COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Convergence #0 – Where’s my City

Virtually all current DC Comics issues of the New 52 take a two-month break (April to May). On the other hand, DC formally opens the two month and weekly event CONVERGENCE by releasing its maiden issue, Convergence #0. Written by veteran Superman scribe Dan Jurgens and movie scriptwriter Jeff King, this “zero” chapter stars the New 52 Superman and various versions of one of his greatest foes, Brainiacs (yes, a number of these ultra-intellect beings). Primarily speaking, it attempts readers to tantalize or salivate on the motivation behind the existence of other universes that the main protagonist tries to seek and comprehend even though the story finishes on a rather dull cliffhanger to transit to issue one. Readers of the current Superman and other Man of Steel titles surely know what New 52 Superman event took place to situate in-between the former to Convergence #0.

This event attempts to highlight what happened to the primary characters of the pre-New 52 (or specifically, Flashpoint) DC universe. Of course, if we are going to invest to this event, then we can either follow the main storyline that is Convergence, or select some of the tie-ins titles that we want to follow autonomously, such as pre-52 Superman, Batman, Flash and even WildCATS (well, one of Jim Lee’s greatest comic creations, and he’s one of the biggest bosses around)! Zero issue only justifies the origin of the so-called “cities” that the primary antagonist took (and individually guarded by several versions that many pre-52 fans can relate and acknowledge with) before “Flashpoint”.

This is Jeff King’s first mainstream superhero project. But, we learn that Scott Lobdell and Dan Jurgens do some major assistance in making King’s script more comic mainstream. How does this issue fare? King’s dialogues are rather clunky and a bit confusing at certain times. This begs the question: did King do some serious research on the comic medium itself? We are aware that there are a number of comic writers who are also scriptwriters, novelists, and other genres (like, Jeph Loeb, Geoff Johns, Neil Gaiman, Greg Rucka, and Ed Brubaker). Apparently, King does need Jurgens and Lobdell’s assistance (yet still, this chapter reads so dense and confusing that a second or third reading was sufficient to comprehend this one). One could argue that the language of the Brainiacs should be above-average, to say the least, to give justice to the essence of the character(s) itself. However, the antagonists’ portrayal here is convoluting. Perhaps, as the series progress, we hope this department will improve significantly.

Artist extraordinaire Ethan Van Sciver delivers as always. His hyper-detailed and near-realistic approach are still breathtaking, particularly his splash pages. However, there is a particular page that the panel sequence is rather jarring, especially in presenting various Brainiacs and their respective “cities”. As consolation, Van Sciver’s illustrative methodology makes this moment rather digestible (if the script is in other lesser hands, this spread would certainly be a complete mess). I am glad that the artists (Carlo Pagulayan, Stephen Segovia and Jason Paz) involved here that will be featured in the next following issues are unquestionably competent types in their own rights.

Summing up, Convergence #0 teases us on the larger spectrum that would affect the rest of the DC Universe after the event’s run in June. Indeed, there are some cracks here, but hopefully those same tweaks can be remedied. So, DC grants the pre-52 (jaded) fans/readers’ wish. In return, they should return that favor.