As of this writing, we’re only a few days away from the third week of DC’s Convergence event, and it’s been something of a fun event for me.
Granted, I’m mostly a DC guy. I have been since I was little since that company’s heroes tend to be “larger than life,” which I prefer to those who are more like everyday people.
Several trends are becoming apparent, so let’s talk about them here!
OLD FRIENDS RETURNING TO SAY HI
At first, I was very worried about reading comics with heroes and others I’d said goodbye to in the past. I fretted that I wouldn’t be able to let them go yet again.
It hasn’t been that way so far. I’ve particularly enjoyed seeing old Bat-friends on the printed pages, including Cassandra Cain, now called Black Bat (which reminds me of another hero I loved reading from another company), Stephanie Brown as Batgirl and the various versions of the Dark Knight. Issue #2 of Convergence had Thomas Wayne, the Earth-2 Batman, talking with Bruce Wayne, “our” guy. It was a touching experience that I liked. I always enjoy it when Bruce Wayne gets to encounter his parents regardless of how that happens.
I was particularly moved when Wally West and his kids showed up in Speed Force #1. I know that comics companies tend to shy away from families, but if we learned anything from Jeff Lemire’s Animal Man, it’s that this kind of interaction can be very moving. Seeing Wally with his son and daughter again really has been memorable.
The “older” version of Catwoman has been great, as well as Green Arrow and other heroes I’ve missed like Justice League International. Sigh. It’s been good to get reacquainted.
This has made me look forward to the Hawkman miniseries and other Justice League incarnations as well as the Charlton heroes coming our way in the next few weeks.
My feelings now are that, if they go away again, I’ll at least have had the chance to see them one more time. I wish that could happen in real life sometimes!
MARVEL VERSUS DC
I once heard someone say comics shop owners suffer from “battered wife syndrome” in that they know which side the bread is buttered on, and they keep coming back for more even though that might be a painful experience.
A lot of local shops have under-ordered Convergence for fear of being stuck with product they couldn’t move. On the other hand, they’re over-ordering Secret Wars for fear of not making as much money as they want to make from Marvel product.
As long as I’ve been buying comics, it’s been that way. DC, after all, will reprint and make more copies if there’s demand for it. Marvel may not, and that leaves store owners searching desperately for copies to sell their customers. I doubt that will ever change.
I’ve noticed that many stores around me have been ordering 1-3 copies of the various Convergence titles. That’s not the case with the upcoming Secret Wars books, which they are ordering heavily on. It’s made it tough to get good copies of some DC titles. On the other hand, a friend of mine and I like to joke about how local shops are putting up extra racks to hold all the SW content coming soon.
Maybe it’s just me, but I continue to notice that Convergence is being criticized for the same thing that Battleworld is being praised for: Heroes fighting heroes. Forgive me, but the old adage is still true: When Marvel does it, it’s genius. When DC does the exact same thing, it sucks!
REPETITIVE STORYTELLING
One of the things I haven’t enjoyed is that all the Convergence miniseries’ have basically followed the same pattern. We’re going to fight next issue, which is the last one of the story, so this month we’ll be setting all that up.
What’s blunted that feeling, as I mentioned previously, is seeing these guys and gals again. However, it still bothers me that pretty much across the board, we’re seeing the same story being told. I wish there would have been more variation to the way the books have been written.
Still, some issues have doing a better job of telling good stories than others, and it always seems to come down to good writers and good artists strutting their stuff. We’ll see if that holds true next month when the second issues hit the stands.And I’ve enjoyed seeing the folks from Earth-2 get the spotlight!
FACING THE FUTURE
Now that some of the information about upcoming months has been made available, I’m looking forward to some things while being worried about others. I also can’t decide just what to think about some books, such as Bat-Mite. Magic can be a difficult thing to wield in comics, and I’m concerned about what I’ll find in this title.
On the other hand, I applaud DC yet again taking chances on creating a variety of product, much like they did in the New 52. I know a certain number will crash and burn, but I hope more will stick around this time!
What’s been your experience at this point in Convergence? Like it? Hate it? Be sure to share your thoughts below!
1 Comment
Some of the comics I don’t get at all. Who wants to read about Azrael or Parallax or Cy-Borg Superman? Those characters were hated then and won’t fare any better now. Then there is the fact that they are charging 4 dollars for 22 pages of comic book. I’m sorry but I’m not going to buy ANY comics if that’s the new norm.
I love that they are bringing back some of my favorite characters from other times. But it doesn’t mean much when I feel like they aren’t going to stay. And if they do stay , I really don’t want 6 different Green Lanterns or Batgirls. Even if they are on different worlds.
I wish they would just start time over at Year 0 and age the characters in real time for like 15 years. Let them die, retire, and get replaced. And after 15 years do it over again. If I were in charge of that story, at year 0 the Justice Society are starting to age while new heroes like Superman and Batman are starting to come into the limelight and the JSA start feeling like they can pass the torch. We could see Batman working alone and slowly start getting help, like Dick Grayson as Robin. Wouldn’t it be awesome to read that? It’s strange that he hasn’t been Robin for 40 years. I’d love to see year 1 Batman, making mistakes, befriending Gordon. So many stories that the movies are telling but the comics are too busy trying to mash 100 years of comics into 5 years of settings. I wouldn’t even do a JLA until after a year. Let the JSA feel that niche. There could be so many good story arcs that would just be awesome to read but DC is too afraid to take a leap like that. I got news for you DC. Marvel is kicking your ass in comics sells. So why not give it a try?