NEW 52 SEPTEMBER 2014 - FUTURE'S END and others

ACTION COMICS: FUTURE’S END #1: We begin five years in the future with Clark Kent trying to grow vegetables in the dry soil of Ethiopia. Meanwhile, a woman attempting to commit suicide finds herself flying, not falling. She is approached by a sand version of Superman. He tells her he is reclaiming the gift he gave her and she will now need to see the beauty in life from the ground up. In another instance, a gambler named Donny suddenly has strength to fight off the hired help of a local bookie. He decides he needs to use this new found strength to his advantage by breaking into the bookie’s and stealing his money. When he punches a brick wall, he breaks his hand, as the Sand Superman explains that he should not mistake strength for invulnerability. Elsewhere, a young boy named Jamie tries to stop his father from beating his mother, only to be hit with slaps and a walking stick-none of which he feels. He also tells his mother he can’t feel her either. Sand Superman explains that a lack of feeling is the price of invulnerability. Later, at the hospital, all three characters appear. The suicidal woman seeks psychiatric help while Donny sees a doctor for his crushed hand, and Jamie's mother receives counseling. Clark receives a visit from the sand man who explains he may be trying to fill the gap left by Clark’s Superman. He explains that he had visited people and tried to help them realize their true potential. Now he has come to repay Clark for the inspiration he had. The man flies up, exploding in a sandstorm. The follower’s last act was to turn the desert into rich soil. Does this mean that Clark needs to live up to HIS potential?

I recall seeing a Sand Superman before, back in the days when all Kryptonite on Earth was rendered inert and could no longer harm the Man of Steel. I want to say that was Cary Bates and Murphy Anderson but this story, set after the war that is supposed to change everything, is by Sholly Fisch with art by  Pascal Alixe and Vincente Cifuentes. This is DC’s version of “with great power comes great responsibility”. It was okay, but I am glad I didn’t spend extra for the “3D Lenticular cover”, because that would have sucked!

AQUAMAN: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years from now, Vulko, Tula and some Atlanteans is preparing to revive something to help them save Atlantis. Elsewhere, other Atlanteans attack Atlantis Island, calling Aquaman a traitor. Arthurs lives here now with The Others and is romantically involved with Ya’Wara. Apparently, after the war, Mera’s native land of Xebel has been wiped out. Mera is underwater with the remaining Xebelians. When Arthur goes down to visit, Mera and her followers and, even worse, Atlan-the Dead King, attack him. He defeats Arthur in combat and takes his seat on the throne next to Mera. Continued in AQUAMAN AND THE OTHERS: FUTURE’S END #1.

Dan Jurgens and Alvaro Martinez are responsible for this first of two parts and it reads really well and looks awesome too, even if I don’t totally buy the Arthur/ Ya’Wara relationship. I mean, we all know how much Mera and Arthur love each other and also know how they are truly from two different worlds under the sea. But they have endured some pretty heavy stuff over the years, in both this Universe and the old one. So, I will be curious to see where Jurgens is going to go with this.

AQUAMAN AND THE OTHERS: FUTURE’S END #1: Atlan and his army attack The Others, taking his helmet away from Vostok before The Others retreat. In Atlantis, Aquaman is behind bars where Mera and he debate whether the resurrection of Atlan is a good thing or not. The Atlanteans begin to attack Atlantis Island and Aaron’s grandfather is killed in the process. As Mera and Atlan prepare to take back the Atlantean relics, Arthur arrives and the battle truly heats up. But Aaron dons the Atlantean relics and takes out Atlan just as he is about to kill Arthur. Defeated, the Atlanteans agree to give Arthur and his team six months to work out solutions that will help everyone. And it appears that Aaron, now known as The Other, will be the leader.

Dan Jurgens finishes this FUTURE’S END story and does a nice job with it. Once again, Atlan goes to a watery grave and Aquaman and Mera sort of make up. Aaron becomes “The Other” and looks poised to lead the team. All in all, this was a nice story for a possible/probable future. And, looking back at recent issues of this title, I can actually see where the Arthur/ Ya’Wara relationship could be a reality. Oh yeah: Sean Chen’s art is a strong addition to this issue too.

BATGIRL: FUTURE’S END #1: Three years ago, Barbara Gordon married a cop by the name of Steven Harris. Among the guests at their wedding were her former roommate Alysia and her pregnant girlfriend Jo which prompted Steven to suggest they have children. Barabra’s brother James shows up and insists that Steven walk off the roof of the GCPD Headquarters to save the life of his sister, which he did. Two years later, we see the League of Batgirls, Cassandra Cain, Tiffany Fox, and Stephanie Brown, who work for Bête Noire. In the two years since her husband’s death, Barbara has managed to dismantle almost 70% of the crime syndicates in Gotham. She also trained with Bane’s men and eventually with Bane, who beat her in combat every night. She told him she didn’t want to beat him, but wanted to be him and he responded she would have to use the Venom. She became the Bête Noire, tried to kill him but couldn’t and left him. Now, he contacts her in her hideout and tells her he has placed six bombs in Gotham and he knows that the three Batgirls will never be able to stop them in time. The Batgirls return to find Barbara gone, having left a message that she plans on facing Bane alone. Bane admits that he has always known she was Barbara Gordon. Barbara removes her mask and reveals that she never used his Venom and proceeds to beat him into submission as he declares that her training is complete. He drops the detonator that Tiffany catches and thus saves the city. Barbara tells her wards that she wants to be known by her real name again.

Well, I guess we can call this Gail Simone’s swan song as issue #35 features a new creative team. I enjoyed this, even though I don’t know if I could ever see Barbara Gordon going to train with Bane, even on an undercover assignment of her own creation. I also enjoyed seeing Cassandra Cain, Tiffany Fox, and Stephanie Brown getting used in this future world. And the art by Javier Garron was pretty cool too. Nice job, DC: this didn’t suck!

BATMAN ETERNAL #21-25: In issue #21, Vicki Vale gets a visit from Jason Bard who informs her that he has been promoted to police commissioner with a kiss. In Blackgate, Carmine Falcone still manages to be amazed that Rex Calabrese is still alive after all this time. But now he is on his way to Hong Kong to take care of business. Unfortunately, Batman scoops him off the ground to have a little chat with him concerning the fact that Falcone lied about having nothing to do with Jim Gordon being framed. He claims someone who knew the Commissioner was going to be taken down invited him to Gotham. Later, at GCPD, Batman tells Bard that he doesn’t trust him and will never fill Jim Gordon's shoes.  At Wayne Manor, an alarm is triggered and Alfred fails to lockdown the building. He brings Julia to a safe room and knocks her out, stealing her gun and locking her in the safe room. He gets grabbed by the assailant and injected with Fear Toxin. Moments before he passes out, he realizes his assailant is Hush. Julia, meanwhile, wakes, locked in the safe room, to the sound of her father's screams. Julia breaks out of the safe room to find Alfred screaming in fear. He gets a moment of clarity and tells her to turn the hands on the grandfather clock to ten forty-eight. Back at Blackgate, Jason arrives to pick up Falcone and arranges to release Zachary Gate. Bard then contacts “Mother” and says Batman doesn’t suspect a thing. He then proceeds to destroy the USB stick with the evidence proving Jim Gordon is innocent, saying that Gotham now belongs to them.

In issue #22, At the construction site for the Beacon Tower, the Architect and his men trip a proximity sensor causing Batman to check in to the Batcave. At Wayne Manor, Julia turns the clock to 10:48 and the front opens to a passage that leads her to the Batcave. Batman sees her on camera and demands to know what has happened to Alfred. She explains he's in the hospital and his condition is Batman’s fault. He explains to her that the Architect can kill hundreds and he needs her help. With Julia’s help via the computer system, Batman takes down the Architect, demanding to know who he is working for and Gate says that the building speaks in whispers. Batman hears the "shhhh" the building is making. He now knows the mastermind is Hush. With that, Hush kills Andrew Trondsen.

In issue #23, Catwoman watches a shoot out between a poacher known as Tiger Shark and his enemies, injuring a snow leopard in the process. She promises that the next time she sees Tiger Shark, she will make a jacket out of his skin. Mourning the death of the cub, a girl arrives, saying Selina’s father who wants to see her in Blackgate Penitentiary sent her. She crawls through the sewer to enter Blackgate and meets with her real father, Rex "The Lion" Calabrese. He explains that Gotham’s crime families need someone to bring them all together. He believes that would be her. Meanwhile, the Architect is taken down by Batman who demands to know where Hush is. Julia warns him that Gate turned on a device that is setting off an earthquake. In the Gotham Underground, Catwoman and Jade are in danger of being crushed, but escape. She takes the girl to Dr. Leslie Thompkins' clinic so she can be cared for. Following the earthquakes, Mayor Hady receives a visit from Bard, who tries to convince the Mayor to place Gotham City under martial law.

Issue #24 begins with Stephanie Brown spying on the Cluemaster. The person he is meeting with insists that Arthur needs to take out the loose end, which he promises to do. He is then told he has 24 hours to take care of it or one of them dies. Arthur reports that Signalman, Ratcatcher and the Prankster are all helping to make Gotham anxious. Hush tells him that the number one priority is to kill Stephanie. With the meeting over, Stephanie jumps down to find that her father is waiting for her. She escapes on his motorcycle and he gives chase. He crashes and is captured by the police, who she called during the chase. Meanwhile, Batman goes to an art gallery to find that a ghost warning Batman to save Gotham is killing patrons. He discovers the late Dr. Simon Ecks of Arkham Asylum. He calls Julia for assistance but gets no answer.

In issue #25, Vicki Vale is trying to convince her boyfriend, the new commissioner, from making her run a story about possible terror attacks against Gotham City. As much as she disagrees, Vicki agrees to run the story. Soon the city is in a panic and rioting in the streets occurs. Back in the Batcave, Julia is told that she needs to take her father’s place while he is in the hospital. She has learned that the person responsible for releasing the Architect from Blackgate was Jason Bard. Batman breaks into Bard’s apartment and finds a hologram of Hush saying he hasn’t even begun to rip Bruce’s life apart. He plans on incriminating Batman with pictures of him breaking into bard’s apartment and plans to kill off Bruce's allies. As the hologram disappears, the apartment blows up with Batman inside. Meanwhile, Tim Drake and Jason Todd visit Mercy Hospital to check on Alfred. Tim insists that they all need to act as a family to stop the attacks on family members. Jason calls Barbara, who is mad that her father is still in jail. She is told she got the wrong guy and tells her she needs to have a chat with everyone and Batman. Jason Bard stumbles into a meeting with Mayor Hady and claims he was the target of a terrorist attack. Hady agrees to declare Martial Law in Gotham City. Lastly, as Batman tries to escape the wreckage of the destroyed apartment, he finds that his help is coming from the rest of the Batman Family.

Five issues this month so we’re looking at 100 pages of action. And oh boy: Dr. Thomas "Tommy" Elliot is BACK! And Jason Bard reveals himself to be the creep we all kind of thought he was anyway. This gem, filled with tidbits all over the place, is by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, John Layman, Tim Seeley and Kyle Higgins, with art from Jason Fabok, Jorge Lucas, Dustin Nguyen, Ady Clarke, and R.M. Guera. This book personifies the old-fashioned movie serial concept and it’s great!

BATMAN: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years in the future, we find that Batman is dying. He plans on extending the legacy of the Batman through cloning and is looking to steal something from Caulder Component that will keep the clones stable. Alfred warns him that he will probably be killed in the process of breaking into LexCorp. Once he gets inside, the security protocols drop into place and he has thirty minutes to do what he has to do. In a sub–basement, a holographic Lex tells him that he will either die from the gas in the room or the attack drone. Batman manages to vent the room and disable the drone and moves on. He makes it through the next room, and finally a room full of failed Superman clones. Before he can destroy the lab, one of the clones attacks him. Before he can do so, those clones attack him. Batman suit begins to crash and Alfred warns him to get out of the lab quickly. The clones continue their attack and communications go dark. Shortly thereafter, Batman returns to the Batcave with the Caulder Component in hand. Within nine months, Batman and Alfred have built clones and put memory implants containing everything up to the night when he decided to become a bat. This way, Gotham will have a Batman forever.

Okay, so we get a nice action filled and touching adventure of the Dark Knight courtesy Ray Fawkes, Scott Snyder and Aco. I like the pace of it and the whole idea of Batman cloning himself to make certain he lives forever is just a bit on the creepy  but cool side. And, based on the way thigs have been going lately in the Batman world, I can see Bruce Wayne being that paranoid that he feels the need to live on forever rather than pass the mantle to one of his proteges. Which begs the question: which proteges are even still alive five years from now. We know that Dick Grayson is “supposed” to be dead, as is Tim Drake. Who else could have worn the mantle of the bat and won’t?

