A new batch of first issues

ARCHIE #1 by Ben H. Winters and Fabio Moon. When I heard that there was a new ARCHIE series coming, I was hopeful. Will we get a new version of ARCHIE AFTERLIFE? Will we get something more real world, as we saw during the LIFE WITH ARCHIE storyline that ended with the redhead’s death? Nope. We get a bunch of stories representing modern takes on the classic tropes involving Archie and his Riverdale friends. But they just don’t have the classic feel and most of it falls flat. They have even gone as far as having a word jumble and a pin-up page. There is also a SABRINA series coming in October that appears to be in the same vein. Even ARCHIE IN HELL, coming in November, looks weak. Sorry kids: Oni may be the new home but go find some classic issues at your LCS or a Con. 

THE BIG SHAKEDOWN #1 by Jordan Blum, Tim Seeley, and Scott Koblish. In the future, the big, long prophesized earthquake has hit California. Five years later and people are doing whatever they need to to survive on a daily basis. One of those folks is Ester Blanco: a former private investigator who is tasked to find a missing child. Where that goes from there is into a weird adventure with some of the seediest. Add into that, her need to earn money to pay for an excavating team to find something she desperately wants. The story is engaging, the characters are filled with a ton of mystery and the art works. Looking forward to the next installment.

BLUDWIRE #1 by Paul Allor and Ermitis Blanco. Sometimes, a comic I have never heard about or even considered grabs me because of the cover. And that’s the case here. Two people riding a motorcycle through the air in a dynamic pose caught my eye. Then I saw it was from Mad Cave and they have been turning out some pretty cool independent comics lately. It’s got a powerful woman of color named Ace, a Hexbot Romance robot, guns, cops and tons of action. Ace is a self described “sentient freak” Zora has been assigned to free and Ace is about making sure Zora does not have to deal with what Ace has gone through. I know: not a lot to drag a reader in for. But I expect it to reveal more as the story goes. Art is great and the story will leave you wanting more.

CONCRETE: STARS OVER SAND #1 by Paul Chadwick. One of my favorite series from the late 1980’s was always Chadwick’s CONCRETE. Concrete was once a normal man who had his brain transplanted by aliens into a large stone body. It was so filled with warmth and heart as this person has to navigate the world. It will not appeal to everyone. The art is beautiful and the story is wonderful. Give it a bit to wash over you and you may find this is a great distraction from meaningless superhero tales.

CROWBOUND #1 by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen. This is a really dark Fantasy story and, considering it is coming from Lemire, known for such unsettling titles as NOBODY, SWEET TOOTH, ROYAL CITY, and THE BONE ORCHARD books, it’s not totally unexpected. A woman and her daughter live near a place called The Factory, where children are supposed to join when they reach thirteen. But Rose Lee’s daughter is taken a year earlier, leading to her making a deal with someone known as The Scarecrow Queen, where she needs to sacrifice her soul to get her daughter back. Dark, horrific and made even more so by Nguyen’s art, this is perfect for fans of dark thrillers.

CULT-DE-SAC #1 by Cullen Bunn and Fico Ossio. When a man gets a major promotion, he moves his wife and two children to a residential neighborhood called Willow Park. It’s their dream home until they meet the head of the Homeowner’s Association and things get weird, complete with neighbors saying they should pull their kids out of the local school and homeschool them. What they soon discover is their neighbors are all a part of a demonic cult and it looks like our family is being looked at for possible sacrifice. Yeah . . . it gets dark, REALLY FAST! It’s a fun, scary story that hits all the right notes: cult business, creepy neighbors and a terrified family. Recommended.

DEATH VIGIL #1 by Stjepan Sejic. After too many years away, this book is finally back! The Death Vigil is a group of dead people who have been gifted(can’t get that gift until you die) who come together to fight demons. Oh yeah: they are led by Bernadette, who is The Grim Reaper. It is wild and crazy and looks amazing! There is a bunch of back story here that may lead you to find the trade paperback of the original books from some time back. But I recommend taking the dive. It’s got a group that has great camaraderie and often are wise-cracking with each other.

DENVER #1 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray. And Pier Brito. Well, we have another post-apocalyptic tale here where everything has spiraled out of control and only a few American cities remained; specifically Denver. Basically, it has become a police state and one police officer is trying to do his job but also care for his family. Originally a Kickstarter, the book is dark and gritty, with an art style that echoes Richard Corben. And the cliffhanger ending is enough to drag be back in for another go.

THE DIRT BENEATH THE DEVIL #1 by Dan Panosian and David Ferracci. Here’s an interesting Western Horror tale from Panosian, whose work I always seek out. Set at the end of the 19^th Century, a young woman travels to Kansas City for the reading of her father’s will; a father who was a bit of a devil to most who knew him. Along with other heirs, they are forced to ride on horseback from Kansas to Wichita along her father’s route that led to his fortune. Oh yeah: the woman is assigned an almost demonic horse that is tied to her father’s past. That connection between her and the horse is where things get real interesting. This is a thriller with Horror elements and I am all in for it!

THE DOGSITTER #1 by Jamie S. Rich and Megan Levens. So, here’s an odd one that normally wouldn’t end up in my weekly pull pile but, since a lot of Ignition Press books as of late have been really good(looking at you RIPCORD and INNARDS), I thought I would give it a go. It’s about a veterinary student who is working two gigs to make ends meet: working at a flower shop and also being a dogsitter. She’s primarily sitting for an executive who pushes her buttons with her demands. At the same time, she meets this guy at a party but he’s somehow connection to her dog mom boss. See where this is going? Welcome to the love triangle! The story is pure romantic comedy , but the art is nice. May not be your cup of tea . . . just saying.

ELRIC: THE SLEEPING SORCERESS #1 by Julien Blondel, Jean-Luc Cano, and Valentin Secher. Elric is one of those characters you either get or you don’t. This is an adaptation of Michael Moorcock’s original story by Blondel, Cano and Secher and then add in translation by Marc Bourbon-Crook. The art is okay, feeling very much like a Dynamite Red Sonya story and that’s fine. Titan Comics has offered up other Elric tales and this is just another. Overall, it’s okay but not necessarily for newcomers to the character.

EXCOMMUNICATED #1 by Jeremy Robinson and Taigo Palma. What happens when a devout nun named Sister Josephine receives a call from a priest telling her he needs her help with an exorcism. She arrives, he denies the call, and he soon dies, leaving her to finish the rite. The priest and the possessed are dead and now the church, calling what happened unsanctioned, excommunicates her. But her drama does not end there as she is being hunted and it appears the hunter is also possessed. Robinson, besides having numerous stand alone novels and series to his credit, is also the person behind the amazing NECTAR. Palma’s art fits nicely and this was a fun, entertaining read worth checking out.

EXQUITISITE CORPSES: RASCAL RANDY #1 by Tyler Boss and Dylan Burnett. Did you read EXQUITISITE CORPSES? It was a fun ride and I loved it and Rascal Randy-a giant rabbit(maybe) was a breakout character in the book. Well, now we get a new story with a new cast and a kid who is a major Randy fan. There is also a murder or two and obviously Randy is the chief suspect. But is he the guy? This book will confuse the heck out of you without reading the mini-series but will only help to add more to his legend if you did. Again, recommended if you read the series or bought the trade.

FEAR OF DEATH #0: A RACHEL RISING STORY by Terry Moore. If you know me, you know I am a HUGE fan of Moore’s entire collection of works over the last 30+ years. And his supernatural series RACHEL RISING is my second favorite behind STRANGERS IN PARADISE. In this prequel, 10 year old Zoe witnesses a brutal murder and that leads to visits from the Angel of Death and Lilith. For those of us who loved the original series and the way it has connected into his entire universe, this is a perfect addition. Highly recommended!

FIXATION #1 by Amy Chase and Savanna Mayer. What happens when the superfan of a slasher movie series wins a contest and gets to stay in the house from these famous films, despite the fact that a fan has previously been killed in this location recently? That’s the premise of FIXATION. There is an interesting cast of characters including someone previously associated with the series who has not only been banned from the location, the fact they are hanging around just makes you wonder if they are the killer. Intriguing story with average art. But it does have potential, especially for fans of slasher films.

THE FOLK OF DOONEY HOLLOW #1 by Jeremy Haun and Alex Lins. Here’s a strange tale from the guy who gave us THE BEAUTY. In the Ozarks, there is a hidden village called Dooney Hollow where people who go to it have a tendency to just disappear. A young graduate student has come here to study the locals and research the folklore. The locals includes a nice old man and his severely compromised wife. What our heroine finds is an area with signs of rituals, a mysterious little girl and a monster that acts as a guardian for Dooney Hollow, keeping the residents trapped. It is a dark, somewhat creepy story and a great start with lots of mysterious moments ending with the meeting of the monster..

THE FOREVER HOME by Christian Ward and Sami Kivela. Honestly, the title and minimalistic cover is what first attracted me to this. The world as we know it has ended but one man has built a special home for himself and his family to protect them from the horrors, mostly unseen, on the outside. And time moves differently in here as every year outside represents only twenty minutes inside. The family, including the two children, are essentially trapped inside. Until THAT moment when it all goes badly. To say more what be a major spoiler. Let’s just say that things change rapidly in the last few pages and their little world will never be the same. From the shocking splash page in the beginning to the final splash page, you quickly understand that this world is not the world you know. It is a great first chapter and where it goes from here is anyone’s guess.

GASTRONOMIQUE #1 by Marguerite Bennett and Helena Masellis. If you are a fan of erotic body horror tales, this is the book for you! Set in the days of the French Revolution, it begins with a female spy sitting in a cell and gets informed by her sister that the imprisoned woman’s niece has been killed and eaten by a strange man named Tarrae, who apparently can eat anything and everything. By the way, Tarrae was truly known as the hungriest man in history. No joke! He was a real dude who lived during the time of the French Revolution, so we have some historical accuracy thrown into the tale. The sister takes the imprisoned woman’s place and is executed. Now the woman, Lady Charlotte, sets about to track down Tarrae and enact her revenge. It’s a decidedly weird thriller with moments of eroticism and gore. Bennett’s work is hit or miss sometimes and this one had potential and I hope it gets a bit better as it goes. At the moment, it’s good…but not great.

