Everything that rises must CONVERGE: Aldo and others read DC's CONVERGENCE clusterf*ck so you don't have to

The big unforgettable event of the year! World's collide! Nothing will be the same!

The DC Divergence Free Comic Book Day book was the only one I had leftover.

Ha ha. Yeah, I didn't even bother to pick up the thing DC was giving away for free.

I find the DC universe totally incomprehensible at this point

Last fall's DC strategy of launching six new Bat-titles pretty much shit the bed so I don't know what they'll do now.

What happened?

I'm genuinely curious because I haven't been paying that much attention to DC of late: is there any sense that they're taking the pulse of what their audience actually wants? I mean, there's a lot of obvious fan service going on of late, but are they checking in to see if it's legitimately serving anyone? It seems like the folks at Marvel have at least some interest in what people want to buy but DC seems intent on doubling down on stuff that many people have been vocal about not digging. And while I applaud the stones it takes to launch Bizarro and Prez titles without really testing the waters, it feels more than a bit like there's a crazy person at the wheel.

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xp - they launched a new young adult Gotham title (Gotham Manor, IIRC), a horror one (Arkham something?), relaunched Batgirl and Catwoman, did a weekly series and there's one other title that's slipping my mind. None were hits, the horror title has already been cancelled, I think.

Batgirl was exciting for month one with a new costume/concept, but DC didn't make her as interesting as, say, the new Ms. Marvel (of which new-Batgirl is something of a rip-off)

I'm genuinely curious because I haven't been paying that much attention to DC of late: is there any sense that they're taking the pulse of what their audience actually wants?

DC maybe needs to do less fan-service and more "establishing a coherent universe" and bring the fans along with them - build Superman and Wonder Woman into something interesting again, etc.. When they do stuff(like Multiversity with a clear voice, it works pretty well.

I haven't read any non-Morrison big 2 titles in longer than I can remember but I feel like every time I pick something up to glance through I'm thrown in the middle of some nigh-incomprehensible continuity EVENT nonsense... I kinda wish superheroes would just go back to, like, solving bank robberies and fighting on top of giant appliances and occasionally worrying about someone figuring out their secret identity

It was cool when Marvel had the regular 616 books and the Ultimate stuff and the Marvel Adventures stuff and various other non-continuity series and miniseries running at the same time so that there was always a jumping-on point with a relatively low barrier to entry. The Big 2 seem to have gotten away from that, which is a shame. And there's the dumb stuff they regularly do which ignores the obvious synergy they could be exploiting in a given moment, like, ohhhhhhh I don't know, maybe not cancelling every last one of the Avengers titles at the exact same time that a new Avengers movie is being released.

Bat titles were Gotham Academy (a quite interesting teen book by Becky Clooney set in a spooky old school, w/ fleeting glimpses and hints of Bat-villains - although Killer Croc has more of a role towards the end and Damian Wayne shows up at the conclusion - which probably deserves better and would be just as viable with no Bat-connection tbh), Arkham Manor (a mini-series imo, which is why I would speculate it's not continuing beyond #6, where Bats goes undercover in the Asylum to find out who's killing the inmates), Gotham By Midnight (The Spectre in spooky cop shit capers, drawn in a very Ben Templesmith style) and reboots of Batgirl (as said, an inferior Ms Marvel up until the Babs/computer mindswap shenanigans which didn't really work at all and was all a bit rushed in the headlong rush into Convergence) and Catwoman (more of a crime drama, probably too early to call it). Plus Batman Eternal, which was a weekly story (when DC were already publishing two other weekly titles and this was clearly the red-headed stepchild as far as they were concerned) and is far too fast paced and has a bloated and oversized cast, changes to continuity that come out of it don't get a chance to ripple through it before they have to change character arc. That said, the Cluemaster arc was REALLY good. Best to think of it as a tv series, with plot threads that run thoughout but basically a collection of short stories linked by a character set. There's a Season 2 coming later in the year.

There are post-convergence Bat titles of Batman Beyond, a Damian Wayne book and a kind of Anonymous/hacktivist Robin book featuring normal kids who wear the mask and call themselves "Robin" (scarequotes not mine). Oh, and a Bat-Mite mini by Dan Jurgens. Yes, really.

Super-weardown was as bad, if not worse than Bat-weardown tbh, we've had Action, Batman/Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, Superman, Superman/Wonder Woman, Superman Unchained, Superman: Lois Lane and Superman: Doomed, with a new Doomsday book as well as a Bizarro book coming out after Convergence. On top of this, Power Girl has been the dominant character in Earth 2 and World's Finest, plus are LoSH still considered Superman Family?

