DC's NEW 52: Month #12, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #12: Superman struggles with dreams of what were and would could be while Lois is critically injured and dying. Susie tries to save her aunt and battles with Adam, who we learn is the Blake Farm Ghost. In reality, he is a strange visitor from another planet who is trying to save the Earth by destroying it. During the battle, Johnny Clark is vaporized. After being defeated, his spaceship takes him home and Superman must learn to be a doctor to save Lois’ life, which he does. Batman presents Superman with a flash drive that shows “Clark” that he is worth being around for. And Clark’s landlady, is really from somewhere unknown to us (possibly the 5^th Dimension) and her name is N4XLYGSPTLNZ. And who is lurking in Susie’s room?

I have not been one of Grant Morrison’s greatest fans on this run and now that he has confirmed that he will be leaving after issue #16, it seems like he has lost steam in his writing. And how will he wrap up his storylines in four issues? So we have resurrected Captain Comet in the form of the Blake Farm Ghost and he’s an alien who is going to save Earth by destroying it. Then we get rid of Johnny Clark, which was a dumb name, almost as quickly as he is introduced. And this time around, it takes Rags Morales, Cafu and Brad Walker to handle the art chores. What did I like? I liked the landlady saying how much she was upset about her “dear sweet Mxyzptlk” being hurt. Yeah…he’s in the NEW 52. 

ALL STAR WESTERN #12: Arkham and Hex are still being tortured by the Religion of Crime’s Steam Powered Death Machine. Hex tells the followers of Cain that he has convinced Alan Wayne to do whatever it takes to do away with the Religion of Crime. It’s up to Tallulah Black, who has already escaped, to free the pair. Lorna Kyle and Stephan Kaoss, the Lords of Thieves and Terror respectively, begin searching the house along with some police officers. But Tallulah is like a woman possessed, beheading Kaoss and taking out everyone but Kyle, who battles back. But Black ends up blinding Kyle by putting out her eyes with her thumbs and killing her, just as Wayne arrives. Arkham can no longer stand the pain and lashes out verbally at his captors. They decide to do away with the [air just as Tallulah arrives, shooting off the fingers of the torturer. In short order, the three surviving followers are arresting and hang for their crimes. Hex decides to leave town while Arkham is going to have a hospital built, funded by Wayne. That’s when Reginald Forsythe arrives asking for Arkham and Hexs to go to work for a Scottish doctor named Jekyll. In the back-up, Doctor Thirteen solves the mystery of the highwayman. The Doctor and Detective Foster track down Professor Jonathan Rood. During a struggle, Foster gets killed as does Rood’s wheelchair ridden wife. At the gallows, Rood puts a curse on Thirteen and all of his offspring until the end of time. 

What we have here is a neat little ending to this storyline by the always dependable team of Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Moritat. It’s violent and sexy at the same time and will we see Arkham, Black and Hex getting involved with Dr. Jekyll? Very cool! The back-up was short and sweet and just manages to serve as an introduction to a future appearance by Terry Thirteen.

ANIMAL MAN #12:  The Prologue to ROTWORLD begins here. The Baker family is in Louisiana and Cliff is very ill. So Ellen’s mom stays behind to care for Cliff, who up and disappears on her saying that “Rotworld is coming”. Meanwhile Buddy and the rest of the family go in search of Swamp Thing. Once they all hook up, Maxine has a vision of what the end of the world will be like. Buddy and Swamp Thing dive into the swamp to face The Rot. And that means that The Rot is coming out to battle Abby and the Bakers. Let the war begin.
So here we have the beginning of the sixteen part story that runs through multiple issues of ANIMAL MAN, SWAMP THING and even FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. Jeff Lemire and Scott Snyder continue to make this book totally creepy. Suffice it to say, with the exception of THE WALKING DEAD and one or two Avatar titles, it is probably the goriest book on the market. Buy it! 