GIANT-SIZE YOUNGBLOOD #1 by Rob Liefeld. Okay…our boy suckered me in again! YOUNGBLOOD was one of the early Image titles and, despite gripes about Liefeld’s artwork and stories, I always found them fun. This, however, was a colossal seven dollar waste of time, for me at least for me. What we get is a 28 page fight. Cool! But then the rest of the book is filled with alternate/variant covers from past YOUNGBLOOD books. I’m paying SEVEN DOLLARS for a pin-up book with a lackluster story? Yeah…I don’t care if the story ends with TO BE CONTINUED, I’m out!

HACK/SLASH-MERCY SPARX: A SLICE OF HELL #1 by Josh Blaylock and Joe Song. Devil’s Due represents another lost classic featuring two of their most popular characters.  Originally released in 2010, it tells the tale of an undead serial killer that comes back to life within the confines of a Catholic church. It’s up to Cassie Hack to team up…sort of…with Sparx, who has her own issues involving religion, to catch the killer; although each one has their own agenda. It’s a fun read, although knowing some back story about these characters might help when understanding said agendas.

HAMMERFIST #1 by Rick Remender and Steve Epting. This is the story of Mike Denton: a contract killer dealing with his drug addiction. Oh yeah: he’s also a bit of a deadbeat dad and a sleazeball. Desperate for money to feed his drug habit, he takes a job involving a bank robbery. Simple, right? When things go badly, one of the robbers opens a portal and that leads to the discovery and use of the Hammerfist. I will admit, it’s a bit weird and feels like RESEVOIR DOGS and SUPERNATURAL had a baby. The art is crisp and sharp and the story weaves between Mike’s need for drugs and his love for his estranged daughter.

HANK HOWARD PIZZA DETECTIVE: THE INSIDE JOB #1 by Robert Venditti and David Lapham. Another mini-series from Venditti and Lapham. It is basically an anthology with a handful of short stories. I love a fun detective story with an interesting character and have been a huge fan of Lapham’s since STRAY BULLETS. So, this was an easy fit for me. I’m sure many fans will be put off by the use of newsprint pages and delivering a black and white comic. Personally, it is totally in my wheelhouse!

HANK HOWARD PIZZA DETECTIVE: FAIR PLAY #1 by Robert Venditti and David Lapham. Hot on the heels of HANK HOWARD PIZZA DETECTIVE: THE INSIDE JOB #1, we get another mini-series from Venditti and Lapham. A robbery from a fair results in Howard commandeering a pizza food truck and dealing out justice to get the money back. Short, sweet and fun.

JUGHEAD PIEMAGEDDON #1 by Tom King and Dan Parent. Okay…I caved. I jumped on a new Archie-centric story for one reason and one reason only: Tom King. In the future, an elderly Archie and Jughead reminisce over a pie eating contest that went horribly wrong. That’s it, folks! The highlight is a wonderful two-page spread involving pie fights with a ton of cameos from the Archie universe. Kind of disappointing. Me thinks Mr. King sticks to what he is really good at!

JUNK PUNCH #1 by Paul Tobin, Carlos Javier Olivares, and Colleen Coover. Welcome to one of the stranger new titles as of late. Thank you Mad Cave! Clara Castaneele has a chemical affliction that leads her to punch people in the crotch! Yeah . . . that’s exactly what I said! And she gets hired to fight a missing soccer goal. And Clara is kind of crazy. She likes to drink, “do sex”(yes…that’s a quote!), and enlists her friend Medium Cotton to assist her. She is also doing this while having assassins chase her and you know she has no problem punching those evil doers in the junk! It is a crazy ride. Picture Harley Quinn amped up to eleven!

THE KARMAN BLADE #1 by Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertram. The duo previously responsible for LITTLE BIRD and PRECIOUS METAL is back with a new Science Fiction/Fantasy series. In a distant galaxy, a scavenger and former soldier stumbles upon a weapon made from dark matter called the Karman Blade. The discovery and subsequent energy spike alerts evil Commander vane, who wants the blade for himself. Unfortunately, that blade is now permanently bonded to the hand of our hero. The story is weird but compelling and the art is almost hypnotic. This will not appeal to everyone as it looks like the mythology that will go with it, much like PREVIOUS METAL was, will be very heavy.

LAND OF NEVER #1 by Steve Orlando and Miguel Mora. When a girl named Wendy is kidnapped from her home by a strange looking, burly man, her father goes on a mission to find her, even without help from the police. And she’s not the only kid missing, leading dad down a strange road where the kidnapper is revealed to be what is described as a ‘lost boy’. Yeah . . . Orlando is going off with his own, modernized version of PETER PAN. The art is serviceable and the story interesting, even if it gets a little too wordy at times. It’s another Mad Cave book and further proof that they are a player in the indy comic publishing world.

THE LAST DRIVER #1 by Sean Murphy. Murphy blew fans away with his two recent Batman mini-series and this is another gem. In the near future, cars have been replaced by something called The Grid: designed to make travel faster and more efficient. In fact, driving a car is a crime-literally! But there is a former stuntman who has no problem breaking that rule and the law. When he finds out his granddaughter needs a heart transplant, he accepts a deal that may get her past the rules of privilege and get that life-saving transplant. But he has to do a drive to get that chance. I cannot say how much I love this book, from the story, the beautiful art, and the fact the book is not set up in the normal format, making it appear as a widescreen action film. While it feels like something from out of one of my favorite films, VANISHING POINT, the addition of the person offering our hero the opportunity is named Kowalski-same as the hero in the afore mentioned film. I don’t think that was done by accident and it’s a nice Easter egg for those who know. This gets my highest recommendation and I cannot wait for the next four chapters!

LAZARUS ORDER #1 by Sloane M. Siegel and Juan Doe. Sometimes I pick up a book because I see it on the shelf of my LCS and sometimes I let my daughter point me to a book based on her seeing a preview of one. That was the case here. In this medieval world, there is a plague that turns people into vampires, werewolves, the living dead and rat/man hybrids known as Rattusvirs. To combat this sickness comes the Lazarus Order: an organization made up of plague doctors who have sworn an oath to God to gain supernatural powers The trade-off? Every time a plague doctor uses their powers, they use a little of their life force until they eventually fade away. The story involving its two main protagonists is engaging as is the concept that there is some sort of group that is using the plague to eliminate the plague doctors. The art style is very cartoony but it fits the story, else it would be darker than it already is.

LOVEBUNNY & MR. HELL #1 by Tim Seeley and Brendan Hay. As part of Devil Due’s 25^th Anniversary celebration, where they have been reprinting classic tales from back in the day, we get this. Lovebunny is a ditzy, former child star who, along with her sidekick Kid Caliber, is fighting crime; tough to do when you don’t have powers. Think Harley Quinn with bunny ears. Her other sidekick is Mr. Hell: her demonic roommate with a ravenous appetite. It’s a lot of goofy stuff in glorious black and white; perfect for fans of the afore mentioned Harley Quinn.

M1: MONSTER LEAGUE RACING #1 by Lily Windom, Robert Windom, and Jae Lee. Is this what happens when you take the concepts from SPEED RACER, throw in monsters and mysterious stuff, and have female characters as your main characters, and you get this. An interesting story with the usual killer art from Jae Lee with his typical odd page layouts. I have already read issue #2 and that amps things up more than issue #1. Definitely recommended.

MARVEL ZOMBIES: WAR ZONE #1 by Tom Waltz and Jaime Infante. Oh look: another Marvel Zombie title. Zombies have taken over the world and now good old Frank castle and Microchip must find a way out of the city, which is difficult when the citizens and many super-powered heroes are in the way. It is what it is. It is not bad but just not great. Want a good Zombie series? Go seek out the DCEASED series of books because they tell a linear story as opposed to Marvel’s multiple attempts to do the same.

MARY JANE: FACE IT, TIGER #1 by K.M. DeMatteis, Ann Nocenti, J. Michael Straczynski, Ashley Allen, Andrea Broccardo, Alina Yerofieieva, Luigi Zagaria, and Phil Noto. In honor of the introduction of Mark Jane Watson in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, Marvel turns out this one-shot with four new stories featuring everyone’s favorite redhead. There is nothing earth shattering here except for the final story involving MJ and Venom, that promises to be continued. Basically, it is a book for completists.

MILES MORALES SPIDER-MAN #1 by Bryan Edward Hill and Nico Leon. Time for another Marvel reboot. Miles is dealing with repercussions from his recent adventures in his own magazine and in REBORN: ULTIMATE IMPACT. He is also trying to make plans with Valentia, who has something called Waardenburg Syndrome. It’s a vengeful villain, on with his dad, a brief appearance with Nick Fury and a bunch of potential storylines lined up. Is it good? If you’re a Miles fan, sure. Overall: it was just okay for me.

MEGALITH: THE OLYMPUS SAGA #0 by Matt Kindt, Ramon Villalobos, and Jonathan Marks Barravecchia. Not so much an origin story to the Megalith saga but three stories that ties into it. Three stories that add to the overall arching tale. The artwork is okay and Kindt obviously knows where he wants this overall story to go.

MONEY SHOT: THE F*CK OFF #1 by Tim Seeley, Patton Oswalt, and Garth Graham. The craziest, naughtiest Science-Fiction comic is back again. It is totally an 18+ book as it contains a lot naked people and some crazy sex acts. It will titillate some, offend some, and others will just blow past it and concentrate on the humor in the story. And apparently it is going to be c*ntinued! Okay then!

OF THE EARTH #1 by Chris Condon and Charlie Adlard. I am sure that many will not recognize the name Chris Condon or even Chalie Adlard. Let me start with Adlard. One title: THE WALKING DEAD. With that in his resume, I was certainly curious about this title. Condon? He did ULTIMATE WOLVERINE and GREEN ARROW, the recently concluded THE PERIL OF THE BRUTAL DARK, currently writing ULTIMATE IMPACT: REBORN, but might be best known for THAT TEXAS BLOOD and THE ENFIELD GANG MASSACRE. This is a wild ride possibly involving supernatural stuff and a monster known as the Wildcatter. The art is perfect and the story is full of twists and turns. Toughest for me was a scene where an emaciated dog is hit by a car and that just brought back some bad memories for me.

QUEEN IN BLACK #1 Al Ewing, Iban Coello, and Ze Carlos. For anyone who hasn’t followed what has been going on with the symbiotes in the Marvel Universe, Eddie Brock was the the King in Black but Dylan Brock separated them and Venom is now with his new host, Mary Jane Watson. Knull returned and god captured by Hela. And has become the Queen in Black. And Knull and Hela are now on opposite sides in a race to conquer Earth. This is the starting point for a storyline running through this mini-series, many spin-off books and other parts of the Marvel Universe. If you’re a Venom fan, you’re all in. Otherwise, you may wish to pass.

RED SONJA NOIR: THE PLUNDER & THE PRINCESS #1 by David Avallone and Edison Enn. Dynamite’s RED SONJA titles have been hit or miss. For me, most have been big misses, the exception being the highly unusual Priest mini-series. But you stick the word  NOIR on a book and I’m curious. I don’t know how Noir I would call this but there is a dragon and a mystery. The story is just fine but the art, often that things that suffers the most in Sonja stories, is fantastic and certainly the saving grace here. If you’re a Sonja fan, you are all over this. As a one-shot, it was just a pleasant, enjoyable read.

REGICIDE #1 by Patrick Kindlon and Ludovic Lalliat. Kindlon is a comic book author and a member of the band Drug Church. Lalliat is a French artist known for creating dark fantasy art. This title follows a Romanian farmhand who ends up being paired with a masked stranger wearing his best Dr. Doom cosplay mask as they go to Transylvania to assassinate a murdering viceroy. I love the plot and the characters but Lalliat’s art left me a bit cold, looking like something that should be in a black and white Indy book of the 90’s. Still, the story is good and gory in spots and good enough to make me keep going with it.

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD: UNTOLD TALES OF THE TARMAN #1 by S.A. Check, James Kuhoric, and Greg Larocque. I am a sucker for anything zombie related so this one caught my eye immediately, helped on because of an amazing Kyle Hotz cover. Throw in the fact that Larocque was doing interiors and I figured it couldn’t be awful. Wel, it’s okay for fans of the movie or the genre and basically gives you an origin story for this legendary character. If you’re a fan of the movie, pick this up. It’s just a lot of fun!  

ROM #1 by Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici. Yep…that toy turned comic book from the Seventies is making a comeback. This is not a reprint of the original #1 from Marvel this is a brand new story that was originally in the Energon Universe FCBD book. But it drops this legendary hero into Kirkman’s connected universe, specifically VOID RIVALS, but I am sure it will eventually include TRANSFORMERS, and G.I. JOE. The story is fine and works, especially if you were not familiar with the character previously. If you are a fan of the Energon Universe titles, you will want this. Otherwise, it is just another space story with an amnesiac character in armor and toting a ray gun.

SEVEN WIVES #1 by Zoe Tunnell and V. Gagnon. A cultlike preacher named Dunn has been murdered and it is up to a pair of detectives to figure out who was responsible. Oh yeah: Dunn had multiple wives . . . seven, as the title implies . . .  and all of them are possible suspects as well as his son. What happens is a series of interviews with Dunn’s wives as the detectives do their work. There are lots of breadcrumbs dropped along the way and it is up to the reader to follow the clues, just like the fictional detectives. The story is entertaining even if the artwork is fair. But all the bits and pieces thrown in help to make it a compelling read.

SHELLSHOCK #1 by John Arcudi, Michael W. Conrad, Julio Anta, Benito Cereno, Tom Fowler, Shawn Martinsbrough, Albert Monteys, and David Lapham. Oni, which has been tapping into the classics with their modern take on the EC Comics, now dips its’ toe into the war genre with this anthology. It is okay but holds none of the emotional impact of the classic titles, specifically FRONTLINE COMBAT. If you are a completist, get it. Otherwise, get one of the classic EC anthologies from Dark Horse.

SICKO #1 by Tini Howard and Amilcar Pinna. Welcome to the perfect Horror book for the Covid generation. Valentine is a medical student who has contracted a mysterious disease that causes her body to turn against her, allowing her to weaponize the disease and is looking to take retribution upon those things that piss her off. And now a mysterious healthcare group is trying to track her down before things get worse. It’s crazy, weird, and sometimes gross and gory. Really good stuff!

SIGHT #1 by Darin S. Cape and Jack Purcell. This is the strange story of Angelina: an amateur boxer who is burdened with the ability to see moments of the future before they happens. She also works part-time as a hospice worker, meaning she can see the impending deaths of her patients. Sounds simple enough but her visions take a turn when she envisions a possible alien invasion and now she must navigate that. What makes this title so unusual is the way the story unfolds, as events happen in the past, present and the future. Luckily Purcell’s art signals which is which depending on if the panels are open on the left, the right, or not at all. Once you know the code, the story makes more sense on a second read. Good story and always great art from Purcell. If your LCS doesn’t have it, have them order it for you.

SIX OF US #1 by Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta. So there is a hit comedy show called SIX OF US: a television sensation that has previously ended. Now five of those six are gathered at the funeral for the sixth one, who apparently dove into an empty swimming pool. But was it really an accident? Was it a suicide or maybe it was murder. That’s the premise here. And if you do not hear the FRIENDS theme song playing throughout the depiction of the opening title of the show, you are either from another generation or just forgot the iconic opening. King does a great job of tying the characters, before and after fame, to the real show and it’s a bit freaky. Either way, it’s an interesting murder mystery in true King style.

SPIDER-MAN: LONG WAY HOME #1 by Jonathan Hickman and Adam Kubert. Okay . . . I get it. We all have Spider-Man fever and the title of LONG WAY HOME ties into the previous movies, right? So, do we need a team-up with Spidey, The Hulk and The Punisher? Normally, I would say no but it is written by Jonathan Hickman and illustrated by Adam Kubert. That is the hook here, ladies and gentlemen. We get The Punisher and his military team fighting with Hydra and A.I.M., the Hulk rampaging through it all and Peter basically not even in the story . . . yet. It’s an okay read but I want to see what issue #2 has to offer.

SPIDER-WOMAN ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 by Ann Nocenti, Dan Watters, Stefano Raffaele, and Andrea Broccardo. For the record, this is the Jessica Drew Spider-Woman who was introduced in MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #32 in 1977; not the other Spider-Women over the years like Julia carpenter, Mattie Franklin, Gwen Stacy(yeah…on Earth-65) and Skull Queen Veranke. Also of note: is this a 49 and a half year anniversary? Anyway, two stories with the first having her not only brawl with a tiger costumed bad guy while also helping some woman she just met. In the second, and the better of the two, she battles one of Miles Warren’s former assistants turned giant spider. Most importantly, there is a cliffhanger final page that will lead into an all-new series coming in November. I’ve always been a big fan of the character, with all her trials and tribulations, so I’m looking forward to that title. In the end, get it, read the second story for the cliffhanger, and move on.

THE STRANGER BOOK ONE by Wes Craig and Jason Wordie. This DC Black Label title presents a new take on the Superman story. Set in the Thirties, Clark Kent is a man who is now working as a janitor to make ends meet, while trying to understand who he is, a past he is unsure about, and dealing with powers he does not quite understand. There is even a Lex Luthor appearance and he is just as slimy as you would expect him to be. The art is interesting and has the art nouveau feel to it. Seeing this legendary hero as a man who does not know about his origin and apparently lived in an orphanage is a nice trope that works nicely.

TALES OF WONDER #1 by Steve Skroce and Ian Herring. What happens when two elderly comic creators try to put aside their differences at a Con but that does not work well and anticipated chaos ensues. Top that off with the appearance of the fictional heroes in the flesh showing up and de-age the creators while also fighting a monster brought to life. It’s a bit crazy and a little interesting, especially if you are a student of comic history to know about the occasional drama that exists within the community. It is not for everyone but will cause a core readership to get where it is going.

TANK GIRL: BLUE HELMET #1 by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett. Why the sudden interest in reprinting TANK GIRL stories from 35 years ago? Not quite sure but this is the second one in the same number of months. Originally appearing in DEADLINE MAGAZINE, it is a very interesting and twisted take on Jack Kerouac’s BLUE HELMET…which doesn’t really exist. I can see how much of what was created here ended up being turned into Hewlett’s future music project, which is probably where most comic fans know his name from. It is a great read for those of us who grew up on Underground Comics.

TERMINAL #1 by Robert Kirkman, Joe Casey, and Andy Kubert. An event ten years in the past has created a group of people with genetic latent powers. It has led to a war between two groups, although this superhuman war has taken place outside of the knowledge of most people. And the war can be extremely brutal. Enter a young woman searching for her missing sister and what she finds, to her shock, is her sister is now a part of this superhuman community. And now this woman is brought to an island…no, not THAT island, where she meets this group of superhumans, including an enormous, floating eye! That’s the setup in this mythology where the lines between heroes and villains are blurred. The story is doing a lot of world building and Kubert’s art shines through.

TOMB OF APOCALYPSE #1 by Ashley Allen and Domenico Carbone. An alien artifact activates and manages to teleport Jubilee and Wolverine to an Egyptian dig site. The two make their way into the labyrinth and jubilee encounters a transmission from Apocalypse, who tasks her to search for a galactic artifact for him. Wait: isn’t he still a bad guy? And he has sent some old friends to join in the search. Saying more would spoil it. It’s kind of fun and the art looks great. The only problem I have with mini-series like this is whether they are canon or not to current continuity.

