Even more first issues reviewed!

ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 by Charles Soule and Jim Cheung. Another X book from good old Marvel. This team features Angel, Bishop, Fantomex, Rogue, Mystique, Gambit, Psylocke and Old Man Logan. Looks great and the fact that we get The Shadow King’s realm and…is that Professor X? It’s a fun story and I think I’m in for a bit…right now it’s my second favorite X-book behind X-MEN BLUE.

BETTIE PAGE # 1 by David Avallone and Colton Worley. I’m sorry: I’m a sucker for anything with Bettie’s name on it, as I was there when the public interest began in the 1980s thanks to the late Dave Stevens. It’s Bettie as model turned detective and it’s a ton of fun. Worley’s art is nice and you need to dive into the 20 different covers from folks as diverse as Joseph Michael Linsner, Terry Didson, Jim Balent and Greg Hilderbrandt. I don’t expect it to change the world, but it is a bunch of guilty fun!

BLACK RACER AND SHILO NORMAN OVERSIZE SPECIAL #1 by Reginald Hudlin, Denys Cowan and Ryan Benjamin. As art of their continuing celebration of Jack Kirby’s 100^th birthday, comes this one shot special. Shilo is all grown up and he’s Mister Miracle and he’s in a contest with the Black Racer. Tons of cameos including the world of Kamandi, OMAC and even the Source Wall. This is an amazing, loving tribute to the King and is well worth the five-dollar price tag. Plus you get a handful of short back-up stories reprinted from NEW GODS.

BOMBSHELLS UNITED #1 by Marguerite Bennett and Marguerite Sauvage. Spinning out of the DC BOMBSHELLS series, this 1940’s book features our femme fatales battling the war at home. Wonder Woman, Diana Troy, Cassie Sandmark are back in the States where they are fighting against the internment of Japanese Americans. And we even get a surprise villain by book’s end. If you remember that this is not part of DC Universe continuity, it’s a fun ride!

CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST #1 by S.A. Check, Bill Galvan, Warren Kremer, Mike Wolfer and Diego Jourdan. Yeah…I actually bought a Casper comic book because I have been a longtime fan of Mike Wolfer. To see him move from FANGS OF THE WIDOW to this is a little surprising but I honestly picked it up for his cover with Casper and Hot Stuff together. It’s an all ages book that won’t offend and even features three reprints from the Nineties.

DARKSEID OVERSIZE SPECIAL #1 by Mark Evanier, Scott Kolins, Paul Levitz and Phil Hester. Here’s another Kirby Anniversary Special. It’s Darkseid and his band of followers causing hate and discontent on Apokolips. There is also a back-up featuring the classic OMAC. In addition, a reprint of a back-up story from FOREVER PEOPLE #6 and a short story from TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #12. Long live the King!

DASTARDLY & MUTTLEY #1 by Garth Ennis and Mauricet. DC continues to dig into the Hanna Barbera world with Garth Ennis at the controls. You know what that means: absolute insanity. It starts with a nuclear explosion and tat brings in our heroes in the form of USAF pilots investigating the explosion. That’s when things go really crazy and we have a killer cliffhanger for next issue. It’s typical Ennis insanity!

ELSEWHERE #1 by Jay Faerber and Sumeyye Kesgin. So, here’s a concept: in a strange land, Cort and Korvath find a woman hanging from a tree by a parachute. The woman is Amia Earhart and they go off in search of Fred Noonan. And DB Cooper shows up too! This is a killer concept to explain where all those missing people have gone. I love the story-of course I loved what Jay did on NOBLE CAUSES. And, by book’s end, I was getting use to Kesgin’s art style. I think this will end up in my pull list, just because it’s too much fun NOT TO.

FAITH AND THE FUTURE FORCE #1  by Jody Houser, Stephen Segovia and Barry Kitson. I swore, after the last BIG EVENT with the BOOK OF DEATH, that I would be cutting out almost all of the Valiant titles with the exception of BLOODSHOT. But they slowly pull me back in! Neela the Timewalker comes back in time to recruit ex-Harbinger Faith, currently wanted for murder, into putting a team together to help protect the Timestream. This four issue mini-series looks like a lot of fun and, even without knowing a ton of the back story on these character, it flows nicely.

FUTURE QUEST #1 by Jeff Parker and Ariel Olivetti. Well, we had a Hanna Barbera 12 issue series that brought classic characters together and it ended. So, in it’s place, we have this. It’s Space Ghost and his crew teaming up with the Herculoids. Parker has such love for these characters and Olivetti’s painted art is amazing. Highly recommended for longtime fans of these characters!

GENERATIONS: WOLVERINE & ALL NEW WOLVERINE #1 by Tom Taylor and Ramon Rosanas. At the end of SECRET EMPIRE, there is a moment when a whole batch of heroes get transported to a moment in time. This series of one-shots is all about that. The current Wolverine goes back in time and teams up with the classic yellow-suited Wolverine against Sabretooth. It’s not going to set the world on fire and basically just fills a place on the Marvel schedule leading into LEGACY.

GENERATIONS: BANNER HULK & TOTALLY AWESOME HULK #1 by Greg Pak and Matteo Buffagni. Another GENERATIONS titles has Amadeus Cho going back in time and meeting up with Banner Hulk. It’s plenty dumb and they team up against a giant monster that good old General Ross and company wake up.  I want by five bucks back, guys!

GENERATIONS: HAWKEYE & HAWKEYE #1 by Kelly Thompson and Stefano Raffaele. Kate Bishop ends up on an island where the greatest marksmen, mostly villains, are engaged he meets up with mentor Clint Barton and the two work together to dispatch the bad guys. in a battle to see who is the best. She meets up with mentor Clint Barton and they work together to defeat everyone, including Bullseye, who makes his first appearance to Clint. Of all the GENERATIONS titles thus far, this is the one that seemed to have the most heart.

