DC's Convergence Week 3

While Week 3, mostly concerned with the pre-Crisis DCU, is better than Week 2, I really need to address why I think I was more positive about Week 1 than anything that's come since. Each spotlit continuity was "saved" in a bottled city, not in its heyday, but just before the reboot. In other words, at the point where the company thought it was "broken" and needed to be freshened up. And both pre-Zero Hour and pre-Crisis cities do feel like they have big problems. I'm not going to go over Week 2 again, but where it was all dark and gritty replacement heroes of the 90s, Week 3 is all 1980s forced angst. That's my big problem with it because it essentially stalls the action in most of the books. But you also have pre-Crisis elements like the Outsiders being a big thing, Justice League Detroit, the Flash slumming in the 20th century but living in the future, lame duck Superman does things that are pretty irrelevant... But the continuity we lost with Flashpoint, that didn't seem tired and stale to me, and it wasn't replaced by something I liked better. And maybe that's why I liked Week 1, but was more ambivalent about the rest.

One thing I don't understand is how all these disparate characters wound up in Gotham, nor why Gotham would be THE pre-Crisis city par excellence. Week 3's 10 books feature heroes from New York, Detroit, Louisiana, Midway City, Central City, Coast City, Washington D.C., Metropolis... It's really just Batman and the Outsiders and that's just 1 of 10! Other Weeks provided (increasingly slim) justifications for so many heroes moving house, but on Week 3, they seem to have given up trying. Only Swamp Thing has a real reason to be there. But how is Gotham City even emblematic of pre-Crisis Earth? The Bat-books didn't really suffer a reboot after Crisis, so why not a city that DID? I'd even say pre-Crisis Gotham was boring, especially compared to the Gothic stylings it would later feature.

Anyway, here's the battleground:

I'm a big fan of the Tangent universe, and they get some play (their Secret Six, Doom Patrol and Superman). The Red Rain Elseworlds gets about the same, but then, it's really the only "villain" on here (ones that don't interest me at all). There are two postapocalypse worlds in there, the Atomic Knights who really only go after 30th-century Metropolis (and I know I'm somewhat biased, but the Legion book is easily my favorite of the lot), and Kamandi's, though a crazed OMAC appears and the Last Boy on Earth doesn't (boo). Overall, the books I like best are Legion, Hawkman (Tim Truman's art gives the book more edge than the Shadow War era ever had), and Swamp Thing (the Kelly Jones art has a lot to do with it though). JLofA, Green Lantern Corps and yes, even Outsiders have their moments. New Teen Titans, The Flash and Adventures of Superman have way too much pissing and moaning to be useful to me though. ANGSSST!!!!!!

But let's still do my 5 Favorite Moments from Convergence Week 3:

5. Writer Stuart Moore knows the pain of tall people, people like me, Jim Shooter and Colossal Boy:

4. It's a bit of a cheat because General Glory wasn't a pre-Crisis character, but it's nice to see someone remembers Guy Gardner was his biggest fan.

3. Hawkwoman gives a museum tour in her civilian guise and drops all pretense because she knows the importance of inspiring people.

2. There are a lot of nice character moments in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, so let me throw another one at you: Superboy is sad about being cut off from Smallville, and talks about the 30th century as a kind of dream where he could hang with peers before going back to his normal life. Lightning Lass is not amused (which is why she's my favorite Legionnaire).

1. And I just love that the first thing they want to show us in the Justice League of America book is Ralph kissing Sue.

Week 4 promises to do EVERY OTHER CITY on Telos, so that's at least going to have variety going for it. See you then.