Convergence #0

Writer – Dan Jurgens, Tom King
Artist – Ethan Van Sciver
Colours – Marcelo Maiolo

Convergence is boring, or at least this zero issue is.  For what amounts to an introduction to the next big DC event, it really does very little except to show that Superman will be in it and so will Brainiac, in some form, somehow.  There is a lot of talking going on between Superman and Brainiac as Superman is his prisoner and wondering why.  There are also all sorts of pre-New 52 Braniac’s in this book and Ethan Van Sciver does a great job of illustrating them, as well as the rest of the book which looks really spectacular.  The Superman that appears here is the New 52 version of the hero and there is a really cool splash page that flashes through major moments in Superman’s past, though they all happen to feature him dead or dying in some manner.  While some of it is interesting, and it is, as a whole the story is pretty dry and as the opening salvo of a big event, it would have been nice to see a little excitement present. Aside from Supes throwing a few punches here and there, the excitement you would expect is absent from this book.  The big bad of this story, or at least the entity which will be responsible for what happens during Convergence, makes an appearance on the last page of the issue as well.  You are not told who he is or what he is doing there, but you can assume what it is he is going to do.  What is known so far is that the entire DCU – past, present and future – is going to collide and there will be a load of stories coming out of it starring many of everyone’s favourite heroes during some of their favourite time periods.  Hopefully, those series and the main Convergence title turns out better than what happened here.

2.5 out of 5

Earth 2 World’s End #26

Writer – Daniel H. Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, Mike Johnson, Cullen Bunn
Artist – Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, R.B. Silva, Marc Deering, Tyler Kirkham, Jorge Jiminez, Scott Cohn, Walden Wong, Pascal Alixe, Juan Jose Ryp, Paulo Siqueira
Colours – Hi-Fi, Andrew Dalhouse, Ulises Arreola

Everything comes to a close in this final issue of World’s End and it sees our heroes take the fight to Darkseid as best they can.  The terrible thing about it is that their best is just not enough.  Whether it is Power Girl, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl or the Flash – nobody can stand up to the power-mad monster that Darkseid represents.  But there is a sliver of hope and that lies in Green Lantern.  While Alan has tried to go up against Darkseid before, he just never seemed to be able to get the upper hand.  Now, with the Earth dying around them, the full power of the Parliament, the very soul of the Earth is now merging with Green Lantern and his power is now stronger than it has ever been.  As such, Green Lantern goes up against the monster one more time and is able to save at least some of the population of the planet as Apokolips takes it over.  Thankfully, the ending to this book is much better than the one that took place over in Futures End though not as good as that in Batman Eternal.  While it would have been nice to see our heroes come out on top, for there was always a chance, at least they did not completely fail.  It also leaves the book wide open for a further, longer battle with Darkseid and a chance to take back the planet, if it is even worth taking back at that point.  Where Futures End took a similar path with its ending, this book did not give you any false hopes as to where it was going.  This book also did not leave a ton of unfinished storylines hanging out to dry while the book finished up.  Everything came together and was focused by the finale of the series with the writing being a lot sharper than the aforementioned title.  It was still not a perfect book, but at least it ended somewhat all right.

3.5 out of 5