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Metal Men (2019) #1-12
Metal Men: Elements of Change
The Metal Men are back! And back and back and back again, as we take a deep look into Doc Magnus's lab as he experiments with what it means to be sentient. Meanwhile, a mysterious liquid Nth metal has appeared in the science site at Challengers Mountain that appears to have come through from the Dark Multiverse...
The Nth Metal Man has arrived from the Dark Multiverse right into Dr. Jenet Klyburn's research site-and it will destroy anything that stands in the way of it trying to stay in our world. As Magnus, Gold, Platinum, Iron, Lead, and Mercury rush to Dr. Klyburn's aid, one of them will meet their fate at the hands of Nth Metal Man!
Writer Dan DiDio and artist Shane Davis bring the Metal Men back together to battle the Nth Metal Man! This new kind of Metal Man is the most dangerous of them all, but what connection does he have to the Dark Multiverse? Find out more in this climactic conclusion!
Collects: Metal Men #1-12.
The Nth Metal Man has arrived from the Dark Multiverse right into Dr. Jenet Klyburn's research site-and it will destroy anything that stands in the way of it trying to stay in our world. As Magnus, Gold, Platinum, Iron, Lead, and Mercury rush to Dr. Klyburn's aid, one of them will meet their fate at the hands of Nth Metal Man!
Writer Dan DiDio and artist Shane Davis bring the Metal Men back together to battle the Nth Metal Man! This new kind of Metal Man is the most dangerous of them all, but what connection does he have to the Dark Multiverse? Find out more in this climactic conclusion!
Collects: Metal Men #1-12.
296 pages, Paperback
First published April 6, 2021
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31 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 20, 2021
Dan DiDio shows again that the only way he can get a job writing comics is to be his own boss. This Metal Men series was pointless and meandered through 12 issues. DiDio was fired part way through the release of this book. He's narcissistic enough though that he still managed to put his own departure from DC into the final scene.
April 11, 2021
This was a love letter to the Metal Men.
I never expected to like anything written by Dan DiDio, mostly considering the horrible impact he had at DC with his New 52 line. Other works of him haven’t caused waves, either OMAC or Phantom Stranger, were a little pointless and never had a voice. But with this Metal Men series , you could actually feel his love and respect for these characters. (Yes, I’m still wondering where was that love when he brought down so much more from DC). But still, I’m impressed.
I enjoyed this title from beginning to end, even if his very own little cameo felt a bit forced into the story. But I’ll give the guy that he needed to find a way to say his goodbye.
Anyway, I’m still wondering what would have been his path if he had focused on writing about characters he loved, instead of deconstructing the Justice League International, or the Titans, or anything that didn’t suit his plans.
Behind this entire series, and looking through the fourth wall, there’s an enormous lesson urging to be learned.
I never expected to like anything written by Dan DiDio, mostly considering the horrible impact he had at DC with his New 52 line. Other works of him haven’t caused waves, either OMAC or Phantom Stranger, were a little pointless and never had a voice. But with this Metal Men series , you could actually feel his love and respect for these characters. (Yes, I’m still wondering where was that love when he brought down so much more from DC). But still, I’m impressed.
I enjoyed this title from beginning to end, even if his very own little cameo felt a bit forced into the story. But I’ll give the guy that he needed to find a way to say his goodbye.
Anyway, I’m still wondering what would have been his path if he had focused on writing about characters he loved, instead of deconstructing the Justice League International, or the Titans, or anything that didn’t suit his plans.
Behind this entire series, and looking through the fourth wall, there’s an enormous lesson urging to be learned.
December 30, 2020
This series was ok, an interesting read and enjoyable at times but not one of DC's best. The heartwarming scene at the end was completely tarnished by the narcissistic writer, Dan DiDio, needing to write in his own departure from DC into the scene. It was completely unnecessary.
January 8, 2024
EXCELLENT
Une très bonne lecture pour le premier comic de l’année 😁
Je suis peut être biaisé car je connaissais déjà les metal men après avoir lu la cycle News 52 de la justice league, et je savais déjà que leur univers allait me plaire.
Mais ce comic réussit à surprendre le lecteur et le garder en haleine du début à la fin.
