Concluding this week, DC Comics' Convergence put the big in "big event": There were 89 individual comic books – a nine-issue weekly miniseries and 40 two-part miniseries – created by more than 75 writers and pencilers, plus a comparable legion of inkers, colorists and letterers.

Because of the sheer size, it's difficult to review the event in its entirety, so I'm not going to bother picking it part here. The main series wasn't particularly good, while the 40 tie-in series varied from terrible to excellent, with most of them falling somewhere in between.

In case you've watched this leviathan of a superhero event passing by without reading much – or any – of it, I thought it would be worthwhile to point out some of those excellent books, the ones that you should read if you decide to pick up any of Convergence, regardless of your interest in, or affection for, particular characters.

The essential premise of Convergence is this: Superman villain Brainiac, who has long made a habit of shrinking cities and putting them in bottles to collect, discovered the Multiverse, and traveled to different times and realities to collect cities. Rather than shrinking and bottling these, however, he "domed" them and relocated them to a sentient planet outside of time and space called Telos.

Telos decided to pit characters from these cities against one another in death matches, with the destruction of the losing city and all its inhabitants serving as incentive for the heroes to participate. These fights unfold in the 40 miniseries, while Convergence proper dealt with Telos running afoul of superheroes from the Earth-2 comic book and Mike Grell's old Warlord comic.

These are the five best series, which I'll list in order of most to least awesome:



CONVERGENCE: THE ATOM

Written by Tom Peyer, drawn by Steve Yeowell and Andy Owens, and colored by "Hi-fi" with covers by Steve Dillon

This has been the stand-out, and with good reason. Writer Tom Peyer treats the premise of the entire series as insane as it is, and goes to great lengths to respond with a crazy story.

The Atom Ray Palmer is stuck in Gotham City, like all the other "pre-Flashpoint" characters of the first week. Unlike the other heroes, however, he still has a superpower, just not his superpower. While he can no longer shrink, Palmer can grow ... but just his hand. That he can grow to enormous proportions, and the arm its attached to seems to be able to stretch as well.



That's just one of the mysteries regarding the character. The other is how and why the brilliant physicist -- a certifiable genius among the superhero crowd -- has gone completely around the bend. Seemingly living on the streets and wearing his costume 24/7, Palmer has begun constantly talking to himself. Whenever he shows up, still wearing his Atom costume, to save the day, anyone who sees him responds with dismay.

Meanwhile, he hasn't given up hope that he'll one day be able to avenge the death of his protegee and fellow Atom, Ryan Choi, who was murdered by Deathstroke (a character who, as the unlikely coincidences of Convergence would have it, is also stuck under the dome in Gotham).

The Atom's opponent is some minor character from the post-Crisis world of The Extremists (if that doesn't mean anything to you, don't worry; it's not important). The real exciting part of the second half of the series, however, is the revelation of how The Atom's new power works, who the voice is in his head, and how he will be able to gain vengeance and/or justice for Choi.

The answers basically boil down to "comic book science," which is, of course, The Atom's whole deal. Peyer presents logical-enough explanations that are wild but not completely nonsensical, and artist Steve Yeowell provides perfectly straight, even generic superhero art, except for when weird imagery is called for, and that, invariably, looks all the weirder in the context of the straightforward work.

It all comes down to growing and shrinking, essentially, adding and subtracting. So The Atom has the power to grow his hand to gigantic proportions. Then, at one point, his hand gets chopped off (a nice cut at pre-Flashpoint DC Comics' fascination with dismemberment, whether intentional or not), and as for Deathstroke's punishment?



That's some Stardust The Super Wizard-level crazy right there.

There were about a half-dozen of these miniseries that I wished were ongoings – Batgirl, Nightwing/Oracle, Hawkman, Shazam – but this is the first one that made me think that.



CONVERGENCE: SHAZAM

Written by Jeff Parker, drawn and covered by Evan "Doc" Shaner and colored by Jordie Bellaire

It's ironic that Captain Marvel is the character DC seems to spend the most time on figuring out ways to alter in order to make him work, but whenever the publisher simply portrays him straight, he does just fine.

