Metal Men #9 Review

When A Stranger Calls

Written By: Dan Didio, Shane Davis

Art By: Shane Davis, Jason Wright, Travis Lanham

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: August 18, 2020

The Nth Metal Man sure has been causing a ruckus in the DC Universe and most recently we've seen that not only has he given true life and sentience to the Metal Men, but it appears he's done this to Chemo as well and that big bag of chemicals hasn't been so kind with his newfound life. In the previous issue, we saw Chemo kill off the new Metal Mammals on his rampage through Manhattan but thankfully, the Metal Men, sans Gold and Platinum showed up to take on their old foe and now it's time to see if true life has changed our heroes for the better or worse when it comes to fighting evil. Let's jump into this issue and check it out.

For this showcase of heroes, we continue with Iron, Lead, Mercury and Tin taking on Chemo, which is a fun fight scene, but the fun factor was heightened with a simple solution that our newly sentient heroes came up with to fight one of their greatest foes and it's so funny because it's so simple in that they simply coat themselves with the polymer that is on the casing of Chemo. It's so funny that it took this long for our heroes to come up with this simple solution, but it's played off great here while referencing the past of these characters.  

As for the Nth Metal Man, his mystery deepens as he returns to the Nth Metal pool that he came from initially in an attempt to seal it off, what with it being a portal to the Dark Multiverse and in this, it seems that the Nth Metal Man seems to be a fleeing refugee from some dark world, who is simply looking for some sort of asylum from whoever is pursuing him from his homeworld. Beyond this though, there isn't much to go into with this aspect to the story because even though we have Phantom Stranger show up here to impede on the Nth Metal Man's plan to seal up the portal, there are still too many questions about what our newest Metal Man is up to or what he may be running from and why. All we really get here is that it has something to do with Platinum. Even though there were many questions left on the table by the end of this issue, it was a lot of fun though, but damn do I need to know what's up with this mysterious Nth Metal Man.

All in all, the art, the inks, the colors, everything that you're going to look at in this book is amazing and this series continues to be not only one of my favorite books that DC Comics is putting out overall but the best-looking one as well. The Metal Men are getting the band back together and it seems that they've decided that with their newfound sentience and the ability to choose what their lives will be that they've come full circle and landed back into the heroics game, which was fun as hell to see here, not just only to have a great fight scene, but seeing them with their new confidence and personalities was just a treat. The plot thickens with the Nth Metal Man here and while I would have liked to see more overall when it comes to this enigmatic character, I still had a great time with what was given here and can't wait to see what happens next.

Bits and Pieces:

The battle is on here with the newly sentient Metal Men and their biggest foe, Chemo, but will this change in personality and consciousness lead to something deeper from the storytelling? Yes, yes it will and it's a joy to see...... especially because the art is vibrant and amazing all the way through. With great action, shocking cameos, and a mystery that leaves you wanting more I just want to know why you're not already reading Metal Men.

8/10