ACTION COMICS #1060 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Nicole Maines, Steve Orlando, Joe Casey,
Eddy Barrows, Fico Ossio, Eber Ferreira, and Dan McDaid. Superman is seeking
help to get his daughter back and that leads him to John Constantine. Constantine
brings him to Norah Stone’s abode, where they find that she has made an Organum
Inernalis that allows her to transport between worlds. Otho-Ra is now on Earth
Al Ghul, where she meets Sister Shadow. As she explains, every Earth that they
conquer starts with the Kryptonians and that is the ultimate purpose of Blue
Earth. She then shows her the Valkyrie General of the Warworld Engines: a Multiverse
version of Otho-Ra. Superman hears his daughter’s voice and, despite
Constantine’s orders, touches an hourglass that causes an explosion and
transports Superman to Hell, where he is greeted by Bloodwynd and Etrigan, who
tell him they must hurry and get to Earth Al-Ghul. In the first backup, Jon is
relaxing at Dreamers place, after evacuating A-Town to Parthas during TITANS: BEAST WORLD
TOUR METROPOLIS #1.
Amanda Waller arrives, telling her she needs to stop Afterthought from freeing
her prisoners or there will be issues involving her hometown. She does the job,
stops Afterthought, even at the cost of his men. In the end, Dr. Hate meets
with Waller, loving the idea that dreamer can now be controlled. In the second
backup, Zod is making his moves, much to the surprise and concern of his son.
This story will be continued in KNEEL BEFORE ZOD #1
ACTION COMICS ANNUAL
2023 by
Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Max Raynor. Continued from ACTION COMICS #1060.
On Earth Al-Ghul, Superman, Bloodwynd, and Etrigan save a family of slaves, who
direct them to the Al-Ghul citadel, where Sister Shadow is working on trying to
break Otho-Ra and make her the warrior she is
destined to be. The heroes from Earth Zero encounter an invasion force that is
heading to Earth Zero. The team makes their way to the citadel where Otho stabs
Etrigan. When she sees Superman, she envisions him as Mongul and attacks him.
he convinces her that she is the bravest child he has ever known and the starchild
of Ra, turning her away from Sister Shadow. Seeing her plan needing
changing, she gathers her troops to
invade Earth Zero. On Earth Zero, the transform followers of Earth Blue attacks
the Superman Family even as Sister Shadow’s followers attack. Supergirl
convinces the Earth Blue followers, who see that Nora Stone is leading the
attackers, to fight with them. Osul takes the fight to Sister Shadow in an
effort to save his sister. But it is Superman and Otho that save him, even as
Bloodwynd and Etrigan open a portal and send the invaders back to Earth
Al-Ghul. One week later, Metropolis is still rebuilding and Superman is their
defender.
ALAN SCOTT: THE GREEN
LANTERN #3 by
Tim Sheridan and Cian Tormey. Alan Scott finds himself down by the docks,
looking to hook up with a young man, learning that the police are cracking down
on homosexual activities. He also learns that a connection named Tommy has
drowned. Alan and Jay Garrick investigate with Jay telling him both recent
deaths are being investigated by another
JSA member. That leads Alan to meet up with Jim Corrigan, better known as The
Spectre. They discover an empty police file, meaning that the police have had
no intention to investigate the deaths
of these homosexual men. Alan vents his anger and how he is obviously involved
in actions that God would not approve of and he takes comfort from The Spectre.
During their conversation, Alan realizes he may be missing something and heads
back to his apartment where he comes face to face with his former lover Johnny,
who is both speaking Russian and is revealed as the Red Lantern
AMAZONS ATTACK #3 by Josie Campbell and
Vasco Georgiev. With the Amazons in disarray, Nubia, Faruka and Mary Marvel
investigate the destroyed structure in Esquecida. Nubia and Faruka head off to
the Greek border, where they observe a tent city and meet with Ismene Dimakos,
who has set up the city for displaced Amazons and those who support them. Believing
that Eris is responsible, they head off to the Garden of Hesperides, where the
golden apples grow. Meanwhile, Mary heads to Belle Reve to meet with Sivana,
who tells her that Eris is not responsible and then tricks her and makes her
escape. In the garden, Faruka finds Eris and she has been crucified to one of
the apple bearing trees.