I feel like DC are kind of willing to take a chance from California, as you can see from solicits of Levitz on Doctor Fate, Omega Men, Conner and Palmiotti on Starfire, giving Alisa Kwitney a book and the aforementioned minis of Bat-mite, Bizarro, a Harley Quinn/Power Girl mini set between two panels of the regular HQ series, Prez and a Ennis/McCrea Hitman spin-off. Although the fact so many of them are deliberate minis might show a lack of commitment.

Challop here, but Marvel are even more guilty of flogging their prize assets into the ground. They may well have had great recent books like Black Widow, Hawkeye, All-New Ghost Rider and Iron Fist, but in the Marvel Now era (which is not yet 3 years old) they have also had no less than 16 different Avengers titles, and 21 different X-books including an entire Wolverine wing and not counting Kitty Pride being all over GotG (which itself has had 4 different books and a full-on crossover event). Let's not go near the Spider-titles because there have been about 30 of them.

I feel like DC are kind of willing to take a chance from California

your nu-52 stockholm syndrome is so bad! those bold chances in full:

Levitz on Doctor Fate

a 40-year DC employee and long-time second-highest executive on a revival of a 75-year-old property

Omega Men

a revival of a 34-year-old property that spun off one of DC's biggest earners of the 90s

Conner and Palmiotti on Starfire

bad/good-girl artist draws and her blokey boyfriend writes a former nuanced and admirable female character from 34 years ago, reinvented three years ago as a mindless slut

giving Alisa Kwitney a book

DC writer from two decades ago gets a few months work

and the aforementioned minis of Bat-mite

revival of a 56-year-old parody of DC's biggest property

Bizarro

revival of a 57-year-old parody of DC's second-biggest property

a Harley Quinn/Power Girl mini set between two panels of the regular HQ series

former chin-to-toe clad comedy character reinvented as arse-hanging-out slut three years ago, teamed up with character best known for boobs, and having boobs

Prez and a Ennis/McCrea Hitman spin-off.

buying this tbh, but revival of an 18-year-old property who first appeared in a 22-year-old property's comic, and last appeared in another spin-off 15 (f.i.f.t.e.e.n.) years ago

Oh how my standards have dropped.

I totally agree that Marvel's gone the same direction. I've mentioned elsewhere that I fell off buying Marvel stuff a few years back (I always kept up with all of the X-books, at least), and the prospect of catching up with that little stretch of missed time is incredibly daunting.

The same direction in terms of the glut, is what I mean.

I'm not sure it's more job as a comics reader to be invested in Marvel's synergy practices (or lack thereof) between the movies and monthly comics. For one thing, I like the comics, and I'm not really into the movies! And shouldn't their lack of synergistic exploitation be a *good* thing? But, yeah, I do see frustrating missed opportunities.

Don't forget though, if you like the Ultron movie, there's a big number one comic with Avengers and Ultron in the title (written by Al Ewing!) right there in the comic store this week. And I imagine new readers coming from the movies (should they exist) are better served by trades than floppies anyway. I always direct comics-curious friends to collections (e.g. Hawkeye) over individual floppies.

Agree Marvel are flogging their prize assets too - just that, creatively, their asset-flogging is much better than DC's asset flogging.

Sorry, "I'm not sure it's *my* job", I mean

I'm just speaking from a business perspective. It would seem to be in their best interests to try to sync up their publishing concerns with their film concerns rather than cancelling titles and killing characters simultaneous to those characters' attendant movie releases. I actually am glad that they tend to avoid that, aside from their nonsensical attempts after the fact to shoehorn elements from the movies into the comics (see: organic web shooters). But you're correct that trades are probably the better route for the casually curious.

thanks for the info rundown guys - i had no idea about this stuff. still kind of fascinated, if afraid to touch these books

I looked at all of these on the shelf of my comic book store the other day and literally had a moment where my skin began to crawl

Also to note that Marvel appear to have synced up between the publishing concerns and their films because they have a blanket ban on creators inventing any new X-characters and stopped publishing Fantastic Four this month "for good". In addition they de-powered Wolverine at the same time as Hugh Jackman did which led to his death in the comics (and 4000 books about it).

There have certainly been suggestions that the post-Secret Wars Marvel Universe will bear a much closer resemblance to their cinematic universe.