Jeff Parker and Evan Shaner are the second creative team to prove this in recent months, following Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart's Thunderworld Adventures issue of The Multiversity.

This storyline lacks the layers that the Multiversity issue did, but it's remarkable in how good a Captain Marvel comic book can be if the creators work with the characters as they are, rather than trying to beat them into new forms they seem reluctant to fit into.

With the Marvel Family powerless, The Monster Society of Evil concocts a sinister plan, with the dome falling and the Marvels' abilities returning just in time to stop them. Cap, Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr. (and their alter egos), Sterling Morris, Uncle Dudley, Mr. Tawky Tawny and even fellow Fawcett Comics heroes Bulletman and Bulletgirl all appear, as do much of the Marvel Family's impressive rogues gallery. Dr. Sivana, Ibac, King Kull and Mister Atom all play fairly substantial roles, while Mister Mind, Black Adam and Captain Nazi get cameos of sorts. It's like Captain Marvel 101, really, a greatest-hits collection of characters that feels organic rather than forced.

The Marvel Family vs. Monster Society conflict is enough to drive the conflict of the entire first issue, while the second is devoted to the fight with a steampunk version of Gotham City (very loosely based on, in fact more extrapolated from, 1989's Gotham By Gaslight one-shot). While Captain Marvel does square off against Victorian Batman, it remains a Captain Marvel story, and the various Gothamites involved are merely extensions of a Captain Marvel villain's plot.



The story is straightforward, colorful, optimistic superheroics, with a nice mixture of fun, humor, action and some clever ideas. Above all else, though, it's a great showcase for Shaner's artwork, which falls closer to Mac Raboy than C.C. Beck; in fact, his style seems much more like that seen in the 1970s, DC Comics revival of the characters than their Golden Age heyday, which is appropriate, as that's the time from which this story is set.

It's an eloquent, elegant argument that sometimes all a comic book publisher needs to do to make a character work is simply get a great writer and a great artist to chronicle his adventures.



CONVERGENCE: HAWKMAN

Written by Jeff Parker, drawn by Tim Truman and Enrique Alcatena, and colored by John Kalisz, with covers by Rafael Albuquerque

Jeff Parker is 2-0 for Convergence series and, as with Shazam, he does an excellent job writing a character the publisher is forever tinkering with.

This is the "pre-Crisis Earth-One" version of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, who doesn't share title credit with her partner/husband, but is a co-protagonist. These Hawks are thus the original, Silver Age versions. Forget reincarnation and Hawk gods; this is Hawkman and Hawkgirl as husband-and-wife police officers from the planet Thanagar, come to Earth to study our police tactics while superheroing.

The first issue is mostly concerned with introducing the characters in their superheroic identities, in their civilian identities and, as it reaches its climax, in their alien identities, as they run afoul of a secret, sleeper cell of rogue Thanagarians on Earth. Their inter-city death match isn't announced until the final page of the issue, so that the bulk of the second issue is devoted to their conflict against some of the peculiar animal-people of Jack Kirby's Kamandi series, bat men and rat men.

As with his Shazam script, one need not be terribly familiar with the stars or their opponents; Parker introduces them thoroughly, and, thankfully, does so subtly enough that if you're already familiar with them, you won't find the introductory elements alienating.



And, as with his Shazam series, Parker is working with ideal collaborators. Tim Truman, no stranger to the Hawks, pencils, while Enrique Alcatena inks, giving the characters slightly sketchy shadows here and there that suggest the work of the late, great Joe Kubert, maybe the best artist to ever draw the characters. They give a heft and tactile grit to the Silver Age iteration of the characters, and their weirdest-looking foes, The Manhawks.

There were a lot of great artists doing great work in the the Convergence tie-ins – Rafael Albuquerque, June Brigman, Ben Caldwell, Denys Cowan, Jan Duursema, John McCrea and Lee Weeks, to name a few of my favorites whose books I'm not singling out here – but even in such esteemed company, this art team stands out.



