Convergence

Convergence #0-8

by Jeff King (Writer), Scott Lobdell (Writer), Dan Jurgens (Writer)

Once, there were infinite Earths. Untold timelines. Innumerable Elseworlds. Then there came a Crisis...a Zero Hour...a Flashpoint. Worlds lived. Worlds died. Now they all must fight for their future!

The evil alien intelligence known as Brainiac has stolen 50 doomed cities from throughout time and space and brought them to a place beyond the Multiverse-a sentient planet of his own design, a world with the power of a god.

As heroes and villains from dozens of worlds battle each other for their very existence, it's up to a ragtag band of warriors from a slain Earth to put an end to this threat that bends the Multiverse to its will. Reality itself hangs in the balance...

This is it! The entire DC Universe from the dawn of time through the New 52 stars in CONVERGENCE - an unprecedented event that brings together your favorite characters from every era and series. Whether familiar or forgotten, none of them will ever be the same!

Existence comes to end, and a beginning, with writers JEFF KING (USA's White Collar), SCOTT LOBDELL (SUPERMAN: DOOMED) and DAN JURGENS (BATMAN BEYOND), and artists CARLO PAGULAYAN (Incredible Hulk), STEPHEN SEGOVIA (GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS), ANDY KUBERT (DAMIAN: SON OF BATMAN) and ETHAN VAN SCIVER (GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH).

Collects: Convergence #0-8.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Batman, Comic Book, Superman

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 13, 2015

About the author

Jeff F. King, Canadian screenwriter, comic writer, television producer and film director.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 2 out of 5]

(B-) 69% | Satisfactory
Notes: Esoterica and history are lost on me, but still I get the gist, it goes okay to round midway, but flops from all its twists.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Ok, let's get started!
*rubs hands together gleefully*
Kidding, kidding... It's not that bad. Well, it is, but it's also probably going to be required reading for DC fans.
Sorry, kiddos.
Warning: Spoilers!
But I'm not even really sure what happened, so...*shrugs*



Basically, DC wants to use all of the different versions of all of their characters across the multiverse. Because we were all clamoring for them to Bring back the multiverse!
Well, no. But I think New 52 wasn't working out as well as they'd hoped, so why not go back in time 30 plus years, and re-do a re-boot. Specifically, Crisis on Infinite Earths, which originally wiped out DC's bloated multiverse, and gave things a cleanish slate. Sorta like...New 52.



And that's pretty much what this is about.
Yes, hardcore geeks will certainly be able to go into the specifics of what I missed, but for those of you who are only casual readers, all you need to know is that DC can now tell any story they want to, from any Earth, with any version of any hero that ever existed. Sorta.
And the continuity of the New 52 is still in play.



Does Convergence, as a story, make for good reading?
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
*wipes tear*
Oh, you're funny. I like you!
No, as a matter of fact, there are plot holes you could drive a truck through, clunky dialogue, and a weird plot line that gets more and more confusing as it goes along.
But who cares?! Suck it up, buttercup.
Remember, it's required reading.



Some guy from a {random planet} gets tricked into being Brainiac's stooge...
Hey you know what? Just think of the Silver Surfer/Galactus origin story, and you'll get what's going on with this Telos character.
It's exactly like that, minus the surfboard.



Most of the story focuses on the Earth 2 heroes, but eventually things branch out to include more and more of the other characters from the multiverse.



How, why, when, where?
Long story short, Brainiac has trapped everyone...like entire cities... (still not sure how he's done this) on a living planet controlled by Telos. Then he wanders away to do something off-page.
Telos loses sight of his Prime Directive, and starts pitting cities and their heroes against each other in a Battle Royale-style fight for survival.



Of course, there's an evil sorcerer (Deimos) who is planning to rule the world, sorry, worlds. And has managed to eat a bunch of Time Lords... or something. Then Earth 2's Dick Grayson has a heart-to heart with Telos, and then Telos talks to Brainiac, and then they all cry and get emotional. It's...you know what? Fuck it. It's amazing, they all burn their bras and talk about which brand of tampon is the most absorbent. Next thing you know, good triumphs over evil, and the multiverse is restored.



Ok. that's it, kids. You can all go back to your regularly scheduled comic books now.

Edit: Everyone is telling me that THIS is definitely NOT required reading. As long as you know that it happened, you can mosey along without ever having to touch this sucker.