GENERATIONS: IRON MAN & IRONHEART #1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Marco Rudy, Szymon Kudranski and Nico Leon. Here’s what you need to know: Ironheart ends up in the future, Tony Stark is alive and now he’s the Sorcerer Supreme. The dialogue is dumb and fun and we have three pencillers and no less than four inkers.

GENERATIONS: PHEONIX & JEAN GREY #1 by Cullen Bunn and R. B. Silva. Jean Grey of the past travels back in time to meet herself. They team up to battle Galactus, back when he was still bad and had Terrax as his herald.  This does nothing to promote the fact that Jean can’t reveal the future to Jean and the Watcher, NOT Nick Fury, does nothing to help.

GENERATIONS: THE UNWORTHY THOR & THE MIGHTY THOR #1 by Jason Aaron and Mahmud Ashar. Odinson is having issues picking up the hammer and he goes off, against Odin’s wishes, to help the Vikings in a battles against Apocalypse. Jane Foster Thor shows up and lends a hand. How the heck did the Vikings end up in Egypt anyway. In the end, we find out that Odin was making woo at one point with the Pheonix. Answers to be revealed in LEGACY.

GO GO POWER RANGERS #1 by Ryan Parrot and Dan Mora. Boasting no less than 13 variant and exclusive covers, to go with the regular covers, this series is set at the beginning of the Power Rangers career. In fact, they get to meet Rita or the first time at the book’s end. It’s drawn in a cartoony style and is the perfect fit for fans of this classic series.

MAGE THE HERO DENIED #0 by Matt Wagner. Kevin Matchstick is back in the concluding part of this legendary trilogy. He’s older and bald, but he is still kicking demon butts! I have waited a real long time for this epic to come to its’ end. I can’t wait to see where Wagner takes it. If you’re unfamiliar with it, go find the trade paperbacks and read up.

MANHUNTER OVERSIZE SPECIAL #1 by Keith Giffen, Dan Didio, Mark Buckingham, Sam Humphries and Steve Rude. Manhunter, from the old FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL, meets up with Sandman and Sandy, who have issues with the way Manhunter does his job. They spend the entire book fighting. Really!? In the first back-up, a short tale of The Demon by Humphries and Rude that is worth it just to see Rude’s work again. Coupled with some reprints from TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED and REAL FACTS COMICS, this is the weakest of all the Kirby tribute specials, just because it represents one long fight sequence.

MISTER MIRACLE #1 by Tim King and Mitch Gerads. Welcome to the mega-hit of the Summer as this first issue is selling now at $15-$40 levels! Oberon is dead..maybe. Highfather is dead…maybe. And Miracle seems to be having a nervous breakdown. This is typical killer work from King who takes he legend and turns him upside down and inside out. Find your second prints or pay top dollar for the first, but you need this book in your collection.

NEW GODS SPECIAL #1 by Shane Davis and Walter Simonson. Orion, Lightray, and Forager team up to battle Kalibak. In the back-up, Seagrin and a young Orion team-up to battle a sea monster. Throw in a couple of back-up tales reprinted from FOREVER PEOPLE. It’s not the best of the Specials, but is nice to have just for the Simonson work.

THE NEWSBOY LEGION AND THE BOY COMMANDOS SPECIAL #1 by Howard Chaykin. The Legion team up with the Boy Commandos to take on the Krauts. It’s all done in typical Chaykin style and retains just enough wit of the classic characters. You also get a classic Newsboy Legion back-up from an issue of STAR SPANGLED COMICS. It’s a great book to have, especially if you’re not a fan of BIG BLACK KISS and just want something a little lighter in tone from Chaykin.

NINKAK #0 by Matt Kindt and Francis Portella. Welcome to what feels like the umpteenth million relaunch of NINJAK. We get Colin King on a mission, plenty of blood and guts and a nice parallel story that runs along with it. And, in the end, we find out that King is really Ninja-K, meaning there was A-J before him. This is an interesting premise and promises to lead into the introduction of a whole bunch of former Ninja’s in the coming months. Valiant: you may have just hooked me on this concept!

THE REALM #1 by Jeremy Haun and Seth M. Peck. What happens when you do a Post-Apocalyptic comic is that it always gets compared to THE WALKING DEAD. Yeah…it’s kind of like that. It’s the end of the world, there is a crazy guy who kills you for your life energy and there are mad marauders. So…it’s THE WALKING DEAD meets MAD MAX. It’s not bad, but sort of formulaic.

THE ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE SHOW #1 by Todd Liningston, Bill Gavin and Al Kilgore. Leave it to American Mythology, who is responsible for UNDERDOG, CASPER, ROCKY & BULLWINKLE, PINK PANTHER and THE THREE STOOGES to kick through another book based on stuff from of childhood. The book has a two-part story, a Fractured Fairy Tale and two reprints featuring Dudley Do-Right and Boris and Natasha. The book so feels like the cartoon that I was literally doing the voices in my head. DON’T JUDGE ME!! A complete guilty pleasure book that hits all the right buttons.

RUNAWAYS #1 by Rainbow Rowell and ris Anka. Well, they’re back: the Runaways No, not the band…the comic team whose parents were killer super villains. I loved those team and was so bummed when the book got cancelled and then they tried to put part of the team into this all-female Avengers wanna-be team. I am so glad to see this book back, with a good number of the team back together and back to life. Even Old Lace makes an appearance. The writing is not too heady and the art fits the book perfectly. I can’t wait for issue #2.

