DC REBIRTH Month 12, Part 2

NEW SUPER-MAN #11 by Gene Luen Yang and Billy Tan. Professor Zheng and his team discover a statue that ties into the legend of the White Snake. But the China White Triad arrive and murder them. While new Flash and Kenan engage in a race around China, Wonder Woman explains that the statue is the turtle spirit of the sorcerer known as Monk Fahai. The Triad injects Fahai with the Doomsday Virus turning him into a giant turtle that creates a tidal wave Flash and Kenan rescue civilians while the rest of the team confronts the creature. It telepathically refers to Deilan as Green Snake and that’s because the two of them have history. She agrees to surrender to him if that will stop the destruction, but Kenan won’t let that happen. When all seems lost, Super-Man Zero arrives. Wait…who?

NIGHTWING #20 by Tim Seeley and Javier Fernandez. Dr. Simon Hurt is doing his best to mentally break Nightwing even as Shawn discovers that Robin is still alive, despite seemingly being stabbed to death. Deathwing shows up and battles with Hurt, who stabs him. As the temple comes down, Dick, Shawn and Damian flee, only to find that Hurt and Deathwing are gone. In the end, Shawn learns she is not with child and Nightwing and Robin head into action as a team.

NIGHTWING #21 by Michael McMillian and Christian Duce. Wally West comes to Bludhaven, share drinks and talked about the messed-up love lives. They meet a villain named Timebomb, who uses a backpack to pause time. After tricking him into believing that he has killed out heroes, they defeat Timebomb. In the end, we learn that the backpack belongs to Tiger Shark and he wants to make sure that Timebomb doesn’t talk.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #10 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. Artemis is with her former sister Akila that she is pretty sure she killed many years ago with the Bow of Ra Akila wants her to join her in her quest to retrieve the Bow, which is in the hands of General Heinle, who was responsible for resurrecting her. Meanwhile, Jason is dealing with visions of The Joker and his younger self, having been killed in Qurac. He awakes to find he was being tortured and proceeds to break free and tell the General that Aftemis is here. The General reveals that Quarac is really being held captive by Akila and her Amazon Army. Elsewhere, Bizarro is becoming a hero to the people, as he literally moves a mountain to save them from the military.

SUICIDE SQUAD #17 by Rob Williams and Tony S. Daniel. The team, minus Boomerang but including Zod, goes into action against the Annihilation Brigade. Zod cracks open Tunguska, which will lead to a massive explosion. Harley discovers thee is a prison there holding Meta-Humans as The People are designing their own Suicide Squad. Flag has Enchantress teleports them all away as the complex explodes, presumably killing most of the Brigade and all the Meta-Humans. Meanwhile, Harcourt is revealed as a member of The People, murders the Task Force X tech team, and begins to erase files, setting an explosion in motion that will destroy Belle Reve in the process. Waller confronts her and, before Harcourt can reveal Hack’s true killer, Digger kills her with a boomerang through her head. In the end, Zod decides he is going to use his laser vision to remove the Kryptonite bomb in his head.

SUICIDE SQUAD #18 by Rob Williams and Tony S. Daniel. Harley and Rick are in the process of getting it on while Zod successfully burns Waller’s bomb out of his brain. With half of his skull gone, he attacks Waller, who is rescued by Captain Boomerang and the team. Just when it looks like they have the upper hand, The Eradicator and Cyborg Superman arrive to lend a hand.

SUPERGIRL #9 by Steve Orlando and Brian Ching. Supergirl joins Katarina Bissell at the Energy Expo as Barbara and Ben watch. The Tycho Eidolon generates Phantom Energy and, thanks to Magog, Ben gets sucked into The Phantom Zone. Batgirl and Supergirl battle Magog.  Supergirl finally takes him out with a tiny punch and that’s When Batgirl jumps into the Phantom Zone to save Ben, followed quickly by Supergirl. Chase arrives and D.E.O. prepares to take Magog in but, after boasting about what the Fatal Five will do to Supergirl, he disappears. In the end, the Phantom King awaits the arrival of the trapped trio.

