By Garrett Hanneken

All roads lead to darkness. The finale to Dark Nights Metal kicks off with that very statement as we have multiple factors reach a conclusion. The once dragon of The Forger, Barbatos, is seen, quite literally, towering over the earth as it is being plunged into the depths. The Batman who Laughs begins to reveal the captive behind the bandages and meanwhile, the only superheroes capable of fighting are Wonder Woman and Lady Blackhawk as they take on hoards of various evil incarnations from the dark multiverse. This issue begins in darkness, but is there a light of hope at the end?

Writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo have taken us on quite an epic journey that explores the lore of the DC universe by referencing Grant Morrison’s work and even brought into play Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. With that said, this blockbuster of a comic does not slow down the pace when it reaches the end. The final issue delivers on action, a unique story, and most importantly, heart.

First, the action of the issue is remarkable, and Capullo’s artwork showcases a battle to feast your eyes upon. The combat is a bloody one as we see a Minotaur's head leave its shoulders, but the real sight to behold goes to Plastic Man’s arrival. He literally transforms into a dinosaur, a bulldozer and, in the words of Mister Terrific, a damn shark!  Later on in the comic things get just as good and crazy when Batman rides a dragon that has the Joker’s face because of course, Batman would return in that fashion.

It should be noted that this eccentric style that Snyder built into the story is not necessarily bizarre, but fun. It is through the grand scale of things that I have learned this. At its center, Dark Nights Metal is about an evil being looking to destroy and devour other worlds. However, it is how this story is told which makes it unique and the conclusion is no exception.

SPOILER TERRITORY AHEAD… First, we have Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman rally back wearing armor composed of tenth metal (a metal of pure possibility). Next, there is The Batman Who Laughs unveiling that his captive is the Over-Monitor (the original being and sort of god of the DC universe) with the plan to combine positive (Over-Monitor), negative (Anti-Monitor’s astral brain) and dark (The Batman Who Laughs) energy to essentially blow everything up. Then Batman teams up with the Joker in order to defeat The Batman Who Laughs since teaming up with the Joker is so out of character that The Batman Who Laughs (who is Bruce from another universe) won’t even see it coming. Lastly, the story concludes with our heroes working together and using the tenth metal to raise the earth before it plummets to darkness.

The use of tenth metal is where the story sees the light through the darkness. It states that all of humanity contains traces of tenth metal which enables our heroes to reach out and connect with those who were lost in the dark, bringing and rising them back up with the earth. The world is saved, but that is not the heart-warming finale I speak of. The uplifting moment is when the comic talks directly to the reader, encouraging them to question and explore as Hawkman did and that we too have traces of this unique metal in us that our heroes used to save the world, making us not only readers of this epic journey but contributors.

Lastly, I want to bring up the epilogue and teasers of the comic which denotes the importance of what’s to come. We see glimpses of the New Age of Heroes, Atlantis rising to the surface, an older Green Lantern character named Darkstar, a hint at a dark pantheon for Wonder Woman, a reference to the upcoming Flash Wars, and a set-up for the No Justice storyline. The only thing to do for these upcoming events is to plan, leaving us with an image of the blueprints for the Hall of Justice.

SCORE: 5/5

Dark Nights Metal #6
DC Comics