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Superman (2011) (Single Issues) #40.9
DC Comics: Divergence FCBD 2015 Edition
A first look at upcoming storylines! DC Comics: Divergence features three 8-page previews for the June releases of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman, as well as Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok's launch of the "Darkseid War" within Justice League featuring the biggest villains in the DCU - Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor, and Gene Luen Yang's DC Comics debut with celebrated artist John Romita, Jr on Superman.
31 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 6, 2015
32 people are currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Geoff Johns
2,718 books2,410 followersGeoff Johns originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in Media Arts and Film. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s in search of work within the film industry. Through perseverance, Geoff ended up as the assistant to Richard Donner, working on Conspiracy Theory and Lethal Weapon 4. During that time, he also began his comics career writing Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and JSA (co-written with David S. Goyer) for DC Comics. He worked with Richard Donner for four years, leaving the company to pursue writing full-time.
His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.
Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.
His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.
Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 2, 2015
Happy Free Comic Book Day everybody!
DC’s offering this year was Divergence #1, a collection of three shorts featuring their iconic trinity: Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. And, true to the title, they all showcase a new direction for the titles - though some are more compelling than others, and technically the Wonder Woman one is a Justice League storyline but whatevs!
If you’ve not been keeping up with Scott Snyder’s Batman in the monthlies, the story in this issue is a spoiler as to how Endgame wrapped, so be warned.
OK?
So. The “big news” is that Batman and Joker are “dead” and we all know that superhero deaths are permanent, right? The story here picks up two months after Endgame finished where a number of Gothamites use the most powerful handheld torches in the world to blanket the sky in Bat symbols - but, boo hoo, Batman doesn’t appear!
A corporation has the answer: Gotham must always have a Batman. So they build a robot Batman suit and give it to Jim Gordon. That’s right - Gordon’s the new “Batman”!
Eh…
Endgame was, for me, where Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s stellar run came to a screeching halt - but that’s a review for another day. This new direction they’re going in with a Chappie-esque armour (not feeling Capullo’s design unfortunately) and what is basically a rehash of the first Robocop movie, looks terrible. Endgame was poor, this new arc looks to be even worse.
I think at this point Snyder’s simply tapped out of Batman stories and is now crossing things off on his wishlist - “always wanted to write a Robocop comic, now’s my chance!”. But that’s just me, maybe Snyder will turn it around somehow? On a positive note, I’ll say that it’s good that Snyder and DC are continuing to try new things with Batman and it’s worth keeping in mind that some of the best Batman stories have involved taking Bruce Wayne off the table.
The Superman short was my favourite of the three. I haven’t been following Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr’s Superman run so I don’t know if this is a spoiler or not but Lois Lane has outed Clark Kent as Superman for some reason - though I’m keen to find out why. Clark’s now on the run (but still in Metropolis so something’s keeping him back - mystery!) and this story sets the tone of a fugitive Superman who doesn’t know who he can trust or what his future holds.
I’m really excited to read more of this series because Gene Luen Yang (author of American Born Chinese, The Eternal Smile, and other great comics) is going to be writing it. One helluva step in the right direction, DC, getting quality indie comics creators in and putting them in charge of the top properties! That said, this isn’t a mind-blowing short but a decent enough one for a free comic and I’m glad John Romita Jr’s sticking around to keep drawing the title. Definitely going to pick up their first issue together next month.
The final short is a teaser for the upcoming Justice League: Darkseid War, focusing on a new villain: Darkseid’s daughter, Grail. It’s mostly a flashback story with Geoff Johns writing Grail’s life in parallel to Wonder Woman/Diana’s on Themyscira. Like a lot of New 52 Wonder Woman, this one is wreathed in ancient Greek mythology and, like a lot of Greek gods, Grail’s mother slept with Darkseid, one of the New Gods, to create a demi-god in Grail, much like Diana.
It could turn out to be a good move though I’m hesitant to have high hopes because so much of Johns’ Justice League series has been shaky at best. Wonder Woman doesn’t really have a Joker or Lex Luthor - Grail could be that. But generally this story is the weakest in the issue and, unlike the other two, doesn’t really seem to be doing anything new or different with an icon’s character. Jason Fabok’s art is very cool, there’s a teaser of the upcoming war between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor with the Justice League caught in the middle, which might be a fun arc and it looks awesome visually too.
The shorts themselves aren’t particularly amazing but they do a good job of teasing potentially exciting storylines as well as making DC’s audience aware of what’s going on with their big three characters - which is basically what their FCBD comic should do to draw in the readers!
Give Divergence #1 a look if you haven’t already popped down to your local comics’ shop, and if you missed FCBD, keep an eye out on Comixology - usually all the FCBD comics are uploaded to the site for free download a week or so later.
Based on this comic, it could be an interesting summer for DC fans…
DC’s offering this year was Divergence #1, a collection of three shorts featuring their iconic trinity: Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. And, true to the title, they all showcase a new direction for the titles - though some are more compelling than others, and technically the Wonder Woman one is a Justice League storyline but whatevs!