I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Get this review and more at:

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re-read 2023: This is still completely worth skipping and just not good. The miniseries were some of the only New 52 books I hadn't read as even the library passed on all these ancillary series. Just cleaning up a few DC blind spots now that I have their streaming comics service.

I'm not really sure why there's both this big event and the Multiversity project as they both accomplish the same goal. That there are multiple dimensions and they are going to use that so they don't have to worry about continuity in the DCU. The story isn't bad, but it's also nothing special as we've covered this ground before in Crisis, Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, Flashpoint, etc. Even though they bring in some big name artists, I feel the book suffers some from having a rotating group of artists.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

“I wonder if my life would be better without reading anything from this publisher ever again?” is probably not the thought DC want to be leaving readers with after getting through Convergence (and it is a struggle) but it’s the one I had anyway.

Convergence is DC’s big 2015 summer event that doubles as the death knell of their New 52 line that began in September 2011.

So which A-list DC talent is scripting the title - Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder, Brian Azzarello? Nope: Jeff King.

…

Who?

He’s the guy who brought us TV show gems like Due South and Relic Hunter.

Wha…?

That’s right, he’s not a comics writer and Convergence is his DEBUT book. Obviously everyone has to start somewhere but maybe DC could’ve put King on a smaller title first? Have him prove himself, earn the right to helm a book of this magnitude? Because his handling of Convergence is shoddy at best and the inexperience shows.

But it’s alright because joining him are possibly the two worst comics writers in the world, Dan Jurgens and Scott Lobdell. What, was Ann Nocenti busy or something? Or maybe Jeff King isn’t real and it’s a fake name like Alan Smithee and King is actually the Trinity of Shite: Nocenti, Jurgens and Lobdell?

So, the premise: Brainiac has suddenly become like the Borg. Out of the blue he’s decided that his tool, Telos, will gather 50 cities in jars, move them to a planet Brainiac has just made, and have all 50 cities fight each other in a battle royale. Last city standing gets to live. What’s the point of the experiment? No idea. I mean, the newly made planet could quite easily accommodate all 50 cities. Guess he just likes dumb punch-ups? Y’know, for a guy calling himself Brainiac, he comes off as pretty fucking stupid!

It’s basically an excuse for lots of mindless, boring superhero action where hundreds of versions of superheroes irrelevantly punch each other. Exciting, no? Nope!

Who’s the main character that we’re following? All there is on the page are scores of superheroes chucked in like a demented chef who doesn’t know what they doing but has a larder of rotting food they need to urgently empty – everything’s the special today!

I think Convergence is supposed to follow on from the two latest DC events, The Multiversity and Doomed, though the opening pages of Convergence get the Doomed setup wrong: Superman says Brainiac infected him with the Doomsday virus. No, Superman ripped Doomsday in half, Doomsday’s purple spoodge went all over Supes’ face, and that’s how he got the Kryptonian STD. Although Convergence does explain what Brainiac was doing invading Earth in that terrible book. And the Multiversity connection is simply that the cities are taken from across the Multiverse – because…?

This is all there is to Convergence: the Injustice world fights the Future’s End world, and this world fights that world, and so on and oh my god, is this really the best they could come up with?! It’s the blandest, most stereotypical superhero story Jeff King and co. could’ve produced. And of course - SPOILERS but who cares, this book sucks, don’t read it! - it culminates with the Flashes doing the thing they do in every single DC event and a Deus ex Machina that makes the whole thing a complete waste of time. It really is one big middle finger to the reader.

The one line in all of this that stood out to me was spoken by Hal Jordan as Parallax, addressing a newly revealed, even more underwhelming villain who takes over from Telos: “You’re the worst kind of villain. One obsessed with power for power’s sake… You bore me.” Well said, Hal. And yet if King was self-aware enough to know his characters and their motivations were so lacking, why didn’t he do anything to remedy it?

There were a zillion tie-ins to this event, some of which are likely to be decent going purely by the numbers, but the actual event itself is utter drek. I didn’t think DC would top Trinity War as the worst event book they’ve ever published but they did it! Impressive how bad these guys can get, eh? Convergence isn’t just the crummiest DC event book ever, it’s the worst comic of 2015.

