Review: Dark Nights- Metal: The Resistance

Quick Summary

Pros: Most of the storylines are exciting and work well in conjunction with the main event. The Batman: Lost chapter is an awesome celebration of Batman as a character. The artwork looks good throughout, especially in a couple chapters.

Cons: Some of the storylines have lackluster conclusions.

Overall: With a ton of positives and very few negatives, this volume is a success overall. It provides a few exciting and action-packed adventures and then balances these out with some shorter, but more psychological, stories. Everything here is entertaining at minimum and works as a good accompaniment to the main event. Readers looking to expand the Dark Nights: Metal event, or just see an amazing Batman story, should definitely pick up this volume.

Story

Dark Nights: Metal: The Resistance tells multiple good stories and one great one, together forming a solid accompaniment to the Dark Nights: Metal (Review) event. Here, readers discover more about how the heroes of the world fought against the armies of Barbatos and how these activities played into an even larger event. This leads to a few stories that feature awesome action and a few that feature introspective trips into the psyche of a specific character. Not every story here is great, but the positives heavily outweigh the negatives and make this a worthwhile venture overall.

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The Resistance starts out with the “Gotham Resistance” which has Damian Wayne, Nightwing, Harley Quinn, and Green Arrow making their way to Challengers Mountain to discover what happened to Batman. This adventure is well-written and well-structured; the well defined story sections found here allow it to spotlight a different hero and villain with every chapter. In addition, the entire escapade is filled with action and emotion in a way that works well to complement the greater story found in Dark Nights: Metal.

From here, the volume transitions into its pièce de résistance, the “Batman: Lost” chapter. This chapter is a remarkable and celebratory trip through Batman’s history in a way that connects to the current saga being told. From start to finish, it reads like a love letter to longtime Batman comic readers. Plus, it also helps further establish Barbatos as a formidable villain and shows off how sinister his nightmarish plan really is. This chapter ends up being a great story on its own and a fantastic accompaniment to the narrative of this event.

The next major story is the “Bats out of Hell” storyline, which has the Justice League take on the evil Batmen. This section feels a lot like the “Gotham Resistance” chapters, in that both feature plenty of action and give specific heroes a moment in the spotlight. However, the storytelling in the “Bats out of Hell” chapters is a bit weaker than the rest of the volume. This is still a solid adventure but not quite as good as the rest of the book.

The final chapter, in The Resistance, is the “Hawkman: Found” chapter. This explains Hawkman’s condition in the later portions of Dark Nights: Metal (Review) and also digs in to who he is as a character. Though all of this is great to see, the biggest success here is the way this chapter helps to further develop the event’s theme regarding working against the inevitable. It shows how hard Hawkman is struggling against the darkness, even though every one of his attempts ends up failing. In the end, this is another good addition to this book.

The biggest problem in this collection, is that the conclusion to both of the larger stories is somewhat lackluster. The “Gotham Resistance” storyline leaves readers with an emotional moment centered around Nightwing and Robin, yet these emotions are never answered in the main event, or anywhere else for that matter. Then, the “Bats out of Hell” storyline ends with nearly every character in the same position they were in before the storyline started, leaving the entire ordeal feeling a bit inconsequential. Both adventures are still fun and engaging; they simply end in a way that does not live up to expectation.

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Art

The Resistance features artwork from a number of talented artists, ultimately creating a visually impressive volume. Some of the standout moments come from Juan Ferreyra and Stjepan Šejić’s work on two chapters from “Gotham Resistance”. Both of these chapters look great and help amplify the tone of each chapter. Plus, Doug Mahnke, Yanick Paquette, and Jorge Jimenez’s work on the “Batman: Lost” chapter ends up looking fantastic as well, making it one of the most significant highlights in the collection as a whole. Overall, this is a good looking book where problems with the artwork are kept at a minimum throughout.

Continuity

Dark Nights: Metal: The Resistance is a tie-in to the Dark Nights: Metal (Review) event. This book has its origins in Dark Days: The Road to Metal (Review), Dark Nights: Metal: Dark Knights Rising, and the first few chapters from Dark Nights: Metal.