If you’ve not been keeping up with Scott Snyder’s Batman in the monthlies, the story in this issue is a spoiler as to how Endgame wrapped, so be warned.
OK?
So. The “big news” is that Batman and Joker are “dead” and we all know that superhero deaths are permanent, right? The story here picks up two months after Endgame finished where a number of Gothamites use the most powerful handheld torches in the world to blanket the sky in Bat symbols - but, boo hoo, Batman doesn’t appear!
A corporation has the answer: Gotham must always have a Batman. So they build a robot Batman suit and give it to Jim Gordon. That’s right - Gordon’s the new “Batman”!
Eh…
Endgame was, for me, where Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s stellar run came to a screeching halt - but that’s a review for another day. This new direction they’re going in with a Chappie-esque armour (not feeling Capullo’s design unfortunately) and what is basically a rehash of the first Robocop movie, looks terrible. Endgame was poor, this new arc looks to be even worse.
I think at this point Snyder’s simply tapped out of Batman stories and is now crossing things off on his wishlist - “always wanted to write a Robocop comic, now’s my chance!”. But that’s just me, maybe Snyder will turn it around somehow? On a positive note, I’ll say that it’s good that Snyder and DC are continuing to try new things with Batman and it’s worth keeping in mind that some of the best Batman stories have involved taking Bruce Wayne off the table.
The Superman short was my favourite of the three. I haven’t been following Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr’s Superman run so I don’t know if this is a spoiler or not but Lois Lane has outed Clark Kent as Superman for some reason - though I’m keen to find out why. Clark’s now on the run (but still in Metropolis so something’s keeping him back - mystery!) and this story sets the tone of a fugitive Superman who doesn’t know who he can trust or what his future holds.
I’m really excited to read more of this series because Gene Luen Yang (author of American Born Chinese, The Eternal Smile, and other great comics) is going to be writing it. One helluva step in the right direction, DC, getting quality indie comics creators in and putting them in charge of the top properties! That said, this isn’t a mind-blowing short but a decent enough one for a free comic and I’m glad John Romita Jr’s sticking around to keep drawing the title. Definitely going to pick up their first issue together next month.
The final short is a teaser for the upcoming Justice League: Darkseid War, focusing on a new villain: Darkseid’s daughter, Grail. It’s mostly a flashback story with Geoff Johns writing Grail’s life in parallel to Wonder Woman/Diana’s on Themyscira. Like a lot of New 52 Wonder Woman, this one is wreathed in ancient Greek mythology and, like a lot of Greek gods, Grail’s mother slept with Darkseid, one of the New Gods, to create a demi-god in Grail, much like Diana.
It could turn out to be a good move though I’m hesitant to have high hopes because so much of Johns’ Justice League series has been shaky at best. Wonder Woman doesn’t really have a Joker or Lex Luthor - Grail could be that. But generally this story is the weakest in the issue and, unlike the other two, doesn’t really seem to be doing anything new or different with an icon’s character. Jason Fabok’s art is very cool, there’s a teaser of the upcoming war between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor with the Justice League caught in the middle, which might be a fun arc and it looks awesome visually too.
The shorts themselves aren’t particularly amazing but they do a good job of teasing potentially exciting storylines as well as making DC’s audience aware of what’s going on with their big three characters - which is basically what their FCBD comic should do to draw in the readers!
Give Divergence #1 a look if you haven’t already popped down to your local comics’ shop, and if you missed FCBD, keep an eye out on Comixology - usually all the FCBD comics are uploaded to the site for free download a week or so later.
Based on this comic, it could be an interesting summer for DC fans…
June 5, 2015
Unlike Marvel's strategy with their Secret Wars FCBD offering, which teased the beginning of the Secret Wars event, DCs FCBD comic hinted at what would happen after their Convergence event, with three short vignettes featuring their big three -- Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. As stand alone stories, they were near worthless, but as teasers for the direction of their runs, they were somewhat interesting, especially seeing Commissioner Gordon step into a mechanized Batman suit.
May 20, 2015
Not sure if I'm a fan of where this is going, but maybe I'll be proved wrong after convergence! Overall you basically get to read, a few pages of the first post convergence issues for batman, superman and justice league getting a preview of what's to come!
May 10, 2016
This is one of the comics I chose for Free Comic Book Day 2016.
5 stars
Very good comic. Nice to see some scenes from the new DC comics relaunch.
Can't wait to read more DC comics!!! Also can't wait to read the DC Comic: Rebirth!!!!
5 stars
Very good comic. Nice to see some scenes from the new DC comics relaunch.
Can't wait to read more DC comics!!! Also can't wait to read the DC Comic: Rebirth!!!!
February 11, 2023
Haven't read too many DC comics but this doesn't disappoint!
The story was about the loss of Batman in his latest battle with the Joker, Lois has outed Superman's secret identity as Clark Kent to mixed views of the public and obviously, Clark's pissed, and his relationship with Lois is strained at best.
