Dark Nights: Death Metal: Death Metal Guidebook #1

This is great comics, this is entertainment. This is The Dark Nights: Death Metal Guidebook. Read Full Review

I wouldn't mind a few more, as long as the quality is kept this high. Read Full Review

The story does a good job of showcasing the issues Batman faces in the new world, but it never really hits on the effects or consequences. Read Full Review

All in all, this is a good anthology comic book one-shot and an especially good value. It has five stories, cool one-page dossiers between each story, and enough to make it all matter to the main event. There's also a great map of the remade world by Jared Blando and honestly a lot here for any type of reader. Read Full Review

There isn't a weak story in this volume, making it another big winner for DC's latest event. Read Full Review

If youre enjoying Dark Knight Death Metal, the Dark Knights Death Metal Guidebook is a must have comic that puts more content on the main series and more importantly is a totally enjoyable read from start to finish. Read Full Review

This is a cant miss for Death Metal fans while offering some important backstory on how everything came into creation. Read Full Review

Dark Nights: Death Metal Guidebook #1 is a one-shot tie-in that really works. While it feels like it should have come out earlier in the event, it does a great job of acting as a starting point for those who missed the first three issues. It answers a lot of questions and also drops some key hints for the main story as well. It's a spin-off that feels as vital as any main event issue. Read Full Review

Not a perfect book, but very entertaining, and the main story is worth the price of admission alone. Read Full Review

There is a lot jammed into this Death Metal Guidebook. And you have to be a specific fan of Batman, Harley, Wonder Woman and Aquaman to appreciate this particular filler book. I've given you the major Easter Egg in Luthor's quest. Perhaps there is more than met my eye in this issue, so invest in this Metal! Read Full Review

This collection of stories did not feel essential to the Death Metal story, and besides that, most were not much fun to read.  The art was excellent throughout the book, and I love seeing all the different art styles.  However, with so many unanswered questions in Death Metal, I need more than hints, setups, and side stories to recommend this to anyone besides completists.  Read Full Review

I don't recommend this book. The first story isn't very enjoyable, and while the others are definitely a lot more fun than the first one, most of them also don't really go anywhere. The guidebook material is rather lackluster and not really worth it. But this book does feature some good art, including a beautiful map of the Metalverse. That said, I recommend that you spend your time and hard-earned money on something else, as I don't think this enhances the reading experience of Death Metal at all. Read Full Review

BitchWitcher

Aug 18, 2020

Like the first Death Metal one shot, Guidebook is surprisingly additive to the main event while also throwing in some fun side stories that may not he crucial to the reader's understanding of Death Metal but do expand the world Snyder and co. are creating. The main story by Snyder, Tynion, Williamson and Mahnke is simultaneously the most important story while also the least interesting. It does what it needs to do by contextualizing how the Death Metal world came to be, and ends in an interesting cliffhanger. The pacing, however, was a bit too fast for me and ended up losing whatever emotional aspect it could've had. The Harley Quinn story by Zdarsky and Randolph is one of the silliest and most entertaining ones, and makes me hope tha t these two are the creative team for Harley's inevitable post-Death Metal relaunch. Becky Cloonan's Aquaman story looks gorgeous, as her art always does, and I really enjoyed the poetic writing as well as the context of what Arthur has been forced to endure since the Batman Who Laughs took over Earth Prime. Vita Ayala and Dan Panosian's Diana and Poison Ivy story is my favourite, as it turns an odd couple of characters into perhaps the most emotional moment Death Metal has provided yet. Panosian's art has also never looked better. Finally, Priest and Eduardo Risso's Batman and Jonah Hex story was a bit confusing what with all the talk about dangerous potential of milk, yet the constant dark reminder that "All Light Dies" paired with Risso's dreary and stylish art gave me chills from start to finish. The Black Lantern oath has sadly never been more relatable than in 2020. more

DDJamesB

Aug 20, 2020

The main story was pretty solid. The rest was ok.

Watchtower022

Aug 23, 2020

The issues with these anthology books is that not each story is the same quality. While overall, it was fairly good. The Fall of the Earth and Seeds I’d Hope were my favorite.

雨人点雪

Aug 28, 2020

很欣慰这个故事没有被拆成六期连载在《正义联盟》刊上，否则将会又多出六期极其差劲的漫画。但是把本该是六期的内容合成一期，嗯……至少不无聊了。 I am very pleased that this story has not been split into six issues and serialized in "Justice League", otherwise there will be six more terrible issues. The content that should have been six issues is combined into one issue, well... at least not so boring.

K Sharath

Feb 04, 2023

Stories in perspective of multiple characters have helped giving a clearer picture about the mainstream storyline which is otherwise just some chaotic mess. The varying artwork was lovable and provides some unique feel to each stories.

