Roe

Dark Nights: Metal is one of the most high-concepts superhero comics that DC has put out in years, but it’s also one of the most accessible and welcoming superhero events in recent memory. It’s a hard tightrope to walk, but the creative team manages it with ease by making sure that above all else, the comic is fun. There’s a bit of comics advice that roughly goes along the lines of “Something exciting should happen each page,” and even at its most expository as Lady Blackhawk is explaining the concept of the Dark Multiverse to the Justice League, and by extension us the readers, Dark Nights: Metal has a pace and kineticism that makes it a captivating read. As an event, Dark Nights: Metal seems daunting at first. It’s spinning out of very specific events of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman run, it has all these long-lost DC characters that newer readers might not know. Even the heavy use of the word “Dark” in the titles and promotional material could lead readers to think this

Like many of the other “Convergence” tie-ins, “Convergence: Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes” #1 ends just as the action is about to begin. The battle with Durvale doesn’t appear until the last few pages, and most of the story is spent establishing the new status quo under the dome and rehashing important moments from the continuity of 30th century Metropolis. As a result, the issue’s impact really depends on how much the reader wants to see these characters again and how skillfully the creative team portrays their conflicts. While Stuart Moore, Gus Storms and Mark Farmer ultimately have too many storylines to do them all justice, this is an enjoyable read with an interesting — if inconsistent — aesthetic. As the issue opens, Superboy is trapped under the Dome with the rest of 30th century Metropolis. Along with the other Legionnaires, he tries to rally the citizens and keep the city going, but his own loneliness and fear wear him down. In this way, Superboy has one of the mos

Grant Morrison throttles back and keeps the action contained within a mere two worlds in “The Multiversity: The Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of the Counter-World” #1, the second of Morrison’s “Multiversity” issues and already a contender for the multiverse’s longest-titled comic book. It’s also a contender for one of the multiverse’s most entertaining comics, as Morrison mines a vast array of both classic and recent characters and devices, molding some very familiar concepts into some very different incarnations. His imagination is what makes this comic an enthralling and all-too-enjoyable page-turner, and penciller Chris Sprouse’s interpretation of Morrison’s ideas is downright captivating. If the highlighted icons of numbered earths along the spine of Sprouse’s cover are any indication, Earth-20 is at war with Earth-40, not that the numbers matter, but this simple trick adds an element of excitement for fans of the aficionados of multiple earths. One earth’s bloodthirsty rul

There are some stories you read for the characters; there are some you read for the concept; and there are some you read for the craft — like Bryan Hitch’s creator-owned “Real Heroes” #1. The premise of this series has been most succinctly pitched as “the cast of the Avengers does the Galaxy Quest thing,” and it’s a promising enough idea. The actors in the world’s most famous superhero franchise discover that everything they’ve been acting out has actually occurred in another world’s New York City. In execution, however, it’s noticeably generic. The cast is standard, and the dialogue is heavy on the info dumps. The only treat here is watching Hitch’s visual storytelling. When he gives himself space, he knows how to make a story move. He’s often described as having a cinematic feel to his work, and it’s true that the eight pages of in-movie panels are larger than life. They include some very obvious parallels/parodies of “The Avengers” franchise, from the design of The Patriot’s cos

Kicking subtlety to the curb, “Legion of Super-Heroes” #23 opens with a funeral to send off the thirty-first century heroes. Paul Levitz and Kevin Maguire plant the moping faces of Polar Boy and Invisible Kid on that first splash page and fill the remainder of the issue with nowhere near enough smiles to suit the emotional stylings of Maguire. Clean, smooth, effortlessly detailed artwork from Maguire really sells this book and, truly, is the only reason to buy “Legion of Super-Heroes” #23, if you’re not a Legion devotee or OCD patient needlessly spending cash just to ensure your comic collection has no holes. If this series had relied upon artwork from Maguire for more than the final issue, it certainly would have enticed me to pick up more issues of “Legion of Super-Heroes” than I did. I’m not saying my lack of consistently buying one issue doomed the series, but I’m certain I’m not the only one to appreciate the flabbergasted, surprised, shocked, hurt, angry, frustrated, worried a