THE SANDMAN OVERSIZE SPECIAL #1 by Dan Jurgens, Jon Bogdanove, Steve Orlando and Rick Leonardi. This is a true pair of living tributes to the King. In the first story, Sandman fights in the dream world with a creation of a young Jack Kurtzberg. In the second tale, Sandman fights to keep Jed Walker’s dreams from killing him. Another beautiful book to celebrate the King.

SECRET EMPIRE OMEGA by Nick Spencer, Andrea Sorrentino, and Joe Bennett. SECRET EMPIRE is over, the good guys won, even though there were some major casualties (hint-the red-haired assassin in black leather and Bruce Banner’s original buddy), Cap is back and the world is rebuilding. So, we have Steve Rogers confronting the evil Steve Rogers in his prison cell. while heroes try to cope with loss and make things right (really? Frank Castle, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.). In the end, it looks like not everyone has given up on Hydra, leaving tings open for future stories.

THE SHADOW #1 by Si Spurrier, Dan Watters and Daniel Hdr. The legend lives on in the present day. But is he truly alive and is he really that mysterious person in the burn ward? This is such a crazy take on the classic hero that I’m not sure how to react. Of note is the variants covers by luminaries such as Neal Adams and Mike Kaulta.

SHEENA QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE #0 by Marguerite Bennett, Christina Trujillo and Moritat. Here at Dynamite Comics, everything old is new again. They publish THE SHADOW, TUROK, MAGNUS and a bunch ore. Now it’s time to bring Sheena into the present and give us just enough to work with to tease us. Why is Sheena in the jungle but someone is watching her with their drone? It’s a short story, leading into the #1 issue, which I hope will answer some questions. It looks nice, as I love Moritat’s work anyway, and the story, as short as it is, has the feel it needs. And, oh yeah, buy it for any of the FOUR covers by Emanuela Lupacchino, J. Scott Campbell, Moritat and Ryan Sook.

TUROK #1 by Chuck Wendig, Alvaro Sarraseca, Aubrey Sitterson and Dylan Burnett. As you may have noticed with the other Dynamite character reboots in the form of Magnus, Doctor Spektor, and Solar, THIS IS NOT your daddy’s Turok. In a story that continues from some of the other Dynamite titles, this Turok is making his way through the Lost Jungle to battle the Varanid Empire of lizards. If you are expecting Gold Key or Valiant/Acclaim Turok, you will be totally disappointed by this and the Doctor Spektor back-up story. But if you are all about a fresh take on a 50+ year old character, this is recommended. The combination of Wendig and Sarraseca works well together while Sitterson and Burnett’s back-up is a little less delineated. Overall, it is worth the read. And…if you want to know how we ended up with these altered versions…read SOVEREIGNS #5 for the explanation.

WAR MOTHER #1 by Fred Van Lente and Stephen Segovia. She is the protector of the Grove and she is doing their best to protect them from the Sylvan. But now she needs to hit the road and try to find a new land for her people in The Montana. While the book looks beautiful, I’m a little unclear on the story and what it all means in the Valiant Universe, especially because it is set in 4001 A.D. and I didn’t bother with that mini-series event.

YOUR PAL ARCHIE #1 by ty Templeton and Dan Parent. The first time I saw Ty Templeton’s work was back in the day on STIG’S INFERNO and I was an immediate fan. I’ve watched him work on BATMAN ADVENTURES, THE SIMPSONS and BATMAN ’66. So, with that said, he seems right at home writing a CLASSIC Archie series, which has none of the drama of the new generation of books OR the RIVERDALE television show. And Dan Parent has long been associated with the Archie line, so his art it a totally perfect fit. If you have never read an “old school” Archie comic, here’s the place to start. A little bit of plot, a whole lot of fun and a loving touch that will bring you back to a simpler time. Don’t get me totally wrong: it is a MODERN DAY ARCHIE set in today’s world. As a bonus, hunt down the variant connecting covers or the first five issues which forms Pop’s Chock’Lit Shoppe when it is assembled. Do yourself a favor: find $4 in your monthly budget for this slice of Americana.

DC REBIRTH Month 15, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #12 by Steve Orlando and Ivan Reis. Lobo is complaining he needs to get paid by Batman, while most of the rest of the team is mostly off saving folks in the Pacific Ocean and Pittsburg. Later, with Vixen, Black Canary and The Ray minding Sanctuary, Batman and the rest of the team head off in the Shrinkship to go to the Microverse and find Ray Palmer. They are attacked by aliens and their ship is shot down. Luckily they are saved by a hooded figure wearing a familiar belt. Could this be Professor Palmer?

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #13 by Steve Orlando and Ivan Reis. The mysterious person with the Bio Belt is Preon and she explains that she got the Bio Belt as a gift. She and Ray Palmer got separated during a Quantum Storm and they had been working with scientist Aron Aut. They were looking for the Ignition Point, which was where the destruction of the Microverse was happening. She sent the message in hopes someone would hear. They get transported to Moz-Ga, the Thinking Planet. The people here see Preon and the belt and attack her, hoping that she will save them. The League tries to protect her when she gets shot and suspended in time by Aron Aut. It turns out that Preon is a pirate who had betrayed Ray and Aut. A Quantum Storm hits, ripping Lobo to pieces while everyone tries to avoid it and everyone scatters.  With a kiss from Killer Frost, Ryan decides to shrink down and go talk to Moz-Ga, who hasn’t spoken in a thousand years.

