Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: dan didio, dc comics, metal men

Dan DiDio Catches Us Up With Metal Men, Out Today

Published Tue, 12 May 2020 09:00:01 -0500

Dan DiDio may have been dropped by DC Comics as publisher, but the vestiges of his work remains, including seven more issues of Metal Men with Shane Davis to be published. Naturally, there will be many eyes looking for a subtext in the light of this change. But with issue 6 out today, in print and digital, yesterday Didio took to social media to catch people up.

Back! After a three-month wait, Metal Men return to select stores and on line shops tomorrow, Tuesday, May 12. If you've been reading the series or just looking for something new and fun to read, you'll find a great place to jump on and/or rejoin the story with issue 6.

But, since its been a while, I thought it might be nice to give you a recap of the story so far….

Issue 1- We are reintroduced to Doc Magnus and the team, and through a private confessional moment,. Doc admits that the robots he created were never truly sentient and they were just deep extensions of his own personality and life experiences. The Metal Men, upon discovering this, rebel against their creator prompting him to shut them down, and start again.

Issue 2- Jenet Klyburn, Head of STAR Labs contacts Doc to examine a pool of liquid Nth Metal, left behind from the Dark Multiverse invasion (in Dark Nights: Metal), that seems to be calling his name. As he researches the pool of metal, we learn STAR Labs is a major investor in Doc's experiments and Doc and Jenet share a bit of romantic history. This is all interrupted when the pool springs to life and creates the Nth Metal Man. This new creature promptly goes on a rampage and seemingly kills Gold by ripping out and destroying his responsometer. Doc is only able to stop the Nth Metal Man with the use of an Absorbascon, which gives him limited control of the creature. But in doing so, the Nth Metal Man takes on the appearance of a metal Doc, forcing Doc to take him back to his lab for further examination.

Issue 3- While being Doc's captive, the Nth Metal Man still seems calm and in control, only held prisoner by a cell made of Element X, which neutralizes the effects of Nth Metal. While trying to negotiate his release from Magnus, a giant Manta, similar to the first creature the Metal Men ever fought, and makes its way to Magnus' lab. The Manta attacks, easily defeating the team, but rather than releasing the Nth Metal Man to help, Doc activates the Magnus Opus protocol, turning his entire lab into a battle bot to fight the Manta. But when Magnus and the building are defeated as well, he finally releases the Nth Metal Man who not only stops the Manta, but save Platinum in the process. Still, the remainder of the team want revenge on the Nth Metal Man for the killing of Gold, but they are stopped in their tracks when they discover Gold is back to life and better than ever.

Issue 4- While Doc examines Gold to see how he's able to function without a responsometer, Tin and Lead decide to accept an invitation to attend Robocon 2020 as featured guests. At the lab, The Nth Metal Man explains that he did not kill Gold but instead, release his true potential, by merging his responsometer with his body, Nth Metal Man gave Gold "true life", an achievement that Doc was unable to accomplish on his own. For this, Doc resents the Nth Metal Man but allows his to stay with the team, at Gold's insistence, but only if he promises to leave the other robots alone. Nth Metal Man makes no such promise. Meanwhile at the convention, Tin and Lead are excited and embarrassed by all the attention they're getting at the show, but sinister machinations are at work as convention goers begin to be converted into robots. Its looks like the two Metal Men have their hands full fighting these new machine people, until another "threat" emerges in the form of OMAC.

Issue 5- After the obligatory mistaken identity hero vs hero fight, Tin and Lead team up with OMAC to take on Mother Machine, the mysterious threat that has been converting the Robocon convention goers into mindless machines. Back at the lab, Platinum struggles watching Doc and Jenet's budding romance, unaware of the keen interest the Nth Metal Man is taking in her. And while Doc and Jenet are out for dinner, Platinum looks the other way, then lies about letting the Nth Metal Man convert Mercury and Iron in to living robots similar to Gold. At the convention. Things turn worse when Tin, Lead and OMAC are overwhelmed by the machine minions of Mother Machine, and Brother Eye, the controlling force behind OMAC, is forced to send a powerful EMP blast to the convention hall to destroy all the machines in the building, and the Kevin Kho, the human that transforms into OMAC, permanently loses his connection to Brother Eye. Tin and Lead are also seemingly destroyed in the blast, and the only way they can be repaired is to go through the conversion process performed by The Nth Metal Man. The only Metal Man left to convert is Platinum, and the Nth Metal Man is left tempting her like the serpent with the apple…. To be continued.

Today, it seems.

METAL MEN #6 (OF 12)
(W) Dan DiDio (A/CA) Shane Davis, Michelle Delecki
After Platinum finds out that she is based on a real woman Magnus used to know in college, she sneaks away to search for her human counterpart…and learns the twisted reason for why she "loves" Magnus so much. Meanwhile, back at Magnus Mountain, Nth Metal Man seems to have some bigger plans of his own with someone else from the Dark Multiverse…In Shops: May 27, 2020 SRP: $3.99