No...

I used to like Batman.
But I hate him now. Everything is about him.

The apparent culmination of the Game of Thrones-style struggle for DC continuity supremacy is here, and I worry that the least potent of the mix won out.

Tom King fell by the wayside, his Heroes in Crisis devolving into a critical disaster. His Batman couldn't recover from the post-Catwoman non-wedding storylines. Now, his Strange Adventures and his forthcoming Bat/Cat miniseries have been shuffled off to Black Label.

Brian Bendis came on strong ("Bendis is here!"), but his Super-books are losing circulation and his Wonder Comics line isn't taking off. He's now talking on podcasts about winding down on Superman and getting excited about Checkmate.

Dan DiDio was fired.

So who won? Scott Snyder, apparently. He now has free reign to trash the proposed "5G"/"Generations" event with its rethinking of DC continuity in a linear, historical perspective and replace it with the apparent capstone to his Dark Knights: Metal/Justice League run...the one that so many fans felt was a hot mess of baffling multiversal conflict where his heroes keep screwing up, making mistakes and losing. Where the once-almighty Monitor now has an even more-almighty mother in Perpetua and siblings (!) in the Anti-Monitor and World Forger. Because DC doesn't have enough bloat at the top of the multiversal pyramid.

But that's the backstory.

Death Metal #1 is a simple story - a silly story, perhaps a dumb story - but a simple one nonetheless all dressed up with "rock and roll!" dressing. Perpetua has awarded the Batman Who Laughs the Mr. Earth pageant sash and crown, beating out Luthor. (As I said, silly and perhaps dumb...but it is what it is.) But Perpetua doesn't really care about the Earth, she just wants to destroy stuff. So BWL sets up a hell on earth environment that has not been seen anywhere in recent continuity, providing a jarring transition from "same old, same old DC" to "Holy crap, it's a pop-up Hellscape!"

At this point, the story gets really small. Superman is off-page (of course he is, because he's so powerful that this story wouldn't get to happen otherwise), and Batman and Wonder Woman conspire how to fight back when BWL has them pinned down in a life of misery. It's a life that is nowhere reflected in any other DC book, but I digress.

Wally West, who unfortunately has the Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan juju wrapped up in him to become all seeing/knowing/powerful but is a pitiful prisoner in this title, shows up. He suggests a way for the superheroes to win, trying to explain the multiversal mess that is DC in a couple of pages. After having has character shellacked by Tom King in "Heroes in Crisis," Snyder gets to revive West's statue as a beacon of hope. Hero revolt slowly ensues. End issue 1. Seriously, that's it.

This was not a good story. This does not appear to be a good title. But it IS DC's tentpole title for 2020, so DC readers have to get it simply to understand what is going on in their shared universe. For that, I'm more than a little bitter. If you want to see what a GOOD event book is like for comparison's sake, go read Wolfman's "Crisis on Infinite Earths" #1. You'll see how far things have fallen.

Technically, DC's maddening decision to force BWL's word balloons to be red chicken-scratch against a black background continues. BWL's lettering is largely illegible as a result. That's right, it's nearly impossible to read what the lead baddie of this book is saying.

The sole high point of the book is Greg Capullo. He is a very talented artist, and his renditions of fire, brimstone, madness and everything else "rock and roll" are on point -- given the subject matter he has to work with. His characters look solid, his layouts are vibrant and exciting.

Scott Snyder, on the other hand, baffles me. He IS a decent writer, something I continually have to remind myself throughout this book. His Batman "Court of Owls" story is quite good. His "Undiscovered Country," co-written with Charles Soule for Image, is pretty good, too. His JL, however, was convoluted and a chore to read. That carries forward to this book. Perhaps he's just out of his league on stories of this nature. Very few writers can pull off a blockbuster event. He can't. Well, he hasn't so far. Sadly, I apparently will have to keep reading to find out.

Snyder won the Game of Thrones at DC. It's his universe to mold, to make everything count. And, with his first move as the prima dona of DC, he's fallen flat on his face. Maybe King was lucky to get banished to Black Label, and hopefully Bendis can continue to do his own thing. Me? I think I'll be spending a lot more time reading back issues if this is what we'll be getting from DC going forward.

2.5/10 on the basis of Capullo's art alone. I would go a touch higher but have to deduct points for the unintelligible lettering on BWL.

Do better, DC. more

A bold comic, eh? A very terrible one! This is right-leaning bullshit. Don't call me offended because I dislike SJWs, but I can't stand for this because it would be hypocritical.

This is as low as humanity can go. Garth Ennis was always a lacking writer this just confirms it. Kill this piece of shit of a comic.

Mediocre even with an interesting twist.

Great start for the character! If you're new to Divinity and wanna catch up on what you've missed there is no better way than to simply read this. The art is stunning and to top it all off we get an amazing little cherry on top in the final panel.

It wasn't a perfect 10, but it was hella good! I have never read a Mage comic so this was my first and I felt right in. If you're hesitant to read this because you haven't read the previous installments then don't worry because Matt Wagner does an amazing job on introducing new readers to this story! Felt like a Superman comic.

This is one of the biggest garbage pile I have read this week which is saying something. Unlikable character who is trying to be portrayed as a badass liberal yet comes off pretentious. The story, plot and characters are so boring that you will end up flipping through this one with no emotion on your face.

A massive drop off from the last two issues. Opens with another white writer who is guilty and tries to make the Arab character as an oppressed darling. This goes on for 1/3 of the comic, the issue barely spends any time on Livewire who was the one who was truly making this a fun read since issue 1. So far the new characters have no personality other than a stereotypical millennial so I hope this picks up especially when they should have more important roles to fill in next issue. The story does play out nicely, the art is consistent and has a nice joke which saves this comic big time. more

Stays consistent to the previous issue. Not much to add other than it could have been more interesting, but still plays out very nicely as a comic.