NEW SUPER-MAN #14 by Gene Luen Yang and Billy Tan. Emperor Super-Man has gathered all the freed villains when the Great Ten arrive to do battle. Meanwhile, the Justice League of China is trying to put things back together in Shanghai from their recent battles. Wonder Woman partially transforms back into her human self but half of her is still snake. Amanda Waller sees this as a good time to send her Suicide Squad to Shanghai and take care of business for her.  Master I-Ching goes into a trance and meets with his evil self. The League heads to the Fortress of Sovereignty to take on Emperor Super-Man and, after beating off some villains, Baixi, confesses his love for Deilan, turning her back into a full-blown human again. Kenan finds the tubes containing General Flying Dragon along with Dr. Omen and frees them both. Robinbot takes them to safety and he heads off to fight the Emperor. At last, he is able to channel his love for his friends and use his heat vision, stunning Emperor Super-Man. Just then, Deadshot runs a Kryptonite sword through the Emperor’s heart while Harley announces that he isn’t the only Super-Man they were sent to kill.

NIGHTWING #26 by Tim Seeley by Javier Fernandez. It’s the day of Giz' funeral and many of the Run-Offs are blaming Nightwing for contributing to his murder. Meanwhiel, Dick is pretty upset by the whole thing and he gets interrupted in his shower by Huntress, who is here to help him because Giz’ murderer is a mobster. They end up in Sicily, where they find him beaten to death. They also find a thumb drive that reveals that he was an undercover Spyral agent. Could it be that the Second Hand is Spyral? Could be, especially since Agent One is involved. And Shawn may be back to being DeFacer as Mouse, Giz’ girlfriend, wants revenge.

NIGHTWING #27 by Tim Seeley by Javier Fernandez. Nightwing and Huntress battle Agent One and his Second Hand followers, before getting rescued  by the SkullGirls. They explain how tings had changed at St. Hadrians and that one of the four of them had disappeared. They break into St. Hardians and find Lotti. Only she is not really who she is and neither is Agent One, who has been strung up and tortured. Meanwhile, Mouse goes undercover at Roland Desmond’s casino in the search for some answers to Giz’ death.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #13 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. Bizarro reveals his version of his origin, where he teamed up with Night Light, Wet Wet, Batman, Go Go, Sigh Borg, Rope Lady and Batman. Red Hood and Artemis are at Lex Corp, where they discuss their feelings towards their lost friend and Luthor looks at resurrecting Bizarro. He is disappointed to find out that this Bizarro is different from the one he knew before, who died during FOREVER EVIL. Well, he succeeds and turns over custody to Jason and Artemis. But are they ever surprised to find out that Bizarro is now a genius who wears Clark Kent style glasses

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS ANNUAL #1  by Scott Lobdell and Tyler Kirkham. Dimitri gets in touch with the former KGBeast, now just known as Beast, so he can gain revenge on the Outlaws. Meanwhile, Dick Grayson sees that the Outlaws are undercover as circus performers, so they can infiltrate the Russians. They convince Dick to join them and help them, which he does. The Russians ask the Outlaws to help them find something and that leads to a confrontation with the Beast. Nightwing arrives and, together, they take him down, along with the Russians. In the end, Dick and Jason have a better respect for each other…and Bizarro falls in love with the bearded lady.

SUICIDE SQUAD #23 by Rob Williams and Gus Vasquez. Suicide Squad is hunting down Killer Frost and that isn’t going well, even after she falls ill because Waller has injected El Diablo with a deadly pathogen which she has absorbed when she absorbed his heat energy. Things get worse for the Squad when Batman intervenes. That sneaky Batman has even hacked their brain bomb frequencies and he uses a high-pitched frequency to take them down…all except Katana. It seems that Waller never installed a brain bomb into her head because she knew that she would always be loyal. She slashes him with her sword and dumps him into the icy water, while she takes everyone else back to Belle Reve. Of course, Bats climbs out and boy-is he pissed!

SUICIDE SQUAD #24 by Rob Williams, Agustin Padilla and Juan Ferreyra. Amanda is proud of her team, as they have captured Killer Frost and she reveals that she is the first of the metahumans they will take down. Harley, Katana and Deadshot are pretty bothered by it all. Later, Waller talks with Direktor Karla and sends information that Karla is going to use with the Annihilation Brigade. Batman makes his way into Belle Reve to retrieve Killer Frost and, with the eventual help of Harley and Katana, they face off against Waller’s Suicide Suits. It turns out that Waller is actually being controlled by the Gulag and she is now responsible for launching the People’s war against the superheroes of the world.

SUPERGIRL #12 by Steve Orlando and Robson Rocha. Supergirl has been shot by Cat Grant but that’s impossible because she is really over at Oceanside Memorial Park revealing the newly created news app. Anyway, the shooting has totally affected Supergirl’s powers and they are going haywire even when she is back at school sometime later. That night, the Furious Four becomes the Furious Five by adding Solomon Grundy, while Selena visits Cat Grant. With her powers still on the fritz, Supergirl ends up tussling with Grundy while Cameron Chase gets a visit from the Emerald Empress.

SUPERGIRL ANNUAL #1 by Steve Orlando and Steve Pugh. Picking up from SUPERGIRL #12, Supergirl and Grundy continue their fight but, because of her powers being out of control, they are trashing the city. Indigo shows up, claiming she is the true hero of National City. The Emerald Empress cracks the D.E.O. Data Vault and Selena taps into Cat Grant’s mind to get access to the CATCO App, allowing footage of Supergirl meeting with the Cyborg Superman to be released to all subscribers. The Empress has a bone to pick because, sometime in the future, SUpergirl is responsible for the death of the Empress’ father. So she has lied to the rest of the Fatal Five to get them to be part of her team. Supergirl leaves and heads to Dr. Veritas, where she performs a dangerous operation to curtail the potentially deadly effects of having her cells supercharged. The procedure works to keep her from dying, but she is warned that her powers will continue to grow. Ben meets with Cat and, after a heated discussion, convinces her to help him save Supergirl. But, it turns out that she isn’t Cat at all. In the end, Supergirl confronts the Empress at the D.E.O. and the villain is prepared to kill Supergirl’s father.

