If you’ve been a little confused about what’s happening in Dark Nights: Metal, you’re not the only one. The event has come at us at 200 miles per hour with tons of characters and subplots (and subplots about subplots). It’s not to say that it’s bad (it’s very good, actually); we just needed a moment to breathe and wrap our heads around all of this.
Fortunately, Dark Nights: Metal #4 provides some much-needed respite. It’s more linear than the previous issues, focusing on what the heroes have to do to prevent Barbatos from winning and keeping the story ticking without jumping too far ahead. The spotlight shines firmly on the aged Batman and Superman, however, as they spend the bulk of the time conversing with the Sandman about their tiny glimmer of hope.
Additionally, Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders’s big moments arrive – and damn, they’re awesome. There’s also another returning name, but we’d prefer to not spoil it for you.
As expected, Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, and their conspirators still go totally nuts, bringing back Starro the Conqueror (who sounds like every online troll who criticizes Justice League on Twitter) and including a cool Five Finger Death Punch tribute (which will undoubtedly trigger Blabbermouth‘s comments section). I’d like to say this all feels out of place, but this is the series that saw Batman riding a dinosaur, so nothing’s off the table here.
After this issue, everything finally makes sense. Those ah-ha moments make it all worthwhile and you’ll appreciate the crazy story even more now.
Dark Nights: Metal #4Â is out now at all good comic book retailers.
