JLI-classic slapstick humor and “Bwahahaha!” laugh. But there are
also moments of reflection, of wrestling with choices and how best to
communicate with his team. No one will use these pages as a manual
for effective leadership, but his skills in that area are
evident.
Kingdom
Come’s Wonder Woman calls the result in advance, and her band of
heroes hand the JLI crew a sound beating. Nothing permanent,
just incapacitating them, at worst leaving them unconscious. The JLI
returns to base, beaten, fearing for their city, yet resolved to take
the fight to Telos at the first opportunity.
Mike
Manley’s art gives a decent nod to the styles of the early-90s JLI
books in the characters, and his layout work really stands out; the
constantly shifting point-of-view and creative panel flow gives the
whole story a dynamic feel, even during the times of reflective
conversation or truce parlays.
The
whole package, from the visuals to the humor to the character
development, from the camaraderie and courage to the definite winners
and losers, make this a strong and enjoyable entry into the Convergence
series.
Suicide
Squad
What
would Telos do if both sides lose? Would both cities be destroyed?
How would he have to restructure the playdowns of his competition? In
a typical bracket-style playdown structure, there will be one winner
and one loser. It is hard to conceive of a March Madness game or a
chess tournament where both competitors in the same game are
eliminated.
Yet
that is what happens here. And
unfortunately the concept is more interesting than the story itself.
Amanda Waller as suicide-bomber is
difficult to imagine, yet it is a decision she takes at the climax of
this story, with several apparent consequences. It appears to
eliminate the champions from both cities. It also would bring an end
to the Suicide Squad, at least as run by her. Yet Suicide Squad
clearly survived the Zero Hour and Convergence era events. I guess
she was, after all, just reporting to her higher-ups.
Now
that I potentially spoiled Frank Tieri’s story for you, let me
point out that this was a mega-battle, with the Squad double or
triple its usual size, and a correspondingly large number of Kingdom
Come opponents. It is worth the read just to see the occasional one
or two panel cameos.
Tom
Mandrake’s art left me cold. It was dark and over-penciled. Every
page was in need of several more minutes of work with an eraser to
try and reduce the amount of gratuitous lines on ever face and every
body and background.
Superboy
Adults
often watch the silly decisions teens take and wonder, would they
survive “in the wild”? The teenaged Superboy in this story causes
the same head-scratching among the adults in the room, including the
team of scientists monitoring him, as well as the Superman of Earth-22, and us,
the readers.
Author
Fabian Nicieza draws
several such moments to our attention as the story unfolds. Multiple
times, as the battle rages between Superboy and Superman, and as Kingdom Come’s Flash and Robin do their best to save the
innocent by-standers of Metropolis, observers make comments about
the need to move the battle to less-populated areas, or calculate the
likelihood of the total destruction of the city Superboy purports to
protect, or question his choices in real time.
The
key moment comes, however, when Lois Lane becomes collateral damage
to an impetuous attack by Superboy. Such injury to a loved-one
finally brings sense and some self-control to the mighty teen,
leading to his surrender.
The
art team of Karl Moline and
Jose Marzan Jr strike a good balance
between the wide-angled views needed by the super-fights – fitting
in the jet-planes being smashed together by the Supers, for example –
with tight close-ups that show the remorse or frustration or other
teen struggles on the face of Superboy.
One
of their best moments was also showing his power returning, with
brilliant focus first on his eye then on the skeletons of everyone
else in the park as his x-ray vision suddenly returns.
Superboy’s
ultimate surrender brings this final tale in this collection to a
similar conclusion – a clear victor and vanquished in the battle of
champions caused by Telos. All of which raise the question, what will
Telos do with the results? Are we moving to round two of the
competition? While no reference is made, obviously this story and the
others collected here need the reader to continue with the main
Convergence story-line.
ISBN-10: 1401258395
ISBN-13:
978-1401258399
Language:
English
Pages:
272 pages
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