I will be sad to see the gonzo Avengers roster they currently have now go away, particularly now that they've started actually telling Cannonball and Sunspot stories (Roberto in particular recently got a massive bump in prominence/importance and basically rules)

HALLELUJAH! SEXY DARKSEID IS WEARING POUCHES!

(Jog reviews the DC FCBD Divergence comic)

** Time Runs Out spoiler ** Didn't Cannonball and Sunspot get blowed up a few weeks ago? Admittedly the art makes the stories hard to follow, plus Secret Wars reboot, so I guess it don't matter anyway.

I've really enjoyed the Hickman run, but glad it's winding down. Probably it's outstayed its welcome by about 6 months or so. Love the guy they've got doing the Secret Wars art (normally I am not super-bothered about artists).

Yeah basically every character death leading into Secret Wars is getting a big "lol whatever" from me until further notice

Oh my god. Convergence Atom #2. All I'll say is "tiny hands" Deathstroke.

What does that mean

You'll have to read it to find out. It's so stupid I can't do it justice.

the shazam issue was well drawn? that's the first good thing i have to say about this whole clusterfuck.

I liked the Shazam issue. But I like both the team of Parker and Shaner and the Marvel Family so it was right up my alley.

I look forward to Tiny Hands.

Convergence #5 (Wr: Jeff King P: Andy Kubert Ink: Sandra Hope) brings us up to speed with the core plot. Deimos reveals that Uncanny Braniac is in fact another hero that Braniac has mindwiped and gives him his memories back, but not to the point where anybody actually tells us who he is. Travis Morgan then turns up riding a dinosaur to fight him but is easily dispatched, as is Main Braniac. Dick Grayson decides he needs to be the new BatISIS, then Deimos does Uncanny Braniac In The Sky and tells the heroes in all the cities they don't need to fight and this whole exercise - including what Uncanny Braniac told them in their #1s - was all an utter waste of their time and they don't want to bother with any of it. I wish he'd told us that a few weeks ago tbh. Dick clearly had a flash forward on this very topic, because he makes this observation on one of the early pages:

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Oh Dickpaws.

Convergence Batgirl #2 (Wr: Alisa Kwitney P: Rick Leonardi Ink: Mark Pennington) fails to answer the most important cliffhanger arising from all the first issues. DOES BATGIRL PISSYPANTS STILL NEED TO PEE?

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You're the lucky one Catman. This book is really about Tim Drake's love life and whether he's with Stephanie Brown or Cassandra Cane. Because it's got a girl central character so must be a romance comic secretly, huh? There's very nearly a fight with Grodd but not really because it's Catman that Batgirl Pissypants is supposed to fight so they pretend to and it fools Uncanny Braniac into thinking Batgirl has won - presumably because he's distracted by dinosaurs and shit, and because the fight's over everyone gets to go back to their own city and live happily ever. What's that you say? That means there was no point in any of this? WELL DURRR.

Given just happened in Batgirl Pissypants, you can't help agreeing with Batmang when he says on the first page of Convergence Batman & Robin #2 (Wr: Ron Marz P: Denys Cowan Ink: Klaus Janson and Joe Rubinstein) that he's not going to fight and take part in SecretVergeBattles. But of course they do fight with whoever the obscure villains that turned up on the last page of #1, in a routine that goes very much 'panel with punch'/'panel with limited dialogue'/'panel with punch'/'panel with limited dialogue' etc. Superman appears once the villains are dispatched and taunts Batmang that he had a dad and Batmang didn't. He doesn't take it very badly though, because they both smile and reminisce. In fact, the most important thing that happens in his is ANOTHER FACET OF THE GOTHAM/URINE CONUNDRUM:

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Remind me never to go round to Jason Todd's for brunch.

While #1 was kind of a laff and started out with Modern Harley Quinn, Convergence Harley Quinn #2 (Wr: Steve Pugh P: Phil Winslade Ink: John Dell) takes us back to Old Suit Harley and makes it all a bit grim. IT'S LIKE THE SOCIAL MEDIA REACTION TO MARGOT ROBBIE PHOTOS IN REVERSE. Harley kills Captain Carrot's Pig Mate at the outset and paints taunts on walls with his blood. Except of course it is eventually revealed that wasn't what happened at all and it was oil from one of Uncanny Braniac's fighting enforcement robots. WHERE WERE THEY WHEN BATGIRL PISSYPANTS AND CATMAN WERE PRETENDING TO FIGHT, EH? Anyway, they all decide not to fight and sit down and eat carrots, and the plot just peters out. Then Catwoman decides Harley can't have nice things and refuses to let her go back to her boyfriend because then she might be happy. So Sadface Harley GD driven off by Catwoman and Ivy to fight crime, or maybe just open a florist. Plus, since this book is set in Gotham, OBLIGATORY URINE PANEL:

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There's definitely a trend going on.

