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DC - Convergence Spring Event

Honestly, I know the main story so well its just kind of pointless to read the comic. Its an ok story, but Superman: Doomsday does a good job of streamlining it down to the essential stuff. It was influential back then I'm sure, but at this point its just another temporary superhero death story. Plus, I'm pretty sick of Doomsday as a villain at this point anyway. I have so many comics I want to get that getting a story that I already know all the main points of feels like a waste of time (and money). I think I can stand to just read any of the details I missed on wikipedia if I need to.
 
kirk55555 said:
Aquaman #1:
Well, besides the fact that I'm honestly surprised that there is a DC character named Deathblow (although I shouldn't be, it sounds like a name that would have been very likely in the 90s), this was an ok issue. Aquaman himself wasn't super interesting, but the story was good enough for me to read the next one. That said, Aquaman should beat "Deathblow" easily, just based on what I've seen of Deathblow so far.
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Deathblow started out as an Image character. Which explains the very 90's name. He was part of Wildstorm studios, which originally formed Image with some other creator owned studios. It became a sub-imprint, eventually it broke off from Image and in 1998, it was acquired by DC. DC kept Wildstorm separate (sort of what they did with Vertigo), with minor crossovers. 52 established that Wildstorm had its own Earth. All of this lasted until Flashpoint, when Wildstorm characters appeared in the Flashpoint universe. With the New-52, they were integrated into the main DCU.
 
shivkala said:
kirk55555 said:
Aquaman #1:
Well, besides the fact that I'm honestly surprised that there is a DC character named Deathblow (although I shouldn't be, it sounds like a name that would have been very likely in the 90s), this was an ok issue. Aquaman himself wasn't super interesting, but the story was good enough for me to read the next one. That said, Aquaman should beat "Deathblow" easily, just based on what I've seen of Deathblow so far.
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Deathblow started out as an Image character. Which explains the very 90's name. He was part of Wildstorm studios, which originally formed Image with some other creator owned studios. It became a sub-imprint, eventually it broke off from Image and in 1998, it was acquired by DC. DC kept Wildstorm separate (sort of what they did with Vertigo), with minor crossovers. 52 established that Wildstorm had its own Earth. All of this lasted until Flashpoint, when Wildstorm characters appeared in the Flashpoint universe. With the New-52, they were integrated into the main DCU.
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That really isn't surprising. In retrospect, I should have figured Deathblow was a Wildstorm character. DC actually rode the 90s out pretty well, especially compared to Marvel, but Wildstorm eventually joining DC gave DC its own group of stupid 90s characters to pull from.
 
Boy is this shaping up to a be steaming turd - even given it's status as filler material the tie-in issues are repetitive and waste far too much time on navel-gazing or setting up status quos that don't matter because a) they will not exist in the next issue or b) are destroyed in the first issue. Moreover I still cannot get over how tame the stories are - if you do a story with the Bronze Age Superman - you can surely do a move interesting story than the one we got in Adventures and more in line than his actual era of story-telling.
 
i thought the Hawkman and Justice League America issues this week were decent.
 
Just finished last week's Convergence issues (the sheer amount of them is starting to slow me down a bit, but after this current week's comics it will be a bit lighter since I won't be reading the #2's of some minis).

Convergence #3 -
This was actually a decent issue. I'm not sure about the Underground World stuff. I know I've seen it before (Warlord's world, I think) and I don't know much, but I'm guessing the magic guy is actually evil and the "dictator" he wants them to defeat is actually the good guy. I did find it hilarious that Earth 2 Batman and Grayson fought off a bunch of the idiotic villains Morrison made in his Batman run, with a few real Batman villains like Riddler and Man Bat thrown in so that you might actually believe they were in trouble (no one is going to feel that even earth 2 Batman is particularly threatened by the likes of Pink Flamingo, woman with giant hole in her head or Professor Pyg). All the time travelers trapped in a bubble was interesting. I definitely saw Booster Gold's sister in there, along with what looked like The Spectre and possibly Booster himself. It was a bit lame that they apparently killed the Earth 2 Batman, but its not a huge deal. Overall, this was probably the most interesting issue of the main event so far.

Adventures of Superman #1 -
This was an entertaining issue. It was cool to see Superman and Supergirl in the Phantom Zone, instead of fighting another trapped city immediately. Supergirl seeing her death was interesting. Overall, a decent comic. I'll be reading the next one.

