DC UNIVERSE Month 34, Part 2

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #11 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook. Dr. Fate is disintegrated on Xanthu, causing Superboy and Saturn Girl to fly to New Krypton just as Rogol Zaar is attacking it. Rose, Blok, and Lightning Lad go to Daxam where Mordru attacks them.

NIGHTWING #76 by Dan Jurgens and Ronan Cliquet. KGBeast has returned to actually kill Nightwing this time. He has taken Bea hostage and plans to kill her first, leading to a battle between himself and Nightwing. Dick uses his baton to blow up KGBeast’s gun and subduing him. In the end, Dick tells Bea that he doesn’t remember much and they should just be friends, leading her to storm away as Dick cries.

PUNCHLINE #1 by James Tynion IV, Sam Johns and Mirka Andolfo. Alexis Kaye is on trial but still has numerous fans. Cullen Row tells his sister that she should listen to Punchline’s podcasts. Over the next few days, Cullen listens to all of her podcasts and eventually meets the boy who turned him on to them. In the end, they end up together at a rally supporting Punchine.

RED HOOD #51 by Shawn Martinbrough and Tony Akins. Jason Todd moves back to, "The Hill" and moves back into his old apartment. He also reconnects with Dana Harlowe, who has been watching a property he owns for twelve years. Meanwhile, a guy who makes designer shoes based on Gotham villains gets himself in trouble with other gangs…and with Killer Croc.

SUICIDE SQUAD #11 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. Jog is dead, but gets a visit from the Black Racer, who brings him back to life, inferring that he is Jog’s father. Jog travels to Badhnista and, together, they keep Lola’s blast from destroying everything. Just as they are about to exact revenge on Black Mask when the Justice League arrives and stops them, but not before Black Mask gets his legs shot. The League takes Black Mask away, the team celebrates and Harley gives the sad news to Deadshot’s daughter. In the end, the Revolutionaries gather up everyone responsible for Task Force X and tell them to shut their actions down or else.

SUPERMAN #27 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. Superman battles the Synmar in the Phantom Zone. They team up to defeat the Phantom King of the Phantom Zone, but after the leave the Zone and head to where Synmar was, Superman is no longer affected by the yellow sun, leaving him powerless. Synmar finally speaks and says he accepts Superman’s surrender. Elsewhere, Lois and Lana have coffee.

TALES FROM THE DARK MULTIVERSE: BATMAN HUSH #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Dexter Soy and Sergio Davila. In the Dark Multiverse, the Elliot family was with the Waynes when they died. They deiced to adopt Bruce. Flash forward twenty years. Tommy Elliot is the Senator for Gotham. He is helped by Talia, the League of Assassins and the Court of Owls. Even Lincoln March is involved, as he is the President of the United States. Bruce Wayne is out of the picture as Tommy had him committed to Arkham almost ten years ago, giving Tommy control of the Wayne fortune. Bruce and several inmates break out of Arkham and he transforms into the Bloody Bat of Arkham, taking revenge on Tommy and moving into the Batcave with his fellow inmates.

TEEN TITANS #47 by Robbie Thompson and Javi Fernandez. Joystick is back and he has over the bodies of Red Arrow and Kid Flash, using them against Roundhouse and Crush. Red Arrow eventually breaks control and takes down Joystick, leading to Kid Flash being freed. And they eventually kiss. In the end, the team meets with Nightwing, who presents them with Titans Tower.

WONDER WOMAN #766 by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh. Dianaattles and defeats Count Vertigo, freeing the citizens of Vlatava. But one of them gets taken over by Maxwell Lord and delivers a message to Diana. This leads to the Amazon hunting the man who wants to kill her.

WONDER WOMAN #767 by Mariko Tamaki and Rafa Sandoval. After a flashback detailing Maxwell Lord's troubled childhood, we go to Wonder Woman continuing to look for him. Inside Vertigo’s castle, she finds Maxwell’s daughter, but this is only Maxwell using his powers to cause Diana to choke herself and then stab herself. In actuality, she just cuts herself and then beats him down. Maxwell gets taken into custody and then gets to share a cell with his daughter, who stabs him.

YOUNG JUSTICE #20 by Brian Michael Bendis, David Walker and Scott Godlewski. The team goes to Mount Justice, where they find the deactivated Red Tornado. But he detects them as trespassers and attacks them. The team defeats and destroys him and then John Stewart arrives, questioning why Teen Lantern has the gauntlet that gives her the Green Lantern powers. He eventually leaves, telling her she needs to go to the Hall of Justice for training. In the end, the team has a party in the hideout.

 

DC UNIVERSE Month 34, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1027 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. Lois is grilled by Agent Chase, who tries to determine if Lois is an alien. Lois never answers but Chase figures out that Leone is the actual alien. The Superboys, Supergirl, and Brainiac-5 save Superman from Red Cloud and the all transport to the Phantom Zone, where Red Cloud has a choice and she opts for jail. She receives a letter from Leone, who tells Goode to go to hell. In the end, Brainiac-5 goes back to the 31^st Century and Perry White announces that Jimmy now owns the Daily Planet.

AQUAMAN #65 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Miguel Mendonca. Arthur calls out for help after being stabbed by Orm and he gets it from the Justice League. That leads to a one-on-one battle between Orm and Aquaman, with Aquaman winning. With that defeat, Atlantis’ populations join together and heal. In the end, Arthur proposes and he and Mera get married.

BATMAN #102 by James Tynion IV and Carlo Pagulayan. There’s a new vigilante in Gotham by the name of Ghost-Maker. As Batman continues to take out Joker Gang members known as Grinners, he discovers a Grinner’s hideout where everyone inside has been killed. In a flashback, a young Bruce Wayne follows a man out of a bar and asks the man to train him. Bruce ends up fighting with anther youth who also wants this man to train him. Back in the present, Harley moves into a new apartment, where she is being watched by Clownhunter. Ghost-Maker shows up and menaces Clownhunter, but Batman shows up and the pair battle. Ghost-Maker offers Batman a wager-the winner of the fight gets Gotham.

BATMAN #103 by James Tynion IV and Carlo Pagulayan. In a flashback, Bruce is meditating in the desert when Ghost-Maker appears and wants to fight Bruce, before planting his sword in the ground and joining him. He tells Bruce he will fail because he allows emotions to rule him, leading to the two fighting. In the present, Batman is fighting Ghost-Maker where he reveals what he has already finished in Gotham. Meanwhile, Harley is talking to a poison ivy plant when Clownhunter sneaks in and tries to kill her. She knocks him out and Batman bursts in with two swords stuck in his back. Ghost-Maker shows up and takes her out with a tranquilizer dart. As Batman tells Ghost-Maker that he had actually known about all the things that Ghost-Maker had dealt with, but didn’t act on them as they would lead to bigger things. In response, Ghost-Maker hits Batman with a tranquilizer dart.

BATMAN BEYOND #49 by Dan Jurgens and Paul Pelletier. While future Batman saves his young father, present Batman teams up with Booster Gold to take on Blanque. Batman gets taken out and Blanque uses his mind-control powers to get Booster to kill him. Terry jumps in and so does Skeets, allowing them to take down Blanque. Terry leaves, Batman comes back and Booster tries to convince him to let them be partners. Back in the future, time has been restored and Matt is still alive. In the end, this was all a plan cooked up by Bruce Wayne. Time did not to be restored-Terry needed to make this happen as this moment inspired Terry’s dad. Without it happening, future Batman would never have come to be.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN #14 by Joshua Williamson and Max Raynor. Composite Batman/Superman comes to Earth and battles Superman while Batman, Steel, and Batwoman fight the robots on the moon. Batman puts on a VR headset and enters the matrix, shutting down the program. Batman examines the AI before containing it and storing it away.

CATWOMAN #27 by Ram V and Fernando Blanco. Selina and the kids work together to steal the Khadym Mob’s drugs. She stashes them in a storage unit, with directions for Handle to find them. Pit decides to have a hitman take Catwoman out but, luckily for her, Father Valley kills the hitman, swearing that only he will be responsible for killing her.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL #5 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. The Trinity, along with Harley and Swamp Thing, battle Castle Bat and get much needed help from  Lex and the Legion of Doom ship. Meanwhile, Perpetua and the Darkest Knight battle each other. Later a reunited team is thrilled as Lobo, straight from DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL INFINITE HOUR EXXXTREME #1, shows up with the shards of Metal X. The plan is to use Metal to fix time. Batman reveals he is truly dead and this can’t be reversed and Superman can’t be fixed and will remain powerless. Superman gathers his team of living and dead heroes and villains to fight the evil earths while Diana and her team of Lobos head off the restart the Multiverse.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL INFINITE HOUR EXXXTREME #1 by Becky Cloonan, Sam Humphries, Frank Tieri, Denys Cowan, Tyler Kirkham and Rags Morales. Lobo battles The Batman Who Frags before Lex pulls him away and tasks him with finding the shards of Metal X. After fighting Black Monday, Lobo teams up with Hawkman before they end up in Gemworld. In the end, Lobo ends up with Brainiac, who has created multiple Lobo hero mash-ups. Lobo gains all of the Metal shards and The Batman Who Frags is defeated by Lobo versions of Wonder Woman, Batman and more.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL THE MULTIVERSE WHO LAUGHS #1 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Patton Oswalt, Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Saladin Ahmed, Brandon Thomas, Juan Gedeon, Sanford Greene, Chad Hardin, Scot Eaton and Thomas Mandrake. A collection of tales from many if the 52 Earths that have been created by the Darkest Knight. Four stories here featuring Zsasz, the Super-Pets, Green Arroe/Green Lantern and Steel.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1030 by Peter J. Tomasi and Bilquis Evely. Mayoral candidate Nakano is dreaming and finds himself engulfed in flames. He’s wakes with even more determination that vigilantes must be unmasked. Meanwhile, Batman has to deal with how Damian is filled with rage and has stolen Bruce's black book. Batman gathers Red Hood, Batwoman, Nightwing, Spoiler, The Signal, and Batgirl-all of whom have been attacked by The Mirror’s anti-vigilante group. They head off to help a potential victim, only to be surrounded by a group who are screaming “no more bats”. Elsewhere, Damian continues to investigate things he should leave alone.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1031 by Peter J. Tomasi and Bilquis Evely. Nakano gets a visit from The Mirror, who offers Nakano a flash drive that contains information that will help him win the election. Nakano refuses it, preferring to lose the election rather than cheat. Meanwhile, Robin has snuck into Detective Podolsky's house and has uncovered that she is actually Catherine Elliot: the half-sister of Hush. After a scuffle, he leaves her tied to a chair. Meanwhile, The Mirror is leading a rally of his followers and the teamfind themselves surrounded by the group who are screaming “no more bats”. A fight ensues and results in the team being captured by The Mirror.