CONVERGENCE: SWAMP THING

Written by Len Wein, drawn and covered by Kelley Jones, colored by Michelle Madsen

This series may not have the universal appeal of the above three, as you probably require at least some knowledge of the characters involved to care about it (that, or to just really like bonkers horror comics). But it is probably the best all-around conceived of the tie-in series, in terms of pairing characters and creators.

The fight here is between "pre-Crisis Earth-One" Swamp Thing (from the midst of the Alan Moore reinvention of the character) and the vampire Batman from the "Red Rain Universe." Writer Len Wein co-created Swamp Thing and, while it was Doug Moench who wrote the trilogy of vampire Batman graphic novels, Wein is a contemporary of Moench's and the two have several similarities in their writing styles. And artist Kelley Jones drew all of the vampire Batman graphic novels, in addition to drawing Swamp Thing repeatedly in the past, and having an art style heavily inspired by the work of Swampy's other creator, artist Bernie Wrightson.

The first half of their series is a weird little drama in which Swamp Thing finds himself stuck in Gotham City, devoid of his "superpowers," while Abby tries to live a normal life apart from him, visiting him in the Gotham Park he's imprisoned in as often as she can, in an attempt to help keep him alive.



The second half deals with the conflict with vampire Batman, who cuts a deal with the now re-powered, nigh omnipotent plant god Swamp Thing: If he helps him kill all the other vampires in Gotham City, he'll gladly kill himself and forfeit the death match. What follows is basically an Elseworlds version of The Brave and The Bold, with Swamp Thing turning his fingers into wooden stakes and growing garlic to annihilate hordes of vampires, all delineated in Jones' signature over-the-top style.



CONVERGENCE SUPERGIRL: MATRIX

Written by Keith Giffen, drawn by Timothy Green II and Joseph SIlver, colored by "Hi-fi" and covered by Howard Porter

This book I actually wavered on including. There were many more series I enjoyed more than this (although mostly for fannish reasons, like seeing a favorite character again, or a favorite artist I hadn't seen draw anything in a while). There are several series that had better writing. There are several with better artwork. But, in terms of a total package, of a book not completely dependent on one's prior knowledge of or affection for a particular character, or a particular take on a character? Well, this one works better than most of the rest on that particular level.

This particular Supergirl, hailing from "pre-Zero Hour Metropolis," has an origin that's so complex I don't even want to get into it here. The main thing to know is that she was working with Lex Luthor II at the time (who was really Lex Luthor I in a cloned body, pretending to be his own son). She was a good guy, and he was a bad guy, so obviously there was a lot of conflict in their relationship.

Giffen reduces it to sitcom levels of conflict, however, with Luthor simply berating her for not being a super-genius like himself for a good 35 pages or so of the series runtime (yes, she eventually slugs him).

Supergirl's opponents here are Lady Quark and Lord Volt from Electropolis (see Crisis on Infinite Earths; but, again, it doesn't really matter who they are). Giffen writes them as similarly bickering, to the extent that they keep losing track of Supergirl, who doesn't want to fight them anyway, because they're too busy arguing with one another.

Much more panel time is devoted to Giffen's Ambush Bug, whom Supergirl is pursuing because he has the ability to teleport and, throughout the entirety of the second issue, he does just that, giving us a crash-tour of the various cities form various continuities stuck on Telos, mostly just long enough for a gag or two.

As with a lot of Giffen's comedy writing, particularly where Ambush Bug is concerned, not every joke lands, or is even particularly funny, but what they may lack in quality, they make up for in quantity (like Convergence itself, I suppose!).



Timothy Green II, inked by Joseph Silver, draws in a style that I can only call sarcastic 90s style. Supergirl and Lady Quark are often contorted into uncomfortable, arched back, butt-raised positions, sometimes in straight-up brokeback poses. Supergirl's cape changes lengths, but is generally somewhere between way too long and five times longer than that, her hair is over-rendered and constantly billowing as if in the wind, and her skirt is always flapping, revealing her underpants (or is the blue part of her costume a one-piece? Or since she can change shape, is she not really wearing clothes at all?).

This is perhaps the most unusual of all the tie-ins because of its out-and-out comedic tone; sure, The Atom is just as strange and funny, but it's delivered deadpan, while Supergirl: Matrix is wearing a clown nose.