Review: Dark Nights: Death Metal – The Multiverse Who Laughs #1 
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: See Graphic Below
Artist: See Graphic Below
Letters: See Graphic Below
Colors: See Graphic Below
Reviewed by: Carl Bryan
Summary
Dark Nights: Death Metal – The Multiverse Who Laughs #1 – The DC Multiverse is a collection of alternate-reality worlds where anything is possible.
Each world tells the tale of a possible split in reality, or shows how lives vary depending on a single, solitary decision. But now that the Multiverse has been destroyed, the Batman Who Laughs has used his god like power to create a new Dark Multiverse…a collection of 52 evil worlds, each more terrifying than the last.
This one-shot offers the curious-and the brave-a glimpse into the nightmare realities that the Batman Who Laughs has created in tales by creators who know what it means to have a truly twisted sense of misfit humor.
An Arkham Asylum even more terrifying than what we know? A world of evil Super Pets? All that and more in these new tales of the Multiverse Who Laughs!
Positives
In 1959 it began with The Twilight Zone. In 1989 we had Tales from the Crypt. 2020 provides us The Robin King giving us Dark Tales from the Multiverse. The Robin King’s soliloquy literally recounts that we as dear readers are tired of the stories. Where to begin he asks….Superman, Wonder Woman or Batman? No… he goes dark. Real dark!
This is the type of homage to those types of programs that simply fits here. Let’s take the Green Arrow and Green Lantern “bromance” and turn it on its ear.
Let’s take a villain like Zsasz and give him something to worry about. That’s dark.
Picture this…Super Pets gone bad…real bad!
Positives 2.0
So paint me surprised on a lot of levels with this story – Steel taking on Scare Crow. I don’t think I have seen this matchup ever.
The nuances in this story are great. Fear toxin is washing over Jean Paul Valley. We see fear in the images of Bane and Batman (adorned in Valley’s costume as he assumed the Mantel of the Bat after Bane broke Batman).
But you want good writing….writing that hits home right now? Brandon Thomas writes “There’s this theory says this thing that some of us and our ancestors have been forced to endure – the brutality and humiliation – the oppression and constant attacks on our humanity. Something gets calloused inside of us so we can function without tearing it all down. Yeah…the air is filled with fear now. But for me son…it’s just Tuesday.“
This is both comic writing at is finest, but also a public commentary so strong it hurts.
Jean Paul wishes to be taught by Steel…. and we are left hanging a bit. Is this a foreshadow story of the shapes of things to come?
Negatives
Someone did their homework watching The Twilight Zone. I’m not a fan of The Super-Pets in this one as the other stories are so much stronger and thought provoking. That one is either “comic” relief or way out of place.
Verdict
The Robin King has eclipsed anything that I ever thought he would be. I thought the first time I saw The Batman Who Laughs was incredible. The Robin King is a perfect narrator for your immersion into this anthology of stories.