SUPERMAN #28 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Scott Godlewski. The Kent family continues their cross country history vacation including a visit to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington and to Gettysburg, where they find a family who has a relative that died and never was found. Clark goes out looking that night, finds the body and brings it to the Watchtower for testing. After confirming who it is, he wraps the s=remains in an American flag and leaves them on a picnic table outside of the lodge the family is staying at.

SUPERMAN #29 by Keith Champagne and Doug Mahnke. Superman is helping to find a bunch of missing kids in metropolis. He finds some of the kids and discovers that they are being possessed by Parallax. To save the children, Superman offers himself up to the creature and is soon possessed by Parallax. That is when Sinestro appears and claims Superman has something that belongs to him.

SUPER SONS #7 by Peter J. Tomasi and Jorge Jimenez. Jon is serving drinks to most of the Teen Titans while Old Man Damian has to constantly visit the bathroom because of bladder issues. Kraklow reveals that he is seeking revenge against the Justice League and that he got his abilities from a centuries old version of himself from another reality. This version gave him the power to create his army. The team works together and Superboy helps to save the day, as they defeat the bad guys and get Robin returned to normal. The Teen Titans leave at the end, Robin and Superboy to themselves. That is when a rift opens and a new danger arrives to menace our heroes.

SUPERWOMAN #13 by K. Perkins and Stephen Segovia. Superwoman and Red Sun are causing menace in Smallville when Lex Luthor arrives. This leads to a flashback from Lana’s youth. It involves bad seed Amos Aimes, who Lana thought was a good kid despite his troubling side. It also involves a necklace she had that was apparently made from Red Kryptonite. Back in the present, it seen Red Sun is really Amos Aimes and he and Lana have teamed up, having been corrupted by the Red K. Luthor manages to take them down, but could use a little help. Good thing that Supergirl just happened to show up.

TEEN TITANS #11 by Benjamin Percy, Phil Hester and Khoi Pham. While Jackson is attacked by the giant squid, Black Manta finally steps in to help him and shows his son that Jackson has the ability to control the ocean with his powers. Jackson retrieves the artifact for Manta, which now gives him ultimate control of the seas. What seemed like a bonding between father and son turns out to be just a ruse for Manta to get the power. They battle and eventually take their fight to the surface, where the Teen Titans get involved. Jackson uses his powers to defeat his dad and retrieve the artifact, even if Manta does escape. In the end, he is officially welcomed to the team as Aqualad as Tempest, the former Aqualad, passes the torch. Meanwhile, two mysterious strangers seem to have future plans for Gar.

TITANS #14 by Dan Abnett and Brett Booth. The Titans are fighting against the Trident Three: a group of Atlanteans who Garth once trained at the Silent School of Magic. They have decided to poison air breathing humans by putting deadly fish on the pizza served by Pizza Fish pizza. During the fight, animosities come up between Wally and Roy, who saw Wally kissing Donna a few issues back. Garth uses his long dormant magic to stop the Trident Three and that allows them to get back to the business at hand: finding out who the traitor is. It seems that is actually Dick Grayson and he makes sure to delete the information before anyone else can find out. Meanwhile, Gnarrk and Mal bust into a H.I.V.E. Field Station.

TRINITY #12 by Rob Williams and V. Ken Marion. Constantine, Zatanna and Deadman have been summoned to Gotham by Batman as we learn that Red Hood has been possessed by demons and the other two Outlaws are on their way.  Deadman tries to he and Zatanna getting swallowed by the demon. As Constantine enters the mouth of the demon, Bizarro and Artemis, also possessed, arrive show up and tangle with the Trinity. It seems this is all the work of Ras al Ghul and Circe and now the possessed Outlaws are prepared to kill the Trinity.

WONDER WOMAN #28 by Shea Fontana and David Messina. After visiting Dr. Crawford’s grave, Wonder Woman goes about getting Etta Candy released from the hospital and getting her home, where she will be caring for her. But Mayfly arrives outside and is trying to take Wonder Woman out with a sniper rifle. With Etta’s help, she takes her down. She reveals that she is a hemophiliac and only did it for the money, which apparently is part of a bounty being out u to kill Diana. A crwo flies into Etta’s apartment and Diana knows that this has something to do with Apollo. That is when five more assassins arrive.

WONDER WOMAN #29 by Shea Fontana and Inaki Miranda. Diana and Etta fight a cadre of villains who are here to collect a bounty on Diana. Plastique, once defeated, reveals that someone connected to the government was responsible for the hit. Later, Diana learns that the hit was put out by Dr. Hamilton Revere, who intends on using her DNA to cure people of various diseases. In the end, Diana willingly goes to meet with Revere, who informs her at gunpoint that HE is the government.

DC REBIRTH Month 15, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #985 by Rob Williams and Guillem March. Superman ends up in the country of Georgia, where The Machinist is using his mind control techniques to run this country. He soon discovers that The Machinist is actually popping up all over the world and doing the same thing. That leads him directly to Lex Luthor, who reveals that his tech has apparently been stolen. That leads to a team up where the duo goes to India and finds that elephants have been controlled. Unfortunately, Lex is being controlled too and attacks Superman.

