THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #1 by Gerry Conway and Ryuan Stegman. So what we have is a direct spin-off from the RENEW YOUR VOWS mini-series that ran during SECRET WARS. In that series, Peter Parker and Mary Jane are married have a daughter, Annie May. In that mini-series, they teamed up to help to defeat the villain Regent. And, in this new title, they continue to battle villains, including the Mole Man. And we have a familiar supporting cast including JJJ and Robbie. But what the heck universe/timeline is this in? Confused. Oh…we also get two back-ups: one that highlights the relationship between father and daughter by Anthony Holden and the other involving Mary Jane and Annie May by Kate Leth and Marguerite Sauvage. While I loved the mini-series, this one left me confused as to where it fits in the world of Marvel. Bring back the Multiverse!
THE AVENGERS 1.1 by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson. Welcome to the never revealed tale of the second team of Avengers: Captain America, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Giant Man, Wasp and Iron Man decide to disband the team and that leaves Cap with the new recruits. This harkens back to the good old days of The Avengers and, even though it is moved up a bit in the timeline, it still has that classic Marvel feel. Waid writes a fun story and Kitson’s art is classic Kitson. Throw in the Frightful Four, Jarvis and a wicked beat down and you have the makings of a killer title…maybe even better than the real Avengers titles masquerading as Avengers titles.
THE AVENGERS #1 by Mark Waid and Mike DelMundo. So you know: this isn’t daddy’s Avengers. This team is made up of Wasp Nadia Pym(yeah…Janet’s dead, remember?), Jane Foster Thor(yeah…the other one is “unworthy”), Sam Wilson Captain America(yeah…there’s two now), Vision, Spider Man(the Peter Parker one) and Hercules. So, here they are with Vision declaring war on Kang the Conqueror. You know THAT can’t be good! Waid writes a fun story and even though Del Mundo’s art takes some getting used to, I’m a sucker for a Kang story. Not sure if I’ll follow through on this for the long haul, but it does bear investigating.
CEREBUS IN HELL? #0 by Dave Sim, Sandeep Atwal and Gustave Dore. So, Dave Sim, the mad genius behind the epic CEREBUS tale hasn’t been able to draw since February of 2015. But there needed to be NEW Cerebus for the 40th Anniversary of the book. That’s where Dave and Sandeep come in by WRITING a new story that tells us what happened after Cerebus died 12 years ago. What that entails is pasting existing images of “Most Holy” onto panels from Dore’s illustrations for Dante’s DIVINE COMEDY, better known as DANTE’S INFERNO and writing bad schtick. How that comes off is…well…just like it sounds: pretty unfunny! Big disappointment Dave! Fans: go to HEAVY METAL where you get to watch Dave former illustrating partner Gerhard tear it up with some GREAT STUFF!
ETHER #1 by Matt Kindt and David Rubin, is a trippy little Sci-Fi adventure starring time and dimension travelling hero Boone Dias and a crazy cast of characters as they move across the gateway between Earth and Ether. Truly a head trip book with Kindt’s usual punctuated writing and Rubin’s Pop Art inspired art. Definitely worth checking out!
GHOST RIDER #1 by Felipe Smith and Danilo S. Beyruth. Once upon a time, Ghost Rider was western hero Carter Slade. Then he was Johnny Blaze. Then Danny Ketch. Then SHE was Alejandra Jones. And now: Robbie Reyes. I lost interest after Danny Ketch, especially when we got Reyes and he drives a 1969 Dodge Charger instead of a motorcycle. Uh…no! Give me a break! I don’t like the character, don’t like the supporting cast and absolutely don’t like the concept. Give me Nick Cage over this!
HARBINGER RENEGADE #1 by Rafer Roberts, Raul Allen, Juan Jose Ryp, and Darick Robertson. In the rebooted Valiant world, the Renegades were made up of Peter, Kris, Faith, Charlene, Ax, and Torque. They went after Toya Harada and his Harbinger Foundation, defeating them, but costing Charlene her life in the process. In the end, the team split up, leaving Faith as the only operating superhero. But Harada is still active and now there is a whole thing going on with people trying to become Psiots. Faith is trying to put the team back together and it make take Peter to return to Earth to help. If you didn’t read the series before this, prepare to be a little lost. But it’s worth searching for back issues and diving in. Hey-there’s even a coupon to get HARBINGER RENEGADE #0, like in the old days of Valiant.
INHUMANS VS. XMEN #0 by Charles Soule and Kenneth Rocafort. Welcome to the BIG event of the next few months at Marvel which, considering there is a BIG EVENT every few months is no big thing to me. Heck-we haven’t finished the LAST BIG EVENT yet! Basically, this is lining up the players and the events that will lead to EARTH SHATTERING CHANGES in the world of mutants and Inhumans. Yadda, yadda, yadda…blah, blah blah! We’ve heard it all before and this will result in MORE X-titles and such. I’m skeptical of it all, but it is a nice story by Soule and Rocafort turns in his usually cool stuff.
INVINSIBLE IRON MAN #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Stefano Caselli. In case you haven’t heard, SOMETHING has happened to Tony Stark during CIVIL WAR II…which we don’t know because the damned thing STILL isn’t over! To that end, Riri Williams has become the NEW IRON MAN…more specifically-IRONHEART! She gets a great origin story and gets to meet THE MAN…well sort of. I’m not convinced that this NEW ERA of Iron heroes should be Riri and Victor Von Doom but hey-if Tony and Rhodey are dead…what’cha gonna do?
MAYDAY #1 by Alex DeCampi and Tony Parker. The 70’s were a crazy time, especially when you get the C.I.A. and the KGB involved. Throw in some hippies, killer music, Truth Serum and LSD and you have an amazing start to a killer five-issue series. Alex DeCampi writes it with the heart and soul that she throws into all her works. It’s gritty and nasty and a whole lot of fun! And Tony Parker’s art is a perfect fit for it. I love where this is going and cannot wait to get to the next installment!
MOTHER PANIC #1 by Jody Houser and Tommy Lee Edwards. Young Animal comes to Gotham City and crime fighting just took a twisted turn. The newest vigilante is on the scene and so is a psychotic artist. To say anymore would certainly ruin the beauty of this quirky new series. Like anything else so far from Young Animal, it crosses the line between DCU and Vertigo and is required reading!
MOTOR CRUSH #1 by Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr. Meet Domino-she’s a racer in the World Grand Prix of motorcycle racing. Win a race and you get a supply of the Crush-a highly potent drug. But don’t cross the producers or they will make you pay. Unfortunately for Domino, she has done just that. And now she finds herself in deep. It’s an interesting concept from the BATGIRL trio, but I’m not sure how well it will play out.
MOTOR GIRL #1 by Terry Moore. Meet Sam and Mike. She’s a mechanic working in a junkyard. Mike is her gorilla friend and confidant. It also seems that Libby, who owns the place, has someone offering to buy the place…someone who may have ulterior motives. Oh…did I mention that there are aliens who need their spaceship fixed? Yeah…it’s Terry Moore’s newest soon-to-be masterpiece and is filled with a hot looking babe, creepy government types and a gorilla. What more could you want from Moore?
REGGIE AND ME #1 by Tom DeFalco and Sandy Jarrell. Archie Comics continues their rebooting of the line with this newest addition to it. Reggie is up to his old tricks and nasty self and his fellow students pay for his wrath. It’s just an okay read, as it seems that many of these new reboots have lost steam. Personally, I want a new issue of AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE before another issue of this title.
THANOS #1 by Jeff Lemire and Mike Deodato. Well…everyone’s favorite mad god is back and is not very happy about the state of things. Corvus has taken over Thanos’ sector and now he wants it back. And to make things worse, he is dying. Oh yeah: Starfox is back and Tryco Slatterus has commandeered him to go find the mad god. Lemire and Deodato are in great form here as the book is interesting and looks awesome! Despite this team, I was convinced I would be one and done. Boy…was I wrong!
TRIGGERMAN #1 by Matz, Jef and Walter Hill. Leave it to Titan Comics to finally make use of the Hard Case Crime name and turn out a Noir comic that delivers! Walter Hill is a legendary director who has the basis of this 1930’s gangster epic. It’s got hard fighting men, loose women and some serious gunfire. It looks great and reads as well! Hey-I’m a sucker for the Hard Case Crime novels anyway, so this fits right into my wheel house.
UBER INVASION #1 by Kieron Gillen and Daniel Gele. In 2013, Keiron Gillen and Caanan White unleashed UBER on the comics world. In it, an alternate World War II scenario was depicted-one where the Nazis created a super soldier known as the Ubermenschen. Ultimately, Berlin is saved from defeat at the hands of the Russians, the Japanese end up with their own Super Soldier and this forces the Allies to develop the same. Now begins the next chapter in this epic, violent saga, where the war comes to our shores…specifically starting in Massachusetts. It’s a great jumping on point for a controversial series that features great and grotesque art from Gele. If you’re a fan of the unusual, this one is for you. But be aware: this is NOT a kid’s tale.
THE ULTIMATES2 #1 by Al Ewing and Travel Foreman. I read the first issue of the last series and wasn’t impressed and all I know about it is that it was a cosmic team made up of Black Panther, Blue Marvel, Spectrum(the former Captain Marvel), Ms. America and Captain Marvel. The biggest story that came from it was that Galactus ended up being a good guy, becoming the Lifebringer of Worlds, and Thanos got reborn. So, besides running into Blue Marvel’s enemy Anti-Man, Galactus shows up and wants to reform the team as his newest heralds. Yeah…still not a fan.
THE UNWORTHY THOR #1 by Jason Aaron and Olivier Coipel. The Mighty Thor, the classic Thor, has been laid low ever since the day the Watcher told him a secret and he found he was no longer able to pick up the hammer. Now, calling himself Odinson, he ends up on the moon, where the Watcher was murdered. He gets visited by The Unseen: the NEW Watcher who is actually Nick Fury, Odinson goes searching for Asgard to find it gone and finds Beta Ray Bill there, who offers him use of HIS hammer. I, for one, am dying to see how all this resolves. I miss my classic Thor, even if I am enjoying Jane Foster as a cancer-ridden female Thor. Aaron’s story is fun and Coipel’s art shines.s
VENOM #1 by Mike Costa and Gerardo Sandoval. I’m sorry, but I can’t keep track of who is the symbiote now. And yes, I had to research this. Eddie Brock to Ann Weying to Patricia Robertson to Angelo Fortunato to Mac Gargan(who appears in this book) to Flash Thompson(who made a hero out of the character) and now Lee Price. The symbiote wants Lee to be a hero like Flash but Lee would rather use the creature for his own means. Don’t care, don’t care, don’t care.
VIOLENT LOVE #1 by Frank J. Barbiere and Victor Santos. Sit back and check out this crime drama as Lou tells young Penny the story of Rock Bradley and Daisy Jane: two crooks who he explains “saved his life”. From there, it’s a wild ride filled with nasty folks and torture. In other words, this is a wild violent ride that is a must for fans of crime dramas.
WWE #1 by Dennis Hopeless, Dan Mora, Ross Thibodeaux, Rob Guillory, Rob Schamberger, Derek Fridolfs and Daniel Bayliss. Boom Studios teams up with the WWE to bring this weird and uneven comic telling the tale of several WWE Superstars. This first tale, by Hopeless and Mora, is about Seth Rollins and, unfortunately, is about 18 months out of date, for those folks who follow the storylines. The New Day tale by Thibodeaux and Guillory, is the most imaginative and funniest. Schamberger, who does many great looking posters for WWE, gives us a nice, inspirational Sasha Banks tale while Fridolfs gives us a nice Popeye inspired tale of Tugboat. Throw in some classic WWE Superstars on one page, history pin-ups by Bayliss and you have a hefty book for four bucks. A must have if you’re a die hard fan, but not for the casual fan.
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Friday, December 16, 2016
DC REBIRTH Month 6, Part 2
MIDNIGHTER AND APOLLO #2 by Steve Orlando and Fernando Blanco. Despite his best efforts, Apollo is dead and is being tortured in Hell by Neron. That leaves Midnighter desperate and he discovers a way to go to Hell to save his lover.
NEW SUPER-MAN #5 by Gene Luen Yang and Viktor Bogdanovic. Kenan has discovered that his father is the leader of the Freedom Fighters of China. His father explain how he and his mother protested against the government and she was The Liberty Goddess, who died in a plane crash. He belies that she was killed by the Ministry of Self Reliance. He convinces Kenan to accompany him on his mission and he discovers that Starro has taken control of the Freedom Fighters of China. Kenan loses his powers and his father begs Dr. Omen to save him. In return, he promises to surrender in the end, once they complete their mission to take on the Freedom Fighters.
NIGHTWING #8 by Tim Seeley and Javier Fernandez. Raptor has captured Bruce Wayne and plans on making a huge profit from his investment in Wayne Tech stocks. But Nightwing arrives and the two of them have it out, as Raptor reveals more about the relationship he had with Dick'’ mom. In the end, Dick cripples Raptor, even though he won't kill him. Tiger arrives and takes Raptor into custody.
NIGHTWING #9 by Tim Selley and Marcio Takara. Superman arrives at Nightwing’s apartment and tells him about a plot by Dr. Destiny. So Dick is put to sleep so he and Superman can battle through these nightmares Dick has been experiencing. IN the end, we find out that it was Kobra using Dr. Destiny’s powers Dick also decides he is not needed in Gotham, but in Bludhaven.
RAVEN #3 by Marv Wolfman and Alisson Borges. Raven continues to battle Azar for the souls of the townspeople. She ends up defeating the creature, but it has dire result for her. Meanwhile, the super villain terrorists decide it’s a good time to ask for 5 billion dollars or they blow up San Francisco,
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #4 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. Jason continues to try and control Bizarro and keep himself undercover within Black Mask’ employ. Artemis escapes and observes Back Mask and Jason, as Black Mask shows him the spools of war. As it turns out, Black Mask is aware of Jason and is prepared to eliminate him, with Bizarro’s help.
SUICIDE SQUAD #6 by Rob Williams, Jim Lee, and Carlos D’Anda. Katana stops the bullet meant for Waller and Waller knocks Deadshot out. It turns out everyone in Belle Reve has gone insane, except for Waller and Harley, who has been cured of her insanity. In the back-up, we get a previously untold story of Killer Croc as a child-tried and committed for a death he was not responsible for.
SUICIDE SQUAD #7 by Rob Williams, Jim Lee, and Christian Ward. Harley fights back against everyone in Belle Reve that has been affected by the sphere. Meanwhile, Captain Boomerang reaches out from the beyond to say he wants to come back. In the back-up, Enchantress fights to save the life of a General who has been possessed.
SUPERMAN #10 by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason. The meeting of the Super Sons is here. Superboy is captured by Robin, as it appears he may be too dangerous to be out and about. Batman arrives and tries to convince him to release Superboy but then Superman arrives and it looks like a brawl is going to ensue between the Big Blue Boy Scout and the Caped Crusader. The boys end up brawling but, in the end, a now careful friends.
SUPERMAN #11 by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason. As part of a test, the boys and Maya engage in a series of tasks that forces them to work together. In the end, Alfred declares them to be the Super Sons.
SUPERMAN REBIRTH ANNUAL #1 by Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Jorge Jimenez. Superman meets with and fights with Swamp Thing, to convince him that, even though he is an alien, he is here for the good of the Earth.
SUPERWOMAN #4 by Phil Jimenez and Emanuela Lupacchino. Lana meets with the ghost of Lois Lane, who wants Lana to carry on the Lane Legacy. Later, Lois and Superwoman show up at MCU Headquarters to talk with Wrath and try to unravel the mystery. Meanwhile, Lex is still being held captive by his sister, who has created an entire Bizarro army and is unleashing them on Metropolis.
TEEN TITANS #2 by Benjamin Percy and Diogenes Neves. In a flashback, Talia meets with Damian and makes him aware that there are five assassins who will come for him in the form of the Demon’s Fist. In the present, the Demon’s Fist attacks the Teen Titans who are forced to flee and regroup. Also, Robin has to explains his relationship to both Batman and Ra’s Al Ghul.
TITANS #5 by Dan Abnett and Brett Booth. Wally has to race against time and save all of thew Titans and Linda before they get killed by the fake Titans. In the end, he saved his teammates AND Linda, but he gets lost in the Time Stream yet again.
TRINITY #3 by Francis Manapul and Clay Mann. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman watch as Bruce Wayne’s parents are murdered. At the same time, Lois is trying to break into the barn where they are all being held captive by the Mercy Plant. Soon the Trinity watch as a young Bruce gets treated by Dr. Quinn. In the end, Bruce and Batman get support from their respective friends and family while Lois drives through the barn door and confronts Ivy.
VIGILANTE SOUTHLAND #2 by Cary Phillips and Elena Casagrande. Donny finds out from Dorrie’s mom that she believes the hit-and-run driver murdered her because she was doing Mike’s work. Mike, it seems, used to be the Vigilante, although he was known as the Eastsider. Donny dons the mask and goes to question Gardner Fallon, who is currently getting whipped by a dominatrix. Later, after getting trained by Mike, he goes to Vance Childers house to confront him about Dorrie’s murder. Unfortunately, Vance is killed by a sniper’s bullet and Donny is left holding the guilt bag.
WONDER WOMAN #10 by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott. In Year One Part Four, Steve, Etta, Barbara and Diana go off to the mall. After finding out her lasso is a universal translator, terrorists attack the mall. Steve and Diana take down the terrorists, but not before there are casualties. They also discover that they have the tree tattooed on their chest-the symbol of the Sear Group.
WONDER WOMAN #11 by Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp. In the concluding chapter of The Lies, it appears that Sasha Bordeaux has been brainwashed by Veronica Cale and delivers the remains of Urzkartaga to her in a park. Etta arrives and pulls a gun Cale, who orders Sasha to kill Etta. Etta shoots her and discovers she is really a robot. So Cale sends her demonic Dobermans after her. Meanwhile, Diana is welcomed home by her mother and there is a great feast on Themyscira. As Steve explains how everything here is wrong, Diana uses her lasso to shatter her reality. Everything that happened during New 52 was a lie.
NEW SUPER-MAN #5 by Gene Luen Yang and Viktor Bogdanovic. Kenan has discovered that his father is the leader of the Freedom Fighters of China. His father explain how he and his mother protested against the government and she was The Liberty Goddess, who died in a plane crash. He belies that she was killed by the Ministry of Self Reliance. He convinces Kenan to accompany him on his mission and he discovers that Starro has taken control of the Freedom Fighters of China. Kenan loses his powers and his father begs Dr. Omen to save him. In return, he promises to surrender in the end, once they complete their mission to take on the Freedom Fighters.
NIGHTWING #8 by Tim Seeley and Javier Fernandez. Raptor has captured Bruce Wayne and plans on making a huge profit from his investment in Wayne Tech stocks. But Nightwing arrives and the two of them have it out, as Raptor reveals more about the relationship he had with Dick'’ mom. In the end, Dick cripples Raptor, even though he won't kill him. Tiger arrives and takes Raptor into custody.
NIGHTWING #9 by Tim Selley and Marcio Takara. Superman arrives at Nightwing’s apartment and tells him about a plot by Dr. Destiny. So Dick is put to sleep so he and Superman can battle through these nightmares Dick has been experiencing. IN the end, we find out that it was Kobra using Dr. Destiny’s powers Dick also decides he is not needed in Gotham, but in Bludhaven.
RAVEN #3 by Marv Wolfman and Alisson Borges. Raven continues to battle Azar for the souls of the townspeople. She ends up defeating the creature, but it has dire result for her. Meanwhile, the super villain terrorists decide it’s a good time to ask for 5 billion dollars or they blow up San Francisco,
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #4 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. Jason continues to try and control Bizarro and keep himself undercover within Black Mask’ employ. Artemis escapes and observes Back Mask and Jason, as Black Mask shows him the spools of war. As it turns out, Black Mask is aware of Jason and is prepared to eliminate him, with Bizarro’s help.
SUICIDE SQUAD #6 by Rob Williams, Jim Lee, and Carlos D’Anda. Katana stops the bullet meant for Waller and Waller knocks Deadshot out. It turns out everyone in Belle Reve has gone insane, except for Waller and Harley, who has been cured of her insanity. In the back-up, we get a previously untold story of Killer Croc as a child-tried and committed for a death he was not responsible for.
SUICIDE SQUAD #7 by Rob Williams, Jim Lee, and Christian Ward. Harley fights back against everyone in Belle Reve that has been affected by the sphere. Meanwhile, Captain Boomerang reaches out from the beyond to say he wants to come back. In the back-up, Enchantress fights to save the life of a General who has been possessed.
SUPERMAN #10 by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason. The meeting of the Super Sons is here. Superboy is captured by Robin, as it appears he may be too dangerous to be out and about. Batman arrives and tries to convince him to release Superboy but then Superman arrives and it looks like a brawl is going to ensue between the Big Blue Boy Scout and the Caped Crusader. The boys end up brawling but, in the end, a now careful friends.
SUPERMAN #11 by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason. As part of a test, the boys and Maya engage in a series of tasks that forces them to work together. In the end, Alfred declares them to be the Super Sons.
SUPERMAN REBIRTH ANNUAL #1 by Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Jorge Jimenez. Superman meets with and fights with Swamp Thing, to convince him that, even though he is an alien, he is here for the good of the Earth.
SUPERWOMAN #4 by Phil Jimenez and Emanuela Lupacchino. Lana meets with the ghost of Lois Lane, who wants Lana to carry on the Lane Legacy. Later, Lois and Superwoman show up at MCU Headquarters to talk with Wrath and try to unravel the mystery. Meanwhile, Lex is still being held captive by his sister, who has created an entire Bizarro army and is unleashing them on Metropolis.
TEEN TITANS #2 by Benjamin Percy and Diogenes Neves. In a flashback, Talia meets with Damian and makes him aware that there are five assassins who will come for him in the form of the Demon’s Fist. In the present, the Demon’s Fist attacks the Teen Titans who are forced to flee and regroup. Also, Robin has to explains his relationship to both Batman and Ra’s Al Ghul.
TITANS #5 by Dan Abnett and Brett Booth. Wally has to race against time and save all of thew Titans and Linda before they get killed by the fake Titans. In the end, he saved his teammates AND Linda, but he gets lost in the Time Stream yet again.
TRINITY #3 by Francis Manapul and Clay Mann. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman watch as Bruce Wayne’s parents are murdered. At the same time, Lois is trying to break into the barn where they are all being held captive by the Mercy Plant. Soon the Trinity watch as a young Bruce gets treated by Dr. Quinn. In the end, Bruce and Batman get support from their respective friends and family while Lois drives through the barn door and confronts Ivy.
