Another big batch of first issues

BLACK TAPE #1 by Dan Panosian and Dalibor Talajic. A legendary rock star dies and his girlfriend is left to pick up the pieces. But it’s not as simple as that as there’s something sinister revolving around it, especially when she goes digging and finds a Pentagram where she didn’t expect to find it. Panosian does a great job crafting the story and Dalibor Talajic’s art is really nice. Another AWA winner!

BLOOD TREE #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Maxim Simic. Somebody is killing angels and that’s where our story begins and the question is why and who is responsible. It’s a murder mystery with a lot of twists. Tomasi’s story is filled with clues and possibilities, so that’s a plus. I find the art style very discomforting and I am not a fan of it at all, as it distracts me from the story. If only Gary Frank, who did the variant cover, had done the artwork in the interior.

BLUE BOOK #1 by James Tynion IV, Michael Avon Oeming, and Klaus Janson. Two stories here, both written by Tynion. In the first, and the main attraction for the book, is the true story of Barney and Betty Hill, who had a strange encounter back in 1961. The second tale is set in 1889 Coney Island and, for me, was more of a dessert piece after the main course. I have been a fan of Michael Avon Oeming’s art since POWERS and it fits this strange tale about this classic encounter. If you were a fan of DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH, you will find this a nice companion.

CHILLING ADVENTURES PRESENTS BETTTY THE FINAL GIRL #1 by Micol Ostow, Casey Gilly, Sam Maggs, Laura Braga, Carola Borelli, and Natalie Nardozza. Three tales from various corners of the Archie Universe wrapped around Betty and movie night while babysitting. In the first one, a crazy masked killer is on the loose. In the second, Josie and the Pussycats have killers at their concert. In the final tale, we go back to the beginning and that babysitting gig.

CLEAR #1 by Scott Snyder and Francis Manapul. It’s 2052 and special technology let’s you see your world how ever you want. Wrapped around that is a murder mystery that brings detective Sam Dunes into the mix. It’s a tale filled with bad guys, ingenues and an interesting take on future technology. Snyder is known for writing a great story, as readers have seen on so many of his works. And Manapul has been knocking it out of the park for years. This is a story with so many layers that you will probably go back and read it more than once to fully understand it.

DOCTOR STRANGE #1 by Jed Mackay, Andy MacDonald and Pasqual Ferry. Doctor Strange is back from the dead and has been reunited with his wife Clea. Now he is back as the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth while Clea is Sorcerer Supreme of the Dark Dimension. He has his way of dealing with problems and she has her own, which may be a little more aggressive. Fun story and great art that sets things up for the future while the backup ties into the ending of the main story.

HELLCAT #1 by Christopher Cantwell and Alex Lins. Patsy Walker has such a strange life. She’s been a model, been a superhero and been romantically involved with Tony Stark. And now she may be a murderer and that brings back memories she would rather forget. Cantwell’s murder mystery story is great and, although I‘m not a fan of the artwork, I found the story totally engaging and can’t wat to see where Cantwell takes us next.

THE LAST RONIN: THE LOST YEARS #1 by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, SL Gallant, and Ben Bishop. Last year’s THE LOST YEARS was a huge hit with fans and this prequel will certainly fit the bill for those fans. It’s a tale that bounces back and forth in time with Gallant and Bishop handling the art duties specific to each time period. Eastman knows his characters and knows them well, so there is no issue with that and the art fts the specific parts of the stories and work together well. Definitely recommended!

MONARCH #1 by Rodney Barnes and Alex Lins. Aliens have come to Earth and for Travon, his family and friends, thinks have gotten desperate. To say much more, except to be caught off guard by the twist ending, which leads into another twist in issue #2, would certainly spoil it. Barnes is the writer behind NIGHTMARE and the highly recommended KILLADELPHIA, so he knows how to craft a tale. Lins is also the artist on HELLCAT, but it fits nicely here.

