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Review: Dark Nights Metal #5 (of 6)

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

“Is this series still going on?”, are my initial thoughts as I look through this weeks releases.  This feeling is not helped by the fact that hardly any progress is made in any of the story strands and as we reach to the conclusion, things are making even less sense.

Last issue, we left Batman and Superman facing a Hawk-god-monster on the Forge; Wonder Woman battling the Dark Hawk Girl; Green Lantern and Mr. Terrific on Thanagar.  Oh, and don’t forget Aquaman and Deathstroke going through a mysterious portal.  Well, it seems that the chaos and pretty pictures may serve to distract the reader to the fact that the story doesn’t actually move on.  For example:

Writer Scott Snyder may have a plan in place for this series, and along with the news of his up and coming Justice League book, may well think that good means big.  Thats not always the case as fans of his The Black Mirror run in Detective Comics or his American Vampire book can attest.  Therefore, I am unsure why there is a sudden push to “go large or go home”.  Throughout this series, this style of writing/scripting has been built on convenience.  Yes, I like a guest star as much as the next person, but characters pop up and go away with alarming regularity.  As an aside, DC spent a lot of time showing us practically the same stories of the various Dark Batmen, yet haven’t shown us how the villains of our Earth formed an alliance with Barabtos.  I guess I will have to be happy for repetition of one idea rather the developments that, you know, could actually help the story.  The latter comment cannot really be aimed at Snyder, yet the idea that a confrontation alluded to in this issue and is then promptly dropped in favour of a box to advise “yes it did happen, trust me” is just bad pacing.  I am sure fans of Hal Jordan would’ve liked to have seen that fight, especially as Wonder Woman seems to have been fighting the same battle for around two and a half issues!

Greg Capullo’s art is actually top notch in this issue.  I am not quite sure on the whole Hawk-god-monster look, but the pacing of the panels work well within the prescribed parameters.  True, the pacing drifts a little with the Aquaman elements, but overall the reader is driven through the book at a breakneck speed.  Trying to slip the missing story parts past the reader perhaps?  As you would expect, its not just the battles that look stunning, but it also the quieter moments that can be applied to the characters.  For example, the picture of Diana holding the mace and quipping “I could get used to you” is a wonderful panel with Diana’s joy and exuberance a wonder to behold.  Capullo is aided and abetted by Jonathan Glapion, who helps give the majority of the book a sense of structure and detail.  Colors are by FCO Plascencia who has probably delivered the most consistent work on the series to date.  The environs that we seem to have been stuck in for ages, still crackles with dark energy.

This series has been, at least in my mind, one of the most inconsistent series I have seen in a while.  Initial set ups that held the glimmer of something special are revealed to be inconvenient steps to the lure of delivering a big story, with big action, with the greatest flaw of all being a vigilante created by the murder of his parents, who had previously sworn an oath against the cowardly and superstitious lot even being aware of the grander schemes of dark demi-gods to begin with!  What next, Birds of Prey go off in search on the mystical land of Camelot?  This series has become the comic book equivalent of a Michael Bay movie! I get that Batman sells books, but the further you move away from his arena, the less of the Batman character you actually get.  There is a reason why Detective Comics has been so solid and why the Batman book, with its more personal approach to the character has turned a corner. Roll on March when dawn will finally break on this long Dark Night.

Writing – 3 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors -5 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Written by: Scott Snyder
Art by Greg Capullo with Jonathan Glapion
Colors by; FCO Plascencia
Published by; DC Comics

 

 

 

 

 

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes
I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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