This volume collects several good origin stories of the dark multiverse Batman variants, kind of like depressing Elseworlds tales. Some of the origins, not as great. But it seems a shame to have wasted the good characters on the Metal event. If you are looking for closure in this book, you'll have to find it in the main Metal mini-series.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dark Days: The Road to Metal and Dark Days: The Road to Metal by Scott Snyder are the first two events. This is the third.

Barbatos rules the Dark. If Batman can rid of the Light, Barbatos has promised to bring Bruce Wayne’s parents back.

"The truth is, we’re only here because the world was dark enough to dream us into existence. Because deep down, it needed us. To protect them from themselves."

Batman has multiple personality disorder in this event:

Flash Batman “Red Death”: stole his reality’s Speed Force from The Flash (one of my favorite superheroes and I would want his super power).
Cyborg Batman “The Murder Machine”: bent on killing everyone with the many Alfred clones.
Joker Batman “The Man Who Laughs”: never taking anything seriously and always the last word. The evil mastermind of the group.
Green Lantern Batman “Dawnbreaker”: set on destroying the man who killed his parents. He quickly becomes a hero until his willingness to kill takes over.
Aquaman Batman “The Drowned”: a female sea creature.
Wonder Woman Batman “The Merciless”: vows to kill Ares and destroy his helmet, but ends up choosing himself as a god and wears the helmet.
Doomsday Batman “The Devastator”: monster who thinks that Superman is the problem.

"No one is beyond saving."

The Joker plans to make something out of the best traits of both himself and Batman. When Batman killed the Joker, a new strain of Nanotoxic was released from the dead body. This virus makes the victims more like the Joker. Whoever killed the Joker, would become him.

The Laughing Batman (aka the Joker Batman) is the ringleader of this big circus. So why are all of the other Batmans following his lead? They believe that helping will make them heros (how easily misguided they were). The world is dying. Detective Chimp is on the case. Will he be able to solve the crime before it is too late?

I wanted to love this. I really did. And I really like that the “Dark Knights” were versions of other DC heros we have come to love over the years. I’m kind of lost about why Detective Chimp has a role, really. But then again, I’m not a big fan of monkeys. It had me loving it until the last 50 pages. 😦

The expected publication date is June 26, 2018.

This is the Dark Nights book I was waiting for! The art is beautiful and the writing very sophisticated. It's a big, gloriously weird collection of "What If" stories, and in each we get to see a version of Batman we hoped we'd never have to face.

Full review at http://pixelatedgeek.com/2018/06/review-dark-nights-metal-dark-nights-rising/

Publication date: June 26, 2018

My Thoughts:


This is a side story, a 1.5.1 in the Dark Nights: Metal saga of death and destruction across the multiverse. The beginning of this series says it best:

Imagine if your every fear, each decision gave birth to a malformed world of nightmare. . .Welcome to the dark multiverse. Home to stories that should never be. . .

This opening explains the gist of these stories and I dare you to not have Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" playing in the background as you tear through these stories of destruction and mayhem. Batman has always been dark, now we know how dark. This is indeed heavy metal rock n roll in comic form.

This storyline was so good. Probably the greatest DC event since Crisis. Great story telling and artwork. It's sad and frightening how one moment can change the whole universe or multiple universes. Highly recommended read.

Dark Nights: Metal: Dark Knights Rising brings you your every long-wished for nightmare Batman. Crawling up from the underbelly of the DC Universe's multiversal dark side, This volume collects several one-shot terrors where Bruce Waye, the Bruce Wayne from several alternate horror-show worlds are given the irresistible offer to Fix the World!

