hard to believe we're almost done with dark nights: metal! issue #5 checks in with the justice league's expeditions and sets up what promises to be an ear-bleeding finale. while there aren't as many deep cuts into dc history, there's still plenty to discuss.
as always, we'll spoil the issue along the way, so be sure you've read your copy before you follow along. previously we've covered the forge (parts 1 and 2) and casting one-shots, plus issues #1, #2, #3 and #4. join us, won't you?
dark nights: metal issue #5 was written by scott snyder, pencilled by greg capullo, inked by jonathan glapion, colored by fco plascencia and lettered by steve wands. rebecca taylor was the editor, assisted by dave wielgosz.
winner of 13 anti-grammies (pages 1, 17)
the issue opens with barbatos perched atop a multiversal tuning fork. he's attended by flying joker-dragons, the batman who laughs and his demonic sidekicks. as crazy as each of those might sound, by now they're nothing new. however, because the batman who laughs encourages his master to "wail," we're compelled to observe that metal may not be over until the bat-demon sings.
along the same lines, we look forward to describing our least favorite song as "anti-music." in a miniseries filled with over-the-top concepts and album-cover-esque spectacle, that simple term is one of the most audacious.
related: interview: snyder teases dark nights: metal’s ultimate dcu ramifications
we don't really check back with barbatos' plan until page 17, when the bmwl lays it out for wonder woman. somehow we forgot to mention the phoenix cannon in last month's annotations, but it gets a lot more attention in this issue. apparently it's new as of this miniseries, because we can't imagine why else thanagar would want to have an interstellar weapon trained perpetually on the earth.
anyway, the plan goes like this: the phoenix cannon has been "reversed" so that it will turn the earth's core "dark." that will push the planet into the dark multiverse, guided via hawkman's mace into an interdimensional portal at the rock of eternity. the bad guys were counting on the justice league assembling all of the necessary nth metal artifacts which otherwise would have been "too dangerous for [the baddies] to risk approaching."
the tripartite scheme reminds us of the trio of artifacts which would free abnegazar, rath and ghast, the so-called "demons three." gardner fox and mike sekowsky created the demons three (along with venerable league foes felix faust and the lord of time) for march 1962's justice league of america issue #10. see, the demons ruled the earth eons ago, but were imprisoned by the mysterious timeless ones. before that, though, the demons created a three-part ritual which would free them. the ritual involved opening the red jar of calythos, ringing the green bell of uthool and spinning the silver wheel of nyorlath. to get the demons to obey him, felix faust mind-controlled the leaguers into retrieving the objects from their secret locations; but (spoilers) the league defeated felix, the demons and the lord of time in issue #11. some 15 years later in october 1977's jla issues #147-148 (written by paul levitz and marty pasko and pencilled by dick dillin), the 30th century wizard mordru tried to do the same thing, including mind-controlling members of the jla and justice society.
related: why plastic man is an egg in dark night: metal, revealed
back in this miniseries, the fact that plastic man's egg is powering the phoenix cannon probably gives the good guys a bit of hope. plas doesn't get to save all of creation that often, but it would be a nice transition for him and mister terrific into the upcoming terrifics ongoing series.
naturally, plas wouldn't be the first dc comics stretchable superhero to save all of time and space. as shown in november 1978's justice league of america issue #160, of all the heroes of the justice league and justice society, the world-famous elongated man turned out to be the last one standing against the lord of time. (an image in this post shows him destroying a robot guardian.) as his doctor explained, "[a]nother man might not have survived ralph dibny's ordeal, but another man wouldn't have had organs and bones as resilient as rubber."
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end-of-the-world's finest; or lava? i just met her! (pages 2-3, 8-9)
although issue #5 has superman and batman escape a giant monstrous hawk-demon which once was carter "hawkman" hall, for our purposes there's not much more to it than that. still, pages 2-3 have visions of a few bat-villains. bob kane and bill finger created the penguin for december 1941's detective comics issue #58; and created two-face for august 1942's detective issue #66. killer croc had a cameo in february 1983's detective issue #523 (written by gerry conway and pencilled by gene colan); but his first full appearance was in april 1983's batman issue #358 (written by conway and pencilled by curt swan).
related: a long lost dc hero returns in dark nights: metal #5
we've seen the kent farm already in metal issue #3, but crime alley makes its metal debut here (sort of). seen first in batman's origin from september 1939's detective issue #33, it was named "crime alley" in march 1976's detective issue #457. that seminal story by denny o'neil and dick giordano established that the site was once known as "park row" before thomas and martha wayne were gunned down under its unforgiving streetlights. accordingly, batman makes a yearly pilgrimage to crime alley as "a reminder [...] of my beginning ... and my probable end!" indeed, the climax of the dark knight returns has one version of batman "end" in crime alley, as (spoilers!) batman defeats superman apparently at the cost of his own life.
while not quite a role reversal, in their sequences here superman is more pessimistic, and batman more hopeful, than we're used to seeing them. it's a nice touch, and based on what the characters have been through it's not inappropriate. batman's thoughts about the rest of the league on page 8, and his recitation from carter's journal on page 9, are in keeping with the spirit of a man who's been tested by the dark multiverse but not entirely broken. although the dark multiverse tries to remind him that "there is no hope in crime alley," he's not buying it.
that said, the journal's contention that "[t]o retreat is to walk alone" reminded us of a certain classic song from the rodgers & hammerstein musical carousel:
when you walk through the storm
hold your head up high
and don't be afraid of the dark
at the end of a storm
there's a golden sky
and the sweet silver song of a lark
walk on through the wind
walk on through the rain
though your dreams be tossed and blown
walk on, walk on
with hope in your heart
and you'll never walk alone
it's been performed everywhere from "cheers" to the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, so we'd have been okay with batman busting it out here. in fact, why not cue it up when you re-read this issue?
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core values (pages 4, 13-14)
page 4 finds aquaman and deathstroke at the center of the earth. since earth's inner core is some 1,520 miles across and blazes away at 5,430 degrees celsius, that must be powerful atlantean science keeping our heroes safe.
related: dark nights: metal – plastic man’s rebirth origin retcon is fittingly malleable
as you might expect, there's a precedent for a hollow dc-earth with an atlantean connection. mike grell created the land of skartaris as the setting for his long-running warlord series, which debuted in november 1975's 1st issue special issue #8. grell's hero travis morgan found his way into skartaris via a portal at the north pole; but eventually the hollow-earth idea gave way to the revelation that skartaris was in another dimension. regardless, in warlord issue #5 (february-march 1977) grell explained how ancient atlanteans colonized skartaris; and in 1983's warlord annual issue #2 (written by cary burkett and pencilled by dan jurgens) introduced morgan to a group of atlantean survivors.
on page 13, aquaman asks how he could have been "unaware" of arion's method for saving atlantis. our arion research hasn't been productive in this area, so perhaps this story hasn't yet been told.
bob haney and nick cardy created the classic aquaman villain black manta for september 1967's aquaman issue #35. in addition to his longstanding enmity with the sea king, manta's current membership in the evil secret society has also pitted him against deathstroke (as shown in january 2018's deathstroke issue #25).
check back tomorrow for the second half of our dark nights: metal #5 annotations, and let us know if we've missed anything in the comments!