To be fair to DC they seem to have learned a little from the mistakes of The New 52. Their new initiative, DC You (named for supposedly highlighting the main themes of characters, talent, stories and fans, and a pun on DC Universe/DCU), has roughly 25 ongoing monthly titles as opposed to an unsustainable 52, with a similar number of limited titles. They’re being more diverse in their content and have realised they are beyond hopeless when it comes to continuity so they’ve given up trying to make any sense of what’s going on anymore – just tell good stories, they say! I guess we’ll see, though sales so far have been very low, nothing like when The New 52 launched.

But as a poorly conceived/written/executed and utterly boring, overlong book, Convergence is a fitting epitaph to The New 52!

[Donovan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Event of events, it immortalizes true character regardless of continuity, namely humanity, because it’s the degree of humanity that defines the superhero, not the degree of super power.

Classic bombast and grandstanding follows event tradition. However, it is less enjoyable than other events because its story has less to say, its cataclysm is less palpable and menacing, and it relies heavily upon other events which attempt and fail to explain the logic of this event. Fantastic artwork, ultimately fun but pointless.

[Bookwraiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths Reviews.

Convergence is the series that set out to put the Infinite back into the DC’s multiverse. Because, back before 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, there existed all these infinite worlds with innumerable versions of all the DC characters as well as less well-known characters for writers to use in their stories. And since the New 52 reboot wasn’t living up to plans, DC decides to reinstate the infinite earths multiverse to allow creators to tell whatever stories they wanted to without having to be so concerned with continuity.



Sounds like a decent idea, right? At least in theory. But before those new stories from the new-old infinite earths could start rolling out, DC needed to reboot everything with this Convergence multi-volume crossover event of the century . . . the year . . . the month . . . well, the one DC just did – until they start the next one.

As for story itself, Convergence starts out fine if not spectacular. The heroes from Earth-2 escaping their soon-to-be-destroyed planet only to find themselves whisked away by some strange alien being called Telos who works for Brainiac.

Quickly, our Earth-2 heroes discover that Brainiac has trapped entire cities on a living planet, where Telos is suppose to be the zoo keeper until the big Brain needs these test subjects. Naturally, Telos gets bored when his boss leaves for a while and decides to entertain himself by forcing cities and their superheroes to fight against one another in battle royal-style conflicts. The losers and their city paying the ultimate price for defeat. (No, I’m not going to mention how this sounds eerily like Secret Wars or Galactus and the Silver Surfer or anything like that.)

Out of this chaos, the Convergence creative team is able to parade dozens and dozens of DC characters across the pages; each one getting a little face time before being pushed to the side. Fight after fight follows each new hero introduction until finally the tale turns into a roller coaster ride of team-ups, twisted motives, god-like monologues, and eventually an ending where things turn out exactly as you imagined: the infinite earths of the DCU reestablished in heroic style.



As to whether I liked Convergence or not, I guess I’d say it was okay. Not much different than every one of these massive reboot series. And while I’m glad the infinite earths are back (including the New 52, I might add), I think a huge series to accomplish that wasn’t really needed. But then again, I’ve never been a big fan of these things. Honestly, I didn’t love Crisis on Infinite Earths back in the mid-1980s either.

But should you read it?

Totally up to you. You don’t have to read it to understand the new DCU. But it might gain you some closure on a few titles or characters and get you ready for the new infinite earths DCU. So use your best judgment.

I received this book from DC Comics in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. The opinion you have read is mine alone and was not influenced by anyone else.

[Anthony · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe if you have a PhD in DC comics and continuity you'll enjoy this more, but even then I'd still say the first 3/4 will be fairly boring. It's weird cause it's a cool idea and one that should be a good read. Maybe it needed a better writer and some more familiar universe characters. But mostly just boring.

[Broken Publishing · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can only say three things about this comic series.

1) It became a blatant excuse to sell issues.
2) Obviously (with its ending) the writers lost their way or their interest (or move onto other endeavors).
3) I've lost a great deal of hope and respect for DC.

