Convergence #2 Review

The domes are down! The champions of each city must battle to the death! The first issue was a bit rough, so will the new installment continue the downward spiral, or give us hope the heroes will come together to be heroes?

CONVERGENCE #2
Writer: Jeff King
Artist: Carlo Paqulayan
Inker: Jason Paz
Colorist: Peter Steigerwald
Editor: Marie Javins
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99

Previously in Convergence: When Brainiac disappeared, the sentient planet Telos decided it was time to enact its own agenda by having all of the collected cities from all of the collected realities fight to the death to see who would emerge the champion. It sounds oddly familiar and a number of heroes did take up the call to fight amongst each other instead of coming together.

BATMAN, SR. MEET BATMAN, JR.

Telos believes he (it?) is in complete control of the situation, pitting city against city. Some take up the deal in order to survive, and we see more than a few cities drop including the Just Imagine Stan Lee universe that gets taken down by a horde of cyborgs.  The distraction gives the heroes of Earth-2 a chance to escape their captivity, fight Telos, and in the process learn about his secret plans. According to Green Lantern, there is a secret city under the surface of the planet that holds the secret of Telos’s destruction, and the team decides to split up – half going to find the entrance to the city, while Thomas Wayne and Dick Grayson head over to pre-Flashpoint Gotham City.

Though the issue starts off with the death of Dick Grayson’s child (something that has been a problem in more than one issue last week), there is a father and son reunion when Thomas and Bruce get to meet again after so many years. While we don’t know what is said, there is a bit of sadness and joy in the meeting. It’s also a bit confusing for readers as one has to remember that the Flashpoint Thomas Wayne is not Earth-2 Thomas Wayne, and the Bruce Wayne that received the letter from Flashpoint Thomas Wayne is the New-52 Bruce Wayne and not the pre-Flashpoint Bruce Wayne. To make matters worse, this Batman is wearing the Batman, Inc. costume, and not the one seen in Convergence: Batman and Robin #1. Confused? It would be interesting if we saw another meet up between the two characters again from other realities – or maybe not. My head hurts.

While we get some exposition and the MacGuffin in this issue, I expected more in the exchange between father and son, than a bunch of off panel voice overs from Dick Grayson.  Most of the other Convergence issues released this week feature the Zero Hour universe, so there isn’t even a Bat book that ties into this story that we could read more about. This really comes off a  missed opportunity.

In case you are wondering, here is a (partial) rundown of the Earths that appear in this week’s issues

• New 52 (Earth-2)
• Futures End (Earth-0)
• Just Imagine… (Earth-6)
• Pre-Flashpoint (Earth-0)
• Superman Red/Blue (Earth-0)
• Superman/Batman Generations (Earth-38)

How do we know all of this? Because we have been reading DC Comics for the last 75 years! But seriously, DC really needs to drop the editor boxes in this book if they want to make readers feel more comfortable knowing what is going on. Also, this reveal points out a major flaw in the Convergence event. Brainiac picked only one city from each of the realities/universes to protect and keep under the domes, yet pre-Flashpoint Superman and Superman Red/Blue (the 90s versions from post-Zero Hour) have appeared, which contradicts each other as things that can not be – especially when the powers above have said that all of the Earth-0s above are the right Earth-0.

IT’S ALL SO CONFUSING!

Maybe you can clear things up for me, but it seems like the series is crisscrossing itself in all the wrong ways… just like Hawkman’s continuity!

AT LEAST THE ART IS CONSISTENT

Though there are a lot of questions as to where all the characters are coming from, at least the art team remains consistent from the last issue, and continues to deliver on the elements I liked in the last installment. Amid the death and destruction, there is beauty in the art of Carlo Paqulayan and inker Jason Paz. Colors flip back and forth between dark and broody in the batcave to hot and desolate in the desert area.

BOTTOM LINE: CHILD DEATH! CHILD DEATH! CHILD DEATH!

How many kids are going to be killed in this series? This week we saw the on panel death of Dick Grayson’s son, last week’s Titans had Lian Harper threatened, and Superman #1 had a prenatal threat for Lois Lane. I think in order to get any kind of enjoyment out of this series, I’m going to have to become super desensitized to child endangerment, which means I’m not going to get too much more pleasure from the series than what I’m having right now which is sitting at mild to tepid at best.  There seems to be a feeling of spinning wheels in this issue, even though one major plot point was revealed and the heroes have begun their quest. Unfortunately, there are many more questions that pop up than are answered, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Superboy Prime was behind all of this.  At least the art is good. If you are fully onboard with Convergence, then this issue is one you will want/need to get. If you want to be casual about it and only read the issues you are interested in, the tie-in potential with other comics this week is relatively low.

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