BATMAN AND ROBIN: FUTURE’S END #1: While Alfred is sending Duke Thomas, the current Robin all over Gotham, Batman is battling someone dressed like the Heretic. Alfred warns that this person is a close match for the Heretic that is believed to be dead. Batman is taking a ferocious beating and close to experiencing, a stroke when Alfred tells him that Robin wants to help, but Batman refuses. When Robin arrives, Batman is near death and jams two syringes into Heretic’s neck, which causes him to burst into flames. Batman has him grab a fire extinguisher and put out the flames. Batman gathers a DNA sample and sends it to Alfred who refuses to apologize for sending Robin.

Okay…I’m a bit confused here. So, who WAS this Heretic? I feel kind of cheated by this ending and the making of Duke Thomas into the new Robin? Okay, I really thought it would be someone else stepping into those shoes. And, since all sorts of references are made to the Damian, who we don’t see, can we assume that Damian ISN’T getting resurrected during ROBIN RISES? I love Ray Fawkes work and he writes a great story. And Dustin Nguyen does his usual killer work on the art. But, I just don’t see how this fits in the way it should.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years from now, after the war ended, Bruce Wayne woke in the hospital with a broken spine. The war had taken many casualties and Clark Kent was one of them. But Bruce managed to overcome this with spinal support column and a robotic suit. He thinks back to six months ago when he had made the decision to end the war and how Clark had come and destroyed the Bat Cave. He went to Hiro Okamura, who was responsible for making Batman’s suit. Then Batman went to the Fortress of Solitude and found Krypto and Steel, who told him he wasn’t allowed here anymore as he had used Superman. Bruce went to Comstock Air Force Base and shoved a Kryptonite rod into the ground, hoping to attract Superman’s attention. Unfortunately, it brought Metallo who eventually was defeated but left Bruce in a coma. When he awoke, Alfred explained that his back was broken for good this time. After Alfred left, he whispered Clark’s name, who never came. He decided that if Superman was too good to help the world, then it would be Batman’s job to be the hero.

Greg Pak writes a great story and this one, while being a little short on the action side, is full of details and characterization. So, whatever Bruce was planning to do to end the war was so heinous that Superman battled him and trashed the Cave. And then headed off the Africa. My biggest complaint is the unevenness of the art. The first ten pages are by Cliff Richards and the next ten are by Jack Hebert and Vincente Cifuentes. Other than that, it was a good read.

BATWING: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years from now, a new criminal organization called Leviathan is trying to take over the existing criminal organizations. A group of the leaders from all these organizations gather with the single goal of eliminating Leviathan. Corvus Corax arrives and tells them that, for 10 billion dollars, he will tell them where they can find Leviathan. They discover that this Corvus is really a hologram. But his information sends them to Dinosaur Island. Upon their arrival, they discover that there is no Leviathan and it is all a trap set by Batman Incorporated and Corvus is really Batwing. They take out the bad guys and get a short congratulatory speech from a holographic Batman. In the story’s conclusion, Luke visits Tamara’s grave and reconciles with the rest of his family.

It’s kind of hard for me to judge this title as I didn’t read BATWING except for the first issue when he was Tinasha Police Officer David Zavimbe. And I know that around issue #20, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Eduardo Pansica took over, there was a changing of the guard, and Lucas Fox took over the role and kept the garb all the way till the title ended with issue #34. So, when Fox had a falling out with his family, when his sister died and anything surrounding all of this is a mystery. But, based on this issue, I may have to do a little backtracking for back issues. I mean, it’s Palmiotti, Gray and Pansica so it reads great and looks great too!

BATWOMAN: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years in the future, Beth Kane, now known as the vigilante called Alice, needs to kill her vampire sister, Batwoman. Meanwhile, Batwoman is in the process of attacking Maggie Sawyer, claiming it is time for her to die and grabs her, taking her to the rooftops. Deciding she isn’t worth her time, she drops her, but is saved by Beth. Beth and Kate battle and Beth attaches a piece of clay to her sister’s leg, which turns into Clayface. Jason Blood tries to recite the incantation that will turn him into Etrigan, but Batwoman tears his throat out. Then she breathes fire on Clayface, which hardens him and then smashes him on the floor. Beth traps her sister in a net and she soon hears Kate's real voice begging to help her. Beth removes the net and shoves a stake through Kate's heart, turning her sister to dust.

Marc Andreyko and Jason Masters give up a killer issue…literally! Batwoman became a batwoman…literally! This was a great issue and paves the way for a possible future for “Alice”. Is SHE destined to be the next Batwoman? I have loved this title since the beginning, through the ups and downs and the upheaval of the creative team. Andreyko has done a decent job of picking up and moving the characters along. And Masters does a super job on the art here. This was a treat. Despite the gripes, I’m enjoying most of the FUTURE’S END books…to this point anyway.

BIRDS OF PREY: FUTURE’S END #1: Even though we are five years from now, we begin two years ago. Black Canary is running something called the Red League and they had recently stopped a human trafficking ring. One of the girl’s rescued agrees to join the Red League and is renamed Xi. Two years later and we learn that Paul Howe III is running the biggest trafficking ring in Gotham and the Red League is prepared to take him down. But midway through the Operation Bête Noire interrupts, accusing her of taking over the League of Assassins. She admits to it, saying she did it to destroy the organization. She also claims she has proof that Howe is not the bad guy Barbara thinks she is and demands proof. Dinah holds up a memory stick and Barbara walks away, saying she has plans for a team of her own(which we see in BATGIRL FUTURE’S END). As the Red League entered the mansion, they find that Howe has committed suicide. With Barbara in town, Dinah believes it’s time to move the Red League to another town.

Christy Marx and Robson Rocha, the regular team on the BIRDS OF PREY title, contribute this closing chapter to the series. And, believe it or not, this is probably one of the better issues. Seeing Dinah and Barbara get their aggression out and then go their separate ways was a break I have been waiting to see since about half way through the series. When it was the old Canaries, it was a bond. This Canaries was a loose amalgamation. I’ve said it before: bring back Lady Blackhawk and give Strix her own series.

BOOSTER GOLD: FUTURE’S END #1: We open with Booster Gold, who was just in the Justice League headquarters, in late 19th Century Gotham City. He knows he was on a mission but can’t recall what it was. He attempts to re-enter the Timestream just as a Batman takes over for him. Next he ends up tortured by Brainiac's droids. He gets ejected form the Timestream to the day he discovered that Superman and Wonder Woman were involved with each other. He manages to stop time and appears in front of himself. Before he can explain, he gets shot into the 30th Century and sees Validus and Tharok attacking the Legion of Super-Heroes. Before he can help, he ends up on Earth-4. He tries to approach Captain Atom, but he suspects him to be aligned with Spectro and attacks him. Again, he is pulled through the Timestream and ends up in a future run by talking tigers. Just as Ben Boxer and his friends appear trying to save their friend Kamandi, he again is yanked through the Timestream. He ends up in the 25th Century, where he meets with his sister Michelle. They both end up in the Timestream where they get to Booster's imprisoned other self. He realizes he is not the future Booster, he is from another universe. Brainiac arrives and Booster defends Michelle and his other self, but she falls hostage to Brainiac and begins to be tortured. The other Booster then swears to take Brainiac to Vanishing Point. The book concludes with the phrase “To Be Continued Where Worlds and Futures End”.

Okay, so when you’re talking about multi Earth crisis’s, Dan Jurgens is STILL the guy to call. And did the fanboy in me do a major dance when I saw Kamandi, Ben Boxer, Steve and Renzi. Yeah-I truly loved KAMANDI and the original OMAC!  Or all you continuity geeks out there, like me, this issue falls after after SUPERMAN: DOOMED #2 as the final page sets all of this up. And what’s with the final message? Does this mean that the WORLD’S END and FUTURE’S END weeklies will come together and lead us into a new DCU? Anyway, this is a great story laying ground for the future. Thanks to the creative team of  Jurgens, with Moritat, Will Conrad, Steve Lightle, Stephen Thompson, Ron Frenz, Brett Booth and Dan Jurgens handling the art! This becomes THE book to have in the collection of the FUTURE’S END titles as it truly reveals more than you probably expected it too!

CATWOMAN: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years in the future and we see that Catwoman is the head of a huge criminal empire and is desperately doing her best to make them a united criminal empire. She reminds them of what happened to Black Mask and, as Tusk refuses to follow her, Erin McKillen shoots him through the head. Following the meeting, Matt Falcone remind her that the others are only waiting for her to slip up so they can take her place. She reminds him that they can’t risk a gang war that would bring Batman down on them. They check to make certain her car isn’t wired to explode and then Matt excuses himself to take a call. He uses an app on his phone to detonate a bomb, which blows up the car with her inside. The other family leaders arrive to have Matt tell them that Selina is dead, which puts him in charge. To his surprise, he discovers that the bank accounts are dry and the others put him to death. Georgie Maroni announces there will be a gang war after all, for control of the united families. Six months later, Edward Nygma catches up to Selina Kyle, who has changed her name and is living on the French Riviera. She tells him she never wanted to rule the underworld. She just wanted to play a con game where she stole from the united crime families. She knows he wants to blackmail her but knows he won’t because he won’t give up the secret of the riddle.

This is quite possibly the best thing I have read from the mind of Sholly Fisch, who is typically relegated to back-up stories. And Pat Olliffe’s art is the usual great looking stuff. What I really like about this is how it has taken the plot that is fast becoming a reality in the current Batman side of the NEW 52 universe and not only making it a reality, it is playing the game to the end of the con. We see that Catwoman DOES become the Head of the Gotham criminal families and that her ulterior motive is to fleece the crooks, leaving Matt Falcone as the ultimate fall guy. This is a brilliant piece of storytelling and leaves me wanting to see who we get from point A to pint B over the five year period.
 
CONSTANTINE: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years in the future, John Constantine is no longer the man he was and he is in charge of the Helmet of Fate. He was given the chance to be the host the Helmet needs, but he needs to destroy the helm, as it has caused much tragedy and death. Librarian Mary Bowen receives the call from Nabu and heads to the hotel where the Constantine is holding the Helm, but is knocked out by John’s friend Lloyd. Meanwhile,  Jun-Seo Lee hears the call of Fate and then gets choked and passes out. The Helm of Fate continues to taunt Constantine and finally it overtakes him. But Constantine has prepared well as he uses the Auditorium of Anubis spell to trap the Helm within his heart. He challenges it to a duel where Nabu must prove that he has actually cared about someone beside himself. If the Helm wins, Constantine’s heart will explode. He also suggests calling on the former wearer of the Helm, Khalid Ben-Hassin, as a character witness. Unfortunately he is currently trapped in Hell. With the challenge over, Anubis arrives and eats Nabu. But John  had made a deal with an ifrit demon, which allows it to possess the Helmet of Fate. But it needs to perform acts of goodness and, so John won’t ever come after the demon. Heading downstairs, Constantine finds Lloyd among a pile of unconscious and dead bodies. The battle over, they both go to get a drink.

Okay…so this particular issue fell flat. Or did it? Constantine has the Helm of Fate and the previous wearer was Khalid Ben-Hassin. Wasn’t he on Earth 2? So how did Constantine end up with this? Well, I guess it all has to do with the war, doesn’t it? So,  Ray Fawkes and Juan Ferreyra didn’t do that bad a job after all, I guess. That is, if everything we THINK will happen does. Of course, that still doesn’t explain how Constantine ended up with the Helmet of Fate. I guess that will be revealed soon…

DETECTIVE COMICS: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years from now and we see the Calendar Man has been holding the staff of Arkham Asylum hostage for the last week. This leads Batman to form an alliance with the person who designed Arkham Island to keep its patients from escaping-the Riddler. Batman convinces him to team up by telling him that if the Calendar Man can causes a blackout, it will eclipse the legendary blackout from Riddler's Zero Year. Batman takes responsibility for causing Julian Day's mental status by putting his son into a home and away from his abusive father. They make their way through a drain pipe and inside, even though Batman knows that metal plates in his body will send off alarms. When they get into the courtyard, the Riddler reveals his true colors, saying he delivered the man responsible for destroying Day's family. Calendar Man explains that his wife lost her life during Riddler’s blackout, which makes him responsible. Batman explains he has tricked Riddler into trapping himself and leaves him to the Calendar Man.