If you’ve been following the hype behind Dark Nights then you’ve surely heard of this series by now. It gives the short version of the origin stories behind the seven most iconic Batman alternates in the series. They’re beautifully drawn, creepy, and downright corrupt.
Before I had even had a chance to read the Dark Nights: Metal story I had heard about the Batman Who Laughs. At the time I was interested, but when I finally got to reading the series I was confused. The character played an important role, to be sure, but he wasn’t nearly as big as I expected. Then I learned that there was even more to it than that one series! Here is the origin story for these Batmans, and it’s here I learned why people really were going crazy for the guy (though in truth I mostly understood it based on his design alone).
As I said above, this volume includes the origin story of seven of the alternate Batmans. These ones are the most iconic ones shown (I believe there were many more than seven shown in the original series, but I also never took the time to count and be sure of that). Included are the Batman Who Laughs (obviously; he’s been driven mad by the Joker’s final toxin), The Drowned (my personal favorite, a female Batman who has modified her body to take on the power of the Atlanteans), The Red Death (a thief who went after the Flash), The Dawnbreaker (a Green Lantern who found a way around the rules), The Murder Machine (cyborg Batman), The Merciless (Batman with the helmet of Ares; one of the versions that loved and lost Diana), and The Devastator (Doomsday/Batman blend with a special hatred for Superman).
I’m sure we all have our own favorite evil Batman character, and there’s plenty to choose from. Personally while I did like the imagery used for the Batman Who Laughs, he wasn’t my favorite. I found myself most drawn to The Drowned and her story. For one thing she’s strikingly designed. For another I simply liked her way of speech and the trials she went through.
I was also surprisingly fond of The Dawnbreaker. I think because his origin story (up until a certain point) was the most similar to our beloved Bruce Wayne’s (the one from the primary universe that is). He lost his parents the same way, but instead found himself so determined that a Green Lantern ring found him. He then used his willpower to twist the ring to do his bidding, allowing him to break all the laws that the corps abides by. In a way it’s kind of fun to theorize about whether that would have happened in any other universe as well, or just the one.
I wasn’t a big fan of the final story included in this volume, Dark Knights Rising: The Wild Hunt #1. It felt silly in comparison, which was actually really jarring considering the disturbing nature of some of the backstories (did I mention that Batman Who Laughs came last, and therefore was literally right before this one? It was weird). I probably would have liked it more if not for that juxtaposition, but it is what it is.
I think this leaves me with only one Dark Metal plot left, not counting the series that are being affected by what has happened. I’m really glad I’ve taken the time to read and understand everything that’s happening though. I’m already seeing the effects of these plots seeping into other series, like Wonder Woman. I would probably be a lot more confused otherwise.

Having read Dark Nights: Metal Deluxe Edition first, reading this felt like going back and filling in the cracks for discussing why these alternate version of Batman existed. It was interesting to see how Batman may have turned out with the power of other superheroes in the DC Universe. I found some stories to be more intriguing than others. The artwork was strong throughout. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the main story line.

ARC from Netgalley.
The majority of my review on Metal will be under the title itself, but I wanted to say a few things about the Nightmare Batmen apart from my general review.
These Batmen are SCARY! Basically, they are a look at what Batman would be like if he had tried to increase his power by killing and absorbing each member of the Justice League (and Joker in the case of BWL). The origin stories made sense and I could definitely see these 7 being enemies for him in the future (though only one is left alive).
Basic info on them (and what happened on their version of -Earth):
The Red Death - a Batman who absorbed Barry Allen and his connection to the Speed Force so that he could be fast enough to stop crime from happening

The Drowned - Bryce Wayne (female version of Bruce who had a relationship with Sylvester Kyle) loses it when her lover is murdered, killing metas and eventually Aquawoman, who was using the promise of peace to trick Bryce into surrender. For the death of Aquawoman, the Atlanteans flood the surface and Bryce is forced to survive by augmenting her body to survive in water. She conquers Atlantis and then drowns the rest of the world.

Dawnbreaker - When the Waynes were killed, Bruce's determination to not be afraid calls a Green Lantern ring to him. He overrides the programming, using the Green light to kill and take revenge. He eventually falls into a darkness he embraces, and begins to channel a dark version of the Green light

The Murder Machine - Bane breaks into the Batcave, looking to kill Batman and instead kills Alfred. Bruce goes to Cyborg for help in fixing an Alfred AI he had been working on, but it mutates and begins killing all of Batman's rogues. When Bruce goes to fix it, he gets overcome and is cybernetically altered to take away all his fear and debilitating emotions. Cyborg dubs him The Murder Machine.

The Merciless - Batman and Wonder Woman team up to fight against Ares, who had just created a helmet to increase his power a hundredfold. They are able to remove the helmet from him, but it seemingly takes Diana's life. In his rage and loss, Batman puts on the helmet and destroys Ares. Wonder Woman is not dead, but when she awakens and tries to remove the helmet from Bruce, he is already so addicted to the power, that he kills her rather than give it up. He then wages war against the world.

