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.

DC UNIVERSE Month 31, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #23 by Dan Abnett and Will Conrad. Two different Epochs from different times, the "Presently me" and "currently me" are at work to reset the universe in their image and eliminate Darkseid from the timeline. Meanwhile, Darkseid and his new New Gods are fighting the Eskaton. While it looks like Eskaton will win, Darkseid kill the Eskaton. As he recovers, he sends Cyborg to go kill Epoch. The team attack Cyborg, who defeats them But Jessica reaches into the real Cyborg inside the one controlled by Darkseid and succeeds in bringing the real Cyborg back to life. Hax kills both Epochs and it is revealed she has been working for Darkseid all along.
 
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #8 by Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Allred, Andr Lima Arajo, Bilquis Evely, Sanford Greene, Cully Hamner, Dan Hipp, Joelle Jones, Dan Jurgens, Jeff Lemire, David Mack, Alex Maleev, Fabio Moon, Dustin Nguyen, Michael Avon Oeming, Yanick Paquette, Darick Robertson, Duncan Rouleau, Evan Shaner, Liam Sharp, Ryan Sook, and John Timms. The Legion battles Craz, but that goes against United Planet law and The President orders the team to be arrested and sent to trial.
 
METAL MEN #9 by Dan Didio and Shane Davis. Iron, Lead, Mercury and Tin battle Chemo, defeating him but allowing his hazardous chemicals to run into the sewers. Meanwhile, the Nth Metal Man returns to the Nth Metal pool in an attempt to seal it. But The Phantom Stranger arrives and informs him that Dark Multiverse Metal Man are coming for Nth Metal Man and plan to take him back to his homeworld.
 
NIGHTWING #73 by Dan Jurgens and Ryan Benjamin. Batgirl has been captured and she is forced to face off if a battle to the death with Nightwing, who is now controlled by the Joker. She manages to escape by Nightwing has a plan to take down Batgirl, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake all at once and destroy the Alfred Pennyworth Children's Hospital in the process.
 
RED HOOD OUTLAW #48 by Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth. Red Hood comes to Gotham and gets involved in the Joker War. He finds Punchline, who has captured
The Joker's Daughter. Jason is forced to fight a clown mask wearing Dick Grayson but, after it looks like he has won, he gets knocked out by Punchline. When he wakes, he finds the building he was in burning to the ground and recovers the dead body of The Joker’s Daughter. But that turns out to be the body of a homeless girl, as Punchline, Dick and some of the clowns are actually in an ambulance with the real Duela Dent.

SUICIDE SQUAD #8 by Tom Taylor and Daniel Sampere. The team is in Badhnisia. Aerie reveals how she had been experimented on by The Post Human Project and ended up in captivity, which is where she met Wink. They also met the T.N. Teens, one of whom ended up being separated from her brother Javier. Aerie and Wink eventually break out, taking Javier with them. We also see that Lola and someone else are in captivity and Ted Kord is the evil genius who plans on using her to get Badhnisia.
 
SUPERMAN #24 by Brian Michael Bendis and Kevin Maguire. Dr. Fate and Superman face off against Xanadoth, who has possessed the body of DEO Agent Bissette. With the help of Zatanna and the Justice League Dark, they defeat the Lord of the Lords of Chaos and life goes back to normal. But a recovering Agent Bissette may still have traces of
Xanadoth inside of her.
 
TEEN TITANS #44 by Robbie Thompson and Javier Fernandez. Robin has snapped and lopped off the arm of the KGBeast, leading to him fighting the Titans while Kid Flash brings the KGBeast to Arkham. Elsewhere, the freed villains (Mammoth, Gizmo, Swerve, Joystick and Black Mask) have a plan and that means they’ve hired Deathstroke, who is more than thrilled to take out the Titans. The Titans brawl with Robin…and that’s when Batman shows up. The story continues in TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #2.
 
TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #2 by Robbie Thompson and Eduardo Pansica. Batman is here to confront Damian and split up the Titans. Deathstroke shows up and levels the team with a bazooka, allowing Robin to get away. Robin and Deathstroke face off with each other before the rest of the Titans, including Emiko, who is surprised and relieved that she didn’t kill Deathstroke. Robin uses his sword to take down Deathstroke and injured Emiko in the process. Batman intervenes and Robins beats on him. Batman refuses to fight his son, so Robin tears off the R logo and leaves, leaving the team in disarray.
 
THE TERRIFICS #29 by Gene Luen Yang and Max Raynor. Simon Stagg is dead and Sebastian Stagg has shown up to claim his father's company.  Sapphire and Metamorpho stay with Sebastian while the T-Council and the Terrifics head off to save Gateway City from meteorites which have the Terrifictech logo on them. The Terrifictech Space Station is being torn apart by Lobo, who has been hired by Sebastian. If that wasn’t bad enough for the team, it seems that Silas Stone has joined up with Sebastian, meaning a disheartening betrayal by him.
 