My favourite story would have to be about the Amazons. It takes place at the birth of Diana to Hippolyta, and at the same time another Amazonian is giving birth, an assassin Myrina gave birth to the daughter of Darkseid in secret, aided by Penelope and watched by the oracle Menalippe.
Upon the birth of the young girl, Grail was defended by her mother from Penelope, who heard of the prophecy from Menalippe of the destruction that would be caused by the girl when she grew. After murdering Menalippe, Myrina fled Themyscira, bringing her daughter with her as the first Amazons to leave the island.
I think outta these two stories I'm WAY more interested in finding out what happens with Grail and the Justice League adverting the apocalypse once again!
The story was about the loss of Batman in his latest battle with the Joker, Lois has outed Superman's secret identity as Clark Kent to mixed views of the public and obviously, Clark's pissed, and his relationship with Lois is strained at best.
My favourite story would have to be about the Amazons. It takes place at the birth of Diana to Hippolyta, and at the same time another Amazonian is giving birth, an assassin Myrina gave birth to the daughter of Darkseid in secret, aided by Penelope and watched by the oracle Menalippe.
Upon the birth of the young girl, Grail was defended by her mother from Penelope, who heard of the prophecy from Menalippe of the destruction that would be caused by the girl when she grew. After murdering Menalippe, Myrina fled Themyscira, bringing her daughter with her as the first Amazons to leave the island.
I think outta these two stories I'm WAY more interested in finding out what happens with Grail and the Justice League adverting the apocalypse once again!
July 6, 2020
This comic does a good job setting up the story for Divergence. It’s not one you necessarily need to read to comprehend the Divergence story arc, but it isn’t a bad bit background to have going into the complete story.
It focuses on Bruce, Clark, and Diana’s background. Each a snippet of where they are now. For Bruce and Clark it shows how they’ve essentially gone into hiding. Both of them for different reasons. For Diana’s part, it’s more talking about another Amazonian who had a baby the night Diana was born and the prophecy foretold about that child.
If you like the Divergence storyline and liked it, this wouldn’t be a bad issue to pick up.
The art is well done as well.
It focuses on Bruce, Clark, and Diana’s background. Each a snippet of where they are now. For Bruce and Clark it shows how they’ve essentially gone into hiding. Both of them for different reasons. For Diana’s part, it’s more talking about another Amazonian who had a baby the night Diana was born and the prophecy foretold about that child.
If you like the Divergence storyline and liked it, this wouldn’t be a bad issue to pick up.
The art is well done as well.
January 30, 2019
Interesting set up for the DC comics story lines of that year.
Liked how this preview anthology is a set up for the multiple storylines that would set up the changing of DC’s New 52. Loved it was also free.
Liked how this preview anthology is a set up for the multiple storylines that would set up the changing of DC’s New 52. Loved it was also free.
July 3, 2017
Good introduction to several DC titles. I really want to read the Darkseid War.
May 25, 2015
Someone going into this without reading recent DC stories may feel like they have been set down in the middle of the story. This does not really feel like a starting point. Apparently, Batman is presumed dead and Jim Gordon is taking on the mantle, which is a bit interesting since, in all of Batman history, we have never really seen this before. People find out that Superman is alive, and the social network status updates are amusing. Then there is a Justice League story having to do with something called the Darkseid Anti-Monitor War. Again, this does not really feel like a starting point for new readers.
March 3, 2016
Disclaimer: These are the first superhero comics I have ever read, so I don't have anything to compare them to. That being said, they were pretty sick.
The comics got progressively better throughout the issue. I'm not really into Batman so I didn't really care for the first comic. The Superman one was super cool, and then the last one, I don't even know what it was about but it was really epic. I really liked the art, and I looove ripped ladies. A super awesome quick read.
Thanks to Gene Luen Yang for sending me a copy of this!
The comics got progressively better throughout the issue. I'm not really into Batman so I didn't really care for the first comic. The Superman one was super cool, and then the last one, I don't even know what it was about but it was really epic. I really liked the art, and I looove ripped ladies. A super awesome quick read.
Thanks to Gene Luen Yang for sending me a copy of this!
June 15, 2016
I can appreciate the major comics trying to set up their new world event, but I'm still not interested in this one. Superman's identity was revealed, Gordon is Batman, I read about those things before this came out and all I think is meh
May 4, 2015
The art and storyline of Justice League Darkseid War Prologue Two: The Other Amazon was so good. Batman The Rookie and Superman Exposed wasn't that good.
May 11, 2015
One of the best books EVAH!!!!
My recommendation is to alllllll.
My recommendation is to alllllll.
June 25, 2015
This was the promotional offering DC Comics published for giveaway on Free Comicbook Day in May 2015.
June 30, 2015
The Batman story was intriguing. The Superman story was actually the least interesting. I was surprised to find the Justice League story got me interested in the upcoming Darkseid War story.
August 9, 2015
Not particularly interesting to me.
May 10, 2015
Exciting new DC plot line, I'd like to read more.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews