REVIEW: Batman Metal

Batman: The Red Death 

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Art: Carmine Di Giandomenico
Colors: Ivan Plascencia
Letters: Tom Napolitano
Cover: Jason Fabok& Dean White

Batman: The Devastator

Plot: Frank Tieri
Words: James Tynion
Pencils: Tony S. Daniel
 Inks: Danny Mihi
Colors: Tomeu Morey
Letters: Tom Napolitano
Cover: Jason Fabok & Brad Anderson
Review: Madman

I am admittedly lost as to the goings-on with the Metal DC mega-event. After Marvel finished this year’s Civil War I decided I was done with the Big Twos mega events, and I wasn’t spending anymore of my hard earned money on them. I’m proud to say I’ve stuck by that…well, until now, but this shouldn’t count. I truthfully bought all of these Metal Dark Knights books solely for the ridiculously awesome covers, as they’re all just amazing.

That being said, the only DC comic I am currently following is Batman and only because, well, it’s Batman, and I love his villains. Truth be told I probably love Batman’s rogues’ gallery more than I love Batman…
That may be a sin, but I’m fully prepared to deal with the consequences. I also feel that the artwork in said title is always above par, no matter where the actual plot or writing falls, so it’s really win/win if you like fancy scribbles.

From what I gather, these two books involve crazy dark versions of Batman from the Dark Multiverse coming to the DC ‘verse proper and jacking stuff up. In The Red Death, Batman comes to play with the Flash in a not so friendly way. In fact, Batman steals the Speed Force from Barry in order to better “save the world”. The way he does it is kind of lame, though. Batman straps the Flash to the hood of the Batmobile, which has had its engine modified with the tech Barry uses in his cosmic treadmill, annnnd they go really fast. The Speed Force somehow merges Bruce and Barry into the same body, and we are gifted a super-fast red Batman who instead of lightning flashing in his wake leaves this weird trail of red bats, which is pretty neat. We are also graced with a cameo by Scarecrow, which made everything ok.   

In Batman: Devastator we basically get a Doomsdayified Batman, who in order to save the world from Superman released a homemade version of the Doomsday virus. I definitely like both the cover and the artwork in the innards of the Red Death book better then the Devastator book. I’m not a fan of how the Doomsdayified Batman came out at all. I found him very meh and uninspiring, while at least the Red Death seemed to have a certain level of mojo that would actually invite me to read more books involving him.

Overall, neither of these books blew my hair back by any means, but the covers will undoubtedly be a welcome addition to my collection’s Batman section. I’ve got a few more of these Batmetal  books in my to-read pile that I’ll get to eventually, but after reading these two I don’t think I’m in any hurry.