Some new first issues and some MARVEL LEGACY reviews

THE ARCHIES #1 by Alex Segura, Matthew Rosenberg and Joe Eisma. Coming out of the one shot from earlier this year, the newly established band is ready to take their act on the road. After seeing a performance by the Bingos, they secure a van and off they go. This is fun. I grew up with the television show and this is like a modern nostalgia trip for me. Very interesting is the list of songs that the team listened to while working on the book including music by Oasis, The Replacements, Fleetwood Mac and Weezer.

BARBARELLA #1 by Mike Carey and Kenan Yarar. Jean-Claude Forest’s legendary heroine is back, fighting for her life and freedom. The story sets up nicely, especially for no one who is familiar with the original source material. Yarar’s art is very evocative of Forests’ and it flows nicely. Be aware: this is not a book for kids, as nudity and Lesbian actions abound. All in all, it’s a fun take on a classic.

BETTY AND VERONICA VIXENS #1 by Jaime Lee Rotante and Eva Cabrera. Archie and Reggie start their own biker gang and get in trouble with the Serpents. That leads to Betty and Veronica becoming bad biker chicks. OMG-this is so confusing! Is it set in the now or the Fifties? Hard to tell by the feel. And  the art is straight out of first year art school homework. Not a favortie, considering how much I like the new rebooted Archie line of books.

BLOODSHOT SALVATION #1 by Jeff Lemire and Lewis LaRosa. I was so down on Valiant after the disappointing BOOKS OF DEATH but they have lured me back in with great titles like the recent BLOODSHOT runs. This title picks up where the last left off and we find our hero having a wife and daughter. It jumps between the recent future and the now as it tells two tales that tie together. Filled with action and plenty of violence, this book shines as one of the cornerstones of the Valiant Universe. Lemire’s writing is crisp and LaRosa’s art is gritty. Go seek out the previous series and get caught up on this great book.

CABLE #150 by Ed Brisson and Jon Malin. Springing out of the MARVEL LEGACY initiative, Cable has put together a team of heroes including Doop, Shatterstar and Longshot to solve the death of an External. I haven’t read this title since the first issue of the Pre-Legacy series and that means I’m a bit confused. But Brisson’s writing is consistent and Malin is truly channeling Rob Liefeld. This was good enough that I may actually follow the series for a time.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #695 by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee. Coming out of SECRET EMPIRE and diving in LEGACY, Cap is back and on a very trippy cross-country trip that totally feels like a Jack Kerouac novella. Steve Rogers returns to a Nebraska town a decade after first being there and finds there is a celebration of his legacy. Bad guys show up and that leads to Steve donning the costume and getting back into action. A nice kick-off to what will hopefully be a long run for Waid and Samnee.

DAREDEVIL #595 #1 by Charles Soule and Stefano Landini. With a return back to Legacy numbering, Daredevil deals with the fact that Kingpin is now the Mayor of New York. That also means that Fisk is out to get him. This issue sets up what could be a fun run as Soule and Landini throw a big roadblock in front of our hero, who finds himself on the wrong side of the law…again!

DC HOUSE OF HORROR #1 by Edward Lee, Howard Porter, Brian Keene, Scott Kolins, Mary SanGiovanni, Bilquuis, Evely, Bryan Smith, Brian Keene, Kyle Baker, Nick Cutter, Rags Morales, Ronald Malfi, Dale Eaglesham, James White, Tom Raney, Weston Oche, and Howard Chaykin. Eight horror themed stories featuring a host of DC Superheroes and villains highlights this $10 collection. It is totlly worth it when you look at some of the names involved, including Morales, Porter, Baker and Chaykin specifically. Raney gets marks for the goriest of the tales featuring Two-Face.

DEADMAN #1 by Neal Adams. Wow! This book looks great and the Glow-in-the-Dark cover is really cool. But the narrative is really confusing. It jets back and forth between distant past and present as Deadman deals with his murder and jumps into multiple bodies including Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne. Hoping the second issue gets clearer as we go.

DOCTOR STRANGE #381 by Donny Cates and Gabriel Hernandez Walta. Another Legacy numbered title, with a new creative team, sees Doctor Strange out as the Sorcerer Supreme, having given the reigns to…Loki? So where is Stephen now? He’s working as a veterinarian. This is fun and unexpected, and I love Walta’s artwork. Stehen always wanted to be a doctor again and now he is. And Loki? He even has to convince Jane Foster Thor that he has turned over a new leaf…even though we have to figure he has an alterior motive somewhere in there.

GENERATIONS: CAPTAIN MARVEL AND CAPTAIN MAR-VELL #1 by Margaret Stohl and Brent Schoonover. Caro Danvers finds herself fighting aliens and gets help from the original Captain in the process. This eventually leads to a confrontation with Annihilus. This is just another excuse for Marvel to pair up heroes from two eras and pass it off as key pieces of SECRET EMPIRE. Only for die-hard fans.

GENERATIONS: MILES MORALES AND PETER PARKER #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ramon Perez. Miles Morales comes from a Marvel Universe that no longer exists. He is even more displaced here as he ends up back in high school with a teenage Peter Parker. That means a ton of classic cameos and Miles even gets to meet his mother and himself. This issue is short on action but way long on heart and is possibly the best issue of the GENERATIONS series thanks to Bendis’ love for these characters.

