Justice League #28

Writer Geoff Johns
Art by: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Scott Hanna and Rod Reis

Who remembers the Metal Men? Not me. Never even knew they existed. Thanks to Geoff Johns and the his fantastic mind, I now regret not knowing who they were. In the New 52, Cyborg seeks out Dr. Magnus in hopes of using the Metal Men to help eliminate Grid. Through a retelling of events by Dr. Magnus, we find out that the Metal Men may not be able to help anyone. While not a perfect book, Johns succeeded in the only area that matters: he took characters I didn’t know existed and made me fall in love with them.

The inception of the characters is your usual mixture of DC science and fantasy; scientist creates technology that can create artificially intelligent robots. He then bonds the technology to molten metal and the Metal Men are born! It’s a little hand-wavy which I can easily forgive because this was a fun story. There is a cinematic rhythm throughout the book that sets up the story, introduces the characters, presents conflict and ends the story in a satisfying (albeit short) battle.

This story exhibited a charm, humor and wonder that is usually only found in Disney films. Each character was uniquely different from Tin’s stuttering to Platinum’s flirting. I found myself liking them all. Even Gold and Mercury made me smile; their vanity and aggression were only skin deep. While Dr. Magnus thought he failed when the Metal Men wouldn’t listen to orders, he actually succeeded in replicating the defining feature of humanity, our individuality. Seeing them sacrifice themselves to save others sealed the deal for me. Get these guys an ongoing of their own because they’re going to be a hit.

Johns told a movie quality story in a 23 pages. If this is a small fragment of what a Metal Men movie has to offer, I say bring it! It’ll be exciting to see how Cyborg will interact with them. He is after all a bridge between humanity and the robots. If Johns and DC are smart they’ll jump on getting them all an ongoing of their own. Can you imagine how awesome it would be to read Cyborg and the Metal Men every month? We’ll find out next month in Justice League #29.

Review score: 6 (of 7)