NIGHT WALKERS #1 by Cullen Bunn and Joe Bocardo. What happens when you and a bunch of other folks are going through rehab and the world seems to end? That’s the basis of this tale as a group of drug addicts find themselves on the run from some pretty nasty creatures. Bunn’s story is a wild take on the “teens in trouble” genre while throwing in the whole concept of addiction. Bocardo’s art is very reminiscent of Andrea Sorrentino’s and fits this tale perfectly, as it is dark and creepy.

PHANTOM ROAD #1 by Jeff Lemire and Gabriel H. Walta. You’re a long haul trucker and you suddenly have a close encounter with what appears to be a ghost. That leads to you meeting with a girl in an accident and then things get weird when strange creatures are now following you. Lemire is well respected writer who was responsible for SWEET TOOTH  and more and readers will either like his work or not. Suffice it to say he likes to work with weird. Walta’s art is very simple but just detailed enough.

RED ZONE #1 by Cullen Bunn and Mike Deodato Jr. I just have to say that I love a good spy story with intrigue and action. And here it is! Bunn’s story has a ton of twists and turns and what can I say about Deodato’s artwork that hasn’t been said before. The plotting is good, the look is wonderful and this is just another winner from AWA.

SPIDER-GWEN: SHADOW CLONES #1 by Emily Kim and Kei Zama. I was not a fan of Spider-Gwen but have grown to like her over the years. So, here we have Gwen encountering multiple Gwens . . . like we didn’t have that happen before. But these Gwens are villains. The story is okay, but not great and the artwork you can either take or leave, as it is very Manga inspired. For me, the highlight was the variant cover by Greg Land, which is awesome!

STONE HEART #1 by Emma Kubert.  It’s a Medieval fantasy tale with a strong female character trying to exist in a new place with a new occupation. But there is also a strange history that haunts her. Kubert’s art is different and she won many fans with her work on INKBLOT, RADIANT PINK and her current run on PANDORA. That said, her art style is either for you or not. But the story…a load of fun!

SUPERMAN LOST #1 by Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan. Superman goes off on an emergency while Lois takes a nap. Hours later she awakes and he returns, saying he has been gone for twenty years. What? This is the mystery that Priest drops onto us and it’s great! I love Pargulayan’s art too, which just enhances the story.

THE X-CELLENT #1 by Peter Milligan and Michael “Doc” Allred. The final encounter between the X-Cellent and X-Statix is here and it’s a weird, wild ride, just as the previous entries were. There is no other way to describe it. The characters are totally bizarre, Allred’s artwork is, as it always had been, something you either love or hate, and the story is so crazy you will either love it or hate it. Me? I’m a huge fan of this whole product!

X23: DEADLY REGENESIS #1 by Erica Schultz and Edgar Salazar.  I Have always been a fan of this character and feel she has been often underutilized over the years. But this series looks to put her dead and center. She deals with saving people in a fire while a villain from her past looks to take her out. The story has great promise and Salazar’s art looks great! Can’t wait to see how the fest of this goes!

DC UNIVERSE Month 61, Part 2

THE HUMAN TARGET #12 by Tom King and Greg Smallwood. Christopher Chance is dead and Ice needs to deal with the consequences. Martian Manhunter meets with her and threatens an investigation but she tells him that he will reveal his affair with Fire, so that means she wants to run her own investigation into Chance’s death. A month after Chance’ death and Ice is planning to dispose of his ashes when Guy shows up. She ends up hitting him with the bottle containing the ashes, which are now spread over him. Before he died, Chance asked for one last favor. In the end, she meets with Lex Luthor and it appears she may have finally been able to poison him.

I AM BATMAN #18 by John Ridley and Christian Duce. Batman, with the help of is sister and Nobody, who is actually Hadiyah, succeed in saving Jace’s birth mom. He meets with her after and she promises to try and be his mother. Jace decides to leave to figure out his life and his sister comes with him.

ICON VS. HARDWARE #1 by Reginald Hudlin, Leon Chills, Denys Cowan and Yasin Florez Montanez. Icon has sent Rocket to school in Switzerland, where she finds it difficult to fit in, especially when a group of girls may have caused one student to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Hardware becomes suspicious of Icon and begins to investigate him. But he also travels into the past to find out why his father left his family when he was a child. He meets with his younger self years later and convinces him to steal Alva’s gas, but that results in Alva being killed in the process. A year later, Hardware runs Alva industries and there is a super-powered war going on, even though the Big Bang never happened. That leads to a visit by Icon.

THE JOKER: THE MAN WHO STOPPED LAUGHING #5 by Matthew Rosenberg, Francisco Francavilla, and Carmine Di Giandomenico. A group of boys break into the house that once belonged to The Joker, only to find Jervis Tetch there. That’s when The Imposter Joker arrives, dressed as Batman, saving the boys. Tetch reveals the real Joker is back in Gotham and he’s not happy about an imposter running around. Later, a Joker traps the Imposter, who gets acid thrown in his face and shot in the face for his troubles. The Joker who did the shooting is seemingly run over by a train. In the end, the Joker who was shot, revealed to be Clayface, calls the real Joker in Malibu, who decides he needs to do this himself.

LAZARUS PLANET: DARK FATE #1 by Tim Seeley, Dennis Culver, A.L. Kaplan. Alyssa Wong, Baloemar Rivas, Chris Burnham, A.L. Kaplan, Haining. IN the first story, Huntress must stop a riot at Arkham begun by a newly powered Killer Moth. In the second tale, the Doom Patrol, Elasti-Woman, Robotman, Negative Man and The Chief (currently Crazy Jane), are sent to take down an Army general who has developed strange powers due to the Lazarus Rain. To be continued in UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL #1. In the third story, actor Jules Jordain gets new energy powers and adopts the name of Circuit Breaker. To be continued in DC PRIDE 2023.  In the final tale, the hero Envoy must stop an attack from the spirit world and gets help from Cassandra Cain and John Constantine. To be continued in SPIRIT WORLD #1.

LAZARUS PLANET: LEGENDS REBORN #1 by Alex Segura, Alex Parknadel, Greg Pak, Dennis Culver, Clayton Henry, Christopher Mitten, Mikyu Junk and Jesus Merino. In the first tale, Renee Montoya dons The Question’s mask to investigate a monster that is on a killing spree after being transformed by Lazarus Rain. In the second story, Raven and Gar, actually Trigon, face off against Trigon’s sons. The third tale features City Boy: a new hero who tows the line between hero and crook. In the final tale, Firestorm gets reborn in the merging of Ronnie Raymond and Dr. Ramirez after the apparent death of Professor Stein.

LAZARUS PLANET: NEXT EVOLUTION #1 by Ram V, Brandon T. Snider, Chuck Brown, Delilah S. Dawson, Lalit Sharma, Laura Braga, Alitha Martinez, Ted Brandt and Ro Stein. Red Hood faces off against a new team called The Vigil: Arclight, Saya and Dodge. In the second tale, Flatline battles Ubu, only to find Ra’s al Ghul at the end of her journey. In the third story, Deadeye meets with Amanda Waller on the Astral Plane before facing off against the Amalgam Man. In the final tale, Red Canary teams up with Sideways to stop some of those folks changed by the Lazarus Rain.

LAZARUS PLANET: OMEGA #1 by Mark Waid, Gene Luen Yang, Riccardo Federici, Mike Perkins and Billy Tan. The heroes face off against King Fire Bull. Elsewhere, Black Alice sacrifices herself to free the magic users, most powerful of which is The Spectre. With King Fire Bull dispatched, the world goes back to normal, except the magic users powers have been restored in new and different ways, with many of the heroes powers temporarily scrambled.  Batman is restored, mostly, and that will lead into BATMAN VS. ROBIN #5. In the backup, Shifu tells the Monkey Prince how King ire Bull came to be.  The Red Boy, after the death of King Bull Demon and Princess Iron Fan, he trains with Nezha. When the pair go after Darkseid, Darkseid reveals that what happened was because of Nezha’s own thirst for power. When Red Boy turns on Nezha, he is defeated and later is reborn as King Fire Bull, with an appetite for vengeance against Nezha.

MONKEY PRINCE #11 by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang. Winston and Gerard install the Phantom Crystal, opening a portal to the Phantom Zone. But since half of this is made from Earth materials, they need to get the other half of the Phantom Zone Projector from the Hall of Justice. When Marcus returns to the Hall, he finds it in ruins as Winston and the Ultra-Humanite reassemble the Phantom Zone Projector. Winston accidentally activates the Projector, causing Marcus to jump into the Phantom Zone where the Monkey King awaits. After a confrontation, it is revealed that Winston and Laura had kidnapped Marcus from his father. Sun Wukong says he cannot leave to help fight against King Fire Bull, but he teaches him how to create perfect clones to find him. When he arrives home, Gerard injects him with nanites, saying he will torture him if he disobeys Gerard.

NIGHTWING #101 by Tom Taylor, C.S. Pascat, Travis Moore and Eduardo Pansica. Blockbuster’s daughter, Olivia Desmond, is in the care of the Titans. But Lord Neron has a plan to have a shapeshifting demon called the Grinning Man get into Raven’s safe space and capture her soul. In the backup, set after the events in NIGHTWING 2022 ANNUAL, Nightwing and Jon Kent team up to investigate accidents at a circus, which results in a bomb going off under the big top.

POISON IVY #9 by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara. Harley comes to visit Ivy and Janet and their relationship is rekindled. Harley also says she has been tracking Ivy all this time and shows her how a garden has sprung up in Montana, proving Ivy can change the world. Harley heads back to Gotham and Ivy decides to follow her and take Janet with her.

PUNCHLINE: THE GOTHAM GAME #5 by Tini Howard, Blake Howard and Glen Melnikov. The battle at Port Royal between Black Mask and his team and the Royal Flush Gang continues, even as the ‘Aces High’ initiative has been activated, unleashing Ace Android. Nightwing and Bluebird arrive to free Cullen and they get attacked by the Ace Android, that splits into two. Bluebird initiates an anti-nanobot field that causes them to dissipate. Punchline decides it’s time to retreat but not before she is shot by Black Mask, resulting in the surviving gang members to leave her behind. She ends up wounded in a dumpster and gets found by a homeless person…who turns out to be The Joker.

STARGIRL: THE LOST CHILDREN #4 by Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck. Corky Baxter explains that, because of FLASHPOINT and DOOMSDAY CLOCK, Rip and his team ended up in the Divine Continuum. And, because of Batman’s events in FLASHPOINT BEYOND, the timeline was screwed up and the Childminder took advantage of it, capturing the children. They gather together and make an assault on the castle. At the castle, Childminder sets Judy Garrick on the treadmill in order to bring her mentor and buyer here. When the buyer arrives, it is revealed to be Hourman.

STATIC: SHADOWS OF DAKOTA  #1 by Nikolas Draper-Ivey and Vita Ayala. A new group, led by someone or something, is targeting Bang Babies and now Static gets involved to solve the mystery and save those individuals.

SUPERMAN #1 by Joshua Williamson and Jamal Campbell. Clark Kent is bck in Metropolis, doing what he does best: stopping crime and working as a reporter, under interim Editor in Chief Lois Lane Kent. Lex is in prison and is whispering warnings to the Man of Steel about a massive threat on the horizon. Mercy Graves has rebranded Lexcor as Supercorp and wants him to work there, with some of the best scientists in the world. He heads off to confront Luthor but is caught in a battle with Parasite that overwhelms him. In the end, Superman is being held captive and being experimented on my two unknown enemies.

TIM DRAKE #6 by Meghan Fitzmartin and Riley Rossmo. Tim is forced to face his fears and Moriarty to save the life of Bernard. Moriarty transforms himself into Batman, meaning Robin must battle “Batman”. He defeats the Clayface-like villain and he and his friends find the bombs, saving the boats and Bernard.

WILDC.A.T.S #4 by Matthew Rosenberg and Stephen Segovia. Grifter finds himself battling in the middle of an ethnic cleansing civil war and is losing,  He crosses paths with Angel Breaker and eventually ends up back at headquarters, where the team shows that Cash has died. Elsewhere, the Seven Soldiers are becoming the public face of HALO and Majestic reveals he is a son of Krypton too.