ACTION COMICS #986 by Rob Williams and Guillem March. Superman battles Lex, who is finally feeling the influence of the Apokolyptian suit, turns into a stone-faced monster resembling Darkseid. Superman manages to get through to Godlike Lex, who unloads all of his weapons, draining his power and changing him back to normal. They re-enter the atmosphere and that burns off the mind tick. Superman quickly dispatches the Machinist’s mechanical tigers and then detains him and his crew. In the end, Lex discovers that one of the Machinist’s men had an OZ tattoo. Oz shows up, deletes Lex’ records and destroys the Superman symbol on Lex’s suit.

ALL STAR BATMAN #13 by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque, Rafael Scavone and Sebastian Fiumara. As Batman and Alfred fall to their possible deaths, Batman grabs a banner and that lessens their fall. In a flashback, we find that Briar had sent years training Alfred to Nemesis. It is also revealed that Briar’s son had made his way through the Nemesis program and died in Qatar. To help him become Nemesis, Briar had plans to kill Alfred’s father. Batman follows the Black and Whites and finds they have been badly injured. That’s when Briar arrives with Nemesis, who slices Batman up badly. In the end, Alfred has decided to enlist some unexpected allies in his fight. In the back-up, Batman is still in Russia and still battling with Vik.

AQUAMAN #27 by Dan Abnett and Stjepan Sejic. Aquaman and Dolphin have been captured by Kadaver and taken to Krunch, who threatens to kill Dolphin if Aquaman doesn’t reveal his true identity. Aquamna communicates with the giant fish that is menacing her and uses his ability to get the fish to break her free and they escape, while the fish eats most of Klutch’ crew. Meanwhile, Vulko continues to hide from Murk and the guards, with the help of disgraced Widowhood member Ondine. Up on the surface, Mera meets with the Titans and tries to convince Aqualad to help her free Aquaman. In the end, Mother Cetrea says that the best person to succeed Corum Rath once the rebellion succeeds is Mera of Xebel.

BANE CONQUEST #4 by Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan. Bane finds himself teaming up with Dionysus, because Bane needs him. At the same time, Catwoman is here in Russia, who gets captured by the police who want to make use of her to deliver a cyber package. Bane makes his way into the Kaluga Vor apartment, but Dionysus has managed to get free and has contacted the authorities to capture Bane. To make matters worse, Catwoman is here too and she has set off the security alarms.

BATGIRL #14 by Hope Larson and Chris Wildgoose. Batgirl and Nightwing end up together in Burnside and get attacked by a pair of unusually dressed “twin” women who resemble someone from her high school days named Ainsley. Mid fight, they claim “her blood is on your hands” and leap to their deaths. In a flashback, we see Barbara adjusting to her new high school life in Gotham after having moved with her father from Chicago. It turns out that Ainsley was both a substitute teacher and a co-worker at a local restaurant. Later, as Batgirl, she meets Robin for the first time. Back in the present, Nightwing and Batgirl track down the Mad Hatter’s associates and discover the identity of the two dead girls. They then fnd the Mad Hatter, beaten up in a hospital bed. He wakes from his coma to say the Red Queen is responsible for all of this.

BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #13 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and

Roge Antonio. Batgirl, Gus, Catwoman and Calculator have made their way into Terracare where they find Huntress and Benedict being menaced by Ivy and a lot of angry bees. From there, Ivy needs to make a pheromone to control the bees and get them to stop their attack.

She stops the bees, Calculator’s family is freed and Barbara buys Terracare and makes Poison Ivy the head scientist. Barbara becomes Oracle again to save Gus from the Calculator’s clutches. In the end, the team, minus Batgirl but with Ivy, springs into action.

BATMAN #28 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. During the war, Jim Gordon is captured by both Riddler and Joker and they both want him to bring them Batman to end the war. Riddler hired Deathstroke to kill Batman while Joker hires Deadshot to do the same. Both fail, which leads to five days of fighting within Gotham.

BATMAN #29 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Both sides in the War of Jokes and Riddles are having a nine-course dinner at Wayne Manor with Bruce Wayne. His answer to stop the fighting: kill Batman and Wayne will give one billion dollars to the winner.

BATWOMAN #6 by Marguerite Bennett, James Tynin IV and Renato Arlem. It’s Year Five in the Reign of the Bat as a much older Batwoman and a one-eyed Jason Todd discuss matters on the Colony Battleship Sequoia. It seems Gotham has gone to hell and Batman and his gag of followers rule the city. She makes her way into the city and meets with GCPD Commissioner and former lover Renee Montoya. They get attacked by Batman’s followers and Renee is wounded, leading to Batwoman swearing revenge and Batman-Tim Drake.

BATMAN BEYOND #11 by Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang. While Terry and Damian fight, Batman tries to hack into Damian’s computer and stop the missiles. But Koru shows up, explaining how Ubu took his own life after numerous defeats at Batman’s hands. And Koru wants revenge. Damian stops him from killing him, but Terry arrives, with the suit taking control and pushing him to kill Damian. Batman gets Terry to take control of the suit, but Koru decides to get involved and launches the missiles himself. Terry puts the batsuit back on and, with the help of Max back in the Batcave, stops the missiles. In the end, it turns out Goliath is NOT dead and Bruce and Damian make up. And Bruce tells Terry he feels like he is his son.

BLUE BEETLE #12 by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Scott Kolins. Batman has a bone to pick with Ted Kord for letting such a young hero go out and be a superhero without the proper training. Jaime heads off on a big date but has to bail because Ghostfire has been skywriting that he wants Blue Beetle. Batman observes the fight and is impressed until Jaime messes up and Batman needs to come and save the day. In the end, Batman finds that Ghostfire is An old man with terminal cancer and he is impressed by Jaime’s compassion for him. Later, Naomi chews out Jaime for missing his date and Teri Magnus shows up and wants to use the scarab as a power source for Cosmic Treadmill that would be able to send her and Tina back to the year 3001.