BATMAN #140 by Chip Zdarsky, Jorge
Jimenez, and Mike Hawthorne. Batman battles The Joker, but he is really
fighting at a disadvantage as he is being controlled in a battle in his mind
with Zur-En-Arrh and the other Multiverse versions and they are struggling to
take over his earthly persona. He catches The Joker and is beating him to a
pulp when Lucie Chesson gets him to stop, gaining Bruce’s own psyche back
momentarily. She gives him words of advice and, even though he is mentally incapacitated
again, he manages to break through before killing The Joker. Later he wakes in
a strange place where he is greeted by the New Batman…straight from Project
Terminus. In the backup, vandal Savage meets with some of the wealthiest people
in Gotham and one of them seems intent on making Savage Police Commissioner...
BATMAN AND ROBIN #4 by Joshua Williamson
and Simone Di Meo. In the past, Damian trains with Mistress Harsh. Disappointed
with his performance, she slaps Damian, leading to her dismissal by Talia. Now,
Daian has been captured by Man-Bat, who reveals that he poisoned Batman and
turned the bats against him. Shush works for him, as does the transformed
Terrible Trio. Batman and White Rabbit arrive. Man Bat turns the bats loose on
Batman as he leaves with Shush. But Batman has learned not to show them fear
and now he again controls the bats. With Dr. Kafira rescued and the Terrible
Trio apprehended, they notice how the Trio is now filled with rage. White
Rabbit leaves, to be captured at a later time. The next morning, Damian returns
to school, where he and Bruce meet with Principal Stone. Damian reveals that
Stone is the former Mistress Harsh and also Shush.
BATMAN BEYOND: NEO
GOTHIC #7
by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and Max Dunbar. With Neo Gotham in turmoil
because of the creatures from the Green attacking it, Terry fights against
them, before revealing his secret identity and telling the citizens they can
all be Batman and the citizens transform to become Batman, helping to defeat
the creatures and a transformed Killer Croc. Meanwhile, Kyle confronts Constantine and tells him he
forgives him, allowing Constantine to die in peace. In the end, Terry, more
confident than ever, calls Dana, saying he has a lot to explain to her.
BATMAN: OFF WORLD #2 by Jason Aaron and Doug
Mahnke. Batman continues to train, now with Punch-Not and Nyreek. They
eventually break free and turn against their captors, but Punch-Bot has been
left behind, which causes Batman to go back for him. But the bot is taken out
by Akkarian and Batman ends up in space and Nyreek saves him. They crash land
on the planet Akkari, where Batman plans to finish his training.
BATMAN-SANTA CLAUS:
SILENT KNIGHT #1 by
Jeff Parker and Michele Bandini. It’s Christmas time in Gotham and a group of
carolers gets killed by a group of winged creatures. The victims all have a
single puncture wound in their neck and have been drained of blood. Zatanna
arrives and , using her magic, sees that the creatures were The Draug: a
vampiric version of Norse undead. One of the creatures returns and the heroes get saved by…Santa Claus? There is
another attack and Santa saves Nightwing and Batgirl. Zatanna tells the origins
of Santa: how he and the Norse warriors used to gather every year for The Wild Hunt,
where they went after the most deadly of creatures. The deadliest was Krampus,
who eventually became Santa’s friend and helped seek out the creatures. Krampus
would scare children but Santa would create toys for them. While examining one
of the creatures, something bursts forth infecting Zatanna. Krampus has
returned.