WONDER WOMAN #796 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Amancay Nahuelpan and Paulina Ganucheau. The Olympian Gods continue their invasion of Earth, resulting in all of humanity being compromised by Eros's love spell and a Titan destroying all it sees. Yara battles her former lover Eros while Siggy and Steve go after the Titan. Both teams win their battles, but Diana warns this is only the beginning. On Olympus, Zeus is slain by his wife, who becomes the Queen of Olympus…with the great Wizard Shazam by her side. In the backup, Young Diana has a final meeting with Persephone, who reveals she can never leave the caves of Themyscira.

DC UNIVERSE Month 61, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1052 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Dan Jurgens, Leah Williams, Rafa Sandoval, Lee Weeks and Marguerite Sauvage. The Superman Family continues to battle with Metallo who, despite being launched into deep space by Superman, discovers that he needs an upgrade. After talking with his “sister”, who insists he kills the whole Superman Family, he goes recruiting his own family of super-powered beings…or they will be when he is done. In the second tale, Jon makes friends with the mysterius alien girl, but that get interrupted by Killamex, who is here to capture her. When the attack happens, Jon calls for his father and then Lois is surprised by a visit from…Doombreaker. In the final tale, Power Girl and Omen have a new client and she is Supergirl. A trip into the Mindscape takes the girls to Argo City, as they try to solve her physical and emotional issues.

BATGIRLS #15 by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad and Neil Googe. Cass goes searching for Steph while Steph’s father tortures her. Cluemaster reveals that he did in fact die but was brought back to life after having his dead body kidnapped and then getting dosed with Lazarus Resin. Cass finds Steph and, during a battle where Cluemaster sets off a bomb that lights his cabin on fire, he accidentally shoots his own daughter. Steph gives her a tiny bit of Lazarus and then saves Steph. In the end, Grace O’Halloran receives a gift: a severed head wrapped with a bow and a note saying ‘READ ME’.

BATMAN #132 by Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne and Miguel Mendonca. Bruce continues to find his way in an alternate Gotham where Bruce died and there never was a Batman. Jewel has saved him and now, the skeletal Jim Gordan suggest she be named Panic Attack. Bruce, in disguise, goes a a gala fundraiser where he dances with Selina Kyle, who recognizes him and is surprised, considering he is supposed to be dead. He sees someone he believes is The Joker and a battle ensues between Selina, Bruce and Punchline, resulting in Bruce getting shot and getting away at the same time. He resolves to become…a bat. Also, Red Mask visits The Judge, Harvey Dent, and gives him an ultimatum. In the backup, Tim, with the help of Mr. Terrific, uses Failsafe’s gun to venture into the Multiverse in search of Batman. But where he ends up brings him face to face with Toyman.

BATMAN INCORPORATED #4 by Ed Brisson and John Timms. While Ghost-Maker heads back to base, the rest of the team is having their own issues with the castoffs from Luthor’s failed Batman experiment. Phantom-One and Black Mist make their move, taking down Ghost-Maker. Black Mist who was trying to be the Batman of Dublin, was critically injured by Tommy Tivane, and eventually faked her own death to rebuild herself. When she saw Ghost-Maker abandon Phantom-One, she saved him. Now, with Batman Inc. in disarray, they have tasked Clownhunter to finish off his mentor.

BATMAN INCORPORATED #5 by Ed Brisson and John Timms. The team has been captured and Ghost-Maker is facing death at the hands of his protégé. He explains that he had to make a choice in the past: save Phantom-One or ten people in danger of dying. Clownhunter reveals he cannot do this, leading to a fight between Ghost-Maker and Phantom-One, with Phantom-One gaining the advantage. Ghost-Maker turns the tabeles and allows the critically injured Phantom-One to be taken away by the Black Mist, The Fallen, Fissure, Hollow, and Onyx; all of whom have the reasons for having eliminated those connected to Ghost-Maker. In the end, Jiro returns to Japan, only to find that Dr. Wu had visitors…and not good ones.