I'll say no more.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is doubtless a book of great importance for whatever is going to happen with the DCU going forward. Make no mistake, there are actual huge, world-shaking changes here. Which makes it such an incredible shame that this book just isn't good. I guess DC wasn't expecting it to be, considering that they gave the assignment to a writer who had apparently never written a comic before. Put yourself in the office of DC editorial for a moment and ask yourself why in God's name they would put a major event that will have huge ramifications for their entire line in the hands of a newbie. I just don't get it, and probably the book suffers as a result. I mean, I'm assuming this could have been better in the hands of a more practiced and nuanced writer, but who knows.

The biggest problem with the book is that all of the events are entirely lacking in motivation. Why are all these worlds (or rather, cities standing in for worlds) being brought together in the first place? Why do we need to thin the herd to only one? Why the immense battles between them? What is this all supposed to accomplish? The answer, on an editorial and in-universe level, is a the equivalent of a noncommital shrug. This is happening because it's happening, that's why. It is incredibly hard to get invested in a story that's happening not because it makes logical or narrative sense. And in this book, it's very obvious that the story was haphazardly slapped together around the end result.

I'm not even going to bother talking about the characters. They're so cardboard that I can't connect to them, and they spend an incredible amount of time just standing around and talking. For a book that's centered around a battle between realities, there's surprisingly little action.

Really, this was all about reversing Flashpoint and, apparently, Crisis on Infinite Earths. It's far too soon for me to say how I feel about that idea. Yes, that does give DC writers the freedom to do whatever they want without worrying too much about continuity. But since when have comics writers been overly concerned with continuity anyways? And how will the average reader be able to follow what's going on? Until I see what exactly this means and how it will be handled, I'm not sure yet what the final verdict on this event will be. On paper, DC You could be good. In practice? We'll see.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looks across the ravaged wasteland of bad ratings and reviews.

Exhales.

Pushes back cowboy hat, rolls up sleeves and gets to work.

OK.

Let’s start with the art. Really, really good. The team of Benes, Pagulayan and Sciver did journeyman’s work keeping this very ambitious work on path and kept this moving with vibrant, colorful and thought-provoking illustrations. For the art alone, mixing in a multitude of various concepts and themes of heroes and villains across the DC multiverse, mixing in some fun easter eggs (for the DC fans sure, but I see what they did and am complementing the accomplishment) I’d give this a solid 4 star rating – great jobs guys.

The writing.

Aspiring to an epic event.
King, Lobdell and Jurgens were given a Sistine Chapel idea and told to run with it. They were told to gear up because they were facing the 27 Yankees. They were to be the opening act in front of the Beatles and the Stones and Zeppelin. They were in a no holds barred grudge tag team match against Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and Sasquatch. High expectations, time to step up and rise to the occasion and make this happen.

You get the idea.

Wrapping up the New 52 grand idea, getting a plethora of storylines and arcs headed in different directions and tying it all together like a rug on Jeff Lebowski’s floor was a hefty task and they pulled it off admirably.

The idea of a multiverse, where different threads of the same ideas are bound together is, for me, a fun concept. Infinite Supermen (Supermans?), a gaggle of Batmen, a flock of Robins, a school of Aquamen, a pantheon of Wonder Women and a … WHIZ! of Flashes (I just made that up! BTW, did you know that a group of rhinos is called a crash?)

Anyway.

Cosmic Brainiac gathers cities from across the multiverse and makes them fight for survival. Throw in some ins, some outs, and some what have yours (and a visit from Skartaris and the Warlord gang!), throw in a kitchen sink worth of backstory and you’ve got an idea of the cacophony of voices all trying to sing in perfect harmony.

Ambitious, epic in scope, monumental … and maybe it sagged under its own weight.

For DC fans, this is a must read. For everyone else – eh – it’s a cool graphic novel.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this from Edelweiss and DC Comics in exchange for an honest review.

This book has the honor of rating lowest for me in 2015. I don't think anything else I'll read this year will be this bad.

.5 stars, barely.

Wow, this was all over the place, without any sort of clear direction or heading. I'm not entirely sure I can even explain what happened coherently enough to even recommend it to anyone.

Bad, really bad. I liked the direction DC was taking with the New 52, but this massive goose egg does not bode well for the entire company.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a MESS.

Start with the characters. Putting the Earth-2 heroes front and foremost feels like a big mistake, and one of the villains explains why: they're just copies of the universe's first heroes. They make the whole crossover seem small and unimportant. But, Convergence doesn't even stick with that decision. Suddenly the Nu52 heroes are the core of the story, then suddenly classic heroes are. There's no rhyme or reason, and it badly fractures the story.