Leave it to the team of Brian Buccellato, Scott Hepburn and Cliff Richards to deliver a tale this wild and fun! I sure didn’t see that ending coming and then, to have the Dark Knight turn his back on one of his oldest, if not THE OLDEST, villains-PURE GENIUS! Again, I never saw that coming. I saw the heel turn by The Riddler coming but, knowing the history between Batman and Day, I thought sure that Day would definitely be ready to enact his own brand of justice. So-thanks guys for leaving this jaded comic guy smiling from ear to ear.

EARTH 2: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years from now, Michael Holt and Sonia Sato are examining his Boom Spheres, which creates a mini Boom Tube. Sonia, formerly the highest-ranking female soldier in the World Army, is a refugee from Earth 2 following the war. At a presentation of the T-Spheres, Terry Sloan shows up to hype his Origin Goggles that can see what world a person actually comes from. Holt asks what has happened to the heroes and we get the answer. On Cadmus Island, Earth 2’s Red Tornado discovers that she has not only been dismantled, but her eyes have been removed. Holt sends Sonia back to Holt Insutries and he goes into hiding. But it seems that Terry Sloan also has made a duplicate and together they break into Holt Industries to steal the Boom Spheres. Holt visits a Jimmy Olsen who is in the Epoch Center for Special Children. Olsen hasn’t spoken a word since he was found in one of the ships that crashed from Earth 2. Suddenly he speaks and words and images fly forth from the Rubik’s Cube he holds. At Holt Industries, the two Sloan’s begin to fight with each other as Holt arrives. Holt defeats Sloan and discovers that he is not from either Earth or Earth 2.

Daniel H. Wilson is an author and robot expert who wrote ROBOPOCALYPSE and is writing the upcoming EARTH 2 weekly series. Eddy Barrows is an established veteran. Together, they present an interesting story about some of the players from the EARTH 2 series and what has happened to them following the war. Most surprising of which was seeing Lois Lane, the Red Tornado, having been dismantled and blinded. We get a page about this and that is that! So, I haven’t quite figured out why he has even bothered to put it into the book in the first place. I also haven’t out where Terry Sloan came up with the Terry Sloan duplicate but I find it a little ridiculous. All in all, this is probably the weakest of this month’s titles to date. I’m curious to see how Wilson’s work reads when the weekly debuts.

THE FLASH: FUTURE’S END #1: While The Flash is helping people trapped in a landslide in Pakistan, the Reverse-Flash is attacking Central City. As Barry tries to figure how much time he has to get from Pakistan to Central City, another Barry Allen is already there battling the Reverse-Flash, claiming to come from the future to prevent Wally’s death and Iris ending up in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. As Daniel attempts to save Wally and Iris, Barry rips Daniel's head off and then saves the pair before the car hits the ground. Barry of the present arrives and the future Barry removes his mask, explaining how the Speed Force is broken and he has come back in time to fix it. The future Barry disappears into the Timestream and Wally learns he has acquired Speed Force powers. Present day Barry begs Wally to find his future self and the future version of Barry. Meanwhile, future Barry has ended up five years before the accident that was just prevented from happening, with Wally, the new Flash, close behind him.

The regular monthly creative team of Robert Venditti, Van Jensen and Brett Booth continue to weave this truly intricate story of two Barry Allen’s and how one of them is trying to repair the Speed Force by correcting everything that has yet to come in our time. This is truly becoming one of the great epic Flash stories in the history of the character. While not as legendary as the classic FLASH OF TWO WORLDS, this is truly a well crafted, beautifully drawn story that, even with or without the changes coming with the war, sets the future direction of this character. This is great stuff!

GRAYSON: FUTURE’S END #1: In the past, Batman told Dick Grayson that Tony Zucco had killed his parents and wondered is Batman would kill him for him. Batman explained he didn’t kill. When Dick went from being Robin to Nightwing, he started to have feelings for Batgirl. But she explained that would never work out because he needed someone in his life who was dark. After the attack by the Crime Syndicate, Dick faked his death and joined Spyral where he was teamed up with Helena Bertinelli. On one particular mission, he caused a rope bridge to snap cleanly. She made him promise that if he were ever dying he would explain the secret to her. Later, she brought him to a tattoo parlor and forced him to get a Spyral tattoo. This would be incentive for him to never get captured and killed by the enemy. She also had issues with him not wanting to kill and actually had to prove her concern about this on several occasions. Eventually, she seduced him and he would use the Cluemaster's code to show him she loved him. During the war, the pair went to work for the former KGBeast, who now ran the Russian government. In one instance, Dick finally revealed the secret of the rope trick. He used the same acid that had killed his parents, which he kept in a jar under his bed. After the battle, it was discovered that the KGBeast had killed women and children. He assured them that they had been working with the Parademons. They learned he had sent them to battle while his own men massacred the innocent. Dick knew he had to do find a way to keep something to prevent KGBeast from killing more people. At the ceremony, Dick snapped KGBeast's neck, meaning Helena would have to punish him. Helena sentenced Dick to his death by hanging.

What makes this whole story so hard to follow, and made it brutal to try and review, is that it is told in reverse order. It begins with Dick Grayson hanging by the neck from the end of a rope and ends with the Tony Zucco revelation. Tom King, Tom Seeley and Stephen Mooney give us a great story that, despite being confusing on the first read because of the end to beginning sequencing, gives us a final resolution to the life of Dick Grayson. While he didn’t truly die during FOREVER EVIL, he does here. It’s a great story and probably one of the most intricate of these one shots.

GREEN ARROW: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years from now, Emiko Queen is the Green Arrow and Naomi Singh is Dart and, after defeating the Vertigo Cult, they find Oliver Queen in their hideout and bleeding out. He explains he doesn’t have much time and gives Emiko a small green pyramid, telling her to get it to Lois Lane. By the next day, Oliver is in Prague, meeting with Shado when Emiko arrives, forcing Oliver to step between them. The rest of the Outsiders arrive and Oliver attempts to make peace with them, as he needs them to help on Cadmus Island, where many of the heroes from Earth 2 are being experimented on. If they join him, he would be the leader of the Arrow Clan and give up being the Green Arrow no more. Emiko. Later, Oliver appears on a Seattle talk show to announce his coming back to town. Following that appearance, Deathstroke breaks into Oliver’s home and kills him. The man was killed was actually Magus in disguise, allowing Oliver and the Outsiders to prepare for war against Cadmus and Deathstroke.

Well, this explains the death of Green Arrow in THE NEW 52: FUTURE’S END #1. It was all an elaborate scheme by Oliver Queen to fake his own death. So, Magus bites the dust and Oliver prepares to lead an assault on Cadmus and free the heroes of Earth 2. In what is the swan song for the creative team of Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, the questions we have been asking get revealed. And what a great finish to an incredible but short run. Here’s to hoping the next creative team doesn’t screw it up!

GREEN LANTERN: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years from now, Hal Jordan is visited by his father, who is now a Black Lantern. Hal’s father informs his that Krona is now leading the Black Lanterns. As the Green Lantern, Hal strikes a deal with Relic, who has freed himself from the Source wall. Teamed up together, they defeat Krona and the Lanterns, but at the cost of Hal’s life. Relic has a plan and attaches Hal to the Source wall, promising his father that he will do his best to find a way to set him free someday.

Robert Venditti turns in one of the most heartfelt stories featuring Hal Jordan in I don’t know how long! Instead of making him a complete, whiny little brat, Venditti humanizes him but not to the point of him being annoying. He sees his father for the first time since he died and handles it as expected: with raw emotion and surprise. And to have his father have to watch his son die, that was just so hard to see. Great looking art from Martin Coccolo and Aaron Lopresti help make this the best GREEN LANTERN book I have read in over a year! Nice job, folks!

GREEN LANTERN CORPS: FUTURE’S END #1: John Stewart is a Lantern with a mission. It seems he has changed a lot in the last five years, complete with killing a number of Lanterns and destroying Mogo with a single bullet. He meets with Kilowag and Salaak and decides to help them with their battle against The Quiet One and the Empire. He now specializes in long range kills with a Green Ring construct rifle, he drafts Feska and heads to Oa, where two of his friends have been taken hostage. Upon arriving, he manages to take out most of the guards and pursues Maro, who was trained by Stewart and who could have been one of the best of the Lanterns. As he is about to deliver the killing shot, he is blocked by Indigo-1, who wants to induct someone into the tribe. Indigo-1 takes Stewart to Zezzen, where they battle and Stewart mortally wounds her. They end up being transferred to her planet where she reveals that she had sought him out as her replacement. With her death, the ring seeks him out and he becomes a Indigo Lantern.

As a rule, I don’t read this Lantern title, unless it is part of an event or a key piece of a crossover. That having been said, I don’t know if this is an average issue, a below average issue or an above average issue. Van Jensen writes it, Igor Lima, Ruy Jose, Rodney Buchemi and Geraldo Borges handle the art and the tale is okay. I find the cover to be a bit of a spoiler as Stewart is depicted as a blind Indigo Lantern as he is on the final page of the book. So, with that being a bit of a spoiler, I guess I would give this book a thumbs down, especially because I kind of want to know a little bit of WHY John Stewart as become the Lone Gunman of the Green Lanterns.

GREEN LANTERNS NEW GUARDIANS: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years from now, Saysoran is fighting everyone who has been affected by the power of the White Lantern energy. She steals a spaceship and meets Yekop, who is one with the ship. She takes control of the ship and flies to the home of Kyle Rayner: the White Lantern. Taking the weapons from the skeleton that used to be Carol Ferris, she battles him, discovering that the Guardians tried to stop him when he became overwhelmed by the Life Equation. He reveals that he brought her here as a test. He is nearing the end of his life and becoming one with The Source. He leaves her the White Lantern ring and lets her decide to follow his work or not.

As with the last title, I normally don’t read this unless it’s a Big Event kind of thing. And now I know why. Justin Jordan writes it, Diogenes Neves illustrates it and I really don’t care for it. Jordan’s story is okay, but terribly preachy. The highlight is Neves art. So, if this were my first issue of the title, I wouldn’t buy it again because it left me wanting the OLD Kyle Rayner who was heartbroken about his girlfriend in the fridge and not this dweeb!

HARLEY QUINN: FUTURE’S END #1: Five years from now, Harley has herself mailed to the Bahamas so she can go on vacation there. Unfortunately, bad weather leads to her being washed up on a tropical island with a dog that was in the cargo bay with her. She sends the dog to find Bernie her beaver and the dog keeps on running, deserting her. Harley draws a beaver face on a soccer ball and names it Bernie. As she searches for food, she finds Bernie's skull and hangs it around her neck. Harley finds an active volcano and natives. Their leader, Bouba, find her to be a goddess. During dinner, Harley asks for sexy entertainment and they give her two of their warriors, wrestling in coconut oil. A masked man throws weapons into the ring and the two cut each other to pieces. The next morning, Bouba takes Harley across the island to their god-king Tha'Jo-Kaa. When she reaches the top of the pyramid, she meets their god-king: The Joker. Over dinner, he explains how he would have the tribesmen dress up as super-heroes and submit them to trying to find their way out of deadly traps. But now Harley is here and they will be married at the mouth of the volcano. Bernie warns her that The Joker hasn’t always been so nice to her and she tosses his skull into an alligator filled swamp. The Joker says "I do" and Harley realizes he plans for her to be thrown into the volcano. Bouba tells him that he too must be thrown into the fires. Joker and Harley throw the celebrant into the lava. The volcano erupts, sending Harley flying through the air until she lands on the beach. She hears Bernie's voice from inside a dead alligator and pulls him out. Then a handsome man appears and offers to take her back to New York.

The regular creative team of Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner and Chad Hardin turns in an issue that really has nothing to do with being five years later except that they say it is. We have to assume that The Joker, who says he wanted to lay low and that is why he ended up and the island, was because of the war. THAT would be the only tie-in to FUTURE’S END. This could very easily be dropped into a regular issue of the series, except that Mr. J. is currently M.I.A. in current continuity. But, as with every issue of this series, it’s a fun ride. It’s a psycho killer who travels around with her stuffed beaver and meets an island god named Tha'Jo-Kaa? Yeah-a wild ride!

INFINITY MAN AND THE FOREVER PEOPLE: FUTURE’S END #1: Mark awakens from a nightmare with Dreamer by his side when they are attacked by Parademons. Alone for over a year, the pair must fend for themselves. Battling off the creatures, Dreamer tells how there was a final battle where the badly beaten team called upon Infinity man for one final time. But since only three of them summoned him, he was not infinite and was captured by a team of OMACs. It turns out that Mark is dead and Dreamer keeps him alive only in a dream. When he tries to leave, he discovers he is not real and disappears. Then Dreamer awakens and tries it again…forever.