The all-girl Convergence Justice League #2 (Wr: Frank Tieri Art: Vicente Cifuentes) have a giant fight many fathoms under the sea. In the river outside Gotham. On a desert planet. I'm not sure there's much more to say about it than that. Especially since nobody in Gotham has any bladder control so God only knows what state the water is in. Baquaman has a kryptonite trident he can use to thump Supergirl but then Mera stabs him so they all decide to stop fighting and go home for. Nice cup of tea, or in Baquaman's case a bit of a brood on the throne (NOT A EUPHEMISM).

Convergence Nightwing & Oracle #2 (Wr: Gail Simone P: Jan Duursema Ink: Dan Parsons) is a stereotypical Gail Simone book. Babs can't help admiring Bad Hawkman and Bad Hawkgirl because they're a bit regal and majestic and are obviously egalitarian at heart. But then she decides they're fascists because they're fighting her boyfriend which means they must be REALLY bad. At one point she gets in a helicopter, but is eventually knocked out of it when Hawkwoman makes it crash VERY CONVENIENTLY EXACTLY NEED TO A SPARE WHEELCHAIR FOR HER TO GET INTO. Black Canary now has a scream that can level cities, but only works where the plot needs it to. Babs swoons over Dick. Her wheelchair must be made out of Gravitronium, because Hawkgirl hits her full on while she's sitting in it and it doesn't tip over. She somehow ends up with Hawkgirl's mace which makes her give up, and Dick has beaten her hubby. It also comes to light that Black Canary is as good, if not better, at computering as Babs is and makes all the Absorbacons blow themselves up saving the city. To celebrate, Babs & Dick get married some time later ("delayed by that earthquake"). It'll be interesting (THIS MAY BE A LIE) how the Gotham BattleConSecret surviving for at least a couple of months is reflected or, more likely, ignored in the other books and/or once Converence is rebranded as Earth 2: Society. Not sure how many people will be checking.

Nothing really happens in Convergence Speed Force #2 (Wr: Tony Bedard Art: Tom Grummett), or at least nothing of note. It turns out the Wonder Woman that turned up to fight Wally is also super-fast, which means everything happens at the same relative speed so The Fastest Man In The World just becomes A Guy Dressed In Spandex. The turtle doesn't help either, because WW made some Count Vertigo bombs after Baquaman dumped her for Mera, and Wally eventually beats her because, as a woman, all you need to do is make her think about children and she's incapable of doing anything rational. Then everyone decides to stop fighting and goes home, then there's an earthquake (which can't be the one from the end of Convergence Dick & Babs, surely, because the wedding in that was delayed by it and Dick & Babs surely weren't going to walk straight off after Hawkfight and get married?) and all that's left to do is squint into the middle distance looking heroic.

Convergence Superman #2 (Wr/P: Dan Jurgens Ink: Norm Rapmund) exists for one reason only and that is so Lois can give birth. There's some trivial punching nonsense at the beginning but that's conveniently forgotten because the Batcave (where the baby delivery is supposed to take place) is "the one place he {Shazam, the puncher} can never find us. Despite the fact both Lois and Supes managed to find it without looking very hard, something Lois boasts about. So in this, not only does the fighting just stop so everyone can play happy families, the fighting stops and just gets discarded as a story - despite being, you know, THE EXACT POINT OF BATTLEVERGEWARS - and everyone LITERALLY plays happy families. Also brief mention of earthquake, but hours before Lois gives birth. Hopefully the editor is paying attention to that.

Words fail me trying to describe Convergence The Atom #2 (Wr: Tom Peyer P: Steve Yeowell Ink: Andy Owens) but it shows more inventiveness than the entire rest of the DC line put together. When I first heard Tiny Hands Deathstroke I did have visions that he was going to get refrigerated by mini brain punches but no, LITERALLY TINY HANDS DEATHSTROKE. To try and summarise, Ray finds out that Ryan Choi ended up in the space/time dimension where all the Atom's extra mass goes to/comes from and this has left him a bit like Firestorm. He then gets his giant hand sliced off by Crocodile Guy and it turns into Ryan Choi who shrinks down and bursts Crocodile Guy's shoulder muscles from the inside. Ray is then in hospital, one handed, when Deathstroke comes to kill him so Ryan beats up Deathstroke and gives Ray a new hand by making Deathstroke's smaller and transferring the mass to Ray. The public then tell Ray how much they love him and both Atoms take the smiling bus to happy ever after land. Am I the only one that followed that?

