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Convergence #1 Review: Tournament Time

By Nick Tylwalk

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In case you need something to fill the void in your life left by the end of March Madness — or if you dislike hoops but enjoy the idea of brackets with high stakes — Convergence #1 is the comic book for you.

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We got a taste of the set-up for DC’s latest event just last week, but all the #0 issue did was explain it to one hero, Superman, whose knowledge of a sentient planet with a whole bunch of cities from worlds and times long gone was conveniently erased by the end of it. This time, we have some real protagonists in the form of the battle-weary heroes of Earth 2.

They look like they might be on the outside looking in, as they don’t have a city to represent, what with their world gone and all of its surviving citizens fled. They do get to bear the full brunt of the mighty expositional powers of Telos, who is running this twisted game on behalf of the absent Brainiac. The rules are clearly defined, as is the prize: one city will be returned to the multiverse when this is all over.

It’s a bit of a crutch to have the heroes helplessly captured and forced to listen to how it will all work, though it does have a certain amount of throwback charm at the same time. Writers Jeff King and Scott Lobdell also make it very clear that unlike Marvel’s original Secret Wars, this probably isn’t going to end with the participants mostly opting out of the contest. We’re going to see some of these cities, at least, throw down.

The art by Carlo Pagulayan has its moments of weakness, mostly brought on by the generic nature of the threats Telos throws at the Earth 2 crowd. He does open strong with a look at the world of the Injustice video game. and he really comes thundering down the stretch with a series of two-page splashes that help emphasize the idea that this is A Big Deal (patent pending).

The cherry on top is descriptions of 10 more worlds involved in Convergence, and while that means I’m probably never going to finish my guide to all of them, at least we know that there’s even more in play than we were originally told. This is a little bit more of a slow burn start than an explosive one, but it’s intriguing enough to make you want to keep going.

SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!

Good news: the Injustice Superman has his powers back. Bad news: he’s not planning on using them even though an active volcano has popped up in the middle of Gotham City. Unfortunately for him, so does an enormous hand made from rock, and it looks like he just got squashed.

Elsewhere, the Earth 2 Batman and Dick Grayson unexpectedly find themselves transported from a showdown with Darkseid to a strange new world. They’re joined in short order by Flash, Green Lantern and Superman. Dick and Jay Garrick get into it a little bit about whether the heroes were to blame for the fate of their world before they see that Yolanda Montex has also made the surprise trip.

They come under attack by the plane itself, and while Flash and GL have their powers crap out on them, Yolanda discovers she’s still got some of her Avatar of the Red abilities. A dome starts to pop up around them, despite Val-Zod’s efforts to stop it, and Telos soon shows his face too. He’s a little irritated that the Earth 2 gang showed up without a city in tow, as that’s the point of the whole exercise.

Capturing all of the heroes in short order, Telos explains how he has gathered cities from all over time and space for the great convergence, which will give one city a chance to be reborn. He declares that champions from each city must do battle with each other until only one remains. Refuse to fight? Your city dies. Thinking about teaming up to stop him? All of the cities will be destroyed.

Despite some skepticism from his prisoners that the tourney will take place even under those conditions, Telos shows them that at least nine different versions of Superman are already on the move. The game is afoot, or so it would seem.

Favorite Moment: When Telos addresses all of the captured cities at once in one of those spreads I discussed, he works the names of multiple DC events into his speech in one of the ultimate “I see what you did there” moments ever.

Final Thought: If you were wondering about the through-line to his whole thing, it’s laid out for you here. As a fan of the Earth 2 characters, it’s nice to see them get the spotlight here, but this issue works even if you’re just curious how the tie-ins will operate.

Next: Our Convergence guide tells you more about the worlds in the event

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