THE FLASH #765 by Kevin Shinick and Sami Basri. With Barry’s powers gone and having been defeated by Dr. Alchemy, he resorts to investigating crimes scenes where Alchemy has been. After investigating Alchemy’s prison cell and discovering Latin words that describe a chemical process, he gets an idea while going through the metal detector. He deduces that Alchemy used Barry’s Flash ring to negate his Flash powers. He fixes the ring and heads off to battle Alchemy, quickly defeating him and getting the philosopher’s stone away from Alchemy. Alchemy reveals that he knows Barry’s name, leading Barry to get Iris and run her to a hidden cabin. Alchemy arrives and attacks, with the many faces of all the Philosopher’s revealed. Desmond regains control and explains cameras were placed inside of Barry’s pupils. Now the philosophers how Barry makes the metal, Lightzinium, which goes into his ring.

THE FLASH #766 by Kevin Shinick and Will Conrad. Barry continues to battle Alchemy and has his arms and legs turned to putty. Desmond regains control and tells Barry that the only way to stop them is to recreate the Philosopher’s stone. Barry heads to the Hall of Justice, where John Stewart removes the cameras in his eyes. Will Magnus instructs Barry on recreating the Philosopher’s Stone, but warms him that the Stone will have an effect on him as well. Barry believes that the addition of Lightzinium will protect him. Barry races through a radically altered Central City before meeting Alchemy, who turns Central City into a town of acid. It turns out Desmond was in control the entire time. Barry uses the stone and turns Alchemy to stone. In the end, a stone Alchemy goes to Iron Heights and Barry contemplates buying a ring for Iris.

GREEN LANTERN: SEASON TWO #9 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. Hal testifies in a galactic court against Hyperman. Hal decides to re-evaluate his relationship with Carol, only to find her being proposed to by himself. This turns out to be Earth 11’s Hal who has been tricked by Earth 11’s Carol into going to our Earth. Carol Jordan shows up and takes Hal to Earth 11. That’s when the Golden Destroyer arrives.

HAWKMAN #29 by Robert Venditti and Fernando Pasarin. Hawkman is bleeding out, but musters all of his energy to save Shay from Anton. He uses the power of his mace and dagger to make a bob and blow up the train. Rather than face defeat, Hath-Set chooses suicide. While he does continue to appear over the years, the book ends with Carter and Shay living long lives and training a new generation in the 40^th Century.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #56 by Joshua Williamson and Robson Rocha. With most of his team taken out by the Omega Knight, Nightwing gets saved by Detective Chimp and his horse Comet. Meanwhile, Hawkgirl battles Mindhunter, defeating him and saving Martian Manhunter in the process. They all team up, along with Cyborg, Luthor and Starfire to head back into the fight. Chimp climbs the Throne of Perpetua, causing the Omega Knight to blast him, but also destroying the Throne on the process, freeing the Legion of Doom. And now, they want to take revenge on Nightwing.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #57 by Joshua Williamson and Xermanico. The Legion wants revenge, especially on Luthor who betrayed them to Perpetua. Detective Chimp, who was not killed last issue, arrives and tells them the Omega Knight still lives. This leads to a team-up between the Legion of Doom and the heroes. Luthor gets Sinestro to use his ring to destroy the Omega Knight. Luthor declares he will be in control again and uses a Boom Tube to bring he and his team away from the upcoming battle.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #28 by Ram V and Amancay Nahuelpan. Zatanna has allowed herself to be taken over by the Upside-Down Man. Bobo once again gets to be the protector of Myrra. John Contantine is dead but Zatara sacrifices himself with one last trick that resurrects Constantine. In the end…the Endless Winter is coming.

Another batch of first issues

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: THE SINS OF NORMAN OSBON #1 by Nick Spencer and Federico Vincentini. Norman Osborn has been causing grief in Peter Parker’s life since his first appearance in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #14. He’s been a villain, a father, an insane character and a complete megalomaniac. He has been dead or presumed dead so many times. Currently he runs Ravencroft and now he is going to have to team up with his arch enemy to save his own life. This book ties directly into the current storyline where Spidey faces one of his greatest challenges.

DIE!NAMITE #1 by Declan Shalvey, Fred Van Lente and Vincenxo Carbatu. The heroes of the Dynamite Universe come together to fight zombies. While this seems like they are just mining material that Marvel and DC has already used, it is of note that they have also brought in characters from other comic media, most specifically(spoiler!) Smiley: the psychotic button from EVIL ERNIE. All in all, this could lead to a nice reboot of that character before all is done.

AMERICAN VAMPIRE 1976 #1 by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque. This sequel to numerous series and mini-series following the historical vampire evolution.  While not a fan of the original runs, this caught my interest because of the 1970’s setting. Snyder nicely sets things up, although I would have liked a bit more back-story filling in some details for readers just jumping onboard for the first time.

AVENGERS EMPYRE: AFTERMATH #1 by Al Ewing and Valerio Schiti. EMPYRE is finally over, after long delays because of the Covid shutdowns. With the whole new version of the Kree/Skrull/Cotati War ended, with Hulking being the new ruler in space, the multiple storylines are wrapped up and new seeds placed. Carol Danvers ends up getting into things with Brand and leaves Alpha Flight. But that may lead to a future where Brand leads a much darker version of S.W.O.R.D.

BAD MOTHER #1 by Christ Faust and Mike Deodato Jr. AWA Studios is another upstart comic company trying to find its’ place in the comic shops of the country. They have brought in many high-profile creators into their titles including J. Michael Straczynski and Mike Deodato and are helmed by Axel Alonso-former Editor in Chief at Marvel. What happens when you get pushed to your limit and you need to save your family? You get this. The story is okay, but Deodato’s art is killer.

BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT PRESENTS HARLEY QUINN #1 by Sean Murphy and Katana Collins. Spinning out of both BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT mini-series, The Joker is dead, Batman is in jail and Harley is the hero of the moment. Part detective story, part superhero titles, Murphy knows his character well. You need to read the previous mini-series to get all of this as this is NOT part of DC continuity and tells a dark tale.

CHAMPIONS OUTLAWED #1 by Eve L. Ewing and Simone Di Meo. Back before the world shutdown, there was a storyline that was supposed to run through all the Marvel teen hero titles, where underaged superheroes were now illegal. Well, the shutdown put a hold on all of that and the fact that a new enforcement agency called C.R.A.D.L.E. was pretty much shifted to the rear in most Marvel titles. This one shot will lead into a new CHAMPIONS series, a (finally) continuation of THE RUNAWAYS and eventually an ending to MS. MARVEL. Basically, it’s a starting point in an effort to continue this story, which feels like a reboot of the Superhuman Registration Act.

CROSSOVER #1 by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw. Denver has been destroyed by the appearance of comic book heroes. The battle may still rage these many years later but we’ll never know as Denver has been wrapped in a super bubble. But, every now and then, one of these comic characters gets out. This is that story: a world divided and fearful of those who aren’t like us. A killer Cates romp that so echoes our world today

THE ELECTRIC BLACK PRESENTS #1 by Joseph Schmalke, Rich Wodall, Walter Ostile and Paul Pelletier. Indy comics still exist and this is a great example of it. This anthology features two great tales of old school horror with a modern twist. The stories are cool with some nice twists and the art is great. Again, it’s not from the big companies but proof that good stuff exists outside of the norm.

FANTASTIC FOUR EMPYRE: FALLOUT #1 by Dan Slott and Sean Izaakse. EMPYRE is finally over and with it, the end of the Kree/Skrull/Cotati War. The FF gain to new members, as they adopt a pair of children. But the biggest reveal here is the epilogue which features the return of Uatu the Watcher, who hasn’t been seen since Nick Fury took over the role of the Watcher.

GIANT-SIZE X-MEN: TRIBUTE TO WEIN AND COCKRUM #1 by Len Wein and a host of artist. This is a truly loving tribute to GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1: the book that ushered in the Modern team. It is quite literally a shot by shot, page by page recreation of the book with a different artist/artist team handing each page. While it is visually a little jumbled, the concept is great and the 36 artist teams have truly done their homework. Well done, Marvel!

ICE CREAM MAN: QUARANTINE COMIX SPECIAL by W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo. ICE CREAM MAN is this strange horror anthology title which has suddenly gained all sorts of interest on the secondary market, leading to great demand and high prices on many issues. This one shot is a collection of mini-comics which were produced during the Covid lockdown and originally appearing as a weekly web series. It’s a trippy little title and will certainly appeal to fans of the genre.

