Hit the volume and get those fists up in the air. The first issue of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s DARK NIGHTS: METAL has arrived! A high octane, pulse-pounding thrill ride featuring the Justice League alongside a cast of new and returning favorites, Metal is primed to change the face of the DC Multiverse for good. But don’t take our word for it. Scott Snyder’s here to let you know why this book should be on your summer reading list…
I understand that calling something “Metal” doesn’t explain what it is upfront. It’s not the easiest thing to wrap your head around. I mean, what is it?
At first, we weren’t sure if we should just call it what it is and go for a title like “Dark Multiverse” or something similar. But to me, that felt stale. The reason we called it Metal is both because everything is discovered through this mystery of the Nth Metal, but also, we wanted it to feel badass and rock-and-roll—something totally different. That’s the spirit that I feel fans have responded to when Greg and I do a book together. We love trying things that are a little bit out of the box, like making Commissioner Gordon Batman, or redoing Batman’s origin to be a post-apocalyptic story, or having Joker cut his own face off and claim to be immortal. For me, it’s always about trying to create something new and I think the title says that. It says go out there, thrash and have fun. Don’t go status quo, try and do something a little bit different, and enjoy the energy of the summer.
The story is about the Justice League discovering the Dark Multiverse, which is a much vaster, more fluid and nightmarish realm that exists beneath our Multiverse. When the Justice League accidentally opens the door, that thing comes charging through, and what our heroes need to defeat it is Nth Metal. It’s that simple. It’s a really straightforward summer fun story.
The places it leads you in terms of the history of these characters, the secret places that Nth Metal exists, the history of metals and the periodic tables—all that stuff is super fun. But when it comes to what Metal is, it’s about Justice League discovering the Dark Multiverse.
We want to surprise people with how deep we’re going into continuity. My favorite stories by Geoff Johns—BLACKEST NIGHT, INFINITE CRISIS, FOREVER EVIL, FLASHPOINT—they mine DC history for those things that remind fans that we love these characters as much as they do. We’re all fans at heart as well and there are characters and storylines that have faded somewhat, but are just as important to us emotionally as they were when they first came out.
Hawkman fell perfectly within that, but there’s also this idea that there’s been a secret history of exploration in the DC Universe that runs through characters that you might not expect, from Starman to the Challengers of the Unknown.
That’s just a small fraction of what you’ll see in terms of the characters that have secretly been involved in this whole crazy mystery around the Nth Metal and the Eighth Metal, Seventh Metal and everything that came before and after it.
DARK NIGHTS: METAL #1 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion and FCO Plascencia is now available in print and as a digital download. For more on the series, be sure to watch this week’s DC All Access clip featuring Greg Capullo.