BATMAN-SANTA CLAUS:
SILENT KNIGHT #2 by
Jeff Parker, Michele Bandini and Trevor Hairsine. With Krampus’ appearance, a
small wooden box is left behind. Back at the Batcave, the box is opened and it
transports the heroes into the past, where Krampus threatens to eat a wicked
child. Santa intervenes and this becomes the ritual: Santa takes care of the
good children and Krampus threatens the bad. Santa messages the team, telling
them that he is showing them how the relationship developed. At one point in
history, Krampus actually eats some children, enraging Santa, who cast him into
the Nightmare Realm. Later, Miss Martian infiltrates the Draug lair, along with
Green Arrow and Black Canary, only to be joined by Superman. In the end,
Krampus is building his army.
BATMAN-SANTA CLAUS:
SILENT KNIGHT #3 by
Jeff Parker and Michele Bandini. Harpies are attacking London, leading to Hawkgirl,
Green Lantern Jo, and Wonder Woman to engage them Wonder Woman learns that
Krampus was responsible for freeing the harpies. Elsewhere, Superman join the
other heroes in a fight against one of the monster, with the help of Peppermint
Jon. That is when they find that Krampus has arrived. Superman attacks him and
gets corrupted by him, leading him to crack open a glacier and free the
Monsterkind.
BATMAN-SANTA CLAUS:
SILENT KNIGHT #4 by
Jeff Parker and Michele Bandini. While many of the heroes fight together
against the Monsterkind and Superman, Robin is being held in the Gnome Hall,
where a dark creature is giving Krampus his orders. Blue Beetle blasts Superman
with Kryptonite and frees him from Krampus’ corruption. After speaking with
Santa, Superman realizes that whatever is influencing Krampus is something from
the Phantom Zone. Meanwhile, Robin makes off that he is scared, earning Krampus’
kindness. The heroes arrives at Gnome Hall and force the Phantom Zone creature
from out of Krampus, restoring him to what he once was. With the creatures
defeated, Santa reunites with Krampus, he invites Damian to join them to
deliver presents. While the rest of the heroes join Peppermint Jon for a
Christmas feast.
BATMAN/SUPERMAN:
WORLD’S FINEST #22
by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. Superman and Batman fight Gog’s heroes, with this
world’s Firestorm taking down Superman with Kryptonite Gas, allowing them to be
captured. In Gog’s dungeon, the heroes see the villains of this world and meet
with Metron, who reveals how Gog ended up here and now has made the Mobius
Chair as his throne. Gog tells David he has progressed and transforms him,
renaming him Magog. Meanwhile, this world’s Superman and Batman question David’s
story and end up meeting our heroes in their prison, giving Batman back his
utility belt and Superman his uniform. Metron reveals that he plans on taking
Magog and leading an all-out war on Apokolips and engaging on a battle with no
survivors.
BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND
THE BOLD #8
by Guillem March, Kyle Starks, Gabriel Hardman, John Higgins, and Fernando
Pasarin. The two Batmen head to Aurora’s home to rescue her and her mother. The
real Batman sits back and lets Frank Freeman take the lead on this operation,
which has been planned by The Ventriloquist. Frank saves Aurora while her
mother finds Batman, calls him Bryce, and then kisses him. The Ventriloquist
threatens to kill Aurora and Frank gives up, allowing the thugs to beat him up.
Batman shows up and takes out the villains, even as Aurora tosses away
Scarface. Wesker is no longer under Scarface’s control but, somehow, Scarface
triggers a series of explosions. Frank saves Wesker but Aurora is falling with
no one to catch her, which is when Catwoman arrives and saves her. In the end,
Aurora asks her mother why she kissed Batman and Catwoman examines Scarface. In
the second tale, Wild Dog meets with Alan. The two of them fight and Alan gives
up the information Wild Dog needs. Later, he goes to break into a crime family
meeting, but that plan goes astray when a team shows up, with their leader
saying he runs the family now. He kills Longbeard and, revealed as Gizmo, he
tells them he is taking over the family. Wild Dog gets involved and is taken
down. In the third tale, Aquaman learns from Konar that this facility they are
in was started by expatriates of Gorilla City and that the Dominators had
arrived and taken control. One gorilla, Ajjar, became a willing collaborator
with the Dominators. The two work together to stop them but Konar gets caught
and is gravely injured. But he has enough energy to save Aquaman, sending him
to Gorilla City. In the final tale, Batman deals with the terrorist group
Citizens Against, whose leader has developed a procedure to save her daughter
for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. But the woman takes it too far at the cost of her
life.