THE IMMORTAL HULK #0 by Al Ewing and Mattia De Iulis, with work from Bill Mantlo, Peter David, Mike Mignola and Adam Kubert. Ewing and Iulis  provide the framing sequences which allows for the reprinting of THE INCREDIBE HULK #312 and THE INCREDIBLE HULK FLASHBACK #1. This allows those stories to tie into current continuity and brigs about the connection between Bruce Banner’s father and The Leader. While it is mostly a reprint book, it does a nice job of connecting the past to the present and drops breadcrumbs into the current story.

THE IMMORTAL HULK: THE TRESHING PLACE #1 by Jeff Lemire and Mike Del Mundo. A kidnapped girl in a country town, monsters and creepy scientists star in this one-shot. It’s pretty much a standard story with some nice little touches from Lemire. And of course, the wonderful art of Mike Del Mundo.

THE IMMORTAL SHE-HULK #1 by Al Ewing and Jon Davis-Hunt. Jen Walters deals with the multiple times she has died over the years in this psychological one-shot. Over the course of the book, she ends up going to Hell multiple times, meeting with Brian Banner and The Leader. Bottom line: The Leader controls the door and Jen had better not die ever again as it will be permanent.

IRON MAN #1 by Christopher Cantwell and Cafu. Well, Tony Stark is back in action and seemingly learning from lessons of the past. He gets into a team-up with Patsy Walker and they get into it with classic villain Unicorn. After so many years of Tony dealing with his brother, numerous technological villains and bouts of depression and even falling off the wagon once or twice, it’s nice to see Tony fighting am old villains and bringing Patsy into a story was incredibly cool. This book is off to a new start.

JUGGERNAUT #1 by Fabian Nicieza and Ron Garney. Two legendary creators team up for this unusual tale of Cain Marko. He was a villain, then a hero(sort of) and now the softer side of this troubled soul is here. Very impressed with a title I thought would be just filler in Marvel’s lineup.

KING TANK GIRL #1 by Alan Martin and Brett Parson. While it’s possible that most comic fans, specifically of this generation, only know of TANK GIRL from the disappointing but cult status film starring Lori Petty, this is the real deal. Silly, fun, cutting edge with some nice political slaps. For fans from my age group, this is like this is like a visit from an old friend.

THE LAST RONIN #1 by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Esau, Isaac Escorza and Ben Bishop. The rift has been patched and the legendary creators of TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES are together again for this epic future tale of the heroes in a half shell. With some familiar characters, some new ones and some wild twists, this first issue lays some interesting groundwork for what will come. Highly recommended.

MADAM SATAN #1 by Eliot Rahal and Julius Ohta. Spinning out of THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA, we get this one shot with Madam Satan. It’s good, old school Gothic and gore like in the Pre-Code days. Surprisingly fun! I could almost do a full series of this, especially since the Archie horror line seems to have bit the dust.

MARVEL SNAPSHOTS: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 by Howard Chaykin. Legendary creator Howard Chaykin takes the reigns on this one-shot. It’s a caper book with very little Spider-Man and a lot of seedy characters planning a big heist. And, in typical Chaykin fashion, it looks great and checks all the right boxes regarding characters and dialogue. Of all the MARVEL SNAPSHOTS titles thus far, this is my favorite. That’s not saying the others have been bad, but this nails the idea of a fun read without a ton of baggage.

MARVEL SNAPSHOTS: THE AVENGERS #1 by Barbara Randall Kesel and Staz Johnson. Marvel continues these one-shots of regular folks having to deal with living in a world of superheroes. Don’t expect a lot of hero action-this is a character driven tale. Not a big fan of Johnson’s art style, but it does have an 80’s feel to it, so I guess it fits.

MARVEL SNAPSHOTS: X-MEN #1 by Jay Edidin and Tom Reilly. A coming of age story for a young, pre-Cyclops, Scott Summers. Our hero gets inspired by the Fantastic Four and eventually gets to meet his heroes. But the bottom line is about Summers having his eye powers bloom and figuring how to deal with it. A bit of a different X-Men story than we are normally used to.

NORSE MYTHOLOGY #1 by Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell, Mike Mignolsa and Jerry Ordway. Gaiman cuts loose with a host of tales of the Norse gods. Don’t expect Marvel’s version of Thor or Walt Simonson’s. This is more linked to Norse Mythology and it loos great. C’mon-Gaiman, Russell, Mignola and Ordway? That’s an incredible cast of creators. If you’re looking for hammer tossing heroes, move on. However…there WILL BE a hammer, just not in this issue.

THE RISE OF ULTRAMAN #1 by Kyle Higgins, Mat Groom, Francesco Manna, Ed McGuinness, Michael Cho and Gurihiru. Marvel reboots the classic hero for the 21^st Century…and it’s a mess! It’s confusing and soulless with pseudo-Anime style art trying to hold it together. In fat the most fun was the cool Ultra Q story by Higgins, Groom, and Cho that typifies the feel of that series and does so in black and white. Yeah…this is a hard pass for a huge Ultra man fan.

RORSCHACH #1 by Tom King and Jorge Fornes. DC continues to show it’s love of Watchman by unleashing Tom King, who tore it up with MISTER MIRACLE, on this take on a new, TV inspired Rorschach. In typical King fashion, it’s a mystery that needs to be unwrapped like an onion. You won’t get many answers to your questions in issue #1…you’ll have to be here for the long haul.

SCUMBAG #1 by Rick Remender and Lewis Larosa. What happens when a spent drug addict with a taste for heavy metal gets accidentally injected with a secret formula which makes him the savior of the world? THIS! Seriously, this crazy tongue-in-cheek story is all about the worst person to be the hero. He’s crass, rude, offensive and stoned. One of my favorite new titles!

SHANG CHI #1 by Gene Luen Yang and Dike Ruan. Marvel gives the self proclaimed Master of Kung Fu his own mini-series, probably to keep interest alive in the forthcoming film. And it’s a disappointment. This is the current Shang Chi, whose story got rebooted during the Marvel NOW! Era. The only hodover from his past is on-again/off-again girlfriend Leiko Wu. No Black Jack Tarr. No Clive Restin. No Sir Denis Nayland Smith. No Dr. James Petrie. No Fah Lo Suee. No Fu Manchu. No Bruce Lee look. In a phrase-no Bueno!

SWEET TOOTH: THE RETURN #1 by Jeff Lemire and Jose Villarrubia. Over a decade ago, Lemire brought us a post-apocalyptic tale of Gus and the animal/human hybrids that now populates the world. Now Lemire revisits that tale and it’s a good time for it, as Netflix is producing an eight-episode first season. It treads some familiar post-apocalyptic ground, but is such an iconic story, it needs to be read…even if you read it the first time.

TASKMASTER #1 by Jed MacKay and Alessandro Vitti. The legendary merc and trainer is here in this beautifully illustrated mini-series. Maria Hill has been killed and it looks like the star of the book is responsible. That means he’s a hunted man with no less that Black Widow, Squadron Supreme, the Agents of Wakanda and N.I.S. Tiger Division on his tail. Fun stuff from MacKay and Vitti.

U.S. AGENT #1 by Christopher Priest and Georges Jeanty. John Walker is back and he’s on the run. This becomes a twisted road trip book with Walker, a pizza delivery man and lots of gun play. It’s pure Priest, with great dialogue, story twists and action. Priest was the main reason for me grabbing this title as “I knew the wild ride I was in for. This was so much fun that I wish this would evolve into a monthly title.

VAMPIRELLA TRIAL OF THE SOUL #1 by Bill Willingham and Giuseppe Cafaro. Dyenamite continues to mine its’ Vampirella property and delivers this one shot. It’s well written and illustrated, but the big attraction is the introduction of Prester John, who I’m sure will end up in the Vampi canon in the future. Definitely aimed at die hard Vampirella fans.

THE WALKING DEAD DELUXE #1 by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore. Now that the series has ended, Image is releasing the entire series again-two issues per month and in full color. So we’ve had 193 issues, a handful of one shots, hardcover and trade paperback collections and now this. With all those options out there, why buy this? Outside of the color work, each issue has “the cutting room floor” which features notes and such for each issue. It gives you a behind the scenes look at the thought and creation process for each issue. This is like the Criterion treatment on the series, filled with Kirkman’s original page by page plotting notes and commentary. Be aware: you’re in for the long haul. At two issues a month, you’re looking at a nine-year ride. The good/bad news of this: you might be at the point to sell your original copies unless this drops the price, which would be a plus for collectors.

WARHAMMER 40,000: MARNEUS CALGAR #1 by Kieron Gillen and Jacen Burrows. I have never played WARHAMMER 40,000, never read a book about it, have no idea the history or mythos, although I have painted a few Space Marines along the way. My only reason for buying is being a fan of Burrows’ art. The story will appeal to WARHAMMER 40,000 fans. Other that Burrows’ art, I was unimpressed.

WEB OF VENOM: EMPYRE’S END #1 by Clay McLeod Chapman and Guiu Villanova. The variant cover says it all: Knull is coming. Knull is the big baddie who will be making his presence known in almost all Marvel titles through the beginning of 2021. A spaceship of Kree and Skrull warriors have survived the war and now face a blackness that does to them what an alien did in the original ALIEN. Essential tie-in if you’re going to jump into the forthcoming KING IN BLACK.

WEB OF VENOM: WRAITH #1 by Donny Cates and Guiu Villanova. Wriath is described as a lone gunslinger-picture a supernatural Punisher. His journey ends with a face-off against Knull. This is another tie-in to the upcoming KING IN BLACK event and since it’s written by Donny Cates, it ties in directly to VENOM.

WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #1 by Taboo, B. Earl and Scot Eaton. Dear Marvel: PLEASE STOP MESSING WITH MY CHILDHOOD COMICS! My WEREWOLF BY NIGHT is Jack Russell, he interacted with Moon Knight, Tigra and the Marvel Monsters. He was a member of the Midnight Sons. He was cool and edgy. THIS WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, created by Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas, is Jake Gomez-a Hopi native. The story is convoluted and lame. Marvel has said the character will eventually appear as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Please make it better than this horrible take on the character.

