Posted in: Comics, DC Comics, Review | Tagged: alegandro sanchez, barbatos, Batman, cyborg, dark days, dark knights rising: the wild hunt, dark nights: metal, dc comics, detective chimp, doug mahnke, dr. t.o. morrow, geoff johns, grant morrison, hi fi, howard porter, james tynion iv, jamie mendoza, jorge jimenez, Joshua Williamson, justice league, nightmare batmen, raven, superheroes, swamp thing, teen titans, the batman who laughs, the dawnbreaker, the devastator, the drowned, The Flash, the merciless, the murder machine, the red death, wil quintana

Dark Knights Rising the Wild Hunt Review: Fun and Interesting Despite a Hard-to-Follow Plot

We are filled in on the origins of Detective Chimp as he, Dr. T.O Morrow, Dr. Will Magnus, Dr. Ivo, Dr. Sivanna, and a number of other intellectuals attempt to use the Metal Men and Red Tornado to bring the Justice League back to the House of Heroes. For unknown reasons, Detective Chimp's intellect is rapidly fading away.

Meanwhile, the Flash, Raven, and Cyborg are aboard a ship trying to make it out of the Dark Multiverse to meet the doctors. The Batman Who Laughs and the Nightmare Batmen are in pursuit.

Those are the broad strokes of the plot. However, trying to explain the exact details of what happens would be a challenge. The ship which Cyborg, Raven and the Flash are flying run on some mixture of music and Raven's powers. A "baby universe" is the engine. Also, the music played through the Metal Men and Red Tornado is attracting that ship to the House of Heroes.

Figuring out where some of these characters are in relation to one another through Wild Hunt can become incredibly confusing. Flash goes somewhere to help make the getaway. The Red Death pursues him, and then the Merciless shows up.

Yet, despite what looks like something four writers wrote in vaguely the same direction, it is exciting. The tension is maintained surprisingly well given that the Batman Who Laughs says the phrase "Dark Baby Universes" like it's a dark reveal that changes the playing field.

This is the comic book equivalent of that dumb friend in every cartoon who says some variation of, "I don't know what you just said, but I'm excited!" at some point.

You really feel like everything is on the line with this play. It seems important. It may throw jargon multiversal techno-babble straight out of Multiversity (oh, hey Grant Morrison), but it can convey emotion perfectly well.

Also, hey! Here are Red Tornado and the Metal Men!

I will say that the ending to Wild Hunt (spoilers) plays into what has become a cliché of Metal. The heroes think they won. Cut to the Batman Who Laughs. He explains that this is a ruse and went exactly how he planned, even if (super spoilers) one of the Nightmare Batmen betrayed him and died as a result.

The art team isn't the most cohesive. You can't really transfer between Howard Porter, Jorge Jimenez, and Doug Mahnke with Jamie Mendoza seamlessly, and I'm not entirely sure why this book has this horde of writers and artists anyway. This would make sense if this book were delivering an anthology tale. No one part of this team really delivers their A-game either. Mahnke, who is usually a favorite, brings some really bizarre faces, especially one in particular from the Flash. The colors by Hi-Fi, Alejandro Sanchez, and Wil Quintana are easily the most cohesive. They play to each setting very well.

This is a flawed comic, and if your expectations were high for this one, you will likely be disappointed. I'm definitely not sure if it deserves its $4.99 price tag. That being said, it was a tense and fairly fun read. It's not great and is barely good, but, if you've been as hooked on Metal and its periphery as I've been, you'll probably get your money's worth. Call it a tentative recommendation.

It's definitely not the best thing called Wild Hunt I've ever read/played.

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