Some thoughts about Death Metal: The Last Stories of the DC Universe #1

What is going to happen to the heroes at the end of the world?

The Titans are being reunited for one last time before the final battle, just like the rest of the people who need to be together if they want to stand a chance.

This is probably the biggest Death Metal tie-in yet. It has a lot of stories and quite frankly, is probably the most successful at delivering a consistent theme and quality.

First we open with a story shared by Joshua Williamson, James Tynion IV and Scott Snyder but really, it mostly reads like a Williamson story and considering his up front on the credits, I think that's the case. You can really notice it early on with Williamson's classic love for history where he starts revisiting almost every incarnation from the Titans, from the original 5, to the latter expanded team, to the New Teen Titans, to the Dan Jurgens' 90s team, to the Geoff Johns incarnation, to the latest version, there's even the presence of many obscure members. The references don't end there though since there's the little hint that Donna Troy and Kyle Rayner still had a thing even in this new continuity. Bravo Williamson.

The story is cut in a half to lead to another and what follows is Green Lantern written by Jeff Lemire no less which is focused on the relationship between Hal and Sinestro and, as usual, I believe Lemire nails it with a strong dynamic and emotional moments. Rafael Albuquerque delivers a pretty clean and strong work on pencils as well.

Mariko Tamaki is next with a story about Wonder Woman and is fine just like her current run with appropriate enough characterization dealing with the desperate situation she's facing. Daniel Sampere's pencils are solid as usual.

There's a story about Green Arrow and Black Canary by Gail Simone!... Which is more about Black Canary than anything else which is fine since Simone has always written a pretty good Dinah and this tale focuses on the relationship between the two while hinting about a possible future that I just dislike, especially because how perfect their relationship is depicted despite of their tumultuos history, not to mention that Ollie acts too pleasent for who he is. Not bad but a bit off. Meghan Hetrick's art is pretty good and follows the script nicely.

Christopher Sebela brings a story about Aquaman also dealing with the event with a huge emphasis on family and how they make him stronger, is good but quite heavy on the narration. Christopher Moneyham's art is pretty unique and interesting to look at.

Aaaaaand Cecil Castellucci gives us a final story about Batgirl dealing with her relationship with Nightwing which ends-up in the latter proposing to her... which doesn't make a lot of sense considering how terribly Castellucci portrayed their dynamic during her run but considering she had to follow a theme here, I guess she was forced to deal with this. It doesn't make her run any better though. Mirka Andolfo's art is beautiful and vibrant as always though.

Hey, there's a story written by none other than Mark Waid about Superman! The base is also about Clark's family and Waid gets the job done for the most part here, nothing groundbreaking but fine to read. Francis Manapul makes every scene look gorgeous.

Finally, Williamson closes his story with quite a few relevant points including the appropriate forgiveness for Wally West, the return of a classic member of the team (hopefully he's revived after this) and a heavy emphasis on togetherness as we have seen so far during this special. Travis Moore's pencils are pretty expressive and follow the script perfectly.

Definitely one of the best tie-ins, if not the best. I must say that is a crime if Williamson doesn't handle the Titans in one way or another considering how much attention to their history he paid here.