VIGILANTE SOUTHLAND #2 by Cary Phillips and Elena Casagrande. Donny finds out from Dorrie’s mom that she believes the hit-and-run driver murdered her because she was doing Mike’s work. Mike, it seems, used to be the Vigilante, although he was known as the Eastsider. Donny dons the mask and goes to question Gardner Fallon, who is currently getting whipped by a dominatrix. Later, after getting trained by Mike, he goes to Vance Childers house to confront him about Dorrie’s murder. Unfortunately, Vance is killed by a sniper’s bullet and Donny is left holding the guilt bag.
WONDER WOMAN #10 by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott. In Year One Part Four, Steve, Etta, Barbara and Diana go off to the mall. After finding out her lasso is a universal translator, terrorists attack the mall. Steve and Diana take down the terrorists, but not before there are casualties. They also discover that they have the tree tattooed on their chest-the symbol of the Sear Group.
WONDER WOMAN #11 by Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp. In the concluding chapter of The Lies, it appears that Sasha Bordeaux has been brainwashed by Veronica Cale and delivers the remains of Urzkartaga to her in a park. Etta arrives and pulls a gun Cale, who orders Sasha to kill Etta. Etta shoots her and discovers she is really a robot. So Cale sends her demonic Dobermans after her. Meanwhile, Diana is welcomed home by her mother and there is a great feast on Themyscira. As Steve explains how everything here is wrong, Diana uses her lasso to shatter her reality. Everything that happened during New 52 was a lie.
Thursday, December 8, 2016
DC REBIRTH Month 6, Part 1
ACTION COMICS #967 by Dan Jurgens and Tyler Kirkham. We begin with Zade and L’Call observing what will be Earth’s final hours unless they stop Lex Luthor.Superman and son are in the Amazon where they come across the missing Geneticron building. Meanwhile, Lois is visiting with Luthor when he gets attacked by with Zade and L’Call. Clark uses his signal watch to call for Superman, who comes to Metropolis to help. In the end, L’Call tells Luthro that he his destined to become the new Darkseid and therefore must die.
ACTION COMICS #968 by Dan Jurgens and Tyler Kirkham. The battle continues between Zade, L’Call, Luthor and Superman. L’Call reveals to Superman Luthor’s future role as the new Darkseid. L’Call shoots Superman in the face and just when it looks like he is going to execute him, Jon pleads for his father’s life and he is granted a reprieve. Zade and L’Call temporarily leave and Clark questions whether they should let Luthor die to save the future.
ALL STAR BATMAN #4 by Scott Snyder, John Romits Jr. and Declan Shalvey. Even though he has been blinded and is in danger of drowning, Batman and Duke fight on, freeing themselves from the battalion that The Court of the Owls loaned to Two-Face. Duke and Batman once again take Two-face captive and, from the small airport they are at, borrow a crop dusting plane to continue their journey. The KGB Beast shows up and soon Batman, Duke and Two-Face are captive in his lair as Cobblepot and company watch. They want the password and just when things look bad, an army of villains that two-Face has drafted shows up with guns blazing. In the back-up, Duke solves the Diane Boone mystery, but it costs her her life at the hands of Zsasz.
AQUAMAN #10 by Dan Abnett and David Walker. At the Oracle of the Widowhood, Mera and the oracles view an image of destruction and it looks like Mera may be the cause. She leaves the Oracle and heads back to Amnesty Bay, despite the fact that Cetea is threatening to stop her to save the world. Heading home, she finds a note from Lt. Stubbs, and goes off to meet with her. During the meeting, Stubbs tell Mera about N.E.M.O. and that leads to Black Jack to attack. Stubbs and Mera work together and defeat him. Stubbs reveals to Mera that Arthur has been seriously injured and is in a hospital.
AQUAMAN #11 by Dan Abnett and Philippe Briones. Mera makes her way to the hospital and meets with Arthur, telling him that the Widowhood doesn’t want them to marry. The Justice League arrives and Superman tells him they will stand behind him as he pursues the people responsible for hostilities between the surface world and the undersea world. Arthus, Mera and Stubbs go to Atlantis, where they learn that the surface world is being attacked by “Atlantis”-a ploy arranged by Black Manta and N.E.M.O.
BATGIRL #5 by Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque. Batgirl learns that Teacher is suffering from hair loss because of her use of the drug. Batgirl and teacher battle over the formula and Batgirl gets knocked out, leading to her having lengthy conversation with Fruit Bat and Kai during her unconsciousness. When she wakes, she pursues teacher, who has now gone bald because of the drug. Defeating her, she returns Teacher and the formula to Grandfather, which repays Kai’s debt. She also has turned them all into the police. In the end, Batgirl has the students go learn from Fruit Bat, tells Kai to go home and never come back to China, and then heads back to Burnside.
BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #4 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Roge Antonio. Huntress tracks down the Snake Gang and gets some unwanted help from Batgirl and Black canary. Later, Helena explains how her family was killed in the war between the Bertinellis and the Cassamentos and she ended up in Italy where she trained. The trio heads to the Gotham Tower where they encounter a group of robot copies of Gotham villains. Once inside Oracle’s lair, they discover that Oracle has a big of a fanboy/girl crush on Batgirl.
BATMAN #10 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Batman goes to Santa Prisca to challenge bane and get the Psycho Pirate. Despite battling an overwhelming number of Bane’s followers, he is captured and broken by Bane and tossed into a water filled pit. As the water rises, Batman struggles to get free, which he eventually does. Once outside, he meets up with Catwoman and the Ventriloquist and they head back inside to break bane’s back.
BATMAN #11 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Once inside, Batman, Catwoman and the Ventriloquist make their way throughout Bane’s lair while Punch, Jewelee and Bronze Tiger meet with Bane, revealing that the League of Assassins are looking for advice on how to break the Batman. Catwoman jumps down, slashes Punch and Jewelee’s throats and knocks out Tiger. She reveals Batman’s plan to Bane and asks for safe passage and money to completely betray him.
BATMAN REBIRTH ANNUAL #1 by Tom King, David Finch, Scott Snyder, Ray Fawkes, Declan Shalvey, Paul Dini, Neal Adams, Steve Orlando, Riley Rossmo, ScottBryan Wilson, and Bilquis Evely. In the first story, we get the origin of Ace the Bat Hound, who apparently began as one of The Joker’s vicious dogs. The second story follows Batman as he watches a quiet night in Gotham City. The third story is about Harley Quinn doing a ride along with the Dark Knight. The fourth story introduces us to hundred year old Barry O’Neill and The Stag, who is supposed to play a part in Batman mythos in 2017. The final story features Haunter and a guest appearance by The Scarecrow.
BATMAN BEYOND #2 by Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang. Carter explains to Dana how the Joker died by going through the blades of a giant snowblower. Apparently, he was badly injured but his henchmen ferried him away and put him into a cryogenic holding cell and that is wait he remained until Carter found him. The Batmobile arrives piloted by Matt and Max. But the Batmobile gets shot out of the sky by Trey Malone, who claims to be Matches Malone’s son. In actuality, it’s Terry in disguise. .
BLUE BEETLE #3 by Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins. Blue Beetle battles some strange creatures in the tunnel before getting free. He meets with Ted Kord to tell him what happened, who somewhat explains about what Doctor Fate had told him about his future. While a mysterious beetle creature in disguise arrives at El Paso International, Teri meets the private investigators that Kord hired: Sugar Plumm and Spike Wilson.
CATWOMAN: ELECTION NIGHT by Meredith Finch, Shane Davis, Mark Russell and Ben Caldwell. It’s election season in Gotham and Oswald Cobblepott and Constance Hill are running for Mayor. Hill is concerned the most about keeping Miss Kitty’s fostor home from falling to the wrecking ball. After some investigation, Catwoman discovers that Constance used to be Jaime, who once lived at Miss Kitty’s. Jaime had murdered a girl named Kelly who was going to be adopted and got adopted instead. So Constance gets arrested for murder, Penguin is found to have purchased land at a cheap price based on the potential for a wall being built. In the end, a girl named Beth tells Miss Kitty that she will be President someday. In the back-up, it’s a tale of future President Beth.
CYBORG #4 by John Semper Jr. and Timoty Green II. In the virtual world, Cyborg is forced to battle the Justice League, Darkseid and the malware that is disrupting his system. In the end, he defeats the malware and decides that he still needs to figure out who is trying to ruin his life, unaware it is the person masquerading as his father..
CYBORG #5 by John Semper Jr, Allan Jefferson and Derec Donovan. After spending some time with Blue, who arranges a special celebration from the local Veterans Disability Center, his “father” convinces him to assist in the case of Scarlett Taylor. Severely injured in Baghdad, he is convinced to help replicate the accident that created him, so that Scarlett can become a female cyborg like Victor.
DEATH OF HAWKMAN #2 by Marc Andreyko and Aaron Lopresti. In the present, Adam Strange and Hawkman fight for their life on the battle ravaged planet of Rann. In the past, Hawkman is dispensing his own brand of justice on Thanagar while Strange is on Rann, finding out how Alanna's father died during the attack on Rann. The Rannian’s are plenty mad and are ready to go to war against Thanagar. Adam believes that someone is going about impersonating him and, unbeknownst to him, it may very well be Despero. In an effort to get to the bottom of things, Adam uses the Zta Bams to transport himself into Katar's home, where he comes face to face with a named Katar.
DEATHSTROKE #6 by Christopher Priest, Larry Hama and Carlo Pagulayan. Deathstroke and Wintergreen go to Africa where they save The Red Lion. Red Lion interrogates Richard and finds out that he loves Rose but hates Deathstroke because of an incident when he was very young that occurred between Slade and Richard/Luis’ mom. Meanwhile, Joey meets with Dr. Ikon and a discussion ensues regarding who is dating who and who is marrying who. Joe commandeers Ikon’s mind, shuts off his power suit and leaps off a tall building.
DEATHSTROKE #7 by Christopher Priest, Larry Hama and Carlo Pagulayan. Joe is now a superhero wearing Dr. Ikon’s suit and, after saving some children, meets with his sister, who finds it hard to believe that Slade put a hit out on her. Slade goes to visit his ex-wife and discovers that she is responsible for most of what has been going around his world, including having Luis working for her. In the end, many people connected to Slade get text messages asking if they really know who they are working for while Slade’s current mission seems to go south and Superman gets involved.
DETECTIVE COMICS #944 by James Tynion IV and Eddy Barrows. The gala is under attack and that leads to the team coming to help. They get attacked by a group called The Victim Syndicate who claim they are all people who ended up the way they are because of the actions of the heroes. The challenge: every day that Batman does not unmask, they will attack the people who support him. After a gassing with Fear Gas, that especially affects Spoiler, the police end of shooting and many end up in the hospital, allowing the Syndicate to escape. Later, in the Belfry, Batwing reveals who the members of the Syndicate are and how they came to be. Batman leaves to go visit Spoiler at Leslie Thompkin’s clinic, Stephanie is visited by The First Victim.
DETECTIVE COMICS #945 by James Tynion IV, Al Barrionuevo and Carmen Carnero. Stephanie reveals to Batman that The First Victim visited to her to say that the Syndicate was sorry. Later, The Syndicate shows up at the clinic and gets into a confrontation with Jean-Paul, digging out his flaming sword in the process. Meanwhile, Leslie goes to The Belfry and has a series of one-on-ones with the team members, trying to make connections with the Syndicate members. During her session with Stephanie, Spoiler tears into Batman and storms out of the room. That’s when she meets…Red Robin.
THE FLASH #10 by Joshua Williamson and Felipe Watanabe. Papercut is on a rampage and Barry can’t stop him because he is with iris. Luckily, her nephew shows up to take him down. His aunt makes a stink about him not being in school and that gives Barry time to get away and become The Flash and put the bad guy away. Following the arrest, Barry takes Kid Flash away and chastises him for recklessness, which leads to Wally mouthing off about how he doesn’t even know The Flash’ secret identity. Later, Iris grounds Wally, but he still goes out and runs into The Darkness: a corrupt version of The Shade.
THE FLASH #11 by Joshua Williamson and David Gianfelice. Wally is still trapped in The Darkness and Iris and The Flash end up inside to try and rescue him. Flash encounters Wally and The Shade, who explains he is in here in what he calls the Shadowlands as he looks for his girlfriend, Hope. He tells them they must journey to the Tower of Darkness to find her and, when they get there, they find out that Hope AND Iris have become the new queens of Shadowland and they want the heroes dead.
GOTHAM ACADEMY SECOND SEMESTER #3 by Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl and Adam Archer. Maps and a whole bunch of the other students are still under the witches’ spell. Eric has a confrontation with her and she steals his book, which leads to the whole gang chasing after Amanda and, once they get the hat off, she’s back to her old self. Katherine reveals that they witches are all out in the woods and the gang goes in search of them. Map throws Eric’s book in the fire and Olive sees her mom in there. Maps hat gets removed and she stops Haxan, who is revealed to be Professor Pio. In the end, Colton is expelled from school.
GREEN ARROW #10 by Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra. Ollie, Dinah and Diggle jump on the high speed train, only to discover that it’s a party celebrating the maiden voyage of the Empire Empress. The trio all decide to work their way into the crowd, with Diggle being mistaken as part of the security detail by Eddie Feyers while Dinah cozies up to Amin Mustafa. Ollie finds Diggle injured and tells him to find the assassin, which turns out of be Feyers, who poisons Mustafa. Before he can be apprehended, he disappears and leaves Ollie and Dinah as the potential suspects.
GREEN ARROW #11 by Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra. While Dinah and Ollie have to convince the guards on the train that they didn’t kill Amin Mustafa, Feyers continues to get away. When they catch up with him, he seems to make his getaway, but not before he left a bomb behind that threatens to destroy everything, Dinah, Ollie get out while Diggle gets the train the out in spectacular fashion to the amazement of Broderick and Hillary Clinton.
GREEN LANTERNS #10 by Sam Humphries and Eduardo Pansica. Frank Laminski makes his way to Dearborn, Michigan in an effort to claim that Phantom Ring. While Simon and Jessica fight a fire and save a bunch of children, Frank sneaks into Simon's house makes a grab for the ring, but is confronted by Rami. Volthoom shows up and takes out Rami, allowing Frank to possess the Phantom Ring and begin his reign of terror.
GREEN LANTERNS #11 by Sam Humphries and Robson Rocha. Frank ends up in Kansas, where he saves a family from a tornado there. Simon and Jessica arrive and so does a news crew. Suffice it to say, the Lanterns don’t do a good job representing the Corps or the Justice league either. But Jessica sets Frank off when she tells him that the greatest Lantern of all time told her that she and Simon deserve the ring and he becomes a greedy Orange Lantern.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #8 by Robert Vendetti and Ethan Van Sciver. With the Lanterns trying to comprehend the fact that Sinestro, Lyssa and Hal are dead and Warworld is no more, they head off to Xudar, where the citizens are being taken over by Starro the Conqueror. Midway through their fight, Starro leaves and the Lanterns find out they are trapped by a force field. Actually, they are in a glass container, as they have been captured by Brainiac. In the end, Hal Jordan’s ring finds the planet of Nok and gives hope to two Guardians.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #9 by Robert Vendetti and Rafa Sandoval. The Lanterns try to deal with the unthinkable fact that Hal and Sinestro may both be dead and that they have been captured by Brainiac. And we still have the Xudarians being controlled by Starro, but Lantern Rot Lop rings his F-Sharp Bell and that causes Starro to give up control. Elsewhere, it turns out that Hal is in Emerald Space where he comes across Abin Sur. But, to free Hal, Ganthet and Sayd have to find White Lantern Kyle Rayner.
HARLEY QUINN #7 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and John Timms. Harley is still undercover as a punk rock star, but it seems like the jig may be up as her appearance has come to the attention of Fowl Play club owner Oswald Cobblepot. Meanwhile, Harley has Tony, Red Tool and Eggy check out Purple Satin’s place, but they get run over by a truck and they get captured by Purple Satin. Eggy convinces them that they were just big fans looking to steal their arrangements and Purple Satin gets flattered and they all drink together. At the club, the jig is truly up and Billy convinces the crowd to beat up Harley, but she fights back. Billy and Jello try to leave but they run into Oswald, who kills them both. In the end, Harley gets free and meets up with the rest of her band, finding out the rest of Purple Satin have passed out due to alcohol poisoning.
HARLEY QUINN #8 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Chad Hardin and Andrew Robinson. At the suggestion of therapist Frank Tieri, Harley and Ivy head to the Bahamas on vacation. But they soon find out they are staying at Sy Borgman’s condo in a nudist colony. After a week, Ivy explains that she needs to go back to the real world and do what she does, leaving Harley sad and depressed. Even with a week in a nudist colony, Harley still can’t get a tan.
THE HELLBLAZER #4 by Simon Oliver and Moritat. Constantine and Chas have been captured by Chas’ bookie White Boy. He plans on killing Chas if John won’t tell him his magic secrets and that leads to Constantine giving them a laundry list of items he needs. After getting the stuff he needs, John casts a spell, calling upon Djinns to do his dirty work and eliminate the threat. Meanwhile, in Rotworld, Swamp Thing has to use all of his energy to keep from being swallowed by The Rot while Mercury searches, unsuccessfully, for Abby. Once back in the real world, Constantine shows up and that could be trouble.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #8 by Bryan Hitch and Neil Edwards. With the battle with the Kindred over, the League goes back to business as usual. Cyborg and Batman’s systems get hacked and the Watchtower falls towards Earth. This may all be connected to family members of Diane Palmer-the one long person who died during the Kindred affair. It looks like Batman may be dead and now the hacker has found a way to tap into Green Lantern Simon Baz’ power.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #9 by Bryan Hitch and Neil Edwards. Batman is still alive and the League is still trying to survive the cyber attacks. Simon, who is attacking the League, gains enough willpower to stop the hacker from taking control of his constructs. In the end, Batman has figured out who is behind the attacks and the Justice League ends up at the home of Diane Palmer’s family looking for her husband.
ACTION COMICS #968 by Dan Jurgens and Tyler Kirkham. The battle continues between Zade, L’Call, Luthor and Superman. L’Call reveals to Superman Luthor’s future role as the new Darkseid. L’Call shoots Superman in the face and just when it looks like he is going to execute him, Jon pleads for his father’s life and he is granted a reprieve. Zade and L’Call temporarily leave and Clark questions whether they should let Luthor die to save the future.
ALL STAR BATMAN #4 by Scott Snyder, John Romits Jr. and Declan Shalvey. Even though he has been blinded and is in danger of drowning, Batman and Duke fight on, freeing themselves from the battalion that The Court of the Owls loaned to Two-Face. Duke and Batman once again take Two-face captive and, from the small airport they are at, borrow a crop dusting plane to continue their journey. The KGB Beast shows up and soon Batman, Duke and Two-Face are captive in his lair as Cobblepot and company watch. They want the password and just when things look bad, an army of villains that two-Face has drafted shows up with guns blazing. In the back-up, Duke solves the Diane Boone mystery, but it costs her her life at the hands of Zsasz.
AQUAMAN #10 by Dan Abnett and David Walker. At the Oracle of the Widowhood, Mera and the oracles view an image of destruction and it looks like Mera may be the cause. She leaves the Oracle and heads back to Amnesty Bay, despite the fact that Cetea is threatening to stop her to save the world. Heading home, she finds a note from Lt. Stubbs, and goes off to meet with her. During the meeting, Stubbs tell Mera about N.E.M.O. and that leads to Black Jack to attack. Stubbs and Mera work together and defeat him. Stubbs reveals to Mera that Arthur has been seriously injured and is in a hospital.
AQUAMAN #11 by Dan Abnett and Philippe Briones. Mera makes her way to the hospital and meets with Arthur, telling him that the Widowhood doesn’t want them to marry. The Justice League arrives and Superman tells him they will stand behind him as he pursues the people responsible for hostilities between the surface world and the undersea world. Arthus, Mera and Stubbs go to Atlantis, where they learn that the surface world is being attacked by “Atlantis”-a ploy arranged by Black Manta and N.E.M.O.
BATGIRL #5 by Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque. Batgirl learns that Teacher is suffering from hair loss because of her use of the drug. Batgirl and teacher battle over the formula and Batgirl gets knocked out, leading to her having lengthy conversation with Fruit Bat and Kai during her unconsciousness. When she wakes, she pursues teacher, who has now gone bald because of the drug. Defeating her, she returns Teacher and the formula to Grandfather, which repays Kai’s debt. She also has turned them all into the police. In the end, Batgirl has the students go learn from Fruit Bat, tells Kai to go home and never come back to China, and then heads back to Burnside.
BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #4 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Roge Antonio. Huntress tracks down the Snake Gang and gets some unwanted help from Batgirl and Black canary. Later, Helena explains how her family was killed in the war between the Bertinellis and the Cassamentos and she ended up in Italy where she trained. The trio heads to the Gotham Tower where they encounter a group of robot copies of Gotham villains. Once inside Oracle’s lair, they discover that Oracle has a big of a fanboy/girl crush on Batgirl.
BATMAN #10 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Batman goes to Santa Prisca to challenge bane and get the Psycho Pirate. Despite battling an overwhelming number of Bane’s followers, he is captured and broken by Bane and tossed into a water filled pit. As the water rises, Batman struggles to get free, which he eventually does. Once outside, he meets up with Catwoman and the Ventriloquist and they head back inside to break bane’s back.
BATMAN #11 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Once inside, Batman, Catwoman and the Ventriloquist make their way throughout Bane’s lair while Punch, Jewelee and Bronze Tiger meet with Bane, revealing that the League of Assassins are looking for advice on how to break the Batman. Catwoman jumps down, slashes Punch and Jewelee’s throats and knocks out Tiger. She reveals Batman’s plan to Bane and asks for safe passage and money to completely betray him.
BATMAN REBIRTH ANNUAL #1 by Tom King, David Finch, Scott Snyder, Ray Fawkes, Declan Shalvey, Paul Dini, Neal Adams, Steve Orlando, Riley Rossmo, ScottBryan Wilson, and Bilquis Evely. In the first story, we get the origin of Ace the Bat Hound, who apparently began as one of The Joker’s vicious dogs. The second story follows Batman as he watches a quiet night in Gotham City. The third story is about Harley Quinn doing a ride along with the Dark Knight. The fourth story introduces us to hundred year old Barry O’Neill and The Stag, who is supposed to play a part in Batman mythos in 2017. The final story features Haunter and a guest appearance by The Scarecrow.
BATMAN BEYOND #2 by Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang. Carter explains to Dana how the Joker died by going through the blades of a giant snowblower. Apparently, he was badly injured but his henchmen ferried him away and put him into a cryogenic holding cell and that is wait he remained until Carter found him. The Batmobile arrives piloted by Matt and Max. But the Batmobile gets shot out of the sky by Trey Malone, who claims to be Matches Malone’s son. In actuality, it’s Terry in disguise. .
BLUE BEETLE #3 by Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins. Blue Beetle battles some strange creatures in the tunnel before getting free. He meets with Ted Kord to tell him what happened, who somewhat explains about what Doctor Fate had told him about his future. While a mysterious beetle creature in disguise arrives at El Paso International, Teri meets the private investigators that Kord hired: Sugar Plumm and Spike Wilson.
CATWOMAN: ELECTION NIGHT by Meredith Finch, Shane Davis, Mark Russell and Ben Caldwell. It’s election season in Gotham and Oswald Cobblepott and Constance Hill are running for Mayor. Hill is concerned the most about keeping Miss Kitty’s fostor home from falling to the wrecking ball. After some investigation, Catwoman discovers that Constance used to be Jaime, who once lived at Miss Kitty’s. Jaime had murdered a girl named Kelly who was going to be adopted and got adopted instead. So Constance gets arrested for murder, Penguin is found to have purchased land at a cheap price based on the potential for a wall being built. In the end, a girl named Beth tells Miss Kitty that she will be President someday. In the back-up, it’s a tale of future President Beth.
CYBORG #4 by John Semper Jr. and Timoty Green II. In the virtual world, Cyborg is forced to battle the Justice League, Darkseid and the malware that is disrupting his system. In the end, he defeats the malware and decides that he still needs to figure out who is trying to ruin his life, unaware it is the person masquerading as his father..
CYBORG #5 by John Semper Jr, Allan Jefferson and Derec Donovan. After spending some time with Blue, who arranges a special celebration from the local Veterans Disability Center, his “father” convinces him to assist in the case of Scarlett Taylor. Severely injured in Baghdad, he is convinced to help replicate the accident that created him, so that Scarlett can become a female cyborg like Victor.
DEATH OF HAWKMAN #2 by Marc Andreyko and Aaron Lopresti. In the present, Adam Strange and Hawkman fight for their life on the battle ravaged planet of Rann. In the past, Hawkman is dispensing his own brand of justice on Thanagar while Strange is on Rann, finding out how Alanna's father died during the attack on Rann. The Rannian’s are plenty mad and are ready to go to war against Thanagar. Adam believes that someone is going about impersonating him and, unbeknownst to him, it may very well be Despero. In an effort to get to the bottom of things, Adam uses the Zta Bams to transport himself into Katar's home, where he comes face to face with a named Katar.
DEATHSTROKE #6 by Christopher Priest, Larry Hama and Carlo Pagulayan. Deathstroke and Wintergreen go to Africa where they save The Red Lion. Red Lion interrogates Richard and finds out that he loves Rose but hates Deathstroke because of an incident when he was very young that occurred between Slade and Richard/Luis’ mom. Meanwhile, Joey meets with Dr. Ikon and a discussion ensues regarding who is dating who and who is marrying who. Joe commandeers Ikon’s mind, shuts off his power suit and leaps off a tall building.
DEATHSTROKE #7 by Christopher Priest, Larry Hama and Carlo Pagulayan. Joe is now a superhero wearing Dr. Ikon’s suit and, after saving some children, meets with his sister, who finds it hard to believe that Slade put a hit out on her. Slade goes to visit his ex-wife and discovers that she is responsible for most of what has been going around his world, including having Luis working for her. In the end, many people connected to Slade get text messages asking if they really know who they are working for while Slade’s current mission seems to go south and Superman gets involved.
DETECTIVE COMICS #944 by James Tynion IV and Eddy Barrows. The gala is under attack and that leads to the team coming to help. They get attacked by a group called The Victim Syndicate who claim they are all people who ended up the way they are because of the actions of the heroes. The challenge: every day that Batman does not unmask, they will attack the people who support him. After a gassing with Fear Gas, that especially affects Spoiler, the police end of shooting and many end up in the hospital, allowing the Syndicate to escape. Later, in the Belfry, Batwing reveals who the members of the Syndicate are and how they came to be. Batman leaves to go visit Spoiler at Leslie Thompkin’s clinic, Stephanie is visited by The First Victim.
DETECTIVE COMICS #945 by James Tynion IV, Al Barrionuevo and Carmen Carnero. Stephanie reveals to Batman that The First Victim visited to her to say that the Syndicate was sorry. Later, The Syndicate shows up at the clinic and gets into a confrontation with Jean-Paul, digging out his flaming sword in the process. Meanwhile, Leslie goes to The Belfry and has a series of one-on-ones with the team members, trying to make connections with the Syndicate members. During her session with Stephanie, Spoiler tears into Batman and storms out of the room. That’s when she meets…Red Robin.
THE FLASH #10 by Joshua Williamson and Felipe Watanabe. Papercut is on a rampage and Barry can’t stop him because he is with iris. Luckily, her nephew shows up to take him down. His aunt makes a stink about him not being in school and that gives Barry time to get away and become The Flash and put the bad guy away. Following the arrest, Barry takes Kid Flash away and chastises him for recklessness, which leads to Wally mouthing off about how he doesn’t even know The Flash’ secret identity. Later, Iris grounds Wally, but he still goes out and runs into The Darkness: a corrupt version of The Shade.
THE FLASH #11 by Joshua Williamson and David Gianfelice. Wally is still trapped in The Darkness and Iris and The Flash end up inside to try and rescue him. Flash encounters Wally and The Shade, who explains he is in here in what he calls the Shadowlands as he looks for his girlfriend, Hope. He tells them they must journey to the Tower of Darkness to find her and, when they get there, they find out that Hope AND Iris have become the new queens of Shadowland and they want the heroes dead.
GOTHAM ACADEMY SECOND SEMESTER #3 by Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl and Adam Archer. Maps and a whole bunch of the other students are still under the witches’ spell. Eric has a confrontation with her and she steals his book, which leads to the whole gang chasing after Amanda and, once they get the hat off, she’s back to her old self. Katherine reveals that they witches are all out in the woods and the gang goes in search of them. Map throws Eric’s book in the fire and Olive sees her mom in there. Maps hat gets removed and she stops Haxan, who is revealed to be Professor Pio. In the end, Colton is expelled from school.
GREEN ARROW #10 by Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra. Ollie, Dinah and Diggle jump on the high speed train, only to discover that it’s a party celebrating the maiden voyage of the Empire Empress. The trio all decide to work their way into the crowd, with Diggle being mistaken as part of the security detail by Eddie Feyers while Dinah cozies up to Amin Mustafa. Ollie finds Diggle injured and tells him to find the assassin, which turns out of be Feyers, who poisons Mustafa. Before he can be apprehended, he disappears and leaves Ollie and Dinah as the potential suspects.
GREEN ARROW #11 by Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra. While Dinah and Ollie have to convince the guards on the train that they didn’t kill Amin Mustafa, Feyers continues to get away. When they catch up with him, he seems to make his getaway, but not before he left a bomb behind that threatens to destroy everything, Dinah, Ollie get out while Diggle gets the train the out in spectacular fashion to the amazement of Broderick and Hillary Clinton.
GREEN LANTERNS #10 by Sam Humphries and Eduardo Pansica. Frank Laminski makes his way to Dearborn, Michigan in an effort to claim that Phantom Ring. While Simon and Jessica fight a fire and save a bunch of children, Frank sneaks into Simon's house makes a grab for the ring, but is confronted by Rami. Volthoom shows up and takes out Rami, allowing Frank to possess the Phantom Ring and begin his reign of terror.
GREEN LANTERNS #11 by Sam Humphries and Robson Rocha. Frank ends up in Kansas, where he saves a family from a tornado there. Simon and Jessica arrive and so does a news crew. Suffice it to say, the Lanterns don’t do a good job representing the Corps or the Justice league either. But Jessica sets Frank off when she tells him that the greatest Lantern of all time told her that she and Simon deserve the ring and he becomes a greedy Orange Lantern.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #8 by Robert Vendetti and Ethan Van Sciver. With the Lanterns trying to comprehend the fact that Sinestro, Lyssa and Hal are dead and Warworld is no more, they head off to Xudar, where the citizens are being taken over by Starro the Conqueror. Midway through their fight, Starro leaves and the Lanterns find out they are trapped by a force field. Actually, they are in a glass container, as they have been captured by Brainiac. In the end, Hal Jordan’s ring finds the planet of Nok and gives hope to two Guardians.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #9 by Robert Vendetti and Rafa Sandoval. The Lanterns try to deal with the unthinkable fact that Hal and Sinestro may both be dead and that they have been captured by Brainiac. And we still have the Xudarians being controlled by Starro, but Lantern Rot Lop rings his F-Sharp Bell and that causes Starro to give up control. Elsewhere, it turns out that Hal is in Emerald Space where he comes across Abin Sur. But, to free Hal, Ganthet and Sayd have to find White Lantern Kyle Rayner.
HARLEY QUINN #7 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and John Timms. Harley is still undercover as a punk rock star, but it seems like the jig may be up as her appearance has come to the attention of Fowl Play club owner Oswald Cobblepot. Meanwhile, Harley has Tony, Red Tool and Eggy check out Purple Satin’s place, but they get run over by a truck and they get captured by Purple Satin. Eggy convinces them that they were just big fans looking to steal their arrangements and Purple Satin gets flattered and they all drink together. At the club, the jig is truly up and Billy convinces the crowd to beat up Harley, but she fights back. Billy and Jello try to leave but they run into Oswald, who kills them both. In the end, Harley gets free and meets up with the rest of her band, finding out the rest of Purple Satin have passed out due to alcohol poisoning.
HARLEY QUINN #8 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Chad Hardin and Andrew Robinson. At the suggestion of therapist Frank Tieri, Harley and Ivy head to the Bahamas on vacation. But they soon find out they are staying at Sy Borgman’s condo in a nudist colony. After a week, Ivy explains that she needs to go back to the real world and do what she does, leaving Harley sad and depressed. Even with a week in a nudist colony, Harley still can’t get a tan.
THE HELLBLAZER #4 by Simon Oliver and Moritat. Constantine and Chas have been captured by Chas’ bookie White Boy. He plans on killing Chas if John won’t tell him his magic secrets and that leads to Constantine giving them a laundry list of items he needs. After getting the stuff he needs, John casts a spell, calling upon Djinns to do his dirty work and eliminate the threat. Meanwhile, in Rotworld, Swamp Thing has to use all of his energy to keep from being swallowed by The Rot while Mercury searches, unsuccessfully, for Abby. Once back in the real world, Constantine shows up and that could be trouble.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #8 by Bryan Hitch and Neil Edwards. With the battle with the Kindred over, the League goes back to business as usual. Cyborg and Batman’s systems get hacked and the Watchtower falls towards Earth. This may all be connected to family members of Diane Palmer-the one long person who died during the Kindred affair. It looks like Batman may be dead and now the hacker has found a way to tap into Green Lantern Simon Baz’ power.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #9 by Bryan Hitch and Neil Edwards. Batman is still alive and the League is still trying to survive the cyber attacks. Simon, who is attacking the League, gains enough willpower to stop the hacker from taking control of his constructs. In the end, Batman has figured out who is behind the attacks and the Justice League ends up at the home of Diane Palmer’s family looking for her husband.
Saturday, December 3, 2016
DC YOU Month 18
DOCTOR FATE #18 by Paul Levitz and Brendan McCarthy. In this final issue, Fate has a conversation with Thoth regarding the various his future, before he is sent off to encounter the Web Spinners of Fate. In the end, Khalid defeats the creatures and returns back to his home.
EARTH 2 SOCIETY #18 by Dan Abnett and Bruno Redondo. Huntress, Batman and his son are stuck in the limbo that is now Earth 2 where they are forced to fight off creatures who resemble Sandman. Elsewhere, Red Tornado, Superman, Flash, Fury, Power Girl and Hawkgirl realize that this limbo is actually a wall leading to another reality which looks very much like old Metropolis. In the end, cohesion occurs and both teams find themselves in old, classic Metropolis.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA by Bryan Hitch. The team battles against Rao's seemingly endless hordes of followers. On Krypton, the older Rao convinces his younger self to follow him to Metropolis. Meanwhile, Alexis, Vincent, and Jane head to Krypton to talk to the Forever Stones, where they convince them to not let them die. With that, Rao's attempted conquest ends, especially when his younger self beheads him
SIX PACK & DOG WELDER HARD TRAVELIN' HEROEZ #4 by Garth Ennis and Russ Braun. Constantine and the team find themselves having to battle undead mummies when Dogwelder finds himself in the Hall of Dogwelders, where he discovers that he is just the latest in a long-line of DogWelding heroes. It seems Isis, Osiris and some of the other gods were responsible for creating the first DogWelder, after he was responsible for creating Anubis. The DogWelding gig is a curse put down by Anubis. He transfers back into the here and now and they all go outside to wait for the Second Sign.
SUICIDE SQUAD’S MOST WANTED: EL DIABLO AND BOOMERANG #4 by Jai Nitz, Cliff Richards, Christopher Sebela and Brian Level. Sin Tzu explains the whole concept of Project Beowulf to El Diablo and Azucar before he releases the creatures against them. During the battle, Azucar is mortally wounded and luckily, Batman arrives to lend a hand. El Diablo leave with Azucar and they head to the desert, where she heals and they are visited by Xolotl. Just when things are looking up, Waller’s newest team comes calling for them. In the Killer Croc tale, Croc takes out the pair responsible for creating all those creatures here and leaves them to their fate. Then, he is forced to fight one of the monsters that Waller wants him to bring back to her Task Force X. Instead, he kills the creature as an act of mercy and that just makes Waller mad.
EARTH 2 SOCIETY #18 by Dan Abnett and Bruno Redondo. Huntress, Batman and his son are stuck in the limbo that is now Earth 2 where they are forced to fight off creatures who resemble Sandman. Elsewhere, Red Tornado, Superman, Flash, Fury, Power Girl and Hawkgirl realize that this limbo is actually a wall leading to another reality which looks very much like old Metropolis. In the end, cohesion occurs and both teams find themselves in old, classic Metropolis.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA by Bryan Hitch. The team battles against Rao's seemingly endless hordes of followers. On Krypton, the older Rao convinces his younger self to follow him to Metropolis. Meanwhile, Alexis, Vincent, and Jane head to Krypton to talk to the Forever Stones, where they convince them to not let them die. With that, Rao's attempted conquest ends, especially when his younger self beheads him
SIX PACK & DOG WELDER HARD TRAVELIN' HEROEZ #4 by Garth Ennis and Russ Braun. Constantine and the team find themselves having to battle undead mummies when Dogwelder finds himself in the Hall of Dogwelders, where he discovers that he is just the latest in a long-line of DogWelding heroes. It seems Isis, Osiris and some of the other gods were responsible for creating the first DogWelder, after he was responsible for creating Anubis. The DogWelding gig is a curse put down by Anubis. He transfers back into the here and now and they all go outside to wait for the Second Sign.
SUICIDE SQUAD’S MOST WANTED: EL DIABLO AND BOOMERANG #4 by Jai Nitz, Cliff Richards, Christopher Sebela and Brian Level. Sin Tzu explains the whole concept of Project Beowulf to El Diablo and Azucar before he releases the creatures against them. During the battle, Azucar is mortally wounded and luckily, Batman arrives to lend a hand. El Diablo leave with Azucar and they head to the desert, where she heals and they are visited by Xolotl. Just when things are looking up, Waller’s newest team comes calling for them. In the Killer Croc tale, Croc takes out the pair responsible for creating all those creatures here and leaves them to their fate. Then, he is forced to fight one of the monsters that Waller wants him to bring back to her Task Force X. Instead, he kills the creature as an act of mercy and that just makes Waller mad.
Monday, November 28, 2016
DC REBIRTH Month5, Part 2
MIDNIGHTER AND APOLLO #1 by Steve Orlando and Fernando Blanco. Our super powered lovers are back together again and fighting evil. Meanwhile, Henry Bendix is at the Oblivian bar trying to get someone of a supernatural and villainous nature to climb into battle for him against them. Midnighter ends up being trapped by Bendix and Apollo goes to Hell.
NEW SUPER-MAN #4 by Gene Luen yang and Viktor Bogdanovic. The Justice League of China faces off against the Freedom Fighters of China, freeing Dr. Zheng and capturing all but Flying Dragon General in the process. Later, Folding Paper Man and Ghost Woman lead a breakout of the Freedom Fighters from the Crab Shell. In the end, Kenan goes to visit his dad only to find out that he is actually the Flying Dragon General.
NIGHTWING #6 by Steve Orlando, Tim Seley and Roge Antonio. In NIGHT OF THE MONSTER MEN Part 5, Nightwing has been turned into a monster and it’s up to Batwoman, Gotham Girl and Duke to stop him. He gets cured and reverts back to Nightwing, allowing him to team up with Spoiler. They observe the now-combined monster and Spoiler finds a way to defeat it. They also find Hugo Strange’ location and Batman goes off to a final battle with him.
NIGHTWING #7 by Tim Seeley and Javier Fernandez. Tiger and Nightwing team-up to find out that Kobra is utilizing genetically enhanced Kobra converts to kill of Owls. Nightwing heads to Raptor Air in Turkey where he confronts Raptor about being involved in the rigging of the Book of Wisdom. In the process, he finds out that there is some sort of connection between Raptor and Mary Grayson. Later, Raptor shows up at a public gathering and kidnaps Bruce Wayne, even as he admits that he knows Bruce is Batman, leading to Dick going off alone to solve the mystery and save his adoptive father.
RAVEN #2 by Marv Wolfman and Alisson Broges. Raven adjusts to life in her new school and the fact that many of the townspeople are being abducted and possessed. She tries her best to to stop it but fails. In the end, someone with a costume appears to be poised to join the fight. But what side are they on?
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #3 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. While Artemis admits she only came to Gotham to retrieve the Bow of Ra, she and Red Hood discover that Black mask has Bizarro in suspended animation. They get gassed, with Artemis being held in a cell. Meanwhile, Red Hood observes as Black Mask’s people revive Bizarro. With the blessing of the villain, Bed Hood acts as a mentor to the creature who insists he is not Superman…”me am Bizarro”.
SUICIDE SQUAD #4 by Rob Williams, Jim Lee, and Gary Frank. The team, or what is left of it, continues to battle it out with the Russian Metahuman team and General Zod. With some help from Katana, Flag manages to get Zod back in his prison bubble and Hack transports them home to Belle Reve, where Waller and Harcourt try to decide what to do with the Black Sphere. In the back-up, Harley and Flag go on a secret mission where she saves the day and they bond..
SUICIDE SQUAD #5 by Rob Williams, Jim Lee, and Stephen Byrne. The team adjusts to having lost Boomerang in battle and having come back with General Zod in tow. Waller decides that she wants Zod as part of Task Force X but Flag wants know part of it and, aiming his pistol at her, pulls the trigger. In the back-up, Hack reveals her life story to Waller, from living in the Korogocho Slums to becoming one with the machines.
SUPERGIRL #2 by Steve Orlando and Brian Ching. Supergirl battles with the Cyborg Superman who may or may not be her father. Later, she ends up in prison visiting Mastrocola. After getting a job working for cat Grant, Kara goes home and naps. But it seems that her dreams may become reality as it looks like her mother is coming for her.
SUPERMAN #8 by Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Doug Mahnke. Superman, Jon and Krypto get transported to Monster Island where they discover various monsters and remains of a Japanese World War II pilot. They also discover the graves and remains of The Losers: Gunner, Sarge, Johnny Cloud and Fighting Devil Dog.
SUPERMAN #9 by Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Doug Mahnke. Captain Storm returns to his cave and meets with Superman, Jon and Krypto. They mention the transporter device and, with his pet Pterodactyl, they head off and fight a giant white ape who has an eye exactly like the octopus had that they fought in issue #2. They find they transporter cube and transport home, even as Storm stays behind, saying he is home. In the end, a mysterious figure seems to have access to more than he/she should.
SUPERWOMAN #3 by Phil Jimenez and Emanuela Lupacchino. Superwoman battles the Atomic Skull, even though Steel begs her to stop because the Skull knows information about his brother. Once subdued, he explains about the cruelties happening at Stryker’s Island. With his help, Superwoman, Steel and his niece get the power in Metropolis turned back on. Meanwhile, Lena Luthor has managed to capture her brother and with the help of her bizarro clones, she takes his armor and plans her revenge.
TEEN TITANS #1 by Benjamin Percy and Jonboy Meyers. Robin has captured Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, and Kid Flash. Startfire breaks them free and they defeat Goliath, which proves Damian’s point: together they are unstoppable. Introducing himself as the son of Batman, he instructs them to join his as the New Teen Titans. They don’t have much of an option as Ra’s Al Ghul has instructed the Demon’s Fist to kill them.
TITANS #4 by Dan Abnett and Brett Booth. Kadabra and his team of fake Titans has abducted Linda Park and has given Wally West an hour to save her. The team splits up to help try and find and save her, but they run into the fakes in the process. As it turns out, Wally has a choice: save his friends or save Linda…he can’t do both.
TRINITY #2 by Francis Manapul. The Trinity, cradling an injured Jonathan Kent are discovered by young Clark Kent, who immediately flees. Johnathan awakes and believes Superman is Clark’s father. They all go off looking for Clark, who is following a mysterious voice through the woods. They eventually find Clark and reunite him with his father. In the end, it’s all a dream they Trinity are experiencing courtesy of Poison Ivy.
VIGILANTE SOUTHLAND #1 by Cary Phillips and Elena Casagrande. Donnie likes to hang out in South Central Los Angeles while his girlfriend has issues with him not being a productive member of society. Soon, she is killed in a hit-and-run incident. It seems that this may not be a simple hit-and-run and soon Donnie is knee deep in an investigation with “Pop” into her death. He finds a costume and an electronic made weapon and it certainly looks like she was involved with some heavy stuff. In the end, it may cost one of the pair their lives as an explosion threatens to kill them.
WONDER WOMAN #8 by Greg Rucka and Bilquis Evely. As a child, Barbara Minerva was fascinated by the legends of the Amazons. As an adult, she became an archeologist. On a dig in the Ukraine, she comes across the resting place of the twelfth queen of the Amazons, but a cave in wipes out her chance of digging further. The good news is that she captured images on her phone. Unfortunately, she ends up in a bar with someone named Viktor, passes out and then realizes that Viktor took her phone. This leads to a worldwide search for Viktor and finally finds him dying in Tunisia. She figures out that he was going the wrong way, which eventually leads her to an island in the Black Sea where she seemingly comes up empty again. Although there is a strange single tree that resembles the one tattooed on dead Viktor’s chest.
WONDER WOMAN #9 by Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp. In Part Five of THE LIES, Steve Trevor delivers the god Urzkartaga to Director Bordeaux. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is causing quite a stir as she goes shopping at a local mall with Barbara. In the end, Diana and Steve meet and discuss their past relationship and hers’ with the late Superman. Then they kiss, before a phone call interrupts them. It seems that Themyscira isn’t a literal; place but a divine one and that leads to Steve and Diana heading there…where she meets her mother.
NEW SUPER-MAN #4 by Gene Luen yang and Viktor Bogdanovic. The Justice League of China faces off against the Freedom Fighters of China, freeing Dr. Zheng and capturing all but Flying Dragon General in the process. Later, Folding Paper Man and Ghost Woman lead a breakout of the Freedom Fighters from the Crab Shell. In the end, Kenan goes to visit his dad only to find out that he is actually the Flying Dragon General.
NIGHTWING #6 by Steve Orlando, Tim Seley and Roge Antonio. In NIGHT OF THE MONSTER MEN Part 5, Nightwing has been turned into a monster and it’s up to Batwoman, Gotham Girl and Duke to stop him. He gets cured and reverts back to Nightwing, allowing him to team up with Spoiler. They observe the now-combined monster and Spoiler finds a way to defeat it. They also find Hugo Strange’ location and Batman goes off to a final battle with him.
NIGHTWING #7 by Tim Seeley and Javier Fernandez. Tiger and Nightwing team-up to find out that Kobra is utilizing genetically enhanced Kobra converts to kill of Owls. Nightwing heads to Raptor Air in Turkey where he confronts Raptor about being involved in the rigging of the Book of Wisdom. In the process, he finds out that there is some sort of connection between Raptor and Mary Grayson. Later, Raptor shows up at a public gathering and kidnaps Bruce Wayne, even as he admits that he knows Bruce is Batman, leading to Dick going off alone to solve the mystery and save his adoptive father.
RAVEN #2 by Marv Wolfman and Alisson Broges. Raven adjusts to life in her new school and the fact that many of the townspeople are being abducted and possessed. She tries her best to to stop it but fails. In the end, someone with a costume appears to be poised to join the fight. But what side are they on?
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #3 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. While Artemis admits she only came to Gotham to retrieve the Bow of Ra, she and Red Hood discover that Black mask has Bizarro in suspended animation. They get gassed, with Artemis being held in a cell. Meanwhile, Red Hood observes as Black Mask’s people revive Bizarro. With the blessing of the villain, Bed Hood acts as a mentor to the creature who insists he is not Superman…”me am Bizarro”.
SUICIDE SQUAD #4 by Rob Williams, Jim Lee, and Gary Frank. The team, or what is left of it, continues to battle it out with the Russian Metahuman team and General Zod. With some help from Katana, Flag manages to get Zod back in his prison bubble and Hack transports them home to Belle Reve, where Waller and Harcourt try to decide what to do with the Black Sphere. In the back-up, Harley and Flag go on a secret mission where she saves the day and they bond..
SUICIDE SQUAD #5 by Rob Williams, Jim Lee, and Stephen Byrne. The team adjusts to having lost Boomerang in battle and having come back with General Zod in tow. Waller decides that she wants Zod as part of Task Force X but Flag wants know part of it and, aiming his pistol at her, pulls the trigger. In the back-up, Hack reveals her life story to Waller, from living in the Korogocho Slums to becoming one with the machines.
SUPERGIRL #2 by Steve Orlando and Brian Ching. Supergirl battles with the Cyborg Superman who may or may not be her father. Later, she ends up in prison visiting Mastrocola. After getting a job working for cat Grant, Kara goes home and naps. But it seems that her dreams may become reality as it looks like her mother is coming for her.
SUPERMAN #8 by Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Doug Mahnke. Superman, Jon and Krypto get transported to Monster Island where they discover various monsters and remains of a Japanese World War II pilot. They also discover the graves and remains of The Losers: Gunner, Sarge, Johnny Cloud and Fighting Devil Dog.
SUPERMAN #9 by Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Doug Mahnke. Captain Storm returns to his cave and meets with Superman, Jon and Krypto. They mention the transporter device and, with his pet Pterodactyl, they head off and fight a giant white ape who has an eye exactly like the octopus had that they fought in issue #2. They find they transporter cube and transport home, even as Storm stays behind, saying he is home. In the end, a mysterious figure seems to have access to more than he/she should.
SUPERWOMAN #3 by Phil Jimenez and Emanuela Lupacchino. Superwoman battles the Atomic Skull, even though Steel begs her to stop because the Skull knows information about his brother. Once subdued, he explains about the cruelties happening at Stryker’s Island. With his help, Superwoman, Steel and his niece get the power in Metropolis turned back on. Meanwhile, Lena Luthor has managed to capture her brother and with the help of her bizarro clones, she takes his armor and plans her revenge.
TEEN TITANS #1 by Benjamin Percy and Jonboy Meyers. Robin has captured Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, and Kid Flash. Startfire breaks them free and they defeat Goliath, which proves Damian’s point: together they are unstoppable. Introducing himself as the son of Batman, he instructs them to join his as the New Teen Titans. They don’t have much of an option as Ra’s Al Ghul has instructed the Demon’s Fist to kill them.
TITANS #4 by Dan Abnett and Brett Booth. Kadabra and his team of fake Titans has abducted Linda Park and has given Wally West an hour to save her. The team splits up to help try and find and save her, but they run into the fakes in the process. As it turns out, Wally has a choice: save his friends or save Linda…he can’t do both.
TRINITY #2 by Francis Manapul. The Trinity, cradling an injured Jonathan Kent are discovered by young Clark Kent, who immediately flees. Johnathan awakes and believes Superman is Clark’s father. They all go off looking for Clark, who is following a mysterious voice through the woods. They eventually find Clark and reunite him with his father. In the end, it’s all a dream they Trinity are experiencing courtesy of Poison Ivy.
VIGILANTE SOUTHLAND #1 by Cary Phillips and Elena Casagrande. Donnie likes to hang out in South Central Los Angeles while his girlfriend has issues with him not being a productive member of society. Soon, she is killed in a hit-and-run incident. It seems that this may not be a simple hit-and-run and soon Donnie is knee deep in an investigation with “Pop” into her death. He finds a costume and an electronic made weapon and it certainly looks like she was involved with some heavy stuff. In the end, it may cost one of the pair their lives as an explosion threatens to kill them.
WONDER WOMAN #8 by Greg Rucka and Bilquis Evely. As a child, Barbara Minerva was fascinated by the legends of the Amazons. As an adult, she became an archeologist. On a dig in the Ukraine, she comes across the resting place of the twelfth queen of the Amazons, but a cave in wipes out her chance of digging further. The good news is that she captured images on her phone. Unfortunately, she ends up in a bar with someone named Viktor, passes out and then realizes that Viktor took her phone. This leads to a worldwide search for Viktor and finally finds him dying in Tunisia. She figures out that he was going the wrong way, which eventually leads her to an island in the Black Sea where she seemingly comes up empty again. Although there is a strange single tree that resembles the one tattooed on dead Viktor’s chest.
WONDER WOMAN #9 by Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp. In Part Five of THE LIES, Steve Trevor delivers the god Urzkartaga to Director Bordeaux. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is causing quite a stir as she goes shopping at a local mall with Barbara. In the end, Diana and Steve meet and discuss their past relationship and hers’ with the late Superman. Then they kiss, before a phone call interrupts them. It seems that Themyscira isn’t a literal; place but a divine one and that leads to Steve and Diana heading there…where she meets her mother.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
DC REBIRTH Month 5, Part 1
Because it’s Con season and I have a million photo jobs staring me in the face(not a true million…but a lot!), I’m changing things up a little. I’ll be doing synopsis’ only this month, without doing an actual review on the books. Hopefully, that will change with the October titles. Thanks for understanding.
ACTION COMICS #965 by Dan Jurgens and Stephen Segovia. Pre-Flashpoint Lois Lane reports for work at the Daily Planet where she is determined to continue the work that the New 52 Lois Lane began before she died. She runs into several colleagues and acquaintances including Jimmy Olsen, Steve Lombardi, Clark kent, and Lex Luthor. That also means moving into Lois’ apartment, where she runs into a transformed Lana Lang, who is now the sole Superwoman.
ACTION COMICS #966 by Dan Jurgens and Stephen Segovia. Superman is continuing the training of his son Jon while also dealing with suddenly being a single parent with Lois on special assignment. Meanwhile, Superwoman is meeting with Lois, leading to her calling Superman. He quickly arrives, leading to the first meeting between the childhood friends of two parallel worlds. Lois gets into New 52 Lois’ laptop, where she sees a tearful message to those she left behind. Later, Lois goes back to the Planet and continues her masquerade. Meanwhile, two mysterious alien bounty hunters arrive in search of Superman.
ALL STAR BATMAN #3 by Scott Snyder, John Romita Jr., and Declan Shalvey. Batman, still chained to Two-face, battles the former KGB Beast. Duke arrives to save them and get them away from the fray. The Royal Flush Gang also arrives and are quickly dispatched by The Beast. Duke drives them to a walnut farm where long time Batman associate Harold Allnut operates on Dent to save his injured eye. Later, as Duke and Batman leave with a recuperating Dent, an assault team arrives and rescues Dent, who proceeds to pour acid on batman’s face. In the back-up, a recovered Duke tries to solve the mystery of the murder of Rita Noles and that leads him to Diana Boone
AQUAMAN #8 by Dan Abnett and Scot Eaton. While Mera goes to the Tower of Widowhood to learn how to be a proper queen, Aquaman and his fellow Atlantean warriors take on the Shaggy Man. He quickly learns that the target that Black Manta has set the creature on course for is Amnesty Bay.
AQUAMAN #9 by Dan Abnett and Scot Eaton. Mera continues her schooling while the Shaggy Man attacks Amnesty Bay. Aquaman and the Atlanteans battle the creature to little avail when Aquaman gets an idea. He places his JLA transporter card on the creature and sends the beast into deep space, saving the town. When he collapses, Murk pleads for help from the townspeople, who appear less than thrilled with the thought.
BATGIRL #4 by Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque. Batgirl battles for her life against Teacher’s followers, eventually fleeing to go and try to save Kai who is in Shanghai and being tortured. She learns , thanks to Frankie, that Kai is carrying a bio-encrypted formula that is designed for the students to be able to pass their college entrance exams. As Batgirl, she visits with Kai and threatens him to leave Barbara alone. Then she searches for an online ad that leads her to one of the culprits. A tussle leads to the chemist being doused in her own formula that turns her into…?
BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #3 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson, Claire Roe, and Roge Antonio. After a flashback of Dinah as a young child, we go to the Gotham Watchtower, where the trio is still trying to figure out who Oracle is. They make their way to a Mexican restaurant where the Dallessandro Family is having a party. Turns out that this was a ruse sent by Oracle and that Gordon and company at the safe house are really in danger. They arrive just in time to save them from Lady Viper and her gang, but not before they kidnap Santos. In the end, it is revealed that Fenice is a woman presumed dead and that Santos is in her clutches.
BATMAN #8 by Tom King, Steve Orlando and Riley Rossmo. Gotham Girl and Nightwing have been turned into monsters because of Hugo Strange’ serum and the combined effort of Batman, Batwoman and Clayface battle them. Duke shows up with the cure and injects it into Gotham Girl, transforming her back to normal. Meanwhile, Batwoman battles with Nightwing and she is losing…to the point that she is falling to the streets of Gotham below. And off in Alexander Park, Steph and Cass find a wait to defeat the creature that possesses the citizens. Unfortunately, the individual parts join together to make one monstrous whole. To be continued in NIGHTWING #6.
BATMAN #9 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Bane tells Psycho Pirate of his early life and then subjects himself to therapy from him. While Claire recovers from the death of her brother and her recent experience as a monster, Bruce plans on putting a team together to go after Bane. Heading to Arkham Asylum, he gathers up the Ventriloquist, Bronze Tiger, Punch, and Jewlee, before adding his last team member: Selina Kyle.
BATMAN BEYOND #1 by Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang. Dana is being held by The Jokerz, who are intent on bringing The Joker back to life. Meanwhile, Matt brings Max to the Batcave, only to find that Batman is buried under a ton of rumble, which he uses explosives to blast his way out of. Out of shape, he struggles to keep up with a Venom enhanced member of The Jokerz, but eventually cuts off his Venom supply. After battling another gang of Jokerz, Batman flees back to the cave, where he decides to dress like one of them to defeat them.
BLUE BEETLE #2 by Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins. Beetle gets familiar with The Possee and discovers that his mother has been helping them out when they get injured. Most of the team leaves as beetle investigates the mysterious hole, but Blur hangs around. Then she spends most of the book trying to make out with our hero, ending up with her literally stealing a kiss from him. In the end, he confronts his mother about her actions and they come to an understanding.
CYBORG #2 by John Semper Jr. and Paul Pelletier. Cyborg battle Kilg%re, who has actually managed to kidnap Doctor Stone. Cyborg gets captured too and discovers that his father has had a bomb strapped to his chest. He also is in a globe that contains a corrosive gas. Cyborg breaks into the globe and gets covered in the gas, which may ultimately destroy him. As it turns out, the gas it’s not as deadly as Kilg%re led him to believe. Sarah and Professor Morrow shut down the power grid which means Kilg%re can do longer draw power and Cyborg tears him apart. Cyborg removes the bomb and rescues his dad. But it is revealed that THIS guy is actually an imposter.
CYBORG #3 by John Semper Jr. and Will Conrad. Victor is having a nightmare where he and the Justice League are fighting Darkseid and he causes them to be destroyed. When he wakes, he shows Sarah how he can use his new abilities to alter his atomic structure. She takes him out to a club where he runs into his ex-girlfriend, Britton Claire, who he no longer remembers.After the meeting, he goes to Professor morrow and demands that his memories be restored. Superman arrives and the pair fight, although it turns out to be another nightmare only. Still he ends up stuck in the nightmare, preparing to fight the Justice League. Meanwhile, the false Dr. Stone taunts the real Dr. Stone, who is his prisoner.
DEADMAN: DARK MANSION OF FORBIDDEN LOVE #1 by Sarah Vaughn and Lan Medina. Berenice and her friend Sam head to the mansion her boyfriend Nathan inherited. On the way there, she sees Deadman heading into the mansion. Deadman tries to enter his body, but is booted out. Nathan arrives, complaining of terrible headaches while Berenice hears the house tell her the house will kill her. Deadman gets rid of the evil spirits and then possesses her, finding out that she had once broke up with her girlfriend. He is trying to break free from the mansion, but some evil force is keeping him there. Separating from her, they head to the attic where they encounter the ghost of Adelia Ruskin.
DEATH OF HAWKMAN #1 by Marc Andreyko and Aaron Lopresti. Hawkman and Adam Strange are on Rann and badly injured following a battle with an alien army. We flashback in time to Adam trying to head to Rann but the Zeta beam malfunctions and he is stuck on Earth. On Rann, Sardath and Alanna get interrupted by attacking Thanagarians. Back on Earth, Adam discovers that the Zeta Beam is misfiring all over the county. After trips to numerous locations including Belle Reve, Gotham, Metropolis, and Coast City, he gets transported from his apartment…only to find that there has been a war on Rann.
DEATHSTROKE #4 by Christopher Priest and Joe Bennett. Deathstroke and Rose are in disguise and off on a job when her precognitive powers leads to a gunfight with a gang of bikers. Eventually, Rose battles and kidnaps Robin so that Deathstroke can use him as a bargaining chip with Batman.
DEATHSTROKE #5 by Christopher Priest and Joe Bennett. Batman meets with Rose in search of clues as to where Robin is. Meanwhile, Deathstroke is slowly drowning the Boy Wonder. Batman and Rose team up to take out the bad guys and rescue Robin. In the end, Rose makes a phone call looking for help while her boyfriend also makes a call. Looks like he may be responsible for arranging the hit on Rose. Unfortunately for him, her daddy interrupts that call!
DETECTIVE COMICS #942 by Steve Orlando, James Tynion IV, and Andy MacDonald. In the final part of the NIGHT OF THE MONSTER MEN, Batwoman, Nightwing, Spoiler and Orphan each go to a Wayne Watchtower to activate the weapons there and battle the giant monster with Dick eventually jumping into the creature’s mouth to bring it down. Meanwhile, Batman confronts Hugo Strange, taking him out with the aid of Clayface. In the end, the four people who made up the monsters get laid to rest as Bruce and Kate reaffirm their need to be around for Gotham’s future.
DETECTIVE COMICS #943 by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez. Batwoman and Montoya are investigating a crime scene at Wayne Enterprise crime scene that resulted in the defacing of the building and the deaths of three police officers. We see Batman interrogating Jacob Kane before Kate informs him that Steph is under the radar since the Monster Men incident and Tim’s death. It turns out she is visiting with Harper Row at the Thompkins Free Clinic, where she is working. She reveals how much she misses Tim and that only gets broken up when Jean Paul arrives and tells Harper to get back to work. Cass and Clayface are training in the Mud Room in the Belfry and unfortunately he asks the computer to give him the biggest ugliest bad guy…and it’s him! In the end, the whole crew attend a Luke Fox gala when an explosion occurs and the Victim Syndicate, made up of people injured by Batman’s villains, arrives.
THE FLASH #8 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine DiGiandomenico. Flash is battling Godspeed, who is on his way to Iron heights to kill all the prisoners. Wally joins in and transforms into the NEW Kid Flash where they act together to take down August. Later, Barry reveals that Billy Parks didn’t kill August’s brother and his killer is still out there. Wally reveals his secret to Aunt Iris and begins training with The Flash, much to a ghostly Meena’s delight.
THE FLASH #9 by Joshua Williamson and Jorge Corona. Wally West meets Wally West as they team up with Barry Allen to stop a bridge collapse. Then Barry gets hit with a blast of evil energy from within the Speed Force and becomes a horribly abusive monster. Zoom appears and the Wallys work to keep Barry from being sucked into the Speed Force. In the process, Barry reveals that Daniel West is NOT Wally’s Uncle…but his father. Later, our Wally and barry are having a quiet chat when it is revealed that a certain helmet appeared within the Speed Force-Jay Garrick’s helmet.
GOTHAM ACADEMY SECOND SEMESTER #2 by Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl and Adam Archer. Second Semester begins with Maps returning to school and meeting Olive’s new roommate Amy. Later Mr. Scarlet introduces himself, replacing Professor Pio. We get a meeting with the Detective Club, where Maps gives all of her friends dolls she made representing all of her friends. Pomeline steals Eric’s notebook which is filled with symbols from the Wedgewood House. At tennis practice, Coach Humphreys tells Kyle that a bunch of his players have gone missing. Later, Maps sees posters for the Witch Club and it turns out the Witch Club is responsible for the disappearances, as Maps ends up being kidnapped.
GREEN ARROW #8 by Ben Percy and Otto Schmidt. Ollie and Dinah adjust to living life on the island. Meanwhile, John Diggle gets captured and Arrow and canary head off to try and find him.
GREEN ARROW #9 by Ben Percy and Stephen Byrne. Dinah and Ollie search the island and encounter Ata, who claims that this is his island. Meanwhile, Ana, Ata’s husband, is holding Diggle captive and she reveals that Broderick was responsible for the Trans-Pacific Railway that runs through their island. Ata, Ollie and Dinah begin to burn the opium fields and that causes Ana’s followers to jump into the mix. Diggle gets free, reunites with Ollie and Dinah and they make their way onto the Railway.
GREEN LANTERNS #8 by Sam Humphries and Ed Benes. It’s Halloween night and our Green Lanterns are our doing Trick or Treat with Simon’s family while also looking for Rami. When they find him, he flees. The Dominators catch up with him and try to take the box containing the Phantom Ring. The Lanterns show up and take down the Dominators, which allows Rami to take it back. In the end, someone shows up in Dearborn claiming he deserves the Phantom Ring.
GREEN LANTERNS #9 by Sam Humphries and Ed Benes. Frank Laminski is a former pilot who feels that he should have gotten the Green Lantern ring, not Hal Jordan, especially after multiple Green Lanterns popped up. He became a vigilante and, even though he was a failure, a ring came to ring and then decided he was unworthy. Volthoom eventually finds him and convinces him that he needs to be the possessor of the Phantom Ring and he needs to take it from the Lanterns.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #6 by Robert Venditti and Rafa Sandoval. Guy Gardner continues to be tortured by Lyssa and her followers while Sinestro continues to rule Warworld and plot revenge against the Green lanterns. Meanwhile, Hal Jordan arrives to save his friend before he is baptized by the Yellow Lantern Underpriests. The Yellow Lanterns attack him but they get called off by Sinestro, who wants him all to himself.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #7 by Robert Venditti and Rafa Sandoval. It’s Hal versus Sinestro in a one-on-one contest that leads to an explosive ending which might have killed them both. Meanwhile, Soranik leads a group of rebelling Lanterns to rescue Guy and the other prisoners.
HARLEY QUINN #5 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and John Timms. Harley, at the request of the Mayor, goes undercover along with Tony, Eggy and Red Tool as a punk rock band known as Harlin and the Skull Bags band to help take down a rival rock band called Purple Satin.
HARLEY QUINN #6 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and John Timms. Harlin and the Skull Bags band tear up the stage and kill many rock fans in the process. After the show, Harley goes off to party with Purple Satin and discovers that their lead singer is wearing a soap heart bearing the initials J+H. She says the heart was a gift from a fan but Harley reveals that she got the gift when she was still a doctor at Arkham and the gift was from The Joker. In the end, Harley and Purple Satin go to a party at a Superhero and Super Villain Fetish Club.
THE HELLBLAZER #3 by Simon Oliver and Moritat. Constantine falls into a tunnel and meets Map, who speaks in riddles and sings “Do You Know the Muffin Man?” At the Tate Club, Clarice has one of her old boyfriends torn in half before she is forced to age horribly. She reveals that they need to find Chas. Constantine goes to Chas’ flat to find that he is tied up by a buinch of thugs…including Chas’ bookie. Meanwhile, Mercury and Swamp Thing go into the Rot and they get to a wormhole that Mercury exits through.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #6 by Bryan Hitch, Matthew Clark and Tom Derenick. The team is battling an unknown entity that fills everyone with fear. After the victory, the members are still affected. Barry and Jess go on a date and she freaks out while Superman decides he needs to kill Batman.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #7 by Bryan Hitch and Jesus Merino. Superman attacks batman in the Bat Cave while Aquaman pulls up a sunken ship and swears to Wonder Woman that he is going to show America how small it is. Meanwhile, Jess is still reacting to her freak-out from last issue and she has to do everything she can to muster up the strength to use her ring to defeat the fear creature. In the end, she decides to leave the League and and she and Barry will take their relationship slowly.
ACTION COMICS #965 by Dan Jurgens and Stephen Segovia. Pre-Flashpoint Lois Lane reports for work at the Daily Planet where she is determined to continue the work that the New 52 Lois Lane began before she died. She runs into several colleagues and acquaintances including Jimmy Olsen, Steve Lombardi, Clark kent, and Lex Luthor. That also means moving into Lois’ apartment, where she runs into a transformed Lana Lang, who is now the sole Superwoman.
ACTION COMICS #966 by Dan Jurgens and Stephen Segovia. Superman is continuing the training of his son Jon while also dealing with suddenly being a single parent with Lois on special assignment. Meanwhile, Superwoman is meeting with Lois, leading to her calling Superman. He quickly arrives, leading to the first meeting between the childhood friends of two parallel worlds. Lois gets into New 52 Lois’ laptop, where she sees a tearful message to those she left behind. Later, Lois goes back to the Planet and continues her masquerade. Meanwhile, two mysterious alien bounty hunters arrive in search of Superman.
ALL STAR BATMAN #3 by Scott Snyder, John Romita Jr., and Declan Shalvey. Batman, still chained to Two-face, battles the former KGB Beast. Duke arrives to save them and get them away from the fray. The Royal Flush Gang also arrives and are quickly dispatched by The Beast. Duke drives them to a walnut farm where long time Batman associate Harold Allnut operates on Dent to save his injured eye. Later, as Duke and Batman leave with a recuperating Dent, an assault team arrives and rescues Dent, who proceeds to pour acid on batman’s face. In the back-up, a recovered Duke tries to solve the mystery of the murder of Rita Noles and that leads him to Diana Boone
AQUAMAN #8 by Dan Abnett and Scot Eaton. While Mera goes to the Tower of Widowhood to learn how to be a proper queen, Aquaman and his fellow Atlantean warriors take on the Shaggy Man. He quickly learns that the target that Black Manta has set the creature on course for is Amnesty Bay.
AQUAMAN #9 by Dan Abnett and Scot Eaton. Mera continues her schooling while the Shaggy Man attacks Amnesty Bay. Aquaman and the Atlanteans battle the creature to little avail when Aquaman gets an idea. He places his JLA transporter card on the creature and sends the beast into deep space, saving the town. When he collapses, Murk pleads for help from the townspeople, who appear less than thrilled with the thought.
BATGIRL #4 by Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque. Batgirl battles for her life against Teacher’s followers, eventually fleeing to go and try to save Kai who is in Shanghai and being tortured. She learns , thanks to Frankie, that Kai is carrying a bio-encrypted formula that is designed for the students to be able to pass their college entrance exams. As Batgirl, she visits with Kai and threatens him to leave Barbara alone. Then she searches for an online ad that leads her to one of the culprits. A tussle leads to the chemist being doused in her own formula that turns her into…?
BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #3 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson, Claire Roe, and Roge Antonio. After a flashback of Dinah as a young child, we go to the Gotham Watchtower, where the trio is still trying to figure out who Oracle is. They make their way to a Mexican restaurant where the Dallessandro Family is having a party. Turns out that this was a ruse sent by Oracle and that Gordon and company at the safe house are really in danger. They arrive just in time to save them from Lady Viper and her gang, but not before they kidnap Santos. In the end, it is revealed that Fenice is a woman presumed dead and that Santos is in her clutches.
BATMAN #8 by Tom King, Steve Orlando and Riley Rossmo. Gotham Girl and Nightwing have been turned into monsters because of Hugo Strange’ serum and the combined effort of Batman, Batwoman and Clayface battle them. Duke shows up with the cure and injects it into Gotham Girl, transforming her back to normal. Meanwhile, Batwoman battles with Nightwing and she is losing…to the point that she is falling to the streets of Gotham below. And off in Alexander Park, Steph and Cass find a wait to defeat the creature that possesses the citizens. Unfortunately, the individual parts join together to make one monstrous whole. To be continued in NIGHTWING #6.
BATMAN #9 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Bane tells Psycho Pirate of his early life and then subjects himself to therapy from him. While Claire recovers from the death of her brother and her recent experience as a monster, Bruce plans on putting a team together to go after Bane. Heading to Arkham Asylum, he gathers up the Ventriloquist, Bronze Tiger, Punch, and Jewlee, before adding his last team member: Selina Kyle.
BATMAN BEYOND #1 by Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang. Dana is being held by The Jokerz, who are intent on bringing The Joker back to life. Meanwhile, Matt brings Max to the Batcave, only to find that Batman is buried under a ton of rumble, which he uses explosives to blast his way out of. Out of shape, he struggles to keep up with a Venom enhanced member of The Jokerz, but eventually cuts off his Venom supply. After battling another gang of Jokerz, Batman flees back to the cave, where he decides to dress like one of them to defeat them.
BLUE BEETLE #2 by Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins. Beetle gets familiar with The Possee and discovers that his mother has been helping them out when they get injured. Most of the team leaves as beetle investigates the mysterious hole, but Blur hangs around. Then she spends most of the book trying to make out with our hero, ending up with her literally stealing a kiss from him. In the end, he confronts his mother about her actions and they come to an understanding.
CYBORG #2 by John Semper Jr. and Paul Pelletier. Cyborg battle Kilg%re, who has actually managed to kidnap Doctor Stone. Cyborg gets captured too and discovers that his father has had a bomb strapped to his chest. He also is in a globe that contains a corrosive gas. Cyborg breaks into the globe and gets covered in the gas, which may ultimately destroy him. As it turns out, the gas it’s not as deadly as Kilg%re led him to believe. Sarah and Professor Morrow shut down the power grid which means Kilg%re can do longer draw power and Cyborg tears him apart. Cyborg removes the bomb and rescues his dad. But it is revealed that THIS guy is actually an imposter.
CYBORG #3 by John Semper Jr. and Will Conrad. Victor is having a nightmare where he and the Justice League are fighting Darkseid and he causes them to be destroyed. When he wakes, he shows Sarah how he can use his new abilities to alter his atomic structure. She takes him out to a club where he runs into his ex-girlfriend, Britton Claire, who he no longer remembers.After the meeting, he goes to Professor morrow and demands that his memories be restored. Superman arrives and the pair fight, although it turns out to be another nightmare only. Still he ends up stuck in the nightmare, preparing to fight the Justice League. Meanwhile, the false Dr. Stone taunts the real Dr. Stone, who is his prisoner.
DEADMAN: DARK MANSION OF FORBIDDEN LOVE #1 by Sarah Vaughn and Lan Medina. Berenice and her friend Sam head to the mansion her boyfriend Nathan inherited. On the way there, she sees Deadman heading into the mansion. Deadman tries to enter his body, but is booted out. Nathan arrives, complaining of terrible headaches while Berenice hears the house tell her the house will kill her. Deadman gets rid of the evil spirits and then possesses her, finding out that she had once broke up with her girlfriend. He is trying to break free from the mansion, but some evil force is keeping him there. Separating from her, they head to the attic where they encounter the ghost of Adelia Ruskin.
DEATH OF HAWKMAN #1 by Marc Andreyko and Aaron Lopresti. Hawkman and Adam Strange are on Rann and badly injured following a battle with an alien army. We flashback in time to Adam trying to head to Rann but the Zeta beam malfunctions and he is stuck on Earth. On Rann, Sardath and Alanna get interrupted by attacking Thanagarians. Back on Earth, Adam discovers that the Zeta Beam is misfiring all over the county. After trips to numerous locations including Belle Reve, Gotham, Metropolis, and Coast City, he gets transported from his apartment…only to find that there has been a war on Rann.
DEATHSTROKE #4 by Christopher Priest and Joe Bennett. Deathstroke and Rose are in disguise and off on a job when her precognitive powers leads to a gunfight with a gang of bikers. Eventually, Rose battles and kidnaps Robin so that Deathstroke can use him as a bargaining chip with Batman.
DEATHSTROKE #5 by Christopher Priest and Joe Bennett. Batman meets with Rose in search of clues as to where Robin is. Meanwhile, Deathstroke is slowly drowning the Boy Wonder. Batman and Rose team up to take out the bad guys and rescue Robin. In the end, Rose makes a phone call looking for help while her boyfriend also makes a call. Looks like he may be responsible for arranging the hit on Rose. Unfortunately for him, her daddy interrupts that call!
DETECTIVE COMICS #942 by Steve Orlando, James Tynion IV, and Andy MacDonald. In the final part of the NIGHT OF THE MONSTER MEN, Batwoman, Nightwing, Spoiler and Orphan each go to a Wayne Watchtower to activate the weapons there and battle the giant monster with Dick eventually jumping into the creature’s mouth to bring it down. Meanwhile, Batman confronts Hugo Strange, taking him out with the aid of Clayface. In the end, the four people who made up the monsters get laid to rest as Bruce and Kate reaffirm their need to be around for Gotham’s future.
DETECTIVE COMICS #943 by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez. Batwoman and Montoya are investigating a crime scene at Wayne Enterprise crime scene that resulted in the defacing of the building and the deaths of three police officers. We see Batman interrogating Jacob Kane before Kate informs him that Steph is under the radar since the Monster Men incident and Tim’s death. It turns out she is visiting with Harper Row at the Thompkins Free Clinic, where she is working. She reveals how much she misses Tim and that only gets broken up when Jean Paul arrives and tells Harper to get back to work. Cass and Clayface are training in the Mud Room in the Belfry and unfortunately he asks the computer to give him the biggest ugliest bad guy…and it’s him! In the end, the whole crew attend a Luke Fox gala when an explosion occurs and the Victim Syndicate, made up of people injured by Batman’s villains, arrives.
THE FLASH #8 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine DiGiandomenico. Flash is battling Godspeed, who is on his way to Iron heights to kill all the prisoners. Wally joins in and transforms into the NEW Kid Flash where they act together to take down August. Later, Barry reveals that Billy Parks didn’t kill August’s brother and his killer is still out there. Wally reveals his secret to Aunt Iris and begins training with The Flash, much to a ghostly Meena’s delight.
THE FLASH #9 by Joshua Williamson and Jorge Corona. Wally West meets Wally West as they team up with Barry Allen to stop a bridge collapse. Then Barry gets hit with a blast of evil energy from within the Speed Force and becomes a horribly abusive monster. Zoom appears and the Wallys work to keep Barry from being sucked into the Speed Force. In the process, Barry reveals that Daniel West is NOT Wally’s Uncle…but his father. Later, our Wally and barry are having a quiet chat when it is revealed that a certain helmet appeared within the Speed Force-Jay Garrick’s helmet.
GOTHAM ACADEMY SECOND SEMESTER #2 by Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl and Adam Archer. Second Semester begins with Maps returning to school and meeting Olive’s new roommate Amy. Later Mr. Scarlet introduces himself, replacing Professor Pio. We get a meeting with the Detective Club, where Maps gives all of her friends dolls she made representing all of her friends. Pomeline steals Eric’s notebook which is filled with symbols from the Wedgewood House. At tennis practice, Coach Humphreys tells Kyle that a bunch of his players have gone missing. Later, Maps sees posters for the Witch Club and it turns out the Witch Club is responsible for the disappearances, as Maps ends up being kidnapped.
GREEN ARROW #8 by Ben Percy and Otto Schmidt. Ollie and Dinah adjust to living life on the island. Meanwhile, John Diggle gets captured and Arrow and canary head off to try and find him.
GREEN ARROW #9 by Ben Percy and Stephen Byrne. Dinah and Ollie search the island and encounter Ata, who claims that this is his island. Meanwhile, Ana, Ata’s husband, is holding Diggle captive and she reveals that Broderick was responsible for the Trans-Pacific Railway that runs through their island. Ata, Ollie and Dinah begin to burn the opium fields and that causes Ana’s followers to jump into the mix. Diggle gets free, reunites with Ollie and Dinah and they make their way onto the Railway.
GREEN LANTERNS #8 by Sam Humphries and Ed Benes. It’s Halloween night and our Green Lanterns are our doing Trick or Treat with Simon’s family while also looking for Rami. When they find him, he flees. The Dominators catch up with him and try to take the box containing the Phantom Ring. The Lanterns show up and take down the Dominators, which allows Rami to take it back. In the end, someone shows up in Dearborn claiming he deserves the Phantom Ring.
GREEN LANTERNS #9 by Sam Humphries and Ed Benes. Frank Laminski is a former pilot who feels that he should have gotten the Green Lantern ring, not Hal Jordan, especially after multiple Green Lanterns popped up. He became a vigilante and, even though he was a failure, a ring came to ring and then decided he was unworthy. Volthoom eventually finds him and convinces him that he needs to be the possessor of the Phantom Ring and he needs to take it from the Lanterns.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #6 by Robert Venditti and Rafa Sandoval. Guy Gardner continues to be tortured by Lyssa and her followers while Sinestro continues to rule Warworld and plot revenge against the Green lanterns. Meanwhile, Hal Jordan arrives to save his friend before he is baptized by the Yellow Lantern Underpriests. The Yellow Lanterns attack him but they get called off by Sinestro, who wants him all to himself.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #7 by Robert Venditti and Rafa Sandoval. It’s Hal versus Sinestro in a one-on-one contest that leads to an explosive ending which might have killed them both. Meanwhile, Soranik leads a group of rebelling Lanterns to rescue Guy and the other prisoners.
HARLEY QUINN #5 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and John Timms. Harley, at the request of the Mayor, goes undercover along with Tony, Eggy and Red Tool as a punk rock band known as Harlin and the Skull Bags band to help take down a rival rock band called Purple Satin.
HARLEY QUINN #6 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and John Timms. Harlin and the Skull Bags band tear up the stage and kill many rock fans in the process. After the show, Harley goes off to party with Purple Satin and discovers that their lead singer is wearing a soap heart bearing the initials J+H. She says the heart was a gift from a fan but Harley reveals that she got the gift when she was still a doctor at Arkham and the gift was from The Joker. In the end, Harley and Purple Satin go to a party at a Superhero and Super Villain Fetish Club.
THE HELLBLAZER #3 by Simon Oliver and Moritat. Constantine falls into a tunnel and meets Map, who speaks in riddles and sings “Do You Know the Muffin Man?” At the Tate Club, Clarice has one of her old boyfriends torn in half before she is forced to age horribly. She reveals that they need to find Chas. Constantine goes to Chas’ flat to find that he is tied up by a buinch of thugs…including Chas’ bookie. Meanwhile, Mercury and Swamp Thing go into the Rot and they get to a wormhole that Mercury exits through.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #6 by Bryan Hitch, Matthew Clark and Tom Derenick. The team is battling an unknown entity that fills everyone with fear. After the victory, the members are still affected. Barry and Jess go on a date and she freaks out while Superman decides he needs to kill Batman.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #7 by Bryan Hitch and Jesus Merino. Superman attacks batman in the Bat Cave while Aquaman pulls up a sunken ship and swears to Wonder Woman that he is going to show America how small it is. Meanwhile, Jess is still reacting to her freak-out from last issue and she has to do everything she can to muster up the strength to use her ring to defeat the fear creature. In the end, she decides to leave the League and and she and Barry will take their relationship slowly.
Thursday, November 3, 2016
DC YOU Month 16
DOCTOR FATE #17 by Paul Levitz and Brendan McCarthy. Khalid and Akila are protesting outside of Freedom Tower when he notices threads coming out of everyone’s head. He turns into Doctor Fate and follows the threads to some spider creatures that call themselves The Dreamspinners. The threads lead back to a giant worm called Clothorus.
Khalid winds up back at the Sphinx, who tells him he must embrace Clothorus and her children to save Akila.
EARTH 2 SOCIETY #17 by Dan Abnett and Bruno Redondo. The world we knew has ended and the surviving heroes are existing in an empty white void. Fury believes she has destroyed the world, even as a mysterious voice claims that cohesion will begin in eighty seven minutes. In the end, the team gets attacked by duplicates of Sandman. Luckily they get saved by Val-Zod.
SIX PACK & DOG WELDER HARD TRAVELIN HEROEZ #3 by Garth Ennis and Russ Braun. Dogwelder is at the bar with Sixpack, Constantine and the rest of Section Eight. Dogwelder ends up going to the house of his ex-wife where he tells her that he still loves her. Section Eight arrives on a cosmic surfboard, just as Dogwelder realizes that his ex-wife loves her new husband and that he is scaring the children. Constantine blasts the family with a ray that makes them gain amnesia and then the team heads to the pyramids of Egypt. Once inside one of the pyramids, they see hieroglyphics of an Ancient Egyptian welder creating Anubis. And that’s when the angry mummies show up!
SUICIDE SQUAD’S MOST WANTED: EL DIABLO AND BOOMERANG #3 by ai Nitz, Cliff Richards, Christopher Sebela and Brian Level. In the opener, El Diablo and Azucar are being attacked by Vulcan and luckily Deadshot takes Vulcan’s ship out. After Azucar reveals her origin, she and Santana have sex and then he heads off to Cluemaster’s place to steal the Checkmate laptop. Unfortunately, he’s a little late as Catwoman gets to it before him. The two fight it out before Cluemaster convinces her to let him take it, so long as he uses the laptop to hurt Waller. He and Azucar head over to Ace Chemicals where Sin Tzu and his band of transform meta-humans ambush them. In the back-up, Killer Croc ends up on an island filled with monsters on a mission for Amanda Waller. The terrorists on the island are threatening to destroy the place when he bursts in with the creatures. Cut off from Waller’s control, Croc is about to take matters into his own hands.
Khalid winds up back at the Sphinx, who tells him he must embrace Clothorus and her children to save Akila.
EARTH 2 SOCIETY #17 by Dan Abnett and Bruno Redondo. The world we knew has ended and the surviving heroes are existing in an empty white void. Fury believes she has destroyed the world, even as a mysterious voice claims that cohesion will begin in eighty seven minutes. In the end, the team gets attacked by duplicates of Sandman. Luckily they get saved by Val-Zod.
SIX PACK & DOG WELDER HARD TRAVELIN HEROEZ #3 by Garth Ennis and Russ Braun. Dogwelder is at the bar with Sixpack, Constantine and the rest of Section Eight. Dogwelder ends up going to the house of his ex-wife where he tells her that he still loves her. Section Eight arrives on a cosmic surfboard, just as Dogwelder realizes that his ex-wife loves her new husband and that he is scaring the children. Constantine blasts the family with a ray that makes them gain amnesia and then the team heads to the pyramids of Egypt. Once inside one of the pyramids, they see hieroglyphics of an Ancient Egyptian welder creating Anubis. And that’s when the angry mummies show up!
SUICIDE SQUAD’S MOST WANTED: EL DIABLO AND BOOMERANG #3 by ai Nitz, Cliff Richards, Christopher Sebela and Brian Level. In the opener, El Diablo and Azucar are being attacked by Vulcan and luckily Deadshot takes Vulcan’s ship out. After Azucar reveals her origin, she and Santana have sex and then he heads off to Cluemaster’s place to steal the Checkmate laptop. Unfortunately, he’s a little late as Catwoman gets to it before him. The two fight it out before Cluemaster convinces her to let him take it, so long as he uses the laptop to hurt Waller. He and Azucar head over to Ace Chemicals where Sin Tzu and his band of transform meta-humans ambush them. In the back-up, Killer Croc ends up on an island filled with monsters on a mission for Amanda Waller. The terrorists on the island are threatening to destroy the place when he bursts in with the creatures. Cut off from Waller’s control, Croc is about to take matters into his own hands.
Monday, October 31, 2016
Another batch of first issues in review
Some recent first issues.
ARCHIE MEETS RAMONES #1: In the fictional world of Riverdale, all sorts of things can happen. Gee, the gang has previously crossed paths with The Punisher, Predator, and Sharknado. In this one-shot by Alex Segura, Matthew Rosenberg, and Gisele Lagace, the gang can’t seem to be able to get in the musical groove and ends up magically being transported back to New York in 1976 and meet the legendary band. The gang learns the importance of playing with heart and volume and that becomes their influence. This is a fun, non-offensive tribute.
BETTY BOOP #1: One of the classic characters from animation history makes her Dynamite debut along with her cast of supporting characters. The book looks and feels like those cartoons, thanks to Roger Langridge’s writing and Gisele Lagace’ art. My biggest complaint is that $3.99 for 19 pages is just a little too pricey for my blood! But, for fans of the gal, it’s a hit. And the cover by legend Howard Chaykin ain’t bad either!
THE BLACK HOOD Volume 2 #1: Greg Hettinger, a Highway Patrol Officer who has become a vigilante, has gone into hiding but is still attracting unwanted attention in Duane Swierczynski’s new volume of this Archie Comics Publication. Greg Scott’s art is dark and depressing while Swierczynski’s story is tightly written. This is a weird take on the vigilante character that Marvel made so famous with THE PUNISHER, but it works marvelously.
BLOODSHOT USA #1: Coming directly out of the regular BLOODSHOT series, the Bloodshot Squad makes their way to Manhattan, where the citizens have been infected by the Bloodshot nanites. Throw Deathmate, Ninjak, Livewire and Unity in the mix and you have Valiant attempting to woo me back into the fold after their BOOK OF DEATH series that turned me off. It’s a well-written first issue by Jeff Lemire with art by Doug Braithwaite that proves why this is one of the more popular Valiant characters.
BRITANNIA #1: I wrote off most of my valiant Comics collecting last year after their
“mega-event” turned out to be a bit of a disappointment for me. But if you tell me that Peter Milligan is involved, that gets my attention. Couple that with the killer artwork of Juan Jose Ryp and we end up with a grisly historical tale set in Rome in 60 A.D. The art is amazing and so graphic that it might possibly turn some folks off. And the story will pretty much appeal to history buffs until the very end when the surprise drops in. I will probably give this another shot as I was intrigued and am curious to see where Milligan goes.
CANNIBAL #1: With CHEW being a big hit, this was likely to come along. J. Young and Brian Buccellato give us CANNIBAL. Set in Florida, we learn that a Category Five hurricane had caused mosquitoes carrying Yellow Fever to rear its’ ugly head. A medicine was created that cured the disease but left a side effect: the victims now craved human flesh. With the premise in place, Young introduces this malady into the locals. This is not your average flesh-eating tale. The characters are well defined, even in the first issue and who knows where it goes from here. This was a fun first issue and bears further investigating.
CAVE CARSON HAS A CYBERNETIC EYE #1: Most people don’t remember Cave Carson but I sure do. He was a part of that wonderful group of superheroes who were just a bit on the fringe of the DCU. There was the Sea Devils, Rip Hunter, Doom Patrol, the Challengers of the Unknown…and Cave Carson. Well this Cave Carson is not the spelunker I grew up with. This one is a widower who is still troubled by his wife’s death and spends a lot of his time in his underground lab. He also hangs out for a bit with the Metal Men. And then it gets weird! Thanks to Gerard Way, Jon Rivera and artist Michael Avon Oeming for kick-starting this series into high gear right from the start. Oh yeah…you also get a cute little three page Wonder Twins back-up by Tom Scioli that is just twisted enough to catch my interest. This is such a fun trip and I truly cannot thank the creators enough for this. Here’s hoping it will have a long life supported by the fans!