SUPERMAN #22 by Peter Tomasi and Doug Mahnke. Lois heads out to find Jon and Calrk and the missing Batman but ends up at Mr. Cobb’s farm. Even though he assures her that all will be fine, she ends up in a bomb shelter in town and finds a room full of monitors. And also Candice, who knows Clark and Jon’s secret identities. She races back to her house to get Clark’s Justice League communicator but Mayor Goodman, Candice and others are already there. Armed with some hand-held firepower, she escapes in the Batmobile, but is thwarted by Mr. Cobb. Meanwhile, Superman finds an underground room in Dead Man’s Swamp filled with captured Metas including Robin, Batman and Frankenstein..

SUPERMAN #23 by Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Doug Mahnke. Cobb is menacing Lois, who holds him off with the Hell Bat gauntlet, causing Superman to burst from below and join the fight. He reveals where Jon is just as the town comes under attack by giant monsters. When he arrives in town, he sees the towns people have become a team called The Super Elite. During the battle, Lois’ leg gets cut off and, despite Superman cauterizing it, he racing her to the hospital. In the end, we see that Jon is being held captive by Manchester Black, who wants the son to see the complete defeat of the father.

SUPER SONS #4 by Peter J. Tomasi and Jorge Jimenez. Superboy and Robin have been captured by Kid Amazo, but luckily get freed by Luthor, who wats his armor back. Sara joins the fight and manages to rip the Amazo skeleton off her brother’s back. Luthor promises to help make

SUPERWOMAN #10 by K. Perkins and Stephen Segovia. John Henry and Natasha test the potential abilities Lana may have within the Insect Queen costume. As it turns out, she still has powers through the suit. She also discovers that John Henry’s brother has escaped prison along with his former associate Skyhook, who was responsible for kidnapping Natasha’s 8-year old nephew. As Superwoman, Lana goes after Skyhook.

TEEN TITANS #8 by Christopher Priest, Benjamin Percy, Dan Abnett, Phil Hester and Khoi Pham. THE LAZARUS CONTRACT PART TWO. Wally West helps a motorist in need, who turns out to be Deathstroke, and gets a burger and captured for his trouble. The two Wallys soon meet, as they are both Deathstroke’s captive. Slade reveals to Wally how he needs to use his speed to travel through time and fix everything, starting with Grant’s death. With a promise that he will stop being Deathstroke forever if he can do this, Wally agrees to let him tap into his Speed Force power. Over at Teen Titans Tower, Damian reveals that he can’t find Wally because the tracker he put on him is on Damian. At Titans Tower, Deathstroke appears on their monitors and talks about the Lazarus Contract. The Teen Titans arrive and Damian accuses Dick of making a deal with Deathstroke. The combined team tracks down the elder Wally and they see that Deathstroke is now a bearer of the Speed Force, even as the younger Wally apologizes. Continued in DEATHSTROKE #19.

TEEN TITANS SPECIAL #1 by Christopher Priest, Benjamin Percy, Dan Abnett, and Paul Pelletier. THE LAZARUS FINALE FINALE. We begin with Grant Wilson back when he was with the kids in the H.I.V.E., resulting in him being transformed into The Ravager. Later, Grant of the past meets Deathstroke from the present and is thrilled…until he discovers that Deathstroke is his dad. Slade knocks him out and decides to go further into the past. In the present, the Titans, minus young Wally and Aqualad, head to Hatton Corners where they meet Jericho. They all head into the past, where they run into the younger version of what is now The Titans, leading to Damian using his Stone Palm to temporarily kill Kid and break Deathstroke's connection to the Speed Force. Dick Grayson Robin brings Kid Flash back to life which allows young Wally to get his Speed Force back. With everyone back in the present, they find Deathstroke who manages to enter the Speed Force, leading to both Wallys entering behind him. With Raven’s help via a psychic tether, the all manage to exit the Speed Force. Deathstroke removes his mask and announces that he is finished. In the epilogue, Damian fires Wally while we learn that Titans’ Wally now has a pacemaker, based on what happened in the past. And if he runs, he dies.

