Dark Days: The Casting #1: Despite the cute naming system, this issue is really "Dark Days" #2, a direct sequel to "Dark Days: Metal."
Bruce makes his way to Hephaestus' forge in the hopes of asking him about the metal, and he meets Diana there. (He presumably arrived here through the portal he used in "Dark Days: The Forge.") Diana explains Hephaestus made each member of the Pantheon of Greek gods a weapon from the "eighth metal." She says she came to the forge because she had a vision she would give Bruce Apollo's Sunblade. She does so, explaining the gods have left Earth in advance of the coming war.
The Immortals tell Hawkman the metal came from a rift in reality that also produced a terrible devil intent on bringing darkness to the world. It's the inspiration behind the Bat symbol representing the four tribes of humanity we saw in "Dark Days: The Forge." A member of the Hawk Tribe apparently betrayed humanity by siding with the Bat, and Hawkman and Hawkwoman were the ones to contain him, closing the door between his world and our world. However, Hath-Set (or maybe Dr. Manhattan) made them forget.
Batman eventually trades the Sunblade to Talia al Ghul in exchange for the item she carries: the dagger of Shazam (the wizard, not the teenager). (After he left the forge, the Sunblade led him to the dagger.) It turns out al Ghul was part of the group of Immortals who met with Hawkman in the early 20th century, and he spent decades trying to get his hands on the dagger. She agrees to the trade only because he promises her the "ninth" metal if she gives him the eighth one. (I know, I know. After all, isn't his Sunblade made of the eighth metal? Also, if Thundarr makes an appearance, I'll totally not complain about anything in this series again.)
In the Secretcave, Joker briefly gives Duke and Hal his side of the story of how he survived the fall at the end of "Death of the Family," explaining the dionesium not only healed his body but reattached his severed face. (Well done on tying up that loose end, Snyder.) Joker also explains Luke and his mother have the metal in their blood, possibly because they're descendants of the Bat Tribe. (I'm assuming the devil also had the metal in his blood.) Luke will serve as some sort of signal for Batman, and Joker wants to kill him (and destroy a machine Bruce has hidden in the Secretcave) so Bruce can focus on him.
Bruce returns to the cave, revealing to Duke and Hal he started investigating the metal when he used it to resurrect himself and saw visions of his future in that moment. Bruce reveals he knows the frequency of the energy (presumably from the tower we saw in "Dark Days: The Forge") and Shazam's dagger gives him the power to reveal the "truth." (It's not clear why it does or why the Sunblade didn't.) Duke's powers let him see how the machine Bruce was building should be finished, and he uses a copy of Hal's ring to finish it. (Seriously, I know. Just hang in there.) Bruce activates the machine (maybe with the dagger), but only sees darkness. Three-thousand feet below Gotham, a group of hooded figures says Bruce has broken the seal. Apparently, he would've seen their army of dark knights had they not "prepared" him correctly. These knights appear to be dark analogues to the DCnU heroes.
Overall, despite the deus ex machina (almost literally in several cases), Snyder picks up pretty much all the threads from "Dark Days: The Forge." (The only real exception is the identity of the creature or person Bruce released from imprisonment on the Mooncave, unless I'm missing something.) It's clear Snyder has a vision for this story, so the nagging questions are acceptable, since he seems likely to resolve them. But, we should probably have a clearer sense of what all these metals mean by the end of next issue. At some point, even for someone used to suspending disbelief for the past 30 years, it gets hard not to roll your eyes, and Snyder probably doesn't want us doing that much longer.
Titans #13: I'll admit I'm not sure why Abnett decided to so quickly launch into an arc that involves betrayal within the team. We're just getting a sense of the bonds the team shares in the present, and already he's making us question said bonds. Abnett seems to want us to believe Dick is the betrayer by throwing suspicion on Lilith. But, we saw her premonition so we know it wasn't her (unless Psimon really did turn her and we saw thoughts he implanted in her mind). Part of the difficulty in following this story is Abnett has the characters all acting somewhat oddly. Garth is suddenly hopelessly devoted to Lilith after sharing a kiss, and Wally is committed to keeping secret his ability to freeze time even though we're not really told why he would. I think it's because his friends are worried about his heart, but it actually seems like it might give some insight into how he can use his powers without hurting his heart. I wouldn't be surprised in the end if we learn that they're all being manipulated psionically.
Youngblood #3: OK, I have to say, this series just keeps getting better and better. As Bowers says in the letters page, it's pretty clear the rules are different here, showing a willingness to permanently change a character's status quo. Badrock is actually working for Diehard, though it's unclear if Diehard wanted him to put together the team for good or for ill. It could be just setting up Shaft. After all, he decides to investigate the Byrne Twins after Badrock has the kids tell them about the disappearances of Man-Up and other heroes. The new Sentinel (even if we're not calling him that) tells him he couldn't find any information about them when he was part of the Stream, and Shaft obviously isn't thrilled to learn he was part of the group that ruined his life. Meanwhile, we learn Doc Rocket was only part of the team briefly, and Petra recruited her because she still has high favorability ratings, meaning she could help make sure the team has a real claim to the Youngblood name. Finally, we have some business with an alien bounty hunter that I didn't quite follow, but Bowers pretty clearly has a plan for that. All in all, it's another exciting issue that really raises the bar on this endeavor.
Also Read: Detective Comics #960; Dragon Age: Knight Errant #3;
No comments:
Post a Comment