Weak! Very weak issue here! Dan Didio and Keith Giffen have completely dropped the ball on this story, which is partially taken from every sci-fi anthology of the last fifty years. The never-ending dream. Not like comic and sci-fi fans haven’t seen that before. Pencils by Phillip Tan, with inks by Jason Paz only further to muddle the look and feel of the book. This is just plain boring!

SUPERMAN: DOOMED #2

While it appears that Lana’s parents, and many of the people in Smallville are dying, Martian Manhunter assures her that Superman is on his way to Brainiac’s mothership. However, he has let Doomsday take him over to fill him with the strength needed to destroy the mothership. Inside his mind, Perry White begs Clark to stop Doomsday from destroying the core of the ship, as that would destroy all of the minds that were absorbed. Brainiac tells him that he is collecting enough minds to allow him to remake the universe any way her perceives. Meanwhile, the Cyborg Superman breaks into Fortress to kill everyone there, but Supergirl has followed him and plans to defeat him. Brainiac warns that if she defeats the Cyborg and kills him, she will have killed her own father and actions involving Superman and her will fulfil the Kryptonian prophecy of the night of El. Then Brainiac shows him a potential world twenty-five years from now where Batman has retired because of the drop in crime. But, in it, Wonder Woman doesn’t exist because Brainiac hasn’t found her to make her part of the fantasies he is creating. That is because she attacking Brainiac’ ship from the Phantom Zone. And Lois manages to enter Clark's mind and hold Brainiac’s mind in her hands. Lois takes Brainiac’s power and puts it into Clark, telling him to do the right thing before returning to Earth and her normal self. Clark refuses to kill him, but drags him into a black hole. Brainiac finds himself being broken into pieces and is pulled out voice that calls him an asset. As the collection process begins, he sees the shards of the multiverses.

First things first. This monstrous issue is by Greg Pak and Charles Soule with art by Ken Lashley, Szymon Kudranski, Cory Smith, Dave Bullock, Jack Hebert, Ian Churchill, Aaron Kuder, Vincente Cifuentes and Norm Rapmund. With that out of the way, let’s talk about that LAST PAGE. We have images of a non-blue OMAC from Kirby’s era. There is Harley Quinn in the classic Harlequin costume. Check out the original New Teen Titans with Nightwing, Cyborg, Donna Troy, and Jericho. We have a Ted Kord Blue Beetle. We have Plastic Man and Uncle Sam. The classic Legion of Superheroes trio is seen too.And there is also the Justice Society of America, complete with Alan Scott, the Huntress and the Jay Garrick Flash. We see a very C. C. Beck inspired Captain Marvel, a FLASHPOINT battle between Aquaman and Wonder Woman, an Elseworlds Batman…and a Superman who is still wearing RED TIGHTS! This is all images from a Pre NEW 52 Universe. Is this a sign of what may be coming in 2015? And, who collects Brainiac? Could it be OUR BRAINIAC? This one page was worth all the good and the bad of this mini-series.

NEW 52 Month 34, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #34: Boston Brand, recently returned to the land of the living, and Justice League Dark are trapped in Nanda Parbat by Pantheon. Boston receives a visit from Brahma Dass, who convinces Boston to flee his dungeon cell and escape through the underground channel. Boston receives a vision of his five year old self being visited by Brahma Dass and was taken to Nanda Parbat, all of which he thought he imagined over the years. Meanwhile, becomes a huge beast and frees the rest of the team, while using the Green to discover the secrets of Nanda Parbat. Eons ago, the old gods of Nanda Parbat were rejected in favor of new gods. But the old gods lived on through Pantheon, which remained dormant until awakened by Project Thaumaton. They find Boston, who has been slain by archers and has become Deadman again and he must possess Pantheon to stop it. Brahma Dass and Deadman enter and, by spreading their spirits as wide as they can, cause Pantheon to explode into ten thousand gods, which returns Nanda Parbat back to the way it once was. Before returning to Earth, Brahma Dass explains that Boston was a soul looking for help and that was how he ended up being chosen by Nanda Parbat. With that, Brahma Dass disappears and the team leaves.

J.M. DeMatteis and Andres Guinaldo resolves this story in kind of a lame fashion. So, the NEW ORIGIN of Deadman is that his parents were alcoholics and he was taken to Nanda Parbat when he was a child? This now reads like PETER PAN with a drunken twist! The story seems contrived, the art was okay and the whole issue was just another book I the stack. This series has had its’ ups and downs since the whole FOREVER EVIL BLIGHT story, and even that had its’ lame moments. Maybe the line of “magical books” from DC will get a kick in the pants with the arrival of KLARION. Right now, it certainly can use it.

JUSTICE LEAGUE 3000 #9: Justice League 3000 find out that they contain micro-explosives that can be detonated remotely. And Locus continues her love attraction with the reborn Hal Jordan, but he turns the table on her, sends the rest of JL3K to safety while he remains on Cadmusworld. In the second tale, A reborn Teri, who is now the new Flash, gets to beat on her brother until Kali gets involved and begins to beat on her. Luckily, Superman arrives to land a hand. Then they depart, leaving terry to plot revenge.

If this was the first issue of this title you have ever read, based on my recommendations or anyone else, I would be so ripped! What an absolute waste of glossy paper! Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Howard Porter gives us a ridiculously short first story which results in the team being saved by Hal Jordan, who is willing to sacrifice himself to save the rest of the team. The second story, by Giffen, DeMatteis and Chris Batista was just an excuse to explain Teri’s rebirth to her and allow her a modicum of revenge on her murderous brother. It had none of the writing flair or action they previous issues had and I really feel screwed! Give me back my JL3K!!!

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #4: Alanna is back on Earth in the abandoned Zeta bunker when she hears a noise and grabs a ray gun. The noise is from Heather, who explains her friend Miiyahbin had been kidnapped by some kind of monster. They search for Miiyahbin, but see a monster and Alanna fires at it. It quickly disappears and then returns, before disappearing again. Fearing it will return, they race into a cave and find an unconscious Miiyahbin frozen in ice on the wall. Miiyahbin yells "Keewahtin!" and becomes Equinox, then destroys the monster. Meanwhile, on Rann, Sardath is taking a ton of heat because of his role in a number of things including the Ultra Project, the Polaris War Treaty, and the death of Katar Hol. Sardath puts the blame on Byth Rok. The Thanagarians take Hawkman's body home, while Sardath demands Ultra. Martian Manhunter tells him they the child is under his protection and will be taking him back with him. Sardath insists that Adam needs to stay here because of the serious feedback that happens when he and Alanna are together. Soon, Thorvis Thal and his crew are being chased by Byth and Lobo, who break onto their ship and locate Hawkman's body. In payment, Byth gives Lobo the location of the other Lobo. The League returns to Earth and Courtney suggests it would make a great headquarters before naming the group Justice League United. Heather and Alanna rush in with a helpless Miiyahbin in her arms.

Welcome to some of the busiest 20 pages in comics. Lok at my synopsis and realize that is one 20 page issue. Now, that being said, it doesn’t mean it was 20 GREAT pages! Jeff Lemire and Mike McKone do an adequate job of putting this book together but something about the line-up leaves me cold. This is definitely the Justice League B team and makes me want Justice League International back. At least they got rid of the original plan to call this book JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL.

NEW 52 FUTURE’S END #13-16: In issue #13, the Wounded Duck is held up and Cal turns over the money from the cash drawer so as not to arise suspicion in front of Madison Payne. But the crook steals the only piece of jewelry from her and Cal promises to get her a new one. Later, he find the robber and beats him badly, before taking back the necklace. That night, Michael Holt has a conversation with his AI, admitting to it that he is afraid of the cyborg body he recovered. Seeing this new Batman as a threat, he plans on confronting him about the cyborg. On Cadmus Island, Cole and Fifty Sue climb through an air vent to try and find the secret of the stealth OMAC. She also tells him that the scientists working there are not Cadmus scientists-they are Earth 2 scientists. At Key's workshop, they villains question how smart it was to team up with Batman. When he arrives, there is an argument that ends when Plastique throws an explosive paper airplane at him and knocks him out. Elsewhere, Emiko and Big Barda discuss the reasons why she killed her identity and became Jane Kirby. Emiko insists they go to Metropolis and meet with Lois Lane. But they need to find a way to get Barba across the Canadian border without an Earth Card. But, before they get to Emiko’s contact, a little girl tricks them into go down an alley. The little girl is Fifty Sue and the man in the alley is Deathstroke.

In issue #14, Barda and Emiko are given the choice to surrender as an alternate Earth fugitive, or die. Barda takes down Slade and Emiko shoves an arrow through his lower jaw. Emiko hits Fifty Sue with an explosive arrow, allowing them to escape. Back in New York City, Terry McGinnis wakes up to find his co-conspirators trying to figure out what to do with him, with Plastique being in favor of keeping him alive. At Columbia University, Madison gets a surprise from Cal in the form of the necklace she had stolen the night before. On Cadmus Island, Cole is attacked by a security OMAC and has to be saved by Fifty Sue, who threatens the Earth 2 scientists before killing one of them. Lois Lane investigates the box she received after Green Arrow's funeral. She touches the a small green triangular prism, which shows her images of the heroes from Earth 2, including Red Tornado, which she realizes is her from Earth 2.

Issue #15 begins with Superman catching up to Rampage but is forced to let her escape when she threatens a bus filled with children. Lois lane meets with him and explains the mysterious package that includes the prism showing the Earth 2 heroes in a prison. She also asks him who he is under the mask. Meanwhile, Hawkman, Amethyst and Frankenstein are still imprisoned by robots apparently controlled by The Engineer. Frankenstein wakes and describes his first dream in two hundred years. It tells of a terrible future that he believes they will cause. On Cadmus Island, King Faraday contacts Deathstroke and Cole and wishes to speak with them both in private. Down in their cells, Hawkgirl and Rita contemplate about what Cadmus is planning as they wait for Scott Free to return. He appears and says that scientist Lana has gone missing. In Africa, John Constantine reunites with Midge. She admits she is scared about the ship they found where the only survivor claims an angel slaughtered everyone.

In issue #16, we begin in n Washington, DC, where Stormguard stops two thugs trying to purchase a forged ID card. One man says it’s the only way to get a job because of his PTSD. On Cadmus Island, King Faraday discovers Mister Miracle sneaking out of his cell. Later, Faraday confronts Fifty Sue about her not telling him about all the stealth OMACs on the island. Lana admits that she has seen these OMACS, and Faraday Slade, Sue and Cole to investigate. Meanwhile, Michael Holt continues to converse with his AI, even as the release date for his uSpheres fast approach. In Metropolis, Lois goes to meet with Commissioner Sawyer, only to find Rampage trashing the area outside of S.T.A.R. Labs. Luckily, Superman arrives to help out. In the Huron System, The Engineer returns to her prisoners and they learn the planet they are on isn’t really a planet. It’s a ship run by her master: the Brainiac program.

Welcome to four more weeks worth of intrigue. So, do all the unbelievers believe in this book now? Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen wrote this story with art by Patrick Zircher, Aaron Lopresti, Scott Eaton and Jesus Merino. I guess the biggest complaint from fans is that this series will mean nothing in the end as the resolution of things will keep the future from occurring. What they forget is that the series began 30 years in the future. This is five years forward. So changes here will only affect the FAR FUTURE. That means I see the war occurring, Earth 2 being eliminated and merging with our Earth and everything coming to this point in time. Either that or Grant Morrison’s Multiverse will wipe all the universes out.

NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #2: As the Suicide Squad is getting fired upon by robots, Deadshot leads them out only to find themselves surrounded. Deathstroke is also under attack and, with him missing, Black Manta grabs Joker's Daughter and has Harley get Deadshot. Meanwhile, Vic and Amanda argue over whether this mission is a success or not. At the same time, the Russian military argues over whether their Rocket Red Brigade is a success or not.  Soon the Squad has taken down all of Knyazev's men and they learn that Rocket Reds are being sent in. Deadshot shoots Knyazev, who returns fire. Deadshot fires again and then crawls through the wreckage of the train to find out that the Rocket Reds are causing massive destruction.

I still haven’t figured out why DC needed to cancel the first series and relaunch it with this. If they were intent on changing the team makeup, then do it and not do this. Creative team change? Well, if there was a change in numbering with every creative team change, there would be a new #1 on some titles every six months! Sean Ryan and Tom Derenick are writing an okay story that still needs firming up. Art is by Scott Hanna, Mark Irwin, Norm Rapmund and Batt and, when you have that many artists working on a book, it can’t be a good thing. So, my fear is this title will be running down a real rough road until it gets into a groove.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #34: Starfire is taking out alien slavers in Abu Dhabi and looking for information. She tracks down the person responsible for their overlord and prepares to execute him. Roy and Jason arrive and convince her to not get her revenge. She flies off, but he has other plans as she grabs one of Roy’s exploding arrows and blows his own head off. Back at the home of the outlaws, Starfire unlocks a special vault and withdraws a special drug.