BIRDS OF PREY #4 by Kelly Thompson and
Leonardo Romero. In Themyscira, Zealot battles Wonder Woman and Barda
intervenes, telling the rest of the team to find the Mega Rod and freeing Sin.
Diana prevails but the Cass arrives and engages the battle. The team gets
captured and jailed and then Megaera is loose. Cass breaks everyone out of
prison and they discover that Diana has been captured by Megaera who tosses the
Amazon into the sea, meaning it’s now Megaera, versus the Birds.
BLUE BEETLE #4 by Josh Trujillo and
Adrian Gutierrez. Lex Luthor sends Janice Cord a voluminous floral display of
flowers which she promptly burns with a flame thrower. While Paco has
relationship problems with Xiomara, especially when Fadeaway and Gimmix show up,
Jaime goes for a walk to talk with Oo’li, where she tells him that he must do
the unthinkable when faced with ultimate evil. He meets with Starfire and then
goes to visit Kord, asking her how she would kill someone like him. In Egypt,
the Blood Scarab, Javier Basualdo, bursts
forth from the tomb he was buried in and is told he must succeed or he will die
CATWOMAN #60 by Tini Howard and Stefano
Raffaele. Selina is still trying to deal with her multiple deaths and ends up
attending the Theater of Death, where she becomes the star, thanks to Flamingo.
She is subdued and may have died again. When she wakes, she attacks Flamingo,
who reveals someone known as The Producer is responsible for all of this. The
Flamingo makes a deal with her to help him steal the Idol of Bacchus. She does
and betrays Flamingo in the process. To her surprise, she has not died And still
has six lives left.
CYBORG #7 by Morgan Hampton,
Bruno Abdias, and Travis Mercer. Cyborg battles Solace and Maz gets in the way
and gets injured. Cyborg finds himself in his own mind, in a digital version of
his house and has a conversation with his father., who tells him that he is
going to wipe the system, meaning he will die too. The two of them encounter
Solace in the digital realm, defeating him at the cost of his father’s life. In the end, Max comes out of
his coma and Cyborg mourns his father while accepting his place in the world.
DANGER STREET #12 by Tom King and Jorge
Fornes. Following the ritual, the reconstituted arm of Metamorpho leaves the
Commodore’s plane. At the same time, the Outsiders realize they are human
again. He tells Abdul that the Feds have seized all of his company assets and
Abdul’s sole remark is that they should get off the place, because it is not
theirs anymore. As they are walking down the road, a passerby picks up Abdul,
now going to L.A. but tells the driver that the Commodore can find his own
ride. At Lady Cop’s home, Warlord is alive again, even as Orion complains that
there is no mercy for gods or men and that the sky is falling, before doing the
same to the resurrected Creeper. The Dingbats are in the kitchen, enjoying a
reunion with the resurrected Good Looks. Metamorpho returns and reunites with
his arm. Lady Cop spoils the good mood by telling the Dingbats that Good Looks,
now possessing the soul of Atlas, must leave as he will be responsible for
keeping the sky from falling. Krunch suggests that they all go together, where
they can sit around, play video games and reads comics for all of infinity.
With a power assist from Starman to Orion’s Mother Box, the boys depart and
Lady Cop proceeds to arrest Warlord, Starman, Orion, Metamorpho and The Creeper.
The next day, she drives out to the desert with the helmet where the Lord of
Chaos arrives and takes the helmet. The next day, she gives a ticket to The
Outsiders, who have now taken the Dingbats place riding up and down Danger
Street. The Commodore ends up in jail, Warlord and Starman share a drink, Jack
Ryder is back at work, Metamorpho gets used to being reborn and the Dingbats
are living their best life making sure the world does not end. And the
narrator, which has been Dr. fate’s helmet since issue #1, is revealed to be in
a bar with the Lord of Chaos.
