Dark Nights: Metal #6, Annotated; Part 2

Back in December 2016, when writer Scott Snyder and penciller Greg Capullo were preparing to reunite for a "Batman heavy metal rock opera," Snyder spoke effusively about the project's tone. "I want this one to be different," he explained. "I don’t want it to be grim. I don’t want it to be superheroes arguing over something. Superheroes won’t be fighting superheroes. I want it to be celebratory, and huge, and crazy. I am going for out of control dinosaurs and lasers. It should be fun."

Fifteen months later -- and nine months after Dark Days: The Forge kicked everything off -- we can say safely that it has been fun (if sometimes exhausting) combing through the details of Snyder and Capullo's gonzo epic. Dark Nights: Metal issue #6 brings everything full circle, and even teases a couple of encores and side gigs. Join us one last time for all the nitpicking and Easter eggs you can handle!

Needless to say, there will be spoilers. In case you need to catch up, we've annotated the Forge (part 1, part 2) and Casting one-shots, plus issues #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 (part 1, part 2) and the first half of Issue #6.

The main story of Dark Nights: Metal issue #6 was written by Scott Snyder and pencilled by Greg Capullo, inked by Jonathan Glapion, colored by FCO Plascencia and lettered by Steve Wands. The "Coda" was written by Snyder and James Tynion IV, pencilled by Alvaro Martinez, inked by Raul Martinez, colored by June Chung and Brad Anderson, and lettered by Wands. Rebecca Taylor was the Editor, assisted by Dave Wielgosz.

Audience Participation (Pages 29-32)

Hope you survive the experience — The Source Wall, from Uncanny X-Men and New Teen Titans by Chris Claremont and Walt Simonson

We mentioned "Fulcum Abominus" above, but Google Translate isn't helping us with its meaning. We'll take Batman's word that it means what he says it does. Another reference to issue #1 pops up on Page 29, as the Leaguers are admonished not to "form a giant robot" on their own.

Element X allows the Leaguers to charge up the whole Earth on Page 30, not unlike the Earth's population gaining (temporary) superpowers in May 2000's JLA issue #41.

The Source Wall (Page 32) is a unique addition to the Fourth World, because it wasn't a Jack Kirby creation. Technically, we might say it's not even fully a DC Comics creation. It first appeared in 1982's Uncanny X-Men and New Teen Titans crossover, written by Chris Claremont and pencilled by Walter Simonson. Simonson explained (on the old CBR message boards, no less) that he based the Source Wall on a "Final Barrier" from Kirby's New Gods issue #5. As presently portrayed, the Source Wall is a physical partition made up of the immobile bodies of those who have attempted to breach it. These include the "Promethean Giants," a nod to Kirby's notion that beyond the Final Barrier lay the Promethean Galaxy.

The story of Metal concludes with a glowing cosmic hand reaching through the Source Wall, in what seems like an obvious nod to the cosmic hand which "spun" the universe into existence as shown in October 1965's Green Lantern issue #40 and Crisis On Infinite Earths issue #7.

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You Don't Have To Go Home, But You Can't Stay At Wayne Manor (Pages 33-44)

However, Metal issue #6 isn't done! Page 33 gives us a non-evil Alfred Pennyworth. Batman's butler Alfred (no last name given) first appeared in April-May 1943's Batman issue #16, in a story written by Don Cameron, pencilled by Bob Kane, and inked by Jerry Robinson and George Roussos. Alfred gained the last name of Beagle in February 1945's Detective issue #96; but not until November 1969's Batman #216 was the Silver Age's Alfred given the last name of Pennyworth.

Pages 34-35 describe Barbatos chained up "at the bottom of the Dark Multiverse." It's not exactly the Ninth Circle of Hell from Dante's Inferno, because that stuck Lucifer waist-deep in a lake of ice. However, just as Lucifer is at the very pit of Hell, Barbatos is in a similar spot at the bottom of the Dark Multiverse, where (like the Devil waiting for the Second Coming of Christ) he "await[s] the true forger's return."

Nice fountain, too — Cincinnati's Union Terminal, inspiration for the Super Friends' Hall of Justice

The Metal Men -- a group we would have expected to see more of in a miniseries called Metal -- make their first appearance in Metal itself on Pages 36-37. They showed up previously in the Wild Hunt special. Created by Bob Kanigher and Ross Andru and first appearing in March-April 1962's Showcase issue #37, the Metal Men are a group of shape-shifting androids, each made of a different metal, whose artificial intelligence comes from "responsometers" developed by their creator, Doctor Will Magnus. (We saw Magnus in photos on Blackhawk Island from issue #1.) The classic group of Metal Men include Gold, Lead, Tin, Platinum (a/k/a "Tina"), Iron and Mercury, although more recently they've added Copper. This group of Metal Men looks consistent with their New 52 redesigns, which appeared first in April 2014's Justice League issue #28.

