From Morrison's Mind: Metal Men after Flashpoint

Before Flashpoint happened Metal Men didn't really move lots of units, but since Didio is a big fan of them it was only a matter of time before they appeared in this "new" continuity. So how was it and can we trace any of it back to Morrison?

I don't know if it was a push from Didio or it was Johns' idea, but Metal Men got their first appearances in New 52 JL book. And it is not a random appearance, but they get a decent amount of pages for 2 part story with Cyborg during Forever Evil event. So you know, high profile debut all things considered.

Technically Tina appears several issues earlier in JL #18, but I'm not a fan of Trinity crossover (and the road to it) so I'd say that issue can, and probably should, be ignored. Anyway, Cyborg was removed from Titans environment and he needed new allies and enemies. For enemies we got Grid and Metal Men helped Cyborg overcome it. This was basically their origin story so there wasn't anything Morrison related, but I'm a fan of Forever Evil event so I think that these issues are worth reading regardless if you are fan of Metal Men and Cyborg or not.

What happened after that? During DCYou phase Cyborg got an ongoing and Metal Men guest starred in the first arc. They didn't get a major role and it was more of a reference to their past during Forever Evil event. But they again got an opportunity to fight some evil robots. It is a decent story, but you shouldn't get it just for Metal Men since obviously it is about Cyborg and not them.

Shortly after DC launched short lived Legends of Tomorrow anthology and Metal Men got their own story there by Wein/Cinar team. It follows from their JL and Cyborg appearances and continues developing young Magnus and his team of robots. We also get a return of Copper on a rival Metal Men team. And well, I assume that Copper was Morrison's idea so thats a bonus.

After some random stories before Flashpoint it was nice to see 3 different stories with Metal Men, more or less, fitting next to each other and there being a feeling of natural build up. Unfortunately I think that Wein's story was much weaker than Forever Evil or Cyborg's first arc. At the end we also got new designs, by Manapul I think, for Metal Men... and well I'm glad that we never saw them again.

So Rebirth happens and DC's continuity gets even worse, then Snyder starts doing his Metal events that mess it up even more. So obviously thats a good environment to launch 12 issues maxiseries by Didio and Shane Davis. Look, I like Metal Men and I'm glad they got this, but you know that this maxiseries just wouldn't happen if Didio wasn't a fan and in charge. I guess what I want to say is that favoritism is cool... sometimes.

So anyway, continuity got even messier so it is no surprise that this series doesn't fit with previous three. Fortunately, while flawed, it is very interesting read with nice art. Now, Magnus acts like a dick at first and it reads real weird, but eventually Didio delivers a plot twist that explains it... kinda. I don't want to spoilt it, but in my opinion plot twist doesn't explain everything that happened earlier so some stuff is left open ended.

Weird stuff is that this is the last Didio's story and he self-inserts himself towards the end to say a goodbye. He also provides an ending for New 52 OMAC, but at the same time sets up new story for Sideways that obviously nobody picked up. Probably should have done a send off for Sideways as well here.

On the positive side it really does feel like a love letter to characters that Didio really liked with lots of fun references to classic stories and trying to bring back old and add new stuff at the same time. Does it have anything to do with Morrison? Probably not, but I'm really glad that this exists and I think it is a must read for any Metal Men fan.

Metal Men continue to get cameo appearances and small roles here and there. But with Didio gone and Cyborg moved back to Titans... I think it is unlikely that they'll get as much focus as they got during this time period.

But having two cool Metal Men runs by Rouleau and Didio/Davis makes me happy, even if they got very little to do with Morrison's work.

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