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COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Convergence #2 – That Moment!

 
Convergence2
Convergence2
Convergence2

 
Overview
 

Story by: Jeff King
 
Art by: Carlo Pagulayan & Jason Paz
 
Publisher:
 
FG RATING
 
 
 
 
 
4/ 5


User Rating
1 total rating

 

Raves


Better script and dialogue; improved storyline; Pagulayan-Paz unparallel artistic combo!; Batman-Batman moment

Rants


Some minor forced dialogues; minor art lapses; NO SMACKDOWNS! 


To sum it all up..

The battle royal of DC Comics is getting a brief leeway and a bit of something unexpected in the second chapter of Convergence. If we are going to believe the current credits, Jeff King takes the entire credit in the writing of the entire issue, while the tandem Carlo Pagulayan-Jason Paz illustrative team continues to […]

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Posted May 13, 2015 by

 
FULL REVIEW
 
 

Convergence2

The battle royal of DC Comics is getting a brief leeway and a bit of something unexpected in the second chapter of Convergence. If we are going to believe the current credits, Jeff King takes the entire credit in the writing of the entire issue, while the tandem Carlo Pagulayan-Jason Paz illustrative team continues to outshine furthermore. To make the story short, this one is a vast improvement over the last lackluster two parts.

Seriously, this second part has four stories blend into one cohesive chapter though to be more honest here; one has to read the script and dialogues slowly to appreciate this sort of tour de force of interconnecting these diverging but correlating tales. In most of the dialogues, we are basically listening to Dick Grayson’s perspective as a doomed parent and a failed father, as shown in the first part that both Pagulayan and Paz beautifully illustrated that could make a tough guy shed a tear or so; and how he and the entire DC Flashpoint characters end up captured, teleported and encountered the event’s mastermind, Telos. Moreover, that transitions quite good on the group’s escape and the old-fashioned superhero beating on the major antagonist until they need to strategize further to completely defeat the villain once and for all (if they find the source before being clashed with their various counterparts within the world or in other tie-ins). That moment repeats nicely by dividing into two diverging stories that perhaps converge in the next one.

Carlo and Jason’s paneling and sequential executions do the burden of making King’s script (if ever Jeff’s the sole one) more cohesive, coherent and clearly read at all. There is no unnecessary and exaggerated sequential paneling this time around, just traditional-to-modern slick fusion patterns, almost similar to viewing and analyzing Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen archetype.

If there is a gist to this improvement, it is the supposed moment that Batman fans want to see: New 52 Dark Knight versus Flashpoint Caped Crusader. Occurring almost midway in the chapter, you expect what the beautifully drawn Ivan Reis art would come upon, but readers may end up frustrated here if they are the type who like more smash downs than storytelling paradigms. Frankly speaking, I was then pumped up on that one. Yet, upon reflecting on that pages, they serve as a bit of a closure for the Flashpoint Dark Crusader and the young counterpart (remember the last pages of Flashpoint #5; that really fits the bill). I am truly astonished on the splash page Carlo drew how the New 52 Batman reacts/ expresses in the most striking moment of this chapter (and the series) yet.

Indeed, there a couple of lines that are forced, similar to the last two issues, but these are minimized and hopefully that would decline further as the rest of the event progresses/intensifies more. Admittedly, there are some minor artistic lapses, like some scratchiness or littering of unnecessary lines. Nonetheless, these are mere nitpickings to the overall quality that may prove encouraging to the hype that is the Convergence. I don’t mind the hefty price at all since chapter two delivers really.


Paul Ramos

 


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