Review: Convergence

Quick Summary

Pros: The concept behind this story is interesting and leads to some worthwhile changes to the DC Universe. Some of the encounters here are fun to see play out. The artwork looks good throughout the collection.

Cons: Contradictory narration and unnecessary plotlines clutter pieces of the narrative. The collection’s villains are all rather poor and are driven by uninspired motives. The final villain’s actions make for a disappointing conclusion.

Overall: This is an event with a solid concept but poor execution. It tells unique and visually impressive tales of interdimensional encounters and multiversal restructuring. However, the appeal of these stories is low throughout. Problems range from lackluster writing, to pointless plot threads, to a host of uninteresting villains. This event may appeal to those with a significant interest in the structure and history of the DC Multiverse but will not appeal to those simply looking for a good story.

Story

Convergence, by Jeff King, does some interesting things with the DC Multiverse but ultimately fails in creating an entertaining narrative. Almost all of the collection’s positives come from the way in which it juggles the various realities and characters from the history of DC Comics. This creates a concept that allows for a few exciting moments and a worthwhile multiversal realignment. However, a lot of the writing ends up being lackluster and the book’s primary struggle never feels as interesting as it should be. In addition, the book’s villains are incredibly disappointing and take away most of the joy and excitement from the book’s central conflict and the climactic conclusion. Overall, this collection offers a few unique positives but is mostly disappointing when it comes to actual entertainment.

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The concept surrounding Convergence is solid and is one of the event’s few positives. It takes various DC Comics characters from throughout history and puts them in one location, where they are able to interact with each other in various ways. This leads to some emotional moments, like when Bruce Wayne meets his father, and some exciting ones, like when Parallax nearly stops Telos with a single action. It also restructures the DC multiverse in an interesting way, allowing every timeline to exist on its own without severe repercussions on the current structure of the DC Universe.

However, the problems with Convergence start to creep in through as it progresses. Most of these flaws are minor and simply involve places where the narrative doesn’t exactly flow as well as it should. For example, Dick Grayson goes from literally attacking Batman to calling him “one of the finest men I’ve ever met” within a chapter. In other places, flaws come from very minor plot threads that don’t really add anything to the overall narrative, which is the case with Warlord’s entire presence in this book. There are also moments where the narration reads poorly and where it goes overboard in explaining exactly what is taking place.

The more significant problems are primarily derived from the collection’s villains, all of whom are rather poor. The book starts out with a new villain, Telos, as the primary antagonist. Though this character’s backstory and unique place in the universe is compelling, his entire motivation as a villain is nonexistent, he is simply doing what he is doing because he believes that it is what Brainiac wants, though this is never really confirmed. The book’s second villain is just as bad, as his entire motivation is simply a cheap power grab. Uninspired motives like these might work for a minor antagonist in a less important comic but they feel out of place in an important event designed to rewrite the history of the greater DC Universe.

What’s even worse is that this collection’s final villain, Brainiac, is the worst of them all. After making vague threats and hinting at larger plans throughout this book, upon being released, Brainiac suddenly decides to be a hero. This change of heart is seemingly random and does not appear to have a basis in anything that has happened in this book. Brainiac then goes on to solve every problem facing the heroes within a few pages. All of this significantly cheapens the impact of this collection’s conclusion and makes it feel like all of the struggles seen within this book were pointless.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Though the story in Convergence has its ups and downs, the quality of the artwork remains positive throughout the read. Each of the various heroic teams seen in this volume are depicted with solid amounts of detail and a good level of creativity. The amount of detail helps in allowing the straightforward action scenes to look as exciting as possible, which occasionally makes up for the lackluster story. The creativity helps in depicting the multiversal shifts, strange technology, and unique displays of power seen here, which makes the visuals in this come more unique. It also helps that, despite the vast number of artists working on this collection, the overall style of the artwork remains mostly consistent. All of these factors together help construct a book with worthwhile visuals.

Continuity

Convergence is a DC Comics event that is somewhat of a continuation of plot threads from the conclusion of the Earth 2: World’s End series and the Futures End series. The first issue in Convergence is also a direct continuation of Superman’s adventure in Superman: Doomed (Review) (Reading Order). However, Convergence also stands well on its own and does not require knowledge of these earlier series.

The Convergence event also contains a number of separate tie-ins. The main event’s relation to these tie-ins will be explained in our upcoming “Convergence Reading Order”.

The story here does not continue in any specific comic. However, minor plot threads are teased here and continued in the launch of the Superman: Lois and Clark (Review), Titans Hunt (Review), and Telos comics.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• Superman’s appearance at the beginning of this collection directly continues his story from the conclusion of the Superman: Doomed (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• The death of a previous Superman is discussed near the beginning of this collection. This death took place in The Death of Superman.
• The universe “where a great injustice was done” is a reference to the Injustice universe, which began in Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year One.
• This event essentially continues the story from the Earth 2 series. Specific events from that series are mentioned here, including:
  • The death of Earth 2 Dick Grayson’s wife in Earth 2: World’s End Vol. 1 (Review).
  • Thomas Wayne meeting his granddaughter in Earth 2: World’s End Vol. 1 (Review).
  • The evacuation of Earth 2 in Earth 2: World’s End Vol. 2 (Review).
• Numerous events from Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, Zero Hour, 52, Flashpoint (Review), and Multiversity are mentioned in this volume. Specific references from these events include:
  • A character mentioning “staring Psycho-Pirate in the face” in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
  • A character dying and being held in Superman’s arms during Crisis on Infinite Earths.
  • Superboy punching a hole in reality in Infinite Crisis.
  • A monster creating a tear in reality from 52.
• The “world born of a great creator” is a reference to the Just Imagine series created by Stan Lee.
• The timeline populated solely by “hostile warlike cyborgs” is from the Futures End (Review) universe.
• Brainiac’s current condition is explained by his last appearance in Futures End Vol. 3 (Review).
• Batman mentions that Martian Manhunter’s (Reading Order) team, the Justice League United (Reading Order), has traveled across the universe before. This is likely a reference to their exploits at the end of Justice League United: Justice League Canada (Review).
• Superman previously met the Oracle during the H’el on Earth (Review) (Reading Order) crossover event.
• Supergirl’s unease around the Red Lantern Corps is due to the events of Supergirl Vol. 5: Red Daughter of Krypton.