WOLVERINE: BLACK, WHITE & RED #1 by Gerry Duggan, Matthew Rosenberg, Declan Shalvey, Adam Kubert and Joshua Cassara. This is a new anthology mini-series which, as the title implies, is told in black, white and red. Some high-end talent are on display here and, if you’re a fan of blood and guts Wolverine, this is for you.

WIDOMAKER #1 by Devin Grayson and Michele Bandini. This title was due out to time with the BLACK WIDOW film. Well, the film got delayed and the book is finally out, presumably to time with the eventual film release. The book stars Yelena Belova and a bearded Red Guardian-obviously to tie not David Harbour’s film look. Garyson is notable for her work on GOTHAM KNIGHTS, TITANS and especially NIGHTWING and an action story like this is in her wheelhouse.

X OF SWORDS CREATION #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard and Pepe Larraz. This is the opening salvo in the 22 chapter X OF SWORDS crossover event running through all the X titles. And that’s a long haul for a big fight, “world changing” story. The set-up is typical with Hickman laying the groundwork for an epic. The sad part is reading it and being able to tell where Hickman left off and Howard took over. The continuity in the read is jarring and a major distraction.

DC UNIVERSE Month 33, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #27 by Ram V and Amancay Nahuelpan. The team continues to battle against the Upside-Down Man. Diana calls on Circe to help and she lends the power of Hecate to Wonder Woman. Dr. Fate lends his power and magically binds The Upside-Down Man. Man-Bat uses the vial to help Swamp Thing grow some plants in this world, resulting in Swamp Thing sacrifices himself. Kent takes the mantle back from Khalid and enters the fight. Even he can’t defeat The Upside-Down Man, so Zatanna casts a spell which merges her and The Upside-Down Man.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #25 by Dan Abnett and Cliff Richards. Darkseid is heading for Epoch's time manipulator and he faces off against past versions of deceased team members, including an extra Jessica Cruz and Cyborg. Hax, Dex-Starr, and Gamma Knife are at the time manipulator and, with Hax now betraying Darkseid, they start to destroy the machine. Gamma Knife is a ghost and she fades away to save the universe. With the time manipulator gone, Darkseid tells present-day Jessica Cruz that she's won and uses the Boom Tube to head to New Apokolips. New Gods Cyborg says he can use a Boom Tube to get them out of trouble, but he will have to stay behind. A dying past Jessica Cruz offers to stay, using her ring to give him more power. The rest of the team escapes because of their sacrifice. Jessica goes to Oa to warn the Corps about Darkseid, Orion, Dex-Starr, Azrael, and Hax go to Thanagar and Cyborg and Starfire go to warn the Justice League on Earth. But Earth is reeling from the events in Death Metal. Continued in JUSTICE LEAGUE #54.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #10 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook. Jon and Imra go on a date and share intimate moments in their minds. Commissioner Sevenbergen interrupts and tells them that Mordu has gone missing. Dr. Fate helps them narrow their search by revealing the search needs to take them to Xanthu. General Craz is put on trial before the Elders of Oa to face their “Eternal Justice”, while The Gold Lantern and Brainiac 5 ask the Elders about their knowledge of the Great Darkness. On Xanthu, Mordu meet with Rogol Zaar.

METAL MEN #11 by Dan Didio and Shane Davis. The team has travelled to the Dark Multiverse where they battle the cosmically infused Plutonium Man. Magnus instructs frees the Nth Metal Man and all of the Metal Men combine to form Alloy. But even their best effort is not enough, as the Plutonium Man defeats them and is ready to come to Earth.

NIGHTWING #75 by Dan Jurgens and Ronan Cliquet. Dick Grayson is back and he relives some good times with Donna and Garth. Elsewhere, KGBeast is not happy that Nightwing in action because it makes him look like a failed assassin Nightwing, in his old blue and red costume, teams up with Batgirl to clean up splinter groups left over from the Joker War. Later, he meets with the Nightwing Squad, telling them he is back and they need to stand on the sidelines. He then meets with Bea and promises to start over with her. That’s when KGBeast arrives and plans to kill Bea.

RED HOOD OUTLAW #50 by Scott Lobdell and Paolo Pantalena. Jason has struck up a relationship with Artemis, Bizarro is the King of Trigon's dimension The Joker’s Daughter is on the mend. That leads Jason to Ma Gunn’s where Monsieur Mallah is training Generation Outlaw and Duela Dent is recuperating. Later, she goes out and hangs out with Pup-Pup Das later, as this new team battles some well-dressed corporate thieves, Duela has a breakthrough and decides she doesn’t want to do this anymore. A week later, she goes to her childhood home with Pup-Pup, Artemis breaks up with Jason and he heads to Gotham.

SUICIDE SQUAD #10 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. Deadshot is Dead and Ted Kord is not to blame. Black Mask has been masquerading as Ted Kord. Fin verifies that Kord is Kord, leading to Wink and Aerie heading off to stop Black Mask. He masquerades as Wink but Aerie does not buy it and he is captured. After defeating Black Mask's army, the team head to Badhnisia to warn the president that Black Mask has set Lola to explode and potentially blow up the island. Zebra-Man tries to contain Osita as she reaches meltdown, but he can’t and it looks like everyone is dead.

SUPERMAN #26 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. Yesterday, Superman has some quiet time with Lois before heading to the Fortress of Solitude to discover that there’s something coming to Earth. He heads to the Daily Planet, but ends up leaving to face off against Synmar. Their battle leads them into the Phantom Zone where things don’t look good for our hero.

TEEN TITANS #46 by Robbie Thompson and Jesus Merino. Superboy joins the team to help take down Mammoth and his sister. He braks into the vault where it’s believed that there are captives of human traffickers. What he finds is a note from Damian addressed to him. He reveals that the note says the Titans will never find Damian. Later, the team relaxes, and Emiko and Kid Flash get taken over by Joystick.

WONDER WOMAN #764 by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh. Maxwell Lord and Wonder Woman head to Miami where people seem to think Maxwell is actually Darren Hindor from the Miami Bust television show. They meet up with a client about exchanging some stolen Lord Industries tech, but he initiates a double-cross that uses cell phones to create cyborgs. Wonder Woman calls on a giant shark to take out the cyborgs. Later, Diana muses on what has happened while Maxwell uses some mind control to find out how he might be able to use this tech for himself.

WONDER WOMAN #765 by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh. Diana and Maxwell are off to Zandia to put a stop to more of his tech. They end up in a casino and Maxwell ends up facing a bounty hunter who is working for Count Vertigo, but gets saved by Diana. They head to Vlatava, but the invisible jet gets taken down and Diana goes blind!

YOUNG JUSTICE #19 by Brian Michael Bendis, David Walker and Scott Godlewski. Cassie Sandmark has had a falling out with Zeus over her life decisions. She teams up with Young Justice and they fight Poseidon. After Zeus deems her worthy of joining the Pantheon, she turns him down and opts to stay with her friends.

DC UNIVERSE Month 33, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1026 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. Superman and the House of Kent fight the Parasite from another dimension, with Brainiac 5 blasting him and shrinking him to miniature. Superman flies off to battle Red Cloud, with Red Cloud choking hi out. Meanwhile, at the Daily Planet, Leone claims she is a victim of the evil alternate universe Lois Lane, raising questions by asking how did Sam Lane die. With that, after she fires Perry White, Lois is arrested.

AQUAMAN #64 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Miguel Mendonca. Orm’s interrupted the wedding and his Daigon forces have breached and invaded Atlantis. While the battle rages, Vulko frees Mother Cetea. Orm declares himself the ruler of Atlantis and that leads to a one-on-one battle between Arthur and Orm. Arthur gets distracted and Orm defeats him, daring him to call some fish, which looks like that is exactly what Aquaman will do.

BATGIRL #50 by Cecil Castellucci, Aneke, Emanuela Lupacchino and Marguerite Sauvage. We begin with James’ funeral, before Barbara and her father go to a diner, where her father badmouths Batgirl, leading to Barbara storming out. She meets up with Jason, who is trying to convince a young girl named Ryan Wilder (who will be the new Batwoman on the CW television show of the same name) to go to a homeless shelter. Later, Jason says he accepts full responsibility in framing her dad and wants to show Barbara he has changed. She gets a call and heads to the Batcave, where Batman tells Batgirl, Nightwing, and Tim Drake that he has lost much of his money and is no longer in control of Wayne Enterprise. After convincing Batman to give money to a homeless shelter, Batgirl tells Nightwing that things can’t just go back to normal and he will have to earn her friendship back. Days later, Batgirl apologizes to Jason and later Barbara tells him she wants to move forward with their relationship between them. While she is meeting with Congresswoman Alejo, protesters throw a rock through one of the office windows, Alejo, Barbara, and Jason then join the protestors in marching through the city. Jim Gordon is also there and she convinces him to join in the protest.

BATMAN #100 by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez. Batgirl is back in the Clock Tower, where she takes back her Oracle persona, using the emergency channel to contact the Bat-Family and the police. Bullock decides to do the right thing, throws down his badge and orders his men to join him. Batman is dealing with the Joker, who has reanimated Alfred’s corpse. With his new Bat costume, Joker gets the advantage, until Batman kills the lights and fights back, although he gets stabbed by The Joker. Meanwhile, Punchline is pissed that the explosion at ACE Chemical happened sooner than planned and the Underbroker quits. That’s when Nightwing and the Bat-Family arrive. Back at the Batman/Joer fight, things look bad for our hero until Harley Quin shows up and shoots Mr. J. in the eye. She cuffs Joker and attaches the bombs to Joker and herself, making Batman choose who to save. Batman decides to save her and leaves Joker with the reanimated Alfred. The bomb explodes and we cut to a week later, as we learn Joker apparently escaped and Batman, now broke, must start over. In a series of epilogues, we meet the next villain, Ghostmaker. Batman tracks down Bao Pham, who is Clownhunter. He says he used to believe in Batman, but not anymore. In the end, two men are sitting in a coffee shop and one shows the other video of Punchline appealing to the public for leniency. Then he kills the other man with Joker toxin.