BATMAN: LEGENDS OF GOTHAM  #1 by Andy Diggle and Karl Mostert, Red Hood teams up with Katana and Black Lightning to make his way into a special auction where the hero secrets that Leviathan stole are up for grabs. That leads them to an Orbital Crypto Bank where Red Hood secures the data chip, which he later destroys. In actuality, he didn’t get to destroy the real chip, which now appears to be in Talia’s hands.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #12 by Mark Waid and Emanuela Lupacchino. Back in the day, Dick Grayson and Supergirl go out for the worst date ever, including some craziness resulting from an escaped monkey.

BATMAN VS. ROBIN #5 by Mark Waid and Mahmud Asrar. Demon Nezha has transferred his soul into Batman's body and now Robin must try to save him with the help of the Bat Family and Monkey Prince, who is able to create clones of Damian. The arrival of Zatanna, Enchantress and Pigsy helps, as they remove Nezha from Batman’s body, but at the cost of Batman’s life. Damian calls upon all of Gotham and anyone that can hear him to use their positive energy, which brings Batman back to life. In the end, everyone is evacuated from Lazarus Island and there is no longer any Lazarus Resin on Earth…maybe.

BLACK ADAM #8 by Christopher Priest, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira and Montos. Jasmin and Kenisha are trying to get Malik’s ring back, but war has destroyed the store. Luckily, he’s nice enough to give the girls the ring. Later, Anu and Ishtar arrive, wondering what War’s game plan is. Black Adam tries to make up for destroying a plane by saving another one. With Malik in a coma, Adam tells how he once became ruler of Egypt. In the end, it seems that the people are not fans of Black Adam.

BLUE BEETLE: GRADUATION DAY #4 by Josh Trujillo and Adrian Gutierrez. Brenda and Paco think it’s a great idea for them to team up with Fadeaway, who confesses that his grandfather was the original Fadeaway Man. He is asking for Jamie’s help in recovering his grandfather’s artifacts and Jamie agrees to help.  That leads them to Kord Industries, where Jamie finds Xiomara, who continues to warn him about his scarab. Jamie finds the missing stuff Fadeaway is looking for, but accidentally kills the power at the lab, allowing Xiomara to get free. Fadeaway also splits, leaving Jamie holding the blame when Victoria and Ted arrive. All of this will lead to a direct confrontation with Batman and the Justice League.

CATWOMAN #52 by Tini Howard and Sami Basri. With Selina still in prison, Eiko and Dario work together to try to take down Black Mask’s organization from the inside, which also allows Dario to gain some revenge on his ex. In prison, Selina turns down help from a lawyer and decides to train the criminals she is in with, including Hopps, Lisa Foss, Marquise, Lady Clayface, Fright, and Scorpiana, how to be really effective criminals.

DANGER STREET #3  by Tom King and Jorge Fornés. Lady Cop continues to search for the ‘Blue Man’. Metron reveals to Highfather and Darkseid that he is aware that Atlas is dead but there is someone on Earth who can still keep the sky from falling, leading to Orion being contacted. Starman and Warlord meet with Cecil Sunbeam on his movie set.  Manhunter tries to murder Commodore Murphy, which is stopped by Codename: Assassin. The surviving Dingbats decide they need a gun and, after Non-Fat ends up in Lady Cop’s office, he sees a picture of Starman and now he knows who they should be searching for.

DETECTIVE COMICS  #1069 by Ram V, Simon Spurrier, Caspar Wijngaard, Dexter Soy, Stefano Raffaele, Miguel Mendonća. With the help of the Ten-Eyed Man, Harvey helps Batman fight back against the Azmer infection. Barbara has discovered that there is some kind of power source on top of some ley lines in Gotham. Beneath the city, many folks are being held captive but Shoes manages to escape. When guards go after her, they run into Solomon Grundy. In the backup, psychiatrist Annabel Mead has been captured by Mr. Freeze and becomes part of his experiments, leading to her meeting Earworm.