Batman & The Outsiders #1 -
This didn't seem to have a lot of story to it, but it was ok. I think I'm probably giving it a few points because I'm a big Outsiders fan and they basically haven't been seen since the reboot, but I still thought it was a decent comic, even if barely anything happened. I'll read the next issue.

Green Lantern Corps #1 -
Ugh, this really sucked. I really like Guy, but he spent most of this issue complaining. john Stewart didn't seem very in character either, and Hal was just weird. I won't be reading the second issue of this one.

Hawkman #1 -
This wasn't bad, but I'm not super familiar with the alien Hawkman/Hawkwoman, so this didn't hold my attention very well. I don't think I'll read the next issue.
Justice League of America #1 -
This was pretty good, but it had some nitpicky issues. One nitpick that annoyed me was, why did this Aquaman lose the ability to breathe underwater, but the other one from an earlier mini didn't? Like the issue with the other Aquaman said, its a natural ability he has because of his birth, the dome wouldn't cut it off anymore than it would stop a normal human from breathing air. Its not like the two Aquamen are that different. I'm starting to wonder if the writers of the minis were not given more than a broad description of the dome's effects, so they're all just kind of making it up as they go along. Also, the art was pretty bad. But, the writing was pretty good, and it was cool to see The Elongated Man and his wife, especially since they seemed in character. I'll definitely read the next issue.

New Teen Titans #1 -
Well, this was interesting. A New Teen Titans book written by Marv Wolfman, you can't get more authentic that that. Well, except that he obviously has to make the story fit with Convergence, but I still think it was done well. Also, the art was good, which was nice. Starfire was a bit weird, but I think that actually made sense for the story. Overall this wasn't perfect, but I thought it was solidly entertaining, especially for a fan of the New Teen Titans, which I am (although there was no mention of Raven, which was weird). I'll read the next issue.

Superboy And The Legion Of Super-Heroes #1 -
This was ok. The art wasn't very good, but it was tolerable. The Legion felt mostly like they should, although Lightning Lass felt a bit off. As a Legion fan, this was ok. I'll read the next issue.

Swamp Thing #1 -
This was pretty boring. Outside of Soule's recent Swamp Thing run I've never really found the character interesting. I don't think I'll read the next issue.

The Flash #1 -
This was decent. I wish it hadn't taken so long to get going, but besides that it was ok, although not as good as the Wally West & kids issue from week one. I'll read the next issue.

Wonder Woman #1 -
This was really bad. It was very boring, and when it wasn't boring it was stupid (like the cult stuff). Even Vampire Batvillains couldn't save this one. I won't be reading the next issue.

Overall this was the weakest week, but it wasn't bad or anything. My favorite issues were probably Adventures of Superman, New Teen Titans and JLA. The worst was easily Green Lantern Corps.
 
I read the JSA issue this morning and liked it a lot. I thought it was a good story and had great art.
 
This week, in Convergence:

Convergence #4 -
"The original heroes reborn"? I like this Earth 2 decently, but they aren't the original heroes. Trying to call them the real JSA "Reborn" is kind of a middle finger to the creaters of the original JSA characters. They are ok, but they aren't the real Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, etc. They almost literally only share the same names, and nothing else except vaguely similar powers, so the line about the them being "the first, and the last" heroes is idiotic (and also ignoring the fact that Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, etc are all older than Flash or GL any way). Besides that, the issue was ok. Warlord and his world are boring, and I wish they weren't part of the story, but it could be worse. I kind of hope Warlord gets his butt kicked, he's not winning much sympathy from capturing some time heroes because he wants warrior slaves, even though the magician is supposed to be the real "evil" character. I hope they explain why Brainiac is in a bubble. I'm sure it has something to do with a horrible comic I didn't read, but I'm not so interested that I'm going to read more stuff, even if I'm mildly curious about where Brainiac has actually been. Overall, this wasn't horible, but the main convergence book remains fairly average.

Action Comics #1 -
I thought this was ok. I wish we had more of the Earth 2 Superman/Power Girl and less of Red Son Superman's stuff (not because its bad, I'm just not super familiar with it so it wasn't as interesting). The art wasn't great, but it was passable. I also wish a bit more had happened (having an issue end right as the dome goes down just means shoving more of the action into one issue, which didn't really feel necessary based on the story this issue), but I still thought this was ok. I'll read the next issue.

Blue Beetle #1 -
Captain Atom was a bit more...totalitarian (?) than I remember him being. This felt like a New 52 version of the characters, with Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and The Question all being pretty miserable jerks. This is not surprising when you see that this issue was written by Scott Lobdell. I won't be reading the next issue.

Booster Gold #1 -
So, there are two Booster Gold's, one that I'm guessing is the pre-New 52 version (the dad of Rip Hunter), and the one this issue focuses on is an idiot thief (I'm guessing its the version from the New 52 JLI comic, but he sucks and I haven't seen him in anything since New 52 JLI ended). Also, Rip basically says that The New 52 Earth is all that matters, which is a very groan inducing line. Then they met old Booster, and Thief/New 52 Booster seems even lamer, but of course the good Booster is dying. Eventually they escaped the dungeon of the idiotic Savage Land rip offs (who can apparently capture powerful time travelers?) and older Booster gets teleported away, and meets a Blue Beetle he thinks is one he knows, except the pre-New 52 main Earth Blue beetle is definitely dead. This ending is a BS tease to the people who liked the real Booster and Beetle from Giffen & DeMatteis's books (isn't Justice League 3000 enough of a middle finger to JLI fans?), and combine that with the confusing story and you have a very mediocre book. I won't be reading the next issue.

Crime Syndicate #1 -
This issue was really boring. Even if Robinson's run on Justice League and the idiotic New 52 stuff hadn't mostly ruined the Crime Syndicate for me, there was just nothing interesting. The JL Alpha was also not very interesting. I don't have much more to say. This was just a boring issue. I won't be reading the next one.

Detective Comics #1 -
The art in this was was just bad, so bad that it was kind of distracting. The stuff with Huntress and Robin wasn't bad, but it was a bit repetitive by the end. The red son Superman stuff was really uninteresting. I won't be reading the next issue of this.

Infinity Inc #1 -
This was ok. The characters felt a bit off, but it wasn't a huge deadl. The story had enough happening to keep my attention, although the art was mediocre. The world that IInc is going to fight seems really lame, but that's not something new at this point. I'll read the next issue.

Justice Society of America #1 -
Most of this issue was a boring talk about old age. But, the ending promises some jSA action, and that's enough for me. The chance to see the real JSA in action, not the mediocre New 52 Earth 2 versions, is enough for me to read the next issue.

Plastic Man #1 -
Boring and generic. It wasn't horrible, but it was completely unmemorable. I won't be reading the next issue.

Shazam #1 -
This was a good issue. We didn't have much boring "Dome is up, characters are depressed" stuff, and they didn't fight other heroes, just villains from their own city. The characters were also written well. Overall, this was good. Not as good as the Multiversity Thunderworld issue, but close. Its nice to get another good Captain Marvel story so soon after the last one, especially since, before Thunderworld, we hadn't gotten a good Cap story since before the Trials of Shazam. I'll definitely read the next issue.
World's Finest #1 -
This was ruined by the stupid cartoonist. I don't know why they used a random civilian as the POV character, but it made this issue extremely lame. That sucks, because I like stories with older heroes like the Seven Soldiers of Victory. I won't be reading the next issue.

This was probably the worst week. I'm only going to read the second parts of four issues (Shazam, Action Comics, JSA and Infinity Inc). Shazam is far and away the best of this week, and one of the best minis of the event. Action comics and Infinity Inc were decent enough, but they get bumped up because I like the characters. JSA only makes it to issue #2 because I think the next issue with a rejuvenated JSA will be good, unlike the boring first issue. I love the real JSA enough to see if JSA #2 is good. The worst issue this week was probably either Crime Syndicate or Booster Gold, although neither were quite as bad as some of the earlier bad issues (which doesn't mean they didn't suck, they just weren't really outright revolting like some of the bad issues from other weeks).
 
kirk55555 said:
Well, I've never read Death and Return of Superman..
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The only thing better than reading comics is listening to drunk people talk about comics they've read. (Well that last sentence was gapingly inaccurate. Never mind, move along and enjoy the youtube.)

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PlwDbSYicM[/yt]

On topic...

The main story is very Warlord heavy, something I know very little about, and care about even less.

The crossovers have nothing to do with the main book.

This crossover is a joke
 
Guy Gardener said:
[

The main story is very Warlord heavy, something I know very little about, and care about even less.

The crossovers have nothing to do with the main book.

This crossover is a joke
Click to expand...

Given the tie-ins are to a series with no significance it's bizarre how staid they are.
 
Read about ten more of them in the last hour.

Supergirl stood out.

Giffen is funny, but Giffen got it wrong.

He wrote Supergirl as a dummy and Lex as normal old evil Lex.

Maybe Supergirl was little bit dim, because she was sleeping with Lex Luthor Jr, but 70 percent of what Luthor had going on in that point of his existence was "Hair, hair look at my hair, I have so much ####ing hair... And a six pack, but sometimes you can't see my 6 pack because all my beautiful hair is in the way! ...Kill Superman."

The team doing Shazam! deserve to be doing Shazam! full time.
 
The ending of Convergence was ok, although the very end was weird. "They have evolved, but they still exist" means, I think, that all the ending did was insure that the 52 Universes are still there. The others technically "existed", but they still can't, say, team up pre-New 52 Superman with New 52 Superman, because pre-New 52 Superman "evolved" into Superman. Same with the Earth 2 characters, etc. I was hoping it would mean restoring the whole universe, but to me it just seems like they're thorwing a very stupid bone to people who liked the old Multiverse, by saying it "evolved" into the New 52 now, which is why every universe shown at the end was one of the 52 established universes, with an image showing what they "evolved" from. If I'm right, than that is really lame.

Still, as an overall event, Convergence was fine. The minis were better than the main book, but overall its still the best big thing DC has published since the New 52 reboot.
 
I generally found the entire affair pretty filler-terrible, unfortunately. I was excited to see pre-52 characters again, but yeesh what bad delivery. I don't really feel like the ending meant anything since we already knew there was a Multiverse in Multiversity (and the 52 weekly series if you want to go further back).
 
I didn't read the main book, but I've mostly enjoyed the side minis that I've read. I mean, I have no idea how it's all meant to add up into a bigger picture (the rules of the fights seemed different in literally every story!), but the stories of characters I've missed were well done on the whole.

Batgirl was all right, I liked part 2 of the Green Arrow one a lot, JLI showed why Blue Beetle is one my favorite DC characters, Nightwing and Oracle provided some nice closure to the pre-Flashpoint Birds of Prey, The Question was surprisingly involving at the end.

I will read, but have not yet read, the minis for Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Infinity Inc., Justice League of America, and Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. So, overall this (much like the DC Retroactive event from 2011) has successfully tickled my nostalgia itch.
 
That was nonsense.

Maybe it was poorly worded or I'm dim, but the net result was no change to the new 52?

####.

OH!

Waverider has anew origin, if he had had an origin before.

"60 year old" Booster Gold. A hail-mary to save Michael from radiation poisoning leveled Carter up into a already well known time god.

:)
 
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He had two origins - He was the Matthew Ryder from the future in A2001 who travels back in time to find out who is Monarch and kill them before he goes into existence.

After that Waverider is killed, he's also... Matthew Ryder a version not from that future who is transformed into Waverider because the story needed a Waverider... or something.
 
Guy Gardener said:
That was nonsense.

Maybe it was poorly worded or I'm dim, but the net result was no change to the new 52?
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I really don't understand why anyone thought Convergence was going to manifestly change the New 52. It was a two-month filler event, and DC was (occasionally) honest about that.

The ending, with the restoration of the pre-Crisis multiverse, surprised me, as I would never have expected that. Its "return" raises questions about where the post-Crisis Earth comes from.

This is how I put it to a coworker of mine yesterday or the day before -- "Geoff Johns and Dan Didio have made their DC careers out of bringing back the characters and concepts they grew up with as kids. They brought back Hal Jordan and Barry Allen. Now they've brought back the big enchalada -- the pre-Crisis multiverse."

It's ironic, at the same time Marvel is streamlining their multiverse, DC brought theirs back.

Will anyone do anything with it? I have no idea. Virtually no one did anything with Grant Morrison's Hypertime which, theoretically, also opened up the pre-Crisis continuity in a post-Crisis framework. But maybe they will. Maybe Johns will write a "Crisis on Earth-1986" in which the New 52 Justice League has to team up with the Bwah-ha-ha League.
 
Allyn Gibson said:
The ending, with the restoration of the pre-Crisis multiverse, surprised me, as I would never have expected that.
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That never happened - it's *suggested* in various reviews but doesn't occur on page - what it actually does is say "well those earths sort of existed (faded images) but they evolved into what you have now. So you have the 'faded' old version of the carrot crew and the 'current' version, similarly you have the old 'faded' version of the Earth-2 JSA and in front of them the Earth-2 JSA we now have and so on.

Now the actual intention might have been to do something entirely different and it doesn't stop DC doing something different but it's not what's on the actual page.
 
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