Convergence #4 (2015) Review

Time In A Bottle

Written By: Jeff King
Art By: Stephen Segovia, Mark Farmer, Julio Ferreira, Jonathan Glapion, Rob Hunter, Jason Paz, Mark Roslan, John Starr, Peter Steigerwald
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 29, 2015

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Is everyone ready to Converge?  Well, you better hurry up and get ready because we're knuckle deep in this and it's only going to become more awkward if you don't get your game face on........ Yeah, I don't know what I'm talking about, but it probably got your attention.  When we last checked in on the mad planet Telos, we saw Kandor destroyed, our Earth 2 Wonders making their way into Skartaris, Batman killing himself and a whole mess of Pre-Flashpoint Gotham villains with him and the Joker from the same dome shooting Dick Grayson before Telos wanted him to impersonate Linda Blair from The Exorcist............. You guys, have to get more cultured, what I'm saying is; Telos killed the Joker.  As the issue ended, Dick Grayson whined about not feeling his legs, even though the shot he took was nowhere near his spine and Telos wanted him to go all stool pigeon on his Earth-2 buddies.  Let's see if Dick Grayson becomes a rat and if anymore domed cities feel the wrath of the Convergence.  

Explain It!:

Our story begins with me getting furious because we've gone from Dick Grayson looking for sympathy by whining that he can't feel his legs........ To Telos actually confirming that the Joker's bullet shattered Grayson's spine.  Now this just seems like a whole bunch of shenanigans and if I were to buy this whole "spine shattering" thing, I would have to assume that the people of Earth-2 have some screwed up biology going on.

I THINK GETTING SHOT WAS THE LEAST OF GRAYSON'S PROBLEMS IF THIS IS HOW HIS SPINE LOOKED........DUDE NEEDS A CHIROPRACTOR!

So I guess we'll go with Grayson being paralyzed since Telos confirmed it and all and even though Telos seemed to just want information out of Grayson to the whereabouts of the other Earth-2 survivors, he seems to keep Grayson around and even gives him a metal shell to allow him to live, even though he remained tight-lipped on a question and Telos even takes Grayson getting all logical on him about how this Convergence battle royal is madness.  I guess Telos is really just trying to get Grayson to see his side of things but it comes off odd because I wouldn't think that Telos would have time for that........ Also, I was under the impression that after Brainiac disappeared going after Metropolis in Futures End that Telos just kind of went crazy and started messing with his master's toys because he believed that Brainiac wanted them to fight for their survival.  I guess I was wrong though because it comes off here that this was Brainiac's plan all along but wanted it to play out a lot longer than a couple of days.

Let's take a break from Telos and his god complex and see what our other Earth-2 survivors are up to.  Once they reach Skartaris, Deimos keeps coming off really sketchy because he keeps talking about killing people and Val-Zod has to keep reminding him that they don't do that.  Once the battle begins at the castle, Deimos disappears from the action and begins making his way to the bowels of the castle, where the Time Masters are being kept for Warlord........ Who for some reason is battling Lizard Men and just now realizing that they aren't on their planet anymore.  You could say that he just didn't know because of the dome but it comes off like he didn't even know a dome was there in the first place...... So that's Warlord's story.  Deimos then takes out Yolanda Montez who was chasing after him and we finally have definite proof that he's not on the level when he starts spouting off about dark magic and taking the powers of the time masters for himself.

In the end, the rest of the Earth-2 Wonders make their way down into the castle to find Deimos all powered up and Telos and Grayson teleport in as well and just when I think an all mighty fight is going to take place, Deimos goes and does one better.  Using the power of the Time Masters he contacts Brainiac and the T-Sphere trapped god tells Deimos that if he releases him, he'll have anything that he desires.......... I think Telos is going to have some splaining to do!

That's it for this issue of Convergence and even though I'm crying a great big fat foul on Grayson being paralyzed, the rest of the issue was really fun.  Yeah, it didn't get too in-depth with the Time Masters but I think that job is being relegated to the Booster Gold tie-in, or at least I hope it is.  We're halfway through the story at this point and so far Convergence has been kind of lackluster, but me being ever optimistic still thinks that this could be an excellent story.  All the pieces are there, it's just all this nonsense with the Earth 2 characters that we have to get beyond....... Not the Thunderdome scenario......... We can never get Beyond Thunderdome.  All in all, this was an okay issue that puts us in an excellent spot to pick up next week.  One thing I can tell you is that this event certainly has some kick-ass cliffhangers that keep me coming back each week.

Bits and Pieces:

While maybe not up to the "holy shit" momentum that we had in last week's issue, this certainly has kept my interest and solidified some ideas that were out and about that were keeping me guessing.  We're halfway through Convergence at this point and while I can't say that this first half has blown me away, I still remain optimistic for what's to come.

6.8/10