VAMPIRELLA SUMMER SPECIAL 2026 #1 by Erica Schultz and Adriana Melo. This one is an easy one to write. Vampirella is in Pompeii in present day where a skull calls to her. She becomes connected and finds herself in Pompeii prior to the eruption of that volcano and connects with a young girl and her family and tries her best to change their fate. It’s a little heartbreaking story by Schultz and appropriate art from Melo. This is not going to set the world on fire but if you’re a Vampi fan, you will want to add this to your reading list and collection.

WARBIRD #1 by Derek Kolstad, Robert Venditti, Alex Maleev, and Esad Ribic. With a cast like this, specifically Venditti, Maleev, and Ribic, this should be really good, right? Well, this is a spy story, so there is that. It follows Cole Norton who is a master of repossessing things. And he gets tasked to repossess something called The Warbird: a next-gen fighter jet that the Russians have. Offered a huge finder’s fee, Cole goes into this with some trepidation but, you know, money IS money, right? But when he learns an old partner may have died trying to accomplish this, it becomes personal. It’s a little like James Bond and a little like MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and I am okay with that.

WATSON V. HOLMES #1 by Jon Santana, Rafael Santana, and Jordan Rodriguez. What happens when you tap into what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters end up in a tale involving vampires? You get this! As it turns out, Mr. Watson, a big, burly man, is the hero and Holmes is the baddie. Really? It’s a fun first issue with some gore and some interesting twists. Story is fine and the art fits.

ZORRO’S LEGACY #1 by Dan Abnett and Aaron Lopresti. We’ve already got Howard Chaykin and Jorge Fornes telling their story, Abnett and Lopresti are providing a different take on the character. Set in the present day, Zorro lives again in the form of someone new. Actually, the newest Zorro is injured and now someone else has taken up the mantle and he has a slightly different mindset and arsenal. The beauty of this is a combination of the writing and the art and, of course, the ability to transport the legend to the here and now.

 

DC UNIVERSE Month 103, Part 2

HARLEY QUINN #65 by Elliott Kalan and Carlos Olivares. Harley and Batquinn continue to battle each other, even as Chicken Fingers arrives and tries to knock some sense into Batquinn. Badly injured, Batquinn declares she is dying, just as Detective Philo Charles arrives, threatening to take her into custody. A new Harley, formerly Harley Quinn’s brain, uses what is left of the Omega Energy to merge with Batquinn, transforming Batquinn into a newly revised Harley Quinn-new costume and all. Reunited with her Throatcutter Hill family, Harley decides she must get Ivy and convince her to change her ways.

JSA #22 by Jeff Lemire and Diego Olortegui.  The Spectre descends upon Belle Reve, making its way past the defenses to seek out the guilty inside. The JSA arrives and the Spectre forces its’ way into Wildcat’s subconscious. As Yolanda struggles with her recent losses, the Spectre takes control and seeks out Queen Kobra. Obsidian is able to reach Yolanda telepathically, breaking her anger, leading to her rejecting The Spectre’s control. As the entity leaves her, it moves to the afterlife and take possession of Ted Grant,

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #22 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. Guy Gardner, Hawkgril, Metamorpho and Mr. Terrific are involved in a fierce battle with alien creatures high above the Powers Plant when their leader, Despero, arrives and reveals he arranged for the ship crash so he could steal the displaced superpowers for himself. They initially fight off an onslaught of wild alien beasts that have been bizarrely infused with familiar metahuman abilities and he quickly overwhelms the heroes. After Metamorpho is torn in half by Despero, Mr. Terrific draws out the planet’s superpowered energy and uses his godlike powers to defeat Despero, even as it seems the power may be corrupting him. When Kanjar Ro arrives, it seems things will get worse before they get better. Meanwhile, on the Watchtower, The Atom raises concerns about the Villiam Amnesty Program, which leads to Ray Palmer starting his own investigation of the tournament’s survivors. He discovers an anomaly within the databanks about the survivors, leading him to an off-the-books meeting with Air Wave, Blue Beetle, The Question, Black Canary, and Doctor Occult.

LOBO #6 by Skottie Young, Riley Rossmo, and Jorge Corona. Lobo’s newest bounty requires him to go to hell, so he makes his way into Limbo where he demands that Derek Dodd, the Managing Administrator of the Afterlife, gives him access to Hell so he can hunt down and assassinate the Tooth Fairy. Upon his arrival, he gets a light from John Constantine before encountering some fairy guards, where he eats one and captures a second who brings him to the office of the Tooth Fairy. One of her guards tears out Lobo’s teeth but he is unfazed as he has a bomb hidden in one of the teeth, leading to the death of one of her guards. She agrees to let Lobo collect on the contract and he gets a new pair of teeth in the process. In the end, it looks as though the Batman Who Laughs is seeking revenge on the bounty hunter, leading to the LAST DEATH OF LOBO storyline.

NEW TITANS #38 by Tate Brombal and Sami Basri. Jon Kent welcomes Static to Mount Titans, giving him a tour and introducing him to the group. What he sees is a team severely fractured.  Jon and Red Devil are butting heads because of their egos. Dick is pushing Stephanie’s physical and mental limits, leading to their relationship becoming strained. Cyborg has isolated himself from the rest of the team as he continues to be obsessed with his study of the Heart of Apokolips. Yara is haunted by dreams and voices when she realizes that she is being watched by Eva, who does not understand personal space. All of this stress provides an emotional outburst that causes an electromagnetic explosion. Before the team can discuss what has happened, Poitra arrives, warning of a sinister threat emerging in the Amazon rainforests.

NEXT LEVEL: ONE SHOT #1 by Gerry Duggan and Fernando Blanco. Deadshot has been contracted to kill a high-profile corporate figure and finds himself heading to Chicago. As he pulls the trigger to take out his target, the bullet impact exposes that this is an synthetic duplicate and he finds himself ambushed by a security team. As he makes his way through the team, known as the Wardogs, he learns that Project Cadmus is responsible; especially after seeing that the Wardogs are mutated human dogs. This is not the first time he has encountered these security teams as he previously encountered them during a clandestine meeting with Colonel Rick Flag. But he also has learned that the corporate threat also involves his daughter. After a confrontation with Batman and a Cadmus creature known as the horrific Kingbatshark, Floyd is confronted by Starro corrupted Trinity clones who are ready to add him to their version of the Suicide Squad.

NIGHTWING #141 by Dan Watters and Denis Cowan. A crowd has gathered in downtown Bludhaven as they wait to see if Nightwing will turn himself in. Nightwing is in the crowd dressed in plain clothes and is dealing with his own internal conflict; believing that he should do the right thing but knows that doing so will leave the city defenseless against the Witch. Manhunter Kate Spencer makes her way through the crowd, saying he should not turn himself in but, if he does, she will represent him as his attorney. As time runs out, Dick prepares to put his mask on and turn himself in until a woman named Anita Lee steps forward and claims she was responsible for causing the accident that killed nine. As the woman is arrested, Dick sees a man leaving the scene and pursues him to his apartment, where he learns that Lee is not the real Witch but was paid to take the fall by Mayor Bisogni. In the end, Bisogni is seen sitting alongside the true Witch of Bludhaven.

POISON IVY #47 by G. Willow Wilson and Leandro Fernandez. Ivy is dreaming of lying on the grass with Harley when she wakes to find herself outdoors and sleeping on The Hill, who informs her that the Parliament of Trees is bringing their army to Gotham. Racing back to City Hall, she is met with angry protestors, forcing her and Sprout to sneak inside. An intern tells her that Janet and Juhi have taken a personal day while Sprout tells her that that Order of the Green Knight have elected Undine as their new leader. Meanwhile, Janet and Juhi go to Harley’s apartment to try and convince her to talk sense into Harley and she refuses unless Ivy issues an apology to her first. Janet returns to Ivy and explains Harley’s response. With nowhere else to turn and refusing to eat her pride, she decides to surrender to the Parliament and let them take the city. She channels The Green and unleashes roots and plants, that rip through Gotham’s power station and wipes out the infrastructure, plunging Gotham into total darkness. To be continued in BATMAN: BAD SEEDS-SUNSET #1.

SUPERGIRL #16 by Sophie Campbell, Joe Quinones, and Paolo Villanelli.KINGDOM OF ZOD PART 1. Supergirl, with the Sun Crystal in hand, heads towards El Caldero. Seven hours earlier, she was attempting to break up a fight between Conner and Superboy-Prime with Krypto finally being able to do just that. Supergirl learns that there has been a coup d’etat in El Caldero with the new leader wanting Lois and the Daily Planet to come to El Caldero. Supergirl puts a team together consisting of herself, Lois, Tomorrow Man, Prime, Conner, Lena, Luna, Nightflame, Thundergirl, and Phantasmagoria, with them all appearing to be reporters for the Daily Planet. Those who are affected by Kryptonite have been outfitted with an Anti-K device. They are greeted by the new leader: General Zod and his Krypto Knights, with Zod claiming her Kryptonian abilities are actually stolen from him and he uses her as a weapon against her teammates. The Eradicatrix appears and battles Supergirl as the battery on the Anti-K devices begin to deplete. Zod, who has secured Lois to a device to drain her Superwoman abilities, enacts Phase Three: a K-Zone field trapping the heroes. To be continued in ACTION COMICS #1101.

