Dark Nights: Metal #1-6

Dark Nights: Metal #1-6

Originally released in 2017

Written by Scott Snyder

Art by Greg Capullo

The Batman Who Laughs is a villain that I've heard a lot about - he was introduced, became really popular (probably because he's basically a combination of the Joker and Batman), got used a lot in comics, got so overused that the fandom got sick of him, and I'm not sure what's going on with him now. (All of this is based on my understanding, and I could have some details wrong) I wanted to get an idea of who he was, so I looked into the first major appearance of him, which was in Dark Nights: Metal.

The premise of the series is that there's a Dark Multiverse, made up of every nightmare or dark idle thought that someone ever had.  Whereas the matter universes have the Monitor and the anti-matter universe has the Anti-Monitor as their respective guardians, the dark multiverse has Barbatos, a bat-like demon.  Previously, Barbatos's job was to drag the failed universes into the Dark Multiverse, but he killed his master, the Forger, and now seeks to drag every universe into the darkness.

The writer and artist team on this book also worked on the New 52 Batman series, and the elements from that return here: the Court of Owls has been working behind the scenes to prepare a gateway for Barbatos and his forces, exposing Batman to various types of metal so he can be used as a portal. (To the surprise of nobody but the Court of Owls, the members who are present are almost immediately killed once the portal is open)

Now the heroes have to face off against Barbatos's corrupted army of Batman, along with various villains that he made pacts with, in order to track down the few remaining supplies of Nth Metal, the metal that Hawkman's mace is made out of.  This metal, along with a purer Tenth Metal that can only be found in the World Forge that Barbatos originated from, is one of the few things that can hurt Barbatos.

There are various other spin-offs and tie-ins, explaining the origins of the villainous multiversal Batmen (including one who has the Flash's powers and one who seemingly fused with the Greek god Ares), though I stuck with the main series here.  As a result, some plot points kind of came out of nowhere (like Detective Chimp leading an army of heroic Batmen), while others were dropped (such as a league of immortals led by Vandal Savage), but I rolled with it and assumed it was explained or continued elsewhere.

Barbatos isn't much of a fleshed-out villain.  He basically exists as yet another threat to the multiverse, without much in the way of characterization or development. The Batman Who Laughs is slightly better in that regard, getting more in the way of characterization, but his appearances (in the main series, at least) are fleeting, though he gets an extended fight with Batman at the end.

One character who got a surprising amount of focus and development was Hawkgirl, a.k.a. Kendra Saunders. I don't know much about the Hawkpeople side of DC, beyond Hawkman and Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman constantly reincarnating and meeting each other. She helps the team find caches of Nth metal (to make amends for trying to destroy most of it to prevent Barbatos's arrival), and she teams up with Wonder Woman to get ahold of Tenth Metal. Hawkman, a.k.a. Carter Hall, also plays a role here, though it's smaller and mainly towards the end of the story.

In addition to the physical metals, the story also seems to be based at least in part, on metal music.  I caught references to Ride The Lightning by Metallica, Children of the Grave by Black Sabbath, and the band Five Finger Death Punch, and I'm sure that there were a lot that I missed. In addition, music is part of the story's theme - in DC's multiverse, vibrations allow people to cross from one universe to another, and music is related to that. (Admittedly, having the plot involve sound in a medium that has none feels like an odd choice, but given the title, it's still fitting)

There are a lot of characters involved here (Plastic Man gets a big moment, though I'm not sure why he's an egg for most of the story), but the main focus is on the Trinity - Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Ultimately, they're the ones who save the day and help to restore the multiverse. Of the trio, Batman gets the most development, with his obsession being weaponized by Barbatos and used to open the portal in the first place.  Another character who gets focused on earlier in the series is Dream Of The Endless, who I'm not familiar with.  He serves as a guide for Batman and Superman, and given that he seems to be the embodiment of dreams, his presence seems fitting given the nature of the Dark Multiverse as the stuff of nightmares.

Dark Nights: Metal was suitably over-the-top, given its natural as a multiverse-spanning crisis. I was concerned that the idea of a "dark multiverse" would be a little redundant given that the multiverse should, theoretically, include an infinite number (or at least millions or billions) of possible outcomes, including ones where the heroes turn evil or the universe is corrupted, but making it the product of nightmares helped to justify it.

Still, the villains weren't all that impressive or memorable (though the Batman Who Laughs has a solid design), which hurts it a bit as a crossover. We know that Barbatos wants to drag the multiverse into darkness, but we only vaguely have any idea why. (Unless it's explained in tie-ins) Even his defeat is rather abrupt, and his punishment is confined to a small panel in a larger montage that shows things going back to normal. (Though when it comes to minor villains, Starro was fun here; I watched Gravity Falls for the first time not that long ago, and his characterization here kind of reminds me of Bill Cipher from that show)

The series was all right in my eyes - it has some great moments (the team-up between Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl against various corrupted heroes being one of them), but it feels like ever since Crisis On Infinite Earths, the multiverse has been in danger of ending or being rewritten every few years at DC (Zero Hour, Final Crisis, this, Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths...), and it doesn't feel like this shakes up the formula enough. (The reliance on tie-ins might hurt it a bit, though; maybe it's better if I follow those) It doesn't feel like anything changes as a result of this, which kind of makes it feel like a big event for the sake of having a big event, with even the characters admitting that it's just a taste of what's to come.