Written by Dan Jurgens & Jeff King
Art by Ethan Van Sciver
Colors by Marcelo Maiolo
Published by DC Comics
So before this starts, does anyone else realize how really weird it is that both Marvel and DC are having big oversized events based around taking chunks of their continuity and pitting them against each other Battle Royale style? With such similarly billed events, one would be lead to think this might all be a mask to hide maybe a canonical crossover between the two companies. Of course that would be silly, DC and Marvel have such inflated egos they wouldn’t dare recognize the competition, which is a shame given a massive crossover like that would honestly be more interesting that what either Convergence or Secret Wars appear to be offering. Anyway, onto the comic.
Convergence #0 occupies a very strange space. DC had a bout of #0 issues a while back, not only an entire month dedicated to them but also a few afterwards such as Harley Quinn #0 and Justice League United #0. The problem with #0 issues in general is that they tend to fall into one of two categories, either a) just the first issue of the actual book or b) pointless prelude material that will only be explained in the #1, making the issue itself nothing less than a cynical money grab. Convergence #0 is the latter.
The story follows Superman, at some point in his books (not that the issue bothers to inform the reader such) as he finds himself stranded outside of space and time while facing down the supreme incarnation of Brainiac, one that’s been monitoring the multiverse and gathering data on all of it. Clark breaks free only to find himself on a deserted planet. Said planet is actually a sentient being who’s been transformed by Brainiac and made into the storage place for cities he’s taken from numerous timelines and alternate realities. When the planet is informed that its master has failed, it sheds itself it Brainiac’s image and remakes itself into Telos, a new villain who seeks to prove the worth of Brainiac’s captured cities by having them fight to the death. Now all of that backstory might sound like a lot but it’s not really the case. Most of the issue is Telos expositing random bits of dialogue to Superman that’s meant to be compelling and cryptic but only comes off as generic teaser bait for the event itself. There’s even exposition within exposition at some points. At such a high price and page count, there’s honestly not much to pick this up for unless one is looking for the backstory of Telos which will likely be explained next week in Convergence #1 anyway. The closest this issue gets to anything interesting is how it ties back with Grant Morrison’s Action Comics #1 at the start of the New 52 and that is not saying much. This is Jeff King’s debut as a comic book writer and if this book was meant to show off his talent, it certainly fails to impress.
The only true redeeming feature of this book is Ethan Van Sciver’s artwork. He’s not given much to do as the entire story is just Superman flying through cityscapes and being confused at Telos. He draws a good Superman as well as various generations of Brainiac certainly. For what limited time he gets to show off various Supermen but that’s about it. Marcelo Maiolo is also fine at colors. He’s a cut above some of DC’s other colorist such as Andrew Dalhouse of the much maligned Earth 2: World’s End in that he uses more colors than red. Given most of the comic is desert planet or massive cityscapes there’s very little to work with.
Convergence #0 has very little to offer as DC ramps up for their big event comic of the year. It mostly dishes out backstory that’s likely to be explained a week from now and given it has a hefty price tag that comes with event comics, it honestly cheats readers out of their money. Unless one absolutely needs to have every issue of an event comic that somehow looks less interesting than its own tie-in material, this book is skippable.