SUPERMAN #41 by Joshua Williamson and Eddy Barrows. KINGDOM OF ZOD PART 4. Superman, in the Kryptonian war suit, battles against Zod while Lois and Tomorrow Man make their way through the fortress to free President Castilho. Superman demands to know what happened to New Kandor, Lor-Zod, and Ursa, incensing Zod, who smashes the faceplate of Superman’s war suit. He then focuses his heat vision and destroys Superman’s right eye, leaving him incapacitated on the battlefield. Before he can issue a final blow, Conner and Prime arrive in a Super-Mobile and spirit him away. Zod goes to the mines and resurrects Ursa, who repays him by killing him. Supergirl and the young Superboy discover that Zod’s forces, now controlled by Ursa, have hijacked Booster’s time ship as she plans to go back in time and change things, despite being warned this will mess with the timeline. To be continued in SUPERGIRL #17.

SUPERMAN UNLIMITED #16 by Dan Slott and Rachael Stott. KINGDOM OF ZOD PART 3. Conner and Superboy-Prime, with Green Kryptonite shields, face off against Zod, but are soundly defeated, with Zod admitting that the Green K radiation is weakening him. Telepathically realizing that Kal-El has arrived inside the city, he sends the Eradicatrix to find him and execute him. J’onn, who is travelling with Superman along with Mary Marvel, Booster Gold and the time-displace young Clark Kent. Tells him to send his younger self away out of the city. Before that can happen, the Eradicatrix attacks. Mary uses her lightning to create a screen allowing them to slip away, with a group of resistance fighters moving Superman into a series of lead-lined underground tunnels. As he recovers, he learns that Zod has captured Lois and, thanks to a hidden hologram of his father, learns of a chamber containing Kryptonian war suits and makes his way to Zod’s citadel. Elsewhere, Jon Kent, Steel, Natasha, and Lana begin to create a cure to counteract the planetary infection. In the end, Supergirl manages to get the rest of the team through the fortress and meets the younger version of Clark. To be continued in SUPERMAN #41.

WONDER WOMAN #36 by Stephanie Williams and Clayton Henry. Steve and Trinity travel the River Styx, with her father agreeing to continue the origin of her mother. Diana wins the first trial: the trial of aim. The second trial was the endurance trial, with Diana almost losing it as she had stopped to help an Amazon get back on her feet after a fall but eventually won. Diana won the third trial against Emelie. The fourth trial was a trial of wisdom, which she also won after coming up with a clever way to remove a tyrant from power by not killing them. In the final trial, defending oneself against arrows by only using their bracelets, Diana passed the trial but was injured defending Mala from harm. Hippolyta demanded Diana remove her mask, revealing herself to her mother. Hippolyta declared her daughter to be the champion of the Amazons. Taking her to a chamber, Hippolita gave her the uniform she had worn in her time in man’s world, along with her breastplate, bracelets, tiara and the gold lasso of Hestia. Waith her outfit complete, Diana escorted Steve back to man’s world.

ZATANNA #5 by Jamal Campbell. Zatanna tells her audience about her ties to the Hidden City of the Homo Magi, where her mother was born and died. For the first time in years, Zatanna returns there, where she finds chaos and anxiety gripping the residents as civil unrest threatens the government. Zatanna delivers a stage performance to give the citizens a sense of hope. In the end, Zatanna reconnects with her maternal extended family. But that reunion is short-lived as a cosmic threat forces Zatanna and her family to stand together and fight the Dragon.

DC UNIVERSE Month 103, Part 1

 

ABSOLUTE CATWOMAN #3 by Scott Snyder, Che Grayson and Bengal. In the past, the Calicos had dreams, with Helena wanting to be a pilot, Victoria running the Gotham Gazette and Selina dreaming of being a photographer. Holly arrives and suggests a heist of the wealthiest and most dangerous man in Gotham named Cain. They break in and Holly finds a list that she believes would be there ultimate score. In the present, the

League of Shadows attacks Selina, Helena, and Victoria, who have been searching for the kidnapped Holly Robinson. Selina uses Jonesy to defeat the threat. Selina takes the girls to her headquarters she calls the Cat Cave, where Victoria says that the object Holly left behind is a reality altering A.I. program called The Yarn that can literally rewrite reality. Using Jonesy’s database, Victoria finds the exact location of The Yarn. In the end, the trio don tactical suits to hunt down Cassandra Cain and rescue Holly.

 

ABSOLUTE BATMAN #23 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta. Alfred meets with Julia, telling her he plans to leave MI6 and stay in Gotham to help Batman, with her saying she hopes he finds what he is looking for and leaves. Back at the Robin headquarters, Jason insists on going out and continuing the hunt for Batman. Later, Batman has become obsessed with the Batman Conspiracy proposed by The Scarecrow, going as far as to say that his friends were in the zoo and how it relates to what they have become. He also believes that his father is alive and being hidden in Bolivia, which is where the bats at the zoo came from. Alfred and Martha walk in and she tells him that Gordon told her that Bruce was Batman and the alleged Batman Project is not real. He accuses her involvement with the Court of Owls is responsible and will eventually lead him to his father. In a flashback, it is revealed that Bruce had been tasked to beat a man named Matches Malone to death with a baseball bat to become a made man. He beats him but is unable to bring himself to do it and two of Falcone’s men prepare to shoot Malone instead. Batman attacks them and tells Malone to run away. Back in the present, he encounters Jason, telling him that he is not here to fight him while a lump of clay transforms into Batman, knocks out Jason and jills Tim. Batman attacks this version of Clayface, who escapes through the sewers. Batman cradles Tim’s body as Scarecrow appears, saying a Robin was destined to die. As Bruce flees with Tim’s body, Jason wakes and accuses Batman of killing his partner.

 

ABSOLUTE FLASH #18 by Jeff Lemire and Nick Robles. A week ago, D.E.O. Agent Hunter Zolomon is called to meet with Director Bones, who introduces him to Elenore Thawne. She explains that Wally is a rogue asset from Project Olympus and he is tasked to capture him as he has the ability to travel one minute into the future. Bones also says that he is having someone called The Old Man with him, even though he cannot be controlled.. In the present, Linda and Grodd try to convince Wally to go public, with Ralph and Sue Dibney saying that would be a mistake. Wally explains that all he wants to do is find his father, when Ralph’s limbs suddenly begin to stretch and he collapses into a boneless heap as eyeballs burst out of Sue’s body and she begins puking up small animals made out of blood. All over Central City, people begin to transform into monsters and attack the populace. As Zolomon watches, Thawne tells him that The Old Man got an upgrade, courtesy of Brainiac. As Wally saves a mother and her child, Zolomon appears, saying this can all stop if Wally comes with him, when he refuses, Zolomon says he looked thirty seconds into the future and saw Wally defeat him so he is changing the future and beats Wally down, with Thawne ordering him to kill Wally.In the end, Grodd and Linda run through the streets when Grodd’s head disappears and his headless body falls to the ground. A man dressed as a magician pulls Grodd’s heads out of his hat and asks Linda if she wants to see a trick. This is The Old Man: Abra Kababra.

ABSOLUTE GREEN ARROW #4 by Pornsak Pichetshote and Rafael Albuquerque. Dinah fights Solomon Grundy and apparently kills him. She finds a room filled with mutated subjects. Meanwhile, Green Arrow accesses Hammond’s computer using his severed hand. Elsewhere, Tom Hallaway is held captive by Hammond who introduces him to Doctor Iker, who mutates Hallaway as payback for having his hand cut off. Dinah breaks in, telling Hammond she knows Slade was providing subjects to Iker Hammond tells her Miraclo is a super steroid able to jump start dead tissue in subjects and they were using Oliver’s corpse for their tests. Hammond takes her to Oliver’s dismembered corpse. Hammond flees and Grundy revives, attempting to kill her when Green Arrow shoots him in the eyes, stunning him. Green Arrow keeps shooting and Grundy stumbles into some electrical equipment that electrocutes him before recovering. Hammond commands Grundy to cut off Green Arrow’s hand with his claws and he does..

ABSOLUTE GREEN LANTERN #17 by Al Ewing and Sid Kotian. In the past, the Controller of MU, known as Thaal, sees a ring of light split into multiple colors and sees what he calls a Face of Steel. He builds a high-tech halo into his own head to bring guidance to the universe, saying the Face called him Sin Es Tro. In 2021, Jessica was driving to Evergreen when they observed a car crash and watch a man shoot the driver before he fired at them, killing her friend Geoff. Later, she was interviewed by Jo and Renee Montoya but is unable to identify the man, leading to her becoming a shut in for the next four years until the day that Abin Sur arrived at her door, with Jessica asking is he could hide her. In the present, Guy uses Salakk as a shield between him and the Controller of MU, with Salakk decapitating himself, allowing the Controller to use an energy blade to cut off Guy’s arm and run him through with the blade. He declares that when Guy dies, Hal will also die and the Controller will now be free to destroy the Lantern with Mogo. Kama Tui says that when Hal dies, he won’t need Mogo and can destroy the Lantern without destroying Rann or killing her and the Blackstars, but he stabs her too. John tears off The Controller’s helmet with The Controller slicing John to pieces, but he immediately reforms, saying that The Controller has not hurt him or the others but their wounds exist because they believed in those wounds. Jo and Jessica attack him with Jessica firing a gun at him with a shrunken Tomar Re acting as the bullet through The Controller’s head, which regrows to normal. Jessica circles around Mogo, causing plants to grow while demanding he simply let go. A Sur symbol appears on the surface as the commander of the Blackstars declares she is in command as Overseer Shade is dead and The Controller is offline. At John’s insistence, she declares the war over. Inside The Controller’s helmet, the word ERROR appears. In the Zero-Zone, Emily Hawke wonders what the Face of Steel is thinking about as Simon Baz appears and says he has ceased to exist.

ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #22 by Jason Aaron and Juan Ferreyra. After recent events, Lazarus Corp declares bankruptcy. Going through their files, Jimmy and the Omega Men discover a series of labs vacant since the 1940’s although they are still receiving deliveries of chemical supplies. They tell this to Superman and he realizes this must be where Brainiac is, leading to him flying to Cordoba to arrest him, where he ius attacked by an android. He becomes weak and is overpowered, realizing he is being exposed to Kryptonite. He blasts open the robot’s shell and sees that a resurrected Christopher Smith is inside, with Smith declaring his name is Metallo. Metallo spits green blood at Superman which burns him like acid, as the blood is now containing Kryptonite from the bullet the Ra’s used to kill him. Brainiac emerges to watch the fight, even as Superman reminds Metallo that his name is Christopher Smith. Smith has a heart attack and Superman uses CPR to save him, although he attacks back, knocking him into the sewer, blocking him from the sun. As he is being choked, Superman tells him that he went to Smith’s mother’s funeral three weeks ago, where he reveals that he had told her that Smith loved her, leading to Smith falling to his knees and breaking down.

ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #23 by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman. Diana makes her way from Hades and heads to Area 41 to search for Barbara; finding the facility empty. She makes her way to Veronica Cale’s office and neutralizes her security force, demanding answers about the experiments and Barbara’s abduction. As she confronts her, Diana bursts into the basement and found the frozen figure of Cale’s daughter Isadore. She reveals that Zatanna cursed her hands and would only uncurse her from it when Zatanna’s father was freed. Unfortunately, she touched Isadore and froze her. Outside, a blue and yellow lightning bolt rips through the sky, representing Zeus and Ares as Zeus’s massive eye looks down on the city.

ACTION COMICS #1101 by Mark Waid and Montos. Continued from SUPERGIRL #16. KINGDOM OF ZOD Part 2. The Eradicator’s archives relates how Zod battled against the Khund army, with his wife Ursa dying in the process. In the present, a Kryptonite plague has spread across the world and covering cities with Kryptonite shards. Booster Gold, Superman, Superboy, Mary Marvel, and Martian Manhunter exit the timestream and enter El Caldero where there soon become infected. Supergirl and her team continue to fight against the Krypto-Knights, even as Lena and Princess Shark become infected. Lois has been captured with Zod explaining he was responsible for the Kryptonite asteroid that Superman stopped before it hit El Caldero, creating a fake government in the process. Lois tells him she believes he wants people to worship him as he believes humanity worships Superman. As he has now regained his powers, he thinks he has won but notices that the Superboys are missing as Conner and Prime breaking into his palace and challenging him to a battle. Meanwhile, back in Smallville, Steel, Natasha, Tomorrow Man, and Lara prepare to assist in Elk Caldero, even as Steel admits to finding an anomaly in the Kryptonite isotope spreading across the Earth. To be continued in SUPERMAN UNLIMITED #16.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN: BOOK OF EL #11 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Scott Godlewski. The House of El members visit the ruins of Durla, looking for the final God-Aspect. They are met by Pyrrhos, who has come to join them and asks Osul-Ra for his forgiveness while saying that the God-Aspect is in the Phantom Zone along with someone else Pyrrhos needs to make amends with. Superman goes to Kryl-Ux’s fortress to talk with him and avoid a fight, comparing how his actions mirror those of Olgrun millions of years ago. Kryl-Ux reveals his wife and children’s names, sharing memories of them. When he can’t remember his oldest daughter’s favorite song, he attacks Superman. A Boom Tube opens and the House of El, lead by an elderly Superwoman and with the Valkyries and the reanimated corpses of the Promethean Giants, arrive and battles Kryl-Ux’s forces. Superman orders him to surrender but he claims that he has four God-Aspects and Superman has just put the final three within his reach. He kills Thularamm, absorbs the Darkstar Ring and becomes a god like Olgrun.

BARBARA GORDON BREAKOUT #4 by Mariko Tamaki and Amancay Nahuelpan. Barbara is still enduring prison and gets befriended by an inmate who is revealed to be former police officer Myrna Shelton, who ended up here after protecting her captain from Savage’s TUCOs. She has also managed to get her off of Sparrow’s drug cocktail. In the meantime, City Councilwoman Vanessa Woods has been locked up after unsuccessfully trying to avoid Savage’s TUCOs. That night, screams echo throughout the prison and it is presumed that Woods had died. In the end, while doing laundry in the prison’s laundry area, Barbara discovers a body buried in the piles of clothes that is revealed to be Sparrow.

BATGIRL #22 by Tate Brombal and Stephen Segovia. Bronze Tiger leads Jaya and Tanji into the basement of the warehouse where they see the corpse of Victoria Rose along with the comatose form of Cassandra, who is under the mental influence of Dr. Forget-Me-Not. Inside of Cassandra’s mind, she is forced to endure a mental maze caused by her father. Confronting Dr. Forget-Me-Not, he reveals that Cain and himself had a wager to see which project would result in the ultimate weapon and his manipulation has led her to believe she was responsible for Victoria’s death. She re-examines the evidence and realizes that Dr. Forget-Me-Not manipulated her memories but figures out that Victoria died on an assassination mission. That revelation allows her to break the mind control and wake up. Dr. Forget-Me-Not’s programming causes Tenji to attack his father, with Cassandra knocking out both Bronze Tiger and Tenji. Dr. Forget-Me-Not is apprehended and the heroes examine the corpse and deduce this I another murdered girl and that Victoria’s body was never recovered, meaning she may still be alive. In the end, a masked individual is seen speaking with Jaya.

BATMAN #12 by Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez. Bruce is seen having a conversation with the “ghost” of Alfred, who tells of the existence of the Society of the Midnight Key: an organization formed to trained the world’s greatest heroes. At the same time, Verity Pennyworth has arrived and Bruce has run background checks and perform a DNA swab. Verity bonds quickly with Damian. Meanwhile, a group of trained killers, including Der Giftmoder, Lord Fantome, Sr. Sueno, Vector, Spyder Black, and The Minotaur, are executing high-profile targets in innovative ways. Batman, Damian, and Verity deduce that these assassins are all here with one target in mind: Bruce Wayne. Verity creates a fake online presence to contact the killers, leading to Der Giftmoder and Lord Fantome to turn on each other. Batman interjects and gets a nasty chemical burn from Der Giftmoder’s poison. Despite that, he subdues them both. In the end, The Joker, still in an isolation tank, receives a mysterious unseen visitor.that causes him to laugh.

BATMAN AND ROBIN YEAR ONE: DYNAMIC DUOS #1 by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee. A cultist named Scorpio, calling himself the Messenger of Barbatos, sacrifices someone in an alley, while believing he has summoned a “bat god”. Meanwhile, Bruce gets accosted by a gang of street urchins, allowing himself to be overwhelmed so as not to reveal his abilities. A woman, possibly Selina Kyle and an orphan named Methabel, send the children away. Bruce later decides that the children were well trained and obviously someone is using children to execute their crimes. This leads to Dick going undercover in the gang.

BATMAN: BAD SEEDS-SUNSET #1by Matt Fraction, G. Willow Wilson, Giuseppe Camuncoli, and Cliff Rathburn. Vandal Savage has branded Gotham’s vigilantes as criminals and is using his paramilitary force to hunt them down. Mayor Ivey has Savage’s army at the front door of City Hall and Savage has captured Juhi, making her realize she has few choices left and orders Janet to leave Gotham and go as far away as possible. It is 6 PM in Gotham City and Poison Ivy has entered into a pact with the Parliament of Trees and the city has been quickly transformed by Prehistoric greenery. Ivy’s plants burst from below the streets and take out the power grid, including the Bat Family’s communications. Batman makes his way beneath the street and is attacked by one of the plants, only to be saved by Killer Croc, who warns him that it is and will continue to hurt the citizens in ways they cannot defend against. He explains that Savage has a poison designed to kill Ivy and that the plants will grow exponentially once sunrise comes. At the same time, Robin and Verity watch as the plants seal off Gotham’s city blocks. Harley wakes to find herself trapped by carnivorous plants. Stephanie Brown and Cassandra find themselves cut-off because of the infrastructure collapse. Gordon and Ezzy find themselves in the middle of e murder investigation as the plants isolate them from their precinct. Among the chaos, Savage orders the city borders to be shut down. To be continued in all Bat Family books through the end of October, along with BATMAN: BAD SEEDS-GOTHAM CENTRAL, BATMAN: BAD SEEDS-GOTHAM GENERAL and BATMAN: BAD SEEDS-STREETS OF GOTHAM.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #54 by Mark Waid and Bruno Frenda. With Bialya and Quarac ready to go to war, a ghost of a Gotham Knights player appears in the Batcave and transports Batman, Superman and many other heroes to hell, where Neron has transported them. Here in Hell, he proposes a baseball game with high stakes: win the game and stop the potential conflict; lose it and the conflict widens. The ghost is revealed to be Steet Wensler who has been relegated to be a third base umpire. The game goes back and forth and it is simply good fortune that the heroes are only one run behind, despite the cheating and dirty tricks from Neron’s team. Flash scores the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning but Neron declares that The Flash never touched third base. An appeal is made to Wensler who declares he has to do what Neron says. But Superman convinces him and he declares The Flash safe, even as it will cause him more pain in Hell. Their win keeps the expected missile strike from occurring and Neron is outwitted by Batman’s legal argument and allows the heroes to leave.

BATWOMAN #6 by Greg Rucka and Jeff Spokes. Seven or eight weeks ago, Kate was unable to save her sister after the pair fall off a high cliff. Kate went back to her father and told him Beth was dead as he bandages her wounds. Her breakdown led to her going to Greece and Petalon, but not before meeting with her psychiatrist and revealing her secret. But Beth, as Kate, did not die and eventually ended up in a nearby town with her severe head injury, where she crossed path’s with Kate’s ex-girlfriend Anna. Anna believes she is Kate and brought her to Kate’s apartment in Gotham, leading to her begin to impersonate her sister as opposed to reverting to Alice: cutting her hair short and getting a back tattoo just like Kate’s. While there, she discovers the compartment that leads to Kate’s Batwoman costume and convinces herself she is Batwoman.

