Friday, April 24, 2015

Convergence week 1


I'm getting them all!  Reviews upcoming. With spoilers.  You have been warned.  Danger Club 8 I will leave until I have the second alternate ending,

Convergence 1
I think this is mostly the mean heroes from Earth 2, with a Grayson who was married to Barbara Gordon,  Their world has been destroyed and Telos is setting the scene for the fights.   I guess not all these heroes are mean.  Young Jay Garrick, Black Superman and Gay Alan Scott are here.  Fairly enjoyable.

These tie ins are all from the post millenium years, post Final Crisis, probably set in the years just before Flashpoint happened.  Which year, I'm not entirely sure,

Convergence: Batgirl 1
Steph has been chosen as fighter for her Gotham. She fights Catman and then Gorilla Grodd. Oh dear, she's not that good.  We get to see how Steph has spent her year under the dome which was pretty good, although I'm not sure I buy Steph being so happy out of costume.  However there is lots of Cass and TimRobin too. :)

Convergence Justice League 1
The lady Justice League are in Gotham for Jesse Quick's baby shower, which turns into her labour.  For some reason she is put on a stretcher when she gets to hospital.  I can't help thinking she'd be better walking, she doesn't look in that much pain.  Maybe they do things differently in the States,  I really like the art on the first couple of pages where Supergirl is rushing Jess to hospital.

Mera is sad about not having Arthur around (fair play, she's essentially grieving and we all have bad and good days) and then Flashpoint Arthur kidnaps her.  I don't mind Flashpoint Arthur when he's one of several options of Arthur.  I'm not sure I buy Mera not fighting back more when he kidnaps her though.  One punch doesn't seem enough for the level of thuggery he showed.

Convergence: Harley Quinn 1
The cover for this is atrocious.  It's a bad imitation of one of the Gotham City Sirens covers.  Over the year Harley has recovered and is relatively stable, with a normal, loving boyfriend.  Then she is chosen to be this Gotham's champion so Selina and the newly repowered Ivy decides Harley needs her old mania and athletic abilities back, so they drug her.  And she reverts back to the old  Harley.  This makes it a pretty sad issue as she was happy before. :(

Convergence: Superman 1
Here we have a heroic, likeable Superman and Lois, as a couple, loving each other, being good people, in Gotham.  By this point I was starting to think this series was going to be set in all the Gothams, because DC has a constant Bat shaped hard on.  It's getting a bit tedious,

But, then Lois is pregnant!  I really liked this issue, I miss these guys,  Flashpoint Kal, Captain Marvel Lantern and Cyborg turn up and start causing problems.  Flashpoint Bats (Thomas Wayne) wonders what the implications are for Bruce, if this other world exists.

Convergence Batman and Robin 1
Ivy is running Gotham Park, growing produce for everyone in her Gotham.  What is unclear is if she has powers while the dome is up. the costume says yes, the rest of the issues say no.  Bruce and Damian have father-son issues and Jason turns up to confuse things.  Then the Extremists arrive to fight,  I'm not sure who they have to fight, but I guess the Bat posse will want to get involved.

Convergence: Speed Force 1
The font for the cover's title is awful.  Irey and Jai look a bit old on the cover, which is a shame,  Wally, Irey and Jai are trapped in Gotham, separate from Linda.  The dome comes down and they get repowered and Wally decides to go to the world of the Justice Riders (which is a great Elseworlds book) and he drags the kids with him in the speed force.  Then he runs through the different worlds (a fun way to see them) and a cartoon duck (?) speedster catches up with him.  And Flashpoint Wonder Woman turns up to fight.  This was another good issue, tho I expect that I like it for the nostalgia as much as the writing.

Convergence: The Question 1
This is a comic about Renee, Two Face and Helena Bertinelli.  It's written by Greg Rucka.  Of course it's good.  I won't spoil it, i'll just urge you to buy it.

Convergence: The Atom 1
Ray Palmer is the Atom but his tech has gone on the wonk and now only his hand enlarges,  The rest of the Gothamites think of him as a street crazy.  Palmer is desperate to find Slade Wilson and settle old scores, but the dome gets lifted and he gets transported elsewhere to fight Baracuda from the Extremists.  Then it turns out the voice in his head is Ryan Choi, I think.  This was OK, a bit strange, but OK.

Convergence: The Titans 1
Ok. all I remember from this is that Roy gets the chance to have his daughter back and he'll do anything, including kill other heroes, to get her back.  This struck a chord.  I can't put myself in that situation because it's impossible and I will never get my son back (and how it hurts to type that) but I will not call Roy a villain for doing so.

Convergence: Nightwing and Oracle 1
I love seeing these two together.  For some reason Ivy is in her costume, even though she's meant to be depowered under the dome.  Perhaps this is a different Gotham?  I have lost track of which of these issues are set from different universes.  If anyone can point me to a guide to the universes and the Gothams that would be good.
Babs and Dick fight the Hawks, and Sheira's costume design is gorgeous.

Overall I quite enjoyed this weeks comics.  Good fun, even if it doesn't make a lot of sense.  It's not always clear how the heroes know who they have to fight, which is a shame.

2 comments:

Eyz said...

Woah!
You really embraced this return to the old DCU!

I was thinking trying to get as many of them as well as first.. but then I noticed the whole "dome thing" making characters face (and kill?) each other kinda made me lose interest in all this finally...

I'll probably just grab Greg Rucka's Question.

Saranga said...

I'm getting all of them!

I don't mind the dome fight tot he death thing, I just want to read about my preferred characters.