Closer
(W) Kieron Gillen (A) Steve Lieber
It starts with birds materializing. It’ll end with the death of the heavens. Cosmic horror you can dance to in a one-off apocalypse romance from Kieron Gillen (The Wicked + The Divine, The Power Fantasy), Steve Lieber (The Fix, Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen) and Tamra Bonvillain (Once & Future).
Writer Kieron Gillen teams up with fan-favorite Steve Lieber and colorist extraordinaire Tamra Bonvillain, and letterer Clayton Cowles to bring readers, Closer. This one-shot collects the story of cosmic horror first serialized in the Image! Anthology issues #7-9.
It starts with birds materializing. It’ll end with the death of the heavens. Closer is a story of terror you can dance to in a one-off apocalypse romance.
Closer (Lunar Code 0725IM293) will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, September 3.
Metamorpho: The Element Man #6
(W) Al Ewing (A) Steve Lieber
In Shops: May 28, 2025
SRP: $3.99
INTO THE RA-REALM! With the malevolent mastermind of Cy.C.L.O.P.S. now ruling the Earth and sky, Metamorpho has no choice but to enter the Ra-Realm, summon fire from the heavens themselves, and unleash the secrets of the gods upon a fearful humanity…in his own fab, yvoorg, and ultra-marvy style! Al Ewing and Steve Lieber swing for the solar fences as the New Age of Metamorpho goes cosmic!
Metamorpho: The Element Man #6
(W) Al Ewing (A) Steve Lieber
In Shops: May 28, 2025
SRP: $3.99
INTO THE RA-REALM! With the malevolent mastermind of Cy.C.L.O.P.S. now ruling the Earth and sky, Metamorpho has no choice but to enter the Ra-Realm, summon fire from the heavens themselves, and unleash the secrets of the gods upon a fearful humanity…in his own fab, yvoorg, and ultra-marvy style! Al Ewing and Steve Lieber swing for the solar fences as the New Age of Metamorpho goes cosmic!
Metamorpho: The Element Man #5
(W) Al Ewing (A) Steve Lieber
In Shops: Apr 23, 2025
SRP: $3.99
ONE METAMORPHO TOO MANY! Ask yourselves, readers–what could be more merely magnificent than five issues of the one and only Metamorpho? Well, howzabout we turn it around–and give you five Metamorphos in one issue? Brace yourselves, Metamaniacs–because when Rex Mason and Urania Blackwell face the ultimate agent of Cy.C.L.O.P.S., their only option is to form an all-new Element Team–a fab and freaky fighting force formed from the fusion of a fearless friend, a fiendish foe, and…Element Dog? Can Al Ewing and Steve Lieber pull this one off, or is it a case of Too Many Metamorphos?
Metamorpho: The Element Man #5
(W) Al Ewing (A) Steve Lieber
In Shops: Apr 23, 2025
SRP: $3.99
ONE METAMORPHO TOO MANY! Ask yourselves, readers–what could be more merely magnificent than five issues of the one and only Metamorpho? Well, howzabout we turn it around–and give you five Metamorphos in one issue? Brace yourselves, Metamaniacs–because when Rex Mason and Urania Blackwell face the ultimate agent of Cy.C.L.O.P.S., their only option is to form an all-new Element Team–a fab and freaky fighting force formed from the fusion of a fearless friend, a fiendish foe, and…Element Dog? Can Al Ewing and Steve Lieber pull this one off, or is it a case of Too Many Metamorphos?
Metamorpho: The Element Man #4
(W) Al Ewing (A) Steve Lieber
In Shops: Mar 26, 2025
SRP: $3.99
STUCK IN STAGG HQ! Who could ever replace the merely magnificent Metamorpho? The billion-dollar brain of Simon Stagg has the answer–and it’s not a who…it’s a where! After all, why recruit a fab freak to protect Stagg HQ when you can bring the whole building to life to protect itself? Genius, you say? Consider this, Metamaniacs–if office buildings could talk, wouldn’t they have something to say? Something like…Die, humans, die, perhaps? The New Age of Metamorpho becomes the new age of contentious urban planning–as only Al Ewing and Steve Lieber could envision it!
Metamorpho: The Element Man #4
(W) Al Ewing (A) Steve Lieber
In Shops: Mar 26, 2025
SRP: $3.99
STUCK IN STAGG HQ! Who could ever replace the merely magnificent Metamorpho? The billion-dollar brain of Simon Stagg has the answer–and it’s not a who…it’s a where! After all, why recruit a fab freak to protect Stagg HQ when you can bring the whole building to life to protect itself? Genius, you say? Consider this, Metamaniacs–if office buildings could talk, wouldn’t they have something to say? Something like…Die, humans, die, perhaps? The New Age of Metamorpho becomes the new age of contentious urban planning–as only Al Ewing and Steve Lieber could envision it!
