Convergence #5. Jeff King- Writer, Andy Kubert- Penciller, Sandra Hope- Inker, Brad Anderson- Colors.
Instead of beating the drum of “characterisation” which is a fantastically strong element of this book, I’m going to start out with a memorial for a pre-Crisis character that seemingly bows out this issue. This is a fairly significant death for a sword and sorcery character who held his own for over 130 issues in his own title from 1976 to 1988. He existed in his own world mostly removed from interaction with the DCU proper. For a character in a non-Super-Hero genre he was remarkable in DC’s stable of characters. After the early 80’s most of the genre books faded away, but this fellow continued on for a number of years. Convergence #5 certainly seems to be the end of the line. However, it just may be the cleaning of the slate for a new iteration in the post-Convergence DC Universe. Long live….
The issue opens with the “Wonders” of Earth 2 trying to figure what’s going on with Deimos, Telos and Brainiac. We learn that Telos is more than the sentience of the planet, but he had a family and gave up his life in servitude to Brainiac to save them. There’s that characterisation bit again. King is working it so well. The citizens of Skartaris don’t fare well in this issue as Machiste and Tara go down fighting. Val-Zod and the Flash give their all to try and stop Deimos, but they are conflicted.
They can’t quite figure out what’s going on between Telos and Brainiac. They struggle to try and figure out who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy. They clearly feel sympathy for Telos, but realize that although Deimos opposes Brainiac, the salvation that Deimos offers is not exactly the best option, though imprisonment by Brainiac is certainly the worst. It seems that Telos has the key to breaking the deadlock, but he can’t seem to figure himself out.
The Positives
Convergence continues to utilize the whole of DC History in its storytelling. The revelation of Yolanda Montez as Wildcat in her original incarnation was a true treat for this fan of Earth-Two. Deimos’ comments make it seem like her existence during Crisis on Infinite Earths somehow matters here. This begs the question, “How aware are these characters of the Multiverse and its previous incarnations?”
Andy Kubert’s art was a real treat. He did a fine job taking over the reigns of the story, and lent his unique style to the book. Seeing Dick Grayson come closer to his alleged destiny was also a critical character moment. Deimos’ final offer of salvation also dovetailed nicely with some of the 2-issue mini-series that concluded this month.
The Negatives
I’m enjoying this too much to find a negative. I suppose that those readers who have no connection with the past iterations of the DCU may not feel as engaged, however, King is doing such a good job with the characters that I believe even a new reader will be drawn in by characters like Dick Grayson, Yolanda Montez and Telos.
The Verdict
This was a real page turner. King made me believe that something significant was going to happen from page 1. And he did- a few different times. This is a solid read that compares favourably to Marv Wolfman’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. This along with The Multiversity is proof that the parallel Earth’s concept is fun and intriguing and singularly DC Comics. 4 1/2.