CHAMPIONS #1: What happens when Ms. Marvel quits the Avengers? She puts together her own team of young heroes. Made up of a time displaced Cyclops, the Amadeus Cho Hulk, Nova, Miles Morales Spider Man and Vision’s daughter Viv, Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos try and recreate the excitement of the original series but don’t. The characters are cliched and the fact that Ms. Marvel is running point for this team baffles me. Personally, I’d let Morales or Cho run the team but hey…what do I know. Bring back the classic team again…please!
THE CLONE CONSPIRACY #1: Well…Jay Jameson is dead and Jonah is blaming Peter Parker for it. At the same time, Miles Warren is back and is bringing some classic Spider-Man characters with him. There’s Rhino and a female Electro and Gwen Stacy. Hey-even Doc Ock is back! And is that Captain Stacy? Yeah…the BIG Spider Man story is here in the form of this soon to be epic from Dan Slott and Jim Cheung. It looks awesome and Slott just hits all the right notes in the story. I cannot wait to read the next issue and will probably end up reading the tie-in books look the new PROWLER series.
DEATH OF X #1: It’s Marvel’s next big event book that is designed to fill in the eight month gap and how the status quo of the team became what it is. The creative team of Jeff Lemire, Charles Soule and Aaron Kuder gives us the tale of Mutant versus Inhumans. Cyclops, still alive at this point in history, accompanies his team to Muir Island where they discover that the Terrigen Mists are killing Mutants, especially Jamie Maddrox. The first issue sets up a future head-to-head that will hopefully get moving in the right direction. For now, this is a bit of a disappointment as too much time is sent with poor Scott Summers trying to be a cross between Charles Xavier and Magneto.
DOCTOR STRANGE AND THE SORCERERS SUPREME #1: Hey-did you know there is a NEW DOCTOR STRANGE movie on the horizon? Well, if you didn’t, all you have to do is look at Marvel’s publishing list and see a bunch of DOCTOR STRANGE title. The latest one is by Robbie Thompson and Javier Rodriguez and follows Stephen Strange as he is enlisted by Merlin to travel into the past and be part of a team of legendary sorcerers. Sir Isaac Newton, Kushala the Conjuror, an older Wiccan, and a younger Ancient One, Demon Rider, and the Mindless One(presently known as the Mindful One), band together to battle evil. If you’re a fan of the monthly title, this is the perfect tie-in.
DOOM PATROL #1: I am a HUGE fan of the Doom Patrol…all the Doom Patrols. I fell in love with the Arnold Drake crafted original team that “died” saving the world and then rode the Paul Kupperberg ride that gave us new members. But that was nothing compared to the crazy, creative and sometimes-bumpy train ride that was Grant Morrison, Rachel Pollack, John Arcudi, John Byrne and Keith Giffen. My Chemical Romance leader and comic creator Gerard Way, along with artist Nick Derington brings us the next chapter that introduces new characters and brings back such favorites as Niles Caulder, Robotman and Danny the Living Street. Strap in: this is Young Animal and it’s like Vertigo in the mainstream DC Universe.
THE GREAT LAKES AVENGERS #1: Back in the late Eighties, John Byrne created the misfit team known as The Great Lakes Avengers. Comprised of Mr. Immortal, Dinah Soar, Big Bertha, Flatman and Doorman, and later members such as Squirrel Girl, Deadpool, and Grasshopper. They have bounced around, mostly in the background, for the past 37 years. But now Marvel has brought them back and I was very thrilled…until I read it. Zac Gorman’s story falls flat and Will Robson’s art ends up being the high point of the book. Very disappointing to say the least.
INFAMOUS IRON MAN #1: Somewhere along the line in a CIVIL WAR II tale we have yet to read, Tony Stark has become an A.I.. And, following SECRET WARS, Victor Von Doom became healed. So, now Victor Von Doom has decided it’s time to put on Tony Stark’s armor and become a hero. But what kind of hero faces off with Diablo and turns him into dust to save the life of Maria Hill? The same kind that is being looked for by Ben Grimm, who we last saw with the Guardian of the Galaxy. And does this turn make Doom’s mama happy? You bet! Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev team up again and give us a great first issue. It’s a confusing bit as we still don’t know how Tony ended up as he did, but all will be revealed.
JESSICA JONES #1: well, it took a Netflix television show to bump up the interest in this character and the ALIAS series she was in back in 2001. This series from the creators on their series, Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos, starts with Jessica getting out of prison and beginning her life anew as private investigator. That also means it brings back a supporting cast including Jessica Drew, Misty Knight and , of course, Luke cage. I’m a bit of a loss because I don’t know HOW she ended up in the slammer and then there is the obvious question of “where is the baby”.
JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS #1: Another classic Archie title gets a reboot as part of the new generation of Archie Comics. Marguerite Bennett, Cameron Deordio, and Audrey Monk combine to tell us how the legendary band came together. It looks great but the story leaves me wanting more. Personally, I miss the old band.
KISS #1: It’s almost 500 years after The Great War where the survivors have been forced to live underground in the city of Blackwell. Meet the four teenagers who question their existence and go looking for a way out. Their travel takes them through a tunnel filled with mystical symbols and eventually to the computer known as Morpheus. Amy Chu and Kewber Baal bring us the newest incarnation of the rock stars as superheroes. Does it work? Hard to tell at the moment as the “stars” of the book only show up on the last page and only as series of floating heads. This is just another take on the “man questioning their existence in a future society”. Personally, I think I’d rather watch LOGAN’S RUN.
LOVE AND ROCKETS Volume 4 #1: If you have never read L&R during it’s legendary career, then you have not only missed out on one of the first comic books in the Independent comics movement of the Eighties, but you have also missed out on one of the most amazing books since 1982. Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez bring us some truly fascinating slice of life stories with great art and plenty of heart, Gilbert brings us stories from the Mexican village of Palomar while Jaime tells Locas stories, set in Los Angeles and starring Maggie and Hopey and their friends. Storytelling at its’ finest!
PEEPLAND #1: I’m a HUGE FAN of the Hard Case Crimes series of novels. So I was VERY EXCITED to see that Titan Comics was doing a new series of Noir comics. Christa Faust and Gary Philips combine for this dark, gritty story set in the sleazy part of Times Square in 1986. Andrea Camerini provides the artwork and it’s the perfect fit. If you like crime stories, this is the start of a great relationship. Next up: Walter Hill’s TRIGGERMAN.
REBORN #1: One of the long-standing questions in life is where do we go when we die. What if we were reborn and came back to life in another place, fighting dragons, and such? Welcome to REBORN by Mark Millar and Greg Capullo. The concept is interesting and written well enough to entice me to come back for issue #2. As far as Capullo’s art goes: it’s Capullo. You either like it or you don’t.
SHADE THE CHANGING GIRL #1: Megan Boyer is a teenage girl who is brain-dead. But she suddenly awakens and begins to live life again. But Megan isn’t really Megan. She is really an alien who has worn Shade’s cloak and made herself at home in Megan’s form. This is a trippy little tale that may also be epic mystery tale that will reveal who was responsible for Megan’s coma. This is another killer Young Animal comic, this time from the minds and pen of Cecil Castellucci and Marley Zarcone.
SKYBOURNE #1: Once upon a Bible, Lazarus died and was resurrected. He lived long enough to father three children-Abraham, Thomas and Grace. Grace is a connected to the Mountain Top Foundation and she is currently in Turkey where she is retrieving Excalibur. It’s a bloody mess that leads to her battling an old man for possession of the sword. This is the newest creator-owned project by Frank Cho and it looks awesome…like everything Cho draws. And the amount of gore is staggering! The story is intriguing, if not for the fact that we have only met one of the Skybourne children. And…SPOILER…she may not make it until issue #2.
ARCHIE MEETS RAMONES #1: In the fictional world of Riverdale, all sorts of things can happen. Gee, the gang has previously crossed paths with The Punisher, Predator, and Sharknado. In this one-shot by Alex Segura, Matthew Rosenberg, and Gisele Lagace, the gang can’t seem to be able to get in the musical groove and ends up magically being transported back to New York in 1976 and meet the legendary band. The gang learns the importance of playing with heart and volume and that becomes their influence. This is a fun, non-offensive tribute.
BETTY BOOP #1: One of the classic characters from animation history makes her Dynamite debut along with her cast of supporting characters. The book looks and feels like those cartoons, thanks to Roger Langridge’s writing and Gisele Lagace’ art. My biggest complaint is that $3.99 for 19 pages is just a little too pricey for my blood! But, for fans of the gal, it’s a hit. And the cover by legend Howard Chaykin ain’t bad either!
THE BLACK HOOD Volume 2 #1: Greg Hettinger, a Highway Patrol Officer who has become a vigilante, has gone into hiding but is still attracting unwanted attention in Duane Swierczynski’s new volume of this Archie Comics Publication. Greg Scott’s art is dark and depressing while Swierczynski’s story is tightly written. This is a weird take on the vigilante character that Marvel made so famous with THE PUNISHER, but it works marvelously.
BLOODSHOT USA #1: Coming directly out of the regular BLOODSHOT series, the Bloodshot Squad makes their way to Manhattan, where the citizens have been infected by the Bloodshot nanites. Throw Deathmate, Ninjak, Livewire and Unity in the mix and you have Valiant attempting to woo me back into the fold after their BOOK OF DEATH series that turned me off. It’s a well-written first issue by Jeff Lemire with art by Doug Braithwaite that proves why this is one of the more popular Valiant characters.
BRITANNIA #1: I wrote off most of my valiant Comics collecting last year after their
“mega-event” turned out to be a bit of a disappointment for me. But if you tell me that Peter Milligan is involved, that gets my attention. Couple that with the killer artwork of Juan Jose Ryp and we end up with a grisly historical tale set in Rome in 60 A.D. The art is amazing and so graphic that it might possibly turn some folks off. And the story will pretty much appeal to history buffs until the very end when the surprise drops in. I will probably give this another shot as I was intrigued and am curious to see where Milligan goes.
CANNIBAL #1: With CHEW being a big hit, this was likely to come along. J. Young and Brian Buccellato give us CANNIBAL. Set in Florida, we learn that a Category Five hurricane had caused mosquitoes carrying Yellow Fever to rear its’ ugly head. A medicine was created that cured the disease but left a side effect: the victims now craved human flesh. With the premise in place, Young introduces this malady into the locals. This is not your average flesh-eating tale. The characters are well defined, even in the first issue and who knows where it goes from here. This was a fun first issue and bears further investigating.
CAVE CARSON HAS A CYBERNETIC EYE #1: Most people don’t remember Cave Carson but I sure do. He was a part of that wonderful group of superheroes who were just a bit on the fringe of the DCU. There was the Sea Devils, Rip Hunter, Doom Patrol, the Challengers of the Unknown…and Cave Carson. Well this Cave Carson is not the spelunker I grew up with. This one is a widower who is still troubled by his wife’s death and spends a lot of his time in his underground lab. He also hangs out for a bit with the Metal Men. And then it gets weird! Thanks to Gerard Way, Jon Rivera and artist Michael Avon Oeming for kick-starting this series into high gear right from the start. Oh yeah…you also get a cute little three page Wonder Twins back-up by Tom Scioli that is just twisted enough to catch my interest. This is such a fun trip and I truly cannot thank the creators enough for this. Here’s hoping it will have a long life supported by the fans!
CHAMPIONS #1: What happens when Ms. Marvel quits the Avengers? She puts together her own team of young heroes. Made up of a time displaced Cyclops, the Amadeus Cho Hulk, Nova, Miles Morales Spider Man and Vision’s daughter Viv, Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos try and recreate the excitement of the original series but don’t. The characters are cliched and the fact that Ms. Marvel is running point for this team baffles me. Personally, I’d let Morales or Cho run the team but hey…what do I know. Bring back the classic team again…please!
THE CLONE CONSPIRACY #1: Well…Jay Jameson is dead and Jonah is blaming Peter Parker for it. At the same time, Miles Warren is back and is bringing some classic Spider-Man characters with him. There’s Rhino and a female Electro and Gwen Stacy. Hey-even Doc Ock is back! And is that Captain Stacy? Yeah…the BIG Spider Man story is here in the form of this soon to be epic from Dan Slott and Jim Cheung. It looks awesome and Slott just hits all the right notes in the story. I cannot wait to read the next issue and will probably end up reading the tie-in books look the new PROWLER series.
DEATH OF X #1: It’s Marvel’s next big event book that is designed to fill in the eight month gap and how the status quo of the team became what it is. The creative team of Jeff Lemire, Charles Soule and Aaron Kuder gives us the tale of Mutant versus Inhumans. Cyclops, still alive at this point in history, accompanies his team to Muir Island where they discover that the Terrigen Mists are killing Mutants, especially Jamie Maddrox. The first issue sets up a future head-to-head that will hopefully get moving in the right direction. For now, this is a bit of a disappointment as too much time is sent with poor Scott Summers trying to be a cross between Charles Xavier and Magneto.
DOCTOR STRANGE AND THE SORCERERS SUPREME #1: Hey-did you know there is a NEW DOCTOR STRANGE movie on the horizon? Well, if you didn’t, all you have to do is look at Marvel’s publishing list and see a bunch of DOCTOR STRANGE title. The latest one is by Robbie Thompson and Javier Rodriguez and follows Stephen Strange as he is enlisted by Merlin to travel into the past and be part of a team of legendary sorcerers. Sir Isaac Newton, Kushala the Conjuror, an older Wiccan, and a younger Ancient One, Demon Rider, and the Mindless One(presently known as the Mindful One), band together to battle evil. If you’re a fan of the monthly title, this is the perfect tie-in.
DOOM PATROL #1: I am a HUGE fan of the Doom Patrol…all the Doom Patrols. I fell in love with the Arnold Drake crafted original team that “died” saving the world and then rode the Paul Kupperberg ride that gave us new members. But that was nothing compared to the crazy, creative and sometimes-bumpy train ride that was Grant Morrison, Rachel Pollack, John Arcudi, John Byrne and Keith Giffen. My Chemical Romance leader and comic creator Gerard Way, along with artist Nick Derington brings us the next chapter that introduces new characters and brings back such favorites as Niles Caulder, Robotman and Danny the Living Street. Strap in: this is Young Animal and it’s like Vertigo in the mainstream DC Universe.
THE GREAT LAKES AVENGERS #1: Back in the late Eighties, John Byrne created the misfit team known as The Great Lakes Avengers. Comprised of Mr. Immortal, Dinah Soar, Big Bertha, Flatman and Doorman, and later members such as Squirrel Girl, Deadpool, and Grasshopper. They have bounced around, mostly in the background, for the past 37 years. But now Marvel has brought them back and I was very thrilled…until I read it. Zac Gorman’s story falls flat and Will Robson’s art ends up being the high point of the book. Very disappointing to say the least.
INFAMOUS IRON MAN #1: Somewhere along the line in a CIVIL WAR II tale we have yet to read, Tony Stark has become an A.I.. And, following SECRET WARS, Victor Von Doom became healed. So, now Victor Von Doom has decided it’s time to put on Tony Stark’s armor and become a hero. But what kind of hero faces off with Diablo and turns him into dust to save the life of Maria Hill? The same kind that is being looked for by Ben Grimm, who we last saw with the Guardian of the Galaxy. And does this turn make Doom’s mama happy? You bet! Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev team up again and give us a great first issue. It’s a confusing bit as we still don’t know how Tony ended up as he did, but all will be revealed.
JESSICA JONES #1: well, it took a Netflix television show to bump up the interest in this character and the ALIAS series she was in back in 2001. This series from the creators on their series, Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos, starts with Jessica getting out of prison and beginning her life anew as private investigator. That also means it brings back a supporting cast including Jessica Drew, Misty Knight and , of course, Luke cage. I’m a bit of a loss because I don’t know HOW she ended up in the slammer and then there is the obvious question of “where is the baby”.
JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS #1: Another classic Archie title gets a reboot as part of the new generation of Archie Comics. Marguerite Bennett, Cameron Deordio, and Audrey Monk combine to tell us how the legendary band came together. It looks great but the story leaves me wanting more. Personally, I miss the old band.
KISS #1: It’s almost 500 years after The Great War where the survivors have been forced to live underground in the city of Blackwell. Meet the four teenagers who question their existence and go looking for a way out. Their travel takes them through a tunnel filled with mystical symbols and eventually to the computer known as Morpheus. Amy Chu and Kewber Baal bring us the newest incarnation of the rock stars as superheroes. Does it work? Hard to tell at the moment as the “stars” of the book only show up on the last page and only as series of floating heads. This is just another take on the “man questioning their existence in a future society”. Personally, I think I’d rather watch LOGAN’S RUN.
LOVE AND ROCKETS Volume 4 #1: If you have never read L&R during it’s legendary career, then you have not only missed out on one of the first comic books in the Independent comics movement of the Eighties, but you have also missed out on one of the most amazing books since 1982. Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez bring us some truly fascinating slice of life stories with great art and plenty of heart, Gilbert brings us stories from the Mexican village of Palomar while Jaime tells Locas stories, set in Los Angeles and starring Maggie and Hopey and their friends. Storytelling at its’ finest!
PEEPLAND #1: I’m a HUGE FAN of the Hard Case Crimes series of novels. So I was VERY EXCITED to see that Titan Comics was doing a new series of Noir comics. Christa Faust and Gary Philips combine for this dark, gritty story set in the sleazy part of Times Square in 1986. Andrea Camerini provides the artwork and it’s the perfect fit. If you like crime stories, this is the start of a great relationship. Next up: Walter Hill’s TRIGGERMAN.
REBORN #1: One of the long-standing questions in life is where do we go when we die. What if we were reborn and came back to life in another place, fighting dragons, and such? Welcome to REBORN by Mark Millar and Greg Capullo. The concept is interesting and written well enough to entice me to come back for issue #2. As far as Capullo’s art goes: it’s Capullo. You either like it or you don’t.
SHADE THE CHANGING GIRL #1: Megan Boyer is a teenage girl who is brain-dead. But she suddenly awakens and begins to live life again. But Megan isn’t really Megan. She is really an alien who has worn Shade’s cloak and made herself at home in Megan’s form. This is a trippy little tale that may also be epic mystery tale that will reveal who was responsible for Megan’s coma. This is another killer Young Animal comic, this time from the minds and pen of Cecil Castellucci and Marley Zarcone.
SKYBOURNE #1: Once upon a Bible, Lazarus died and was resurrected. He lived long enough to father three children-Abraham, Thomas and Grace. Grace is a connected to the Mountain Top Foundation and she is currently in Turkey where she is retrieving Excalibur. It’s a bloody mess that leads to her battling an old man for possession of the sword. This is the newest creator-owned project by Frank Cho and it looks awesome…like everything Cho draws. And the amount of gore is staggering! The story is intriguing, if not for the fact that we have only met one of the Skybourne children. And…SPOILER…she may not make it until issue #2.
Friday, October 14, 2016
DC REBIRTH Month 14, Part 2
NEW SUPER-MAN #3 by Gene Luen Yang and Viktor Bogdanovic. Kenan continues to reveal his secret identity and reveals there is a Justice League of China. But Dr. Omen is smart enough to get the Batman and Wonder Woman of China to take him away before he reveals their identities. They end up at the meta-human prison for China called The Crab Shell. Back at the tower, Dr. Omen blasts Kenan with a Kryptonite gun and reprimands him for revealing the information about the team. Later, the trio has a long talk and Batman reveals that all of the targets so far are linked to each other, meaning the bad guys are trying to take out members of the Ministry. That night they go to Shanghai Ocean University where they meet The Freedom Fighters of China, who demand free passage out of there.
NIGHTWING #4 by Tim Seeley and Javier Fernandez. Dr. Leviticus reveals that she has put all the information from the Book of Wisdom on a series of coins at the center of the Owl's labyrinth. Nightwing and Raptor release the prisoners within the labyrinth and discover that the leader of the Parliament is really an owl monster. They defeat the monster, but not before Raptor gets injured in the process, and get to the center of the labyrinth. Nightwing gets the coins and Raptor splits up, as he doesn’t want to end up caged. He also drops a bomb about knowing Dick’s mother. Raptor is also revealed to be working with Kobra.
NIGHTWING #5 by Steve Orlando, Tim Seeley, and Roge Antonio. Picking up where BATMAN #7 left ovff, Batman, Batwoman and Nightwing are trying to keep this bvig monster from destroying Gotham while Spoiler, Orphan and Clayface have moved the population to a cave high enough to save them from flood waters. Duke and Alfred are trying to figure out what is creating the Monster Men, but we do find out is that the first monster was actually Bob Castro, who committed suicide in BATMAN #2. Dick gets into the morgue and finds out there are four missing bodies and a lot of goo left behind. We also find out that the current monster was Oleg Balinoff: the Kobra agent who shot down the plane in BATMAN #1. In the end, a monster is making its’ way into Blackgate Prison. Not if Gotham Girl has her way.
RAVEN #1 by Marv Wolfman and Alisson Borges. Raven, now known as Rachel, goes to San Francisco to spend time with her human family in their suburban Christian home. That night, Raven has a nightmare about Trigon, but gets woken by the family. The next day, Raven goes to Madison High School where her sensitivity to people’s thoughts causes her to vomit. But she gets even when she makes those who laugh at her feel their worst fears. Soon she is making friends with some of the other kids who don’t fit in. She sees a poster for music star Night Mistress, she suffers another attack and sees someone. Her new friend Archer suddenly goes blind, forcing her to heal him. The next day, she sees the girl again and gives chase, only to be taken out by her. That night, a bunch of the kids go to the carnival, including the girl who scanned Raven. She leaves and gets taken away by a ball of light. At the same time, Raven is in her bed and being attacked by a spirit bird.
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #2 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. After getting an abbreviated Artemis origin, we come back to Artemis battling Red Hood. His mask gets broken and she gets shocked, all of which impresses his boss, Black Mask. But she quickly recovers and soon Jason is protecting Artemis and they become friends. Black Mask steals a train car, so the duo break in to find…the creature who will be Bizarro.
SUICIDE SQUAD #2. In the main story, by Rob Williams and Jim Lee, Waller and NSA Agent Harcourt watch the Suicide Squad as they slowly drown in the North Atlantic. Katana manages to free Harley and Croc from their water filled suits while Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and Rick Flag break into the Russian prison using the rocket they were hanging onto upon entry. Revived, the team proceeds to dismantle, literally, the guards, freeing the woman known as Hack. She transports them to the Black vault where they encounter a giant black sphere that somehow contains the Phantom Zone. It also fires a beam that blasts Boomerang, leaving only smoking boots behind. Out of the orb comes General Zod. In the back-up by Williams and Ivan Reis, Captain Boomerang tells Waller his origin, which makes him seem like Australia’s answer to James Bond.