THE FLASH: ONE-MINUTE WAR SPECIAL #1 by Jeremy Adams, Fernando Pasarin, Serg Acuna, Lisandro Estherren and George Kambadais. On the Fraction’s home world, they figure out how to tap into the Speed Force. They can now colonize the entire star system, but doing so destroyed their own world environment. The Fraction's Empress orders the captain of her guard, Vel Anthro to find new worlds with resources they need, which leads him to Earth where they find “organic conduits”. In the second part of the story, Dark Wu drains Avery’s soul into a gem, so he can use the sun’s powers to destroy the world and make him a god. When the Fraction arrive, they kidnap Wu and Avery must keep them from activating the gem. She is able to shoot the gem and free her soul as the Fraction flies off. In the final part, set in the future, the as-yet unborn third child of Wally and Linda has been kidnapped by the Fraction and it’s up to Jai, now known as the adult hero Surge, and Irey, currently the adult Flash, to try to find him. They reach out to Impulse who arranges for Gold Beetle to help. Jai recalls her as being a girl he once fell in love with and she kisses him, reminding him that this was the first thing she would do when they met up again.  Together, they go off to rescue Jai’s brother. To be continued in THE FLASH #792

THE FLASH #792 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz. Barry, still reeling from Iris’ death, joins the Flash Family to stop the Fraction. Bart and Wallace try to get into the Fraction’s vehicle to develop a way to reverse what they have done and unfreeze the world while the rest of the Flash Family break into Mister Terrific’s lab to set up a base. Bart and Wallace get inside one of the tanks, but Miss Murder has tracked them down and follows. Once inside, they steal a battery that disrupts the ship they are in. The battery gets cracked open and they find a person inside. Miss Murder arrives and the three escape from her in a tank, where they find the frozen forms of Grodd, Captain Atom and Superman inside.

THE FLASH #793 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz. The speedster that Bart and Wallace have freed tells the Flash Family how the Fraction uses the Speed Force in search of “organic conduits” like themselves. They deduce that they need to destroy the spire to unfreeze the other heroes. They install the battery in a car, believing they can use it to get inside and use one of the Fraction’s engines to destroy the spire. The team attacks the spire, while Irey is left behind to watch over the frozen heroes. Once inside, Wally gets blasted by a Fraction cannon and seemingly destroyed. Meanwhile, Miss Murder is chasing after Irey.

GCPD: THE BLUE WALL #5  by John Ridley and Stefano Raffaele. Danny Ortega has gone off the deep end and killed Benny Montoya and Sondra Wright, and his manifesto is directly aimed at Renee and GCPD, who let the racial harassment go unnoticed. Later, police end jp in an ambush, with Danny killing them, including Lieutenant Caruso. After crossing paths with Eric, he runs off, leaving Eric to call info intel on Danny’s vehicle. In the end, Renee breaks her vow and has one last drink after Two Face offers to find and kill Danny for her, to apologize for everything he had done to her.

GOTHAM CITY: YEAR ONE #5 by Tom King and Phil Hester. Queenie reveals how she ended up having an affair with Richard Wayne, and how Johnny blackmailed her and ended up being shot by Richard Wayne. The plan was for Wayne to kidnap his own daughter, get the ransom money and then meet Queenie two months later in Central City. But that’s not how it happened as the girl ended up being murdered and was buried in Queenie’s uncle’s back yard. After a visit to his mother, who plays Tarot cards to reveal her fortune, Slam goes after Loder, who he believed murdered the girl. He says he did not kill her and reveals that Richard Wayne has no money and that he works for Mrs. Wayne. So, did Mrs. Wayne kill her own daughter?

HARLEY QUINN #27 by Stephanie Phillips, Matteo Lolli and David Baldeón. The Harley Who Laughs is threatening to kill Ivy if our Harley didn't hand over the rest of the Harleys. Harley explains that every universe needs an Ivy so who is the Harley Who Laughs Ivy? Harley and Old Lady Harley go to the Harley Who Laughs's universe, where they beat up The Joker of the universe’ followers and rescue the Ivy Who Laughs.