Early this morning, DC Comics revealed the next stage of its Dark Nights: Metal event in the form of seven one-shots, each featuring "a different, corrupted version of Batman spawned from the Dark Multiverse to wreak havoc on Earth."
Earlier this week saw the release this week of Dark Days: The Forge, an oversize one-shot that teases a secret history of the DC Universe, and lays the foundation for July’s Dark Days: The Casting, and Dark Nights: Metal, the August-debuting miniseries by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo.
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The cover was revealed in a tweet from Snyder. "Got the ok from DC to tweet this crazy early as a thanks," Snyder tweeted. "Aug. The Dark Multiverse invades. Now let's melt some faces."
At a glance, the cover appears simple enough; Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman and the rest of their Justice League teammates have already been announced as major players in the event. Then you notice that the Leaguers are arranged to form a "V," and it gets you wondering about the significance of their placement. Does the "V" stand for "victory," perhaps? And where is Aquaman? Considering his fairly prominent role in the recent Dark Days: The Forge one-shot, and presence in the Metal art we've already seen, it's odd that he's nowhere to be found on the first issue's cover.
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When Batman begins to investigate the most recent death of Hawkman, the opening events of Metal “blows it out into an entire Justice League extravaganza, where everybody sort of goes and finds out that the DC cosmos is a lot larger and scarier and wondrous than everyone thought,” Snyder explained in an interview last month.
Launching in August, the Dark Nights: Metal event will kick off DC’s brand new “Dark Matter” line, which will consist of The Silencer by Dan Abnett and John Romita Jr., Sideways by Dan DiDio and Justin Jordan and Kenneth Rocafort, Immortal Men by James Tynion IV and Jim Lee, Damage by Robert Venditti and Tony S. Daniel, and New Challengers by Scott Snyder and Andy Kubert.
Written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Greg Capullo, Dark Nights: Metal is described as the former Batman team’s “rock ‘n’ roll epic.” According to DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio, the entire DC Universe is at risk in the event. “Not even just our world,” he said, “but multiple worlds at risk.” The story will examine every choice a hero doesn’t take and every path they don’t walk, opening up worlds that are forged by nightmares, and characters and stories from each of the “Dark Matter” books will be plotted throughout this series.