Man, this book absolutely cannot suck much more than it is right now! Scott Lobdell tries to be preachy and it doesn’t work at all. He spends an entire issue with Starfire tracking and catching the bane of her existence and then she is convinced NOT to take revenge. And this old man, who has pleaded for his life commits suicide. Why do I see a page stolen from KILL BILL PART 1 where his grand daughter witnesses the whole thing and maybe, one day, will show up to avenge her grandfather. RB Silva and Cory Smith handle the art and that’s just okay. But the writing, the dialogue, and the plot are just a mess. This may be my final issue after the FUTURE’S END issue.

RED LANTERN #34: In the final chapter of the ATROCITIES storyline, we discover that not only is Rankorr cured from the parasite that Atricitus had put in him but Skallox is really working undercover for Guy Gardner. Atrocitus and his Lanterns arrive and begin to battle with Rankorr, Shadow Thief and Skallox, who has his neck broken by the evil Lantern, sending Shadow Thief into a rage. Bleez arrives and takes out Dex-Starr with a constructed hammer. Finally, the Judge gets involved and judges Guy “not guilty” before destroying all the evil Red Lanterns except for two. Guy battles Atrocitus and calls up 10 rings to battle him with, stripping Atrocitus and Dex-Starr of their rings, which turns them back into their original forms. Guy leaves the Red Lanterns in charge of Sector 2814 and heads to Earth to be our protector.

Does this mean Guy may become Warrior again? I hope not: that costume was UGLY!!!This was a great resolution to a killer story. Thank you Charles Soule and Alessandro Vitti for filling this team with emotion, energy and, most of all, character. They have all had their moments of good and evil and have all felt the pain of seeing their comrades die. This book, which has been so up and down in the last year, certainly hit its’ mark with their four parter. With Soule leaving to go to Marvel, I can only hope his replacement is as worthy.

SECRET ORIGINS #5: In the first tale, Victor Stone argues with his father about the viability of an experiment. We flashback to his younger days when he and his father would butt heads based on Vic’s pure athletic talent and the accolades it would bring him. When he turned 18, he moved out and moved in with some friends before attending MSU. After a time, Vic agreed to talk to his father and that was the day that a portal opened to Apokolips, allowing Parademons to enter. Victor was badly burned by the energy from the Boom Tube and he was rushed into the Red Room where his father used alien technology  to build him a cyborg body. Eventually, he realized his purpose in the world and joined the Justice League.

In the second story, we see how Jason Todd had been taken in off the streets by Dr. Leslie Thompkins and how Bruce Wayne took him in. Eventually, he showed him the Batcave, offered him the job of Robin and trained him. Suffering with rage issues, which tended to make them butt heads, Jason learned that his mother was alive. This turned out to be a trap set up by the Joker. He was savagely beaten and left to die in an explosion. He clawed his way out of his grave and was taken to a Lazarus Pit by Talia al Ghul and he was eventually taken to the Acres of All and trained as an assassin by Ducra and the All-Caste. He would return to Gotham and became the Red Hood.

In the third tale, we see how Princess Mera of Xebel, betrothed of Nereus, had great ability to shape water which his soon to be husband was jealous of. In fact, he hoped to be able to pass through the barrier between Atlantis and their land of Xebel and murder the king of Atlantis. Mera was sent to a sinking ship, knwoing it was the only way to pass through the barrier. Stopping another fishing boat and demanding to know where Atlantis was, she was told of the great Atlantean Aquaman and how he had saved so many seamen. They soon met and he asked her to dinner, where he asked of the pendant she wore. She raced off to listen to her mother’s message, which was recorded inside the pendant. She was told to complete her mission, which would allow her to be free to marry anyone she wanted to. She told Aquaman that she had a mission and it might take a long time to complete it.

As with almost every issue of this series, there is some really good stuff and some really mediocre stuff. The first tale, by Marv Wolfman and Edgar Salazar, is just filling in a lot of things I could care less about. We all know Cyborg’s origin and are aware of how he and his father didn’t get along. I found it boring and overly dramatic. The second tale, by Scott Lobdell and Jack Hebert, was a little bit better. But again, most of this information we already knew. The final story, by Jeff Parker and Daniel HDR(who?), gives us a great deal of Mera’s back story and leaves us believing that someday, when we least expect it, she will kill the King of Atlantis. Maybe someone should tell Aquaman. So, I can’t give this a full recommendation but, if you think five dollars is okay to spend to get one good tale, then go for it!

SINESTRO #5: We begin with Hal Jordan and Sinestro ready to battle each other until cooler heads prevail and the two of them go off to talk out their differences. Sinestro tells of the deep depression he drifted into after the destruction of his planet and his people. And, after meditating for a very long time to purge Parallax, it was his daughter and his people who saved him from his mental state. Suddenly, he brings Parallax forth and has it attack Hal, before calling it back to him like a dog, explaining how he was able to master the beast. And that should scare everyone in the universe.

Danzig Lantern? Really, Cullen: is that the best you got? OMG! This book continues to be saved only by the art of Dale Eaglesham. It is sometimes angry, sometimes preachy and usually filled with many long-winded speeches by Sinestro and his fellow Yellow Lanterns. Not to mention, we get a Green lantern with some testicles here, as opposed to the whiny Hal Jordan we get in his own book(Yes-that is a good thing!)Cullen Bunn has written some great stuff and he also was responsible, with Matt Faction, for BATTLE SCARS. That having been said, this is not one of those great ones.

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES #2: Carmen and Jared prepare to infiltrate the militia group they were assigned to get to. As Carmen, going by the name of Tiffany, gets patted down and meets with the militia, Jared dispatches two men preparing to kill him, getting a photo of the militia leaders that he forwards to Washington. His superiors recognize Valerie Watkins, who used to work for the government. While group leader Duke interviews Tiffany, Jared sets off alarms as he kills another guard. Duke sends Tiffany and one of his scientists to another farm with the virus that has been created. Jared finds two more scientists working for the militia and ends up killing them both. He finds their lab but, before he can fully investigate, a grenade destroys the place and forces him to fight against his attackers. Gravedigger's team arrives and vaporizes the enemy. They try and catch up to Duke and discover he is about to launch a missile from his truck. Jared climbs on top of the missile and tries to change its’ course from its’ target in Washington. He does, but now it is heading for Sutterville, Tennessee.

Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Scott Hampton give us another weird action filled issue here. Under a Darwyn Cooke cover, this book delves deeper into the mystery of the militia and leaves a ton of unanswered questions. Who are these guys? Why did Valerie Watkins leave the government and who dropped her off their watch list? What is this virus and does it have anything to do with all that marijuana? What is in the bomb? Possibly the virus? I love this book and love the energy it brings. Of course, I was a huge fan of ALL STAR WESTERN by Palmiotti and Gray so loving this one goes without saying. I cannot wait for the next issue!

SUPERMAN #34: Even as a clocked man watches him, Superman brings Neil Quinn to visit his long lost parents. It is revealed that they were physicists for the military who were recruited to work for the Ulysses Research Lab. But some reality-eating matter escaped in the lab and, thinking the lab was going to be consumed, they sent their son to the Fourth Dimension. Not long after, they found a way to contain the creature by sealing the leak, but they lost their research and any way to find their son in the process. Neil tells how the people of the Fourth Dimension adopted him and named him after the name on his ship, Ulysses. The biggest threat they Fourth Dimension faced was Klerik. Now that he was captured and his adoptive parents had passed away, there was nothing to hold him there, which is why he knows he can remain on Earth with his birth parents. Superman convinces his parents that he can help create a fake paper trail to cover up Neil’s many missing years and that it is probably not a good idea to tell folks about his inter-dimensional travels. Later, Clark wakes in his apartment and finds Neil waiting for him. Then, after a conversation about dreams, they head towards a scrap yard where a green light from one of the mechanical creatures is shining. They end up in an underground tunnel where a small device attaches itself to Ulysses' head and begins to control him. A masked man who calls himself The Machinist sets a bunch of mechanical attack-dogs at Superman. Then he sends his Mind-Ticks to try and control Superman. But Ulysses burns a hole through the Machinists’s chest, killing him. Even worse: the Machinist lives in the mask and was controlling the individual. Neil has just murdered an innocent man.

Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr. gives us another kick-ass chapter in their take on the Man of Steel. The story rocks, Romita is in a nice groove and this is very different from Scott Lobdell’s work. I love this book and am so glad to see the Big Blue Boy Scout get to a proper place, between this title and the revitalized ACTION COMICS.

SWAMP THING #34: Lady Weeds and The Wolf have gravely wounded Brother Jonah, but Capucine manages to bring Alec back to Louisiana to help. Jonah wakes and begs Alec to take him to the grove of the Parliament. Once there, he begs to be allowed into the Green to serve as Alec's Regent and, as his life begins to fade away, he asks Alec to finish reading his book, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Lady Weeds wants is to destroy Alec and make Wolf her Parliament of Trees. She gets a ride to a hospital in New Orleans, murders her driver and sets fire to the park next to the hospital. Alec arrives at the hospital and battles Wolf while Lady Weeds plans to heads back to the Swamp to find Guarav. Wolf gets away and the next morning, Lady Weeds and Wolf take hostages and call for Alec to arrive. Despite her ordering Wolf to kill the hostages, he refuses and releases the hostages and then kills himself. Alec says he could put Wolf back into the Green, but won’t. Lady Weeds escapes and runs into Capucine who snaps her neck. In doing so, Lady Weeds it left alive but paralyzed from the neck down. As all this transpires, a creature calling itself Calculus introduces itself to Alec.

Charles Soule and Javier Pina turn in a nice ending to the Wolf and Lady Weeds saga while getting ready to embark on what will be Soule’s final arc. This series is probably as close to old school DC as any of the NEW 52. It has so many moments that feel like the classic runs in SWAMP THING’s history that it is hard to NOT fall in love with this book. Like every other series about to undergo creative changes, I hope this one doesn’t suffer from them.

TEEN TITANS #2: While Bunker and Beast Boy reflect on the incident that occurred when they stopped the bus hijackers, Red Robin interrogates the badly beaten suicide bomber in his hospital bed. Suddenly, he goes into cardiac arrest and dies. Meanwhile, Theresa Cicero is attacked on the streets of New York when an all-female vigilante group that proceeds to beat up the thugs saves her. Elsewhere, a S.T.A.R. Labs building explodes and Bunker and Beast Boy head out to see if they can help. They get told that if the fire reaches whatever the big thing the folks at S.T.A.R. are working on, it will take out Manhattan. Turns out the woman responsible for the bus attack is there and, once Bunker discovers that she is a robot, he blows up her head and uses his purple bricks to extinguish the fire. That night, Raven goes to see a band that is a tribute to her called Dark Raven and the robot, named Algorithm, gets rebuilt thanks to a high ranking S.T.A.R.official by the name of Manchester Black. 

OMG! This is the infamous Manchester Black who, in the old DCU, was the leader of the vigilante group known as The Elite. But, when we last saw him, he had killed himself. So…I’m not sure what to think but I am pretty psyched to have Will Pfeifer work him into the book. Also thrown in is Josiah Power who, in the old DCU, was the leader of the superhero group for hire known as The Power Company and once called one of the most powerful metas in the universe(and that was Superman saying that). So I am still not a huge fan of the whole “social media Titans”, but I am liking where Pfeifer is going with this and getting used to Kenneth Rocafort’s art.

TRINITY OF SIN PANDORA #14: Pandora follows a vampire only to be stabbed with a sword by Andrew Bennett. He admits he is responsible for the vampires infesting Baltimore and they continue to hunt the one. Meanwhile, Kincaid offers Giganta a job working for S.H.A.D.E. killing monsters. They end up at the same elevator shaft that Pandora and Bennett are at, but on a different floor. The shaft has a huge spider’s web in it and soon Kincaid and Giganta are attacked by spider-vampires. The foursome fight together to kill most of the creatures and free those people trapped in the web. Bennett leaves to hunt down the creatures that escaped while Kincaid suggests the trio form an alliance.

And thus ends this title which prepares to go away and leave room for TRINITY OF SIN which is supposed to feature the true immortal trinity. Ray Fawkes, Francis Portela and Tom Derenick give us a so-so final issue. On one hand, I was thrilled to see Andrew Bennett return to the NEW 52, as he has been A.W.O.L. since I, VAMPIRE ended. I was also psyched to see Kinkaid, Giganta and Pandora for a trio of monster hunters. But, unless Kinkaid and Giganta are going to me minor players in the new title, this was a waste of plot. I would like to see the trio with their own monster-hunting title and have DC deep-six the TRINITY title, especially with The Phantom Stranger getting to be  totally annoying.

