Script: Scott “Doom Commander” Snyder
Pencils: Greg “Pain Bringer” Capullo
Inks: Jonathan “Guillotine” Glapion
Colors: FCO “Killer” Plascencia
Letters: Steve “The Slayer” Wands
Dark Nights: Metal #1 brings back the team of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. While this isn’t strictly a Batman story, it sure is great to see the two working on that character again. Before I dive in too deep into this comic, I will preface this by saying you should read Dark Days: The Forgeand Dark Days: The Casting before reading this just for a little more information on it. That said, this issue still leaves a lot of questions and uncertainty. Why is Batman keeping something all to himself (other than just because he’s Batman)? How many different things can the Nth metal do? I’m sure there are plenty of other questions we can all think of.
Scott Snyder is a writer I’ve quickly grown to enjoy, so it’s really no surprise that despite the questions I have regarding the story, I still enjoy it. He intertwines some humor in a dire situation when The Flash says, “And… we’re fulc’d,” when Mongul introduces the Fulcum Abominus, aptly named by the Toyman. The Flash later brings up that line again later to bring back that little bit of humor. It’s a nice touch in a comic dealing with a serious matter and it shows that he’s paying attention to the little things.
With the art, Greg Capullo teased pieces here and there on Twitter and you could see the hype building up. You could also tell that he had fun with the designs on the costumes. Jonathan Glapion and FCO do a nice job of rounding out the art with inks and colors, respectively. There’s no doubt that it’s a good looking book.
There’s a full cast of characters to focus on with the Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Superman, and Kendra Saunders (AKA Hawkgirl) in the mix. It’ll be interesting to see how Snyder and Capullo handle such a wide variety of characters since their run on Batman really didn’t stray too far from Gotham or include a huge event. I just wish I knew a little more about what is really going on. That is my main “complaint” on this and I hesitate to even truly call it a complaint because there’s something intriguing about the mystery, too. Snyder and Capullo back together again definitely gives me a reason to continue checking this out.
Verdict: Buy. If the previous one-shots left you a little confused, this issue won’t answer all of your questions. However, I feel like this is going to turn into something good, so at the least, buy this and see if you feel the same.