SUICIDE SQUAD #3. In the main story, by Rob Williams and Jim Lee, General Zod is free and has disintegrated Captain Boomerang with his heat vision. June Moon turns into the Enchantress, but Zod hits her with Croc and that takes her out of the fight. Katana gets involved and slashes him open with her sword. The military shows up just as Deadshot and Harley Quinn crack out some guns they found to take them out. That’s when the Russian super-team, The Annihilation Brigade, shows up. In the back-up story by Williams and Philip Tan, Katana’s origin story is told by Amanda Waller.
SUPERGIRL #1 by Steve Orlando and Brian Ching. After a recap about her origin, we get snippets of her current life as a student in National City. Later, Supergirl takes down some terrorists on a train threatening to steal everyone’s identity with a gadget called Dataphage. Cat Grant is there, claims she was in control, and blames Supergirl for ruining things. When she gets to Blade, Cameron Chase chews her out for being reckless and not having been authorized to be involved. The Danvers try to make Kara feel better and, in the end, she ends up in the Fortress of Solitude where, apparently, so is daddy!
SUPERMAN #6 by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason. Superman faces off with the Eradicator, eventually pulling Krypto back from inside. Together they team up and defeat the Eradicator, freeing the souls of Krypton. In the end, Superman meets with the rest of the Trinity, apologizes for trashing the moom based bat cave. And he also introduces Batman and Wonder Woman to…Superboy.
SUPERMAN #7 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, and Jorge Jimenez. Clark, Lois and Jon go out for a night on the town and Clark promises not to use his powers at all. So off they go to the Hamilton County Fair, where some crooks are planning on a big robbery. Luckily Clark is there.
SUPERWOMAN #2 by Phil Jimenez. Lois Lane is dead, having been killed by a version of Superwoman from Earth-3. At the same time, Lex Luthor’s super suit doesn’t work so he can’t keep Mercy from launching an attack on Metropolis. Steel convinces Lana to go to Maggie Sawyer and tell her about what happened to Lois. At Steel’s apartment, his niece shows off a special suit designed to dampen her electricity powers that she has called the Insect Queen. The Atomic Skull attacks downtown Metropolis and demands to see Superman, but it’s Superwoman who appears. Meanwhile, Luthor gets attacked by Mercy, who is also a Bizarro version of herself. It’s a trap made possible by Lena Luthor.
TEEN TITANS REBIRTH #1 by Ben Percy and Jonboy Meyers. Beast Boy is partying down at a Los Angeles nightclub where he ends up in a pool with a hot girl before gets taken down by a mysterious attacker. In the Caribbean, Starfire is having a meeting regarding human trafficking when someone grabs a kid and runs away. When she stops him, he claims someone made him do it and then she gets taken out by a mysterious hand that sends electric shocks into her. Raven is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art when she sees a painting of herself as a baby along with Trigon. She gets shot with a tranquilizer by a mysterious person and is knocked out. New 52 Wally West comes across an unconscious body in a subway tunnel. But the body is just a dummy and he gets hit with knockout gas. In the end, they find themselves being held captive…by Damian Wayne and Goliath.
TITANS #3 by Dan Abnett and Brett Booth. Garth has been blasted by Abra Kadabra, which leads to Wally battling the villain. But he disappears and takes the fake Titans with him. Wally has a theory that Kadabra created the fake Titans as a way to test them. Lilith's double tells Kadabra how she believes that Wally and Linda Park are connected and that gives the magician an idea as to who might have been responsible for all of this. Wally goes to meet with Linda but, before he can get too far into explanations, Kadabra shows up and kidnaps her.
TRINITY #1 by Francis Manapul. At the farm, a knock at the door leads Jon to try and look through the door and accidentally blasts Wonder Woman and Batman with his heat vision. Someone should have told him that Lois had invited Bruce and Diana over for dinner. During dinner, Clark tells Jon about Batman protecting Robin by wearing a rainbow Bat Suit as seen in DETECTIVE COMICS #241, although Bruce claims he has no memory of this (because it didn’t happened in the NEW 52 Universe). Bruce and Diana admit they are here because they need to find out if THIS Superman is like the one they knew. In the end, Lois and Diana get comfortable as friends and everyone enjoying being together. But what is going on in the barn and how can young Clark and his family be there?
WONDER WOMAN #6 by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott. In the third part of YEAR ONE, Diana and Steve are heading back to civilization in the Invisible Jet. They get to the Coronado Naval Base and one of the sailors makes the mistake of putting his hands on her. He convinces her to trust him, but there are bigger issues as it seems that his medical exam is revealing things that should not be and he is better than he was when he left. While Diana is in the holding cell, Steve goes to visit Nick's wife and son. Later, she is visited by Barbara Minerva and explains that the Gods visited her and they gave her gifts. She demonstrates by breaking out of her cell.
WONDER WOMAN #7 by Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp. In Part Four of THE LIES, Wonder Woman and Cheetah have freed the kidnapped women. The girls are led to safety by Steve’s colleagues while Diana and Barbara head off to save Steve from Urzkartaga. In the end, Wonder Woman defeats Urzkartaga and Barbara has reverted back to her original self.
NIGHTWING #4 by Tim Seeley and Javier Fernandez. Dr. Leviticus reveals that she has put all the information from the Book of Wisdom on a series of coins at the center of the Owl's labyrinth. Nightwing and Raptor release the prisoners within the labyrinth and discover that the leader of the Parliament is really an owl monster. They defeat the monster, but not before Raptor gets injured in the process, and get to the center of the labyrinth. Nightwing gets the coins and Raptor splits up, as he doesn’t want to end up caged. He also drops a bomb about knowing Dick’s mother. Raptor is also revealed to be working with Kobra.
NIGHTWING #5 by Steve Orlando, Tim Seeley, and Roge Antonio. Picking up where BATMAN #7 left ovff, Batman, Batwoman and Nightwing are trying to keep this bvig monster from destroying Gotham while Spoiler, Orphan and Clayface have moved the population to a cave high enough to save them from flood waters. Duke and Alfred are trying to figure out what is creating the Monster Men, but we do find out is that the first monster was actually Bob Castro, who committed suicide in BATMAN #2. Dick gets into the morgue and finds out there are four missing bodies and a lot of goo left behind. We also find out that the current monster was Oleg Balinoff: the Kobra agent who shot down the plane in BATMAN #1. In the end, a monster is making its’ way into Blackgate Prison. Not if Gotham Girl has her way.
RAVEN #1 by Marv Wolfman and Alisson Borges. Raven, now known as Rachel, goes to San Francisco to spend time with her human family in their suburban Christian home. That night, Raven has a nightmare about Trigon, but gets woken by the family. The next day, Raven goes to Madison High School where her sensitivity to people’s thoughts causes her to vomit. But she gets even when she makes those who laugh at her feel their worst fears. Soon she is making friends with some of the other kids who don’t fit in. She sees a poster for music star Night Mistress, she suffers another attack and sees someone. Her new friend Archer suddenly goes blind, forcing her to heal him. The next day, she sees the girl again and gives chase, only to be taken out by her. That night, a bunch of the kids go to the carnival, including the girl who scanned Raven. She leaves and gets taken away by a ball of light. At the same time, Raven is in her bed and being attacked by a spirit bird.
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #2 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. After getting an abbreviated Artemis origin, we come back to Artemis battling Red Hood. His mask gets broken and she gets shocked, all of which impresses his boss, Black Mask. But she quickly recovers and soon Jason is protecting Artemis and they become friends. Black Mask steals a train car, so the duo break in to find…the creature who will be Bizarro.
SUICIDE SQUAD #2. In the main story, by Rob Williams and Jim Lee, Waller and NSA Agent Harcourt watch the Suicide Squad as they slowly drown in the North Atlantic. Katana manages to free Harley and Croc from their water filled suits while Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and Rick Flag break into the Russian prison using the rocket they were hanging onto upon entry. Revived, the team proceeds to dismantle, literally, the guards, freeing the woman known as Hack. She transports them to the Black vault where they encounter a giant black sphere that somehow contains the Phantom Zone. It also fires a beam that blasts Boomerang, leaving only smoking boots behind. Out of the orb comes General Zod. In the back-up by Williams and Ivan Reis, Captain Boomerang tells Waller his origin, which makes him seem like Australia’s answer to James Bond.
SUICIDE SQUAD #3. In the main story, by Rob Williams and Jim Lee, General Zod is free and has disintegrated Captain Boomerang with his heat vision. June Moon turns into the Enchantress, but Zod hits her with Croc and that takes her out of the fight. Katana gets involved and slashes him open with her sword. The military shows up just as Deadshot and Harley Quinn crack out some guns they found to take them out. That’s when the Russian super-team, The Annihilation Brigade, shows up. In the back-up story by Williams and Philip Tan, Katana’s origin story is told by Amanda Waller.
SUPERGIRL #1 by Steve Orlando and Brian Ching. After a recap about her origin, we get snippets of her current life as a student in National City. Later, Supergirl takes down some terrorists on a train threatening to steal everyone’s identity with a gadget called Dataphage. Cat Grant is there, claims she was in control, and blames Supergirl for ruining things. When she gets to Blade, Cameron Chase chews her out for being reckless and not having been authorized to be involved. The Danvers try to make Kara feel better and, in the end, she ends up in the Fortress of Solitude where, apparently, so is daddy!
SUPERMAN #6 by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason. Superman faces off with the Eradicator, eventually pulling Krypto back from inside. Together they team up and defeat the Eradicator, freeing the souls of Krypton. In the end, Superman meets with the rest of the Trinity, apologizes for trashing the moom based bat cave. And he also introduces Batman and Wonder Woman to…Superboy.
SUPERMAN #7 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, and Jorge Jimenez. Clark, Lois and Jon go out for a night on the town and Clark promises not to use his powers at all. So off they go to the Hamilton County Fair, where some crooks are planning on a big robbery. Luckily Clark is there.
SUPERWOMAN #2 by Phil Jimenez. Lois Lane is dead, having been killed by a version of Superwoman from Earth-3. At the same time, Lex Luthor’s super suit doesn’t work so he can’t keep Mercy from launching an attack on Metropolis. Steel convinces Lana to go to Maggie Sawyer and tell her about what happened to Lois. At Steel’s apartment, his niece shows off a special suit designed to dampen her electricity powers that she has called the Insect Queen. The Atomic Skull attacks downtown Metropolis and demands to see Superman, but it’s Superwoman who appears. Meanwhile, Luthor gets attacked by Mercy, who is also a Bizarro version of herself. It’s a trap made possible by Lena Luthor.
TEEN TITANS REBIRTH #1 by Ben Percy and Jonboy Meyers. Beast Boy is partying down at a Los Angeles nightclub where he ends up in a pool with a hot girl before gets taken down by a mysterious attacker. In the Caribbean, Starfire is having a meeting regarding human trafficking when someone grabs a kid and runs away. When she stops him, he claims someone made him do it and then she gets taken out by a mysterious hand that sends electric shocks into her. Raven is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art when she sees a painting of herself as a baby along with Trigon. She gets shot with a tranquilizer by a mysterious person and is knocked out. New 52 Wally West comes across an unconscious body in a subway tunnel. But the body is just a dummy and he gets hit with knockout gas. In the end, they find themselves being held captive…by Damian Wayne and Goliath.
TITANS #3 by Dan Abnett and Brett Booth. Garth has been blasted by Abra Kadabra, which leads to Wally battling the villain. But he disappears and takes the fake Titans with him. Wally has a theory that Kadabra created the fake Titans as a way to test them. Lilith's double tells Kadabra how she believes that Wally and Linda Park are connected and that gives the magician an idea as to who might have been responsible for all of this. Wally goes to meet with Linda but, before he can get too far into explanations, Kadabra shows up and kidnaps her.
TRINITY #1 by Francis Manapul. At the farm, a knock at the door leads Jon to try and look through the door and accidentally blasts Wonder Woman and Batman with his heat vision. Someone should have told him that Lois had invited Bruce and Diana over for dinner. During dinner, Clark tells Jon about Batman protecting Robin by wearing a rainbow Bat Suit as seen in DETECTIVE COMICS #241, although Bruce claims he has no memory of this (because it didn’t happened in the NEW 52 Universe). Bruce and Diana admit they are here because they need to find out if THIS Superman is like the one they knew. In the end, Lois and Diana get comfortable as friends and everyone enjoying being together. But what is going on in the barn and how can young Clark and his family be there?
WONDER WOMAN #6 by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott. In the third part of YEAR ONE, Diana and Steve are heading back to civilization in the Invisible Jet. They get to the Coronado Naval Base and one of the sailors makes the mistake of putting his hands on her. He convinces her to trust him, but there are bigger issues as it seems that his medical exam is revealing things that should not be and he is better than he was when he left. While Diana is in the holding cell, Steve goes to visit Nick's wife and son. Later, she is visited by Barbara Minerva and explains that the Gods visited her and they gave her gifts. She demonstrates by breaking out of her cell.
WONDER WOMAN #7 by Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp. In Part Four of THE LIES, Wonder Woman and Cheetah have freed the kidnapped women. The girls are led to safety by Steve’s colleagues while Diana and Barbara head off to save Steve from Urzkartaga. In the end, Wonder Woman defeats Urzkartaga and Barbara has reverted back to her original self.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
DC REBIRTH Month 4, Part 1
Because it’s Con season and I have a million photo jobs staring me in the face(not a true million…but a lot!), I’m changing things up a little. I’ll be doing synopisis’ only this month, without doing an actual review on the books. Hopefully, that will change with the October titles. Thanks for understanding.
ACTION COMICS #963 by Dan Jurgens and Patrick Zircher. Clark Kent shows up at a Luthor Press Conference to tell his story, when someone tries to assassinate him. After a lie detector test proves he isn’t Superman, we see that Calrk has been doing research on the Geneticron Company. He gets caught by the Geneticron crew and is tossed off a roof, only to be saved by the Man of Steel who insists they need to talk.
ACTION COMICS #964 by Dan Jurgens and Patrick Zircher. Superman takes Clark Kent to his Fortress of Solitude where he uses an alien artifact to get at the truth. Clark’s parents were killed in a natural gas explosion and the Kent family adopted him. He grew up in Smallville with Kenny Braverman, Lana Lang and Pete Ross, before going off to college and going to work for the Daily Planet. It also seems that Doomsday was being kept at Geneticron before being sprung. Superman and Clark had back to Metropolis, only to find that the Geneticron building has disappeared. In the end, Clark writes a story about his time with Superman and we see a mystery man standing in front of a mysterious wall with a Superman crest on it. He claims the path is clear and the only answer is death.
ALL STAR BATMAN #2 by Scott Snyder and John Romita Jr. Two days from now, Gordon and Bullock are on their way to Wayne Manor and when they get there, they find the Batcave entrance inside the grandfather’s clock. 20 hours ago, Black Mask, Penguin and Great White are trying to get a certain Russian out of retirement. In the current time, Killer Croc, King Shark, Amygdala, Cheshire, Copperhead are just part of the crew trying to take out Batman. Dispatching them, Batman goes back to the process of getting Two-Face into custody when he gets shot in the head. He wakes inside a police van with Harvey and some of his henchmen when the van gets taken out by the no longer retired Russian-the KGBeast. In the Cursed Wheel backup, Duke visits his parents in between trying to help Batman are investigate Zsasz’ victims when he might be the latest one, as he gets slashed by him.
AQUAMAN #6 by Dan Abnett and Brad Walker. Superman has arrived to have a conversation with Aquaman concerning the current situation. When he is told he cannot leave, Aquaman slugs Superman and that leads to a huge fight between the three of them. Tula and the Atlantean army arrives and Aquaman sends them away, as Superman tells him he needs to fix things. Over in Antarctica, King Fisher tells Black Manta that he needs to follow orders. His response: he slits King Fisher’s throat and takes the throne.
AQUAMAN #7 by Dan Abnett and Scot Eaton. Aquaman and Mera are back in Atlantis, where he is getting upset that some of his closest advisors have a problem with Mera. Murk comes in and says that they found old Atlantean armor and weapons near the sunken ship, designed to make it look like the Atlanteans were responsible. Meanwhile, Black Manta and Black Jack show up at a N.E.M.O. meeting, kills some members and explains that he is in charge now. Back at the Penitentiary Vault, Aquaman and Mera visit terrorist leader Corum Rath who explains that, although he is a fan of the sinking, he and his people were not responsible. Arthur calls Agent Irving and asks for her help and she agrees. But N.E.M.O. has launched a secret weapon in the form of a giant monster on its' way to Atlantis.
BATGIRL #3 by Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque. Babs has gotten her butt handed to her by Wen Lu, and then discovers that Wen Lu is deaf. She also recalls seeing the same tattoo that the ninja attacker had and realizes that Kai is in trouble. She gets to their place, finds a ninja lady named Moth, and proceeds to beat her down. She also discovers a spy cam and confronts Kai about his secrets before leaving. She traces the spy cam signal to South Korea and figures out that Kai is transporting bio-encrypted bacteria. Batgirl traces the signal to the top of a building and gets trapped by Moth and a construction guy, who tells her that “teacher” is heading to Shanghai. That certainly means Kai is in trouble.
BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #2 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Claire Roe. Batgirl and the Birds are riding with Jim Gordon and taking Santo to a safe house. The Birds head back to the Watchtower where they get paid a visit by the Dark Knight himself, who tells Batgirl he knows she doesn’t need him BUT will be around if she does.
Barbara gets a location on Oracle and the team heads there, only to find it abandoned. As Batgirl tries to download some information off one of the terminals there, they discover a bomb, which it takes the Huntress to save Batgirl and Canary. With the Birds tied up, Oracle has sent a group of snake powered meta-humans to the safe house.
BATMAN #6 by Tom King and Ivan Reis. Gotham Girl cuts her hair and continues to fight to defend Gotham, even as she talks to the brother she killed last issue. Batman follows her and reveals his identity to her, explaining how he knows the pain of loss. We end with Batman going to Amanda Waller that Bane is behind everything and he will have to face him to and we find out what Hugo Strange was up to, where Psycho Pirate is right now and who Batman will have to face to get the revenge/justice/cure for Claire that he desperately wants. However, next up is the Monster Men and I can't wait for all of these stories. I am 100% onboard.
BATMAN #7 by Steve Orlando and Riley Rossmo. In the first part of the Monster Men crossover, a giant, zombie Baby Monster is attacking Gotham. The team takes down the creature and sends that DNA info to the Batcave where it is revealed that this was Anthony Castro, who we previously saw kill himself while declaring that the “Monster Men are here”.
BATMAN BEYOND REBIRTH #1 by Dan Jurgens and Ryan Sook. The Jokerz are attacking a school bus full of kids when Batman, the Terry McGinnis Batman, arrives to break up the party. The cops arrive just in time to see the Jokerz die from Joker Venom.
We also get a flashback retelling of the Batman Beyond animated series origin. The Jokerz, led by an old high school friend of Dana Tan, kidnaps her. It seems they need her help in resurrecting The Joker.
BLUE BEETLE #1 by Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins. We begin with Jaime describing a dream he has had where Doctor Fate is battling a Blue Beetle type creature. At school, Ted Kord shows up for a presentation, before meeting with a member of the Posse and then taking Jamie with him back to his lab. Later they go off so Blue Beetle can investigate the disappearance of a bunch of his schoolmates, when he gets attacked by a creature. Beetle defeats the creature, which transforms back into one of the missing kids. But that doesn’t seem to be the end as mutated Posse members arrive on scene.
CYBORG REBIRTH #1 by John Semper Jr. and Paul Pelletier. Cyborg is attempting to stop a techno creature known as Malware from entering S.T.A.R. Labs. During the battle, we get a flashback involving Vic’s mother and father, the battle to find a cure for her cancer, her death, and the accident the caused his creation. Malware made its’ way to a secret room that only Vic’s father knew about that houses a secret database. Cyborg defeats the creature and when see that a cybernetic visitor is watching all the robot characters in the DC Universe to set them loose onto the population.
CYBORG #1 by John Semper Jr. and Paul Pelletier. Cyborg stops an armored car robbery while the mysterious cybernetic from last issue activates the creature named Kilg%re. Back at S.T.A.R., Vic’s father runs diagnostics on his son, who is still upset about finding the secret files last issue. Sarah takes him out to see a blind jazz musician and he realizes the importance of having a soul. Unfortunately, they leave the club and Kilg%re arrives.
DEATHSTROKE #2 by Christopher Priest, Larry Hama, and Carlo Pagulayan. Slade's son Joey gets kidnapped by someone named Deathstroke. We move to a bar in Edinburgh, where Deathstroke and Wintergreen meet up with Fredric and try to figure out who sold out Wintergreen. Another flashback and we see a mission in Cambodia going bad, complete with an appearance by a young girl with silver hair. In the present, we learn that Fredric sold Wintergreen out. But Slade knew that already. He wants the "Canuck", who turns out to be a super-powered Dr. Ikon. Wintergreen, who has killed Fredric, contacts Slade and lets him know he has been in contact with Hosun and has found a message from Slade's daughter among his old messages. And she is dressed like Deathstroke. Ravager is back.
DEATHSTROKE #3 by Christopher Priest and Joe Bennett. As Deathstroke silently looks over his daughter and her man, she wakes to find he has left. This shifts to a clairvoyant girl who finds out the hit she was hired for was actually a setup. Deathstroke arrives and we discover that the hit girl is really Rose in disguise and she is thrilled to find out that Wintergreen is still alive. We get a flashback showing the results of "Call Me Deathstroke", where his son has had his throat cut and Adeline shoots Slade in the back of the head, costing him his eye. Back in the present, Deathstroke and Ravager go after the person who took out the contract to kill Rose. Slade finds the woman who was hired to engage the hit and decides to take the money. In the end, he’s pretty sure the money will lead him to someone rich in Gotham.
DETECTIVE COMICS #940 by James Tynion IV and Eddy Barrows. Up on the Colony Airship, Batwoman shows up and ends up in a brawl with her dad. Tim has barely survived the first round of drone attacks when a second one is in-bound. He calls Stephanie, tells her how much he loves her and seemingly dies in the second wave. Everyone mourns the loss of another Boy Wonder, especially when Batman finds out he was going off to college. It turns out that Tim isn’t dead and was transported to the abode of Mr. Oz, who tells Tim that he was trying to reconnect things that needed to stay apart.