BATMAN #101 by James Tynion IV and Guillem March. While Bruce muses about the past, he and Selina also talk about the future and how things are going to change significantly. Flashback to a week ago where Batman is fighting with Grifter, until Lucius Fox stops them. Lucius has hired Grifter as his personal bodyguard, while he still deals with the effects of the Joker Toxin. The city is in the process of electing a new mayor and the Joker is still at large. With Selina having given Lucius the Wayne fortune, Bruce realizes he has had his ability to support his Batman persona cut dramatically. As Batman leaves, he meets Grifter and tells him he knows who he really works work and has a message for them. Back in the present, he tells Selina he needs to move into the city and they can’t tea up while she is still a wanted criminal. So they agree to meet back up in a year and make the needed decisions.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #17 by Bryan Edward Hill and Marcio Takara. It’s the end of the road for the Outsiders. Bruce has set up a horse farm for Sofia, and the team decides what to do next. Bruce has tea with Shiva, who knocks him out with iocane powder. Hen he wakes, the only person there is Shiva, who explains that Jefferson, Tatsu, Duke have all headed off to Gotham and Cassandra is going to meet with Stephanie Brown. She also reveals that Sofia is going off with her, leaving behind a very upset Bruce.

BATMAN BEYOND #48 by Dan Jurgens and Paul Pelletier. Matt and Terry meet with Bruce, who suddenly attacks them, claiming they are here to kill him. Booster Gold shows up and pulls Terry out of the attack, explaining that they need to go back in time, because some villain had implanted a seed in Bruce’s brain long ago and today as the day it went off. He also tells Terry that Matt is dead and there’s nothing they can do. They head back to 2020, here they save a family whose house has caught fire during the heroes confrontation with the villain Blanque. One of the people is a young Warren McGinnis, who happens to be Terry’s father. That’s when Batman shows up and tell him to release the boy.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN #13 by Joshua Williamson and Max Raynor. Batwoman and Steel head to the moon, where they are forced to fight an army of robots. A rogue computer program hacked it's way into the Batcomputer and now Batman and Superman are being tested, mentally and physically, to defeat their robot copies of their Rogue’s Gallery. Batman puts a virus in the system, causing a Joker robot to come to their aid. Batwoman and Steel come to the rescue, but things aren’t done yet as the program has created a Batman/Superman mash-up.

BATMAN: THREE JOKERS #3 by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. Batman, Batgirl Jason try to figure out who The Joker really is, although it seems Batman knows. He finds out that Joe Chill has been kidnapped and that he also ha written lots o letters, undelivered, to Bruce Wayne. They track The Joker to the Monarch Theatre, where he plans to drop Chill into a vat, turning him into the new Clown Prince of Crime. After a battle, Batman saves Joe Chill’s life and The Criminal Joker is killed by the Comedian Joker. In the end, Chill dies and Batman reads the letters, Jason writes a love letter to Barbara which she never gets to see and Batman reveals he has always known ho the Joker is, but he can never tell the world because of what it will do to his family.

CATWOMAN #26 by Ram V and Fernando Blanco. The Penguin is not happy about being played by Selina, so he hires a hitman named Father Valley. In the bad part of Alleytown, Selina meets with Pit and cuts a deal. In the end, Father Valley spies on Selina and Maggie.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL #4 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Batman and Superman are in tough shape as they are dealing with alternate versions of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS and FINAL CRISIS. Wonder Woman is dealing with the alternate INFINITE CRISIS, where Superboy Prime tells her that he promised The Batman Who Laughs Wonder Woman so he could be the hero of the one world left. Elsewhere, Harley, Swamp Thing, and Jarro face Robin King, who finishes off the disembodied Jonah Hex. Wonder Woman convinces Superboy Prime join the heroes and he destroys the antenna, which frees Batman and Superman and resets everything. Or not, as the world is still devastated and Wally, sitting in Metron’s chair, is no longer in the blue suit.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL: ROBIN KING #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Riley Rossmo. Robin King gloats at his apparent victory and thinks back to how he came to be. Following his parents death, young Bruce Wayne decided to take down the heroes of his Earth. His actions bring attention to the Batman Who Laughs who convinces him to join him and doses him with a pill while he pits him in the Robin Pit, finalizing his transformation. In the back-up, the Signal and his team take down a Batman/Chemo mash-up to free Gotham Narrows.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL: RISE OF THE NEW GOD #1 by James Tynion IV and Jesus Merino. The Chronicler moves through time and space, meeting with various characters and observing the cosmic battle between Darkest Knight and Perpetua. With him is the Codex Omniversa: a book which contains worlds he has witnessed rise and fall. In the end, he decides this world is worth saving. In the back-up, John Stewart and a handful of Lanterns make their way through the Bleed to meet with the surviving heroes from the other worlds of the Multiverse.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1028 by Peter J. Tomasi and Nicola Scott. Batman investigates a series of murders perpetrated as revenge by the son of a former policeman. In the end, the vigilante son is arrested and Christopher Nakano announces his candidacy for Mayor, claiming he wants to get rid of the “masked and dangerous”.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1029 by Peter J. Tomasi and Kenneth Rocafort. The Mirror is introduced, and his plan is to start a revolution where he and his followers can unmask and eliminate the Bats and his various teammates. Meanwhile, Bruce is boxing up the belongings the Wayne Manor as he prepares to move out and into the city. Later, he helps stop an apparent attack during a Nakano for Mayor gala. In the end, he goes to examine the Black Casebook, only to find it blank. It seems Damian has stolen the book.

THE FLASH #763 by Kevin Shinick and Clayton Henry. Barry and Iris are at the Central City Farmer’s Market when he realizes that his ring that holds his costume is missing. This eventually leads him to Trickster’s arcade and his ring is being offered as a prize. After a series of tests, Trickster has a final test: tell him why the ring is special. Barry tells him the ring has special powers. Trickster decides to use the ring himself, the costume comes out into his face, knocking him out, allowing Flash to regain the ring. In the end, Dr. Alchemy is in Iron Heights and has a plan.

THE FLASH #764 by Kevin Shinick and Will Conrad. The news reports that Dr. Alchemy is breaking out of Iron Heights and Barry races off. During the battle, Alchemy blasts him and Flash’ mask turn to Mercury. The CCPD shows up and shoots at Alchemy, who turns the bullets into gas that will kill the men. Flash uses his speed to disperse the gas. Alchemy is using the philosopher’s stone to achieve his tasks and that leads to Barry researching the stone. He heads to the museum to check out a Metal Men exhibit and hopefully talk to Will Magnus. There he confronts Alchemy, who has used his powers to drain the Speed Force from Flash’s body. He tells him that he could kill everyone in the building, but he would rather show the people there that The Flash can’t stop him.

GREEN LANTERN: SEASON TWO #8 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. In a tale this plays in reverse, the war in the Anti-World is coming and somehow Sinestro is now involved.

HAWKMAN #28 by Robert Venditti and Fernando Pasarin. Hawkman and Hawkgirl are in 1940 and Carter is remembering his death from Hath-Set. He is also having issues with the thought of actually dying and staying dead. The Nth Metal dagger has been stolen and is being used by Anton Hastor, the current version of Hath-Set, to find Hawkman. Hawkman uses his mace to psychically link to the dagger, which leads them to a train, where Anton has used the power of Anubis to make everyone on the train a zombie, that our heroes have to fight and kill. In the end, Hastor uses the dagger to stab and possibly kill Hawkman.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #54 by Joshua Williamson and Xermanico. Continued from JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #25, Cyborg and Starfire join the team of Nightwing, Hawkgirl, Bobo and Luthor. They have to make their way across the wastelands through a field filled with giant Starros. The giant stars are placing false memories in the heads of the team and it takes Luthor to snap them out of it to face off with Starro.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #55 by Joshua Williamson and Robson Rocha. The team continues to fifth with the Starros, which have not combined to become a giant Starro. They board Luthor’s pirate ship, which he has named Lana, and head across Brimstone Bay to free the Legion of Doom. Hawkgirl senses Martian Manhunter and heads off to free him. That results in the team being attacked by the Omega Knight, as J’onn has been compromised.