CYBORG #15 by John Semper Jr. and Cliff Richards. Before he died, this alternate wrld’s version of Dr. Elias Stone had discovered a cure for the OTAC virus, but he died before it could be delivered. And, it needed to be deliver to their Cyborg first, but he died. Cyborg, Variant, Beast Boy and Exxy go to Silas' old lab, where Variant gets captured and they need to find that cure to get her back. That leads to them fighting with the Metal Men and Exxy uses his mad skills to reprogram them and shut them down. They don’t find the cure, but they do find a hologram of this world's Cyborg. He’s alive, has the cure and is looking to kill off our Cyborg so he can rule the world.

DARK DAYS METAL #1 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. The Justice League is on Warworld and are being forced to fight as part of Mongul's death games, which have been created for him by Hiro Okamura. The team form a giant Transformer-like robot and defeat their enemies. Upon returning to Earth, they discover that Challenger’s Mountain has appeared in the center of Gotham City. Once inside, they discover the Challengers in cryogenic chambers and they also discover a shutdown Red Tornado, none of whom they know. Lady Blackhawk arrives, explaining that she is Kendra Saunders, who was once Hawkgirl, and has them accompany her back to Blackhawk Island. She explains that she plans on eliminating all the Nth Metal on the planet, since Carter disappeared looking for the source of it in what she calls the Dark Multiverse. It seems that a prophecy foretold that Barbatos would be released by a Wayne. Red Tornado reactivates and flips out, allowing Batman to escape with her sliver of pure Nth Metal. In the end, Batman discovers Carter Hall's journal hidden in Wayne Manor. He also is greeted by Daniel Hall: the Dream of the Endless.

DEATHSTROKE #22 by Christopher Priest and Diogenes Neves. We begin with the dead grocer from last issue and quickly move to Chetland UAI where Defiance is fighting the Radiant Men. It seems Dr. Light is pulling the Radiant Men’s strings and he is doing that as a favor to Deathstroke, who has been reported to the Society by Deadline. Meanwhile, the Grocer’s heir and his entourage have arrived and are looking for Willow. In the end, Terra arrives to take down the Radiant Men, to the surprise of the team, leading to Deathstroke presenting the US Ambassador with a $100,000 bill for services rendered. And, even though he is retired, maybe Dr. Light isn’t truly out of the game.

DETECTIVE COMICS #962 by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez. Luke Fox has put Azrael into the new suits and the Batman A.I. kicks in and he is ready for action. And that is good because Ascalon and Clayface are duking it out and Clayface could use the assist, even with Batman and Zatanna showing up and taking down the Batwings. Kate and Cassandra are watching Numoz and aren’t doing that good a job because he slips away. Azrael arrives and begins to battle. But Numoz arrives too and gets his throat slit by Ascalon just as he is about to reveal that Ascalon is Azrael’s brother. Ascalon reveals that Jean Paul’s father is the guy responsible for all of this. Zatanna gives the Sphere to Ascalon, who had just had his chest punched open by Azrael.  Before it explodes, he reveals to Batman that Tim Drake is still alive. In the end, Numoz is buried at Wayne Manor and it looks like Jean-Paul’s father is involved with Ra’s al Ghul.

DETECTIVE COMICS #963 by James Tynion IV, Chris Sabela and Carmen Carnero. After a flashback with a tender moment between Tim and Steph, we go to the present here Spoiler has gone to Monster Town to meet up with Anarchy, who is Lonnie Machin.  He takes her below the city into the tunnels and shows her that there is a small city living here. Meanwhile, Clayface is dealing with letting Dr. October continue to try and experiment on him to find a cure.

THE FLASH #28 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico. While Barry deals with now being possessed by the Negative Speed Force, Director Singh reveals that someone inside the police has been stealing evidence from the Central City crime lab. Later, Flash goes after a group called the Road Reapers. He thinks they are fleeing from him, but they are actually fleeing from Shrapnel, who slays them as Barry is forced to watch.

THE FLASH #29 by Joshua Williamson and Pop Mhan. We begin with Barry trying to recover from his battle with Shrapnel, as he is not healing normally since he became the Negative Flash. Shrapnel’s punches caused an energy build-up that led to an explosion, thus defeating him. The team at the station are still trying to figure what the deal is with missing evidence and end up at a cop bar to try to get an idea of who might be responsible. Barry leaves and goes to the CCPD Records room, and finds a bunch of fellow officers injured in some sort of attack.  The records room has been torched and Barry, not wanting to use his abilities, carries them out…and them collapses as the fire burns.

GOTHAM ACADEMY SECOND SEMESTER #12 by Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl, Adam Archer and Bob Haynes. Olive Silverlock is still possessed by Amity Arkham and she has decided to kill herself rather than hurt her friends. But Maps shows up wearing one of Robin’s masks, which parallels Batman trying to save Amity, and the pair save each other as the besties they are. At the same time, the Terribke Trio gets defeated and the team recovers the book. In the end, the Academy gets reopened after the destruction of the fire and everyone is friends again As this series comes to a close.

GREEN ARROW #28 by Ben Percy and Juan Ferreyra. Ollie visits Lex Luthor to fing out the connection between Lexcorp and the attacker from last issue. Lex thinks it was a rogue employee trying to discredit him. Meanwhile, Henry has been made to create an app that is causing Lex Corp employees to try to kill themselves and is causing stocks to tumble. Lex recodes this virus and it now sends out a message of love. In the end, Lex is a hero, Superman tells Ollie is is happy about the change in him and Lex sends Ollie off to look in Gotham for clues.