Move on to the plots.They're a problem from the start because Convergence clumsily tries to leverage some recent DC events. I believe the Superman in issue #0 comes out of a fight with Brainiac in Doomed. (But it's never mentioned again, so who cares?) I'm more certain that the Earth-2 heroes of issue #1 come out of Earth 2: World's End. But, I haven't read either series, and there's no attempt to make these events make sense, so they get Convergence off on the wrong foot as a mess from the start.

It's fitting, because the core conceit of the series itself don't make much more sense. What, there's some cities fighting? We'll use that as a chaotic backdrop that turns the story into a muddled mess. And maybe the appearance of Nu and classic heroes toward the end of the book is the result of that civic clash, but I have no idea, because it's not explained.

The smaller plot points internal to the series aren't any better. Why does Brainiac suddenly change his name to Telos? Wait, he's actually a planet? Wait, he's some guy? Wait, his name is important? But we never learn it? Why is the JSA suddenly attacking Skartaris? Why are they suddenly trusting some guy named Deimos who suddenly becomes a big deal? What's up with the real Brainiac being imprisoned somehow? How is the classic multiverse suddenly recreated when the whole point was that these cities were from doomed universes?

(Overall, the rotating bad guys are another serious problem. Even after the comic, I have no idea who Deimos or Telos really is, and their movements in an out of villainhood make little sense because they're so undercharacterized.)

In the end, I just don't even know how to explain the badness of this book. Amateur comic writer? Plot points by committee? Last minute ascension of a bad story in a misguided (and failed) attempt to show up Secret Wars? Last minute swerve to rebuild DC's history because of the failure of the Nu52? (Not unlike the last minute decision to create the Nu52 out of Flashpoint.)

I dunno, but it failed. Hard. Not worth reading. I wasted my time doing so.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mish mash of different universes building on the Worlds End series (which ended suddenly, by the way) and staying somewhat entertaining mostly for the artwork and iconic characters.

OVERALL GRADE: C plus to B minus.

[Ryan Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just about everything wrong with comics today wrapped into one bloated, unapproachable event to allow "freedom" to writers until the next event is needed to clean up the mess that is sure to come. The only reason it isn't one star is because there was actually a decent amount of fun to be had in the event on the whole but it's far too convoluted to warrant anything resembling a good score overall.

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a huge universe altering crossover event, this sure seemed kinda small. I guess that's the downside of using the Earth-2 heroes as the main heroes. Entertaining enough but could've been so much more. 3.5 stars.

[Relstuart · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise wasn't necessarily terrible... but it never really delivered on the idea of having all these people from different realities interacting with any sort of depth. Not sure what DC was thinking.

[Anna Kay · Rating 1 out of 5]

My god, what even was that I just read???!!! No, really, I have no coherent way to explain what was even going on in the majority of that book. Maybe the side issues are the redeeming quality? I doubt it...

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure this event accomplished what it set out to do. I mean, if the end goal was to further convolute the DCU timeline and undermine all the new continuity set down by the New 52, then, yes! This event was a resounding success.
But I suspect that the point of Convergence was to smooth out some of the intersecting contradictions of the New 52 and to open a doorway that would allow writers a chance to retcon some of the icky character changes that were made to fan favourite characters in the last five years. The New 52 fell under heavy scrutiny, fully recognized by DC editors, and the desperation to return to a formula that kept their fan-base happy seemed to be driving this gigantic undertaking of a crossover event.
What a mess this turned out to be, though! The entire plot hinged on two characters that had practically no historical value to any of the myriad of timelines exploited by Convergence. Instead of trying to force readers to care about Telus and Deimos, why not pluck a few much loved characters out of the existing DC history and tug on our emotions with their struggle to exist? Why relegate all the fan-favourite characters lost to the crises to measly, predictable spin-off issues? (Don't read the spin-offs, btw. They are brutally awful). Fans wanted an event that brought together all of the multiverse characters into one epic struggle.... This event worked harder to keep the realities compartmentalized.

In the end, not much changes for the DCU, which I'm sure disappoints a lot of people, me included, because let's face it, the New 52 chopped and diced away years of great world-building. Some of us really miss the pre-Flashpoint universe. And this event was marketed as the reversal of Flashpoint. It's not.

