Convergence #1
DC Comics
Written by: Jeff King
Art by: Scott Lobdell
If anyone thought that DC’s 2015 mega event crossover would be too convoluted for your average comics reader, newcomer to comics: Jeff King dealt with that issue rather abruptly. If issue #0 of Convergence was the teaser then issue #1 is the setup. While one could argue not a whole lot happened in this initial issue, truth be told the biggest fear this series had was addressed. Are their plenty of DC mythos and infinite versions of characters to be dealt with in Convergence? Absolutely! However the root of the story isn’t as daunting as one would suspect: Braniac has been collecting Cities from various Multi-verses throughout DC history in a world he calls Telos. Now these cities must compete for survival.
Carrying over from the 0 issue King waste little time in reminding readers that this is a very Superman driven book. King does this by posing the question in one of the multi-verses of Convergence: What if Clark Kent was selfish by showing readers just how horrific that DC universe would be. In a brilliant move by King he is able to accomplish in a few panels what most writers are unable to accomplish after entire runs on Superman books. He answers the question of what makes Superman arguably the greatest hero of them all. Which is Kal-El’s decision to be selfless.
Besides providing a short, but definitive commentary on the Superman character Convergence #1 also gives the comics world the clear cut explanation of the event they have been waiting for while at the same time delivering plenty of multi-verse Justice League action. From Thomas Wayne to Jay Garrick readers already get to see teams of the Justice League that include even the likes of Harley Quinn. As much fan service as King delivers in this initial issue it never feels like pandering. The only real knack here would be that perhaps the book relies a little too much monologue over action to establish itself.
The art of Scott Lobdell while a bit lacking in comparison to the work Ethan Van Sciver in the last issue is more than capable of complimenting the book. At Lobdell’s best points here he conjures up memories of J.G Jones beautiful work on Final Crisis. Even at his worst Lobdell’s art never distracts or brings the book down.
The beginning of the end is here in Convergence #1, and if the book proves anything it is that the doubters were wrong. Rather than being a book of big messy moments it feels like that Convergence will be about small character driven moments that regardless of what multi-verse they take place in will remind us all of why we love these Heroes so much.