DETECTIVE COMICS #1079 by Ram V, Dan Watters,
Jason Shawn Alexander, Liam Sharp, and Juan Ferreyra. Batman dangles at the end
of a rope, apparently hung in front of Gotham. Bellow Gotham, Cheshire reunites
with her daughter and helps, along with Grundy, to get the captives out.
Elsewhere, Azrael battles the devil beast. Catwoman has been captured but it is
actually Eiko and she escapes. Selina attacks the van carrying Batman’s corpse,
and along with Grundy and the team from the tunnel, they carry Batman away.
When Selina visited him in his cell, she kissed him with lipstick from Ivy,
designed to make him appear dead. Back in the tunnels, the Reality Engine is
out of control, causing Mr. Freeze to flee. As Gotham fights back, a boat
arrives and Talia is here…and Two-Face may be involved also. In the backup, the
story of how the matriarch of the Orghams arrived in Gotham, to take the city
back.
DETECTIVE COMICS #1080 by Ram V, Dan Watters,
Jason Shawn Alexander, Mike Perkins, and Christopher Mitten. Batman has been
saved and now Selina and Jim Gordon are on the run with him. The Orgham
followers go after them and they get saved by Two Face, allowing Selina a
chance to meet with Talia at the docks and she takes possession of her former
lover. Meanwhile, the matriarch of the Orghams reveals she killed her husband,
as she also kills her loyal son. Over the next few weeks and months, Gotham
moves on and forgets Batman and begins the healing process. Talia fights
against her enemies and, in the end, it is just her and Batman, still possessed
by Barbatos. In the end, the death of Henry Fielding is investigated by none
other than The Question. Un the backup, a young Damian dreams of Aleasa, who
may or may not be real.
FIRE & ICE: WELCOME
TO SMALLVILLE #4
by Joanne Starer and Natacha Bustos. While Ice and Rocky attempt to clean up
the business from the mess made when Jimmy transformed, Firs and the villains
are in a cave where Fire is still doing her reality show when lobo shows up and
makes the moves on Fire. She receives a call from Martha Kent, asking her to
have them meet up. When she arrives, she sees that Ice is also there , as they
will be attending a Drag Brunch. While there, the pair make up, but Rocky comes
in and proceeds to get between them. As the three argue, the emcee for the event
encourages them to come up on stage, which leads to a greater fight that gets
them all tossed out of the event. Once outside, they see a protest against the
concept of a Drag Brunch, which leads to Fire knocking out Miss Congeniality.
Fire heads back to the Big tease and finds Tamarind smooching with Honey, who
was able to get past Krypto, who was charged with watching the cave. She agrees
to let Honey spend the night and Fire goes off on a date with Lobo. While on
their date, they observe a fire burning from the location of the Big Tease.
THE FLASH #4 by Si Spurrier and
Mike Deodato Jr. While Wally continues to investigates the other place in his
mind, he sees that his daughter is involved in an investigation of a career
criminal during the recent Beast World event. While teaming up with Liberty Belle,
they discovers a woman who also appears to have Speed Force, In the process,
she encounter Mirror Master, who tries to killer her and she gets saved by her
father, who admits his mind is elsewhere.
GREEN ARROW #7 by Joshua Williamson, Sean
Izaakse, Oliver is back on Earth and goes to visit the Justice league, to find
they are gone. As he helps out the former Justice League members, he learns
that the League has disbanded, Superman is now working for Lexcorp,(renamed
Supercorp), and none of the former team want to put it back together. The one
thing he does know is that Roy is missing and Amanda Waller is pulling a lot of
strings. Ollie gets together with Connor and goes off to find Roy and Waller. But
someone else has unfinished business with Ollie that made interrupt that plan.
