Dark Nights: Death Metal #7 Review

 

It Does Matter

Writer: Scott Snyder

Artist: Greg Capullo, Bryan Hitch, Yanick Paquette, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, Nathan Fairbairn, Alex Sinclair, and Tom Napolitano

Cover Price: $5.99

Release Date: January 5, 2021

Here we are at the end of Death Metal, and while I have been hot and cold with the main book and the many tie-ins, I did find myself excited to read this.  I mean, it's the big thing, right?!?  While I wish that DC Comics didn't play so coy with what is coming around the bend, this finale will surely do the heavy lifting and steering, so how can you not be a bit interested in how it is all wrapping up?  Don't answer that since I will jump into my review right now and tell if you should give this a gander..

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Besides having a long ass title, last week's Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last 52: War of the Multiverses #1 set up this finale as the battle to end all conflicts, Wonder Woman vs. the Batman Who Laughs or He Who Laughs, Darkest Knight, or whatever he is going with these days.  She is all gussied up in gold and ready to lay the BWL out cold... but that can't happen just yet.  First, we need to go on a journey... to make everything matter.

Scott Snyder gives the reader a good opening here, reminding them of how badass the BWL is and showing the stakes at hand.  Everybody is dying!  I know that DC Comics doesn't like the word "reboot", but what better way to want things to change than seeing all your favorite characters dying?  

We continue the issue with Snyder showing his Grant Morrison love by sending Diana careening through time to 160 million years ago to continue the fight, and for some reason, I had high hopes for her.  In contrast, the heroes and villains continue to fight and struggle in the Hellscape.  Some of the battles are a bit more confusing than they should be, but you get the point, the characters we know and love are losing!  They are Losing but not giving up.  That's been the case in most of Snyder's post-Rebirth books, and while I've seen some shade thrown at him for it, at least it comes around to be the lynchpin of Death Metal.

Watch our Dark Nights: Death Metal #7 Video Review

While I'm not going to spoil everything here, I will tell you that the ending makes sense, not in an "everything gets explained by the end", but in a "this feels right" kind of way.  While it's evident that this is a Wonder Woman story, she isn't the only one who shines.  Many heroes and villains get a chance to shine as well, and Lex is easily my favorite of them.  We even get a visit from an old friend that may not make up for what happened before but put a smile on my face nonetheless.

As far as the ending goes, if you are looking for a clear cut vision of what is coming up in Future State and beyond, you will be disappointed.  This is bigger than that. Scott Snyder sets up the blueprint of how the DC Universe will function and hands it off to the creators to build what they want from it.

While I think that a whole lot of Death metal (and Metal before it) ended up becoming more overblown and convoluted than it should have, this finale gets back to the basics.  Heroes fight for us even when they know they won't win.  That sort of thing should always save the day, the earth, the universe, and even the Omniverse.  What's the Omniverse, you ask?  Go pick up this issue to find out.

Bits and Pieces:

Dark Nights: Death Metal #7 is all about making everything matter, and it does a good job of it.  While I'm not going to tell you that it makes every issue of every tie-in and one-shot important, I will tell you it made me smile more than any other issue of this event.  Scott Snyder keeps it simple, and Greg Capullo and friends make it all look great.  Even if you fell off Death Metal, or didn't read it at all, I suggest picking this up.

8.0/10