Le rythme est parfait, tout s’enchaîne sans pour autant aller trop vite, les ennemis se succèdent mais ne sont pas bâclés.
Le personnage central de Will est beaucoup mieux écrit que ce à quoi je m’attendais car son orgueil et son refus de considérer la conscience propre des metal men lui donne une relation intéressante avec ces derniers qui font tout pour s’émanciper et prouver leur existence.
Le dessin est simple mais très coloré ce qui reste plaisant sans pour autant être le fort du comic.
En tous cas le combo robots + scientifiques + monstres + dimensions parallèle m’a complètement séduit et je pense que j’aurais envie de le relire très bientôt !
Je conseille a fond !!
Une très bonne lecture pour le premier comic de l’année 😁
Je suis peut être biaisé car je connaissais déjà les metal men après avoir lu la cycle News 52 de la justice league, et je savais déjà que leur univers allait me plaire.
Mais ce comic réussit à surprendre le lecteur et le garder en haleine du début à la fin.
Le rythme est parfait, tout s’enchaîne sans pour autant aller trop vite, les ennemis se succèdent mais ne sont pas bâclés.
Le personnage central de Will est beaucoup mieux écrit que ce à quoi je m’attendais car son orgueil et son refus de considérer la conscience propre des metal men lui donne une relation intéressante avec ces derniers qui font tout pour s’émanciper et prouver leur existence.
Le dessin est simple mais très coloré ce qui reste plaisant sans pour autant être le fort du comic.
En tous cas le combo robots + scientifiques + monstres + dimensions parallèle m’a complètement séduit et je pense que j’aurais envie de le relire très bientôt !
Je conseille a fond !!
February 2, 2023
This splatters all over "retro" into the adjacent realms of "campy" and "silly," but never quite manages to be "bad" even when it's kind of predictable and standard. DiDio's never been a favorite of mine, but you can tell he loves this property, and also that he wants you to know how steeped he in not only in comics lore, but in inter-company relations, with references to same abounding. Loved the inclusion (however short) of Phantom Stranger here, and OMAC, Chemo, Thanagarians, and lots of exploration of what the Metal Men are really 'like,' so to speak. The art is here is great, and this would be a good possible first Metal Men read - IF you're okay with the new regime being the status quo, inasmuch as this breaks apart much of the past in order to build the new thing.
May 31, 2025
This was really poorly written. 😬 It never gave me a reason to care about the main plotline or the characters.
Art was good though. And I liked the appearance of O.M.A.C. and Mother Machine, even if they were only in it briefly.
Art was good though. And I liked the appearance of O.M.A.C. and Mother Machine, even if they were only in it briefly.
January 7, 2022
Metal Men: Elements of Change
Author: Dan Didio, Shane Davis, Jason Wright
Publisher: DC Comics
Publishing Date: 2021
Pgs: 296 pages
Dewey: 741.5973 MET
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
=======================================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
The Metal Men are back!
And back and back again as they discover they are not the first versions of themselves…
The Metal Men team—Platinum, Gold, Tin, Lead, Mercury, and Iron find a secret room hidden in Doc Magnus’s lab full of empty shells of previous versions of their robotic selves and confront their creator about it.
To make matters worse, a mysterious metal has come through from the Dark Multiverse at Challengers Mountain. He claims he is the Nth Metal Man and that he can provide the Metal Men with true sentience, something Magnus was, apparently, only pretending to have given them.
Who is this Nth Metal Man, and what does he want? If Platinum didn’t know she was based on a real woman Magnus used to know, what else is Magnus hiding from the team? And will the team have to venture into the Dark Multiverse themselves to find out the truth?
Writer Dan DiDio (Sideways) and artist Shane Davis (Superman: Earth One) team up to bring the Metal Men to life on the page in a way that’s never been seen before in Metal Men: Elements of Change. Collects Metal Men #1-12.
_________________________________________
Genre:
DC Comics
Superhero
Science Fiction
Why this book:
The Metal Men have always been a favorite team of characters…even if I have always hated Doc Magnus.
_________________________________________
Favorite Character:
Mother Machine is a bad assed visual. Her minions look a bit like capeless Dr. Dooms.
Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Magnus Opus, really? His whole lab is a drone bot. Very Silver Agey. It kinda flies in the face of the angst persona of Will Magnus.
Considering Jeanette and Doc's interactions on Oolong Island previously, despite their shared history, it's odd that they would consider "dating" when something like the Nth Metal Man was around and not knowing where the Manta beast came from. If they were informed where it originated from it was offscreen and unmentioned. Not very DEO of her, or whatever agency she represents, not very superhero of him either.
Mercury going off to an ashram…that is out-of-character. Doc apologizing to him for making him red and not ever fixing it is very spot on.
Cover and Interior Art:
The image of Plutonium with the Metal Men hanging over him with their lower torsos torn away and all the fire about is an awesome hellscape drawing. Plutonium as the devil in the Metal Men's Dark Multiverse is well done.
Hmm Moments:
A living Nth Metal Man from the Dark Multiverse journey of Challenger Mountain. And they call for an unstable Will Magnus to come and bring his Metal Men to whom his big secret was just revealed. And that happening while Doc is baring his soul to the lifeless automaton that is Nameless.. ...whatever could go wrong?
If Mother Machine, Father Boxes, and Brother Eye aren't all connected that's a big missed opportunity.
And New Genesis and Apokolips, there we go the planted seed bears fruit. Course, it's not like it's a big leap from Mother Machine to Mother Box to New Gods. Especially when another Kirby creation has put in an appearance. I prefer OMAC as a separate entity from the New Gods. Trying to put all the Kirby stuff in one basket limits it too much.
Alloy was the original transformer.
Calling the ball:
The Nth Metal Man is up to no good. He's from the Dark Multiverse and rode Challengers Mountain through the darkness and came out of the same portal that the flying Manta beast came out of, he's no bueno.
WTF Moments:
Is Magnus threatening Nameless? Magnus is nuts. Always has been. He and the Doom Patrol's Chief should be in a Mad Scientist's version of Arkham. And then, he puts her in the hall closet cause she isn’t activated and he was just talking to her. Doc ain’t right.
And Tina met Christina Novak. Whoa! I'm sure the rest of Doc's "friends" are all equally as happy that the creepy, smart bastard stole their images and made his own version of them. The restraining order creep fits the personality. I hope Didio doesn't try to rehabilitate him. Doc always seemed not right. The Metal Men were hamstrung because of him and limited. And their personalities were always off, to a degree that I thought they were all just pieces of Doc's personality. Which I guess they are, kinda.
The denouement left me cold. After all that action, the walk-off at the end is I guess looking to their future as individuals. But the team is over, scattered to the winds. Tin's project is sad. Tina's maybe worse. Effectively, she stayed with her gaslighter because she has always loved him. I would have been happier with her returning to Christina and working things out with her. The question of Christina's son's father needed to be answered too. Tina's face mirroring Christina's in that pic where the bartender threw them the keys and told them to lock up concerned me. What if it was reversed and Christina was the one stalking Doc? Instead of the oblivious dickhead that is Doc being the stalker. His relationship with Jeanette shows us the kind of guy he is pretty clearly. If anything, he'd be more the pay no attention to his significant other than too much. Of course, a move like that would have offended the 60+-year-old fan who has read the Metal Men since they were first published, but it would have been a move toward the future that was more concrete than what they were left with.
The Sigh:
For supposedly sentient beings, Doc has always treated the Metal Men like shit. Condescending. I would even say abusive with the way he acts towards Platinum. If he isn't a gold medal DC Comics asshole, then he's damned close. He'd have to compete with the Chief from the Doom Patrol and that is a hard mountain to climb. In more recent iterations writers have played up Doc's mental problems. But c'mon, that's a pastiche added in to justify his being a dick for all those years. I say let Doc be a dick. Hell, let him be the villain and the Metal Men break free from his control and into their future.
Juxtaposition:
Maybe I'm wrong about whatever Magnus's big secret is. But shouldn't there be a room full of spare parts and chassis for the Metal Men? And whatever it is that gives them that sentience...semblance is what is transferred time and time again as they are damaged beyond repair. Or...or there is more to Magnus's secrets. I just hope we don't get back to their real people...I mean flesh and blood. I like them as A.I.s. Though the human-looking robots in the body shop make it look like maybe that was a lie too.
