This is some really high praise. I hope you are right, ill probably get it tomorrow
Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Secret Origin #1
| Writer | Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder |
| Artist | Ryan Benjamin, Francis Manapul, Jerry Ordway, Paul Pelletier |
| Cover Price | $5.99 |
The DCU's darkest secrets are explored while two titans clash! The heroes search for a way to defeat the Darkest Knight through the universe's past, while Superboy Prime faces down the demonic Batman!
CRITIC REVIEWS Back to Top
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10
Comics: The Gathering - Carlos R.
Dec 22, 2020Snyder and Johns have wrriten a can't miss issue for Dark Nights Death Metal. The art is gorgeous all the way through and is essential reading if you've ever been a fan Superboy Prime. Read Full Review
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10
But Why Tho? - CJ
Dec 22, 2020Dark Nights: Death Metal-The Secret Origin #1 is a surprisingly engaging story that features a villain returning to his heroic roots. It also proves that any character can have a moving story in the right creative hands. I highly recommend this for Superman fans or readers who are engaged in Dark Nights: Death Metal's ongoing narrative. Read Full Review
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10
Dark Knight News - Steve J Ray
Dec 22, 2020Every Superman fan needs to buy this book. Read Full Review
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10
Kabooooom - Matt Morrison
Dec 22, 2020While it may not be a home run as part of the Dark Nights Death Metal event, The Secret Origin is a brilliant commentary on the state of DC Comics and an exploration of why we read superhero comics. That message, delivered alongside some amazing artwork, is ample reason to pick this one up, even if you haven't been reading the miniseries so far. Read Full Review
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10
Black Nerd Problems - Morgan Hampton
Dec 24, 2020This is another tie-in to the main Death Metal story that actually holds quite a bit of weight. It has huge ramifications for the final issue, so I'd say it is necessary to read it before Death Metal #7 comes out. Lucky for us fans, it's worthy of our time and money. Read Full Review
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10
DC Comics News - Carl Bryan
Dec 29, 2020This one is a love letter to all comic book readers. It stands on its own without having to invest so much in the history of Death Metal. It rivals Superman's origin story and as a lover of dogs, you will simply love Krypto in this issue. A dog truly can see into the soul! Well done Mr. Snyder and Mr. Johns…. Happy Holidays! Read Full Review
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9.6
Forces Of Geek - Lenny Schwartz
Dec 23, 2020Other artists on the book include the amazing Ryan Benjamin and Paul Pelletier. They all do a great job together. Scott Snyder and Geoff Johns write an incredible script too and it is a perfect Christmas gift from the entire creative team. Read Full Review
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9.5
Lyles Movie Files - Jeffrey Lyles
Dec 22, 2020This special might not appeal to every reader, but it tells an important story point in Death Metal while giving Superboy Prime some overdue peace. Read Full Review
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9.5
Geek Dad - Ray Goldfield
Dec 22, 2020It's a great way to close the door on an era of DC Comics, and easily the best tie-in of the event. Read Full Review
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9.5
The Brazen Bull - Charlie Chipman
Dec 22, 2020For those invested in DNDM, Dark Nights: Death Metal The Secret Origin (2020-) #1 is a necessary issue that adds to the overall reading experience. Read Full Review
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9.5
GWW - Nick Friar
Dec 22, 2020What's so interesting about Superboy Prime's story in Dark Nights Death Metal: The Secret Origin #1 is the rejection he receives at every single turn. He may be Clark Kent, but most of his experiences have gone very differently than Superman's. It's a surprise he still has any semblance of sympathy for anyone else " especially when some of the people he's helping are giving him a hard time. Read Full Review
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9.5
GWW - Nick Friar
Dec 22, 2020What's so interesting about Superboy Prime's story in Dark Nights Death Metal: The Secret Origin #1 is the rejection he receives at every single turn. He may be Clark Kent, but most of his experiences have gone very differently than Superman's. It's a surprise he still has any semblance of sympathy for anyone else " especially when some of the people he's helping are giving him a hard time. Read Full Review
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9.2
Weird Science - Jim Werner
Dec 22, 2020Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Secret Origin #1 was a good read that put a smile on my face and was also important going into the finale of Death metal. Imagine that! Scott Snyder and Geoff Johns gave this issue Rebirth feels I've been missing and has me more optimistic about what's coming up in 2021 because if it's anything close to this, I will be delighted! Read Full Review
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9.2
The Super Powered Fancast - Deron Generally
Dec 22, 2020Every artist brings something unique and interesting to the table in this issue. There are some great nostalgic moments in some of the art and other passages that have the slick style of today and those moments do a great job of distinguishing time, place and emotion in the issue. Read Full Review
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9.0
AIPT - David Brooke
Dec 22, 2020This is without a doubt a must-read for those who enjoyed Infinite Crisis and the Superboy-Prime character in general. As we get closer to the end of this event it's quite clear the creators are aiming to capture the joy and beauty of comic books on the largest stage one can take these characters. For that, the event feels richer with the Dark Nights Death Metal The Secret Origin story as one of its main chapters. Read Full Review
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9.0
Newsarama - Oscar Maltby
Dec 22, 2020Of all the Dark Nights Death Metal one-shot that have been released these past few months, The Secret Origin might just be the very best. Read Full Review
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9.0
ComicBook.com - Spencer Perry
Dec 23, 2020It would be easy to think with the length and messiness of the Dark Nights story that there would be one shot that could encapsulate so much of the narrative into a digestible state and also be a primer for a fan-favorite character's place in it, but Dark Nights: Death Metal The Secret Origin #1 does all of that. Read Full Review
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8.5
Comic Book Revolution - Kevin Lainez
Dec 27, 2020Scott Snyder and Geoff Johns deliver an emotionally powerful end to Superboy-Prime's story with Dark Nights: Death Metal The Secret Origin #1. Everything Superboy-Prime has done since Infinite Crisis is paid off in way that by the end you do feel that the character got the ending he deserves. Snyder and Johns writing of Superboy-Prime's story is further strengthened by the top-tier artists that all worked on Dark Nights: Death Metal The Secret Origin #1. This is a definite must by for those reading Dark Nights: Death Metal. Read Full Review
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8.4
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary - Anj
Jan 04, 2021Maybe this is the book I needed at the end of 2020. The bad stuff is hopefully behind us. There is hope ahead. Read Full Review
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7.0
Comic Watch - Matt Meyer
Dec 22, 2020Dark Nights: Death Metal - The Secret Origin #1 feels like it's trying to cram too much into an already-overstuffed story, and despite some strong and even unexpected character beats, winds up falling victim to its own lack of necessity. Read Full Review
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5.0
Batman-News - Nicholas Finch
Dec 23, 2020The fight against stagnation and repetition in comics loses at the end of The Secret Origin " time, like the world of DC Comics itself, is presented as nothing more than a flat circle. Read Full Review
USER REVIEWS Back to Top
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10
k i n o Geoff Johns Final Thesis: Fuck Comics, go outside.
