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The first Dark Nights: Metal tie-in drops this week in the form of Teen Titans. “Gotham Resistance” starts now and while we got a look back in August, we finally get a copy to read!
So what’s it about?
The official summary reads:
A DARK NIGHTS: METAL tie-in! “GOTHAM RESISTANCE” part one! The fight for Gotham City’s soul starts here! When Robin receives a distress call from Nightwing urging him to return home, he discovers that Gotham City has been transformed into a mosaic of monsters, magic and doom! Trapped inside the Riddler’s deadly maze with nowhere to turn, Robin soon assembles an unlikely team of hometown heroes including Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Black Canary and Green Arrow to find the missing Nightwing and save their city!
Why does this matter?
Anyone looking for a team-up book should definitely jump on this story now as there are a couple surprises in this issue you will not see coming. This issue also utilizes the Joker-themed nightmare Batman (you can see him in the top right corner) who is quite possibly the most horror-like villain of these nightmare Batman characters. Can anyone say Hellraiser-Batman?
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
Dang!
This issue is plotted well by Benjamin Percy, first introducing the villain, then setting up Robin’s approach as Gotham has been taken over, and finally dropping Robin into a labyrinth to navigate through. Each scene builds on the next, with the first introducing the Riddler to the dark Batman (who has some creepy vampire Robins on chains!) who just wants to make the world laugh in the evilest of ways. It should be noted readers should pick up Dark Nights: Metal #1 and #2 as this spoils a key detail in regards to the heroes.
Given Percy writes Green Arrow, it’s not surprising that character shows up and there’s some good back and forth dialogue between Robin and him. Even more, characters pop in to team up with these characters, which adds a bit of humor and raw power to their little lineup.
There are some truly beautiful pages in this issue drawn by Mirka Andolfo with colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr. The Escher-like full page spread seen in the preview is quite a fun page to linger on, but a previous page (see above) with some of Batman’s greatest villains fingering cards of magical power is truly a sight to see. Great framing, color, and detail. The action throughout the issue is fun and easy to follow too.
I’m scared.
It can’t be perfect can it?
There’s no explanation as to why the Teen Titans don’t follow Robin into the fray, which is somewhat odd. I guess we just don’t need them for this adventure! I assume they’ll follow or show up later, but it’s your classic, “I need to do this one my own” angle. Given, that is the main reason why any of this is happening due to Batman going it alone, but a little more detail would be helpful! The cliffhanger is a deus ex machina type move too, with another character randomly popping in. It appears there are no rules as to who can and can’t show up in the series, which does make it fun in a sense, but also cuts some of the stakes out of the equation given there’s no explanation if the heroes are trapped or what.
Is It Good?
This is a fun first issue in a story that superhero team-up fans shouldn’t miss. Choice art, interesting twists, and great dialogue — what more can you want?!
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