DC UNIVERSE Month 32, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE #52 by Jeff Loveness and Robson Rocha. Batman is controlled by Black Mercy and that causes him to see his dead mother, trying to convince him to stop being Batman. Wonder Woman breaks free and sets him free, allowing the team to get back to Earth and reflect on their mission and what the Black Mercy Planet made them realize.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #53 by Joshua Williamson and Xermanico. In the Dark Nights: Death Metal world, Nightwing, Hawkgirl, and Detective Chimp make their way to what is left of the Hal of Justice, where they find a cloaked and scarred Lex Luthor. He them that the mission is to get to Perpetua's throne and retrieve the Legion of Doom. That job has apparently fallen on Martian Manhunter, who realizes that The Omega Knight is the guardian and the Mindhunter is the warden.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ANNUAL #2 by Robert Venditti and Aaron Lopresti. There is a man dead deep in a sub-basement of the Hall of Justice. But they soon are attacked by the protocols designed to stop the various villains of the team. It turns out the mastermind of this is the disembodied head of The Eradicator. The team ends up working together to stop the assault and, in the end, Batman locks The Eradicator’s head in a vault.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #26 by Ram V and Amancay Nahuelpan. Detective Chimp has found Constantine, who has been captured by Madame Xanadu. They ask how to defeat the Upside-Down Man and she draws tarot cards, basically telling them they need to believe in magic. What she doesn’t reveal is that John’s tarot card is Death. Bobo and John recruit Kirk and Dr. Fate and head off to the fight. They all team up and use their combined belief that their magic is stronger than that of the Upside-Down Man and defeat him, but not before he seemingly kills John.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #24 by Dan Abnett and Cliff Richards. Hax has revealed that she serves Darkseid, who is now the Lord of Time and convinces Gamma Knife to help Darkseid. The rest of the team figures they need to use one of Epoch’s time crystals to fix things. They hook Cyborg up to Epoch's time technology and bring back Starfire, Cyborg, Jess and Azrael from before they were controlled by Darkseid, meaning there are now two Jess's and two Cyborgs. So, the team is that much bigger as they attack Darkseid for a final battle.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #9 by Brian Michael Bendis, Jenny Frison, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Klaus Janson, Arthur Adams, Joe Quinones, John Romita Jr., Nicola Scott, Jim Cheung, Emanuela Lupacchino, David Marquez, Gary Frank, Kevin Nowlan, James Harren, Mike Grell, Gene Luen Yang, Nick Derington, Tula Lotay, Michel Fiffe, Mitch Gerads, Ryan Sook, Wade Von Grawbadger and Jordie Bellaire. The origins of the Legion heroes continues. Crav shows with his son in chains, saying it was he who betrayed the United Planets. Dream Girl arrives and she stands with Ultra Boy, saying she has seen the future. Then she announces that the Great Darkness is coming. Dr. Fate is summoned and he declaes that Dream Girl is correct. The White Witch is revealed as Modru’s daughter and claims Crav was seeking parts of Aquaman’s trident, because he knows the Great Darkness is coming. Gold Lantern contains Crav and sends him back to Rimbor. The trial is ended, the Legion lives on and Saturn Girl and Superboy kiss.

METAL MEN #10 by Dan Didio and Shane Davis. Jenet Klyburn reveals that Nth Metal Man has been manipulating Will Magnus and the Metal Men this whole time and that Will forgot to turn on their responsometers. In the Dark Multiverse, had built her own Doc Magnus, where this team fought the Dark Multiverse Metal Men and won, killing the living Doc Magnus. Platinum captured Plutonium, strapped him to a rocket and blew it up, sending the Metal Doc Magnus into space. There, he was picked up by the Thanagarians, who infused him with the Nth Metal. When he returned to his world, he found it destroyed and then created the Dark Multiverse Metal Men, who are currently led by a reborn Plutonium. Doc and the Metal Men head to the Dark Multiverse to face off against the Dark Multiverse Metal Men and save Tina.

NIGHTWING #74 by Dan Jurgens and Ryan Benjamin. Bea is searching for Ric, Red Hood and Tim face off against some of Joker’s followers. That’s when Ric, now Dicky-Boy, reveals his true self and battles the former Robins. Barbara manages to grab the memory crystal from the Joker and Bea shows up and tries to convince him to be Dick again. He finally snaps out of it, becomes Dick Grayson again and destroys the crystal. Batman shows up, Tim defuses the bomb at the Children's Hospital and Bea walks away, saving Dick but losing the man she loves.

RED HOOD OUTLAW #49 by Scott Lobdell and Paolo Pantalena. The team along with the time displaced Red Hood, Starfire and Arsenal, struggle to close the door to Trigon's domain. Bizarro has slain Trigon and now he’s been declared the king of the region. As the team is set to close the door, Bizarro appears and tells his teammates that he is going to stay in the domain. After a tearful goodbye, the doors to Trigon's domain and the Chamber of All, sending Red Hood, Starfire and Arsenal back to their own time.

SHAZAM #14 by Geoff Johns, Dale Eaglesham and Scott Kolins. Billy Batson takes on Mr. Mind and Superboy-Prime shows up to throw his support to the Monster Society of Evil. Billy defeats Mr. Mind, which also takes out the magically enhanced foes in the process. In the process, Superboy-Prime gains magic power and uses it to draw the power out of Billy's family. Black Adam arrives and he and Billy take Superboy-Prime out. Billy’s father no longer remembers Billy, leaving him and leaving Billy back with his foster parents. In the end, the Wizard reveals that Billy's greatest achievement will be redeeming the seventh champion: Black Adam.

SHAZAM #15 by Jeff Loveness and Brandon Peterson. Billy does what he does as Shazam, even though Billy the student is getting in trouble with his teacher for not finishing a report on Civil War reconstruction. Later he saves his teacher, whose building burns down. He saves her and then takes her out fr sa burger and encouraging conversation. In the end, Billy apologizes for how he treated her in class, but he still hasn’t done his report.

SUICIDE SQUAD #9 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. Thylacine and Chaos Kitty kidnap a Senator, who later gets interrogated by Fin until he reveals the location of Ted Kord. After Zoe works on her shooting ability, the team goes off to Kord Defense, where they see Superman is already there and has captured Kord. Deadshot asks for some time alone and it’s revealed that Superman is really Black Mask in disguise, who shoot s Floyd between the eyes, sending he and Kord out the window towards the street below.

SUPERMAN #25 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. While Lana Lang interviews Clark about the past, present and future, now that he has revealed his identity to the world, Synmar learns his people may have been killed because of Superman. This sets up Clark’s next adversary.

TEEN TITANS #45 by Robbie Thompson and Javier Fernandez. The team is forced to come back together to fight Gizmo. Along the way Red Hood shows up and tells them that Damian throwing distractions at them so he can get away from their hunt for him. In the end, they take down Gizmo and Superboy arrives, looking for Damian.

THE TERRIFICS #30 by Gene Luen Yang and Sergio Davila. Although the team has defeated Parasite, they have discovered he was working with someone else. The team discovers Sebastian Stagg was responsible and has put together his own team, the Stagg Circle, made up of Staggatron, Lobo, and Silas Stone. Staggatron breaks Parasite out of captivity and Stagg shoves a molecular destabilizer into him. He explodes, resulting in  Parasite drones that begin changing the people it hits into monsters. Stagg says that he has a device that can fix this, but only if he gets millions in ransom. The Terrifics arrive, defeat the creatures and find a way to change them all back.

WONDER WOMAN #762 by Mariko Tamaki and Carlo Barberi. Diana forms an uneasy alliance with Maxwell Lord as she tries to stop all the mind control shenanigans going on. In the end, it’s revealed that Liar Liar is causing all the trouble in town. And Liar Liar turns out to be Maxwell's daughter.

WONDER WOMAN #763 by Mariko Tamaki and Carlo Barberi. Liar Liar tells Wonder Woman and Maxwell Lord about the day her mother died. And it turns out that, by using her psychic powers, she was responsible for the car crash that killed her mother. She tries to use her powers on Diana, but Max uses his power to silence his daughter. Diana takes her down and she is captured. In the end, Max remembers that Diana snapped his neck during Infinite Crisis, but still agrees to be a team player.

YOUNG JUSTICE #18 by Brian Michael Bendis, David Walker, Scott Godlewski and Michael Avon Oeming. Tim Drake teams up with Stephanie Brown so that they can take down her father Cluemaster. In the end, Drake changes his name back to Robin and the New 52 version of Cassie arrives, saying she needs the help of Young Justice.

DC UNIVERSE Month 32, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1025 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. Years Ago, Leone has a clandestine meeting with Dr. Glory. In the present, the House of Kent team break into Leone's headquarters while Red Cloud and Dr. Glory find a version of The Parasite from a multiverse where he killed his Superman. The Super team confronts the Parasite and he may have killed Connor. In other news, the FBI continues to search the Planet,   Jimmy hints that he will buy the paper and Leone shows up, claiming that our Lois is a Lois from another universe.

AQUAMAN #63 by Jordan Clark and Marco Santucci. Jackson and his Grandpa A.I. infused ship find themselves in the Trench where the Xebelians are in a fight with the Trench people. Jackson meets up with Ha'wea and they team up to help in the fight, with Aqualad's aquakinesis saving the day. In the end, Jackson makes amends with his father before heading off with the Grandpa A.I. infused ship.

BATGIRL #49 by Cecil Castellucci and Robbi Rodriguez. Batgirl investigates the series of “cosplay murders”, only to discover that James Jr. has been responsible all along. James is schizophrenic and decides to get rid of the other voice in his head by jumping to his apparent death. Commissioner Gordon arrives and tries to arrest Batgirl for manslaughter, but she flees and renounces her Batgirl persona.

BATMAN #98 by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez. With Scarecrow and Riddler playing chess, Penguin and Selina discuss what’s happening in Gotham. Meanwhile, Harley is taking care of Batman, who continues to have hallucinations with Alfred, when Punchline shows up with a flamethrower. The two fight and, luckily, Batman breaks from his hallucinations and takes Punchline out, telling Harley he needs everyone’s help. In the end, Selina tells Penguin that she is leaving and offers to make him a billionaire.

BATMAN #99 by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez. Joker picks up a package and makes his way towards ACE Chemical. He gets a call from Punchline, explaining the battle with Batman and Harley. Batman meets with the Bat-Family, with he and Harley heading to ACE Chemical. He enters ACE Chemical and is met with the reanimated corpse of Alfred, followed by Joker in the diamond suit that Alfred had made for Bruce. Meanwhile, Catwoman has teamed up with Penguin and Riddler as they go after the Underbroker and steal back the Wayne fortune.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #16 by Bryan Edward Hill and Dexter Soy. The team faces off against Ra's al-Ghul and his team. Working together, they defeat them, with Jefferson using his amped-up powers to defeat Ras and his alien weapon powers. In the end, Batman says he has a plan for the future and will explain all when they get back to Gotham.

