Friday, 30 January 2015

PREVIEWS FEB15 - DC Convergence special

by Ben Fardon

By now many of you are used to the usual shenanigans that DC produce in September ever since the New 52 launched. Well, we've got an extra publishing stunt from them this year - as they cover their relocation from New York to LA - with the nine-week Convergence event that has been described by some at DC as a chance to have their cake and eat it.

I'm honestly not sure what to make of this. Basically it appears that not one, but two Braniacs have managed to squeeze the secrets of time travel and alternate dimensions out of - again - not one, but two Booster Golds. This leads to Convergence were said Braniacs are pitting pre-New 52 versions of characters against their New 52 versions, and indeed Flashpoint incarnations of heroes and villains too.




Written by relative newcomer Jeff King with assistance from Scott Lobdell and Dan Jurgens, the main nine-part Convergence miniseries is a weekly title starting on April 1st (I know, right?). Here's the pitch straight from DC:

Where do worlds go when they die? The Earthquakes felt round the Multiverse, Superman's lost days after 'Doomed,' the World's End - all these points will converge as the history of the DCU is spun from a new perspective, the perspective of a mad god and his arrogant child. The biggest story in DC history ties into literally every DC story ever told - and it all begins here. Kingdom Come, Red Son, Wild West Justice League, Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew - all the worlds you remember can still be found on Telos. Everything matters. Every story matters. Don't miss the start of DC's April/May 2015 event with this special issue! 

After that, there will be eight further issues for Convergence. In addition to that there will be twenty other titles, all running for just two issues, featuring an array of characters from the New-52, the previous incarnation of the DCU as well as Zero Hour, Crisis On Infinite Earths and Flashpoint.

These titles are as follows: Atom, Batgirl, Batman & Robin, Harley Quinn, Justice League, Nightwing Oracle, Question, Speed Force, Superman, Titans, Aquaman, Batman Shadow Of The Bat, Catwoman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern Parallax, Justice League International, Suicide Squad, Superboy, Supergirl Matrix, Superman Man Of Steel, Adventures Of Superman, Batman & The Outsiders, Flash, Green Lantern Corps, Hawkman, Justice League America, New Teen Titans, Superboy & The Legion, Swamp Thing, Wonder Woman, Action Comics, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Crime Syndicate, Detective Comics, Infinity Inc, Justice Society Of America, Plastic Man Freedom Fighters, Shazam and Worlds Finest Comics.

Full details on these issues can be found on DC's website here: http://www.dccomics.com/tags/convergence.


Despite serious concerns about the overall title, I do think some of the individual titles tickle my interest as a fan of the DCU prior to the New 52. My personal selections would be the Batgirl issues featuring Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain; the return of the Gotham City Sirens in the Harley Quinn issues; the Nightwing/Oracle issues because they're written by Gail Simone and Gail + Babs = win; the return of Renee Montoya as The Question in - appropriately enough - The Question; the grudge match between Batman and Azrael that we'll find in Batman: Shadow Of The Bat; and the fate of the Booster Golds at the heart of it all in their titular issues. 

We're offering a special offer on a complete set of all 49 comics in the Convergence for £140 saving you over £20. A deposit of £40 will be required by 2pm on Monday 2nd March to confirm your order if you take up that special offer. This can be paid in store or via PayPal.

(With regret the offer above has been withdrawn, due to a miscalculation in the number of Convergence issues (89 comics, not the previously stated 49). We will honour this offer for any customer who has paid in full before the release of Convergence #0 and contact all other customers to advise them of any replacements offers and refund deposits where already paid. We apologise for the inconvenience.)

Reservation Service customers are asked to complete our SurveyMonkey order form for the Convergence event before midday on Sunday 1st March. You can do this in the embed below, or follow this link if that's easier: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7X7XKVX. Alternatively, please pop in store and we can help you place your order.

Our orders for comics for the shelves on Convergence are going to be pretty low based on the reaction to previous DC New 52 stunts, so please do use this order form to guarantee your Convergence comics.


Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.


Convergence starts on Wednesday 1st April.



I'll be back later in the month with a look at the rest of the highlights from Previews. Please email any questions to shop@proudlion.co.uk.

Ben Fardon is looking forward to giving the XCOM Board Game a go.

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