AQUAMAN#12:  Mera, while searching through Dr. Shin’s stuff, answers a phone call from The Operative asking her to meet with The Others. Meanwhile, at the tomb of the Dead King, Manta orders his soldiers to kill Shin, but Aquaman interrupts. Manta and Aquaman battle, with Manta making use of the Dead King’s scepter and pinning Aquaman down. But The Others arrive to land against, against Aquaman’s wishes. Ya'Wara attacks Shin, but Vostok stops her. Manta attempts a sneak attack on Aquaman but Vostok takes the hit for him and dies, even as manta and his gang escapes. Aquaman swears vengeance on Manta. 

Under Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis creative template, the once lowly King of the Seas has risen to heights that harkens back to…well, almost never! There have been classic stories in his past but nothing with as much intrigue or action as this. Black Manta has always been THE Aquaman villain of record. After all, he was responsible for the death of his son in the old DCU. But Johns take this time around far surpasses where he has been before. And just what is the whole story of The Others? We are twelve issues into this series and still fishing for answers…pun intended!

BATGIRL #12: Batgirl and Detective McKenna discuss McKenna’s connection to Knightfall when Batwoman bursts in, leading to the obligatory fight. It seems DEO has intel on McKenna and McKenna insists she’s innocent. But she does get a call from Knightfall, ordering Batgirl to show up alone or else she will kill Ricky. Batgirl goes to the meet, is told Ricky has been killed and a battle ensues. Actually, Ricky is still alive and locked up with another prisoner. The next thing you know, Batgirl gets a knife in the ribs from Knightfall. Oh…did I regret to mention that Batgirl’s brother is in working with Knightfall. Yeah: we need another psycho on the loose.

This story is getting boring. Let’s finish it, have an epic confrontation between brother and sister and move on. That is all. Just not feeling this story any longer.

BATMAN #12: This issue is all about Harper Row and her brother. He constantly finds himself getting beat up by homophobic punks and she is constantly siding with him. He gets the homosexual version of the N word shaven into his head and she follows suit. Harper Row is an electronics expert who becomes obsessed with Batman and ends up helping him, whether he wants the help or not. You may not know it, but you have already met Harper Row. She is the girl who used jumper cables to bring Batman back to life in BATMAN #7.

Scott Snyder, James Tynian IV, Becky Cloonan and Andy Clarke give an origin story to someone who obviously, for better or worse, will become a part of the batman pantheon. With Oracle gone in this Universe, its obvious Batman could use someone with the electronics skill to assist him. Meet the new Oracle. That’s only a guess, but I think she fits the bill.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #12: Batman and Robin battle Terminus in the streets of Gotham. As you may recall, he is terminal and wants to take out the Dynamic Duo before he dies. So batman dons a metal suit to battle Terminus in his metal suit. Finally defeated, with the help of the rest of the “former sidekicks” Bat Family, Terminus launches a missile bearing a weapons grade toxin on it. Batman overrides it and the warhead splashes down as Terminus goes to his grave without succeeding. And the War of the Once and Current Robins comes to an end.
Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason continue to surprise and excite. And major points to Gleason who has illustrated 11 out of 12 issues. Find another DC book with that track record, since most of them seem to have a lot of fill-in work. I do really love this book! 

BATMAN INCORPORATED #3: Leviathan has infiltrated Gotham with their people  At a bar called Three Eyed Jack's, a former Grimm Brother member meets with "Matches" Malone, who wants to meet with Leviathan. Malone lends some help to singer Lumina Lux, who is being harassed by some thugs. He hits on her and then Batman threatens to hit him. As we know, Malone is really Batman which means Batman is Nightwing. Back to the Batcave, Damian is still  upset he had to fake his own death. Alfred confirms that Bat-Cow had a hormone which would have fed a mind-control drug to customers who ate it’s beef. And it’s all based on Professor Pyg’s work. Later that night, “Matches” has a meeting with Goatboy. He then gets a call from Lux, who is at the Grimm Brothers’ wake. He crashes the wake and is apprehe3nded by Goatboy, who is being inducted into the League of Assassins. Malone will be his second sacrifice, as the former Grimm member from the beginning. His first  is to choose three people to be killed by Leviathan as "goats", on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fry was the first. Matches Malone will be the second, as the former Grimm member from the beginning was the first. That is when the newest hero arrives. Damian is now the Dark Squire known as Redbird.