The Unexpected:
Funny that I'm on my Kirby kick lately, and OMAC shows up in this. Didn't realize he played a role in this one until he showed up on the page. Cool.
Missed Opportunity:
Shame about the Gas Gang. They were interesting in their animal forms. Would be interesting to see The Elemental Men as an expanded team. Sometime. Maybe with Metamorpho suing them for infringement.
Dreamcasting:
Casting Call: Jonathan Frakes as Doctor Will Magnus.
_________________________________________
Pacing:
Was very well-paced.
Last Page Sound:
After complaining in a recent previous review about status quo denouements in comic books, this one totally flipped that script. And still left me unsatisfied. The Metal Men aren't a team and are scattered around the world at the last moment. Was wanting a Platinum-Christina follow-up. This was a nerd's nerd's nerd story. Continuity rich and had a bunch of touchstones for Metal Man history and the ongoing comics event that it was part of. It was well done overall.
Questions I’m Left With:
The Christina Novak story that with the state of the industry will never be told. Is Doc the absentee father of her son, does he even know about the kid. Was the relationship as she stated? Was Doc a stalker? Was she? The juxtaposition of Christina’s face in the one photo that Doc had of them together with Platinum’s face when the bartender threw them the keys and told them to lock up. Was she upset that someone else had drawn Doc’s attention away from being solely focused on her? There are lotta questions regarding that period in Doc and Christina’s life and relationship that aren’t going to be answered but may indeed be mirrored in Doc and Platinum’s relationship.
Conclusions I’ve Drawn:
If there are this many portals to the Dark Multiverse just in the Metal Men, then this is going to be a rich storytelling vein for many years to come in the DC Comics-verse.
Author Assessment:
Was surprised how much I liked this story. Guess I’ll have to give Didio penned books a closer look.
=======================================
Author: Dan Didio, Shane Davis, Jason Wright
Publisher: DC Comics
Publishing Date: 2021
Pgs: 296 pages
Dewey: 741.5973 MET
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
=======================================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
The Metal Men are back!
And back and back again as they discover they are not the first versions of themselves…
The Metal Men team—Platinum, Gold, Tin, Lead, Mercury, and Iron find a secret room hidden in Doc Magnus’s lab full of empty shells of previous versions of their robotic selves and confront their creator about it.
To make matters worse, a mysterious metal has come through from the Dark Multiverse at Challengers Mountain. He claims he is the Nth Metal Man and that he can provide the Metal Men with true sentience, something Magnus was, apparently, only pretending to have given them.
Who is this Nth Metal Man, and what does he want? If Platinum didn’t know she was based on a real woman Magnus used to know, what else is Magnus hiding from the team? And will the team have to venture into the Dark Multiverse themselves to find out the truth?
Writer Dan DiDio (Sideways) and artist Shane Davis (Superman: Earth One) team up to bring the Metal Men to life on the page in a way that’s never been seen before in Metal Men: Elements of Change. Collects Metal Men #1-12.
_________________________________________
Genre:
DC Comics
Superhero
Science Fiction
Why this book:
The Metal Men have always been a favorite team of characters…even if I have always hated Doc Magnus.
_________________________________________
Favorite Character:
Mother Machine is a bad assed visual. Her minions look a bit like capeless Dr. Dooms.
Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Magnus Opus, really? His whole lab is a drone bot. Very Silver Agey. It kinda flies in the face of the angst persona of Will Magnus.
Considering Jeanette and Doc's interactions on Oolong Island previously, despite their shared history, it's odd that they would consider "dating" when something like the Nth Metal Man was around and not knowing where the Manta beast came from. If they were informed where it originated from it was offscreen and unmentioned. Not very DEO of her, or whatever agency she represents, not very superhero of him either.
Mercury going off to an ashram…that is out-of-character. Doc apologizing to him for making him red and not ever fixing it is very spot on.
