COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Convergence #3 – A Death of a Family

So far, so good this time around. Neither as majestic nor groundbreaking as expected, but to say the least, this third chapter of Convergence shows a bit of improvement in Jeff King’s scripting and writing skills in the comic sequential narrative YET. I immediately say it is DECENT to read, though the previous problems from the earlier issues continue to plague this supposedly CLOSURE to our pre-52 DC Universes or Multiversity (which supposedly we, the readers and/or fans) must be treated with the kind of decency of portraying our cherished superheroes [and villains] with respect, dignity, and if deaths are concerned, give them a heroic end fit to the superhero genre!).

I must first give credit to whoever the editor(s) assigned to the Convergence event on either minimizing the word counts on King’s obvious naivety on comic book writing or reminding the same Hollywood screenwriter on making this fourth part more readable. Yet, in the sake of repeating myself again, there are five more chapters to go and King can make quick adjustments to convince many comic naysayers that he can be taken seriously in the comics industry. For examples, I notice a typographical error in the spelling of the event’s biggest baddie—Telos. For this nitpicker, this is the most glaring typographical error for in one page, the name is TELLOS. Since established already as TELOS, that name is now considered both as recognized and in the minds of the serious (or geeky) types, “canon”. Why it failed to be noticed?  If last chapter is criticized on the visibility of unnecessary dialogues (for the record, I noticed that but it’s fine for me), particularly in the case of Earth-2 Dick Grayson, King virtually repeats this when the “death” of the old man Dark Knight has finally come upon.

Truth to say here, Thomas Wayne’s last stand is the dramatic one, almost similar to the old-fashioned and one-man last stand moment in every literary and visual sense. It is more meaningful than his “Flashpoint” dying moments. Questions on what happened in the rather disappointing “father-meets-son” scene of the Dark Crusaders last issue are now answered appropriately in Dick’s perspective.

Other side-stories are ranged from being forced to average at best. I say the former for the scenes in the “city” of Deimos where the interactions between characters are still cheesy, if not totally uninspiring. Although the word checks are applied, some of the paneling sequences are at times confusing in the first glance/reading. Perhaps, this problem is due to the complicated script again. Though Telos does something horrible (again), his visualization rather looks (and described) once more as unintimidating than the “true” (and original) Brainiac. Seriously, after this Convergence event, Telos will be completely forgotten.

Stephen Segovia carries the artistic burden similar to what Carlo Pagulayan did on King’s whatever vision intended. Not as graceful as Pagulayan’s, but Segovia manages to maintain the gritty ambiance of this DC’s Battle Royale of sorts. However, sometimes the heavy lines he is associated with get in the way of making the battle scenes more memorable. Jason Paz’s inks complement the intrinsic conveyance of the dark tone in Segovia’s artistic interpretations.

Yes, there are some directions to be considered here, particularly the sense of progressing in the third installment. Nevertheless, the glaring mistakes presented above are still lingered. I still hope those can be addressed.