Dark Nights: Metal

by Scott Snyder

[Quirky Cat]

Dark Nights: Metal has been shaking the comic book industry for months, so naturally I knew I had to read it; if nothing else so that I could recognize its influence when I see it. Fans have been going crazy about this series, and I’ve been hearing snippets about it left and right. If you’ve somehow managed to avoid the Dark Nights hype than consider me impressed.
This series was brought to us by Scott Snyder (Batman Court of Owls, American Vampire, Wytches, Swamp Thing, Batman Death of the Family), Greg Capullo (Batman Court of Owls, Batman Death of the Family, The Creech, Batgirl Death of the Family), and Jonathan Glapion (Batman Court of Owls, Justice League, The Multiversity, Batman Death of the Family), which does partially help explain some of the hype. Love him or hate him, you’ve got to admit that Scott Snyder does a great job in getting Batman talked about.



Think of Dark Nights: Metal as Batman taken off of his leash. The series has always felt like it wanted to have the ability to go darker (I mean, look at the obsession with the Joker, which should be telling enough) but here it finally gets to run around and be just as crazy and dark as it always dreamed of. It also dips very heavily into the multiverse, so fans of that will be pleased.
The whole focus of this series is in the name: metal. Or rather, specific metals. As it turns out there are metals that have been controlling the pattern of things, and slowly but surely Batman has been intentionally infected with all but one of them. And before you ask, no he wasn’t the one doing it. Somebody else was smart enough to figure out how to play Batman. That should really speak volumes in and of itself.
We have many favorites from DC getting together here in order to stop a greater threat. I don’t think they all truly understand what is at stake, but to be honest there were times where I could say the same for myself, so it’s all good. Superman and the rest of the Justice League are trying to do everything in their power to stop this world ending event (no exaggeration) while Batman is stubbornly insisting he can handle this himself…that actually sounds about on par for the course.
There are dozens of other cameos as well. In fact there are so many, from the obvious to the obscure that I’d miss some if I tried to list them all out. Let’s just say that both villains and heroes make appearances in this series.
Most of the hype (that I’ve heard) has revolved around the alternate Batmans shown in this series. If you haven’t heard about them I promise I won’t give anything away. Let’s just say that there are one or two of them that really steal the show. Seriously, I’m not sure whether Joker would proud or envious. I’m also not sure which emotion would be more dangerous for Joker to be feeling…
To be honest, while I really did enjoy this series, I do feel like I was let down a little bit by it. I think all the hype and talk raised my expectations to an unfair level. That obviously resulted in my slight disappointment in reading this. I still think it had a lot of great points, and I can see how it could influence DC writing for the better…but I also wish there had been more. Perhaps if they slowed down the pace a little bit; had taken more time to get through the story being told? That might have done it, but I’m not sure.
I am looking forward to see how this series ends up affecting the rest of the DC world. I’ve been hearing hints of this series or that series being influenced by the themes and topics of Dark Night. I hope they’re accurate and live up to the quality shown here.


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