GREEN ARROW #29 by Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra. In Gotham, Police find a victim who has bed out due to a sliced open carotid artery. Batman is watching it all, while Oliver Queen goes to a party hosted by the Court of the Owls. He goes undercover and ends up hunting Talons while Batman saves those being menaced by them. It turns out that The Burned are also involved with all of this. After teaming up to defeat them, Batman suggests that Ollie go looking to the stars for help, suggesting a team-u with his old friend Hal Jordan. In the end, Henry, Emi and Canary discover that Wendy Poole is still alive and holds the key to Ollie being vindicated.

GREEN LANTERNS #28 by Sam Humphries and Eduardo Pansica. After learning how a Kryptonian woman became one of the original seven ring holders, we come to the present, where Simon and Jess are trapped in the past. Luckily, those first seven Lanterns arrive, even though they all want to fight about the power they possess. Jess explains that she needs to train them and that just irritates them further. Jan-Al, the Kryptonian,can’t control her willpower and ends up burning up, leaving just six of the original seven Lanterns. Meanwhile, Volthoom is desperately trying to get to Rami and his Travel Lantern.

GREEN LANTERNS #29 by Sam Humphries and Eduardo Pansica. Jess and SIons struggle with teaching the first six Lanterns how to use their rings. Simon gets a vision of Volthoom attacking and ultimately destroying the planet Zoron. He ultimately convinces the reluctant Lanterns to help and, when they see what Volthoom has done, they band together to hopefully save the day.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #26 by Robert Venditti and Rafa Sandoval. Kyle and Hal have been sent to collect information on a sub-gravitational field but arrive to find the entire planetary system is destroyed. As they scan for survivors, they are visited by Orion of the New Gods, who says that Highfather has sent him out to find the White Lantern. Unfortunately, Kyle no longer has those powers and Orion gets shot from an unknown source by Omega Beams. The three of them head back to Mogo where Orion is shocked back to life. He is greatly upset as he explains that those beams were for him and that big metal monster that destroyed the planetary system is now here and gunning for him. Can you say collateral damage?

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #27 by Robert Vendetti and Rafa Sandoval. Hal, Kyle and Orion battle the golem, which is there to eliminate Orion. As it begins charging itself to full capacity, Kyle realizes that he can make an artificial heart out of a construct. So Orion which the doctor then removes. The creature goes away, believing Orion dead. Back on Mogo, the doctor and Kyle keep Orion in a comatose state with the artificial heart while Two-Lobe reads Orion’s mind. We learn that Orion is a descendant of Yuga Khan and the golems are made from Nth Metal. He also learns that they need to find Lightray, so John and Hal prepare to head to New genesis and warn them that the golems are coming.

HARLEY QUINN #25 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Dini, Chad Hardin and Bret Blevins. Madison Berkowitz Has hired a group of assassins known as the Unconquerable 25 to take out Harley Quinn, who is hosting a birthday party for Sy Borgman. Harley takes out the assassins, but then the police arrive and it looks the sometime criminals are in a world of trouble. In the back-up, Harley stills needs to find a way to pay the carpenter and Joker has found out about the new hideout she has built for him…and is thrilled. How does it all end? Find out in HARLEY LOVES JOKER #1…coming soon, we hope.

HARLEY QUINN #26 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, and John Timms. Harley explains to Rivera that she and her friends had been attacked by the Unconquerable 25. Harley apparently acted like a one-woman army and sliced and diced the team. Even Harley Sinn lent a hand, allowing Harley Quinn to sort of forgive her for trying to kill her previously. In the end, the decision is made that there is only one way to stop Madison and the Mayor; run for Mayor herself.

THE HELLBLAZER #13 by Tim Seeley and Jesús Merino. Constantine wakes up from a vicious night of drinking, turns on the air conditioner in his motel room and gets covered in blood and guts. It seems that he got into an argument with the manager and, unconsciously, wished him to climb into the roof fans and kill himself. He heads off to meet with the man who he got drunk with only to find out that he’s a nurse in a hospital and likes to collect panties: certainly not the man who claimed to possess rare brews. In the end, a derelict kills himself and it seems a pair of demons are to blame.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #26 by Bryan Hitch and Fernando Pasarin. 20 Years from now, a bunch of teenagers in semi-familiar costumes head towards Mt. Olympus, which happens to be in the center of New York City. Here they battle someone named Curry, who may be the father of one of the kids and possesses a Black Lantern ring that they call a Dark Ring. They make their way into what is left of the old Infinity Corps building. They get a brief taped message from Vincent, who says the Stones will take them where they need to go. That’s when Sovereign arrives to menace them, but are saved as the Stones take them back in time. In the present, the Justice League is trying to deal with the death and destruction in Midway City when the teens arrive and explain that they are their children from the future and billions have died because of their parents.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #27 by Bryan Hitch and Fernando Pasarin. The League tries to get associated with their kids. It seems that Barry and Jessica have three and Diana has a son she abandoned and who was raised by Superman. Simon has no kids here because he eventually killed Sinestro and led the Yellow Lanterns. Cyrborg’s daughter Cube reveals their story: there was a war between the super-humans and the kids were spirited away to Mount Olympus to be safe. They grew up and eventually returned to a devastated Earth and lived there, until Sovereign arrived and dropped Olympus onto Earth. In the end, Batman is investigating stuff in the Batcave when he is visited and beat upon by an old friend: a scarred, one handed Aquaman-the Curry from last issue.