GENERATIONS: MS. MARVEL AND MS. MARVEL #1 by G. Willow Wilson and Paulo Villanelli. During that one brief instant during SECRET EMPIRE, a whole batch of heroes ends up misplaced in time and meeting their original counterparts. Current Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan goes back in time and meets up, and works for, Carol Danvers. Along the way, she meets up with Peter Parker, J. Jonah Jameson and a host of Marvel characters before joining forces with Carol to stop the big bad villain. This is a throw off issue, like most of the GENERATIONS titles were.

GENERATIONS: SAM WILSON AND STEVE ROGERS #1 by Nick Spencer and Paul Renaud. Sam Wilson gets sent back in time and ends up in World War II where he not only ends up in the Army with Steve Rogers but ends u teaming up with him. Sam ends up staying in this timeline and eventually becomes a preacher, living to a ripe old age before seemingly passing on and coming back to the present. This is a weird little tale that is filled with heart and gives us a great look at the man behind the mask.

HARBINGER RENEGADE #0 by Rafer Roberts and Juan Jose Ryp. Valiant continues to crank out entertaining pieces following their dismal BOOKS OF DEATH mini-series. Set in the past, the government agenecy known as OMEN is out hunting psiots. H.A.R.D. Corps, who were responsible for killing Generation Zero, has teamed up with OMEN to race against time to take down Alexander Solomon-the most dangerous psiot alive. The results are graphic and unpredictable, but a whole lot of fun, as it ties to the current HARBINGER series and leads into HARBINGER WARS 2, coming next May. Get on the ground floor now!

THE INCREDIBLE HULK #709 by Robbie Thompson and Joe Bennett. With a return to LEGACY numbering, even if the way they got there is a bit convoluted, Amadeus Cho, the current Hulk, finds himself on Planet Hulk, where he finds himself forced to battle in the arena. I am not a big fan of the “teenage Hulk”, but this issue is relatively satisfying. Thompson has the characterization down perfect and Bennett’s art is dynamic. I thought this would be one and done for me, but I may stick around to see what happens in a setting that is a major favorite with many Hulk fans.

THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #593 by Brian Michael Bendis and, Stefano Caselli and Alex Maleev. Tony Stark’s body is missing, Ben Grimm confronts Victor Von Doom and Ironheart gets involved with Team Stark to figure out what happened. And who is that person in the end looking to claim the Iron Man armor? Typical Bendis, this issue is filled with hints and red herrings and some awesome dialogue. My hope is that Bendis’ eventual replacement won’t mess this up.

THE JETSONS #1 by Jimmy Palmiotti and Pier Brito. DC reboots this classic cartoon in their typical style. What that means is that we have all the classic characters but they have been turned in such a way to make them new and fresh. George and Jane are younger, the kids are older and Rosie the Robot has Grandma Jetson’s brain inside her programming. Forget everything you know about the show and dive in. It’s more action than comedy and quite fun! 

JUGHEAD THE HUNGER #1 by Frank Tieri, Pat Kennedy and Tim Kennedy. Archie releases another horror themes book, since it appears we’ll never see AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE ever again. Judhead is a werewolf and he’s fighting that family legacy. He falls in love with a girl and eventually murders her in his alter ego. The art is quirky but Teiri’s story is rock solid. If you can handle the kids of Riverdale being turned like this, you’ll love this.

KID LOBOTOMY #1 by Peter Milligan and Tess Fowler. Milligan…that’s pretty much all you need to know. It’s typically trippy and that’s about all I can say. Milligan’s work always tend to go that way and this is no exception. The Kid is a hero and a regular guy with issues. Lots of them. I know this sounds very vague but that is because it IS vague. Find a copy and dive in…maybe it will make sense to you. Me-I look forward to the second issue and see what the heck happens.

MAESTRO #1 by Steve Skroce and Dave Stewart. Welcome to a world of wizards and mystical beings and a poor guy stuck in the middle. Our hero is poised to be the new Maestro and that may mean a whole lot of trouble for this guy with the power and the money. He goes from a strip club to another world and it may kill him in the end. What a fun ride this was! I cannot wait to see where issue #2 takes us. Sharp writing from Skroce and killer art by Stewart!

MARVEL LEGACY #1 by Jason Aaron, Esad Ribic and Steve McNiven. Beginning with the Avengers of a million years ago, this huge one-shot sends us through a tale that cleans up everything from SECRET EMPIRE and reestablishes the classic heroes in their fight for what is right. It is long and winding and sometimes just plain boring. But in the end, we get a glimpse of the future and, SPOILER HERE, we get to see the Richards children at play, leading all Marvel Zombies to breathe a sigh of hope for the return of the original first family. This is the cornerstone for the new LEGACY initiative and hopefully will put Marvel back on track. Oh yeah: the one trueWolverine is back!

