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Review: Dark Nights: Metal #2

By Justin McCarty

They said this would be crazy. So far they are right. The second entry into Dark Nights: Metal probably left me with more questions than answers, though. I mean, I got what was going on, after two one shots, and the first issue of this series, however, I still had to go back and reread to keep up.

So, the Justice League is chasing down Batman. He has never fully trusted his team; his team has never fully trusted him. Batman is going it alone to figure out what all these crazy happenings mean because all of this literally centers around him. He feels the weight of that. The question in this issue is: will the Justice League be fully prepared for an evil the likes of which they have never seen?

So far there has been a lot of exposition in the last two issues. Two full issues in and this still feels like all setup. There were several great moments, the ending in this issue does have a payoff. Dark Nights: Metal is just one series in a larger Dark Multiverse line. I get that there is a lot of work to do here. Snyder is trying to tie together pre New 52 and Rebirth to current continuities in an epic series that will create new characters and story possibilities. It’s very ambitious. Still, I am very worried that this will be all set up. I love Snyder, Capullo, and the whole team. (It was New 52 Batman that got me back into comics.) But there are only six issues. Will I need to buy every single comic in the line?

The holy trinity of Capullo, Glapion, and fco are solid as always. This is what superhero books should look like. There's so much information thrown at you in this book it’s a wonder the art comes through at all. Capullo has probably gone through more than a few erasers.

This is an epic, ambitious story, but even with all the exposition you can still feel lost, will all the groundwork pay off? I hope so.

Score: 3/5

Dark Nights: Metal #2
Publisher: DC Comics