Flashpoint. Injustice. Kingdom Come. Infinite Crisis. Each of these alternate DC universes and many more, filled with their own unique blend of familiar yet different DC heroes, are at war. These universes have had one major city saved from certain doom and transported to a world where a new villain named Telos, who is working with Braniac, is collecting various remnants of DC Comic realities and locking them under gigantic domes.
One city, one universe, will have the opportunity to be restored. All others will be destroyed. And so the domes are brought down and the heroes and villains of the DC multiverse go to battle with one another for a chance at survival.
This is DC's massive Convergence event. After a lackluster issue #0, Convergence kicks off proper this week with issue #1. In many ways it does what the zero issue couldn't - sets up the event proper and introduces us to the various characters we will be following as the event unfolds.
For this first issue those characters are the heroes of Earth 2, including Thomas Wayne as Batman and Val-Zod as Superman. They've been saved from Darkseid by Brainiac, but unlike many of the other universes, Earth 2 is without a city. This puts the group in a unique position among the contestants of what Batman calls a "perverse tournament." Whereas the Batmen and Supermen of other universes are fighting to save the lives of the thousands of innocents housed within their universe's cities, the Earth 2 crew is without people to protect.
That should prove to be an important distinction in future issues as the Earth 2 heroes set out to make alliances with the other universes. The rules of this DC Comic battle royale are still a little unclear. Of course these various heroes don't want to murder each other or the thousands of innocent people housed within the various domes. But Braniac seems to think he will be able to stop any funny business by threatening to destroy the city of any heroes who refuse to fight, make common cause with one another or avoid conflict. Being unable to forge unlikely alliances sounds like it might take some of the fun out of this DC universe All-Star battle, but we will just have to wait and see what these heroes can and can't get away with.
Convergence (despite its massive scope) at this point doesn't feel as epic or as intriguing as reboot events from DC's past. Part of it is the setup itself - this entire storyline sounds like it was invented by a 13-year-old boy who thought it would be fun if every character in the DC universe had a reason to fight each other. It lacks imagination, and seems more like a convenient way to create a clean slate for DC Comics than an actual storyline.
But it's early still, and what is here so far isn't bad. It is no easy task to write different versions of different characters all in the same book, and scribes Jeff King and Scott Lobdell do an admirable job of capturing the spirit of these various multiverses and their unique spins on heroes like Superman and Batman. Overall, Convergence #1 is a solid start for the event that will change the DC universe forever. So pick a universe to cheer for and prepare for heartache, because it doesn't look like anyone is getting out of this in one piece.
Story
★★★☆☆
Art
★★★☆☆
Overall
★★★☆☆
More Comic Book Reviews:
Mortal Kombat #14
Batman: Arkham Knight #7
Batman #39
Convergence #0
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