THE MIGHTY THOR #700 by Jason Aaron, Walter Simonson, Russell Dauterman, Daniel Acuna, James Harren, Beckly Cloonan, Das Pastoras, Chris Burnham, Andrew MacLean, Jill Thompson, Mike Del Mundo and Olivier Coipel. Set in the current continuity, which will result in the death of Thor(a Thor, that is) is an oversized monster of a tale that sets the future in motion. Old friends, including the frog, and old enemies, specifically Magog, arrive and Jane Foster is still dying. It’s an epic tale with a host of classic artists bringing it all together. Go hunt down the Previews Exclusive variant cover featuring Banner Hut and Odinson by Todd Nauck.

MOON KNIGHT #188 by Max Bemis. If you have ever read an Avatar book, especially CROSSED and PROVIDENCE, then you have seen Burrows’ work and he pulls out the stops here. With guest appearances by Khonshu and Amon Ra, and even the title character, this is one creepy tale of crazy! I love this new direction and can’t wait to see what’s next!

NINJA-K #1 by Christopher Gage and Tomas Giorello. Valiant reboots this character with a twist: he’s the 10^th Ninja, thus the new hyphenated name. Colin King still has the mantle, but we learn that someone is kicking off former members. Oh yeah: King is also having a romantic relationship with Livewire. We get some history on his predecessors and see what he’s doing to save the lives of the others. The concept is cool and Giorello’s art is top notch! This book is highly recommended, especially for fans of butt kicking action adventure.!

NOT BRAND ECHH #14 by Nick Spencer, Jay Fosgitt, Katie Cook, Ryan North, Erica Henderson, Nick Kocher, Brian Churilla, Christopher Hastings, Gurihiru, and Chip Zdarsky. After 48 years, this satirical series returns with a one shot that tries to emulate the good old days. And while it has a host of established and upcoming artists, it’s not like the old days of Kirby, Colon and Severin. And, where the original series took shots at popular movies and television shows, but featuring Marvel characters, this one just focuses on parodying Marvel heroes and storylines, most notably SECRET EMPIRE. I have to say, I was greatly disappointed.

POWER PACK #63 by Devin Grayson and Marika Cresta. Back in action after all these years, we see Katie Power telling her teacher an “imaginary story” that is completely based on a Power’s family adventure. If you were expecting a new tale, you will be disappointed. If you were a fan of this series, you’ll love this. Seek out the June Brigman variant cover-this makes the book totally worth the price of admission.

THE RUFF AND REDDY SHOW #1 by Howard Chaykin and Mac Ray. While the name comes from the same Hanna Barbera television cartoon of the late 1950’s, this tale is far from that! Television stars in their own right, Reddy is a misogynist and Ruff is equally foul. They run into trouble when their show is cancelled, and they go their separate ways, each desperately trying to ply their trade as performers. Well, the time is now, and someone decides it’s time to put the air back together. It’s raw and edgy and a little hard to swallow. Let’s see where creative takes this thing…

SHANG-CHI #126 by CM Punk and Dalibor Talajic. First problem with this book is that CM Punk wrote it. He needs to stick to the ring, either of them. Second problem is Shang-Chi nows has a pet monkey of Kung Fun who travels and fights with him wearing a little version of his master’s costume. And the story-it deals with a villain named Dr. Mel Prasis=Malpractice. It’s a mess from word one. I want Fu Manhu and the full supporting cast back like Leiko, Blackjack Tarr Nayland Smith

THE WILDSTORM: MICHAEL CRAY #1 by Bryan Hill, Warren Ellis and N. Steven Harris. Warren Ellis continues to recreate the Wildstorm Universe in his own image. Cray is still an assassin for hire and, besides dealing with his past and his powers, this leads him into a potential confrontation with Green Arrow. Is this in the DC Universe or not is anyone’s guess. The art is spectacular and, except for trying to figure out where this sits in DC Continuity, the story is intriguing. It’s a fun ride.

SILVER SABLE #36 by Christa Faust, Paulo Siqueira and Jose Luis. Until recently, the world thought she was dead, after faking her own death. Now she is back and is all about taking down some terrorists known as the S.S.S. This is a long action sequence with great art and little else. It felt like a DIE HARD movie with a female lead. Here is a character with so much potential and she comes off like Frank Castle in white. Just a major disappointment.

WONDER WOMAN/CONAN #1 by Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti. What happens when you cross two universes together and pair two classic heroes in a team-up? You get this book. Simone’s writing is mixed, with her take on the Amazon princess being spot-on and Conan being a little weak. She is certainly no Robert E. Howard. Lopresti shines on his art, as usual.

DC REBIRTH Month 18, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #18 by Steve Orlando and Hugo Petrus. Documentarian, John Porter, is making an insider film on the JLA. Well, it turns out that Porter is not who he says he is and that’s when Afterthought shows up. He quickly takes down the Batman-less team and it’s revealed that Prometheus is the cause for all their current and future troubles.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #19 by Steve Orlando and Hugo Petrus. Afterthought battles Lobo, before revealing his real target is Black Canary. Canary gets free long enough to use her Canary Cry to return Ryan back to our world and Killer Frost uses her powers to take down Afterthought. Unfortunately, he was only the bait for a bomb Prometheus has set. Meanwhile, the rest of the team is fighting Prometheus, who gives Vixen the option to destroy her Totem or die. Elsewhere, Dreamslayer leaves the doomed world of Angor and meets up with Blue Jay, Ray and Preon in the Microverse.

