DC REBIRTH Month 13, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #8 by Steve Orlamdo and Felipe Watanabe. A terrified painted warrior is being chased through the jungles of Monster Valley by S.K.U.L.L Soon he is back in the real world and we learn he is Brenton Hamilton- heir to the Hamilton fortune. The team gets split on whether Hamilton is telling the truth and all, so Batman, Black Canary and Lobo investigate what they can find while Atom goes to Hamilton’s apartment. There he discovers that Brenton plans on taking revenge on his family for what they had done to him.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #9 by Steve Orlamdo and Felipe Watanabe. Brenton wants to take revenge on the family that not only dumped him on the island but killed the huge monster bird he calls mother. He transforms into a monster and luckily Ray, Vixen and Frost show up to stop him. In the end, the police arrest Charity and Robert Hamilton and Brenton gets to go back to the island, bury his “mother” and live happily ever after.

NEW SUPER-MAN #12 by Gene Luen Yang and Billy Tan. Superman Zero continues to battle with Fahai the giant turtle, who cuts Wonder Woman in two with his giant tail, revealing that she has turned into a giant snake. The trio end up in the China Sea where Superman Zero takes them down with a solar flare, which transform Deilan into a giant worm. He flees, but Dr. Omen sends Kenan and Avery after him. Kenan finds him, but learns he is terrified to go back, so Kenan lets him escape. Back at Crab Shell, Baixi reveals to Kenan that he saw his father held here and Kenan confronts Dr. Omen about it. Just then, an armored Superman Zero, who has been turned by I-Chin, arrives and busts into Crab Shell, causing Dr. Omen, who reveals herself to be Kenan’s mother, falls to her possible death.

NIGHTWING #22 by Tim Seeley and Miguel Mendonca. Roland Desmond gets out of Blackgate and gets a job working at the Marcus Casino for Tiger Shark. Shark has a deal in place with the Second Hand, who have brought alien weapons into Bludhaven and he wants Desmond to bring back Nightwing’s skin. Nightwing heads out on the prowl, only to run into Desmond, who has turned into Blockbuster. But Desmond explains he is the brother of the ORIGINAL Blockbuster and is here to offer Nightwing a job.

NIGHTWING #23 by Tim Seeley and Minkyu Jung. Roland explains that his brother Mark, before he got incarcerated, tweaked his Blockbuster formula so the individuals gets to keep their brain. He wants to help do good now, so he is looking for Nightwing to help him takedown the Second Hand.  Algorithim shows up at the local mall and Nightwing takes it out with the help of a forklift. Dick meets with Shawn, who is disgusted that he has missed another job interview. Later, he follows a couple of police officers he believes are helping the Hand, but that leads him into conflict with Skyhook. Skyhook isn’t alone as Count Vertigo, Magog, The Burned, Tiger Shark and Roland Desmond are all here. Can you say setup?

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #11 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. We begin with General Heinle and his troops facing off against Akila and the Amazons. Aremis and Red Hood show up and she discovers that she has been lied to by Akila, who uses the Bow of Ra and kills the General. Bizarro appears and Artemis claims the Bow of Ra for herself. She uses the Bow and Akila dies in the process. In the end, Artemis tells the Amazons they need to live in peace with the citizens of Qurac…but it also appears that Bizarro is dead.

SUICIDE SQUAD #19 by Rob Williams and Neil Edwards. Creatures have escaped from the Phantom, Zod is trying to kill Cosmonut, and Cyborg Superman and the Eradicator are here to recruit Zod from the Superman Revenge Squad. All Zod cares about is freeing the rest of the Kryptonians from out of the Black Sphere, which leads to him to lay waste to Cyborg Superman. Waller figures she can shut down the out that they can shut down the Phantom Zone with the Kryptonite bomb from Zod’s head. Flag decides to do it and knocks Waller out so she doesn’t do it, leaing in and shutting it down-sacrificing himself in the process. Zod decides to join with Cyborg Superman and the Eradicator and flees, leaving Waller to wonder who will lead the team now.

SUICIDE SQUAD #20 by Rob Williams and Stjepan Sejic. With Flag missing and presumed dead, Waller tries to get opinions on a new leader…except for Killer Croc and the Enchantress, who are out on a date. In the end, Waller picks Harley Quinn. And the team goes off to meet The People.

SUPERGIRL #10 by Steve Orlando and Brian Ching. Kara, Babs and Ben are stuck in the Phantom Zone where they meet Captain Jiln-Ka who takes them to Xa-Du, capturing them. Reralizing Psi is the key for Xa-Du to get out of the Phantom Zone.  Batgirl gets them out, Psi turns into a dragon and Kara appears to sacrifice herself.

SUPERMAN #24 by Patrick Gleason, Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, and Patrick Gleason. The new Elite are aliens who we have seen in the past fighting the Kroog. Superman has Lois at the hospital, having lost her leg. Superman heads back home to find Jon, who is freaking out because Manchester Black made him watch. Manchester believes Superboy will be the greatest Elite of all time and that’s why the aliens have been around. Superman is getting beat, Krypto tries to help and Black tries to turn Jon against his father. Cobb and Kathy, really aliens, arrive to help as does Batman, Robin, Frankenstein and The Bride. But they may be too late as Superboy’s eyes turn black.