It's barely worth reading.
So much effort. So many resources. So little impact.

1.5/5

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit, I've always loved retellings.

That's why I'm so fond of the Elseworlds books. I really liked the annuals that came out in the mid-90s. And that's why I was so looking forward to reading Convergence.

There was so much potential. But I fear it didn't live up to what it could have.

This combines Convergence #0-8.

Unfortunately, the first several issues were all over the place. Telos pitting city against city seems simple enough, but the storyline is a bit confusing and difficult to follow.

But I have to admit the father-son stuff struck a chord with me.

But back to the story - I thought it got a little better as the plot completely changes and we move to what this is all about.

The multiverse. There are a few pages and a few spreads that focused on the different universes and the characters within each. These were wonderful. They might actually make cool posters.

If we could have had 2 things, this would have been much better: a tighter story bringing the universes together, and better interaction between the heroes of the different universes. There was so much to work with, but it all got lost in a convoluted story.

Thanks to NetGalley and DC Comics for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Drew Perron · Rating 1 out of 5]

In this ground, the bones of an interesting story are interred.

Jeff King is a TV writer and producer. You'd think he'd know how, on a basic level, how to put together a story. To be honest, I thought most eight-year-olds had a better grasp on dramatic pacing, or at least knew how to put attention on the really cool parts!

And this is a story that has cool ideas! Tons of them! In a better writer's hands, it could be genuinely good - probably not great, because there are so many masters it must serve in terms of moving the status quo of the DC Universe from one state to another, but enjoyable and exciting and worth buying and reading. But this is a story where we come in without any connection to the events that are happening, to the emotional subplots that the characters keep bringing up; where half the plot points feel like "and then this arbitrary thing happened"; where the most important emotional moment - Batman meeting Earth-2 Batman, father meeting son - happens ofscreen; where, oh yeah, lest we forget, the literal CLIMAX OF THE STORY HAPPENS OFFSCREEN AS WELL!?

It really doesn't work. Hopefully, it truly marks the end of the current era at DC Comics, and we're moving toward something better.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Convergence

Brainiac has access to the multiverse before the Flashpoint, before Zero Hour and even before the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Using the knowledge gained from the multiverse, he tries to force heroes from various realities to fight each other for the right to survive.

To say the plot is confusing and opaque is unfair. It is supposed to be confusing and the writer has gone out of his way to throw superheroes into a mix where they are left unsure of what they are supposed to do for the best. A key book in the DC Universe, 'Convergence' is beautifully rendered to make the various iterations of heroes look distinctive and individualistic.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay but in the end seemed really pointless. Was it all just to showboat all the different multiverse?

[Brian Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Convergence, DC’s big event for 2015, was alternately fascinating and frustrating.

Convergence grew out of plots in various DC “New 52” books (Earth 2, Earth 2: World’s End, Futures End and the Superman family of titles). The premise was that a mutated version of space villain Brainiac had rescued fragments of dying universes and relocated them to a prison planet. Then each domed city would fight the others for survival. The last city standing would get the planet as its new home.

It was an intriguing set-up. But that premise played out mostly in the background of Convergence. A few panels here and there touched on the conflicts, which mostly occurred in companion series. The main series instead focused on a handful of refugees from Earth 2 as they made their way across the planet, first clashing with Telos, its living embodiment and a servant of Brainiac. The heroes then found themselves in Skataris, the setting for the old Warlord series, that had been transported to the planet. Warlord and his supporting cast joined the fray, as Warlord’s chief villain Deimos took center stage.

Deimos usurped Brainiac (in the process pushing Telos to the side of the heroes) and set in motion a chain of events that threatened to destroy the multiverse (again, some more). The final act saw heroes from a variety of worlds band together to oppose Deimos. The upshot was the restoration of the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths multiverse. Every world DC had ever created now existed somewhere.

Convergence had its ups and downs. Primarily written by Jeff King (with contributions from Scott Lobdell and Dan Jurgens), the main series fell victim to a bizarre trend in comic book epics: punting the central premise to tie-in crossovers while the main series focuses on another story entirely. Convergence is frustrating, in that readers get to see very little of its intriguing central conceit play out in its pages.

