DC's Convergence Week 5

I almost put that alternate cover among the week's favorite moments, but it would be cheating. Damian never turns up in the '66 universe to shock Batman. But before we get to that...

Week 5 is when the event definitely starts to unravel for me, becoming what I've hated about DC events since at least Infinite Crisis, an excuse to violently impale or rip apart various characters. The main book has three major deaths, two of them by gory impaling. The back ends of the 10 "pre-Flsuhpoint" minis are pretty violent too, though they often make you believe a character has met a gory end, only to turn up alive (though in one case, apparently disfigured). Their survival only mildly assuages the shock of their grim demises. But does it even matter? If these characters have no future, then Convergence is an exercise in futility. Best case scenario, it gives some of them closure (though I thought the last issues of their pre-Flushpoint existence usually did that fairly well). Of course, Deimos, one of Convergence's main villains, seems to think they DO have a future:

Apparently, he can see the past and the future as we can, from the point of view of a reader with access to different continuities. If he can really see the future, does that mean Lois and Clark are reunited post-Convergence, and is that the promise of a retcon, or just the way things will proceed from here? Is it really an "infection" from the Convergence world, or will it be organic to New52 Earth? I don't even know enough about the New52 Titans to know how that prophecy connects. Other pronouncements have been even more vague, but the original Earth-2 returning seems imminent.

Week 5's crop of books isn't quite as good as Week 1's, especially where character development has given way to fighting. Justice League #2 is absolutely horrendous; Batman and Robin continues to be irrelevant; and Harley Quinn is a real mess (in large part because Phil Winslade isn't a good fit for the Zoo Crew, like, AT ALL). I still can't care about The Question, but I know fans of Rucka's version will probably like it.  Batgirl is a little confused as well, but ends on a nice grace note. Similarly, Superman is hampered by the fighting elements, but ends well. Not sure what I think of The Atom, but this is one character that would work as a continuity implant in the New52 (again, why go through all this trouble to forget him again). The best book is still Nightwing/Oracle (for both art and story), with Speed Force pretty strong too, and The Titans make me care about Arsenal more than I ever have in the past, even of the art isn't particularly interesting.

That's the week in a nutshell, so let's go right into My 5 Favorite Moments (spoilers aplenty):

5. Wally only wins because of his children. The pre-Flushpoint Flash really was about family (he was Fast if not Furious), and if his arc wraps up here permanently, it does so the right way.

4. Ryan Choi survived by shunting his consciousness to the same dimension the Atoms' mass goes to when they shrink. I love superhero science!

3. Superman and Lois' love will last forever. Damn straight. RIP best versions of these characters. You ARE missed.

2. Steph and Tim are too bruised to go through with it. Another happy ending for characters who deserve one. All for nought?

1. Oracle gets one over Flashpoint Hawkwoman. She kicks all sorts of ass in this, both mentally and physically. Gail Simone really knows this character backwards and forwards.

Did you have any favorites? Huh. I guess I was in for both a penny and a pound. See you next week.