With “Justice League 3000” debuting later this year, Keith Giffen’s sudden departure from “Legion of Super-Heroes” potentially makes much more sense, if he swapped out working on one 31st century comic for another. That leaves Paul Levitz and guest artist Jeff Johnson to start winding things down for this title, though, and “Legion of Super-Heroes” #21 does so in the old-fashioned manner of smashing down the existing group. Early chapters of this story had a slightly stronger sense of urgency about them, something that I felt that Giffen’s influence might have been responsible for. It’s funny, then, that with the book’s cancellation around the corner, that theoretically all the characters are now in much more jeopardy. But with “Legion of Super-Heroes” #21 just being a series of events where members of the Legion get walloped by the Fatal Five, some of the “anything can happen” excitement seems to have died down a bit. It’s much more of a beat down here, and that’s not quite as excit

When Keith Giffen was announced as coming on board as co-writer and artist of “Legion of Super-Heroes” #17, I cheered. The book on the whole has been lackluster for the last two years, and when Giffen had done the same thing for the “Legion of Super-Heroes Annual” a couple years ago, it was the best Legion story in ages. Unfortunately, Giffen’s second issue is probably his last with no explanation given, and readers are the poorer for it. Giffen and long-time writer Paul Levitz serve up the second issue in a story that’s been building for quite a while: the return of the Fatal Five. Giffen and Levitz present a huge catastrophe storyline, as the Fatal Five’s attacks destroy the fabric of the 31st century, both figuratively and literally. It’s a tense and slightly nasty sequence of events, with one Legion member killed in the first chapter, and many more put into precarious positions. For the first time in as long as I can remember, “Legion of Super-Heroes” feels dangerous and unpredi

“Legion of Super-Heroes” #14 feels like a comic that one reads through inertia more than anything else. Paul Levitz and Scott Kolins don’t serve up a bad comic, but it doesn’t feel compelling either. Rather, if you’re reading this comic it’s probably because you’ve been following the characters for a long time rather than because of a gripping storyline. Levitz does his best to try and mix things up a little bit, at least. Teaming up Element Lad and Chemical Kid feels like a pun waiting to happen, but instead we end up with a mentor/student relationship between the two as the duo goes after the raiders that attacked Cosmic Lad. Chemical Kid’s powers aren’t the easiest to write, so it’s nice to see Levitz giving them a stab and do something with the character. Otherwise, though, it’s lots of little subplots getting addressed. The reason for Comet Queen’s recent betrayal is finally uncovered, for example, but the revelation feels a little flat and uninteresting. The reforming of the Fa

2011’s “Legion: Secret Origin” mini-series was recent enough (and with Legion continuity largely unchanged save for the origin story, post-“Flashpoint”) that it’s unsurprising that Paul Levitz and Scott Kolins aren’t telling the origin of the Legion this month in “Legion of Super-Heroes” #0. Instead, Levitz has wisely served up a direct sequel to “Legion: Secret Origin” in which the Legion encounters Brainiac 5 again, and we finally learn how he joined the team. The plot itself isn’t that hard to follow, with a cache of the original Brainiac’s technology somehow opened up on Colu and the Legion needing to come in to try and save the populous. There are a few little bits here and there that might interest readers, like the mention of the extended Coluan lifespan, or the accompanying slow birth rate resulting in Brainiac 5 being the second youngest Coluan on the planet. There’s also a small scene with Tharok of the Fatal Five that feels slightly grafted on, but I appreciate that Levit

It’s fascinating to me that “Creator Owned Heroes” #1 has the same release date as the premiere of “Before Watchmen.” The idea behind “Creator Owned Heroes” seems to exist to combat that exact kind of thing. Not that you can’t love both, but I definitely found myself more inspired to put my money down on the creator-owned venture. I do think the title is rather terrible — but it’s honest and so is the book, which is one of the best things about it. “Creator Owned Heroes” contains two 11-page full color stories that serve as the beginning of longer pieces, a few interviews with the creators that got this idea going, some photos from cons, an interview with a costume designer and her twin sister cosplayer/model, as well as an interview with the barely human legend that is Neil Gaiman. The book is really part comic, part comics magazine and it’s interesting. The interviews are good — particularly inspiring is Palmiotti, Gray and Niles explaining why they took on this project. All that