I'm not a fan of super hero comics when they do event books. I think reading Infinity Gauntlet as a child just soured me on the whole idea, because the whole premise is usually that the super heroes of whichever universe come up against an impossible threat. And what happens when franchise characters come up against an impossible, super scary threat? The writers almost always cheat.

There have been exceptions in recent years, mostly because I think some writers grew up reading mega-events and had a sense of their weakness. The original Spider-verse was solid, and Dawn of X was a genuinely enjoyable read, so I know these things can be done well.

I sort of figured the prequel book to Dark Knights: Metal would be a cash in, but the premise of the series was interesting enough that I figured I'd dive in fully on a whim. But these event setup books have always been a crass cash-in and this is definitely a part of that.

What's a shame is the first few chapters of this really did get me hyped for Metal. Snyder and Tynion IV are actually a solid writing team, and they get the reader worked up about what the threat of this mysterious metal is. But there's not even a tiny payoff at the end, because you're supposed to read Metal (which I bought, and will read). If this over-priced book did one thing, it gave me confidence that Metal will probably be a good read.

Then it ends after about 80 pages with a message that the following stories are related to Metal. Dear reader, I don't think that's true even before reading Metal.

And they proceed to deliver several issues of Grant Morrison multiverse Superman nonsense that feels like the sort of dreams I've had during the flu.

There's a time and a place for Grant Morrison, and that's We3. Seriously, go read We3, it's really good. But I generally find his super hero work to be an overambitious jumble of needlessly complicated ideas that doesn't have enough character or emotion to hold the weight. So imagine reading several issues of that out of context while being told it has something to do with a Batman event by a totally separate writer.

Then there's an issue about Batman as a caveman for some reason.

Then a few issues from a decent arc written by Snyder where the city is infested with Joker gas. I've yet to attempt Snyder's Batman run, so again, its a context free chunk of story thrown in to pad out the length.

This book should have been a lot cheaper and about 90 pages, and that would have been fine and would have done its job much better.