NEW SUPER-MAN #17 by Gene Luen Yang and Joe Lalick. The Justice League briefly fights with Kenan and is friends, until Kenan reveals he needs to find the Red Jade Dragon to get his final power and hopefully free I-Ching. The search takes them to Lex Luthor’s mansion where Kenana eventually grabs the Dragon. As he learns of his new power, the All-Yang brings him into the void and explains that he has killed I-Ching. If that wasn’t bad enough, he unleashes the Demi-Gods of China uipon him.

NIGHTWING #32 by Tim Seeley and Scot Eaton. Raptor confronts Dick at the casino and, it is revealed, that he slipped the Blockbuster serum into the drinks at the casino. Dick is now forced to stop all these people from killing him while not harming these innocents in the process. Meanwhile, the Run-Offs have hacked into Raptor’s computer and figured out his master plan. But they will need help, so they recruit Orca.

NIGHTWING #33 by Tim Seeley and Javier Fernandez. Nightwing gets saved by Roland Desmond, after which he reveals that he gave Raptor the Blockbuster serum. The two work together to keep the Blockbuster effected citizens off the street, but are too late. Luckily Stallion and Gorilla Grimm are on the case and trying to stop the flow of Blockbusters into Bludhaven. DeFacer contacts Nightwing and explains that Raptor and Pigeon are planning t release the formula throughout the city using birds.

RAGMAN #2 by Ray Fawkes and Inaki Miranda. Rory continues to battle both his PTSD and demonic brothers from the ancient cult of Ruah Tum’ah, as they try to get him to give up his rags.  He defeats them in the end and the voices in his head of his fallen comrades encourage him to continue the fight.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #16 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. The Outlaws have been captured by the Suicide Squad, but both Jason and Artemis get free. They eventually find Bizarro, who is having a relaxing cup of tea with Amanda Waller. He has told her that he is aware of sub-atomic tremors in a power source that is in one of Harvest’s abandoned facilities. That could bring the world to an end, so they all team up and heads out into the snow to fix the problem.

SUICIDE SQUAD #29 by Rob Williams and Barnaby Bagenda. The team has landed on the moon and they have discovered a number of corpses of Task Force X operatives that died here. On the body of  an agent named Tungsten, they find the words FARADAY LIED scrawled upon him. That’s about the same time that Flag locks everyone in and releases the Red Wave monster. In the back-up, we see the early days of Faraday working with Task Force X, including missions involving the Black Triangle UFO and the War Wheel. We also learn that Rick Flag was the fourth man to land on the moon with Apollo IX and they encountered the Red Wave monster.

SUICIDE SQUAD #30 by Rob Williams, Philippe Briones and Wilfredo Torres. Rick Flag Sr. has been taken over by the Red Wave and there is a giant monster version of it too. Harley, Boomerang and Croc get taken down, but Harley manages to flee and hide, finding a bunch of DC Universe artifacts in the process. Katana tries to warn Karin that the monster is coming for it’s heart, but she has also been taken over by the Red Wave. She also reveals that half of the heart is on Earth, which the rest of the team learns when they find Faraday’s diary with a message warning anyone who reads it. Harley finds a magic mirror to the Phantom Zone and sees Rick Flag Jr. inside it. In the back-up, we learn that Faraday came back from the Apollo XI mission and was possessed by the Red Wave monster.

SUPERGIRL #15 by Jody Houser, Steve Orlando and Robson Rocha. Mr. Bones is the new head of the DEO, where he has Magog making a cell capable of holding Supergirl, once they catch her. He also has Dr.Veritas making weapons to help defeat her. Meanwhile, the DEO are all over Kara’s school, searching for answers and clues. In the end, a visitor from Supergirl’s past comes looking for revenge.

SUPERMAN #34 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Ed Benes and Doug Mahnke. The people of Apokolips realize that Luthor has lied about being their god, so he manages to use a Boom Tube to bring Superman there and show that HE is really their god. Elsewhere, Lois gets captured by the Female Furies and, when one of them is killed by a Dredge Worm, she joins them, earning Granny Goodness’ respect and made part of the team. In the end, Jon runs into some of Darkseid’s soldiers and the Hunger Dogs, forcing him to flee.

SUPERMAN #35 by Patrick Gleason, Peter J. Tomasi, Travis Moore and Stephen Segovia. Clark and Lex are trying to get away from the people of Apokolips, who think Superman is their savior. Kalibak arrives and has a plan to free his father by shooting the Chaos Cannon into the core of the planet.  Meanwhile, Lois arrives with the Furies and Kalibak decides that if he can’t have the throne, no one will and he fires of the cannon again. Of course, that results in the planet starting to split apart. Jon is off dealing with the Hunger Dogs, who he saves from being eaten by the soldiers and he comes riding to hopefully save the day.

