Writer: Scott Snyder / Penciller: Greg Capullo / Inker: Jonathan Glapion / Colour Artist: FCO Plascencia / Letterer: Tom Napolitano / Epilogue Pencillers: Yannick Paquette and Bryan Hitch / Epilogue Colour Artists: Nathan Fairbairn and Alex Sinclair / Collects Dark Nights: Death Metal #1-#7 / DC Comics
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6th April 2021
The Pitch: Get ready for the reality-shattering encore—now in a new deluxe edition hardcover! Writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo, the legendary team behind Dark Nights: Metal and Batman: Last Knight on Earth, reunite for one last tour of DC’s Dark Multiverse. When the Earth is enveloped by the Dark Multiverse, the Justice League is at the mercy of the Batman Who Laughs—who is reborn as the Darkest Knight! Humanity struggles to survive in a hellish landscape twisted beyond recognition, and Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman are trapped in nightmare worlds within the Dark Multiverse! It all comes down to the Darkest Knight versus Wonder Woman, in the most metal-est DC event of all time—paving the way for the future of the DC Universe!
Ok, so upfront, I have to be honest. I let Dark Nights Metal pass me by. There's a limit to just how many books I can buy and read in a month. Taking on events is suicide for both my time and my wallet, especially since starting The Comic Crush. Often, I'll just let those events go and pick up a trade at a later date. Such was the case with the original Metal. I can't tell you what made me go for the singles for this epic sequel. Like all of you, I'll admit a weakness for a good cover, though. Reading the first Metal sequence in trade, I realised this was something I wanted to dive into. Thusly, I'm here now telling you about this deluxe HC. Obviously, it's best read as part of Snyder and Capullo's Metal saga, but I'm assuming you know that or why else would you be here. The duo are hell-bent on creating something truly nutty and lemme tell ya, they've succeeded. The book is insane. Rather than pick up from the last moments of Meta, it picks up after the Justice League run that saw the breaking of the source wall and the release of Perpetua, who has now wreaked havoc on the multiverse, drawing energy from all the Crisis' past and present.
THERE’SA PALPABLE SENSE OF DOOM RUNNING THROUGH EVERY VEIN, EVERY PAGE OF THIS
One of the guiding factors at DC over the last couple of years has been the sense of hopelessness that runs through the major event books. There's not one hero who can catch a break. Death Metal is no different. There's a palpable sense of doom running through every vein, every one-shot and every page of this. You genuinely come away from the end of each chapter fearing for the fictional lives of the characters. Add to which its villains – its true villains – are genuinely evil. There's no overriding goal or philosophy to cling to. They're just monsters. Heartless and unmerciful, feeding off the misery they create. In that sense, you have to admire Snyder's commitment to the idea. He takes the characters to and past the edge of sanity. You keep pulling for a glimmer of hope that just does not come. I always respect the works that do that, because promising an audience the 'big summer event' yet giving them something that may have them reaching for the happy pills is a sleight of hand that commands your attention. Aren't these books supposed to be fun? Snyder is not afraid to make his bad guys truly bad and his heroes flawed. You feel the impact as each world dies and another victory is chalked up for the bad guys.
That's not to say there isn't fun to be had. The insane nature of it all is, by its very execution, a callback to the bonkers DC Silver Age and the inspired lunacy therein. And the ideas are crazy. You worry at times if the architecture can support the sheer number and mad energy the book throws out. Not to worry though, because Snyder's grand design works and clearly has been working, all throughout his time at DC. And what about Capullo? His frenetic, high energy big fist style works beautifully here. He really sticks the landing for Snyder's madness, giving you a sense of gleeful destruction in every chapter. His work, as inked by Glapion, whose beautifully thick lines highlight the attention to detail, gives the book an incredible scope and sense of menace. Plascencia's colours take you nicely from the grounded, utilitarian leathers and steels of the costumes to the trippy cosmic battlegrounds nicely and no one forgets that the overriding mood and colour is black. The colours handle the lighting well, making the forge and the fires glow as they should. And every step of the art – pencils, inks, colours – is served well by the paper stock DC currently employs as it soaks everything up perfectly. Napolitano's letters capture the desperation of the voices as well as pitching the screeching horror of characters like the Robin King and The Batman Who Laughs just right, setting you on edge. A must-buy if you enjoyed the early stages of Metal and like your events gigantic!
Buy DC comics here and support The Comic Crush. You can get the Hardcover from Gosh Comics or order a copy online from Bookshop.org.