Reading Comics 159 "Convergence Week 6"

No, I don't read all the Convergence titles.  I thought about doing exactly that, months ago (mostly because I wanted to do that with Flashpoint but wasn't able to), but then thought better of it.  So I only read the ones that immediately interest me, and for the most part this means the ones related to the DC I was reading from years past, which is to say the ones revisiting the ones I used to read.  Not completely (I ended up skipping Shadow of the Bat and Man of Steel, for instance), but close enough.

This week that meant Green Lantern/Parallax #2 and Superboy #2, as well as Convergence #6 ended up on my read list.

Convergence itself continues to let the story unfold.  At eight issues I think Jeff King realized there was more room than he was comfortable playing around with as far as the kind of character work he has shown he's best at, so that the story around the character work stretches out more comfortably than his exploring, say, Dick Grayson or Telos, both of whom remain the most interesting elements of the core title (they, ah, converge once again this week) without pushing either further in actual development.  For me it's kind of disappointing only in the sense that King has presented better material previously.  But there should always be time for story, too.  At least that's what people keep trying to tell me...

Green Lantern/Parallax and Superboy generally conclude more strongly than the crop from last week (Batman and Robin, Nightwing/Oracle, The Question, Speed Force, Superman), so that was certainly something of a relief, both of them doing an excellent job keeping the focus on the characters rather than Convergence fighting, even though both feature Convergence fighting as the impetus for continuing to explore their characters.  Apparently this is a difficult thing to accomplish, because last week's titles tried that, too, but didn't end up doing too well in that regard.

For Green Lantern/Parallax, that meant deciding once and for all whether or not Hal Jordan, outside of The Final Night/Day of Judgment/Green Lantern: Rebirth, which is to say, the Hal Jordan of "Emerald Twilight"/Zero Hour, is irrevocably tainted by his transformation into Parallax.  The conclusion is thoroughly in favor of how Parallax was originally viewed, a final corruption of a once-heroic figure.  This is thoroughly interesting, and clearly something that could only have happened here.  Almost from the start, DC back-peddled and suggested Hal wasn't such a bad guy after all.

In Superboy, the Kingdom Come Superman (whom in Convergence itself is presented in far less favorable light) struggles to end the fight in a way that doesn't mirror Man of Steel and its apparently endlessly controversial conclusion.  In fact, that ends up being the entire issue, which actually takes the focus off of Superboy himself, waiting until he "does the right thing" and submits to Superman.  It's another fascinating conclusion, because this is another one that seems like what should have happened to the character as originally conceived, a hothead who wouldn't back down despite his lack of awareness of his own limitations and huge ego besides.

So I would actually rate both as quite excellent.

The June previews included are more of a mixed bag.  Cullen Bunn's Lobo is featured in Green Lantern/Parallax.  I think everyone knows by now that the New 52 radically altered Lobo.  As presented here, I'm not really sure what the point is, because the new version doesn't seem very compelling.  It could be that I still can't get into Bunn himself.

Superboy features a peak at "Truth," the Superman arc that promises the New 52 version of Clark Kent being exposed as the Man of Steel.  Apparently someone also decided to take away Superman's powers.  I don't know if this is a continuation of handling the recent new powers, which at last check-in only temporarily affected his overall powers (and there were two issues that confirmed that, even), but at this point...it may seem like an unnecessary complication.  Unless the arc seeks to take away all of Superman's safety nets.  This would certainly be a vulnerable version of the character...