SUPER SONS #10 by Peter J. Tomasi and Jose Luis. Damian, Jon, Bruce and Clark are hanging out together before they drive off and Jon shows Damian what it’s like to fly. Later, Bruce wakes Damian and takes him to the new underwater headquarters that he and Clark have designed for the boys. However, it comes with a price: Damian is going to be attending school with Jon, which doesn’t go over so well with a boy who claims to be smarter than all the teachers. Meanwhile, we see the future and Batman 666.

SUPER SONS ANNUAL #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Paul Pelletier. With Jon and Damian out stopping bank robbers, a per kidnapping occurs. Krypto reads the headlines in the paper and immediately sets about to reform, with the help of Detective Chimp, the Super Pets. When last they were together, facing off against Dex-Star and his evil pets, costing the life of Clay Critter. Despite bad feelings, the team comes back together and defeats an alien who has kidnapped all of the dogs around. In the end, the dogs are free and end up at Jon’s house while Titus and Krypto fist bump.

SUPERWOMAN #16 by K. Perkins and Stephen Segovia. Lois tries to explain that John Henry has been captured by Midnight. Traci 13 deduces that Lois is trying to tell them what happened by reciting binary numbers which leads Traci 13 to connect electrodes to her head and surf the Internet, leading her to discover Lena Luthor is behind Midnight. Lana goes off to confront Midnight, allowing her to take control of her body to save her friend.

TEEN TITANS #14 by Benjamin Percy and Khoi Pham. While Robin and Red Arrow try to stop the huge tidal wave that threatens Star City, the rest of the team convinces Kid Flash to join them and give an assist. Kid Flash uses his power to save the day, which frees the team up to take on Onomatopoeia. Red Arrow gets wounded and that sends Robin into a frenzy and, with the help of Kid Flash, they take down the serial killer. Wally gives Damian a flash drive with information on Deathstroke and the air shake hands. In the end, Emiko turns down Robin’s invite to join the team and Tim contemplates telling the Teen Titans he is alive.

TITANS #17 by Dan Abnett and Minkyu Jung. Troia explains that she is the Donna Troy from the future and she has travelled back in time to make sure Donna doesn’t have to watch al her friends die, as she herself is immortal. After explaining how each of the Titans will die, with Bumblebee being the last, Troia decides she needs to kill all of them now and asks Donna if she would like to help. Meanwhile, Kid Flash realizes that Wally can’t be dead because he can still feel the Speed Force inside of him.

TRINITY #15 by Rob Williams and V. Ken Marion. While Circe explains how she is dying and needs everyone’s life energy to survive, Batman, along with Red Hood and the Outlaws, who have been restored by the Dark Knight, show up to try and save the day.  looking awesome and ready for a fight. Circe creates a giant Ani-Men, which they quickly defeat. Zatanna heals Constantine while Ra’s rises from the pit, stabs Circe and throws her in, leading to Wonder Woman to save her life.

WONDER WOMAN #34 by James Robinson and Sergio Davila. We begin by seeing the night of Diana and Jason's birth how Jason was given to immortal Argonaut Glaucus to keep him safe from the gods. After catching up on their respective lives, Grail arrives, and Jason reveals his true self. He hates his sister because of everything she was given with him. He also reveals the extent of his powers and creates a tsunami to take her out. In the end, Diana finds herself at the mercy of Grail and Jason.

WONDER WOMAN #35 by James Robinson and Emanuela Lupacchino. Taking a step back from the current story, we travel to a time many years ago when Glaucus tells Jason about who he really is. He earns of his powers and Glaucus tells him he needs to keep that a secret. Hercules arrives to infrequently train Jason and, one day, Glaucus leaves and Jason begins his life as a fisherman. One day, Deep Six comes calling and Jason jumps into action.

DC REBIRTH Month 18, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #991 by Dan Jurgens and Viktor Bogdanovic. Superman is taken by his father to his lair where he sees where Mr. Mxyzptlk was locked up and also sees a restrained Doomsday. Father and son battle, as Jor-El blasts Superan with his Kryptonite eye. Frustrated, Suprman breaks Jor-El’s staff, which is keeping his Kryptonite poisoning in check, while the father explains that he never wanted to do what he did and has been controlled all along. Jor-El gets sucked away by the mysterious blue light, which also transports Superman back to his Fortress of Solitude.  This will lead to Superman’s search for his father as well the upcoming DOOMSDAY CLOCK mini-series.

ACTION COMICS #992 by Dan Jurgens, Rob Williams and Will Conrad. Clark finds himself dealing with the revelation that Oz is his father Jor-El and is trying to figure out how to find him. He ends up on Mogo where he sees Tomar-Re’s recording of the destruction of Krypton. Then they realize that the file has been corrupted-tampered with so that no one can see what happens after baby Kal-El’s ship leaves the planet. Upon further investigation, Superman finds that the file is fine, but someone has messed with time. He ends up using the Flash’ Cosmic Treadmill to travel back to Krypton. Unfortunately, Booster Gold arrives too late to stop him and stop Superman from destroying the timeline.

AQUAMAN #30 by Dan Abnett and Stjepan Sejic. The resistance begins in earnest as many of the key players in Atlantis, The Undercurrent, decide to revolt against King Rath. They are joined by Aquaman and Dolphin, who reveals that they are still alive. Vulko and Delphine show up and present Arthur with the trident they recovered. Meanwhile, Mera finds out that she cannot breathe underwater anymore because the amulet she was given by Garth is broken and is captured by King Shark, who wants to become the new boss of the Ninth Trides.