TRINITY OF SIN THE PHANTOM STRANGER #22: The Phantom Stranger and his friends are in the Utah desert where they face The Presence in an effort to return Zauriel to life. But he soon wakes to find himself living Phillip Stark’s life again, complete with his wife, children, and dog. One night, they are in their car and Stark swerves off the road after he sees Pandora and The Question standing in the middle of the road. The next day, he meets with his psychiatrist Doctor Thirteen and is freaked out by his dog, who he believes is “rooting around” in his brain. Soon he finds himself in a church, having a conversation with The Presence, who has again taken the form of the dog and offers to trade his life for Zauriel’s. Zauriel comes back to life as a woman and The Stranger, Zauriel and Terrance Thirteen fly off to future mysteries.

J. M. DeMatteis and Fernando Blanco bring this title to a close with one of the LAMEST stories in this run since issue #1. I can’t even begin to say how awful this was. Suffice it to say another issue of the former Judas Iscariot being a wimpy, immortal whining is more than I care to think about. The only thing this did was introduce the other members of the Trinity. Yay!

WONDER WOMAN #34: Due to circumstances beyond DC’s control, this issue won’t appear until October, which means it will be reviewed as part of the Month 35 reviews.

WORLDS’ FINEST #26: Power Girl and Huntress discover that Earth 2 has been turned into a desolate wasteland. But Kara takes joy in the fact that she senses Kale-El and flies towards him, as the pair are attacked by Parademons and become separated. DeSaad has also made it through the portal but is concerned that Darkseid is not here. Back on our Earth, Tanya Spears awakens to find that the portal that took Huntress and Power Girl home destroyed Starr Laboratories. While everything they ever worked on at Starr is destroyed, Tanya discovers she now has developed super-strength and impenetrable skin. Not only that, a arrives to tell her that Karen Starr's will gives Tanya the name of Power Girl. After fighting off the Parademons and reuniting, Huntress and Power Girl head towards Geneva to help the Wonders of the World fight off the Apokoliptians.

Paul Levitz and Tyler Kirkman have managed to get the girl’s home after 26 issues of toiling on our Earth. But they have come home to find their world a mess. And now Tanya has the powers and the name. What happens next? Well, there is a weekly EARTH 2 series coming in October that will tie in with this series AND the current EARTH 2 monthly. All of this will lead up to a BIG EVENT in April. Sit tight, fans: this fight ain’t over yet!

THE MULIVERSITY issue #1

Nix Uotan, the last of the Monitors, is troubled by an alleged haunted comic that is supposed to be part of DC’s Multiversity event. He starts cutting the pages from the book with a scalpel and quickly sees it breaking the Fourth Wall. It calls on his chimpanzee Mr. Stubbs to join Nix in a Multiversal investigation as Superjudge and Stubbs. So they climb into the ship, Ultima thule, and head to Earth 7 in their ship. Earth 7 is in ruins and luckily they come upon a survivor named Thunderer. He begs them to leave as a race of beings known as the Gentry called them here to trap them. He instructs them to go to the Rainbow of Worlds and explain that the Multiverse is ending. Nix takes Thunderer’s place and sends him to the Ultima Thule, which heads to the House of Heroes. There he can summon the heroes of fifty worlds and then return to save Nix. Nix and Stubbs are left to die as Earth 7 continues to collapse. Nix wakes in his room and immediately drops the haunted comic.

On Earth 23, Superman destroys a massive robot and then heads off to a meeting as the President of the United States. With the meetings concluded, he joins the rest of the Justice League on their Satellite to discuss the origins of the robot he defeated earlier. The robot reactivates, sends out a cosmic SOS signal, and Superman appears to be vaporized. He reappears on a satellite. Captain Carrot, who explains that many heroes have been brought here since Thunderer sounded an alarm, welcomes him. he introduces Superman uses Brainiac to get into the House of Heroes' systems, which causes Harbinger to appear before them. She explains they are here because the last of the Monitors are dead and it is time to summon the greatest heroes of the fifty-two worlds to protect the Multiverse. They all now realize that their lives have appeared in comic books of each others' worlds. Thunderer takes some of the heroes to use the Ultima Thule to seek out Nix. Superman pilots the ship by improvising jazz.

On Earth 8, Lord Havok has finally collected the weapons of the Future Family even as Thunderer’s team arrives, oinly to be attacked by the Retaliators. Thunderer realizes this is not Earth 7, which is where he was hoping to end up. Superman explains they are here because the universe is in danger. Lord Havok continues to take his revenge on the Future Family as the Genesis Egg begin to hatch. Superman and the others arrive too late to keep the power within the egg from swallowing Lord Havok. Havok is being driven insane by the visions the egg is forcing his mind to see and Bowman sends an arrow through Havok’s head, mercifully killing him. The egg opens and contains a changed Nix and Stubbs. The threat is now greater than it was and it’s all because YOU read this comic.

Yeah…Grant Morrison is on the loose again! This is the much talked about epic from Morrison. Now, is it part of DC continuity or not? Good question. Here’s what we do know for sure. Many of the things that occurred in FINAL CRISIS get mentioned here and often. For example: Superman recalls the Song of the Multiverse from FINAL CRISIS #7. The Ultima Thule appeared in FINAL CRISIS: SUPERMAN BEYOND. But Morrison also seems to have his own version of characters from other universes from other comic companies. I mean, look at Earth 8’s heroes. Earth 8 is known as "Major Comics", probably because Marvel Comics would have SUED! The Retaliators are definitely Avengers inspired while the Future Family? Can we say the other famous FF? Ivan Reis gives us some great art on this book and I wonder what is in Morrison’s mind and where this is going to go. Again, DOES this tie into the NEW 52? Will this be part of the April Event we are all hearing about?

I can’t wait to see. While it would be nice to have all the answers now, I assume it will be like Morrison’s SEVEN SOLDIERS: a complicated well-woven tale that is filled with story on multiple levels. Prepare to be overwhelmed.

NEW 52 Month 34, Part 1

ALL STAR WESTERN #34: Jonah wakes to find Tallulah gone from his side and searches fore her, to find she is skinny dipping in a nearby pond. At breakfast, he tells her of his intentions to end the life of the man who is impersonating him. On their way to town, they pass the broken carriage of L.B. Farnham, who runs a wild west show and, despite his pleas, refuse to help him. In town, they register at the hotel under the name of George Barrow and, after a short romp in bed, head to the bar, where Jonah finds his impostor playing poker. A man named Michael Wheeler bursts in and warns that a group outside wants to kill the fake Jonah. Tallulah takes Wheeler in the back room to find that the fake Jonah has taken over the Ambassador Hotel across town and that Wheeler is writing a book about Hex. Unfortunately, he has been interviewing the impostor. That night, despite Tallulah’s wishes, Jonah guns down the imposter’s men, and burns down the Ambassador Hotel, before finally killing the impostor with a knife through his heart. Tallulah and Wheeler show up and Wheeler asks his name, as he will go down in history as the man who killed Jonah Hex. The real Jonah declares that his name is George Barrow. While the townspeople robs the corpse of valuables, L.B. Farnham takes the corpse, as he plans on having a taxidermist stuff it and make Jonah Hex live again as part of his Wild West Revue. And Tallulah and Jonah? They spend the rest of their days at sea on a boat called the Louisiana Purchase.

WOW! All I can say is WOW! What a tremendous ending to a book that never should have been allowed to die. Unfortunately, not enough fans, despite the critical praise for this title, bought on to this title and thus, almost three years in, the title and the character go away again. Here’s the good news: not only do we get the usual great story by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, but we get another tremendous cover by Darwyn Cooke who illustrates the story as well! Best of all, for us OLDER comic fans, the “death” of Jonah Hex plays nicely off the classic, Pre-Crisis continuity death of Jonah Hex. In that continuity, George Barrow was the name of the man who allegedly shot and killed Jonah Hex. And L. B. Farnham was the man who collected Jonah’s body for his wild west show. In fact, Farnham is also credited with killing Hex’s biographer, Michael Wheeler. So, in the end, Gray and Palmitotti give us a happy ending. Thank you for this wonderful book which, hopefully, will become sought after by collectors who eventually realize the beauty of it.

AQUAMAN #34: As Chimera tries to attack the hospitalized Dr. Shin, Aquaman steps in to defend injured man. They battle out the hospital window and into the sea, eventually battling across town. Chimera tries to swallow Aquaman’s head and takes him to a vision of himself as another king, and has him battling the Karaqan. That is when he realizes this is why he cannot control Chimera. Aquaman battles back, frreing himself and blasting poor Mr. Combs out of the Chimera skin, thus freeing him from the beast’s clutches. Or did he? As the paramedics tend to Combs, we see he retains the eyes of the Chimera.

Jeff Parker ends this rambling story. Finally! I have nothing against his work or do I have a problem with “guest penciller” Carlos Rodriguez. It was just this undersea tale seemed to go on forever. And, let’s be honest, there are times, especially at the beginning of the series, that Aquaman had found his cool at last. But now: he’s just become a carbon copy of Namor, without the anger and angst. And a hot looking wife!

AQUAMAN AND THE OTHERS #5: Legend has the others right where he wants them and plans on melting down the Atlantean gold to be forged into armor that will allow him to live forever. Meanwhile, after a bit of a battle on the moon, Ya’wara and Vostok arrive to take up the fight. They throw the mortally wounded Aquaman into the Pool of Visions, which heals him. To save his friends, he uses the trident to stab Legend, turning him into a pile of dust and ending his attempt to conquer. Darya and Anton gets transported to a hospital to heal their wounds and we discover that the Vostok we knew was actually a clone and THIS Vostok is the real one. Sdayeh bids goodbye to her sister and kahina and the cloned Vostok move on to their final resting place.

And I wonder if this book should also move to it’s final resting place. I so respect Dan Jurgens for what he has done in the industry, but this book is filled with cardboard characters that I really had no interest in when they first appeared in AQUAMAN. I can’t blame Jurgens completely: Geoff Johns created a bunch of totally boring, international heroes. However, I will give props to Lan Medina for some nice looking artwork. So, it all comes down to the thought of whether this book is worth three dollars of my hard earned cash each month. And, even after almost a half year, I’m still on the fence. With the real Vostok back, let’s see where this takes us.

BATGIRL #34: Batgirl, Black Canary, Huntress and Obscura lead an attack on Charise Carnes’ yacht. Charise initiates Operation: Rebirth  and sends Bonebreaker and Gretel to face the heroes as mercenaries move in on Gotham to eliminate all criminals. Batgirl knocks Bonebreaker out as Knightfall, Grotesque and their hired hands arrive to join the fight. Batgirl shows Charise a picture of her the Carnes family and tells her how much they would disapprove of what she is doing, finally causing her to break down. She informs Barbara that her brother James Jr. is still alive and she did not kill him. Later, returning to her apartment, she tells Alysia that she is leaving Cherry Hill and offers her a chance to come with her.

And thus two tales come to and end. The first involves the current plotline and leaves many of them unresolved. Now Barbara knows she isn’t a murderer, but that doesn’t mean James won’t come after her. Also,  what happens to the relationship between Rickey and Babs with her leaving town with her lesbian roommate? The other tale that ends: the creative team of Gail Simone and Fernando Pasarin. Starting with issue #35, the creative team becomes newcomer artist Babs Tarr(this is her first comic book) and writers Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher. And from what I have seen of the preliminary work, this is a major change artistically as well as plot wise. Basically, minor spoiler here, Babs ends up replacing her costume with stuff she finds in a thrift store and the look is, well…real different from the classic spandex we all know and love. Be here in October to see how it all plays out.

BATMAN #34: Batman informs Dr. Leslie Thompkins that he believes the patients of hers who have missed appointments may have been murdered, Unbeknown to him, it appears a man we see digging a grave is responsible. But he does determine that the killer is driving a red pickup truck and follows traffic cams to trace the murderer to where he has killed his last victim. He deputizes the victim’s dog and the dog follows the scent to Leslie's clinic where the killer is attacking her. But she removes her disguise to reveal she is actually Batman, who quickly defeats the killer and arranges to have him imprisoned in the Joker’s cell at Arkham Asylum. Batman tracks down the cemetery the killer used to dump all the bodies. Troubled by it all, the Dark Knight insists on watching every body be exhumed.