BATMAN BEYOND #47 by Dan Jurgens and Sean Chen. Batman and the team face off against Mr. Zero and the League of Assassins. Damian gains revenge and traps Mr. Zero in his destroyed spaceship. In the end, the world has been saved and Booster Gold shows up to change the future and keep Batman from not existing.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN #12 by Joshua Williamson and Max Raynor. Steel and Batwoman investigate the destruction within the Batcave. Through a taped message, Batman reveals that the Batcomputer had been hacked by Brainiac, leading to a battle with Chemo. The message is damaged at the end, leading Batwoman and Steel to the moon. But the message was for them NOT to go to the moon, as Superman and Batman have been captured.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN ANNUAL #1 by Joshua Williamson, Dale Eaglesham, Clayton Henry and Gleb Melnikov. Two kids are playing with Batman and Superman action figures to see who would win in a fight between the two heroes. It turns out that this is taking place in the Fifth Dimension and Bat-mite and Mxyzptlk are here to step in and throw their thoughts into the debate. Bat-mite tells a tale where Superman's existence is ripping apart the Multiverse, with Batman turning the sun red, resulting in both heroes dying. Mxyzptlk tells his story and helps Superman win by cheating. In the end, the real heroes wake believing they have been toys and Krypto and Ace fight over Bat-mite and Mxyzptlk action figures.

BATMAN: THE JOKER WAR ZONE #1 by James Tynion IV, John Ridley, Joshua Williamson, Sam Johns, James Tynion IV, Guillem March, Oliver Coipel, David Lafuente, Laura Braga and James Stokoe. A collection of five tales spinning out of the JOKER WAR and setting up future stories in the Batman books. In the first, Joker goes to Arkham Asylum and visits Bane. His biggest gripe is that Bane killed Alfred in front of Robin instead a Batman and vows to pay him back for this. In the second, the Fox family deals with the ramifications of both Lucius encounter with Punchline and having access to the accounts that were given to them by Catwoman. The Joker Gang shows up and Luke suits up as Batwing. In the third tale, Hench Master is training the folks that make up the various villains armies. The leads to Spoiler and Orphan going into action and eventually retrieving the broken Bat Signal. The penultimate story features Poison Ivy, who takes revenge on Joker Gang members who have started a fire in her home, leading to her deciding her plant side need to take over her human side. In the final tale, Clownhunter, with a baseball bat weaponized with a batarang, takes his aggression out on a small group of Joker Gang members, to the cheers of the residents.

BATMAN: THREE JOKERS #2 by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. With only two Jokers left, Jason continues his hunt while Batman and Batgirl investigate the murder of Judge Walls. This leads them to Arkham, where it is revealed that Joe Chill has been moved and is dying of Cancer. Jason ends up at the Gotham City Athletic Association, where he discovers a pool filled with toxin and Jokers. A Joker shows up, captures him and beats him. Later, Batman and Batgirl arrive and fight off the Jokers before finding and rescuing Jason. In the end, Jason and Barbara share a kiss and The Joker interrogates Joe Chill, anting to now why he really killed The Waynes.

CATWOMAN #25 by Ram V, Fernando Blanco, John Paul Leon and Juan E. Ferreyra. In the first tale, Selina, Riddler, and Penguin are stealing Bruce's money back from the Underbroker. Things go off but not without a hitch, which leads to Selina getting injured and saved by Detective Hadley. Later, she meets with Luke Fox, where she tells him the Wayne money has been deposited in Lucius account in the Cayman Islands. In the second story Selina heads back to Alleytown, where she takes in and works with a new generation of strays. In the last story, Selina meets up with a new cat that’s very much like her.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL: MULTIVERSE’S END  #1 by James Tynion IV and Juan Gedeon. On Earth-3, Owlman is interrogating John Stewart while survivors of the Multiverse battle. Bat-Baby and the Rainbow Batman Corps show up to the battle and it looks like the Crime Syndicate may join Justice Incarnate to fight against Perpetua, especially when Harbinger informs Owlman that he has died multiple times. But this just proves to Owlman that he has survived, no matter which version of the Multiverse exists. He betrays his Crime Syndicate teammates, but sacrifices himself by destroying Bat-Baby and the Rainbow Batman Corps. In the end, Stewart and his team head home, now that Perpetua’s towers have been taken down.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL: SPEED METAL #1 by Joshua Williamson and Eddy Barrows. With the world turned upside down, Barry, Wally, Jay and Wallace try to outrun the Darkest Knight, who wants to take the Creation Energy from Wally. The Darkest Knight throws everything at the team and Barry gives Wally his energy to allow him to reach the Mobius Chair, reuniting him with the whole Flash family, including Linda and his kids. Next step: get the chair to Wonder Woman. Continued in DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL #4.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL: TRINITY CRISIS #1 by Scott Snyder and Francis Manapul. The Trinity, along with Swamp Thing, Jarro, Jonah Hex and Harley Quinn head to Castle Bat so that they can access a portal to the Dark Multiverse. It seems three worlds are continually going through Final Crisis, Infinite Crisis and the Crisis on Infinite Earths. After battling the defenders of the Castle, they discover a chained up Barbatos. When they find the portral, the Robin King emerges and he kills Hex. The Trinity ends up at the three crisis points, with Batman and Superman being defeated. Even Disana is felled, when she is greeted by Superboy Prime who says that on these three worlds, the heroes lost.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1027 by Brian Michael Bendis, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Matt Fraction, Dan Jurgens, Tom King, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Scott Snyder, Mariko Tamaki, Peter J. Tomasi, James Tynion IV, Marv Wolfman, Lee Bermejo, Chris Burnham, Jamal Campbell, Jim Cheung, Olivier Coipel, Jos L. Garca Lpez, Dan Jurgens, Emanuela Lupacchino, David Marquez, Dan Mora, Ivan Reis, Eduardo Risso, John Romita Jr., Riley Rossmo, Walt Simonson, Brad Walker and Chip Zdarsky. This 144 page anniversary issues features twelve stories. The most revealing, and important to Batman continuity, is battling Calendar Man. During the fight, the museum catches fire and, as he sees a portrait of his parents stating the gallery was dedicated to them in 1985, there is a blinding white light. Everything becomes fractured and many versions of Batman are seen. Our hero is now dressed in his DETECTIVE #27 costume and the portrait now says the gallery was dedicated to them in 1915. Kamandi appears, telling Batman that Booster says time is broken. Together, they leave to “get the team together”. To be continued in GENERATIONS FUTURE STATE #1.

THE FLASH #761 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. In the 853^rd century, the newest Kid Flash is being taught the “most important moment in our history.” It turns out that moment is the battle against the Legion of Zoom. Max puts out a call and speedsters from all across time arrive to help in the fight. Thawne tells Barry that he used his knowledge of the past to change things to benefit him. He also used the Negative Speed Force to manipulate events, so he can gain revenge on Barry. Wally’s voice interrupts their fight, telling Barry to find him. Barry and Thawne head into the Speed Force for, what we are told, is their last race.

THE FLASH #762 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. Barry is chasing Eobard, who wants to go back to the 25^th century, insisting Flash kills him. But Barry turns the tables, telling Eobard that he forgives him. Barry reveals that he brought the Speed Force inside of him and causes Eobard to disappear. Eobard is now in the 25^th Century and is a curator in the Flash Museum.  Reverse-Flash is still recognized as a villain, but his identity has never been known. Barry shows up to check on Eobard and then goes through the timeline to fix everything that Reverse-Flash altered. Barry eventually goes back to the murder scene he had been investigating before all of this happened, only to find the woman is now alive. It turns out she is the ancestor of Eobard Thawne. In the end, Barry and the Flash Family have a barbeque.

GREEN LANTERN: SEASON TWO #7 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. Hal is dead and finds himself in the afterlife and facing judgment from the Young Guardians. They explain there is a coming war and they’ll need the help of the Death Lantern. Hal fights the come back from the dead, but he forgets everything he was told about the upcoming war. Now he and his team need to fight the battle against the Anti-World.

HAWKMAN #27 by Robert Venditti and Fernando Pasarin. The Hawks have just one life left to live and they are doing it with the JSA in the 1940s. They team up to defeat the Injustice Society. In the end, Carter confesses that he is afraid to die while Hath-Set is making preparations to end their lives.

 

Even more first issues

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: SINS RISING PRELUDE #1 by Nick Spencer and Guillermo Sanna. The next big event for Spider-Man starts with this. Sin-Eater, the masked vigilante who killed Jean DeWolfe, has come back from the dead and is ready to continue his work. This sets up his resurrection and fills in readers on the history of Sin-Eater. The artwork is hit or miss, with some nice callbacks to the original story back in the days of the black costume. It is a decent lead-in to a major Spidey story.
 
ASTERIX FREE COMIC BOOK DAY by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. The legendary Asterix gets a great treatment designed to introduce the gem to a broader audience. Asterix set the bar for such works as GROO and it’s evident here. Rush to your comics shop and get this.
 
BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE #1 by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini and Ty Templeton. This digital first series tries to reignite the feel of the classic series of comics and the television show. All the classic characters are here, with a surprise appearance in the end, and even an appearance by Lex Luthor, which ties the SUPERMAN ADVENTURES to this. The writing is fun, Templeton’s art is cartoony and it’s a nice callback to the past.
 
BIRDS OF PREY #1 by Brian Azzarello and Emanuela Lupacchino. This huge Black Label one shot is a rambling tale of revenge and retribution. The characters aren’t so much a team as they are a loose amalgamation that puts the three main characters into each other’s orbit. It’s a typical Azzarello script that is heavy and crime and biting dialogue. Lupacchino’s art is in the usual amazing style and hey: just remember this is not in continuity. If you get through that, it’s a fun read.
 