AQUAMAN ANNUAL #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Max Fiumara. It’s many years from now, and Aquaman, Mera and their son meet with Superman, Wonder Woman and Hal Jordan. They eventually get attacked by rebels, led by Murk, who are here to kill their son, who he insists is not really their son. Batman arrives, and we see that this is all a nightmare caused by something called the Red Seep. In the end, the nightmare is broken, leaving Arthur and Mera to ponder the future, including the non-existent child they have lost.

BANE CONQUEST #7 by Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan. Bane gets away from the attack by Kobra submarine and the Naja Naja gets rescued, only to slip inside the sub and break his neck. With the Naja Naja dead, the search is on, resulting in finding a baby in Bludhaven bearing the scared mark. Bane and his team arrive to find the baby is already in the clutches of one of Kobra’s operatives. She plays the sympathy card and that momentary distraction allows Kobra’s army to show up and prepare to kill Bane and his men.

BATGIRL #17 by Hope Larson and Chris Wildgoose. In the past, Batgirl and Robin fight Mad Hatter and try to save her friend Ainsely, only to have Hatter reveal that Ainsley was a drug addict, even without his help. Her response it s to beat him so badly she almost kills him. In the present, the pair take on Ainsley’s revenge driven sister Edith, now known as the Red Queen. The nanobots bite Dick and he becomes a follower of Edith, trying to kill Barbara. She uses her neural implant to fill Dick full of memories, which shocks him back to himself and they take the Red Queen down together. In the end, as we see Edith in a mental ward, Dick promises he will always be around for Barbara.

BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #16 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Roge Antonio. The newly formed team of female heroes and villains go on a search to find who is responsible for the plague while also trying to come up with an anti-virus. They find a nurse trying to infect Ollie and discover that a group called the Daughters of Gotham is responsible for this. In the end, the team confronts the cult and Batwoman, Batgirl and Harley Quinn are captured and taken to their leader, Patient Zero.

being taken to the cult's leader.

BATMAN #34 by Tom King and Joelle Jones. Batman and Catwoman fight the Silent Army of the Pit, who were sent to battled them just so Talia could have them tired out. That leads to a sword fight between Batman and Talia, with him taking the worst of it. Batman reveals he is here to bring back Holly Robinson, so Catwoman and Talia begun their sword fight. Meanwhile, Superman confronts Damian and Dick, forcing them to wait outside the temple until Batman reappears.

BATMAN #35 by Tom King and Joelle Jones. Selina Kyle and Talia Al Ghul duel, with Selina beating Talia and meeting with Holly, who she tries to convince to come back to Gotham and own up to her crime. In the end, they all leave…minus Holly Robinson.

BATMAN ANNUAL #2 by Tom King, Lee Weeks, and Michael Lark. We have a story which presents the early days in the career of Batman and Catwoman, as they play cat and mouse and become emotionally involved. In the end, we see Batman on his death bed with his wife Selina by his side.

BATMAN BEYOND #14 by Dan Jurgens and Phil Hester. Bruce has just gotten out from having back surgery and that means Terry and Matt are staying with him for a while.  Bruce goes back to work on the classic Batsuit while Terry visits with Dana, where they end up in bed together. Soon he is called into action because the Royal Flush Gang is back in action. Terry confronts them and, just as Bane did back in the day, he finds himself with his back cracked over the knee of Ace.

BATMAN LOST #1 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Doug Mahnke, Yanick Paquette, Jorge Jimenez and Jaime Mendoza. An old Bruce Wayne tells a story to his young granddaughter. She looks through a collection of books, as he made journals of hios major cases including Knightfall, The Long Halloween and Hush. She picks her favorite, which is The Case of the Chemical Syndicate. Throughout the story, Bruce realizes there are things wrong with the events of the narrative. In the end, we learn that Barbatos is the being responsible for creating Batman and that all of this is part of Batman’s dream while captured in the Dark Multiverse.

BATMAN THE DEVESTATOR #1 by Frank Tieri, James Tynion and Tony S. Daniel. The Devastator is the Batan from Earth-1 who injected himself with Doomsday DNA to become the creature he is. After killing that world’s Superman and Lois Lane, The Batman Who Laughs convinces him to join his team and he comes to Earth-0, where he decimates Lobo. In the process, he has managed to infect everyone with the Doomsday virus, including Lois who begins to turn by issues end. In the end, we see that our Superman is still being held captive in the Dark Multiverse.

BATMAN WHO LAUGHS #1 by James Tynion IV and Riley Rossmo. On Earth -22, The Joker destroys Gotham and everyone in it, forcing Batman to kill the villain by snapping his neck. Batman has his family of heroes come to the Bat Cave where he reveals that the chemical released from Joker’s body at the time of his death is changing him. And then he shoots them all, before going out and killing off the Justice League. After destroying his world, Barbatos finds him and gives him the chance to destroy multiple worlds, resulting in this Batman’s plans to conquer the universe with the corrupted Justice League.