Convergence The Question #2 (Wr: Greg Rucka Art: Cully Hamner) is, more than anything else, about Montoya getting to her Dad's bedside in time for him to die and her to look a bit sad. Along the way the Question/Huntress/Batwoman team argue about who gets to sleep with who else, and there are a couple of punch-ups as they try and stop Harvey Dent from shooting Harvey Dent which succeeds when Montoya takes Harvey Dent's bullet that was meant for Harvey Dent. Which is enough to fool Uncanny Braniac because he assumes the fight is over. I'm sure this was all well and good as part of a lengthy ongoing story, but as a snappy one-off story it just doesn't work. And no earthquakes either.

In Convergence The Titans #2 (Wr: Fabian Nicieza P: Ron Wagner I: Jose Marzan) Gar Logan is the only person that isn't me that seems to have noticed that Gotham was packed to the gunnels with heroes at the time it was taken yet none of them are anywhere to be seen:

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Anyway, this is a pointless bit of punching which gets miraculously resolved when Roy Harper hacks into Batmang's city-wide hidden remote controlled gun programme and uses it to shoot all the bad guys. Then they all fly off to find somebody else to fight, because the Titans are still following Uncanny Braniac's orders THE IDIOTS.

And I didn't even mention DC turning a black character white (until now).

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/05/07/whitewashing-a-dc-character-before-their-death-convergence-5-spoilers/

tiny hands Deathstroke needs his own book.

pics

Ray Palmer has his Ms Marvel One Giant Hand cut off

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And it turns into Partick Off Of SpongeBob SquarePants Ryan Choi.

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THE ATOM IS THE 99%

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MINI JAZZHANDS CONFUSION!

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Ryan Choi looks particularly smug at having done this. LET'S SEE YOU PLAY THE GUITAR NOW, BUDDY!

I feel like I have been drinking, and I have not been drinking.

this fucking thing

i'm not gonna lie, i love this

Amid reports that because sales numbers haven't been as appalling as DC expected, so "there's clearly a market for these characters" and we do have a Multiverse after all, so let's not have any cities destroy each other and everybody can win and we can just abandon the entire premise halfway through AREN'T I CLEVER GEOFF YES YOU ARE DAN; we get Convergence #6. LUCKY US. Jeff King and Scott Lobdell write, Ed Benes and Eduardo Pansica pencil, and Ed Benes, Trevor Scott, Scott Hanna and Wayne Faucher ink. That seems like a lot of people. Like, David Finch levels of people. Anyway, about the actual comic... the Braniac Battle Planet suddenly pops into being in the Johnsiverse, or rather is shat into it like a particularly awkward post-curry poo and heroes stand around looking at it going "Is that a thing?" "Yes, I think that's a thing." "Should we do something about it?" "Let's not bother." Even Darkseid can't be arsed. Meanwhile on BattleVerse all the heroes have decided they should hang up together and the bad guys are all suddenly in on Deimos' plan. Supes decides they should work as giant Good Teams and Bad Teams because all the Braniacs are gone and the plot has evaporated and announces to everyone that Dick Grayson is the best most important hero of all time ever and will save everyone, coming from Earth 2 and all. Dick tries to do this by asking Uncanny Braniac, who we learned last week wasn't a Braniac after all but a hero that had been mindwiped and forgotten who he is, to help make the planet beat Deimos up. Deimos lines up the Good Team and the Bad Team for Action Figure Playtime and yells 'start'. Geoff Johns would be proud.

Convergence Aquaman #2 (Wr: Tony Bedard Art: Cliff Richards, not that one) has Deathblow from some Wildstorm comic nobody read climb out of a toilet to kill Aquaman. Because it has to be water-related somehow, do you see? They have a very boring fight, then some super-dehydrator gets turned on that was a secret doomsday weapon because Aquaman is secretly the most powerful hero of them all don't you know, so he gets dehydrated, but survives by stabbing Deathblow lots of times in the neck and absorbing all his blood. Because blood is "the chemical equivalent of seawater". ::boggles:: That's Silver Age sciencesplaining right there.