WONDER WOMAN #760 by Mariko Tamaki and Mikel Janin. Diana and Maxwell are facing off in Stryker's Island Penitentiary. Diana leaves and later meets with Etta Candy, who informs Wonder Woman about the widespread hallucinations happening all over the country. The next day, the hallucinations start up again and Diana fights Parademons from Apokolips. But that isn’t real either and now Diana has been affected by the hallucinations.
 
WONDER WOMAN #761 by Mariko Tamaki and Carlo Barberi. The mass hallucinations continues and we learn that a phone app connected to Lord Industries may be responsible. This leads to Diana and Max teaming up. There is a Army man ho has been affected and he has launched a nuclear missile. In the end, it looks like Diana’s neighbor Emma is responsible and that Max Lord may be her father.
 
WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL #4 by Steve Orlando and Jack Herbert.  Diana is been summoned to the Amazons’ floating embassy where she is told about a disturbance in Brazil where a small oceanside city has appeared, surrounded by an energy field that distorts reality around it. Diana heads to investigate and discovers that the Dark Fates are here and they distort reality so they can continue to live in our world. She faces off against the Dark Fates and, with the help of the people in the town, wins the day. It is revealed that this is a hidden city of Amazons, meaning here are three tribes and now they become one.
 
YOUNG JUSTICE #17 by Brian Michael Bendis, David Walker and Scott Godlewsky. The team helps to put the city back together after the battles with the Legion of Doom, Leviathan and Red Cloud. Through it all, a young girl named Yolanda Chan learns that not all heroes wear capes and gets an internship at the Hall of Justice.

DC UNIVERSE Month 31, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1024 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. Cameron Chase and the FBI have raided the Daily Planet and blame Lois for Leone owning it. Meanwhile, Red Cloud confronts the Deputy Chief and kills her, sending Superman into a rage. The rest of the Superman family, with Brainiac 5, track down The Whisperer, leading Leone to say it’s time to counter-punch.
 
AQUAMAN #62 by Jordan Clark and Marco Santucci. Prior to the wedding, Jackson meets with Black Manta and gets possession of the Mecha to travel to Xebel. After getting away from a giant fish attack, he meets with Ha’wea and, after taking a selfie together, Jackson heads to Xebel, where the battle rages.
 
BATGIRL #48 by Cecil Castellucci and Robbi Rodriguez. Barbara awakes from her dealings with The Joker in the apartment of her brother. Luke meets with her and does surgery, putting the implants back in which allows her to walk again. She patrols the city and hears of a murder. When she arrives, she sees the murder victim dressed like Batgirl.
 
BATMAN #96 by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez. In the future, we see an older Batman battling Mr. Freeze and his “sons”. After defeating them, he returns to the Batcave, where he talks with Alfred, whose neck snaps and his face changes to a Joker smile. Batman wakes to find Harley Quinn, who has survived the attack from Punchline. She explains he is fighting through toxin, Joker is using Bruce’s money to outfit his gang with all kinds of weapons and the city is falling apart. Still reeling from the toxin, Batman makes his way to The Monarch Theater, where the Joker has filled the audience with all of his victims. He explains that he has used The Designer’s gas to reanimate them. With that, they attack Batman.
 
BATMAN #97 by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez. At the Tricorner Yards of Gotham, punchline is awaiting several large shipments, which will go to Ace Chemicals to make Joker Toxin. At the same time, there is a new vigilante named Clownhunter who has been killing Joker’s clowns. Back in the theater, Batman blindfolds himself and uses an EMP to knock out the nanobots in the victims. He collapses in front of Harley Quinn. She takes him to a forest and administers a drink that will cure him of the toxin but cause him to hallucinate for a while. That’s when Alfred arrives for a chat.
 
BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #15 by Bryan Hill and Dexter Soy. Ra's al-Ghul tells his followers how he plans on burning everything don, destroying civilization and starting from scratch. He starts by engaging a hostile takeover of a major media company and broadcasts to the world. But Batman and company have taken down one of Ra’s followers and that leads the team to a final confrontation with Ra’s.
 
BATMAN BEYOND #46 by Dan Jurgens and Sean Chen. Terry, Damian, Goliath, Dick and his daughter, the new Batwoman, head into space to stop the League of Assassins and their satellite that is trying to create a new ice age on Earth.  They make their way through the satellite and take out Zeh’ro’s followers, but he has a surprise for them that may result in their deaths. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne, Barbara Gordon, and Matt McGinnis do their best to survive as the temperature on Earth drops to 52 degrees below zero.
 