Metamorpho The Element Man #3 continues the title’s retro pastiche journey through the Swinging Sixties with period accurate dialogue (With some modern touches/jokes) from writer Al Ewing and day-glo visuals from Steve Lieber and Lee Loughridge. The latest stop on my favorite current Big Two comic’s magical mystery tour is classic spy fiction beginning with lots of pun on James Bond movie names and continuing with lots of gadgets and one-liners. However, Metamorpho #3 isn’t one-note and contains plenty of the adventure fiction type escapes that the character is known for as he, Urania Blackwell, and most importantly, Java, investigate an Olmec-type pyramid that has a very non-Olmec head on it, that of caveman-turned immortal-turned Gotham police commissioner, Vandal Savage.
Even as he introduces very modern concepts like social media influencers and popular music standom, Ewing’s script remains very Silver Age with tongue firmly planted in cheek. A lot of comedy comes from the banter between the unlikely team of Metamorpho, Urania, and Java trying to navigate the literal maze of the pyramid featuring well-placed one-liners about modern pop culture coming from a millennia-old caveman. Plus there’s Vandal Savage channeling Blofeld (Sans cat.) with cheesy one-liners as he interacts with his ally The Mad Mod (Whose panel time is shorter than last issue, but has some of the most hilarious dialogue known to comicdom.) and finally, our intrepid heroes. Like his work on modern superhero comedy/satire classics Superman’s Pal: Jimmy Olsen and One-Star Squadron, Lieber’s skill with facial expressions helps drive Al Ewing’s verbal jokes home. This is definitely a comic where you read a second time and discover all the background jokes (Vandal Savage looking fondly at a sabretooth tiger skull.) although Steve Lieber’s art isn’t dense and lets the story breathe.
Java had all the best lines in Metamorpho #1 and #2 so it’s fitting he gets his own little dramatic arc in issue three, and his actions drive the issue’s narrative with Metamorpho himself doing an elemental take on the third wheel role. The main conflict of the story centers around his rivalry with Vandal Savage. It’s interesting to see the interplay between a man whose key motivation is honor, and another who will do anything to get power. And there’s also lots of setup for future incidents in Metamorpho edging on over-exposition, but it also reminds me a lot of old school Chris Claremont-style comic book plotting where subplots would be introduced in early issues and become the main plot down the road. But mostly it reinforces the corporate sketchiness of Silas Stagg, and how maybe that’s not a guy you want to owe a life debt too.
One of my personal type of panel layout or storytelling device in superhero/science fiction/adventure comics is the hideout cutaway. In Metamorpho #3, Ewing and Lieber have even more fun with it by combining an old fashioned maze with a cutaway. Basically, the reader has to “solve” the layout to get to the inner chambers of Vandal Savage’s temple with Metamorpho and Urania and rescue Java from Vandal Savage. There are all kinds of booby traps, explosions, and frustrated Metamorpho and Urania faces, and it turns what would be a basic transition scene into the most memorable moment of the comic. It shows the uniqueness of comics medium while also continuing the weird will they/won’t they tension between Metamorpho and Urania as well as raising the stakes for the showdown versus Vandal Savage.
Al Ewing, Steve Lieber, and Lee Loughridge don’t rest on their laurels in Metamorpho The Element Man #3 and tell a visually creative spy story that also fleshes out Rex Mason’s supporting cast and connects this sideshow of a title to the larger DC Universe without feeling like a late period MCU flick. There’s a lot of Jim Steranko’s Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD in this issue’s DNA, but Metamorpho #3 is funnier and more madcap just like its titular protagonist.
Story: Al Ewing Art: Steve Lieber
Colors: Lee Loughridge Letters: Ferran Delgado
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.2 Overall: 9.1 Recommendation: Buy
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle
Metamorpho: The Element Man #3
(W) Al Ewing (A) Steve Lieber
In Shops: Feb 26, 2025
SRP: $3.99
THE DCU’S MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR: METAMORPHO?! They said it could never happen! But it’s real, hideously real–Rex Mason has split with Sapphire Stagg! Metamorpho’s a swingin’ single superhero again…but why hasn’t Element Gal made her move? Can it be because the Lady From S.H.A.D.E. is busy with a deadly secret mission–one she can only complete with the help of..Java? What gives, Metamaniacs? All this and Vandal Savage too–as only Al Ewing and Steve Leiber could depict him!
