Welcome to The Pull List, a weekly column where we check out a first issue of a new series and tell you whether or not to follow the comic based only on that. This week I’ve picked up a copy of DC Comics’ Convergence #1 – the first issue in the flagship title introducing DC’s newest, big, mutli-series-spanning summer event.Yup, it’s that time of year again, and the them this time seems to be “multiverse battles,” as both Marvel’s upcoming Secret Wars event, and DC’s Convergence focus on the idea of pitting differing versions of fan favorite characters against each other, with the possible intention of creating a new, unified, continuity.
For anyone who’s been reading comics for the last five years or so, you may remember the last time DC did this, with the Flash Point story line that lead up to the introduction of the New 52. That idea held solid for about a year at most before creators started exploring alternate and non-canon versions of characters. Most notably, Grant Morrison’s excellent Multiversity series dealt with a span of continuities, both new and old, but the very idea of which goes against what The New 52 was supposed to embody.
So you’ll excuse me for thinking the idea behind Convergence doesn’t actually hold that much importance in my mind. Sure, we’ll see different versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, et al, duke it out, but is this really going to be the defining summer event that everyone needs to follow in order to keep up with all of DC comics? Probably not.
Still, taking that into account, I think there is still fun to be had with Convergence. I think the ludicrous number of tie-in issues is a bit much and builds the event up as more than I’d care for it to be, but overall I’m not opposed to the idea of throwing differing iterations of DC super heroes into a giant ring to see who comes out on top.
And, based on the first issue, Convergence definitely seems like it’s going to deliver on that front. There are plenty of big, two-page spreads of action sequences, and there are a lot of big monsters and brooding batmen. I wish the writers didn’t care so much about the readers being able to place the characters (you either know which Earth this Batman comes from or you don’t, explaining to me that this is Doctor Thomas Wayne isn’t going to help me figure it out if I don’t already know).
This first issue is big, dumb fun, and I can’t fault it for that. What I can fault it for is for trying to be anything else. If you’re here to see batman fight batman, you’ll almost certainly be pleased. If you’re here for something a little more concrete or intellectually stimulating, though, you may want to look elsewhere. But let’s be real, who doesn’t want to see batman fighting batman.