The story here continues in the final few chapters of Dark Nights: Metal.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• A number of the Teen Titan’s recent adventures are mentioned here. This includes:
  • Kid Flash getting kicked off the team. This happened in Titans: The Lazarus Contract.
  • Aqualad joining the team. This happened in Teen Titans Vol. 2: The Rise of Aqualad.
• Green Arrow’s involvement here was teased on the final page of Green Arrow Vol. 5: Hard Travelin’ Hero. This story also shows Green Arrow finding the ancient arrowhead he mentions here.
• Nightwing mentions a number of elements from his past. These include:
  • His recent battle with Simon Hurt, which occurred in Nightwing Vol. 3: Nightwing Must Die!
  • The discovery that the Court of Owls planned out pieces of his life. This discovery is shown at the end of both Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (Review) and Nightwing Vol. 1: Traps and Trapezes (Review).
  • His work in dismantling the Court of Owls, which occurred in Nightwing Vol. 1: Better than Batman (Review).
• Nightwing says that he and Damian had to search for Batman at an earlier time. This is likely a reference to when Batman disappeared due to the events of Final Crisis and the duo searched for him in Batman & Robin, Vol. 3: Batman & Robin Must Die.
• A number of famous Batman stories are discussed and shown at the beginning of the “Batman: Lost” chapter. These stories are:
  • “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies”, the first story from the Superman/Batman series. This is currently collected in Superman/Batman Vol. 1.
  • “Daughter of the Demon”, a story from Batman #232 featuring the first appearance of Ra’s al Ghul.
  • Under the Red Hood, the story that saw the return of Jason Todd.
  • The Black Mirror, the last Detective Comics story arc before the universe was rebooted in the New 52. It is also the first Batman story by Scott Snyder.
  • No Justice, the sequel to Dark Nights: Metal.
  • “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate,” discussed below.
  • The “Court of Owls,” a storyline that introduced Batman to the Court of Owls. It started in Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls (Review) and extends into Batman Vol. 2: The City of Owls (Review).
    
  • “A Lonely Place of Dying,” the storyline following the death of Jason Todd and the introduction of Tim Drake. This is collected in Batman: A Death in the Family.
  • “Knightfall,” the story famous for introducing Bane and breaking Batman’s back.
  • Hush, one of the most famous Batman comics.
  • Dark Victory, a sequel to The Long Halloween.
  • The Long Halloween, a famous miniseries by Jeph Loeb.
  • “Tower of Babel,” a JLA story collected in JLA Vol. 4.
  • The Man Who Laughs, a story detailing the first meeting between Joker and Batman.
• “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate” plays a big part in the “Batman: Lost” chapter, as it is the first ever Batman story. This issue was originally published in Detective Comics #27 and is currently collected in Batman: The Golden Age Vol. 1.
• Batman’s trip to the past is a reference to Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne.
• The cult ceremony is a reference to Batman: Dark Night, Dark City.
• Alan Wayne is shown in a way that clearly relates to his appearance in Batman #3, collected in Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls.
• Thawne’s current condition is mentioned. This is explained in the final issue of The Flash Vol. 4: Running Scared.
• The machine in Superman’s Fortress of Solitude is first shown in Crisis on Infinite Earths and then again in Infinite Crisis.
• Hal Jordan references detonating Warworld and coming back from the afterlife. He detonated Warworld in Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War and came back to life in Green Lantern Vol. 3: The End.
• Cyborg’s look at the multiverse shows some of the same Earths that are featured in Multiversity.
• The trip through Hypertime shows a number of different realities. These include:
  • The world of the Justice League 3000, which is first shown in Justice League 3000 Vol. 1: Yesterday Lives.
  • A potential future where the children of the Justice League have formed a new Justice League, which is first shown in Justice League Vol. 5: Legacy (Review).
  • The world of Flashpoint, which is first shown in Flashpoint (Review).
  • The alternate future of the Titans Tomorrow, which is first shown in Teen Titans/Legion Of Super-Heroes Special #1, now collected in Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Book Two.
  • The world of the All-Star Superman comic series, which is first shown in All-Star Superman.
  • The alternate future of Futures End, which is first shown in Futures End Vol. 1.