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Convergence #7 Review: The Old Switcheroo

By Nick Tylwalk

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I have this feeling that I’ve been swimming upstream on Convergence the entire time. Most fans didn’t seem to be digging the first half of the series, where the focus was on the Earth 2 characters and the many different incarnations of familiar characters from times past were kind of shoved off to the side. That started to change last issue, and in Convergence #7, it’s pretty much a whole new ballgame.

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And while the consensus seems to be that this is a good thing, I’m not as sure. The earlier parts of the series felt tightly plotted, with the mystery of the planet and who was the real villain at its core. The contest between cities was more of a framing device than anything else. Even a switch in the Big Bad (which we noted was something of a DC event tradition) didn’t halt its momentum.

Now that the mainstream DC heroes are involved, though, the whole thing feels a lot messier. The Earth 2 crew is still involved, but the cast gets a lot bigger, and it seems like it’s all Jeff King and Scott Lobdell can do to keep it under control. There’s yet another swerve here too, and while there’s still one issue left to see if it’s exactly as it seems, you do start to wonder if it was one plot twist too many.

The relay race of artists continues with Aaron Lopresti taking the baton, and his clean lines serve the story well. A cool two-page spread of the heroes and villains of various worlds engaged in group combat is a highlight, and there are plenty of big panels and wide, expressive layouts throughout the rest of the book. There’s virtually no way Convergence is going to mesh together in collected form with so many different pencillers, but each individual chapter has looked pretty darn good.

The final issue of the series is naturally being billed as “the shocking conclusion,” and I’ve ridden with this far enough that I’m not about to bail now. There’s still some promise of Convergence tying together a bunch of previous bits of DC history, but I’ll be happy if it simply wraps up in satisfying fashion instead of careening off course at the last moment.

SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!

The world of Telos is forcing its way into the mainstream DC Universe, and that’s obviously cause for concern. As Superman tries to rescue injured heroes, the Oracle informs him that he can’t save everyone.

There’s a full-fledged melee going on down on the surface, with the likes of the Crime Syndicate and the Extremists ready to fight just as Deimos has commanded. Telos himself has had a change of heart thanks to Earth 2 Dick Grayson, and he makes a dramatic return with the intention of stopping Deimos. The battle stops the planet from making its push into the prime universe, leaving Martian Manhunter wondering why it seemed so familiar.

Hal Jordan, in his Parallax form from Zero Hour, wants Deimos to release him from the planet but is quickly and painfully rebuffed. Yolanda Montez says that Deimos is drawing his power from the dead and dying, which causes some of the warring characters to turn against him.

Telos decides to make his stand, using his powers to restrain the heroes and villains still on Deimos’ side, and things take an unexpected turn when Hal decides he’s heard enough from Deimos. He wants the villain’s power so he can resurrect his Coast City and his world, and he unleashes a massive blast that appears to incinerate Deimos.

That’s the good news. The bad news is delivered by Telos, who says that Deimos had absorbed control of all of history from the time travelers he had captured. That leads to the Oracle beginning to break apart, followed by all of reality. Uh-oh.

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