Review by Frank Plowright

Remember the Metal Men? Cheery 1960s creations, reportedly overnight, of Robert Kanigher? A team of robots each constructed from a different metal and possessing abilities connected with that metal’s structure? Created and led by scientific genius Will Magnus? They were silly, but fun, and since the 1990s ‘fun’ is a term only rarely permitted for superheroes, so good for Dan DiDio for restoring that, at least in places, as his Doc Magnus is a soul in raging torment. Also, the Metal Men are once again updated as readers discover their supposed origin and the responsometer that gave them human personalities were fraudulent. Shockeroonie!

Despite possibly intending otherwise, DiDio also has the silly aspect covered, not least with Magnus having rejigged his mountain base as a transformer and a visit to Robocon, but the undertone of everything you knew about the Metal Men being false has been played before. This time the catalyst is a mysterious form of morphing artificial life (think Terminator 2) who hangs around for chapter after chapter dropping mysterious hints, restoring injured Metal Men to their idealised personality and irritating Magnus. It’s clear an element of possession is involved, but this is a twelve chapter story, so the mysteries are dragged on and on and on.

In theory this is a good thing, because the Metal Men haven’t been allocated a dozen chapters for any project since their 1960s series, so for fans it means more of them in action. As drawn by Shane Davis that’s certainly no hardship. His robots have personality, he puts time into the backgrounds and the action scenes have power, while his designs for an alternative set of Metal Men are smart.

However, any reader not greatly invested in the Metal Men will want the answers instead of the action, and readers who are invested might perhaps ask why there’s a need to tinker with what the team are yet again. They might also ask why the use of Omac and the Phantom Stranger take up space. When DiDio gets it right, though, the lighthearted thrills flow smoothly. There’s a great battle against Chemo, and fans will note the return of other obscurities, while two sets of alternative Metal Men are also fun. It’s not sustained, though, and once all has been revealed near the end everything becomes overwrought and angry, all individuality disappearing until an indulgent final few pages.

Elements of Change works well in parts, but would have been better as a tighter six or eight chapters.