Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Convergence #1Convergence #1
DC Comics
King, Lobdell, Pagulayan, Paz & Steigerwald

Convergence puts forth another setup issue with a cast of characters that have familiar names but not necessarily faces. The comic book is targeting the hard-core DC fan. The ones that have read all of the events, know all about the universes, have an interest in characters that are long gone. If you find yourself outside of those parameters then you should sit this one out. I can't recommend this comic at all to anyone except the DC power reader.

It's hard to imagine DC pushing this crossover so heavily, knowing that it isn't at all a jump-on point. Even those that came on-board to DC comics via the New 52 are going to struggle mightily with this book. I wonder why DC didn't push Morrison's Multiversity as a lead in to this comic event. It may have helped to explain characters in issues like this one. Outside of the character's names I didn't have an inkling as to who any of these characters were in this comic. Not one. However, Multiversity's Guidebook provided me some information about them that this comic book didn't even attempt to do.

From what I can glean from this comic and the back-matter, cities and characters are going to duke it out for right to survive. This issue seems to throw characters from various universes together to help with the narrative as it allows the characters to inform the reader what's going on through their dialogue. It's clunky but it works.

One of the primary problems with this comic book is that none of the characters are interesting or distinct. Every one of them is arrogant, brash and completely about themselves. Sure, some might complain about loved ones killed off but that only serves as a means for the obligatory super-hero on super-hero sucker punch that leads to a lot of flexing and yelling. It's a thin read character-wise.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe artwork is good quality. Considering the characters are apparently in a desert, the book manages to provide nice details on the characters and the surroundings. The back of the book has a nice layout of the various universes that will come together (I could swear Alan Moore was in one of the panels) and that is the most distinct part of the visuals. The visuals add something to an otherwise bland and confusing story.

Convergence is definitely schedule filler. The old time DC fan might find a lot to enjoy in this comic book. They might even fall in love with the event. If you aren't up on your DC events and characters from twenty to thirty years ago then skip this. At five bucks you can easily find something else to check out. This one is for the die-hard fans only.

1 out of 5 Geek Goggles