DETECTIVE COMICS #941 by Steve Orlando and Andy McDonald. Batman and his team continue to fight the mutated creatures wreaking havoc in Gotham while continuing to deal with the loss of Tim Drake. Nightwing and Gotham Girl end up in Blackgate, where she ends up fighting former prisoner Oleg Barlinoff, who has become a spider monster. Gotham Girl tears the spider apart, causing her and Nightwing to be covered in its’ blood. That’s a big mistake as it leads to our heroes being transformed.
THE FLASH #6 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Godspeed continues to take out speedsters and villains alike, with his most recent victim being Billy Parks. Meanwhwhile, Barry is trying to deal with the sudden death of Meena. Wally finds out about her death and heads into action to find Flash. Barry figures out something based on Parks’ death and confronts August, who admits he killed Parks because he believed he was the person responsible for his brother’s death. He’s been killing speedsters accidentally, because he has been draining their powers and that allows him to be in two places at once.
THE FLASH #7 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Barry is getting beat badly by Godspeed, forcing him to flee and lick his wounds. Meanwhile, some Black Hole terrorists have taken prisoners at a bank and are planning on executing them if Dr. Carver isn't released. Godspeed arrives and executes them instead. Wally finds Flash and he explains how he has powers too and had them before the recent event. So the two team up and Barry figures out how to free the speedsters from the Speed Force. He absorbs their powers and brings himself back to full energy just a Godspeed arrives, attacks Avery and then heads to Irongate to kill all the guilty.
GOTHAM ACADEMY SECOND SEMESTER #1 by Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl and Adam Archer. Olive and Professor Macpherson are having dinner at the start of Winter Break. Macpherson breaks their dinner date for the next night and Olive meets her new roommate Amy. Olive shows Amy around the campus including smashing one of Macpherson’s windows and breaking into the Wedgwood Museum, where Amy slashes a painting of Thomas Wayne. They end up in the séance room where Olive faints. When she wakes, Amy and Eric are there and we learn that Wedgwood was a Cobblepot. Amy steals Eric’s research, steals his inhaler, and locks them in. Olive finds a tunnel out and Mr. Scarlett, who has Eric’s asthma inhaler, discovers them. Winter Break is over and the kids are back.
GREEN ARROW #6 by Benjamin Percy and Stephen Byrne. We learn that Shado was a double agent working for the Yakuza and reporting on the Ninth Circle. In a flashback, we see that a watch from the Clock King affects Emiko and that watch brings drug addiction to a whole new level. In the present, Emiko makes her her debut at the Kumite and Oyabun, who owns her and her mother, wants to meet her.
GREEN ARROW #7 by Benjamin Percy and Stephen Byrne. We flashback to a year ago when Ollie found out that the Clock King was controlling his life through his watch. Ollie gets captured and it takes Emiko to save him. In present day, where Emiko meets with Oyabun and agrees to fight him, who is really a dragon, with the freedom of her and her mother at stake. Shado shows up and mother and daughter save the day.
GREEN LANTERNS #6 by Sam Humphries and Will Conrad. It looks like Atrocitus may be killing Simon, since the Lantern is alone and Jessica is nowhere to be found. When all seems lost, she appears from nowhere and, by making a construct, brings Hell Tower down. The Red Lanterns leave and Jessica makes Simon’s day by finding the teddy bear he thought was lost and destroyed.. Jessica reunites with her sister, Simon reunites with his family and the Guardian tells of the Phantom Ring. It’s not a total loss for the Red Lanterns as Dex-Starr planted the Rage Seed before Hell Tower came down, thus fulfilling the prophecy.
GREEN LANTERNS #7 by Sam Humphries and Ronan Cliquet. Simon is making Ma’amoul for Halloween and he’s awful at it. So Jessica lends a hand, while trying to convince him that he’s not a terrible son. In the end, Simon's mother arrives and, after getting over her disappointment about him being a Green Lantern, she tries the cookies and approves. He has finally managed to make his mother proud. But, just when things look good, Rami freaks out and claims that the the Dominators have followed him to Earth.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #4 by Robert Vendetti and Ethan Van Sciver. The Yellow Lanterns bring Sinestro a captured Green Lantern. But it’s Guy Gardner and that just pisses Sinestro off! Hal is in the custody of Sinestro’s daughter Soranik who is trying to revive him with a construct of her creation, that is leaving one heck of a scar. Sinestro shows Guy the Fear Engine before the Guardian kills a beer and crushes the can on his head to prove he’s tough. Meanwhile, John Stewart decides that too much time has elapsed and sends the other Lanterns to go look for their missing comrade.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #5 by Robert Vendetti and Ethan Van Sciver. Guy is trapped inside the Fear Engine where the Sacrament is torturing him. Meanwhile, Sinestro confides to Lyssa that the fact that his own daughter took Hal makes him rather angry and Lyssa suggests that maybe he should kill her. Soranik has used her medical skills to stitch up Hal and explains that she was once the leader of the Sinestro Corps when he was at a point near death. As he shows off his ability to construct a really cool glove, he swears that he is going to find a way to stop her father. John Stewart and Kilowog and the rest of the Lanterns are on their way to find Guy when they encounter a fleet of space ships. Turns out these are good guys who are coming together to take on Warworld.
HARLEY QUINN #3 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Bret Blevins. Red Tool gets an arm reattached, but it belongs to a deceased exhibitionist. Meanwhile, on planet Zhelbon, the parents of the alien that became hot god meat and started the whole zombie outbreak decide they need to go looking for their child. Harley and the crew go through some secret tunnels looking for food and end up coming across some zombies that chase after them. Luckily, the aliens find out their son has been cut into many thousands of pieces and they literally suck those pieces out of the zombies, curing them by killing them.
HARLEY QUINN #4 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Joseph Michael Linsner. Harley is walking the boardwalk and runs into Frank Tieri, who has a booth called “Frank Frank”, where he tells her “life is meaningless.” Then she finds herself on a flight to Mumbai with Bolly Quinn to deal with the scam artists trying to steal personal information from the elderly, leading them to be attacked by a giant robot at a call center. After defeating the robot, she heads to Russia and slits the throat of the mobster behind it all.
THE HELLBLAZER #2 by Simon Oliver and Moritat. While Mercury and Swamp Thing sit back and talk about Abby, John Constantine is getting his walking papers from Chas. He ends up at a Members Only club where he meets with Clarice Sackville, who tells him he may have messed up with getting rid of the demon from the REBIRTH issue. He ends up being followed around by a pair of freaky looking twins before he ends up falling down a strange spiral staircase he found in a subway tunnel.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #4 by Bryan Hitch and Jesus Merino. All of our heroes continue to try and stop the Kindred from allowing The Purge to happen. While Superman battles to survive the Earth’s Core, Wonder Woman threatens the Kindred, Barry loses his Speed Force and the Green Lanterns find an army made up of Cyborg looking creatures.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #5 by Bryan Hitch and Tony S. Daniel. The team continues to battle the Kindred to stop The Purge. But Cyborg has the ability to control the Purge and apparently THAT will stop the Kindred. In the end, the team saves the day, even though Batman says this is far from over.
ACTION COMICS #963 by Dan Jurgens and Patrick Zircher. Clark Kent shows up at a Luthor Press Conference to tell his story, when someone tries to assassinate him. After a lie detector test proves he isn’t Superman, we see that Calrk has been doing research on the Geneticron Company. He gets caught by the Geneticron crew and is tossed off a roof, only to be saved by the Man of Steel who insists they need to talk.
ACTION COMICS #964 by Dan Jurgens and Patrick Zircher. Superman takes Clark Kent to his Fortress of Solitude where he uses an alien artifact to get at the truth. Clark’s parents were killed in a natural gas explosion and the Kent family adopted him. He grew up in Smallville with Kenny Braverman, Lana Lang and Pete Ross, before going off to college and going to work for the Daily Planet. It also seems that Doomsday was being kept at Geneticron before being sprung. Superman and Clark had back to Metropolis, only to find that the Geneticron building has disappeared. In the end, Clark writes a story about his time with Superman and we see a mystery man standing in front of a mysterious wall with a Superman crest on it. He claims the path is clear and the only answer is death.
ALL STAR BATMAN #2 by Scott Snyder and John Romita Jr. Two days from now, Gordon and Bullock are on their way to Wayne Manor and when they get there, they find the Batcave entrance inside the grandfather’s clock. 20 hours ago, Black Mask, Penguin and Great White are trying to get a certain Russian out of retirement. In the current time, Killer Croc, King Shark, Amygdala, Cheshire, Copperhead are just part of the crew trying to take out Batman. Dispatching them, Batman goes back to the process of getting Two-Face into custody when he gets shot in the head. He wakes inside a police van with Harvey and some of his henchmen when the van gets taken out by the no longer retired Russian-the KGBeast. In the Cursed Wheel backup, Duke visits his parents in between trying to help Batman are investigate Zsasz’ victims when he might be the latest one, as he gets slashed by him.
AQUAMAN #6 by Dan Abnett and Brad Walker. Superman has arrived to have a conversation with Aquaman concerning the current situation. When he is told he cannot leave, Aquaman slugs Superman and that leads to a huge fight between the three of them. Tula and the Atlantean army arrives and Aquaman sends them away, as Superman tells him he needs to fix things. Over in Antarctica, King Fisher tells Black Manta that he needs to follow orders. His response: he slits King Fisher’s throat and takes the throne.
AQUAMAN #7 by Dan Abnett and Scot Eaton. Aquaman and Mera are back in Atlantis, where he is getting upset that some of his closest advisors have a problem with Mera. Murk comes in and says that they found old Atlantean armor and weapons near the sunken ship, designed to make it look like the Atlanteans were responsible. Meanwhile, Black Manta and Black Jack show up at a N.E.M.O. meeting, kills some members and explains that he is in charge now. Back at the Penitentiary Vault, Aquaman and Mera visit terrorist leader Corum Rath who explains that, although he is a fan of the sinking, he and his people were not responsible. Arthur calls Agent Irving and asks for her help and she agrees. But N.E.M.O. has launched a secret weapon in the form of a giant monster on its' way to Atlantis.
BATGIRL #3 by Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque. Babs has gotten her butt handed to her by Wen Lu, and then discovers that Wen Lu is deaf. She also recalls seeing the same tattoo that the ninja attacker had and realizes that Kai is in trouble. She gets to their place, finds a ninja lady named Moth, and proceeds to beat her down. She also discovers a spy cam and confronts Kai about his secrets before leaving. She traces the spy cam signal to South Korea and figures out that Kai is transporting bio-encrypted bacteria. Batgirl traces the signal to the top of a building and gets trapped by Moth and a construction guy, who tells her that “teacher” is heading to Shanghai. That certainly means Kai is in trouble.
BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #2 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Claire Roe. Batgirl and the Birds are riding with Jim Gordon and taking Santo to a safe house. The Birds head back to the Watchtower where they get paid a visit by the Dark Knight himself, who tells Batgirl he knows she doesn’t need him BUT will be around if she does.
Barbara gets a location on Oracle and the team heads there, only to find it abandoned. As Batgirl tries to download some information off one of the terminals there, they discover a bomb, which it takes the Huntress to save Batgirl and Canary. With the Birds tied up, Oracle has sent a group of snake powered meta-humans to the safe house.
BATMAN #6 by Tom King and Ivan Reis. Gotham Girl cuts her hair and continues to fight to defend Gotham, even as she talks to the brother she killed last issue. Batman follows her and reveals his identity to her, explaining how he knows the pain of loss. We end with Batman going to Amanda Waller that Bane is behind everything and he will have to face him to and we find out what Hugo Strange was up to, where Psycho Pirate is right now and who Batman will have to face to get the revenge/justice/cure for Claire that he desperately wants. However, next up is the Monster Men and I can't wait for all of these stories. I am 100% onboard.
BATMAN #7 by Steve Orlando and Riley Rossmo. In the first part of the Monster Men crossover, a giant, zombie Baby Monster is attacking Gotham. The team takes down the creature and sends that DNA info to the Batcave where it is revealed that this was Anthony Castro, who we previously saw kill himself while declaring that the “Monster Men are here”.
BATMAN BEYOND REBIRTH #1 by Dan Jurgens and Ryan Sook. The Jokerz are attacking a school bus full of kids when Batman, the Terry McGinnis Batman, arrives to break up the party. The cops arrive just in time to see the Jokerz die from Joker Venom.
We also get a flashback retelling of the Batman Beyond animated series origin. The Jokerz, led by an old high school friend of Dana Tan, kidnaps her. It seems they need her help in resurrecting The Joker.
BLUE BEETLE #1 by Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins. We begin with Jaime describing a dream he has had where Doctor Fate is battling a Blue Beetle type creature. At school, Ted Kord shows up for a presentation, before meeting with a member of the Posse and then taking Jamie with him back to his lab. Later they go off so Blue Beetle can investigate the disappearance of a bunch of his schoolmates, when he gets attacked by a creature. Beetle defeats the creature, which transforms back into one of the missing kids. But that doesn’t seem to be the end as mutated Posse members arrive on scene.
CYBORG REBIRTH #1 by John Semper Jr. and Paul Pelletier. Cyborg is attempting to stop a techno creature known as Malware from entering S.T.A.R. Labs. During the battle, we get a flashback involving Vic’s mother and father, the battle to find a cure for her cancer, her death, and the accident the caused his creation. Malware made its’ way to a secret room that only Vic’s father knew about that houses a secret database. Cyborg defeats the creature and when see that a cybernetic visitor is watching all the robot characters in the DC Universe to set them loose onto the population.
CYBORG #1 by John Semper Jr. and Paul Pelletier. Cyborg stops an armored car robbery while the mysterious cybernetic from last issue activates the creature named Kilg%re. Back at S.T.A.R., Vic’s father runs diagnostics on his son, who is still upset about finding the secret files last issue. Sarah takes him out to see a blind jazz musician and he realizes the importance of having a soul. Unfortunately, they leave the club and Kilg%re arrives.
DEATHSTROKE #2 by Christopher Priest, Larry Hama, and Carlo Pagulayan. Slade's son Joey gets kidnapped by someone named Deathstroke. We move to a bar in Edinburgh, where Deathstroke and Wintergreen meet up with Fredric and try to figure out who sold out Wintergreen. Another flashback and we see a mission in Cambodia going bad, complete with an appearance by a young girl with silver hair. In the present, we learn that Fredric sold Wintergreen out. But Slade knew that already. He wants the "Canuck", who turns out to be a super-powered Dr. Ikon. Wintergreen, who has killed Fredric, contacts Slade and lets him know he has been in contact with Hosun and has found a message from Slade's daughter among his old messages. And she is dressed like Deathstroke. Ravager is back.
DEATHSTROKE #3 by Christopher Priest and Joe Bennett. As Deathstroke silently looks over his daughter and her man, she wakes to find he has left. This shifts to a clairvoyant girl who finds out the hit she was hired for was actually a setup. Deathstroke arrives and we discover that the hit girl is really Rose in disguise and she is thrilled to find out that Wintergreen is still alive. We get a flashback showing the results of "Call Me Deathstroke", where his son has had his throat cut and Adeline shoots Slade in the back of the head, costing him his eye. Back in the present, Deathstroke and Ravager go after the person who took out the contract to kill Rose. Slade finds the woman who was hired to engage the hit and decides to take the money. In the end, he’s pretty sure the money will lead him to someone rich in Gotham.
DETECTIVE COMICS #940 by James Tynion IV and Eddy Barrows. Up on the Colony Airship, Batwoman shows up and ends up in a brawl with her dad. Tim has barely survived the first round of drone attacks when a second one is in-bound. He calls Stephanie, tells her how much he loves her and seemingly dies in the second wave. Everyone mourns the loss of another Boy Wonder, especially when Batman finds out he was going off to college. It turns out that Tim isn’t dead and was transported to the abode of Mr. Oz, who tells Tim that he was trying to reconnect things that needed to stay apart.
DETECTIVE COMICS #941 by Steve Orlando and Andy McDonald. Batman and his team continue to fight the mutated creatures wreaking havoc in Gotham while continuing to deal with the loss of Tim Drake. Nightwing and Gotham Girl end up in Blackgate, where she ends up fighting former prisoner Oleg Barlinoff, who has become a spider monster. Gotham Girl tears the spider apart, causing her and Nightwing to be covered in its’ blood. That’s a big mistake as it leads to our heroes being transformed.
THE FLASH #6 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Godspeed continues to take out speedsters and villains alike, with his most recent victim being Billy Parks. Meanwhwhile, Barry is trying to deal with the sudden death of Meena. Wally finds out about her death and heads into action to find Flash. Barry figures out something based on Parks’ death and confronts August, who admits he killed Parks because he believed he was the person responsible for his brother’s death. He’s been killing speedsters accidentally, because he has been draining their powers and that allows him to be in two places at once.
THE FLASH #7 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Barry is getting beat badly by Godspeed, forcing him to flee and lick his wounds. Meanwhile, some Black Hole terrorists have taken prisoners at a bank and are planning on executing them if Dr. Carver isn't released. Godspeed arrives and executes them instead. Wally finds Flash and he explains how he has powers too and had them before the recent event. So the two team up and Barry figures out how to free the speedsters from the Speed Force. He absorbs their powers and brings himself back to full energy just a Godspeed arrives, attacks Avery and then heads to Irongate to kill all the guilty.
GOTHAM ACADEMY SECOND SEMESTER #1 by Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl and Adam Archer. Olive and Professor Macpherson are having dinner at the start of Winter Break. Macpherson breaks their dinner date for the next night and Olive meets her new roommate Amy. Olive shows Amy around the campus including smashing one of Macpherson’s windows and breaking into the Wedgwood Museum, where Amy slashes a painting of Thomas Wayne. They end up in the séance room where Olive faints. When she wakes, Amy and Eric are there and we learn that Wedgwood was a Cobblepot. Amy steals Eric’s research, steals his inhaler, and locks them in. Olive finds a tunnel out and Mr. Scarlett, who has Eric’s asthma inhaler, discovers them. Winter Break is over and the kids are back.
GREEN ARROW #6 by Benjamin Percy and Stephen Byrne. We learn that Shado was a double agent working for the Yakuza and reporting on the Ninth Circle. In a flashback, we see that a watch from the Clock King affects Emiko and that watch brings drug addiction to a whole new level. In the present, Emiko makes her her debut at the Kumite and Oyabun, who owns her and her mother, wants to meet her.
GREEN ARROW #7 by Benjamin Percy and Stephen Byrne. We flashback to a year ago when Ollie found out that the Clock King was controlling his life through his watch. Ollie gets captured and it takes Emiko to save him. In present day, where Emiko meets with Oyabun and agrees to fight him, who is really a dragon, with the freedom of her and her mother at stake. Shado shows up and mother and daughter save the day.
GREEN LANTERNS #6 by Sam Humphries and Will Conrad. It looks like Atrocitus may be killing Simon, since the Lantern is alone and Jessica is nowhere to be found. When all seems lost, she appears from nowhere and, by making a construct, brings Hell Tower down. The Red Lanterns leave and Jessica makes Simon’s day by finding the teddy bear he thought was lost and destroyed.. Jessica reunites with her sister, Simon reunites with his family and the Guardian tells of the Phantom Ring. It’s not a total loss for the Red Lanterns as Dex-Starr planted the Rage Seed before Hell Tower came down, thus fulfilling the prophecy.
GREEN LANTERNS #7 by Sam Humphries and Ronan Cliquet. Simon is making Ma’amoul for Halloween and he’s awful at it. So Jessica lends a hand, while trying to convince him that he’s not a terrible son. In the end, Simon's mother arrives and, after getting over her disappointment about him being a Green Lantern, she tries the cookies and approves. He has finally managed to make his mother proud. But, just when things look good, Rami freaks out and claims that the the Dominators have followed him to Earth.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #4 by Robert Vendetti and Ethan Van Sciver. The Yellow Lanterns bring Sinestro a captured Green Lantern. But it’s Guy Gardner and that just pisses Sinestro off! Hal is in the custody of Sinestro’s daughter Soranik who is trying to revive him with a construct of her creation, that is leaving one heck of a scar. Sinestro shows Guy the Fear Engine before the Guardian kills a beer and crushes the can on his head to prove he’s tough. Meanwhile, John Stewart decides that too much time has elapsed and sends the other Lanterns to go look for their missing comrade.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #5 by Robert Vendetti and Ethan Van Sciver. Guy is trapped inside the Fear Engine where the Sacrament is torturing him. Meanwhile, Sinestro confides to Lyssa that the fact that his own daughter took Hal makes him rather angry and Lyssa suggests that maybe he should kill her. Soranik has used her medical skills to stitch up Hal and explains that she was once the leader of the Sinestro Corps when he was at a point near death. As he shows off his ability to construct a really cool glove, he swears that he is going to find a way to stop her father. John Stewart and Kilowog and the rest of the Lanterns are on their way to find Guy when they encounter a fleet of space ships. Turns out these are good guys who are coming together to take on Warworld.
HARLEY QUINN #3 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Bret Blevins. Red Tool gets an arm reattached, but it belongs to a deceased exhibitionist. Meanwhile, on planet Zhelbon, the parents of the alien that became hot god meat and started the whole zombie outbreak decide they need to go looking for their child. Harley and the crew go through some secret tunnels looking for food and end up coming across some zombies that chase after them. Luckily, the aliens find out their son has been cut into many thousands of pieces and they literally suck those pieces out of the zombies, curing them by killing them.
HARLEY QUINN #4 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Joseph Michael Linsner. Harley is walking the boardwalk and runs into Frank Tieri, who has a booth called “Frank Frank”, where he tells her “life is meaningless.” Then she finds herself on a flight to Mumbai with Bolly Quinn to deal with the scam artists trying to steal personal information from the elderly, leading them to be attacked by a giant robot at a call center. After defeating the robot, she heads to Russia and slits the throat of the mobster behind it all.
THE HELLBLAZER #2 by Simon Oliver and Moritat. While Mercury and Swamp Thing sit back and talk about Abby, John Constantine is getting his walking papers from Chas. He ends up at a Members Only club where he meets with Clarice Sackville, who tells him he may have messed up with getting rid of the demon from the REBIRTH issue. He ends up being followed around by a pair of freaky looking twins before he ends up falling down a strange spiral staircase he found in a subway tunnel.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #4 by Bryan Hitch and Jesus Merino. All of our heroes continue to try and stop the Kindred from allowing The Purge to happen. While Superman battles to survive the Earth’s Core, Wonder Woman threatens the Kindred, Barry loses his Speed Force and the Green Lanterns find an army made up of Cyborg looking creatures.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #5 by Bryan Hitch and Tony S. Daniel. The team continues to battle the Kindred to stop The Purge. But Cyborg has the ability to control the Purge and apparently THAT will stop the Kindred. In the end, the team saves the day, even though Batman says this is far from over.
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