This book is so much fun. Once comic fans figure how this will fit into NEW 52 continuity it will be that much better. I love Grant Morrison’s quirky writing. The whole Bat-Cow bit is just great and, as is known with Morrison, his dialogue it so perfect! And I have been a huge fan of Chris Burnham’s art for some time. This may be his finest work to date.

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #12:  It’s the final battle (maybe) between Scarecrow and Batman, filled with flashbacks of both hero and villain. It seems that Bruce’s will power is stronger than Fear Gas.

To fully tell a plot in this issue would be fruitless. It truly is a series of pieces showing the intersecting lives of Jonathan Crane and Bruce Wayne. And it is a beautiful, simple story by Gregg Hurwitz and David Finch. This may actually be the best single issue of the series so far.

BATWOMAN #12: With Maro in another dimension, Batwoman teams up with Kyle Abbott (now HERE’S A CHARACTER most folks forgot about!) to find her and her associates. They are currently on the trail of Bloody Mary and we get her back story. She got married at 13 and, because of her husband’s indiscretions, she began slaying other women.  She was lynched and now is an Urban Legend. But she is real, appearing out of a mirror. Batwoman defeats her and we discover that Medusa is the Queen of Monsters and cannot be defeated by a mere mortal. That would mean a certain Amazon, who has already been looking for Medusa. That leads to a bit of a fight between Maggie  Sawyer and Kate as she suffers from Superman Syndrome by always disappearing and not having any answers.  So Maggie throws her out until she can give her the answer. Meanwhile, Bette is living with Jake and her Aunt Cathy. And she wants Jake to fully train her as he trained Kate. 

The good news about this issue is that J.H. Williams III is BACK as the artist. So, couple that with a great script by Williams and W. Haden Blackman and we have a truly amazing issue. But now we learn that Medusa is really MEDUSA? Okay, so now our heroine crosses into the world of Gods and Goddesses. AWESOME!

BIRDS OF PREY #12: Well, the shot last issue was a dart that injects the head of the company with the same toxin that’s in the rest of the Birds. Canary feels totally betrayed as Ivy’s actions are one step above murder. They steal a jet from the company and head to destroy an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. But many employees are trapped inside and Ivy forces Starling to overload the drill, causing it to explode. Canary uses her cry to open a wall and rescue the workers. Back at Ivy’s base, Katana buries her sword into Ivy, dooming the team and the human race. As I like to say: this can’t be good!

Once again, we have another artist on this title in the form of Cliff Richards whose work is much better than his predecessor last issue. Duane Swierczynski continues to turn this team in all sorts of directions and you know it won’t be long before this team splinters in various directions. Maybe we will even get the story regarding Black Canary’s late husband. My only complaint is this eco-terrorism story is getting long and needs to wrap soon.

CATWOMAN #12: Last issue, we saw a group of street kids, prostitutes and Detective Alvarez get kidnapped by the mysterious Dollhouse. Catwoman has Spark replace the Bat-Signal with a Cat-Signal. We find out that Dollhouse is Matilda Mathis, daughter of the legendary Dollmaker. Catwoman and Dollhouse get into a tussle but it takes Batman to truly save the day. Dollhouse and Catwoman get away in all of this, but Batman manages to rescue Alvarez and the kids. Later Spark responds to a message from Catwoman but finds himself on the wrong end of Gwen Altamont’s gun. She has discovered that Spark is tied to corrupt policemen. As he begs for his life, Gwen shoots him through the head. Then she calls Penguin and thanks him for the tip-off. He reminds her that that tip-off comes at a price.

Thus ends the first year in the life of Gotham’s greatest criminal vigilante. It has been an roller coaster ride with some really great issues and some no so great work. This run by Judd Winick has been a fun one and I am curious to see where Ann Nocenti will take the book when she steps in starting with issue #0. The good news is that Adriana Melo has done a good job of aping Guillen Marsh’ style and she apparently is staying on for the near future. My only fear is that I was not a fan at all of Nocenti’s GREEN ARROW, so I hope I don’t have the same vibe with her turn.

DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #12: Three transformed lizard kids, who stowed away when the Teen Titans left Mystery island, end up in New York Dac (a Pterodactyl girl), Steg (a Stegosaurus boy who Dac loves) and Teryx(a hooded lizard who loves Dac) tangle with Kid Flash. It seems that Steg wants to use mutagenic mists and turn the human race into 'dinosoids'. When it all comes to an ending, Steg and Dac team up and

flee to cause further havoc  down the road. Meanwhile, Teryx hopes to be allies with Kid Flash someday. I smell a new Teen Titan coming!

Except for the fact that Fabian Nicieza writes some great dialogue, I have nothing positive to say about this issue. The story was long and boring and angst filled, Jorge Jimenez’ art left me yawning and I really hated spending three bucks on this. Oh…here’s another spoiler for you. If you want to finish the story, you need to read TEEN TITANS #12, as the epilogue to this little romp is a back-up tale there.

DEATHSTROKE #12:  Deathstroke and the Omegas battle Lobo. Deathstroke eventually blows Lobo up with his own spacecraft. Meanwhile, Zealot discovers that Primus is responsible for releasing Lobo so he could take them to the place where he kept their Omega’s parents. Yeah…he’s in a world of it. As an epilogue of sorts: The Last Czarnian really isn’t. And Deathstroke and Zealot swap spit!

I figure I’ll read issue #0 to see how badly Rob can screw up Deathstroke’s origin story and then I’m out of here. Liefeld has left the three titles he was working and engaged in a huge Twitter rampage. He apparently wanted to be in it for the long haul, reintroducing Wildstorm characters and exploring Nth Metal. Well Rob, if you do decide to make nice and come back: explore it without me.

DEMON KNIGHTS #12: The team explores the mysterious tower and discovers that the round table has been desecrated. Among those slain is one of the Ladies of the Lake. Morgaine LeFay finds a way to knock them all out, bind them to a pentagram and prepare to transfer her ancient soul into (not so) Merlin’s dead body. Etrigan finds a way to get free by constantly changing form. Just as she is about to enter Merlin,  Xanadu interrupts and it looks like she is going to meet her doom when Arthur steps in front and now is possessed by Morgaine LeFay. He sacrifices himself for the good of all. The tower collapses and the team try to return to Avalon but LeFay has hidden the access point. So Etrigan loses it and attacks them all. 


I am losing patience with this series as now we have defeated Morgaine LeFay and we have an insane Etrigan. Oh yeah: Arthur dies and names The Shining Knight the Once and Future Knight of Camelot. Paul Cornell is writing a great deal into the characters but the plot is making me sleepy. But I do love the art of Diogenes Neves. Next month is the #0 issue, where we learn how Etrigan and Jason Blood became one.

DETECTIVE COMICS #12: Batman goes to the Batcave to try to neutralize the radioactive stuff he got covered in at the end of last issue. He discovers that fire causes the thing consume the flames and destroy itself. Back at Dunhill Laboratories, Mister Toxic appears and orders Professor Manhart to help put him in a particle collider. Marder has gone insane and has been using the particle accelerator to clone himself. He and Toxic enter the collider together just as Batman crashes through the roof, warning him to stop. The creeping thing that attack Batman now absorbs Toxic and Marder. Batman throws in a grenade which neutralizes the organism.  Batman remarks that he hopes not to regret having saved the man's life. In the back-up story, Bullock plays a trick on a rookie cop guarding the Joker’s face. Outside, the Joker decides he’s ready to put on a happy face.

Well, I can say that I’m glad to see the lead story end as I found it boring and thought Mister Toxic was a pretty cool looking but lame character. And the back-up story? All it proves is that Bullock is good at pulling a prank and The Joker is coming back. All in all, this was a waste of four bucks.

DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL #1: It looks like Roman Sionis, otherwise known as Black Mask, escaped Arkham Asylum during the Court of the Owls incident and Jeremiah Arkham never knew it. The False Face Society, disbanded when Sionis entered Arkahm, is actually up and running and The Dark Knight is trying to defeat them and tie them to Sionis. The False Face Society is the subject of mind control, which certainly points at Black Mask. It becomes an all out battle for supremacy between Black Mask and Jervis Tetch: The Mad Hatter. The villains get defeated because the actual Black Mask that Sionis wears gets cracked and bathes everyone in a white light. The mask ends up in police custody and Batman has no memory of what has happened since he was exposed to the light. 

Tony S. Daniel and a host of artists including Romano Molenaar, Sandu Florea and Pere Perez handle this issue which raises more questions than it answers. It was nice to see Black Mask back and with The Mad Hatter, Tweedledee and Tweedledum popping in, it felt like a comfy old Batman comic. It just took WAY TOO LONG to get to a conclusion. This could have become a two issue arc in DETECTIVE COMICS as opposed to an Annual story. I always thought of Annuals as a once a year special. This wasn’t that special.

DIAL H #4: X. N. has managed to bring an Abyss to our planet and that is a very bad thing.  X. N. is recognized by our hero as Doctor Waldo and she has Squid kill Nelson. She and Squid kidnap Manteau, torturing her to learn more about Manteau’s H Dial. . Squid hasn’t killed Nelson and our hero tries to get his dial to work but it is totally broken. So he breaks into Manteau’s home (actually, he finds the spare key) to try to find a way to fix it. What he finds is Squid, who has had a hole blown through him by an angry X. N. Squid, asking for help, now becomes part of a team with Nelson. They rescue Manteau, who is an old woman without her mask. they come face to face with X. N. who has used the dial, become a hero(of sorts) and is working with the Abyss.

This is still one of the strangest books in the NEW 52 Universe. China Mieville  and Mateus Santolouco blows the doors off each issue and the book reeks of strange. Brian Bolland’s covers are rocking too, And then you throw in the heroes that come from the dial. This is a great, silly and strange book. Buy it!

EARTH 2 #4: We flash back five years ago to an incident in new Guinea where members of the World Army find a naked man who was in the center of a nuclear blast. This is Al Platt, now a Captain in the World Army, who is preparing to join in the battle in Washington, D.C. where Grundy is trashing the place. Hawkgirl and The Flash leave Poland, where the rot has taken control and head to Washington to engage the self proclaimed “Grey Man”. He desperately needs to battle “The Green Knight” and so gets his wish in the form of Green Lantern. And then The Atom arrives, squashing Grundy and capturing Hawkgirl. It’s apparent they have a previous relationship and he is taking her into custody, per order of the World Army Council.

What is going on here? Grundy is connected somehow to The Rot (the same rot as is now affecting OUR Earth?) and is obviously not the Grundy we all know and love. The Flash and Hawkgirl are trying their best to fight the good fight but Al Pratt comes along to break up the party and take her into custody, where it seems she may have been before. So is The Atom a good hero or a bad hero? Once again, James Robinson and Nicola Scott show their love for the characters while still managing to update their legend. This is great stuff!

FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. #12: Frankenstein decides to free all the inhabitants of Leviathan and, in the process, confronts Agent Mycroft who has been living in Untropolis. Mycroft can see into the future and sees that Nina dies. He slays Mycroft and fights his way out. In the end, he discovers that Khalis has saved Nina and she no longer needs her helmet. And he is creating an army from the residents of Untropolis and they are to fight the batlle against Victor Frankenstein and The Rot.

Harvey nominated Matt Kindt continues his run with Alberto Ponticelli and it continues to get confusing. Now we have Victor Frankenstein resurrected and leading The Rot. So the book crosses over into ANIMAL MAN and SWAMP THING and adds famously to what has the potential to be a legendary tale.

GREEN LANTERN #12:  Sinestro and Hal find themselves trapped at William Hand’s bizarre dinner party with his dead family and realize the dead are coming and there is only one way to stop them: two different color rings. So Sinestro creates a Yellow Power battery and destroys it, which wipes out the undead. Meanwhile, the Guardians continue their plan to discredit and destroy the Green Lantern Corps. And if all that wasn’t enough, the Book of the Black lanterns has rewritten itself and says that Hal Jordan will be the greatest Black lantern.