Cover and Interior Art:
The image of Plutonium with the Metal Men hanging over him with their lower torsos torn away and all the fire about is an awesome hellscape drawing. Plutonium as the devil in the Metal Men's Dark Multiverse is well done.
Hmm Moments:
A living Nth Metal Man from the Dark Multiverse journey of Challenger Mountain. And they call for an unstable Will Magnus to come and bring his Metal Men to whom his big secret was just revealed. And that happening while Doc is baring his soul to the lifeless automaton that is Nameless.. ...whatever could go wrong?
If Mother Machine, Father Boxes, and Brother Eye aren't all connected that's a big missed opportunity.
And New Genesis and Apokolips, there we go the planted seed bears fruit. Course, it's not like it's a big leap from Mother Machine to Mother Box to New Gods. Especially when another Kirby creation has put in an appearance. I prefer OMAC as a separate entity from the New Gods. Trying to put all the Kirby stuff in one basket limits it too much.
Alloy was the original transformer.
Calling the ball:
The Nth Metal Man is up to no good. He's from the Dark Multiverse and rode Challengers Mountain through the darkness and came out of the same portal that the flying Manta beast came out of, he's no bueno.
WTF Moments:
Is Magnus threatening Nameless? Magnus is nuts. Always has been. He and the Doom Patrol's Chief should be in a Mad Scientist's version of Arkham. And then, he puts her in the hall closet cause she isn’t activated and he was just talking to her. Doc ain’t right.
And Tina met Christina Novak. Whoa! I'm sure the rest of Doc's "friends" are all equally as happy that the creepy, smart bastard stole their images and made his own version of them. The restraining order creep fits the personality. I hope Didio doesn't try to rehabilitate him. Doc always seemed not right. The Metal Men were hamstrung because of him and limited. And their personalities were always off, to a degree that I thought they were all just pieces of Doc's personality. Which I guess they are, kinda.
The denouement left me cold. After all that action, the walk-off at the end is I guess looking to their future as individuals. But the team is over, scattered to the winds. Tin's project is sad. Tina's maybe worse. Effectively, she stayed with her gaslighter because she has always loved him. I would have been happier with her returning to Christina and working things out with her. The question of Christina's son's father needed to be answered too. Tina's face mirroring Christina's in that pic where the bartender threw them the keys and told them to lock up concerned me. What if it was reversed and Christina was the one stalking Doc? Instead of the oblivious dickhead that is Doc being the stalker. His relationship with Jeanette shows us the kind of guy he is pretty clearly. If anything, he'd be more the pay no attention to his significant other than too much. Of course, a move like that would have offended the 60+-year-old fan who has read the Metal Men since they were first published, but it would have been a move toward the future that was more concrete than what they were left with.
The Sigh:
For supposedly sentient beings, Doc has always treated the Metal Men like shit. Condescending. I would even say abusive with the way he acts towards Platinum. If he isn't a gold medal DC Comics asshole, then he's damned close. He'd have to compete with the Chief from the Doom Patrol and that is a hard mountain to climb. In more recent iterations writers have played up Doc's mental problems. But c'mon, that's a pastiche added in to justify his being a dick for all those years. I say let Doc be a dick. Hell, let him be the villain and the Metal Men break free from his control and into their future.
Juxtaposition:
Maybe I'm wrong about whatever Magnus's big secret is. But shouldn't there be a room full of spare parts and chassis for the Metal Men? And whatever it is that gives them that sentience...semblance is what is transferred time and time again as they are damaged beyond repair. Or...or there is more to Magnus's secrets. I just hope we don't get back to their real people...I mean flesh and blood. I like them as A.I.s. Though the human-looking robots in the body shop make it look like maybe that was a lie too.
The Unexpected:
Funny that I'm on my Kirby kick lately, and OMAC shows up in this. Didn't realize he played a role in this one until he showed up on the page. Cool.
Missed Opportunity:
Shame about the Gas Gang. They were interesting in their animal forms. Would be interesting to see The Elemental Men as an expanded team. Sometime. Maybe with Metamorpho suing them for infringement.
Dreamcasting:
Casting Call: Jonathan Frakes as Doctor Will Magnus.
_________________________________________
Pacing:
Was very well-paced.