BATMAN/SUPERMAN #11 by Joshua Williamson and Clayton Henry. Ultra-Humanite has compromised Batman and implanted a bomb inside of him. Superman arrives and that leads to a battle between him and Batman, with Superman blasting his friend with his heat vision, seemingly killing him. But Batman lives and takes down the Ultra-Humanite, as Superman only used a pinpoint laser blast to destroy the detonator inside Batman. It turns out the Ultra-Humanite as just a drone being controlled by the brain of the creature, which they find in a protective tank. In the end, robot controlled microsurgery fixes Batman and the Atomic Skull, laid to rest with honors, rises from the grave.
 
BATMAN: THREE JOKERS #1 by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. There is a crime spree occurring in Gotham and three acts of crime all seem to be enacted by the Joker, but all happen at the same time, meaning there is actually three Jokers: the Criminal, the Clown and the Comedian. The ultimate plan seems to be to create Joker gas and cause move havoc. Batman, Jim Gordon, Batgirl and Red Hood investigate the old Ace Chemical plant, where the Joker got his start. They later go to the Gotham Aquarium where they . find Joker sharks and get attacked by Gaggy and his crew. Things don’t end well for Gaggy, as he gets eaten by the sharks. One of the Jokers shows up and is quickly taken down by the trio. Batman gets a report of a second Joker elsewhere and heads off, leaving this one with Batgirl and Red Hood. He relentlessly taunts Jason who can’t take anymore and shoots the Joker in the head, executing him. Batgirl walks away in disgust and Jason hopes this was the right Joker.
 
CATWOMAN #24 by Sean Murphy, Blake Northcott and Cian Tormey. Selina has been poisoned and is being interrogated by Angelica and the giant panther Kissen.  Selina gets the antidote and heads to Correas Village, where she learns how bad a person Snowflame is. Catwoman and Kissen head to Snowflame’s mansion and decide to take out the villain. He powers up, but it’s not enough to stop Angelica, who stabs him with a poison tipped spear, leaving him for Kissen to take care of. In the end, a quick switch leaves Selina with the diamond, which she leaves for the villagers of Correas to improve their lives.
 
DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL #3 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. The Dark Knights walk into an explosive trap left for them by a dying Jonah Hex. Meanwhile,
Diana, Batman, and their team race to save Superman, who is having his Kryptonian cells destroyed by Darkfather to be replaced by anti-life. Batman gets hit with a blast of anti-life power but survives it because of Bat Blocker while Superman fights off the effects of anti-life thanks to the Black Lantern ring. Superman quickly dispatches Darkfather, allowing them to free the captured heroes. Wonder Woman describes the plan, where the Trinity will enter the Dark and gather the energy needed to restart the Multiverse. Elsewhere, Lobo fights imps on his way to gather the fifth box filled with Death Metal, which he has been tasked to collect for…Lex Luthor.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHTS #1 by Marguerite Bennett, Garth Ennis, Daniel Warren Johnson, Scott Snyder, Frank Tieri, Peter J. Tomasi, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Tony Salvador Daniel, Francesco Francavilla, Jamal Igle, Daniel Warren Johnson, Joelle Jones, and Riley Rossmo. This is a collection of stories highlighting some of the Dark Knights. The Batman Who Laughs gets a full retelling of his origin, revealing that he went to another world and manipulated events so Bruce Wayne became Dr. Manhattan, before kidnapping him, which allows him to ultimately become the Darkest Knight. The Robin King is a young Bruce who shows sadistic tendencies and kills his parents, Jim Gordon and Alfred on his way to his transformation. B. Rex breaks out of Arkham in his story. Castle Bat was once Bruce Wayne who, through satanic means, transforms himself into the castle. Batmobeast was Bruce Wayne before his subconscious was implanted into the modified Batmobile. And Baby Batman was a Bruce Wayne whose consciousness gets transported into a baby hose biggest weapon is his cry.
 
DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL GUIDEBOOK #1 by Christopher Priest, Vita Ayala, Becky Cloonan, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Chip Zdarsky, Becky Cloonan, Doug Mahnke, Dan Panosian, Khary Randolph and Eduardo Risso. This series of five stories, being written in a book by a scarred Lex Luthor, details how the world became ruled by members of the Dark Multiverse. The biggest reveal, coming from DEATH METAL #3 is that Lobo has brought Lex the Death Metal and he is preparing to put his Legion of Doom back together to join the fight.
 
DETECTIVE COMICS #1025 by Peter J. Tomasi and Kenneth Rocafort. Batwoman returns to Gotham and gets involved with helping Batman in the Joker War. After helping GCPD dispatch Joker's henchmen, the Dynamic Duo head off and save a Jokerized Lucius Fox by giving him the antitoxin.
 