Geoff Johns turns the plot up a big notch as it looks like Sinestro has the potential to be the one true Green Lantern and Hal…Black Lantern? Not like he was a bad guy when he was Parallax. Unfortunately we get a fill in art job from Renato Guedes. It’s a good looking job…he’s not Doug Mahnke, but there are worse artists on the market.

GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #1: Hal Jordan and Sinestro get buried alive by Black Hand but manage to dig their way out and battle back. Meanwhile, the Guardians end up in the Chamber of Shadows, slay many of the residents there and release The First Lantern from his prison. Then they team-up with Black Hand to kill Hal and Sinestro and the birth of the Third Army begins. In the back-up, we get more information on the birth of the Third Army.

This is the beginning of the big story running throughout all of the Lantern themed books for the next four months. Who will be the new Green Lantern of Earth? Will the Guardians’ plot succeed in bringing an end to the Green Lantern Corps?  Geoff Johns tells the tale, Ethan Van Sciver illustrates it and a;ll of comicdom wonders how this will all play out. Certainly, this becomes a key book in the Green Lantern history.

I, VAMPIRE #12: Stormwatch arrives as Andrew Bennett, Mary, Tig, and John battle the zombified Van Helsings. Unfortunately the vampires who kill the zombies become zombie vampires who want to kill vampires. Apollo decides it is best for Stormwatch to just kill everyone. After trying to kill Andrew and realizing the “Lost Boys” rules don’t apply, Apollo joins forces with Bennett. Tig gets bitten by a zombie vampire and gets turned. Jack Hawksmoor reminds Bennett that he is the Demon's Lock and he can suck up all the dark magic in the area. Doing so, he returns all to their human selves, including Mary. Tig awakes cured and goes to help Bennett, who bites her and tunrs her into the firtst of his new vampire army.

And thus ends the first year and first major story arc of this masterful series. Joshua Hale Fialkov and Andrea Sorrentino continue to craft a mostly min-numbing series which truly takes the vampire legend and turns it into a whole new direction. If you had told me a year ago I would still be reading this title a year later and I would have told you that you would have been crazy. I seriously expected this to be another vampire rehash and be done with it. Of course, I also thought I would be still reading BLACKHAWK: a title that crashed and burned as part of this first series of cuts.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #12: The League struggles with the false images Graves has created, all but Hal who fights through it. Steve Trevor, who we all thought was dead, shows up and shoot Graves, which frees the others. They defeat Graves and discover that the disease that affects Graves and killed his family had to do with ashes from Darkseid's Omega beams. Collectively they debate if they are to blame or are actually helping the world. They have a huge discussion on whether or not they're at fault for it and if they're doing enough to protect people. Among the discussion, Green Lantern decides to leave the group, allowing them to make him the scapegoat. Meanwhile, Superman and Wonder Woman end up kissing. In Belle Reeve, Amanda Waller shows up with a typewriter and has Graves write his next book. Then we get teasers for the upcoming year. Cheetah.  Aquaman and Atlantis invading. Superman battling Shazam (or is it Captain Marvel?). Cyborg telling Batman that a new member is a traitor (is it Captain Marvel?). Pandora gives her box to a mystery figure. Superman wailing on Batman. And finally, the team splits and forms…THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA.

Yes…there is a new Justice League title coming by Geoff Johns and David Finch and it appears to feature a very diverse cast: Vibe, Catwoman, Steve Trevor, Martian Manhunter, Stargirl, Katana, Hawkman, Green Arrow, and the new Green Lantern (see the GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #1 for info regarding that). But enough about that: this issue is all about THE KISS. Is this the start of something big? It has been said that Clark and Lois don’t hook up in this universe. If that’s so, is this the moment that an Olympian and a Kryptonian start a relationship? Can this lead to a New God?  And does Booster Gold disappear from the timeline if their relationship continues? See the next 12 months for those answers.