The Devastator - Bruce is paranoid that Superman would one day try to kill him. When Clark goes crazy and kills Lois, Batman fights against him (think Injustice or the BvS movie). Turns out that Batman had a modified version of the Doomsday Virus on hand, and he takes it to become powerful enough to stop Superman. But.... the virus spreads and everyone begins turning into their Doomsday versions.

The Batman Who Laughs -Starting pretty much like our Batman, the Joker of Earth -22 is much more crazy. During a really intense fight where many get killed, Batman makes the decision to end Joker and snaps his neck. Reflecting back on the fight with Superman, Bruce hears about many kids that have been Joker-ized and lets out a short chuckle. Three days later, he is training with the Bat Family when he reveals that not only has he been infected with a extreme Joker virus that is incurable, but that he invited them there not to train, but so he could kill them all, which he does, all while laughing. Next killing the Justice League and using the Joker-ized kids as Robins, he completes his conversion into The Batman Who Laughs.
It's at this point that his Earth begins to collapse. Barbatos shows up and tells him all about the Dark Multiverse and his plan to get back at Batman. He then goes around to the other -Earths and collects the rest of the "Dark Knights".

See my review of Metal for the rest of the story and opinions.

As a whole, this really didn't work as a collection. I didn't care for most of the stories, with the major exception being the original story of Barbatos, which I feel is pretty crucial for the Metal arc and really helped the larger story make a lot more sense. The rest was pretty confusing and messy, though.

Fantastically dark and twisted, Dark Knights Rising brings to life all the dark Batmen (and one Batwoman) from the dark multiverse. In nerve-wracking and nail biting detail, the reader is drawn in as each Batman is twisted by terrible loss only to be consumed by the darkness and destroy his/her world. None of the Justice League is safe and each of version of Earth falls horrifically. Banded together and seemingly unstoppable, they are coming to end everything and with no heroes in sight all hope appears to be lost. Creepy and twisted, the story chills and thrills as the wrath of Batman is a frightening thing. The story writing is spot on and eerie to the point of being a horror story. The art expertly expresses the mood and tells the story. Each Batman is a perfectly drawn, living nightmare. The graphic novel is a spooky, great read. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.

Can I just say I LOVE this? Getting the backgrounds on the Dark Knights, how the mimic Batman but also the justice league? The stories are great and strung together well, you get to learn the history how they all came together. I do not like the bat who laughed; Only probably because of just how dark and sinister he is and has no care for anything. But these are Batman's worse fears/nightmares of himself. We get to see them, and how they came to be our bad guys in this set.
The artwork is stunning! Even when drawing out monsters, certain aspects of belts and outfits it's all done together carefully where you aren't missing it in one panel and the other you are. I love how the Dawn Breaker's single page looks it's creepy enough but also fits his image rather well. My favorite out of them would be Bryce, the bat-mariner of the knights. There's something about her that makes you understand her story of why she did what she did and everything?

It's a dark book, but this arc isn't light at all and it's not suppose to be gentle and hopeful. We're going into the Dark Multiverse and seeing how all the knights were gathered and why they were chosen. It's appealing in a the way you get to know your villians, so you can hate or love them. I would recommend this book to my friends.

I need all of the Dark Days Metal books for my library and myself right now. Dark Knights Rising is a rollercoaster from page one. I can't recommend these enough for fans of darker, much darker, Batman storylines.

This is the best Metal-related volume I've read yet, largely because each individual issue charts the origin story for each of the dark Batmen featured in the main storyline. Not all of them are evil (or started out that way). Some were corrupted by too much power. One went over the edge trying to stop an evil version of Superman on his version of Earth. They've all been sucked in by the Joker-Batman, who has promised them a world where they can be heroes again, and that's all they really want (or is it?), even at the expense of thousands (millions?) of lives. The Wild Hunt story in the last issue was kind of strange--seemed to come from out of nowhere and didn't have a lot of backstory or explanation. Great artwork throughout this volume. My only question is why are all the evil Batmen some sort of Batman crossed with either a DC villain or hero? There's a Batman-Flash, a Batwoman-Aquaman, Batman-Green Lantern, etc. No entirely original evil Batman (at least so far).

Dark Knights Rising had an amazing story line. I liked the idea of entire universes being created with a single thought. A lot of the characters were incredibly scary! This series is intended for older teen/adult superhero fans.