Convergence & Its Tie-Ins: A Gimmick?

The first half of Convergence and its respective tie-ins have come and gone. It’s been interesting, to say the least. If you’re a fan of any pre-Flashpoint plot line, then the tie-ins are for you. Alternately, if you’ve enjoyed any of the New 52 (mainly the Earth-2 heroes), you might enjoy the main event.

Convergence is written by Jeff King (White Collar, Continuum, Due South) and illustrated by Ethan Van Sciver (Flash Rebirth, Sinestro Corps War), Jason Paz, and Carlo Pagulayan. If you’re reading this, it’s safe to say you already know the basic synopsis of Convergence, so we don’t need to delve into all that business.

Convergence has the potential to be an absolutely fun and interesting story, but the further along the story progresses, the more it feels like a gimmick. Its focus is mainly on Earth-2 heroes (the ‘original’ heroes, as they are referred to), and their trying times to prevent an ongoing crisis … again. That’s right, another crisis. This time it seems it’s a way to try to clean up any residual character, or story plot holes birthed by the New 52.

A lot of these problems started with the New 52 itself. When it began, a handful of writers decided to play comic god, and rewrite the DC universe. Well, kind of. The problem was that it wasn’t concisely or thoroughly thought out, nor was every character reverted back to their original state. Most of the Batman and Green Lantern mythoi were kept intact, while most others started essentially from the beginning, but specifically which ones are unknown to many of the readers.

This created some small, yet monumental problems. What exactly is the timeline of the new Robins? Tim Drake went straight to being Red Robin, but it’s all still poorly connected. The age factors alone don’t seem to match up with Bruce’s timeline, having only been Batman for five years. With Green Lantern, what exactly occurred during the rewritten end of Blackest Night, and all through Brightest Day? Did any of those heroes or villains ever die, only to be resurrected in the new multiverse? Did the Anti-Monitor come back through these events despite no one having seen him since or until the upcoming Darkseid War event?

There are also many problems with various characters losing their rich and vast histories. Yes, it’s tough, and a bit overwhelming, for new readers to just jump into the fray of DC Comics, but it would have been possible to do a soft reboot (like Marvel Now!) without throwing away everything the fans had come to know and love about DC.

Many character origins have changed, and there are still plenty of fan favorites that have yet to be seen, or are just coming into the limelight, now. It had appeared with Convergence we would possibly see a conjoined central universe (as the name of the event would imply), but DC took a lot of that secrecy away when they gave us an advanced look into the post-Convergence (June) solicitations. It seems, once all the dust has settled, that the status quo will not be changing. A lot of the New 52 and its elements are present in the solicitations. So what exactly is the point of this event?

The tie-ins are the only enjoyable part of Convergence, especially if you have been a DC fan for quite sometime. It allows another short glimpse into many of the pre-Flashpoint era heroes. What’s especially enticing is the reemergence of that familial tone of the past DCU. Many of these characters have been friends for so long they’ve developed quite the rapport. With the exception of a handful of single issues (most recently, Superman 40 and Flash Annual 2), that tone seems to have been almost non-existent in the New 52.

Convergence and its tie-ins seems to be another in a long surplus of events over the past few years that haven’t really had an impact of any kind on anyone or anything, in its shared universe. The status quo remains: bring in new readers, and push away a lot of the older ones. There must be a way to extinguish the latter. One day, hopefully, DC will find it.

Some notable Tie-Ins to check out:

Nightwing/Oracle, Superman, Green Arrow, Justice Society Of America, Batgirl, Speedforce, Titans, Justice League, The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern Corps.