TITANS #11 by Christopher Priest, Benjamin Percy, Dan Abnett and Brett Booth. THE LAZARUS CONTRACT PART ONE. In a moment from years ago, the Titans are battling The Ravager when he dies from a heart attack, sending Deathstroke into a grief-fueled rage. In the present, Slade has received a corneal transplant from an unknown donor. He also learns that Rose in in a hospital in stable condition and Jericho is in rehab. after the events in DEATHSTROKE #18. The Titans are battling what they believe are H.I.V.E. agents, but are actually just hired by someone named Lazarus. During the fight, Wally gets captured by Deathstroke, who wants revenge but also offers him a deal: use the Time-Force to change the past. Wally refuses and that’s when he meets the OTHER Wally West, who has also been captured. Continued in TEEN TITANS #8.

TRINITY #9 by Francis Manapul and Steve Wands. Jessica, Simon and Cyborg appear to be dead, floating in space outside of the Watchtower. The Trinity are in the cave last seen in the Black Mercy story, when they get transported to the Watchtower...leaving behind White Mercy who was unseen by them. They find Cyborg barely alive and head to the escape pods where they plan to use the energy there to jump start what’s left of Cyborg. Once inside, they find that Simon and Jessica have been taken over by aliens. Flash arrives and meets with batman while Wonder Woman and Superman meet the alien responsible for all of this.

TRINITY ANNUAL #1 by Rob Williams and Guillem March. Circe asks Ra's al Ghul why does the Trinity exist with the answer being Fate. While the Trinity enjoys a nice quiet dinner, a mysterious hooded figure heads into the Pandora Pits, where we see a cave painting representing the Trinity. There’s a confrontation with the League of Assassins and the hooded man transforms into Etrigan, who gets cut by Ra’s which results in his blood going into the Pit. This transforms him into a giant and separates him from Jason Blood, who begins to age rapidly. Superman and Wonder Woman battle Etrigan while Batman convinces Jason to reunite which the creature. In the end, Etrigan and Jason are reunited while Circe and Ra's look to another possible Trinity-Red Hood, Artemis and Bizarro.

WONDER WOMAN #22 by Greg Rucka and Mirka Andolfo. In a tale set eight years and seven months after Diana left Themyscira, a bachelor and bachelorette auction leads to Veronica Cale purchasing a date with Diana. She introduces her security team of Marina Maru and Kit Cox, before dismissing them before their dinner. Diana reveals that she is aware how Team Poison ended the human trafficking ring by killing the traffickers and Cale reveals she has no regrets. They take a taxi out of town, where they get dropped off and confront armed assassins. Some time later, it is revealed that Veronica was trying to find a way to Themyscira. Wonder Woman arrives and explains that she knows of the connection between Cheetah and Cale, as she returned a broken watch to Cale. In the end, Diana warns that she will be watching Cale. 

WONDER WOMAN #23 by Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp. Ares has been bound by Aphrodite to keep him out of man’s wars. But the snake bite he gave Wonder Woman was designed to be a map to him. We also learn that Phobos and Deimos was masquerading as their father. They are now on Themyscira, where the Amazons are ready to face them. Wonder Woman gives herself to the pair and defeats them by saying she loves them. Wonder Woman is ready to return to Man’s world,  but Veronica’s daughter must stay behind or else lose her face once more. So Izzy stays with the Amazons for the remainder of her days while Hippolyta tells hr daughter to make her proud.

WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL #1 by Greg Rucka, Vita Ayala, Michael Moreci, Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, Nicola Scott, Claire Roe, Stephanie Hans, and David Lafuente. Our first story has Batman and Superman meeting Diana for the first time. In the second story, King Shark is being sentenced to death in Markovia but Diana uses her lasso to prove he is innocent and sets him free. In the third tale, Wonder Woman battles a Japanese warrior named Kikori, who has asked her to take his life to free him from his curse. In the last story, she battles a giant monster but, when she finds the tale of the creature, gets it away from civilization and brings it to Dinosaur Island.