It was something of a bait and switch. The climactic moment that restores the original DC multiverse also happens “off camera.” On one page, a small group of characters was dispatched to undo the original Crisis. The next page has a corner blurb saying “They have done it,” yet showing no details, other than the restored dimensions. It was a frustrating and unnecessarily alienating choice to have so much of the central story play out elsewhere. Fans not interested in investing in the companion titles are pretty much hosed.

What’s left is a not-bad story focusing on the Earth 2 and Warlord characters that’s enjoyable in many ways, but also puzzling. That DC would devote two-thirds of a high profile event to characters unfamiliar to a lot of readers is bizarre. Putting Deimos center-stage was even odder. It’s been years since the character had any sort of profile, his sudden ascent in the story felt devoid of foundation. The final act finally brought in some high stakes and gave Convergence readers the multiple versions of familiar characters and conflict they’d wanted. And while the upshot of the series has profound consequences for DC going forward, the climax itself was less than satisfying.

On the art side, DC tagged in some strong talent, including Ethan Van Sciver, Andy Kubert, Carlo Pagulayan and Stephen Segovia, plus a small army of inkers and colorists. All four of the primary artists worked in a fairly classical style well-suited to a widescreen comic book epic. They tended to take a straight-forward approach to layouts that made sense for the saga and produced plenty of nice-looking one- and two-page spreads. The multiplicity of inkers and colorists could drag on the visuals in a few spots, but overall Convergence achieved the kind of memorable images one expects from an event series.

Convergence might work better for readers willing to invest the time and money in its various companion volumes. It would also be of particular interest to fans of Earth 2, as it serves as a crucial bridge between that franchise’s two incarnations. Otherwise, the impact of its finale on the DC line notwithstanding, it’s a priority only for completists and the impatient. Other curious fans would be better served waiting for the paperback edition.

A version of this review originally appeared on www.thunderalleybcp.com

[Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've seen a lot of reviews shitting all over Convergence but I think this may be a reaction to readers who are terrorized by the continuity police.

I know that is an abrupt opening to this review, but since comic book companies have gone out of their way to attempt these crossovers on an annual basis and they almost always try to be some sort of epic and cosmic tale, Convergence is undoubtedly going to be judged by those that came before and specifically Crisis on Infinite Earths. Since Convergence actually references Crisis, there is no reason to rehash Marv Wolfman's archetype for the comic book crossover, but suffice to say, where Wolfman's goal was to introduce some sort of continuity into DC's combined history, Convergence serves as a giant "fuck you" to the continuity shitheads that have been ruining everyone's good time ever since.

Back in the 50s and 60s, even before DC continuity got screwed up by Flash #123 ("The Flash of Two Worlds") writers like Jerry Siegel, Gardner Fox and Bill Finger would write "imaginary stories" that were different takes on the heroes they were writing. Superman is super powerful, so let's split him into Superman Red and Superman Blue and see what happens. Even these writers knew that the story lines would break continuity, so they labeled them "imaginary" stories. But Flash #123 changed the game. At first the writers embraced the concept and had an annual "Earth-1/Earth-2" crossover. But whereas the Flash and Green Lantern were different people in the two Earths (and who the hell decided that the Earth with the earlier heroes was Earth-2 anyway?) Superman and Batman were not. So which stories belonged to Earth-1 Superman and Batman and which ones belonged to the Earth-2 versions? "This is an OUTRAGE," claim the continuity police and thus DC editorial set Wolfman on his way.

Here's the problem with trying to please the continuity police. You're never going to do it. Marvel and DC employ tons of different writers with their own takes on the heroes they are writing about and as such, things are going to get goofed up. The reason why I think Convergence works is that the retcon employed blows up the previous retcons. If DC sticks to it, then the message to the continuity police is "we're done chasing this shit" and they'll let the stories stand on their own. Convergence isn't a confusing mess, the history of DC continuity is, and this a good way to address what in retrospect was a bad editorial mistake when they made Crisis on Infinite Earths.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

They should have just called this one DC PRESENTS SECRET WARS! So we have this super powerful character who somehow has saved several cities from various dimensions right before what I assume is the end of the world. This includes pretty much every DC alternate universe ever, including all of the Elseworlds universes. Then, champions are chosen and the cities must all battle until there's a final victor.