Well, this was an odd and disappointing issue that I would characterize as a fill-in, even though Scott Snyder was involved with the story. Actually, my guess is he plotted it or thought of it and Gerry Duggan was the person responsible. With art by Matteo Scalera, this certainly was a far cry from what we’ve been rocking and rolling with in the last six months. Next month is the FUTURE’S END story and then, we come back to the regular creative team for the start of the next big story arc. All inside rumors say this will be a big, big story. And I can’t wait!

BATMAN ETERNAL #17-20: In issue #17, we that Deacon Blackfire once was an evangelist for the homeless who would select audience members and have them chained up below his ministry. He also captured Batman and tried to get his followers to kill him. But Batman turned the tables and Blackfire’s followers beat him instead. But now he is being resurrected into the body of Maxie Zeus. But Batwing and Jim Corrigan are determined to keep that from happening. Corrigan begs The Spectre to come forth, but he doesn’t and Batwing is missing. Meanwhile, Red Robin and Harper Row are in Tokyo where they find out that the nanobots that were attacking Gotham were based on Sergei Alexandrov’ old designs.

In issue #18, Batgirl, Red Robin and Batwoman find themselves in Rio de Janeiro trying to find the man they believe framed Jim Gordon. Batgirl finds him and is quickly hypnotized by him, causing her to attack Red Hood and Batwoman. Meanwhile, Lt. Jason Bard is becoming the lead candidate to replace imprisoned Commissioner Gordon. He and Batman end up in the sewers and running into Killer Croc, who lashes out at batman for deserting Gotham when Bane was in control. Bard tries to arrest him with less than expected results.

In issue #19, Batwoman goes searching for the man responsible for putting the hypnotic suggestion into Batgirl’s head. They now believe this is how Jim Gordan THOUGHT he saw a gun at the train station. Batwoman confronts Dr. Falsario, dousing him with Fear Gas and arresting him, as he confesses to the hypnotizing of Gordon. He tries to escape but Batgirl, now clear of her programming, gives chase. In the sewers of Gotham, Batman and Jason Bard are using Killer Croc to help them find a kidnapped girl. He shows them a room filled with what he believes are reanimated corpses who Batman believes are aliens that where described by Batwing and Jim Corrigan in Arkham Asylum. Under Arkham, the Ten-Eyed Man taunts girl Jade before Batman and Croc leaps down to rescue her. At Blackgate,  the prison is put on lockdown because of a riot and a hostage situation based on a war breaking out between the Penguin and the Roman. Gordon grabs a fire-extinguisher and heads to the electrical room to try and save the hostage guards. While the the Roman's men search of the Penguin's men, Gordon fires off the fire-extinguisher and knocks them all out.

In issue #20, Batgirl catches up with Dr. Falsario only to find an assassin has murdered him. But Batwoman has apparently found enough evidence to prove her father’s innocence. Meanwhile, Batman, Killer Croc, and Lt. Bard battle cultists while Croc saves Jade before the underground collapses. Bard then attempts to arrest Croc for murdering two GCPD detectives and a SWAT captain, but he bursts through a wall causing further collapse to the Underground. In Blackgate, Maggie Sawyer attempts to negotiate with Volt while Jim Gordon continues to try and save the guards. His cellmate, Leo, shaves his beard and transforms himself into Rex Calabrese - The Lion, who tears apart some of the rioting men. With order now restored, Gordon discovers that Calabrese acted to keep Gordon or any of the guards' daughters from losing their fathers. Over at a local cafe, Stephanie uses her blog to out her super-villain father and attempt to stop him by becoming a masked vigilante.

Four more action packed, plot oriented issues. That means four weeks with a lot of plot to swallow. Written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, John Layman and Tim Seeley with art by Dustin Nguyen, Andy Clarke, and Emanuel Simeoni, the book continues to drop story bits all over the place. If you’re not reading this book, then you are missing the pieces that will play out in the main monthlies for the immediate future.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #34: Batman has brought his allies together to try and bring Damian back to life. He shows them the Mother Box that he can use to journey to Apokolips. He asks his family to keep Gotham City safe while he is gone and if he doesn’t come back. He tells Dick Grayson, hiding in the shadows(the world thinks he’s dead), that the world needs a Batman if he doesn’t return. Meanwhile, on the Justice League Satellite, Luthor realize they have been fighting holograms and have been distracted by Batman. Luthor offers to help, but Batman insists he needs to do this alone. Luthor makes adjustments to the Hellbat suit and wishes him luck. With that, he activates the Mother Box and heads to Apokolips.

And thus the rescue mission begins. Batman heads off to Apokolips to try and not only bring Damian back to life but bring him back to Earth. Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason continue on this amazing tale of loss and grief. We have never seen the Dark Knight this desperate. How far will he go to save his son?

BATMAN SUPERMAN #13: Kaiyo has made her way to Satanus’ world bearing gifts in return for the chance to stay for a while. She has stripped Batman and Superman of their memories and that is her gift to him: Superman finds himself in Gotham City, naked, alone and with no memory. Catwoman is watching him but then finds herself chased by a giant machine. He wraps himself in a bit of red cloth and rescues her. She convinces him to join her. Not far away, in Crime Alley, Batman wonders where he is, who he is and why he is dressed as he is and under attack by the Scarecrow. He takes a blast of Fear Gas but, by having no memories, finds he has no fear. He pulls out a gun and begins shooting at the villain. Heading into a public restroom, he examines himself in the mirror and, still unsure of who he is, accidentally calls the Batmobile, steps in and ends up in the Batcave. Meanwhile, Lois Lane is headed to Gotham to interview the man who built the machine Superman had fought, who believes that Superman is trying to kill him. Superman arrives and rips open the train she is riding in. And then he admits he doesn’t know her or recognize the name Superman.

I’m not a regular reader of this title, but I have gone back and filled in holes, so I figured I’d give it a chance. With Greg Pak writing and Jae Lee drawing, how can I go wrong. Well, as with many Greg Pak pieces, it takes a bit to get rolling and there is usually a lot of mysteries going on that takes several issues to figure out. That’s a lot of work, but I generally like that. And my biggest complaint with Jae Lee’s current style of art is the fact that many of the character look alike. It it weren’t for Super suits and bat suits…well: you get my point!

BATWOMAN #34: Batwoman finds herself facing off against Night-Thief, Killshot, and Nocturna, eventually defeating them but not before her mask gets knocked off and Nocturna gets a look. Following the battle, Kate decides to move out of Maggie’s apartment. Maggie’s ex-husband has dropped his custody lawsuit and therefore Kate is keeping her half of the bargain. She leave a note behind saying that she had a negative influence on the custody case and she hopes that a few years will pass quickly. That night, Nocturna sees Kate’s picture on the front page of the Gotham Magazine and recognizes her as Batwoman. She pays Kate a visit and proceeds to bite her neck.

Well, here’s a handful of twists that I didn’t see coming. Batwoman is going to become a REAL bat. Kate and Maggie are splitsville and not just for a short time. And what of Maggie’s feelings? Who will she gravitate to next? I never thought I would be pleased with the original creative team being replaced but…well: here we are. Marc Andreyko, Moritat and Jeremy Haun are changing up the status quo and everything you thought would havppen, basically a wedding (which DC had banned) and a happy two mom situation has all crumbled away. The book picks up intensity and, after slicing away key cast members(dad and her sister, who are off on an island), it is slowly becoming Kate’s war with the underworld and herself.

BIRDS OF PREY #34: While the Birds and Suicide Squad are teaming up to protect Dr. Amadou Mambety., Amanda Waller tells Black Canary that Kurt Lance never loved Dinah. Thinking all would die on the Gamorra mission, he set up a wedding so she could die happy. Despite her disbelief, she understands how the resurrection process wiped his memory and the only reason Amanda told her he was dead was t spare her this pain. As the two teams take their leave, Dinah reveals the history of Team 7 to Batgirl. Back in Gotham, Dinah and the Birds meet with Kurt who accepts Amanda’s offer and leaves with her. Batgirl storms out, as she believes that by Dinah keeping all of this a secret, it could have had serious repercussions for the team. Batgirl apologizes to Strix for not being as good a friend as she could have been and Mother Eve decides to take her in and do everything in her power to provide her with a voice. Sadly, Mother Eve says that things will get worse before they get better.

And thus ends one of the original NEW 52 titles. And it does so with a yawn, like most of the latter half of this run. The whole Kurt/Dinah/Condor triangle was too weird and unsatisfying and, I’ll be honest, I totally miss Lady Blackhawk! Christy Marx and Robson Rocha never let this book live up to its’ greater potential and that’s a shame, given what the run prior to the reboot HAD been. Here’s to hoping that a Black Canary book is NOT in the future, but a Strix title, something dark and gritty, is.

CATWOMAN #34: Selina decides to take Alice into the real world for a change. Alice suggests that they go looking for a new safehouse, especially after everything that occurred during the Race of Thieves. Alice suggests an old murder museum and they go off together. Once inside, Alice finds herself trapped by a man she had played an online game with only to discover he was a hacker who raked her files. She ends up in a real life, 3D battle with her opponent, Cyberius while Catwoman works at destroying the stolen data. Having soundly defeated him, the pair return back to Alice’s workshop where they find the battle in the museum was all a ruse to get her out of the workshop. One of his creations has been here, looking for more data. It had also been to Catwoman's apartment. But Alice had been smart and had stolen all of Cyberius' data while they were fighting. Meanwhile, Cyberius has combined his avatar with Alice's to make an almost unbeatable soldier of artificial intelligence.

Can this book get any worse? With the exception of the killer cover by the always talented Terry and Rachel Dodson, Ann Nocenti and Patrick Olliffe deliver a book so lame that I want to pull out a gun and put it out of its’ own misery. What happened to the sexy Selina Kyle who, although she is slowly attempting to take over the mobs in Gotham, stole things, fleeced things and lived a high life style while pining after Batman? No, now we get this poor attempt at THELMA AND LOUISE that feels more live LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY. She’s not a villain, she’s not an anti-hero: she’s just boring. Heck-I would rather see Alice with her own title.

CONSTANTINE #17: John Constantine has been hit with two spells that threaten to tear him apart but manages to find it off and finds himself on a beach, ready to battle the Cult of the Cold Flame. But there is a problem. One of the spells was actually a temporal displacement spell that has dropped him into Tanzania in 1914, is quickly surrounded by German soldiers and taken hostage. Luckily British fighter planes take out the aggressors and John is free again. Unfortunately, John’s plan to attack a Sargon weakened by Julia can’t happen as he is in the wrong time which means Julia will die without him there. Mister E tries to convince John to release him to provide Constantine with the magic to get back to Julia. John finally knows where he is and breaks into the sanctum of Doctor Occult, warning him that the ritual he is working on won’t work. It appears that Anton Arcane is responsible for betraying him and has poisoned the spell. Occult does not believe him and sends John back home, which is what he wanted all along. Unfortunately, he drops the Moonblade containing Mister E at Occult’s feet as he is whisked away in the portal. It appears he is too late to save Julia and Spellbinder and Julia, as both have been slain. But John has worse problems: he hasn’t landed in present day England-he is on Apokolips.

Things just deteriorated for our favorite mage. I don’t mean in the comics; I mean on TV. Even before CONSTANTINE the show airs, one of the main cast members is gone and Standards and Practices say he can’t smoke. Really? Next they’ll be removing his trench coat for a three piece suit! Here in comic book land, Ray Fawkes and Edgar Salazar have taken our boy, time shifted him and end up dropping him in Apokolips. And without whining Mister E complaining from within the Moonblade. This title is very up and down as far as each issue goes. This one happens to be a winner.

DETECTIVE COMICS #34: Annette Aguila has the chance to kill Jonny Loman for killing her mother and pulls the trigger. Meanwhile, Batman and Harvey Bullock, in the midst of a fist fight between them, hear an explosion coming from the East End Waterfront. On arrival, Bullock learns that radiation levels are extremely high to investigate further, while Batman prepares his hazmat Batsuit. Holter and his gang arrive and Batman blames him for getting Jonny Loman up to kill the mother of Holter’s child, Elena Aguila. That’s when Gertrude the Squid grabs Holter and drags him under the water. Batman dives in to help but is knocked unconscious by one of her tentacles. Harvey Bullock pulls him to safety before cuffing him. But Batman being Batman, finds his way out of the cuffs and disappears. Later, Bruce meets with Annette and she explains that he has been cleared of all suspicion in Elena’s murder. He offers her help, but she turns it down, claiming Bruce, in his own way, is partly responsible for Elena’s death.

What an amazing end to Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato’s first story arc. We see a human side to Harvey Bullock and find out that not EVERY WOMAN in Gotham City likes Bruce Wayne. A great story, that leaves enough plots dangling to run throughout future issues of this and the other Bat Books, and the art just gets better and better. This is runner up for most improved title in the NEW 52, right behind ACTION COMICS. Well done!