I couldn't have given a flying one about the first issue and Convergence Shadow of the Bat #2 (Wr: Larry Hama, P: Rick Leonardi, I: Dan Green) is no better. A tour guide and her son save Batman and Azrael from being beaten up, and then Batman convinces the bad guys to join him in fighting Uncanny Braniac since nobody has told him that Convergence didn't count, no take backs.

Convergence Catwoman #2 (Wr: Justin Gray A: Ron Randall) isn't much cop either. Cats 'n' Bats chat and chat and then team up to fight the normal people of Metropolis who have decided handing Bats over to Uncanny Braniac, and then once beaten decide to shoot Bats anyway. Since Cats secretly is in love with this new Bats, and thinks he is the best hero in the world ever, she jumps in front and takes the bullet and dies. Bats literally shrugs and says NO BIGGIE. That doesn't feel right you know.

It's a travesty that trees died to make Convergence Green Arrow #2 (Wr: Christy Marx P: Rags Morales I: Claude St-Aubin). Really it is. I've read less than half the books this week and lost the desire to read any more. In short, Uncanny Braniac makes Metropolis lost into the sky under threat of destruction because he hasn't been reading any of the other books and so has no idea what the plot is supposed to be. I think I genuinely am the only person reading all of this.

Convergence Green Lantern Parallax #2 (Wr: Tony Bedard P: Ron Wagner I: Bill Rheinhold) is a bag of shit too. Mad Hal Jordan puts Kyle Rayner in a missile and fires it on Metropolis then kills everyone in Electropolis so Uncanny Braniac declares them the winners of Convergence and evaporates some of them. I don't care enough to work out how, but Kyle Rayner survives because he gets a group hug from the grateful citizens of Metropolis. Presumably not the same citizens of Metropolis that have just shot Old Batman.

Converence JLI #2 (Wr: Ron Marz, Art: Mike Manley Additional Inks: Joe Rubinstein, Mike Manley, Brett Blevins) is just... fucking hell... I don't know. The JLI and whoever they've agreed to fight turn up behind the bike sheds outside of Metropolis and then have Action Figure Playtime. The JLI get knocked unconscious but Uncanny Braniac's enforcement robots (last seen in some other fucking book, but only the one, mind) try and even up the score for long enough to meet the page count. But the real problem is the back. Booster Gold turned up off-camera to prank Beetle by using his now-accurate time travel powers. To a planet outside of space and time which was not even part of the Multiverse and nobody knows anything about or can get to, or off. Just for fan service. SEE GEOFF I CAN MAKE PEOPLE LIKE ME.

I have a question

What is Uncanny Braniac?

Uncanny Braniac is what I have been using as a nickname for Telos who is just a guy or is a creation of the planet or is a God, depending on which book you are reading.

Uncanny is a weak joke based on the similarities between the plot of Convergence and Secret Wars/Battleworld. I needed a way to refer to him to separate him out from all the other Braniacs that were appearing early on, because there were a lot of them.

Potted history: Braniac is definitely behind Convergence. Lots of Braniacs from different eras taunt Superman (Convergence #0) about the leaked plot of the series. He smashes his way through all of them until just one is left standing (Uncanny Braniac) who says he is the perfect creation and embodiment of his master Braniac unlike all the other Braniacs (various Johnsiverse books have established that Braniac is only a giant consciousness that builds and discards bodies as it chooses). Uncanny Braniac tells all the characters the plot in the minis, raises and lowers the domes by his will, becomes a giant sand monster because he's part of the planet which is the real host of Braniac and Uncanny Braniac is just the avatar it uses to deal with the cities it has kidnapped, and has an army of plot enforcer robots that are part of his consciousness.(Convergence 1-4, all the mini #1s, some of the mini #2s) This avatar starts getting called Telos. (Convergence #2)

It then turns out there is a proper Braniac at the centre of the planet/in a stasis field who has been trapped by someone and Deimos is capturing time travellers to free him. (Convergence #4) It is explained that this is in fact the master Braniac and Telos is in fact a missing hero who has been brainwashed into thinking he is Telos/a Braniac and can't remember who he is. No explanation given for the powers he has shown since he was there. Deimos then kills the master Braniac with a wave of his hand and Braniac is removed from the plotting of convergence and effectively retconned away so the plot never had anything to do with Braniac. (Convergence #5) Telos just mopes about trying to remember who he is. (Convergence #6) It's also worth noting that only some of the #2 mini issues reflect the state of affairs post-Convergence #4 and still have Telos as a God figure and all-powerful.

Remember, ALL OF THIS HAS HAPPENED IN A 7 WEEK PUBLISHING WINDOW.