+ Like • Comment• Likes (3) -
10
Imagine closing an entire event in a spin-off issue that isn't even a part of the main event, but is still single-handedly, hands-down, easily, by and far, THE BEST COMIC BOOK OF THE ENTIRE YEAR. The conclusion of Prime's entire arc after 15 years may well be one of the most epic last stands in super-hero comics of all time, and my time to quit comics. My boy did good. He honoured us. Each and every single one of us, who ever read comics. Go outside for a while lads. It doesn't get any better than this. Thanks Prime. See you around.
+ Like • Comments (1)• Likes (2) -
10
Fantastic character's studio and story of redemption.
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10
Oh. my. god. Holy shit. I know it says Synder co-write this but I'm assuming Geoff Johns is the one to praise for doing the impossible. He has made me sympathise with Superboy with one of the best villain redemptions I've read in a while.
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10
Johns needs to be the architect of the entire DCU. Great story.
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10
By far this is the best issue I have read in this series. Barely a Batman in sight, as the jaded Superboy Prime gets his redemption story. Not knowing the full origins of this character, it was as if I was being reintroduced. "Secret Origin" is the other side of the mirror to "Infinite Crisis". Truly this is the best for last, as the main issues of Death Metal , have been at it's worst confusing. I am not a big fan of Snyder's pen, so the Johns taking over on this issue was more than welcome. This is Death Metal's finest.
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10
The only good Death Metal book.
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10
Perfection.
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10
Not often do I give a perfect score, but this issue is definitely worth it. While Death Metal has been mostly disappointing and borderline annoying, this was a very welcome breath of fresh air. Johns, Snyder & co deliver a fantastic story to one of the most interesting characters of DC Comics, which could very easily be the character's final story. This is simply fantastic and it's easily the best single comic book issue this year.
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10
I don't know much about Superman Prime. In fact I thought he was based on the original Earth-2 Superman that died in Crisis on Infinite Earths, but wow this story was fantastic.
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9.5
Holy shit, I actually liked something attached to Death Metal. This is a really good issue, and I don't even like Superboy Prime. If only Johns had a hand in the main event, maybe then it wouldn't be such a mess. Let's ignore that The Batman Who's Profitable's plan keeps changing again and again, including once more in this issue, after his declaration that he wants everything to end in issue six of the main series. Snyder co-wrote this, and that's almost certainly his end of the issue. Just ignore that this is part of Death Metal, and you'll have a really good one-shot on your hands.
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9.5
As much as I hated all the Death Metal garbage this was actually enjoyable. I'm guessing that Geoff Johns wrote the majority of this as I usually can't stand the Edge lord that Snyder is. The story was well rounded and told a story of optimism. So hats off to DC on this one. One Gem out of a pile of Monkey Crap that was the Metal storylines that dragged on forever.
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9.5
Nooo stoooop how dare you make me care about Superboy-Prime!
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9.0
Definitely the silver lining in this mess of an event. Superboy Prime is easy to mess up, but this issue was perfectly meta.
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9.0
Pretty good. Unbelievably, this issue doesn't contain bullshit.
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9.0
A very well done tie-in. I really enjoyed this, even if I'm not so familiar with Superboy Prime. I just hope this whole event could've been as good as this. More personal and focus on only certain characters, not just "epic and badass and so crazy and crisis" etc...
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8.5
I know nothing of superboy prime but that was a damn good read. Thats a good comic. I really think its pretty needed to for the main story.
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7.0
A worthy read. I love using Ordway's art on the actual Earth Prime sections. The story is BY AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE the best in the Death Metal collection...which is more a statement about the terrible weakness of Death Metal, because the the story is good but not great. Small nitpick: If Superboy-Prime was returned to 1985, why would Laurie be joking about comics coming out on Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays? Methinks Johns was being snarky.
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5.0
Even Geoff Johns couldn't save this mess. Better than all the other Metal books, but it's just a terrible event.
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2.0
Ok, it's cheesy, incoherent, in an attempt for redemption towards Superboy prime, the fact of how affect the realities between one of them the resurrection of Jason is thrown and leaves an open ending where we do not know if it is a hallucination of a dying Superboy or a change of reality. I think we've had enough of this Death Metal thing by now. If this were an unrelated story, I would say it is cute and fluffy, but if it joins this whole event, it is quite annoying because it is completely incoherent, well the whole event has been.
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