‘Dark Knights: Death Metal Guidebook #1’ (review)

Written by Scott Snyder, Vita Ayala, Becky Cloonan,
Chip Zdarsky, Joshua Williamson, Christopher Priest
Art by Doug Mahnke, Eduardo Risso, Dan Panosian,
Khary Randolph, Becky Cloonan
Published by DC Comics

When a series gets as big as Death Metal does, there are always spin off books.

And why not? It makes the big event all the more fun.

Such is the case here as this guidebook gives us new information about the story currently going on. It also deepens the experience a lot for the average reader as well.

The opening story is written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Joshua Williamson. It basically shows all of the players on the field of battle featured in Death Metal.

It shows how they all got involved and what purpose that they basically serve.

This is actually great because Death Metal is so crazy and so big that you lose track.

But this makes it all easier to swallow. It also pushes the overall story forward in an interesting way.

Plus, it has some amazing artwork by artist Doug Mahnke. What’s not to like?

Next up, we get a cool tale by writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Khary Randolph. It is aptly called Harley Quinn: Metal Queen of the Desert. It is exactly what it sounds like. Harley gets into a fight in the desert and it feels a bit like Mad Max.

Then, we have a downright excellent Aquaman story written and illustrated by Becky Cloonan. Aquaman encounters a strange creature in the sea and they have an encounter. It is very short but it was immediately gripping throughout.

The last two stories are equally excellent. We get a Wonder Woman story with Poison Ivy. Vita Ayala writes an amazing script here and it has superb artwork by Dan Panosian.

The last story of the book is a strange Batman tale with the Joker. It is written by Christopher Priest with awesome art by Eduardo Risso. This is the perfect story to end this book on.

This is another strong book with short stories that fit into the Death Metal universe perfectly.  This is some spectacular stuff and I appreciate the whole affair.

I wouldn’t mind a few more, as long as the quality is kept this high.

RATING: A