BATWOMAN #9 by Marguerite Bennett and Fernando Blanco. While under the influence of Scarecrow’s psychedelic drugs, Batwoman and Colony Prime go on a hunt to retrieve Colony Prime’s helmet. They get the helmet and find a power outlet within the real world, allowing them to send a distress signal to Julia and the Colony.  The hallucinations get worse, but Kate uses her skills to transform herself into a giant bat and turns on Scarecrow.

BLACK LIGHTNING: COLD DEAD HANDS #1 by Tony Isabella and Clayton Henry. Jefferson Pierce fights crime as Black Lightning while also dealing with his father’s death. The old Tobias Whale is dead, killed by his uncle for taking his name. Then the real Whale kills his sister with a ship model, before launching his plan to discredit Back Lightning. While stop a bunch of criminals, they get electrocuted by one of Whale’s minions and that leads to Pierce being wanted by the police for murder.

BLUE BEETLE #15 by Christopher Sebela, Scott Kolins and Tom Derenick. Jaime finds himself getting beaten up by the aliens but gets away as Paco uses the car to run one of the aliens down. They end up crashing in an abandoned town where the motel they are staying in gets invaded by a group of senior citizens and feral children with guns. They learn that they are actually “the aliens”, who have been rescued from a senior citizen home by a mysterious benefactor who has given half of them youth and the other have stay aged…and then the process repeats. In the end, there is another time shift and it looks like the mad benefactor is at it again.

CYBORG #18 by John Semper Jr. and Will Conrad. Having defeated the Anomaly of the digital world, Exxy and Cyborg head home, with Variant staying behind to help them rebuild. Once back, they find that Anomaly's soldiers are destroying Detroit. As the battle rages, Anomaly realizes he has made a mistake, frees Silas Stone and sacrifices himself to save the world.

DEATHSTROKE #25 by Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan. Deathstroke has been captured by The Society and is being put on trial by them. Finally, after having to relive his life, Deathstroke rebels and kills Grodd, Black Manta and Vandal Savage. It turns out to be just an illusion to prove that Deathstroke is STILL a villain. He gets freed by a surprise visitor who will be the only one to dish out justice.

THE DEMON HELL IS EARTH #1 by Andrew Constant and Brad Walker. Jason Blood is wrestling with his inner demon in the form of Etrigan, thus he finds himself hiding out in Death Valley. Madame Zanadu is on is trail, as she keep having visions. At the same time, a government missile test goes wrong and the rocket crashes near where Blood and a family of travelers are. This not only unleashes Etrigan, but a demon from underground.

DETECTIVE COMICS #968 by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez. Brother Eye has been activated and the Bat Family fights against Future Tim, who steals away with our Tim and tries to convince him to let him finish his mission to kill Batwoman. But time is short as Hypertime is fighting to pull Future Tim away. He arrives at the Belfry and confronts Kate, but he also finds that Brother Eye doesn’t have the control Tim thought he had. His attempt to infect all of the computer systems fails and he is pulled back to the future with a final warning to Tim.

DETECTIVE COMICS #969 by James Tynion IV and Joe Bennett. New Mayor Akins is holding a press conference about what he plans to do about the vigilante problem in Gotham. Meanwhile, Steph visits Lonnie at Arkham, but leaves when the discussion turns to the First Victim, she gets up to leave.  Later, she meets up with Tim, who she is both surprised and thrilled to see is alive. At the same time, Killer Moth has put together his own Rogues Gallery and means to take out the Bat Family. But Clayface has infiltrated the group and leads the attack on the villains while Batman meets with the Mayor. In the end, it seems Lonnie has friends in low places as he gets hooked up with the First Victim and the Victim Syndicate.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK #1 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. Seven years have passed since the end of THE WATCHMAN book and Ozymandias' plan for world peace has failed. He meets with The Marionette and together they get The Mute out of jail, where they travel to the underground lair of Nite Owl and meet with Ozmandias, who says they need to find Dr. Manhattan. Meanwhile, Superman has a dream, for the first time in his life, about the night his parents.

THE FLASH #34 by Joshua Williamson, Michael Moreci and Pop Mhan. Meena reveals tht she knows the Negative Speed Force is killing Barry and arranges for he and Wally to race to test her theory. Meena turns the tables on Flash and she reveals she is working with Black Hole, leading to her stealing his Negative Speed Force, turning her into the Negative Flash. Meanwhile, Barry’s partner complains about being stuck at Iron Heights with Barry.

THE FLASH #35 by Joshua Williamson, Michael Moreci and Pop Mhan. It seems that Black Hole saved Meena when she was near death and now she wants revenge. Barry chases after Meena, but has to end the pursuit to save Kid Flash, with them teaming up to take down Black Hole. Raijin, the God of Lightning, turens out to be the person behind Black Hole and he pans on taking on the world. Meanwhile, Kristen is doing late night investigating at Iron eights and it may have just cost her her life.

