Convergence #6 Review: 5 Reasons Why It's A Mediocre Step In The Right Direction
3. An Artistic Upswing
In the early days of the New 52, it was painfully obvious that DC was trying to introduce an artistic house style, resulting in various artists trying to imitate Jim Lee material. Likewise, each issue of Convergence has been an artistic tour-de-force of the DC house style a hodgepodge Lee-wannabes. And although DC has had some major A-list artists working on different issues for this title (Ethan Van Sciver and Andy Kubert to name two), the pencilling overall has been sloppy and generic as if the whole project had been rushed. Visually, Convergence #6 is par for the course at its weakest moments yet stunning at its strongest moments. Ed Benes and Eduardo Pansica share art duties for this particular issue, and since this was the first issue of Convergence either of these two have drawn, the pencilling of Convergence #6 is distinctly sharp and crisp compared to the previous five issues. Frankly, the opening pages are absolutely stunning. Benes and Pansica render the New 52 cast in full HD, with a beautiful realism indicative of the DC-Jim Lee house style. Unfortunately, as the book progresses, there are blatant moments where the pencils become sloppy: faces specifically suffer the most, as they suffer from a lack of detail that was evident in earlier panels. Despite Benes and Pasicas failure maintain consistent quality of detail, much of the pacing in this issue benefits from the artists rendering of movement. When a character is either flying or running at supper-speed, they never feels static. One particular two-page spread really captures this perfectly as we see two different Flashes Jay Garrick of Earth 2 and Pre-Crisis Berry Allen an encounter each other for the first time. The page is literally electric as the two speedsters nearly collide headfirst. By creating an atmosphere of immediacy through movement, Benes and Pasicas art aid the narrative, which (as previously mentioned) was painfully slow in earlier issues. The concluding pages of this issue where the heroes confront Deimos are dynamic, leaving the reader with an ocular crescendo only to be resolved in Convergence #7.
Since childhood, Bryant has been an avid fan of superheroes, and he has been reading comic books since 2006. His full name is "George Bryant Lucas"; however, after enduring countless Darth Vader jokes, he has chosen to go by his middle name. Born and raised in the United States, Bryant is currently living with his lovely wife in the country side of Wiltshire County, UK. Bryant does suffer from a mild case of dyslexia; misspellings and homonyms are to be expected on occasion.