EARTH 2 #26: The heroes of Earth 2 have banded together to try and stop the invading force and rescue Mister Terrific and Sloan, who are being controlled by Bedlam. As the heroes battle Bedlam, the Queen of Atlantis gives him water on the brain, knocking him out, freeing Terrific and Sloan and shutting down the Boom Tub that threatened to pull Earth into it. Meanwhile, Superman and Val-el face off as Lois arrives and acts as a distraction to Superman, who starts to crack and blows away. He was Bizarro after all. Unfortunatrely, bedlam got away and took Terrific, Sloan and Mister Miracle with him. His next move: unleashing Barda and Fury to allow him to take over Earth 2 in the name of Darkseid.

Tom Taylor, Nicola Scott and Trevor Scott continue to make this one of the must read book out there today. Taylor writes it with a lot of flair and fills it with action and plot details and the Scotts art is super clean and crisp and very reminiscent of one of my favorite artists, Jerry Ordway. This book is going to play a big role in the upcoming war between the Earths, including the new weekly. With the end of this arc, now is the time to jump on.

THE FLASH #34: Despite what he believes, Patty doubts Barry’s theory about Detective Seborn being the Mashup Killer. The Flash catches Seborn and his partner, Seborn admits his guilt and takes his own partner hostage. Then he disappears courtesy of a stolen teleporter from the evidence room. He also explains that he switched sides during the Crime Syndicate crisis to save himself and then killed off the crew he freed(and stole their tech) to cover his tracks. While Barry experiences a ripple in the Speed Force that weakens him and allows Seaborn to strangle him, Seborn’s partner shoots him in the shoulder and saves Barry. Singh orders Patty to take a blood sample so he can figure out who the Flash is. She promises to swap out the samples to protect his identity but is angry that he keeps pushing her out of his life. Later, Barry lets Wally visit Daniel at Iron Heights, who tells him he did commit his crimes and wasn’t wrongly arrested. This makes Wally think differently and makes Iris very happy. Only they are not aware that Barry had to bribe him to talk to Wally and is being threatened by Daniel to keep paying him or he will tell the truth on how he feels. Seven year into the future and the Flash has run back to five years from now knowing he has to take out the the Reverse-Flash, who has just gotten out of prison and is looking to kill The Flash. Barry catches up to him and promises that he will kill both Daniel and himself.

You know: Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato set the world on fire when they were on this title. But Robert Venditti, Van Jensen and Brett Booth are just totally tearing up this book! I have always been a huge fan of Booth’s work back since his Image days. And Venditti and Jensen have managed to take this title in a new direction and throw in a a ton of curves alone the way. The whole concept of Flash going back in time and erasing his problems is not new to fiction, but it IS new in the way he is eliminating those problems. I’m totally loving this!

GRAYSON #2: We begin at St. Hadrian College where Helena Bertinelli is teaching the art of using the crossbow when The Hood almost gets shot by a crossbow bolt. Over in Gotham City, Batman gets a call from Dick Grayson saying that the scavenger hunt will proceed. After he finishes his call, Dick runs into Matron and they go off to their debriefing together. Mr. Minos announces the return of The Hood, who has a number of serious wounds including being missing a few fingers and toes. Minos sends Helena and Dick to follow up on the Hood's mission. Not long into their mission, Dick finds himself attacked by a woman with super-speed, before escaping him. He and Helena discover a bomb shelter from WWII and learns the woman was Poppy Ashemoore, a member of the group called T.H.E.Y. who apparently once killed and ate some British Intelligence Agents. Ashemoore returns saying she did what she did to make certain humanity survived, before she races past Dick and takes a bite out of his arm. Helena offers Ashemoore a job with Spyral in exchange for the device they have been searching for. Helena uses her Hypnos implant to knock Dick out to keep him from objecting. Following their mission, Dr. Netz removes Ashemoore’s stomach while Mr. Minos believes that there is an 87% match to The Flash’s blood. Dick contacts Batman and tells him the scavenger hunt was successful but Mr. Minos remains a mystery. Meanwhile, Midnighter is trying to find out who kept him from his target of a few nights ago in Ninel Dubov. Wanting to find a way around Spyral's technology, the Gardener tries to reassign him while he is one leave from Stormwatch. He refuses saying that he will use his super brain to remember what the agent’s face looked like.

This is one strange book. Tim Seeley, Tom King, Mikel Janin, Guillermo Ortego and Juan Castro deliver a book that is equal parts WINTER SOLDIER, THE PRISONER and SECRET AGENT. We have strange characters with equally strange missions, a mysterious hypnotic leader of a strange spy organization and some of the grossest action we have seen in a while. Cannibalism? Really? And who let Midnighter loose? Spyral. T.H.E.Y. The Gardener. I can pretty much guarantee that this title will end up crashing and burning, even if it is a “Bat title”. It’s just too weird for most comic readers. Hope I am wrong, but I fear I am 100% right. I give it less than 12 issues. And the nod to “Aparo Park”? Priceless!

GREEN ARROW #34: Richard Dragon has kicked John Diggle out of an upper story window and Green Arrow needs to save him and quickly with a foaming arrow. He then fires an explosive arrow back at Dragon’s loft, but he escapes. He orders Count Vertigo to use his ability to allow him to escape and take up the battle with Diggle and the Green Arrow. While engaging in a vendetta filled monologue, he he disarms Diggle, Oliver's bow and then breaks three of his ribs. Diggle tries to take him out, but a headbutt breaks his nose. Oliver also gets a broken nose for his trouble. Meanwhile, Tockman traps Naomi and Henry in Green Arrow’s bunker when Emiko arrives to help and knocks him out. But Killer Moth arrives, cornering Emiko until Naomi puts him down with charged darts. Naomi gets Henry to the hospital and Emiko tells her that it’s obvious that Henry loves her. Back at the battle scene, just when it looks like Green Aroow and Diggle will be defeated, Diggle pulls an arrow out of his hand, tosses it to Oliver who slices through Dragon's femoral artery. With the war seemingly over, Oliver admits that Emiko is his sister and he will be training her. Oliver also uses his insurance money from Queen Industries to open the Moira Queen Home for Homeless Youth.

Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino bring this arc to a close and also their tenure on this book, which brought it from just about average to stupendous in a very short time. Starting with issue #35, the new team will be Andrew Kreisberg and Ben Sokolowski (both writers on the ARROW TV show) with Daniel Sampere handling the art. Having seen the preliminary stuff, it appears that it will be hard to beat the intensity and pure perfection of the Lemire/Sorrentino run. Unfortunately, I fear the book will drop again to it’s average comic book level and leave fans missing this run.

GREEN LANTERN #34: Hal Jordan has tracked down Agarushnawoklias to arrest him for violation of the universal criminal code. After a lengthy battle, Hal brings him back to mogo. But the villain breaks loose, just as Hal’s family appear on a vacation to visit him. The panicked screams of his niece and his nephew bring the creature to his knees, allowing him to be recaptured with ease. Hal learns that his family is here courtesy of Kilowog, who thought that Hal could use some family time. Hal and his brother drink and talk while the kids play with Killowog and Saint Walker. But, on the boundaries of our universe, Highfather arrives to take the Life Equation. Godhead is coming.

How can Robvert Venditti, who writes such a killer book in THE FLASH, write such a total piece of drek such as this. Let us start at the cover, with a battle that NEVER EVEN COMES CLOSE to happening. Hal battles the villain, Simon Baz appears only on a few pages, and this is just TOTALLY MISLEADING! Then we have Hal trying to arrest Agarushnawoklias, whose name he cannot even pronounce. Can we make Hal any more of a MORON? Mogo is smarter! Billy Tan’s art looks really nice this issue. Maybe that’s because, along with Rob Hunter, he only drew nine pages(one of which was three over sized panels of space and the word BOOM). Martin Coccolo did the bulk of the book. This title is embarrassing to lantern fans everywhere (at least I feel that way). I would almost rather watch the Ryan Reynolds movie than deal with this. Unfortunately, GODHEAD is coming and the New Gods are back.

HARLEY QUINN #9: Madame Macabre is visiting her son on Riker’s Island, where she gets him a big kiss on the lips and passes him a set of lock picks into his mouth. Meanwhile, Harley Quinn is taking Madame Macabre's place in the burlesque show. She and Queenie start removing their clothes and end up accidentally causing a riot. The police arrive and she is arrested and driven to a house on Staten Island. It seems this officer actually killed a police officer, stole his uniform, and is the president of her fan club. In his spare time, he works at a cell phone store, and helps out at a comic shop on Wednesdays. Harley tries to analyze him while trying to escape. She gets out of her cage and explains that she will date him as long as he agrees to see a psychiatrist for at least a year. He is soon being sent to Hollowbrook Hospital for treatment with Dr. Francine Stein. She rescues the kids he captured and then abuses them with a pizza cutter before driving them to Brooklyn and kicking them out onto the Bridge. Then she gets changed for her new job: Skate Club.

And remember: the first rule of Skate Club…I can’t comment on this title, which is probably the funniest DC superhero title since THE INFERIOR FIVE. Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, with art from John Timms give us another winner. And, just because DC loves us(?), we get TWO ISSUES this month(must be making up for the missing month of JUSTICE LEAGUE)

HARLEY QUINN #10: Skate Club is roller derby without rules. The night begins with Skye Scrapper battling Connie Canal Street, who is really a man in drag. Connie tries to slam Skye with a bat but she grabs Connie by the chest hair he rides into a pole, private parts first, making Skye the winner. Next, Harley goes against Maria Monsterella and is immediately dropkicked across the rink. While she sees stars, she sees stars and galaxies far, far away. Sy manages to wake her up and offers her a tube of exploding toothpaste, which she squeezes onto Maria's stomach. The explosion that eventually occurs tears Maria in half, but Harley still loses as the match was declared over when Maria was killed. They all go out to dinner and, after dinner, the girls go skinny-dipping. After the swim, Harley stays around to watch the sunrise. But before that can happen., she sees a shooting star getting closer and closer. It lands at her feet and turns out that it is Power Girl.

Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Marco Failla gives us another classic fun  story. What can I say; double the pleasure and double the fun this month!

INFINITY MAN AND THE FOREVER PEOPLE #3: The Forever People are spending time inside an abandoned warehouse and Infinity Man explains to them what his plans are. He also explains that Highfather and Darkseid are both tyrants that control their respective realms and he intends to stop them. Then, as a test to the Forever People, he releases Mantis arrives and they begin to fight with him. Mantis gets away. Beautiful Dreamer collapses and speaks with the Anti-Life Equation in her head and sees the future. Meanwhile, on New Genesis Himon learns that infinity man has appeared and prepares to send his daughter to handle what the Mother Box was supposed to do: kill them. Back in the warehouse, the Boom Tube goes Foom and the warehouse explodes!

Dan Didio does love working with Jack Kirby’s legacy of characters. So he and Keith Giffen run rampant on the old chestnut, The Forever People. The characters are there, most of their characteristics are there and so is Infinity Man and some of the classic villains. What differs is that they have been updated, Big Bear looks less hippie than the classic version and Infinity Man is on a mission to take down both Highfather and Darkseid. The good gods of New Genesis aren’t as good as they were once made out to be. This issue is illustrated by industry legend Jim Starlin and the only reason that works is the trippy conversation between Beautiful Dreamer and the Anti-Life Equation. Other than that, it is another wild issue that will tie into the storyline coming in October in the Green Lantern Pantheon of titles.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #33: The Justice League and the Doom Patrol are in a stand-off as Lex Luthor is still threatening to cripple Niles Caulder. Power Ring wakes up and Shazam threatens to arrest her even as Power Ring sends out a signal alerting the Anti-Monitor of New Earth’s existence. Lex tries to talk Power Ring down while Caulder believes in performing Psycho Surgery on her. While Luthor and Caulder battle for supremacy, Batman enters the situation and talks Jessica Cruz into letting go of her fear, making Power Ring powerless. Batman proceeds to tell Luthor that the League defeated Power Ring, not Luthor. Later, the Trinity discusses Luthor and decides the best place they can have him is with them so they can watch him. The issue ends with Superman shaking Lex Luthor’s hand and welcoming him to the Justice League.

So, can we get a DOOM PATROL series NOW? We have made the introduction, we have the classic team, even mildly modified (Caulder walks…not a bearded wheelchair confined clone of Charles Xavier. Anyway, Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke end the FOREVER EVIL story with the resolution of the Power Ring. But Anti-Monitor? So…that speaks to me that the whole end of the New 52 that has been prophesied in the fan press may be closer than we think. The NEW 52 may not get to the FUTURE’S END. It may be retconed before we know it.