Not surprisingly, Pages 36-37 also depict most of the characters and/or series spinning off from Metal, including Hawkman, Immortal Men, Sideways and The Unexpected. Similarly, Pages 38-39 tease developments in longstanding DC books, like Atlantis rising in Aquaman, the "Flash War" in Flash, and the Dark Pantheon in Wonder Woman (or perhaps the new Justice League Dark). The Controllers were just in recent issues of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, but here we see them reviving their own Darkstar corps, perhaps for Justice League Odyssey?

While we're on the subject, Jim Shooter, Curt Swan and editor Mort Weisinger created the Controllers for a Legion of Super-Heroes story in June 1967's Adventure Comics issue #357. However, October 1985's Crisis On Infinite Earths issue #7 revealed that they had broken off from the Guardians of the Universe and sought not just to contain evil, but to destroy it. The Darkstars were the Controllers' latter-day answer to the Green Lantern Corps. Created by Michael Jan Friedman and Mike Collins, the gropu first appeared in October 1992's Darkstars issue #1. After Parallax (in the body of Hal Jordan) destroyed the GL Corps, many ex-Lanterns joined the Darkstars, including John Stewart, Galius Zed, Medphyll, and G'Nort. A de-powered Donna Troy was also a Darkstar briefly.

We know that Batman's well-connected, but on Pages 40-41, he says (rather casually, we imagine) that he's been "speaking with the gods of New Genesis." To be fair, Mister Miracle appeared in the Forge special, and Batman's worked with other New Gods before (most notably Forager in the 1988 Cosmic Odyssey miniseries). Still, this makes us wonder how Metal relates to the trippy New God subplots in the current Mister Miracle miniseries.

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As discussed previously, J'Onn J'Onzz and Hawkgirl have been longtime Justice Leaguers. J'Onn goes back all the way to the team's debut in February-March 1960's The Brave and the Bold issue #28, and he was a part of every League until 2011's New 52 relaunch. The Silver Age Hawkgirl (who changed her codename eventually to Hawkwoman) worked with the League off and on with Hawkman before joining in her own right in August 1977's Justice League of America issue #145. Kendra Saunders was part of a special team of Justice League reserves (to be led by Nightwing in case all the regular Leaguers were dead), first activated in Early October 2002's JLA issue #69. She became a regular Leaguer in December 2006's Justice League of America issue #3.

We suppose if Bruce Wayne couldn't hire Sex Bob-Omb to play for his dinner guests, a trio of Alfred Pennyworth, Jon Kent and Damian Wayne (Pages 42-43) would do just fine. Because we are old, though, we are reminded of Great Frog, the band Roy "Speedy I/Arsenal" Harper formed after splitting up with Green Arrow. Great Frog first appeared in the Green Arrow backup story (written by Elliott S! Maggin and pencilled by Dick Dillin) from June 1974's Action Comics issue #436. Roy was a member of Great Frog through the 1970s Teen Titans revival, but its fame spans universes. In October 2009's Amazing Spider-Man issue #601, Peter Parker mentions that he and Mary Jane once saw the band play.

Page 44 wraps up the Coda with the revelation that Bruce Wayne has commissioned a new Hall of Justice, which will look just like the Hall from the various Super Friends cartoons. Described in stentorian tones by the immortal Ted Knight as "the great hall of the Justice League," the Hall of Justice was based on Cincinnati's Union Terminal train station. It has had comics counterparts before, including the 2006-2011 Justice League of America (where the League alternated between the Earthbound Hall and the orbiting Watchtower) and the New 52 version of Justice League International (where the Hall was destroyed by a terrorist attack). Since the current Justice League Watchtower has just crashed in Africa, the League could use a new headquarters.

Finally, although this is only tangentially related to these annotations, we owe a spiritual debt to the late Michael Fleisher. Born November 1, 1942, he died on February 2, 2018. Although he wrote Spectre stories in Adventure Comics and Jonah Hex in All-Star Western (and then Hex's own book), we're grateful to him here for his three volumes of The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes. Produced in the late 1970s and covering most of the Golden and Silver Ages, these ambitious analyses of Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman helped shape many a Gen Xer's DC fandom; and we've consulted them often while compiling these annotations. We love the convenience of the Internet, but there's nothing like leafing through a book filled with trivia about utility belts, invisible planes, or the various kinds of Kryptonite. Metal was fun for us because it made all kinds of crazy connections, and Fleisher's work helped us appreciate how those connections could be made.

In that respect, we hope you've enjoyed these deep dives into DC lore! We have certainly enjoyed the diving, and are looking forward to Justice League as the "encore."

What did you spot in Dark Nights: Metal issue #6? Let us know in the comments!