BLACK WIDOW #1 by Kelly Thompson and Elena Casagrande. The Widow is back and she’s in trouble again. After completing a mission she gets dumped out of her apartment…literally. Three months later and she is in San Francisco, designing blueprints for a building. And she has a new love in her life and Arcade plotting her death. I love the twists in this and want to see where this goes next.
 
BOMB QUEEN: TRUMP CARD #1 by Jimmie Robinson. I have been a huge fan of Jimmie Robinson’s work going back to CYBERZONE, AMANDA & GUNN and CODE BLUE. This book is the latest his long running series of mini-series featuring the titular villainess. This time, it’s 2024 and she’s coerced into running for President against President Trump. It’s a fun ride of a future where superheroes are banned and Trump is the chief bad guy.
 
DAREDEVIL ANNUAL #1 by Chip Zdarsky and Manuel Garcia. Daredevil gets his IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE moment in this Annual. Matt Murdock takes a backseat to Mike Murdock, who is not the happy go lucky fictional creation of Matt Murdock. He’s a separate flesh and blood entity that has turned to the dark side because of his path in his young life. Not an imaginary story…this actually ties into current continuity. It’s a little confusing if you haven’t been reading the series, but all makes sense if you have,
 
DCEASED: DEAD PLANET #1 by Tom Taylor and Trevor Hairsine. Taylor has mined the concept of heroes and zombies in the DCEASED series as was done with INJUSTICE. The world has come to an end and the remaining superheroes, those who haven’t become zombies in the previous series of series, try to find a cure and restore the world to something resembling normalcy. This is just dumb fun in the way MARVEL ZOMBIES is. It’s not an in-continuity series that would be an ELSEWORLDS tale back in the day.
 
EMPYRE: AVENGERS #0 by Al Ewing and Pepe Larraz. Marvel’s next big event, which will encompass over 50 issues, counting tie-ins and spin-offs. It’s time for a new Kree-Skrull War and Hulking is the front and center. The Avengers journey to the Blue Area of the moon to find it has turned green. That’s because the Cotati have been here and so is the long dead, but reanimated Swordsman. There are a ton of callbacks to Marvel history and that’s great for long time fans. Will this series truly reset the Marvel Universe’s place in space? Well, it will lead to a number of new series after this ends, including a new She Hulk series.
 
EMPYRE: FANTASTIC FOUR #0 by Dan Slott and R. B. Silva. Marvel’s next big event continues in this second lead-in to the EMPYRE event. The FF head into space and end up in the middle of arena battles where the usual main event is Kree versus Skrulls. Of course, that means The Thing ends up as their gladiator and they end up adding a young Kree warrior and an equally young Skrull warrior to their team…sort of. All this leads right into EMPYRE #1.
 
EMPYRE #1 by Al Ewing, Dan Slott and Valerio Schiti. The Kree and the Skrulls have finally found a way to exist in peace and have formed an alliance under the rule of The Hulkling, which has brought the Fantastic Four into the mix. The Coatiti are almost extinct and, under the lead of the former Swordsman and his son the Celestiah Messiah, they have reached out to The Avengers. That means that these two forces are going to end up bumping heads along the way. But who is the right side of history here. This leads to a rambling story which, before it is done, will result in many mini-series and crossovers including LORDS OF EMPYRE EMPEROR HULKLING,  LORDS OF EMPYRE CELESTIAL MESSIAH, LORDS OF EMPYRE SWORDSMAN, EMPYRE AVENGERS, EMPYRE CAPTAIN AMERICA, EMPYRE SAVAGE AVENGERS, and EMPYRE X-MEN, EMPYRE THE IMMORTAL HULK, plus crossovers into issues of CAPTAIN MARVEL, FANTASTIC FOUR, STRIKEFORCE and X-MEN. It should be noted that a number of one-shots and mini-series, first announced as part of this, got pulled including EMPYRE THOR, EMPYRE STORMRANGER, EMPYRE THE INVASION OF WAKANDA, EMPYRE GHOST RIDER, EMPYRE SPIDER-MAN, EMPYRE SQUADRON SUPREME, and THE UNION.
 
GIANT-SIZE X-MEN: FANTOMEX by Jonathan Hickman and Rod Reis. Hickman’s series of stand alone one shots continues with this wild tale of the mysterious X-Man. After his “birth”, he spends his life, ten years at a time, going to The World to meet with his clone-each time going with a different army including the Howling Commandos, the Hellfire Club and an assortment of X-Men. It’s a trippy tale with art the is reminiscent of Bill Sienkiwicz.  
 
GIANT-SIZE X-MEN: MAGNETO by Jonathan Hickman and Ramon Perez. In the past, Magneto meets with Emma Frost, who wants an island of her own. That leads to Erik meeting with Namor, who wants a favor before he lets her lease an island. Thus we have an adventure between the two to help Namor to ultimately help the White Queen. The book looks great, but lacks a ton of meaningful plot. Probably the worst and most disappointing release in the GIANT-SIZE line to date.
 
FANTASTIC FOUR: ANTITHESIS #1 by Mark Waid and Neal Adams. I have to say that I knew this book was coming about a year ago in the form of some confidential information from the inside. And I have to say that it was worth the wait! The story is set in the past, as Franklin and Valeria are still very little kids. And you get the Silver Surfer, Annihilus and Galactus too. Waid’s story is fun, while Adams art, with super tight inks from Mark Farmer, harkens back to classic Adams’ style. If you are a fan of the classic FF days, this is a must have.
 
MAESTRO #1 by Peter David, German Peralta and Dale Keown. Peter David comes back to the character he created and promises to give us the true origin of the future Hulk. With an opening/framing sequence by Keown, the art duties get turned over to Peralta with great results. The world has come to an end and Hulk finds himself on a fact finding/self examining road trip with an aged Modok by his side. This was so much fun to read and I can’t wait to see where David takes it.
 
MARVEL SNAPSHOTS CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #1 by Mark Russell and Ramon Perez. Remember Mad Bomb? The legendary Jack Kirby epic that twisted heads and proved Kirby was still The King? This one-shot pays homage and brings it back again with Mad Bomb II. It’s old school adventure, short of the alleged stars of the book and long on the tale of someone looking to make his world better by joining A.I.M. It’s a nice tribute to an age gone by, but with a tale that fits nicely into the contemporary world.
 
MARVEL ZOMBIES RESURRECTION #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Leonard Kirk. Continuing from the story in the last MARVEL ZOMBIES outing, Peter Parker, Forge, Moonstone and the Richards kids try to survive in an infected world where most of the superheroes are dead or undead and looking to feed. The story is a fun non-continuity romp with great art from irk. If you like DCEASED, you’ll love this.
 
NEGAN LIVES #1 by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. He’s back. The super popular baddie from THE WALKING DEAD is here in a stand alone tale where our “hero” mourns about his bat, his wife and his place in the world. It’s uncertain where exactly it falls in THE WALKING DEAD continuity, but Kirkman does reveal it’s somewhere between issues #174 and #193. And it could lead to a sequel, by the way the book ends. It also acts as a nice lead-in to Image’ reprinting of the entire series in color.
 
SACRED SIX #1 by Christopher Priest, Jae Lee and Gabriel Ibarra. Dynamite continues to focus on its’ key assets with another Vampirella themed title. This one, written by VAMPIRELLA  scribe Christopher Priest, teams up Vampirella, Draculina, Pantha, Nyx, Chastity and Lilith in a series which ties into the main series with the addition of Drago and The Six. It’s typical Priest, with false starts, confusing moments and a story which forces the reader to think to get to the endgame.
 
SPIDER-MAN FREE COMIC BOOK DAY EDITION #1 by Jed MacKay, Donny Cates, Patrick Gleason and Ryan Stegman. Better late than never, due to the industry shutdown. The first is a fun team-up between Spidey and Black Cat up against the classic Vulture. But it’s the second tale, a Venom story, that is the real reason to pick this up as it leads directly into VENOM #26.
 
X-FACTOR #1 by Leah Williams and David Baldeson. What do you do when you need a team to investigate missing mutants and deaths and you can’t get the help from? You create X-Factor Investigations and let the do the leg work. Yes, it’s another new X book and another new team comprised of Northstar, Polaris, Daken, Prodigy, Prestige, Eye-Boy, Hope, Egg, Elixir, Proteus and Tempus-most of whom are not household names in the X-Universe. The concept is fun, the dialogue is snappy and the artwork rocks. This could be the unexpected hit of the X books.
 
X-MEN: GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS EXTENDED CUT #1 by Chris Claremont and Brent Eric Anderson. Back in the 1980’s. Marvel launched the first series of graphic novels, many of which, specifically THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, have gained legendary status. It was the early days of the Direct Market, where publishers began to think outside the box. X-MEN: GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS was one of those legendary titles, with a wonderful Eighties political feel. Marvel reprints this book, at last, as a two issue miniseries with added wraparound content, bringing the tale’s perspective into today’s timeline. The storytelling and art hold up nicely after all these years, especially when comics were filling pages with multitudes of panels per page. If you don’t own the original, you need to put this into your collection. It truly is possibly Chris Claremont’s finest work.
 
X-MEN FREE COMIC BOOK DAY EDITION #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard, Tom Taylor, Iban Coello and Pepe Larraz. This is a winner, for folks who want to see what the future of large Marvel events has in store. The first tale makes beautiful use of Tarot imagery to set of the events in the forthcoming X OF SWORDS mega story running trough the X titles. The second tale is the lead-in for the big line-wide DARK AGES story, which actually should have had its’ own stand along book, rather than shoving it into the X book.