GREEN LANTERN #6 by Jeremy Adams, Peter
J. Tomasi, David Lafuente, and Xermanico. Hal is forced to fight Sinestro,
releasing so much energy that it is detected all over the world. It also keeps
the Superman Family from assisting because the emotional energy being released
is something like Kryptonite to them. Fighter jets arrive and Sinestro attacks
them, which Hall has to deal with before returning to the fight. They battle
each other with giant constructs that causes a huge explosion. Sinestro flees
and Hal tries to follow but his no energy left in his ring. Back at his
trailer, Hal talks with Killowog when Razer shows up, revealing that this
Killowog is a construct. Killowog is dead and Hal blames himself for it. In the
backup, Sinestro’s rescues some stolen organs from a band of crooks and,
returning them where they belong, steal their credits. He builds a spaceship to
go after his father but, just as he is about to take off, Nagaf arrives and
destroys the spaceship, severely injuring Korg.
GREEN LANTERN: WAR
JOURNAL #4
by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Montos. On the planet Durla, the refugees of
Euphorix are welcomed by Lord Premier Thaaros. But this is all for show as they
are soon sent to the Steamyard Ghettos while he instructs his people to get a
group of Lanterns to find Varron. Meanwhile, inside of John Stewart’s mind,
Rayner, Shepherd and Stewart fight a battle to defeat his infection, which
fails. Back in the real world, where Stewart is being contained, he learns that
the rings of dead Lanterns rings don’t go back to a new wearer; instead just
going dark. They go to Steelworks where they try to reactivate the ring. The
infection begins to take hold and Stewart goes on another “Soul trek”, where he
confronts Varron. Stewart fights back against the infection and now has control
of the ring and is ready to take on the Radiant Dead.
HARLEY QUINN # 35 by Tini Howard, Hannah
Rose May Logan Faerber, and Leomacsvi. The digital Harley takes Kevin and
Harley’s students hostage. Harley and Lux prepare to travel to Earth 48, but
not before they eat and Lux tells some basic details of why he became a P.I..
Kevin sends out a message warning them not to come rescue them because it’s a
trap. Kevin break free and flees, ending up somewhere lost in the Multiverse.
Corrupted Brother Eyes capture Lady Quark and her followers, but Harley and Lux
arrives and they team up until Quark and Volt get corrupted too. Bud and Lou
arrive and say how they are always around to help Harley. Lux reveals that her
four students are still here but Kevin is lost. In the backup, Harley dreams about
looking for an artifact for Waller along with Croc, resulting in a weird Indian
Jones style adventure.
HAWKGIRL #5 by Jadzia Axelrod and
Amancay Nahuelpan. Hawkgirl is in the Nth World and is seeking Vulpecula. When
she finds her, she declares that all she wants is to find Galaxy and go home.
Galaxy has been turned into Vulpecula’s pawn and galaxy begs Hawkgirl to kill
her, which Hawkgirl refuses to do. Aesop, the spirit of the Nth World, contains
Vulpecula and tells Hawkgirl that the explosion that brought her here has
damaged the borders between dimensions and will take the sacrifice of millions
to fix it. Hawkgirl offers herself and her many lives up. She sacrifices those
lives and is made the Knight of Nth World, where she is also given an Nth metal
weapon that she can mentally change into any shape she likes. She and Galaxy
return to their friends and celebrate new beginnings.
JAY GARRICK: THE FLASH
#3 by
Jeremy Adams and Diego Olortegui. In 1941, the Justice Society search through
the secret lab, only to be attacked by Doctor Elemental. As the team finds
themselves losing, Judy arrives from the future, which saves the JSA but allows
Doctor Elemental to escape. In the here and now, Mister Terrific decides that
the Ro-Bear, and potentially Doctor Elemental, is because Judy is now back in
the world after having been lost for so long. Fairplay and Quiz Kid use a
device they created to probe Judy’s mind, as she had actually seen the true
face of Doctor Elemental. The device pulls forth an image and it reveals that
Doctor Elemental is Professor Hughes: the man responsible for Jay becoming The
Flash.