Last Page Sound:
After complaining in a recent previous review about status quo denouements in comic books, this one totally flipped that script. And still left me unsatisfied. The Metal Men aren't a team and are scattered around the world at the last moment. Was wanting a Platinum-Christina follow-up. This was a nerd's nerd's nerd story. Continuity rich and had a bunch of touchstones for Metal Man history and the ongoing comics event that it was part of. It was well done overall.
Questions I’m Left With:
The Christina Novak story that with the state of the industry will never be told. Is Doc the absentee father of her son, does he even know about the kid. Was the relationship as she stated? Was Doc a stalker? Was she? The juxtaposition of Christina’s face in the one photo that Doc had of them together with Platinum’s face when the bartender threw them the keys and told them to lock up. Was she upset that someone else had drawn Doc’s attention away from being solely focused on her? There are lotta questions regarding that period in Doc and Christina’s life and relationship that aren’t going to be answered but may indeed be mirrored in Doc and Platinum’s relationship.
Conclusions I’ve Drawn:
If there are this many portals to the Dark Multiverse just in the Metal Men, then this is going to be a rich storytelling vein for many years to come in the DC Comics-verse.
Author Assessment:
Was surprised how much I liked this story. Guess I’ll have to give Didio penned books a closer look.
=======================================
June 9, 2021
When I die and someone asks you about the strength of my will, tell the people I read all 12 issues of Dan DiDio's Metal Men series without quitting. Not even the cameos by the worst comic book creation of the last decade, Sideways, could hold me back from reaching the end. I come out of this experience stronger for having lived through it.
July 19, 2022
I have not read any other Metal Men series so maybe this would be worse if it was ruining the legacy in some way for me. I liked this. It started with the same twists that deconstructed Charles Xavier and Niles Caulder and then used it to deconstruct and then reconstruct the team. I like all of the team members finding their own path. I don’t like how things ended up with Tina. I think that’s one place that could use more in depth hashing out.
I think another major part of this is Dan Didio’s goodbye to DC. I know he’s a controversial guy, always changing the continuity in ways to make a static and boring status quo, someone who has reversed 20 years of character developments and eliminated many outright. But he’s also a massive dork who will go whole hog with any character that has his affection. A lot of the time that means the already popular characters maintain their dominance. Sometimes that means we get the DC/Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera crossovers which are surprisingly AMAZING. If what Didio loves is something obscure or wacky, his work certainly makes a net positive. And the Metal Men are obscure. Ok maybe some people learned who they are in Metal, or Bizarro comics, or uhhhh Len Wein’s run, or god forbid the original run. Dan Didio bringing up the forgotten characters to give them development and a conclusion is one perk of his EIC role. Him getting kicked out of DC while wrapping this up does make it feel a little special. It isn’t the best comic, but it’s a testament to what I like but Didio’s work.
I think another major part of this is Dan Didio’s goodbye to DC. I know he’s a controversial guy, always changing the continuity in ways to make a static and boring status quo, someone who has reversed 20 years of character developments and eliminated many outright. But he’s also a massive dork who will go whole hog with any character that has his affection. A lot of the time that means the already popular characters maintain their dominance. Sometimes that means we get the DC/Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera crossovers which are surprisingly AMAZING. If what Didio loves is something obscure or wacky, his work certainly makes a net positive. And the Metal Men are obscure. Ok maybe some people learned who they are in Metal, or Bizarro comics, or uhhhh Len Wein’s run, or god forbid the original run. Dan Didio bringing up the forgotten characters to give them development and a conclusion is one perk of his EIC role. Him getting kicked out of DC while wrapping this up does make it feel a little special. It isn’t the best comic, but it’s a testament to what I like but Didio’s work.
