Comic Review: Dark Nights Death Metal #2

Dark Nights Death Metal #2

DC Comics

Writer: Scott Snyder

Artist: Greg Capullo

Boy.

Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo sure know how to make something feel massive, huh?

Greg Capullo and Scott Snyder may be the greatest artist/writer duo currently working anywhere simply on a dynamic level. The ability of Capullo to capture the insanity of the inner machinations of Snyder’s mind is simply unparalleled, a true embodiment of the chaos inherent in the writing. No page is under-utilised, no panel wasted on Capullo’s part. It’s almost as if Snyder has a direct line to Capullo’s brain that allows him to just perfectly transmit what he wants to see. Perhaps Capullo is in fact a robot designed by Snyder to be the perfect artist.

However…

Not everything is golden. While the first issue of Death Metal was concentrated on setting up this insane new world and the chaos that exists in the vacuum of power, Death Metal #2 is concentrated on smaller character moments that don’t always give the satisfaction that Snyder wants them to give. The big reveal especially, while being a massive shocking moment, raises several questions about the metanarrative of DC and how they treat their properties. Not much actually happens in the issue beyond the reveal either, which is fine in the second issue of a seven-issue event, but if it continues like this it could become a bigger issue. Snyder has a tendency to go “full-anime” in his ideas which, while brilliantly fun and allows for some of the wildest most insane things in comics, nearing Morrison levels of insanity, can undercut the rest of the issue (and indeed, his ideas in general) greatly. I feel the issue would have served better if it had decided to instead focus entirely on smaller character beats, reactions to the new world, catching up with characters and having moments of poignancy at what they’ve lost, rather than going all out with two huge moments (one of which was seemingly created just to annoy a certain fanbase).

While Dark Nights Death Metal #2 is essential, in the long run, just set-up for a bigger thing to come, it does so decently, with twists and turns coming thick and fast and one of the biggest “Oh my god” moments that Snyder has ever written, and probably will ever write. A decent issue, but one that serves much more as part of the larger narrative and will likely be looked back on as the filler issue of the event.