SUPERMAN #25 by Patrick Gleason, Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, and Patrick Gleason. Superboy tees off on his father, then starts to tee off on Batman before he goes back onto his father. Meanwhile, Frankenstein and The Bride attack Manchester, who cuts off Frankenstein’s Hand. Lois shows up and we see that she never lost her legs and it was all a ruse by Black. Superboy breaks free of Black’s influence and, with the help of Kathy eventually joins the fight, defeating Black and turning him into a vegetable. In the end, the Super Elite decide to stay and rebuild Hamilton County. Kathy takes over the Cobb farm and he find that Black’s consciousness is now in a cow.

SUPER SONS #5 by Peter J. Tomasi and Alisson Borges. Even though Damian and Jon are grounded are after the Kid Amazo incident.  But Jon, who is not happy about the family moving to Metropolis, runs away from home and heads to the Batcave. The boys fight, then Alfred brings them lunch and then they fight again. Batman and Robin shows up and the boys are allowed to adventure together as long as friends and the two eventually arriving to say the same.  The end result?  The boys are allowed to go on adventures as long as Lois approves.

SUPERWOMAN #11 by K. Perkins and José Luís. In a flashback, John’s nephew Zeke wakes up because of a monster in his room. John and Lana assure him there are no monsters but, when they leave, one peeks out of the closet. Meanwhile, Clay arrives with a sack of money he got from dealing with Skyhook and John refuses it. That night, Zeke disappears and Clay is arrested for arms trafficking and blames Skyhook for kidnapping Zeke. In the present, Lana visits with Maggie Sawyer, who tells her she is too close to the kidnapping. Atomic Skull arrives and explains that he has good intel about the case from Remnant. Lana heads off to battle Skyhook and he beats her badly. Instead of killing her, he runs off, leaving her dejected.

TEEN TITANS #9 by Benjamin Percy, Phil Hester, and Khoi Pham.  Kid Flash has been fired, Damian is training Jackson, and his mother os trying to find him, after seeing him on the news fighting King Shark. Wally meets with Raven, looking for advice about joining Deathstroke's Defiance team and hitting on her at the same time.  Jackson meets with his mom and she shows him how she has water powers too. He gets called away and mom ends up in a confrontation with Black Manta…who may be Jackson’s dad.

TITANS #12 by Dan Abnett and Kenneth Rocafort. Lilith is inside of Rikers Island where she is picking Psimon’s brain to find out where he has hidden Bumblebee's memory while he picks away at her mind. He eventually tells her that he can see the future and one of the team will someday betray the rest. Back at the Tower, Roy decides to have a long chat with Donna, only to find her kissing Wally, much to his dismay. In the end, Lilith has learned that Bumblebee’s memories have been sent to Alton Laboratories, and that is where our team is headed.

TRINITY #10 by Francis Manapul. Continuing from where we left off last issue, Batman and Flash are trying to save Cyborg from an Aquaman who has been possessed by an alien parasite. But he holds back long enough from trying to kill The Flash that the rest of the team figures he is still Arthur Curry inside. Superman and Wonder Woman talk to the main alien, who has given them the choice between saving the League or the Earth. By the end, Batman is fighting the monsters, the Green Lanterns have been possessed by them and so is Wonder Woman. Things certainly seem pretty hopeless for the Justice League AND the Earth.

WONDER WOMAN #24 by Greg Rucka and Bilquis Evely. In the epilogue to GODWATCH, Steve Trevor is waiting by the mysterious tree when Cale comes through the portal, followed by Diana. Diana explains everything to Steve and when they leave, Cheetah tries to make her way into the portal, but is denied. Back in Washington, Diana and Steve pay a visit to Etta, who notices her lasso is missing. Committed to making sure Barbara is helped, Diana goes off looking for Doctor Cale. Cale is talking with Dr. Cyber and tells the A.I. that she is a nobody. Cheetah arrives and so does Wonder Woman who fends off Cheetah’s attacks, even as she continues to shred Cale’s flesh. In the end, Diana subdues Cheetah and takes her away to try and get her some help.

WONDER WOMAN #25 by Greg Rucka, Liam Sharp, and Bilquis Evely. The Justice League are battling the Shaggy Man, when Wonder Woman arrives to lend a hand. Batman notices that she doesn’t have her lasso with her. Etta meets with a scarred Sasha, who remembers nothing about any of what went on, including being kidnapped by Cale.  Diana goes to visit Cale, seeking help in returning Cheetah back to normal, but she refuses. Batman and Superman call for her, leading Diana to meet with them. She explains what has happened to her Golden Perfect and then she heads off to petition the Patrons for an answer to it all. They explain that the truth of her could never be changed and the gods arrange for her to get the Perfect back. She meets with Steve and we end with them in bed, naked in each other’s arms.