 |
| Variant Cover art by Tony Daniel |
It's finally here folks!!! The final issue of the multiversal spanning, Batman, DC Universe event concludes!!!
As the waves of Dark Multiverse versions of our heroes attack earth's last line of defense, the remaining members of the Justice League prepare for their final battle. But deep in the darkness, below the surface is a larger battle that determines the fate of the Multiverse and everything else. As Barbatos and the Batman Who Laughs prepare to execute their final step to plummet the entire multiverse into darkness forever, The Man of Steel and The Caped Crusader make their last attempt to save the multiverse. But will they succeed in saving almost everyone? Who lives? Who dies? What will become of some of Batman and the Justice League?
Despite a one month break between the month of January and March, a lot of readers felt a little bloated , wondering whether or not the event was gonna end due to concerns of delays of the final issue. Thankfully Snyder , Capullo, Placencia (colorist) and Glapion (inker) were gracious enough to make the final issue a 48 page comic filled with tons of action and fun moments. Although admittedly, i did feel that the issue wasn't as strong as issue 4 & 5 to a certain degree in terms of tone. And compared to the tie-in issues it felt a little lighter in tone. Then again, given that it's the final issue of this event, thematically it makes sense since it the heroes had gone through hell and back to try to stop Barbatos and the Dark Knights from wreaking havoc across the world.
The story is pretty fun and for the most part, it's satisfying. It basically felt like a Batman version of Crisis on Infinite Earths, with some nice elements of Morrison's Multiversity and in some cases loosely reminds me of the Superman Beyond aspect of Final Crisis. But then again when it comes to alternate realities, Morrison is always associated with the concepts anyway. But that doesn't take away from the fun thrills and entertainment value of this 48 page conclusion. I had a fear that maybe Snyder wouldn't have enough room to give a full conclusion to the event, but thankfully he did (for the most part). I do have some minor gripes about the final issue, mostly due to Barbatos as the villain of the whole event. Despite the fact that he is the series antagonists, he didn't really strike anyone as a really intimidating threat as compared to The Batman Who Laughs.
But i feel that the tie-ins did a much better job at making the main Antagonists more terrifying than the actual event. I wished there was a little more panel time between Batman and The Batman Who Laughs in the climax of the book. Now don't get me wrong it is a really cool fight , and it's displayed greatly, but i felt it could have gone on just a bit longer. And given that this is a much more personal thing for Batman when dealing with a warped version of himself that embodies the worst of himself, i would have liked to seen a little more moments between the two. But maybe, that would have taken away from the story a bit. And given that they needed to tell a good amount of story for the conclusion of this arc, I think readers will be satisfied enough. Snyder does open the door to some of the stuff that DC had already announced publicly in their solicitations. Snyder does a fine job at wrapping up the book , and given what readers will discover at the conclusion of this issue, I think readers will look forward to what Snyder has in store for the Justice League since he was announced the new ongoing writer for the title earlier this month.
In regards to the artwork, both Greg Capullo and Mike Janin along with Glapions inks, do a fantastic job providing all the coolest visuals in the book. Capullo came through with the art on this final issue, and in some cases one can tell he had some fun with illustrating all the dark multiverse versions of various DCU characters. Mike Janin did a great job too, and eased the workload for the epilogue pages, shifting to a lively tone that Janin’s art managed to accomplish. The art in this book really makes the story shine in all the right ways , making the story even more enjoyable.
Thoughts: Despite the one month wait for the conclusion of this 6 issue (and some tie-ins) event, i can say that in some ways, it almost feels like Scott Snyder has some kind of parallel to Akira Toriyama’s approach to the conclusion of Dragon Ball Super’s Universe Tournament of Power arc. I won’t go into details but it felt very much like the DBS ep 131 finale due to the fact that there are some really cool moments where certain characters that one doesn't expect actually show up in an entertaining manner. But there is a part in the story that Snyder wrote that felt so much like last Saturday's DBS episode 131 battle that i was sorta chuckling to myself about.
If you have watched the final episode of Dragon Ball Super’s Tournament of Power arc, and you read this issue, you'll be thinking the same thing as I did when reading issue 6 of this event. It’s actually very interesting that the timing of DBS ‘s last arc episode, and the last issue of this event both wrapped up in the same month (March). But to see a fight in issue 6, where it sorta mirrored the final fight in which Goku and Frieza team up to fight Jiren to take him out of the ring.
It really surprised me to see a moment like that in this issue and coincidental and cool that was to see Batman and Dragon Ball have a similar conclusion. Heck Batman and Goku both achieved a new transformation in a similar sense in the same month as well!! Okay, I know, you’re thinking I'm fanboying too much about Dragon Ball Super ep 131 and Dark Nights Metal issue 6 having similar moments in their respective arcs. But what can I say, as a fan of comic books and anime, it's nice to see parallels of things that one likes. With that said, I don't know if Snyder is a Dragon Ball fan, But it's a nice unintentionally, timed, coincidence that made me somewhat satisfied as a Dragon Ball and Batman/ DC Comics fan.
Overall this was an enjoyable conclusion, while it isn't without it's flaws, it's satisfying enough. I definitely recommend adding this to the pull list this week.