CATWOMAN #90 by Torunn Gronbekk and Davide Gianfelice. Weeks ago, plans a job to rob the Hencht Bank, even while in Katarina’s employ. Now, Black Mask uses the chaos from the explosion to capture Selina and Slam. The pair wake on a cargo boat where they are forced to play a game called Spin the Kitty where one of three captured civilians or two stray cats will die is Selina talks. He then proceeds to spin the wheel leading to him trying to suffocate Slam. She eventually begs him to stop and Roman shoots a harpoon through the chest of one of the captives. He spins it again and this time a cat may pay the price. But, unbeknownst to Selina, Maggie was enroute to the boat, based on her calling Selina’s phone that Roman had answered. When Maggie arrives, Roman embraces her but she stabs him with a nerve agent and he collapses. Katarina arrives and threatens to shoot Maggie but Selina has freed herself and uses her claws to shred the woman’s face, revealing her scarred flesh beneath. The pair fall into the ocean where Katarina drowns. In the end, Holly had been rescued, Carmine offers Selina a safe house and  Maggie and Selina adopt the stray cats.

CLAYFACE: CELEBRITY DIRT #2 by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and Fran Galan. Basil Karlo, still trying to take his life back from the person impersonating him, infiltrates Worldwide International Studios. He has heard rumors about his imposter and how he has become toxic. When he attempts to tell his story to the media, that fails and he transforms into a production assistant to bypass security. Beneath the studio, he discovers a nightmarish pile of distorted flesh. At the same time, a new supplement begins transforming and melting citizens in Los Angeles. In the end, an oozing stranger stalks Basil’s waitress neighbor.

THE DEADMAN #3 by W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo. Boston and Bobby head into the underworld to investigate the Soul-Eaters called Rakshasa that have been eating souls in purgatory where they travel through the Seven Rings of Hell to meet with Lucifer Morningstar. Through a book, the reader learns about ‘The Man with no wrinkles’: a demon who maintains its youth by eating living people. Finally meeting with Lucifer, he reveals that the Rakshasa are a response to the imbalance of human souls. During the conversation, Boston realizes his mission is unending. In the end, Boston realizes that Rama Kushna has controlled him and demands a conversation with God himself.

DEATHSTROKE THE TERMINATOR #6 by Tony Fleecs and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Slade is forced to watch as Adeline shoots Rose in the head so he can feel the pain she felt from the loss of Grant and when Joseph lost his voice. Grabbing a mini-gun, he attacks Adeline, firing indiscriminately. A nurse in the crowd tells him Rose is still alive. Slade shoots both Deathblow and Deadshot before engaging in a sword fight with Adeline who flees to a rooftop and begins firing at the crowd below. Deathblow takes Rose to a nearby hospital as he instructs the nurse to help the injured. Slade continues the battle with Adeline, grabbing a huge piece of steel, using it to impale it into Adeline’s left arm. In the end, Rose lies unconscious in a hospital and writes a letter to Rose, saying he needs to change and he quits as an assassin for hire.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1112 by Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin. Having learned that the Reynoso family had been forced to be trained killers, Prion’s daughter Arabella and his mother Rita have been successfully deprogrammed. Also learned is that Arabella has the ability to kill someone with just a touch. Batman convinces Rita to be his eyes and ears and sends her to meet with her handler, telling him that Batman is dead. Batman, Green Arrow and Black Canary trace the operation to the Klep Corporation. The Klep Corporation has been weaponizing assassins for decades to take out opponents, rig elections and install their own politicians. With the evidence revealed, the trio of heroes burst in and confront Klep, with Arabella controlling herself just long enough to not kill Klep with her touch. With the organization dismantled, Batman promises Rita and Arabella that they will have the resources to put their lives back together.

EMPEROR AQUAMAN #20 by Jeremy Adams and John Timms. Poseidon descends on Atlantis, declaring that Arthur is unworthy of such power and demands he give up the throne and his connection to The Blue. This leads to Poseidon attacking Aquaman. The resulting battle is so titanic it threatens to split the oceans in two., leading to Aquaman teleporting the pair to an uninhabited aliens ocean world. Using all of his power, Arthur freezes the ocean water of space and launches them at Poseidon as razor sharp shards, leading to Poseidon surrendering and deciding to remain on this world. He warns that Earth is no longer safe, even for a god; a possible reference to Darkseid’s ultimate return. In the end, the Justice League realize that Arthur has power now that rivals the strongest in the universe..

THE FLASH #36 by Ryan North and Gavin Guidry. Wally, thrilled about his new ability to save people before tragedy happens, decides to go to Metropolis to do there what he had already done in Central City and Keystone City. He encounters Jon Kent and takes him on a journey where he continues to stop tragic events before they occur. While impressed by it, Jon admits that his father needs to weigh in on it before he can give Wally the green light here. Wally then decides to go to Star City, but Green Arrow shuts him down, calling him a fascist in the process. This leads to Ollie calling an emergency session of the Justice League to discuss his concerns.

THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #5 by Jeff Lemire and Rafael De Latorre.  The Firestorm Matrix has built a huge, crystal fortress in the center of Pittsburgh. Outside the structure, Professor Stein tells Firehawk he has built a machine that could possibly be able to extract Ronnie, but they need to get inside the structure first. Unbeknownst to them, Ronnie is trapped in his fantasy of when he was invited to join the Justice League, which is preventing him from fighting back against the Matrix’ control. Firehawk enters the Matrix but it is fighting back as she tries to get close enough to use Professor Stein’s device. Ronnie begins to fight back, reuniting with Firehawk, and that is when Stein sabotages his machine, as his plan all along was to separate Ronnie and take the Firestorm Matrix for himself.

GOTHAM ACADEMY: FIRST YEAR #6 by Brendan Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl, and Marco Ferrari.  On what should be a quiet September day on the campus of Gotham Academy, Olive has suddenly disappeared without a trace. In response, after meeting her new roommate and the girl who is currently in Olive’s room, Maps gathers her detective gear and tries to recruit her brother Kyle to help her search the catacombs; especially after observing Scarecrow seemingly menacing the new girl, who mumbles that Olive is at Professor MacPherson’s. Menaced by The Scarecrow, revealed to be Crane, Kyle rescues his sister. Olive, finally released from the infirmary, reunites with Maps. As Crane is detained by the police, he reveals that her mother and the other patients are being held in a secret hospital.

GREEN LANTERN #38 by Jeremy Adams, Syzmon Kudranski, and Xermanico. With Major Force’s arrival, Kyle and Odyssey immediately attack, while Jade explains the Force is on the heroes’ side due to the Amnesty Program offered to the supervillains, revealing that he has been working with S.H.A.D.E..  Elsewhere, a group of fast food owners have hired the Condiment King to protect them from Big Belly Burger’s group of thugs. At a BBB grand opening, F.E.A.S.T. gets involved, causing complete chaos. As Kyle and Odyssey arrive on the scene. Meanwhile, Hal and company find themselves pursued by a giant space shark across a hyperspatial passageway. As Tobi maneuvers the ship towards one of the blue lights in the passageway, he opens the airlock , exposes his ring to the light, recharges his ring and creates a dolphin construct to drive the shark away. In the end, the Guardians, in an effort to protect their ancient secrets,  create a directive to stop Hal by any means necessary

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #19 by Morgan Hampton and Fernando Pasarin. The Manhunters, led by a sentient Aya, launches a full-scale attack on Oa. The projected version of Aya teams up with Guy, who creates a construct made from all the Emotional Entities that allows them to slice through Aya’s forces and also creates a new version of the White Lanterns, known as the Chrome Lantern Corps, led by Jessica Cruz. With John, Simon, Jo, Keli, Saint Walker and Soranik joining her, they collectively end the war. In the end, an uncorrupted Aya joins the ranks of the Green Lantern Corps and the Emotional Entities become the Alpha Guardians.

 

DC UNIVERSE Month 102, Part 2

HARLEY QUINN #64 by Elliott Kalan and Carlos Olivares. Batquinn is being hunted by the Harley Quinn Revenge Squad and is forced to fight Amenity, Forehand/Backhand, Colonel Blimp, Penny Plunderer, SUPR, and Super-Hunter. She is also looking for Mrs. Grimaldi, who she believes has been kidnapped. Forehand/Backhand take her to meet the “big boss” and there they find Mrs. Grimaldi. But she is not the boss; that would be Harleen who says she had to turn bad to save Harley from herself.

JSA #21 by Jeff Lemire and Diego Olortegui. Metron takes Doctor Fate, Stargirl, Kid Eternity and Jakeem to the Dawn of All Things, where they see Lucifer Morningstar attempt to have a rebellion against God. Lucifer became the Prince of Hell while Aztar was a demon lord. When Aztar went back to Heaven, God made him The Spectre: the dealer of Divine Wrath. Over the centuries, The Spectre acted with vengeance and eventually ended up with Jim Corrigan to be Aztar’s chosen host. Recently, Darkseid tried to be combined with The Spectre but Corrigan and The Spectre refused, but The Spectre was ripped from Corrigan’s body, allowing it to try and find a new host.. Meanwhile, Jade unites with her father to try and dispel The Spectre from Obsidian’s form, with Jade begging to take The Spectre into herself to save her father.Alan begs his daughter to allow him to become The Spectre, but the spirit departs and makes its’ new home in Yolanda Montez. Metron sends the Society members away to find Corrigan, sending them to Gotham in the 1940’s.