Overall, as with many of the huge comics crossovers, too much was left unexplained. It just seemed a little vague. There were some cool battles in the limited series, such as Aquaman vs. Deathblow, and Wetworks vs Batman and Azrael. It was also cool to see the Superman Red Son universe again.

Overall, this was decent, and I liked the art, but for such a colossal event it just didn't cut it for me. I think comics in general need to take a break from this epic crossovers, and I dont mean for a year or two, I mean for a long time. The problem I have with these epics is this: it's not writers saying "wow I've got a great story here and it's going to require a huge crossover to tell!" I think it's more editors saying "we need to do an epic crossover, now hack something out."

In summary, I didn't hate it, I just dont think it lived up to the hype. If you are a die hard DC fan, pick it up. Otherwise, you could probably skip this one.

[Sud666 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Convergence is yet another "mega event" for D.C. If you are a fan of these mega-events then you will like this one. If, like me, you're a little tired of Crisis after Crisis then you'll not like this one as much.

Brainiac apparently is far more powerful than we thought. He has been collecting mini-cities and establishing them on a planet. Now, his servant Telos has decided that there must a convergence. As the name suggests, these disparate worlds need to fight for the right to survive. If you're cup of tea is seeing multiple versions of Superman battle random Batmen..then you will love this one.

I thought the super-powerful version of Brainiac was cool. But this constant need for artificial crisis after crisis to align their stories is annoying. It's just an excuse to have fight after meaningless fight (think the Beyonder's Battle World and you'll get it). The artwork is actually quite good and attractive. It's the story that just didn't do it for me. It is not boring, but it is not original. Lots of different heroes bashing each other-I get it. Most people get it. Only a few really seem to like it. I am not one of those people. An "OK" comic if there ever was one.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good event! So this was a lot better then i expected, i know a lot of people gave this series crap, but i actually really liked it! So the basic premise is a cosmic being known as Telios has brought all the parallel earths together to fight! He basically takes two cities from a different earths and makes them fight to the death! Those however are more the two-shot issues, this ones takes place in the center featuring The Earth 2 gang everyone is so fond of!

The story does sound simple but the story does have twists and turns at the end! But I think that's why i liked it, an event which was just simple and fun unlike most events which are very cryptic! The ending was a little weird for me, so it loses a star but its a really good read! A fun event for everybody!

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Complete waste of time, for me. I can't believe this is the core title for this event. It really read like a tertiary-tier tie-in. New 52 Earth-2's JLA? Seriously? Pacing was a slog and the villain switch-a-roo thing halfway through made little sense. By the time any characters I cared about showed up, it was winding down and we were left sorting out how "nothing will ever be the same again!" P.S. I have no idea what this means for the multiverse. Attractive garbage.

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really 3.5 stars.

On one hand, I’m so over DC and their super ‘world-altering’ events. I would have loved this if they’d only kept it as a random world vs. world cage fight miniseries that had nothing to do with the continuity and everything to do with having fun and (re)introducing all the awesome and random worlds that have come and gone over the years.

On the other, they managed to cram depth of characters and a solid (if rambling and overreaching) plot into a scant number of pages. It has a tendency to go all over the place and dedicate too much page time to random/obscure characters that end up having nothing to do with the plot, but it was fun to see all the different incarnations of classic superheroes in one place. If nothing else, the splash pages during the battles are some amazing eye candy.

I’d heard such terrible things about it that I was a bit scared going it, but it turned out a lot better than I expected (hooray for low expectations!) and I actually enjoyed it. Definitely not something that I would recommend that anyone run out and buy, but definitely read it if you see it in the library or in a bargain bin.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me just say I won't be posting spoilers in my review.
With that out of the way....
Convergence had some great covers! I mean I'd go in a comic book store and see them and think "Great cover, I bet this is good."
Unfortunately I liked the covers more.
It's not a bad trade or Graphic novel. It just wasn't good, really. While it was cool seeing all the variations of iconic characters like Batman, Superman, Flash, etc.... I was wanting to like this or love it like I did Flashpoint. Nowhere even close to that good.
The premise while interesting, didn't deliver, at least for me. I also warn new DC or comic book readers about reading this, as it will probably confuse You with all that's going on. I know if I hadn't read a good amount of comics I would have felt lost. Overall the main story of Convergence was a bit of a let down.

I received an advanced copy of this from NetGalley.com and the publisher.