Review: Dark Nights- Death Metal: War of the Multiverses

Quick Summary

Pros: The majority of this book’s chapters are solid, character-driven stories. The stories about Constantine, the Titans, Swamp Thing, Superman, and the Bat-family are particularly good. The artwork is mostly positive throughout the book. 

Cons: Some of the collection’s stories are just alright.

Overall: This is a solid collection of stories that tie-in to the main event. The majority of the collection provides emotional moments with characters facing the end of the world. These are great on their own and add to the overall appeal of the main event. In the end, this volume is for readers who want character-driven stories that tie-in to the apocalyptic events of Dark Nights: Death Metal.

Story

The entire Dark Nights: Death Metal event is an epic clash of forces at what may be the end of the Multiverse itself. The stakes are high and the confrontations are filled with tense and action-packed moments. This is what allows Dark Nights: Death Metal: War of the Multiverses to set itself apart. While other tie-in collections focus on adding to the action and excitement, this one focuses on more emotional, character-driven stories. It explains how people are reacting to the world falling down around them. Not every story here is a hit but the majority of them are solid and a few are downright great. Altogether, this makes for a book with unique but lasting appeal. 

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As mentioned above, the chief positives in War of the Multiverses come from the way in which the book highlights humanity at what may be the end of the world. Constantine and Swamp Thing risk their own lives in unique ploys against their dark counterparts. The Titans, who have recently undergone a range of traumatic experience, are reunited and somewhat still able to remain optimistic. Superman pushes himself in a way that only Superman can. And the Bat-family get together just to catch up one last time, with the added twist that Dick and Barbara kind of get married. These human moments are what make this book fun to read on its own while also adding a lot to the main event.

The collection’s only real downside is that some of the stories are just alright. The stories about the Atom and the Batman Who Laughs are the biggest examples of this, as they are the most forgettable tales in the book. Luckily, these stories are in the minority when it comes to the overall collection. 

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Art

Like the storytelling, the artwork in War of the Multiverses trends positive and has a few standout entries. I really enjoyed Rob Guillory’s stylized take on Constantine and Mike Henderson’s wonderfully creative take on Swamp Thing. However, Francis Manapul’s work on the Superman story is easily this collection’s crowning achievement, as the beautiful visuals really add to the beauty of the storytelling. There are several chapters where the artwork looks pretty average but nothing in the book ends up looking downright bad. Overall, this is a solid collection when it comes to visuals.

Continuity

Dark Nights: Death Metal: War of the Multiverses is a tie-in to the Dark Nights: Death Metal (Review) event. To see exactly how it relates back to the main event check out our “Dark Nights: Death Metal Reading Order“.

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Nightwing’s (Reading Order) recent memory loss is brought up. He lost his memory due to an incident in Batman #55, collected in Batman Vol. 8: Cold Days (Review). The impact of this incident was initially explored across Nightwing #50-56, collected in Nightwing: Knight Terrors (Review). He regained his lost memories in Nightwing #74, collected in Nightwing: The Joker War (Review) (Reading Order).
• The tension surrounding Wally West (Reading Order) is due to what happened in the Heroes in Crisis (Review) (Reading Order) series.
• Robin (Reading Order) quit the Teen Titans in Teen Titans Annual #2, collected in Teen Titans Vol. 4: Robin No More.