GREEN ARROW #34 by Ben Percy and Stephen Byrne. After a brief flashback of Ollie with his father, his mother explains how she went from living on the streets to eventually becoming art of the Ninth Circle. Meanwhile, Diggle is in his bunker in the Olympic Mountains fixing up Merlyn, who he still owes a debt to, even though it looks like Merlyn may kill Diggle in the end. Back in Star City, Ollie and Black Canary take down the Clock King. Things look bad for Ollie as it seems that Wendy Poole may not be mentally able to be Ollie’s alibi and that leads him back into the arms of his mother, who still has access to some of the Ninth Circle’s “toys”.

GREEN ARROW ANNUAL #1 by Benjamin Percy and Eleonora Carlini. In a tale set prior to the events in GREEN ARROW #25, Strange bees attack Ollie and his friends on Christmas morning. When he wakes, he finds himself in a world totally changed. In fact, they al do. It seems that Count Vertigo has installed a device in the Space Needle that is making all the residents of Star City try to walk into the ocean and drown themselves. Dinah uses her Canary Cry to defeat him and they all have a Merry Christmas.

GREEN LANTERNS #34 by Tim Seeley and Ronan Cliquet. With Jessica still trying to save the people of Mol, Simon is with the Ungarans, where he uses his powers to heal the Regent’s daughter. Jessica finally saves the Molites and transports them to the Ungaran ship, where it looks like Simon may have a special moment in the future with the Regent’s daughter. In the end, it seems that Kesh Cur doesn’t want to Molites aligned with his Ungarans and kills Commodore Psyt for failing his mission. Jessica ends up back on Earth and Simon, without a job, crashes in the Lantern Sector House. But wait…Bolphunga the Unrelenting has come to Earth to kill some Green Lanterns.

GREEN LANTERNS #35 by Tim Seeley and Carlo Barberi. Bolphunga the Unrelenting has arrived and mixes it up with Jessica and eventually Simon. It seems that the alien needs the Lanterns help as he cut a deal with Singularity Jain to get out of prison and now he is a wanted man for not completing his assignment.  The Lanterns contact John Stewart to find out this may be a lie and they are supposed to take him into custody. But, despite what John says, Singularity Jain has arrived and is ready to take matters into her own hands.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #32 by Robert Vendetti, Ethan Van Sciver and Liam Sharp. A DARK NIGHTS METAL tie-in, BATS OUT OF HELL PART 3. Hal battles the Dawnbreaker in his Nightmare Batcave, where he seems to be winning but ultimately loses the battle and is taken off to power up the multiversal tower where the rest of his fallen teammates are. Meanwhile, Batman Who Laughs is trying to extract Element X from within Cyborg.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #33 by Robert Venditti, Tom Derenick and Jack Hebert. While Hal and Kyle are trying to help the residents of Planet Molta, Somar-Le is training with Ganthet and Sayd., until they get attacked by The Controllers, who are determined to eliminate all of the Guardians.

HARLEY QUINN #31 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and John Timms. Mason has been kidnapped and Harley has dropped out of the race for Mayor. After speaking with his mother, she realizes that the Mayor will still have Mason killed, so she and Harley Sinn head off to Fire Island to save him. They end up being captured, with Sinn being shot. Helpless, Harley is forced to watch as the Mayor seemingly executes Mason.

HARLEY QUINN #32 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Bret Blevins and John Timms. After watching Mason get executed, the Mayor has Harley shot and it looks like Harley Sinn is next. But Harley Quinn has gotten the upper hand by NOT getting shot in the head (she has her kill shot actually disarm her brain bomb)  and proceeds to take out all of the henchmen but one, who spills his guts before being left to Harley Sinn. Our gal informs Mason’s mom o the horrible news about her son before engaging on an assault on the Mayor’s mansion. She takes out his henchmen, beheads Madison and leaves her head in the Mayor’s bed, before allowing Madame Macabre the satisfaction of getting her revenge on the Mayor. In the end, Harley carries Mason’s dead body away.

THE HELLBLAZER #16 by Richard Kadrey and Davide Fabbri. Constantine is in San Francisco, looking to meet with an old friend Jenny following the death of several mages by someone dubbed the “Thank You Killer”. It seems everyone who has died was a member of the Wheel of Time church. Along the way, Jenny gets murdered and John encounters a demon named Kala Bhairab, before b eing confronted by the Bay Area Grand Dawn Coven, who want to question him about Jenny’s death.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #32 by Robert Venditti and Liam Sharp. A DARK NIGHTS METAL tie-in, BATS OUT OF HELL PART 2. Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Hal Jordan all are forced to face off against the corresponding villains from the Dark Multiverse, with each losing in the end. And Cyborg: well, he’s been captured too and Batman Who Laughs is planning to use him as their secret weapon.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #33 by Joshua Williamson, Tyler Kirkham and Mikel Janin. A DARK NIGHTS METAL tie-in, BATS OUT OF HELL FINALE. With Cyborg held captive, his Mother Box tells him to give himself up so he can be upgraded and be able to stop the Dark Multiverse army. The bad news is this upgrade could wipe Vic Stone the person out of existence. But a voice inside convinces him that he can be upgraded and still be Vic. Vic accepts and frees the rest of the team, discovering that Raven was actually the voice inside him. The team escapes and end up in Hypertime before being transported to off to “hack the Multiverse”. While that seems to be a good thing, they may actually be playing into Barbatos’ plans.