Domestic heroics - Convergence: Action Comics #1

Convergence: Action Comics

Cover Date: June 2015

Released: 29th April 2015

In 2015 DC Comics moved its offices from the vaguely sinister 666 Fifth Avenue to a new address. To cover for the move they did a limited event that lasted two months that included eight issues of the main series and every other comic getting a two-part mini-series. All were callbacks to earlier ages and characters, many giving those characters happy endings that they couldn't in previous ages. For instance, Dick and Kori got together (as did Dick and Barbara) and Roy Harper got his daughter Lian back alive and well.

The basic setup was that certain cities, through the various DC universe, had been cut off for a year with no one having powers. The main comic was about the mystery of why whilst the supplementary comics were about two cities being made to fight each other (it was billed as four, but half were obviously ringers). I say fight, but about half ended up working out a deal with each other rather than fighting. At the end of the series, all the cities got put back into the multiverse and implied that they all still existed. It's a little bit of a forgotten series with the only major effect on the mainline that bought Jonathan Kent into the comics (the Superman: Lois and Clark comics are really good, but alas no Kara). 

Two of the Earth-2 books, Action and Detective, had them facing the Earth of Red Son where Superman ended up in Soviet Russia, though sadly Huntress and Power Girl never met. The Soviet side is pretty standard stuff, with Lex Luthor helping the Soviets whilst quietly undermining them in the background. 

The real meat of the first issue, and why were here is Power Girl and her cousin Superman. Oh and that bloody reporter Andrew Vinson!

I suppose I should start by getting out of why I seem so dismissive of poor Andrew! It's not that he's a bad character, in this he's probably the best you'll see him, more than how he's used never really sold any kind of romance between the characters. Indeed his first appearance he seem's like an obvious love interest for Kara but then proceeds to be nothing but a jerk until he's bought into the plot. And after that, his appearances are so short and inconsequential that there's never any chemistry between him and Kara. At best I read the whole thing as friends with benefits kind of thing, and that all on the idea that they were doing more than just having lunch together. And yes I'll admit I have my own preferences for Kara's ideal partners that might be having some play here.

I'm mostly fine with him here because he's actually written as a person, rather than just a reporter, and it fits with Kara having to make do after the dome came down. For some of the best scenes are Kara having to deal with being human, looking after her figure, skin, floss and the hundreds of other little things we do every day. We also see what happened the day she lost her powers, she was flying when her powers cut out luckily falling through a glass skylight and landing in a pool. We then see her back is covered with scars, something we'd already seen as she was getting ready. And in a lovely piece of visual storytelling, everything she's been wearing has covered her up back completely, seeing as she entered in her workout clothes, all stuff that's never bought attention to in the comic.

I know that the comic wants me to be interested in the political manoeuvrings of the Soviet Superman, Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor, but I want to see more about the everyday struggles of Kara (and Kal). Them adjusting seems to me, and potentially only me is a mini-series I'd like to see.

Talking of we get the back end of a scene I would have also liked to have seen, Lois storming out of a meal the two couples have had sick of the discussion of the dome, apparently a conversation they've all had many times before. We're not due for more drama like that however as the dome comes down and the fight between the two cities is on for issue two!

This is unique, so far, as being a comic that I read at the time it came out, I started with Power Girl '09 but I fell out of the nu-52 pretty quickly (except ironically Worlds Finest), I did get all the Convergence comics (and Secret World, not a cheap time for me). The main story doesn't stick in my mind, as with most of the other series, but ironically this is one that stuck we me through all these years. I guess I was just destined to do this blog...