November 30, 2021
I enjoyed this. I picked it up because: (1) I knew very little about the Metal Men, so I was curious to learn about them, and (2) I enjoy modern updates of more... B-tier characters. It's interesting to see new life being breathed into certain heroes that don't have the popularity of, say, those in the Justice League or Teen Titans' roster. I really liked how this book dove into the darker parts of Will Magnus--he wasn't a perfect scientist or leader. We learn later that much of that was the result of Nth Metal Man's psychic manipulations, but those feelings and impulses still came from a place that was genuine. With that as the backdrop, the reader goes on an emotional journey as each Metal Man learns more about themselves and their place in the world. Honestly, it was just plain interesting. Add into that some really fun moments and lots of action, and you get a really cool update to these lesser-known heroes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 5, 2022
Tell me you're part of Dark Nights: Death Metal without being part of it
*Make Nth Metal the primary catalyst of the story
*mention the Dark Multiverse for, what seems like, 50+pages
This was an adequate story in the DCU. I'm not sure I can say this was needed. It's not groundbreaking or revelatory.
------------
Will Magnus is pouting for probably the millionth time that his Metal Men aren't truly alive. The responsometers make the Metal Men seem alive. It's a great approximation, but it's not real. Meanwhile, there's been an eruption of Nth metal and it's ...sentient and demanding Will Magus come speak to it.
What could go wrong?
Bonus: Didio's characters make several appearances: Sideways, O.M.A.C., Phantom Stranger
Bonus Bonus: Dan Didio was fired/left DC comics but wrote himself into the comic as the barkeep.
*Make Nth Metal the primary catalyst of the story
*mention the Dark Multiverse for, what seems like, 50+pages
This was an adequate story in the DCU. I'm not sure I can say this was needed. It's not groundbreaking or revelatory.
------------
Will Magnus is pouting for probably the millionth time that his Metal Men aren't truly alive. The responsometers make the Metal Men seem alive. It's a great approximation, but it's not real. Meanwhile, there's been an eruption of Nth metal and it's ...sentient and demanding Will Magus come speak to it.
What could go wrong?
Bonus: Didio's characters make several appearances: Sideways, O.M.A.C., Phantom Stranger
Bonus Bonus: Dan Didio was fired/left DC comics but wrote himself into the comic as the barkeep.
May 23, 2021
This book starts out for most of it as just an interesting team book of characters that you hardly ever see written but what is really under the surface is Dan Didio’s goodbye to DC comics and it is beautiful.
I am normally not a huge fan of Dan but he really got the ending of this so well!
I also loved all the cameos in this, and there’s several.
Overall this book starts off as nothing special but the last few pages of the very last issue were amazing and one of the best endings of a book I’ve read in a very long time.
5/5
I am normally not a huge fan of Dan but he really got the ending of this so well!
I also loved all the cameos in this, and there’s several.
Overall this book starts off as nothing special but the last few pages of the very last issue were amazing and one of the best endings of a book I’ve read in a very long time.
5/5
February 3, 2023
Never loved Dan Didio as an editor or head honcho of DC, but every now and then, he'd write something, just for the fun of it, and you'd realize he could do fun old school comic stories pretty well.
This is a fun, little romp, with a few stumbles because he had to include some tie ins to big events in the greater DCU.
It's one of the better attempts to bring back the MM, and a nice break from all the Dark Metal and multiverse crap that was taking over the DC line at the time.
This is a fun, little romp, with a few stumbles because he had to include some tie ins to big events in the greater DCU.
It's one of the better attempts to bring back the MM, and a nice break from all the Dark Metal and multiverse crap that was taking over the DC line at the time.
August 29, 2021
I've never been much of a fan of the Metal Men. They operate too much in the goofy realm of the universe, but this series didn't do a half bad job of erasing some of that and modernizing the team. Using the Death Metal storyline for the foundational elements of the story helps. Still these guys are a little goofy for me, just not as much as as they used to be.
October 24, 2021
I really liked the dark edge of this arc. The Metal Men struggle with emotion and what that means for life.
Loved the DiDio cameo. It was perfect and not the silly funny creator cameos that often drive me nuts.
Loved the DiDio cameo. It was perfect and not the silly funny creator cameos that often drive me nuts.
October 28, 2022
Too long to tell a story about the Metal Men who accidentally are opened up to real feelings (I didn't know they still weren't?) by a potentially evil Metal Man and lots of random robots in this volume. Ok.
May 16, 2021
A fun version of one of my favorite reoccurring series.