Nihilist

Aug 18, 2020

I really wanted this book to be good. To explain the rich lore of the entire event, show what happened to the main characters before issue #1 happened. To delve deep into the craziness of this new world. You know, be an actual guidebook, like the name suggests. Too bad out of all the stories, only the first one does something substantive. The rest isn't bad, but at the same time doesn't do much to tell you more than short stories set in the very same universe, thus ultimately the book feels way less than an actual guidebook and more than an average anthology. That's a shame, because I've been looking to it for a while now, hoping it'd provide me some unique insight. Instead the most important plot points still happen either off page, or are limited to singular panels ("Aquaman kneeled. So did Wonder Woman. The end"). more

tonpas1989

Aug 18, 2020

Watcher (Snyder) - 6/10 Harley (Zdarsky) - 7/10 Aquaman (Cloonan) - 6/10 Wonder Woman (Ayala) - 7/10 Batman (Priest) - 8/10

Liem Duong

Aug 18, 2020

Another anthology, another tie-in for Death Metal. The second tie-in for Death Metal after the LOTDK, but unlike that anthology, this one was very essential to understanding the events leading to Death Metal and was decently enjoyable as well. The main story, The Fall of Earth, deals with the what happened to the DCU between the end of Snyder's Justice League and Tynion's Hell Arisen to the beginning of Death Metal. Basically, what happened to the world when shit hit the fan. Art for the most part was nice. Mahnke can have some great detailed panels, but few were kinda sloppy. Tynion, Williamson and Snyder wrote for this story, so I thought it there was too many cooks in the kitchen. Apparently not. We still have the laughable bat paro dies courtesy of Snyder, and while the story was mainly exposition recapping what happened in that time gap, we are left with an excellent hook with how Lobo and Luthor tie into the whole Death Metal situation, which kind of hypes me for the next Death Metal Issue. The side stories, they were cool. Quirky fun with the HQ story by Zdarsky. The Aquaman story by Cloonan, eh? The WW/Poison Ivy story by Ayala, really liked. The Batman/Hex story by Priest, liked the dialogue and the art style by Risso. Overall a solid tie-in and is important for those reading Death Metal. more

Gorr

Aug 18, 2020

Exposition. Exposition. Exposition. Exposition. Exposition. Oh wait, dialogue on the last 2 pages.

Psycamorean

Aug 18, 2020

I really just hate anthologies and this is not the worst one. This doesn't really give any more information than what could be gleaned from the main event, aside from some stuff that doesn't ultimately matter, like where does Harley's giant Hyena come from. I'll just very briefly go through my thoughts on each story and we can all stop wasting time on this issue: The Fall of Earth - Again, this could all be gleaned from the main event. The heroes lost, who could've suspected? I find it funny that the super special Manhattan doorway was just another false hope situation in the end. I guess since they're not all dead yet, there's still hope lol. Queen of the Desert - I was kinda looking forward to this one because Chip Zdarsky writes so me awesome comics like Daredevil, but turns out, he can't do much with a few pages for a character as annoying as Harley. To be fair, she is way less annoying here than she is usually, and I could tolerate her. The story just doesn't have the time to do more with it though, which is the biggest problem with anthologies. The Umibozu - I really enjoy the art here. The story is less compelling, but honestly, this is a top contender in this anthology. What does that tell you? Shut up, I don't have bad taste. Seeds of Hope - This didn't give me a ton of hope. It's fine. That's all I can say. I'm not really attached to Poison Ivy as a character, so maybe I didn't care as much when her heart was broken. Dragonlance - This one starts off really well but it devolves into the worst of Priest's tendencies as a writer. But I really liked the art at least. It reminded me of "Not Quite Jorge Fornes," which was good enough. The info pages are pretty much worthless in my opinion. They don't really give us useful information. Compare this to, like, how HoX/PoX over at Marvel did it, and this just looks worse. But I guess it needed to be a Guidebook! Also, I had trouble reading some of it. I had to zoom in like an old man. So the design of the info pages also probably should've taken a hint from X-Men. All in all, this is better than Legends of the Dark Knights, but it's like going from bad to mediocre. It's not a great achievement. more

Afre

Aug 19, 2020

This "Guidebook" is just a collection of short stories that should've been in either A) in the first issue to explain the situation of the DC Universe B) released alongside the main issues or C) not written at all. I don't hate them (I liked Harley's and WW/Ivy story) but the rest are just meh. Aquaman's story doesn't feel like it was necessary nor was Batman's. At all. And the first issue? It was okay but why not write it in the first issue? I usually don't like to compare Marvel or DC, I keep them as their own universes and stories but this just feels like a worse version of Hickman's Secret Wars that thinks crazy means good and random equals great.

Spacey Medicine

Aug 29, 2020

Some of the art was very nice. Most of the stories were mediocre at best.

Nightcrawler4

Jan 06, 2021

The first story was genuinely necessary and I’m glad I got it because it filled in a few gaps I had for the story, but everything else felt unnecessary. The story with Wonder Woman and Ivy was cute, but again. Why? It doesn’t push the story further. It’s just filler content. All of this just like the Legends of the Dark Knights anthology issue is nothing but filler content. Is this what I’m spending my money on? I knew I should’ve just bought the main 1-7 issues and skipped these pointless one shots. My advice, you should too.

Darrow

Aug 19, 2020

I'm a fan of Snyder and his work, but this comic? No, it is not good at all. Batman Part Was Very Nonsense. Wonder Woman part was Worse. Aquaman Part was The Worst. Just Luthor part was good.