A very well written comic that sometimes does suffer from being too formulaic. The new character psiots are okay, but it's the main character, Livewire who truly steals the show and makes this what we needed for the character.

One of the best Marvel has to offer, some would that's a sad thing to say. In a way it sure sucks Marvel has gone downhill, but this series truly brings something fresh and something we have never seen in a comic book. This is exactly what comic books were made for.

Overall an enjoyable story that lacks to interest the reader in some areas. The interaction saves this comic from even one of the more cliche parts of this issue. Nothing compared to the original, but still an enjoyable ride that has a lot to offer. Can't wait to see what Bendis cooks up for us in later issues.

This was a let down. Miles is only 3 years younger than Pete? What happened with continuity?! He was 12 or 13 in first Spider-Men that means Peter had to have been 15, but we all know he wasn't because he was an adult in mid-20s. Miles is 17 since 2014 and since this is comics and he still is 17 now (because he's in high school) then Peter is 20 which is a total cluster f$%k!

Not only that, but Bendis goes on to shove his characters down our throats not only that but she went to high school with Peter?!??! WTF?! I won't even go into the fault of that. Also, does Peter really not know who this Miles is? Then why at the end of the original Spider-Men he said "Oh my God"? Did he accidentally open PornHub or something? This is a cop-out and a cheat-out.

Also this Miles looks waaay different than the Spider-Man so how does he recognize him? And Peter stop with the childish jokes. I see Marvel keeps on delivering plot holes that ruin the enjoyment out of the people who care for a well written and story with care. Redeems in chemistry I guess. more

Leftist propaganda is leftist propaganda. What else do you expect? At least it had great art.

Filled with blatant, shoved in politics. This comic is an example of everything wrong with comics. Get this SJW propaganda out of here.

Nice art but replacement-level storytelling that doesn't really hold together. After three years of Brian Azz and a year of Rucka, they can do a lot better.

Had to return to this series. The opening is a big red flag with Iceman looking for a boyfriend. Kill me everyone!!!

I read the comic 2 more times and I just realized that it was actually worst than my previous score that I put so yeah it's bad in fact I don't know why Iceman even has his own series. The dialogue and the art was horrible. Not only that if Bobby really is Omega level why was he struggling with a guy with a hockey mask? Also Iceman's only trait is that he's gay. That's it! Which is boring and one dimensional. Thank God I read this comic online instead of buying it. more

Iceman in a nutshell: "Did I mention I'm gay?"

Pure garbage. Focused more on reminding you on the gay thing than anything else. Also didn't know Christian terrorist group still exist in U.S. Redeemed with a action moment, but still was hard to read. Disgusting art. Everyone looks like a predator.

So I've read Snyder and Capullo's complete run and I've read the first part to Dark Days: The Forge... And I still don't know what the hell is going on half of the time and why I should care. I'm so sick of DC's over reliance on multiverse events and I haven't even read that many of them, how do they still excite long time DC readers? Moreover, why is this a one-shot? It continues from The Forge, it makes no sense to read this without reading The Forge first, especially due to the continuation of the subplot with Duke and Hal, which was the only part of the comic that kept me engage. Did DC decide on another one-shot as a pure and simple money grab? I also do not appreciate constantly shifting the artists, especially within he same sequence, it ruins the flow and uniformity of the story. And despite the reputation of the artists and the fact that they are sharing the work load, some of it isn't even all that good. I just don't get the hype over this. I love the team of Snyder and Capullo though, so I'm hoping Capullo brings the edge needed to elevate Metal, the main event. I have no idea if this will be better when read after Metal and reflecting, or how necessary this is to informing Metal, so it's difficult to give a hard recommendation to skip this, but I'm leaning to saying skip Dark Days entirely. more

This was so bad. Widow got killed like an animal. Punisher working for HYDRA, unreadable fighting scenes (more particularly Frank vs. Nat) Captain America would not let Spidey beat him just like that, seeing Cap's shield break is not shocking anymore, Nadia says "The entire time she has been trying to prevent you from becoming a killer" even though she recreated the Red Room (and the Champions didn't know that Miles was trapped so how would Nadia know Nat has been keeping him inside), also Miles guesses the password because it was destiny, but he doesn't kill Cap? This is a mess. Making Sam Wilson return makes as much sense since he had zero impact as Cap. Oh! And turning Carol into Tony was always a mistake. What you need to make her is Carol. more

Not a huge DC fan, but wow... I want to keep reading this mystery. The Forge and now the Casting have made Metal must reads. I do not know much about the backgrounds of DC characters so this is cool to see. I can't wait for Metal.

Not as good as previous issue Dark Days: Forge, but makes for an amazing read no one should skip on. It continues on the amazing story that the team started off so well on. We get many new clues and even more mysterious as to the future and past of the DCU may have. LOVE IT! Great prologue!

DESERVES ANY PRAISE IT GETS!!!! I never have felt this way about comics for a long time. The brilliant inclusion of DC's entire history makes this a spectacular read for EVERY DC fan!!! Must read. Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV did it! Thank you so much.

Wanna hear a joke? Evil white guy walks into a refugee tent for no reason, what happens next? Wonder Woman walks into it for some unknown reason in the known universe. SO RANDOM!!! Not to mention very slow and boring. This writer should go back to writing DC Super Hero Girls. Oh I almost forgot the punchline, here it is: Shea Fontana's "writing".