Written Jeff King & Scott Lobdell
Pencils by Carlo Pagulayan; inks by Jason Paz
Colors by Aspen Mlt’s John Starr & Peter Steigerwald
Published by DC Comics
After a rather uneventful #0 issue, DC’s big Convergence event starts in full. For those not in the know, Telos, a living planet, has served as Brainiac’s dumping ground captured cities. With Brainiac dead, Telos takes his master’s plan in a new sinister direction sets the cities to full-scale war with each other and only one may survive. What throws a wrench into the works is the arrival of Val-Zod, Thomas Wayne, Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, Dick Grayson, and Yolanda Montez. They’ve been saved from death at the hands of Darkseid but now find themselves at the center of Convergence. Given they’ve been trapped in Earth 2: World’s End for six months, this must be like a holiday for them.
Similar to #0, very little seems to happen in this issue. Most of the pages feature the Earth 2 heroes confused at what’s going on, then Telos confused at what’s going on, then Telos deciding to have everyone kill each other. One would suppose he’s downloaded a copy of the Hunger Games or something. There are some cringe worthy moments in the writing, which seem to be the work of Scott Lobdell. Some characters spout overly dramatic dialogue to themselves that comes out of left field, an embarrassing use of ellipses, and Yolanda (the only women who gets to speak in the comic) randomly attempts to make out with Dick Grayson. The one bona fide surprise is a cameo from the Injustice universe although it does little for the plot and features some continuity snarls. There’s little in terms of an arc in this issue and certainly nothing close to the scale of which this event is meant to show. Perhaps it would have been better not to have the entire book happen in the middle of a desert.
The other similarity this issue bares to its predecessor is art over writing. This issue is penciled by Carlo Pagulayan and inked by Jason Paz. They have a crisp style that at times stands to rival the likes of Nicola Scott. Unfortunately, the quality varies wildly, sometimes the art is dead on gorgeous other times its sketchy and simplistic. They capture the look of Jay Garrick and Alan Scott perfectly but their figures will start to dissolve when they go into the background. Then again the art practically a godsend compared to what the Earth 2 heroes have been subjected to recently.
Convergence #1 is more of the same, little to no action with some pretty looking artwork. As the “first” instalment to DC’s big new event, it’s less of an explosive send off as much as it’s poking someone awake. Sadly enough, the tie-in books have so far contained more excitement and action.