DETECTIVE COMICS #1026 by Peter J. Tomasi and Kenneth Rocafort. With the Joker War raging, we find that random citizens of Gotham have been abducted and taken into the sewers. It turns out that the Joker blew up a chemical plant and it had flooded the sewers, causing the captured citizens to be transformed. Killer Croc, living here because the Joker blew up the hotel he was living in, moved here and began his own Monstertown by abducting citizens. Batman goes down into the sewer and faces Croc. They make a deal: if Batman wins a fight between them, they all get to go home. If Croc wins, Batman goes home. Batman wins the fight and Croc thanks Batman for using his real name.
 
THE FLASH #759 by Joshua Williamson, Rafa Sandoval and Scott Kolins. While The Flash/Eobard meets with Young Justice, Barry finds himself trapped in his own subconscious with zombified versions of Jesse Quick and Max Mercury. Max decides to teach Barry everything he knows about the Speed Force, allowing him to retake his body and force Eobard out. In Central City, the Rogues are causing havoc and Eobard and Impulse arrive. Trickster throws a bomb but Eobard throws it back, injuring Trickster. Eobard tells Impulse he doesn’t have what it takes to be a hero. Eobard runs off to the Legion of Zoom and yells at them for not following his orders to stay off the grid before instructing them to steal items he needs to keep control of Barry’s body. Eobard heads to Iris, Avery and Wally and Impulse shows up, warning that this isn’t Barry. To bolster the team, Jay Garrick arrives.
 
THE FLASH #760 by Joshua Williamson, Christian Duce and Scott Kolins. In the Speed Force, Max tells Barry he needs to cross The Starting Line and use his mind to once again get hold of his body. which is the Big Bang for the Speed Force. The moment of creation. Barry must use his mind to think at super speed and regain a hold of his body. Before he can break free, he gets attacked by a clone of Bart Allen, Thaddeus Thawne. Eobard is facing Jay Garrick, as Barry continues to try and break free, causing Eobard to flee. He joins up with the Legion, that have been dispatched to the grave of Nora Allen. He claims he needs the temporal energy stored inside of her. But the Legion refuses to dig her body up and the Flash Family arrives, having been led here by Trickster, who has betrayed Eobard. Bart gets a brief moment with his parents, the Tornado Twins, before they head back to their own time. Barry retakes control and drags Max and Jesse back to the real world with him. Zoom begins running and when he returns, he has a much bigger Legion of Zoom.
 
GREEN LANTERN: SEASON TWO #6 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. Hal Jordan is badly injured and the Anti-Matter Lantern is still on the loose. Hal musters all of his strength to join the fight but, in the end, finds himself dead again and wearing the outfit of the Spectre.
 
HARLEY QUINN #75 by Sam Humphries, Sami Basri, Nicola Scott, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy, Ramon Villobos, Ngozi Ukazu, Riley Rossmo and Joe Quinones. It’s Harley’s birthday and she runs through a bunch of adventures in an extended fdream sequence. In the end, she faces a new day with Becca. In a post-script tale, Harley survives her attack from Punchline, stitches her neck back together and plans revenge.
 
HAWKMAN #26 by Robert Venditti and Fernando Pasarin. While Adam Strange and The Atom race to save our heroes, the Lord Beyond the Void is draining the life energies from them in an attempt to open the doorway to our dimension. They decide to give him all of their past lives, unleashing them, destroying him and killing themselves in the process. In the afterlife, they are given a choice and choose to go back to the world of the living, with this life being their last. When they awake, they find themselves in the Golden Age with the Justice Society of America.
 
JUSTICE LEAGUE #50 by Si Spurrier and Aaron Lopresti. The team still struggles with trying to rule an alien race embroiled in the midst of a civil war. Batman seems to be enjoying his role as a ruler more than the rest and that leads to dissension among the team. In the end, it turns out that Siddix created the Civil War, but Wonder Woman used her lasso to break the control she had put on Batman and it is revealed our heroes knew all along and played Siddix. With the true villain revealed, the war ends.
 
JUSTICE LEAGUE #51 by Jeff Loveness and Robson Rocha. The team investigates a ship that has been destroyed and that puts them on the Planet of the Black Mercy. They all get captured by the Black Mercy, which allows them to see their hopes and dreams. But in Bruce’ case, it’s a nightmare as his mother appears to him.
 
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #25 by Ram V and Amancay Nahuelpan. Wonder Woman and Zatanna find themselves trapped in the realm of the Upside Down man. It takes a restored Swamp Thing uses the Green to penetrate the Upside Down and help Wonder Woman and Zatanna. Meanwhile, Bobo goes searching for Constantine and finds him hanging upside don with the tarot card of The Fool in his mouth.