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #21 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. The Brainiac Queen has escaped into the Internet and the League is trying to find her. The Queen is looking for Waller but they have no idea where she is after Dreamer had released her from imprisonment. When Red Tornado admits that he knows Waller’s location and knows the Queen will come after him, which she does by infecting the League’s mainframe. As Red Tornado resists, Atom shrinks her and traps her inside a Faraday cage. Tornado reveals he does not know Waller’s location and simply used that as bait for the Queen. Meanwhile, on the planet Dronnda, Terrific’s team is defending itself against the reptilian population and they discover the alien captain and crew were escaping from Despero. Hawkgirl believes they have a numbers advantage but the rest of the team is suddenly vaporized by a blast from Despero’s third eye. Back on the Watchtower, Batman confronts Lex about his actions and the two share a vision about a man, covered in a muck from a swamp, walking through the streets of Gotham: a man who will eventually be revealed as Prometheus. Continued in JUSTICE LEAGUE: KNIGHT VISION SPECIAL #1.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: KNIGHT VISION SPECIAL #1 by Mark Waid, Joshua Williamson, and Miguel Mendonca. Batman and Lex Luthor team up in Slaughter Swamp fighting a group of gunrunners when a displaced crooked house appears; the home of Prometheus. They encounter more gunrunners who have been horribly corrupted by the alien tech in Prometheus’s home. Lex wants to kill them and Batman explains they need to be dispatched but not killed. The pair drop through a trap door and find themselves encountering multiple implanted visions until Batman takes out the projector, where they find more alien tech. Prometheus battles them, with his natural abilities merging with those of the Justice League. To adapt, Batman and Lex change their tactics long enough to remove his helmet, revealing he too has been corrupted by alien tech. The duo race out, carrying the gunrunners, before the house folds up and disappears. In the end, Lex recognizes the tech as coming from Apokolips.

LOBO #5 by Skottie Young and Jorge Corona. Mr. Kzzt has put out a bounty on Lobo. Lobo gets a visit from someone named Lip Bomb and it looks as though they will have some intimate time together when she turns out to be an assassin, leading to Lobo being shot at until he can take her out. Then The Johnnies arrive and they are also poised to kill Lobo and, despite being shot up by them, he defeats them. Next up is Murder Mouth and Fisty Claws, who he viciously defeats before paying Kzzt a visit. Kzzt offers him a lot of money to take out the dental vendor who has raised their prices. Who is the dental vendor? The Tooth Fairy, of course!

NEW TITANS #37 by Tate Brombal and Marcus To. Neibros has a baby given to him as tribute and calls upon the citizens of Happy Harbor to face off against the Titans. Meanwhile, Cyborg and Tara are facing off against Draggo, with Cyborg using his powers to force the creature to flee. Nightwing is able to grab Draggo as it heads towards Neibros and the Titans. Eva manages to snatch the baby from Neibros allowing the Titans to detain him until Red Devil can send him back to the Sixth Circle of Hell. In the aftermath, Titans Tower has been smashed and Tara uses her power to rebuild it. In the end, Virgil Hawkin’s long suffering girlfriend breaks up with him, just as Jon Kent arrives, offering him a spot in the Titans.

NIGHTWING #140 by Dan Watters and Denis Cowan. Nightwing is making his way through the seedy underworld, looking for Cannibal Colm. He eventually tracks him down and is told that Colm used to drive for Roland Desmond until he got killed and now drives for the Mayor. Colm reveals a meeting between the Mayor and Charles Halstead, who revealed he was once the Psycho Pirate: a role now attributed to Roger Hayden. The men designed the super highway to purposely make life worse for everyone who lives in Bludhaven. Colm executed Halstead. Nightwing tells him to come with him and testify but the police burst in and kill Colm. They attempt to execute Nightwing but fail.

POISON IVY #46 by G. Willow Wilson and Leandro Fernandez. Juhi and Janet are walking down the street, discusses Ivy’s current state of mind, when they spy the police beating up a boy for loitering. Janet declares her anger to them and one of them strikes her. When they discover Janet works for Ivy’s administration, the police leave and leave the boy, who it is revealed was the person who shot the assassination video, with Juhi and Janet. Hearing a noise that turns out to be a cast, Juhi summons her Familiar. Catwoman arrives and berates both women, saying they work in Ivy’s office and should keep her on a leash. The boy heads back home and soon the women cross paths with Great White Shark, who says that the women are going to mess up his “gig”, causing Janet to kick him in the groin and they run, Later, Juhi says she was responsible for the Shakespeare quotes appearing on the walls. As she starts to explain, a building explodes from a gas leak, leaving Janet more determined than ever to get Harley involved.

SUPERGIRL #15 by Sophie Campbell. Supergirl and Lesla battle The Black Flame. Connor arrives and lends a hand as does Thundergirl who turns her allegiance away from The Black Flame. The Black Flame gets powered up by direct sunlight; unaware that her exposure, thanks to her yellow ring, is overloading her cells, weakening her but raining her to the point of near death. Supergirl takes the ring away and Zora is brought back to Kandor proper, where Surpergirl insists that Zora and the Council should stand trial. Lesla stands up to her father, saying Zora does not belong in the Phantom Zone and how they should all work together to rebuild Kandor. Kara gives Lesla the yellow ring, saying that Kandor needs someone to light the way as Luminary. Back home in the Fortress, Kara decides to put together her Super Force: Lena, Luna, Nightflame, Princess Shark, Thundergirl, and herself.

SUPERMAN #40 by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora. A resurrected Manchester Black works to torture Prime mentally but Prime manages to take their fight into Asteroid Comics. As the latest issue of SUPERMAN falls off the shelf, Prime and Black emerge. Black wants to steal Prime’s knowledge of the world and Prime opens his mind to him, overloading Black’s mind and putting him into a catatonic state where he is then sent to the Phantom Zone. Mister Terrific is concerned that Prime relinquished the secrets. At Asteroid Comics, Prime apologizes for his lies while his boss promises to protect his secret. He apologizes to Rebecca and promises to stay in touch with her. Supergirl arrives, requesting him for a special mission. Later, he finds himself in a brawl with Connor.

SUPERMAN ANNUAL: YEAR ONE THOUSAND #1 by Joshua Williamson and Eddy Barrows. After winning the King Omega Tournament, Superman has repaired the reality damage but senses trouble and enters the Timestream, eventually landing on Hourman’s Timeship. Hourman tells Superman that the distant figure in the midst of the Timestorm, revealed to be the Infinite Man, is causing the chaos and feeding on it. Superman uses the Alpha Energy to undo the damage in time and he gets pulled through multiple possible futures eventually ending up in the 31^st Century ruins of Metropolis. Noticing a small settlement of houses, he sees Saturn Girl carrying two small children, who explains that she does not want to fight and things have changed. Lightning Lad comes out of the house and explains they have been forced to hide from their enemies and their former master and have been forced to hide for years. Cosmic Boy arrives and shows him the monument to the dead Legionnaires. Superman tells them that, to fix the timestream, he needs to send them back to their original universe. Infinite Man arrives and he is here because this is the last version of the Legion that he can kill while also saying he is becoming the new Time Trapper. Superman blasts him and restores all versions of the Legion along with their timelines, but losing his cosmic power in the process. Powerless and floating in the Timestream, he is being pulled towards the End of Time until he is pulled to safety by his younger self as seen in ACTION COMICS #1100.

SUPERMAN UNLIMITED #15 by Dan Slott and Lucas Meyer. Ultraboy continues his attack on Tomorrow Man and Steel while the mutated Kryptonite crystals continue growing and it looks like it might consume Smallville. Because of exposure to the Kryptonite, Lana has mutated and now has the power to absorb Kryptonite radiation. At the Kent farm, Lois wakes Krypto and powers up the Supermobile, with the two of them protecting the people of Smallville while the Kents sound an alarm to have their neighbors head to their storm cellars. Batman and Robin arrive, with Robin equipped with Blue Kryptonite weapons. He then attacks Ultraboy, revealing he is from Universe-3 and is Ultraman’s son. Batman starts spreading a chemical that will turn Green Kryptonite into Blue, negating its effects. Tomorrow man convinces Ultraboy to save the people of Smallville, resulting in Ultraboy gathering up all the Kryptonite crystals and throwing them into space. As Tomorrow Man unmasks, although both Batman and Lois knew who he was, Txyz arrives, giving Jon a choice: save himself in the past or let Ultraboy stay here. He decides to save Ultraboy. Txyz opens a portal and Superwoman arrives, forcibly dragging Ultraboy away with her back to Universe-3. In the end, Batman agrees to help John Henry find a cure for Lana’s condition while Robin plans to investigate if those Kryptonite samples had been weaponized.

WONDER WOMAN #35 by Stephanie Williams and Clayton Henry. Twenty years from now, Wonder Woman has committed suicide and now the Fates have provided a boat for them to traverse the River Acheron. Along the way, Steve tells the story of how he and Diana met. A long time ago, Diana would spend her free time to stare into the Magic Sphere and see what the outside world looked like. Hippolyta tells her that she is wasting her time and tells of her time with the Justice Society but, because of their apprehension and suspicion, she left man’s world to head back to Themyscira. When Steve’s plane crashed on the shores, the Amazons tend to his wounds and, once he gained Hippolyta’s trust, she decided it was time to send their greatest champion to the outside world to protect Themyscira. Despite forbidding Diana to compete in the tournament, Diana donned a mask and entered the tournament. Steve ends the story there, frustrating Lizzie.

ZATANNA #4 by Jamal Campbell. Zatanna has been dispatched to Zehuti’s home to find out how she became Prime Magus. She creates shadow constructs representing the personalities of the mages. Hecate is the first Prime Magus who spread out pieces of herself when the universe was still young, creating Homo Magi during the Age of Creation. Next shade is the Upside-Down-Man: the second Prime Magus, who was responsible for the Age of Horror. The third shade, Zehuti, explains he brought order to the nature of magic in the Age of Wisdom. She is then called to a fairy-populated forest in the Sea of Dreams as the fairies of the four seasons believe each other to be responsible for the destructions of their gardens but Zatanna helps them restore their forest. She saves a huntress from demonic beasts before going off to stop an edification device from destroying a magical academy in the Sea of Dreams. Returning to Zehuti and tells of her exploits. She heads to Turkey, taking Allura to the hidden city of Homo Magi, only to find it immersed in flames.