Together
Written by: Joshua Williamson, James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder
Art by: Travis Moore
Colors by: Tamra Bonvillain
Letters by: Andworld Design
Our cover by Tula Lotay with Dee Cunniffe is a bleak, rather ugly image of some of the most famous former Teen Titans surveying the wreckage of Dark Nights: Death Metal Obnoxious Title. Wally is dressed in his weird, blue Metron suit here, but he’s not in the inside story. That’s a tiny continuity complaint within a larger series (and company, frankly) that has turned its back on the very idea of a shared-universe continuity. How did all of our favorite characters get to this point from the last time we saw them? Nobody knows and nobody cares. Scott Snyder’s bloated “metal” story will not be diminished!
The main story of this comic bookends six separate stories about various heroes spending what may be their last day on Earth, in preparation of their final battle against the Batman Who Laughs. They’re all fairly forgettable vignettes, except for the Superman story told by Impulse creator Mark Waid and one of my favorite artists of all time, Francis Manapul. And that story is enough to justify the cost of picking up this comic. Impulse, however, is not involved in that story, but only the framework of the comic, so let’s get started.
We begin on what once was Themyscria, but now has become The Hellscape after the destruction caused by the Batman Who Laughs. Donna Troy is sitting on the beach feeling sorry for herself, until Beast Boy arrives and shows her that almost every former Teen Titan has gathered together for one last time. As Beast Boy and Donna work their way through the crowd, we’re given glimpses (reminders? memories?) of previous incarnations of the Teen Titans, including Bart Allen’s first stint as Kid Flash and the disastrous Bar Torr era of the New 52.
Wally West arrives fashionably late, and for a moment, everyone think Donna is going to fight him. But they just hug instead, while Bart awkwardly says that he should have told everyone he saw Wally before he left the Speed Force. But nobody responds to Bart because nobody cares — just as the three writers of this story don’t care about how Bart left the Speed Force or what happened to the rest of the Flash family. But we do get plenty of speeches on hope and perseverance (I’m looking at you, Joshua Williamson) before closing with a heroic shot of dozens of characters charging off to fight a vast, vague, nearly invincible force.
I guess the main point of this issue was simply to remind readers that all these characters used to exist and do things. Now, many of them do exist, but they’re not really doing anything. Like Arrowette, for example. She’s here, standing around silently, waiting for a giant action sequence that may or may not include her in the background of one or two massive group shots. We may as well be looking at statues in the Flash Museum.
I wish I felt something for this event. Back in the day, DC used to integrate their big events into the individual monthly titles. Even lame events like Genesis were reflected in the regular issues of Impulse. I wish Brian Michael Bendis’ Young Justice tied into this Death Metal nonsense. While investigating the major reality shift they all experienced, our heroes could have stumbled across this dumb, but significant continuity-altering crisis. At least that way, I would have actually been invested in this story, instead of merely saying, “Look, somebody drew Impulse in a comic book!” Let’s close with the new ads:
Future State: Wonder Woman. An Amazon warrior for a new age!
Future State: Superman of Metropolis. The son of Superman is the all-new Man of Steel!
DC Nation spotlight on Batman Black & White.
Next time: More Death Metal! Yay …
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