August 11, 2025
I dont know much about the metal men but this made me want to read more things about them
January 15, 2022
A slice of the good old Silver Age, back again. I haven't read much of classic Metal Men, but this certainly feels like it. For those who don't know, the Metal Men are a team of robots created by the brilliant Dr. Will Magnus, and each is named after and has some properties of a certain type of metal. They also have "responsometers," devices created by Magnus which are supposed to give them the ability to feel.
Plot: The story starts with a brief confrontation. The Metal Men realize that there is a room in Magnus' lab containing former versions of themselves, and they aren't happy that he seems to view them as simply machines to improve and replace. Magnus wipes their memory of the discover (as he states he has done before) but is clearly unhappy that he has never been successful in creating true sentience in his robots. He also tells the machines how each one of them is built around one of his own emotions. He feels a failure and a fraud for claiming the Metal Men could feel.
Shortly after, Magnus and the Metal Men are called by Jenet Klyburn of STAR Labs to face a potential threat: a portal to the Dark Multiverse (yes, this is a tie-in to Metal and Death Metal and someone who just came out of a it. This someone is a new Metal Man, the Nth Metal Man, who looks just like Magnus. This is kind of where the story begins, so click spoiler to see the rest.
Review: Well, I found this pretty enjoyable. It really was just a bit of Silver Age fun. Even though it was obviously created more recently, there was very little that made it feel modern. It would've been very easy to make this book angsty, modern, gritty, or making constant pop culture references in some cheap attempt to win more fans. But it doesn't. I think it really does a good job of presenting Magnus and the Metal Men as they are, and so serves as a good introduction to them. My only complaints would be that they really don't focus too much on personality; while I know there are some variations in how they act, one Metal Man could easily have been replaced by another in this book. Gold was almost entirely left out- did anyone even notice/care? I would say Tina, Magnus, and the Nth Man get the most attention in this book. For a book so focuses on the Metal Men becoming their own individuals, they sure felt all the same.
Also, I've always been confused by the Metal Men's abilities, and this didn't help. I would've loved even just one page explanation of who can do what.
Other than that, though, it was a decent enough read. It can easily stand on its own, even with the references to other events, and does a decent (if somewhat lackluster) job of showing who the Metal Men are.
Plot: The story starts with a brief confrontation. The Metal Men realize that there is a room in Magnus' lab containing former versions of themselves, and they aren't happy that he seems to view them as simply machines to improve and replace. Magnus wipes their memory of the discover (as he states he has done before) but is clearly unhappy that he has never been successful in creating true sentience in his robots. He also tells the machines how each one of them is built around one of his own emotions. He feels a failure and a fraud for claiming the Metal Men could feel.
Shortly after, Magnus and the Metal Men are called by Jenet Klyburn of STAR Labs to face a potential threat: a portal to the Dark Multiverse (yes, this is a tie-in to Metal and Death Metal and someone who just came out of a it. This someone is a new Metal Man, the Nth Metal Man, who looks just like Magnus. This is kind of where the story begins, so click spoiler to see the rest.
Review: Well, I found this pretty enjoyable. It really was just a bit of Silver Age fun. Even though it was obviously created more recently, there was very little that made it feel modern. It would've been very easy to make this book angsty, modern, gritty, or making constant pop culture references in some cheap attempt to win more fans. But it doesn't. I think it really does a good job of presenting Magnus and the Metal Men as they are, and so serves as a good introduction to them. My only complaints would be that they really don't focus too much on personality; while I know there are some variations in how they act, one Metal Man could easily have been replaced by another in this book. Gold was almost entirely left out- did anyone even notice/care? I would say Tina, Magnus, and the Nth Man get the most attention in this book. For a book so focuses on the Metal Men becoming their own individuals, they sure felt all the same.
Also, I've always been confused by the Metal Men's abilities, and this didn't help. I would've loved even just one page explanation of who can do what.
Other than that, though, it was a decent enough read. It can easily stand on its own, even with the references to other events, and does a decent (if somewhat lackluster) job of showing who the Metal Men are.
April 14, 2021
A fun, creative, colorful run for one of my favorite and very underrated DC teams. DiDio throws in a number of other characters he's worked with, and it spins out of the whole Dark Multiverse/METAL event quite nicely.
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