Death Metal is a new six-issue series reuniting the entire Metal creative team, including Snyder, Capullo, inker Jonathon Glapion and colorist FCO Plascencia. Check out the slideshow gallery below for a closer look at the covers and uncolored interior art from the first issue:
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While Death Metal is a sequel to Dark Nights: Metal, it also builds directly on the fallout of Snyder’s Justice League run and the miniseries Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen. The Batman Who Laughs has triumphed in his war against Lex Luthor, and now he and his corrupted minions – Shazam, Supergirl, Donna Troy, Blue Beetle, James Gordon and Hawkman – rule over a world swallowed up by the Dark Multiverse. And pulling the strings of The Batman Who Laughs is none other than Perpetua, the self-proclaimed mother of the multiverse and perhaps the most powerful villain the Justice League have ever faced.
As Snyder recently teased on Twitter, Death Metal is meant to be a Wonder Woman-driven story in the same way the original Metal was mostly Batman-focused. In this twisted version of the DCU, Wonder Woman and Flash have struck a Faustian bargain to preserve what remains of humanity, while Batman leads an underground resistance movement and Superman is trapped inside the heart of the sun. Only when a mysterious ally emerges with crucial new information is Wonder Woman able to rally the Justice League and take the fight to Perpetua herself. And, naturally, she’s bringing her new Chainsaw of Truth along for the ride.
“I’ve been waiting to do this story since we finished Dark Nights: Metal,” said Snyder in a statement. “As much as it was a complete event, we left some threads hanging there for sure. I’d hoped that if people liked the first series enough, we’d have a chance to set up something bigger, and that’s our plan for Death Metal.”
“For all of us, Dark Nights: Death Metal is about the fun factor,” said Capullo. “Comics should be fun, bombastic, and over-the-top. This series is going to be exciting and jam-packed with great ‘metal-esque’ moments that will make fans lose their minds when they see them.”
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Dark Nights: Death Metal #1 will be released on Wednesday, May 13. The series will continue to ship monthly through November 2020, though it’ll take a brief hiatus in August. DC is also teasing a series of “Metalverse” spinoff issues shipping this summer that expand on Snyder and Capullo’s story.
In addition to introducing The Batman Who Laughs and other nightmarish versions of Batman, Dark Nights: Metal is notable for featuring a rare crossover between the DCU and characters from The Sandman. We’ll be eager to see what Snyder and Capullo have planned for a followup. Let us know what you want to see from Death Metal in the comments below.
Death Metal isn’t the only major DC superhero epic in the works for this summer. A new Batman storyline called Joker War will chronicle what could well be the final battle between Batman and his greatest nemesis. Meanwhile, DC is celebrating Free Comic Book Day with the release of Generation Zero, a game-changing new comic that transforms Wally West into the new Doctor Manhattan. Check out all of IGN’s most anticipated comics of 2020 here.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.