DC REBIRTH Month 16, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #987 by Dan Jurgens and Viktor Bogdanovic.Metallo has been captured by ARGUS, but Mr. Oz shows up and tears put Metallo’s Kryptonite heart. Oz’ followers unleash all sorts of disasters throughout the world and Superman tries to save everyone, but, in the end, he can’t, as he ends up in Loganda. Oz arrives and teleports himself and Superman to the Fortress of Solitude, where himself to be Jor-El.

ACTION COMICS #988 by Dan Jurgens and Ryan Sook. Jor-El reveals that Lor-Van was in favor of Jor-El wanting to save Krypton but was against him using space arks, so he had Kelex delete Jor-El's research. Jor’El was now forced to make a single spacecraft to send Kal-El to Earth. Just as Krypton was exploding, a mysterious blue light took Jor-El away, just as he watched Lara die. The light brought him to Earth, badly disfigured, where he was cared for by an African family. Jor-El heals and tries to help the family by stealing food from the warlord there. But the family’s youngest son turns him in and the warlord forces the boy to kill his family. He was then forced to watch man’s inhumanity to man throughout history and that made Jor-El decide that he made a mistake sending his son here. In the end, he tells Superman that he is here to take him away forever.

AQUAMAN #28 by Dan Abnett and Stjepan Sejic. Kadaver battles Aquaman, who manages to defeat him and he and Dolphin escape. Krush learns of the defeat and makes it a point that he wants to tell Corum Rath. Rath has discovered that Mera and Garth are trying to gain access to the kingdom through the Crown of Thorns and he sends out troops to confront them and kill them both. Meanwhile, Vulko and Ondine make their way into the Catacombs where Vulko is using his knowledge of the elders of the past to get past the Specters of the Dead. Unfortunately, you can greet a Specter with no face and that causes them to flee for their lives.

BANE CONQUEST #5 by Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan. Catwoman tasers Bane and runs off, as the building is locked down and Trogg is trying to get a hold of Bird, Zombie and Bane. Bame busts loose and he and Catwoman team up. She puts her thumb drive in the mainframe and it locks Dionysus out of the system and erases the information on the Russians. In the end, Catwoman tasers Bane again and takes back her information. This leads to Trogg, Zombie and Bane back to Dionysus, who needs to explain what he was doing.

BATGIRL #15 by Hope Larson and Chris Wildgoose. While Mad Hatter flips out and has a heart attack in his hospital bed, Batgirl and Nightwing discover Doctor Philbert, who is possessed and has become the Red Knight. Dick puts her into a MRI machine and, for whatever reason, it turns her into ash. Devastated by accidentally killing her, Dick and Barbara kiss. In a flashback, we learn that Ainsley was developing hallucinogenic nanobots and had some sort of relationship with the now late Dr. Philbert. Ainsley was also being followed by some characters that seemed to want to have her dead.

BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #14 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Marcio Takara. Black Canary and Huntress are chaperoning a school trip to the old Colonial Gotham Village while Batgirl is helping Batman and his family escape from a death trap. With Canary and Huntress out of town, Batgirl must handle all the crime fighting in town, where she gets help from Catwoman and Poison Ivy again, where our main character figures out how much she really misses working with her regular team since she has to keep reiterating that they're not to kill anyone. Back at the village, a Native American Shaman named Blackfire tells a tale about Deacon Blackfire, which leads to the kids examining a cave where they find that Deacon Blackfire is still alive. Canary and Huntress fight Blackfire, stealing his magic staff that provides him with his power and his immortality, an then trap him in the cave again. In the end, they explain to the kids that this was all a part of the tour, and not real. Barbara arrives and the trio share S'mores by the fire.

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BATMAN #30 by Tom King and Clay Mann. Kite-Man has made the mistake of ending up on the wrong side of the war.  In the end, Batman and Riddler have teamed up and we discover that Riddler knew that Kite-Man was a joke and they knew he would talk even after Riddler killed his son.

BATMAN #31 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Read this AFTER DARK DAYS METAL #2. While Joker kills one of his henchmen, Catwoman spies on him, breaking a window and giving Batman, Riddler and the team of villains to gain access to him. Kite-Man uses a parachute to get rid of the villains loyal to Joker. Kite-Man tells Riddler that he took his victory because Riddler took his son and Riddler knocks him out. That leaves Batman alone with Joker and Riddler.

BATMAN THE RED DEATH #1 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico. As the Dark Multiverse begins to take hold, Batman shows up, but not to assist The Flash. He wants the Speed Force and is willing to kill The Flash to get it. Taking out Barry, he straps him to the Batmobile and drives head on into the Speed Force. When he emerges, he is Batman The Red Death: a combination of Bruce with Barry’s powers. The Dark Multiverse Batman offers Bruce a chance at saving the world. Red Death confronts Wally and Iris, both of whom have rapidly aged because Bruce tampered with the Speed Force. Barry arrives and they race, with Barry being saved by Doctor Fate, who pulls him out of the battle. Red Death promises to kill him at a later time while we are told Batman The Murder Machine is coming.

BATMAN THE MURDER MACHINE #1 by Frank Tieri, James Tynion IV and Riccardo Federici. Cyborg is on the Justice League Watchtower, telling his father that Gotham and Central City have fallen to the invaders from the Dark Multiverse. Batman transports to the Watchtower, but it’s not OUR Batman. This Batman is from Earth-44 and became the revenge seeking person he is because Alfred was murdered by some of Batman’s Rogue’s Gallery but not before he created hard light constructs of himself that went on and eliminates all of his emotions to make him most efficient. After downloading all of S.T.A.R. Labs information, this Batman and the other Batmen of the Dark Multiverse rip Earth-44’s Cyborg to pieces, including tearing his head and spine out of his body. On our Earth, we see Cyborg defeated and Detroit being the newest target of the Dark Multiverse. They have also taken over the Justice League Watchtower and converted it to their own evil design.

BATWOMAN #7 by Marguerite Bennett and Fernando Blanco. Batwoman is injured in the Sahara desert and cries out for Safiyah. She gets attacked by member of the Colony who have been transformed into monsters. Flashing back, we see that several hours ago she was tracking down the Many Arms of Death and was shot down while going after The Needle. After taking a hit during a sandstorm, we flashback to 6 months ago kin Switzerland where Kate met with Beth, who suddenly fades away with a bullet hole in her head. Back in the present, she heads to an oasis and begins to drink. She begins to hallucinate and it reveals that The Scarecrow is the person she fears the most.

BATMAN BEYOND #12 by Vita Ayala, Steve Orlando and Siya Oum. Commissioner Gordon is investigating a drug ring when she gets knocked out. Over in the Batcave, Max and Matt get a distress call from Barbara and Max heads out to help. That’s when Batgirl arrives on the scene and reluctantly teams up with Max. They take out the bad guys and free Barbara, with Max telling Batgirl they should work together again in the future.

BLUE BEETLE #13 by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Scott Kolins. With the energy from the Scarab, Teri and Jaime to travel to the 31st Century. Apparnetly, Teri has only been gone for a few seconds from when she disappeared in the Justice League battle against Lady Styx and the Legion of Superheroes and Teri's brother, who has become Eclipso.  Wonder Woman immediately assumes that Blue Beetle is a part of Styx’ army and attacks him, while the League sends the Legion across the galaxy through a portal. Teri and Jaime transport to the planet Naltor to confront Styx, who reveals that she is Brenda's Aunt La Dama. She sends them back to the 21st Century, just in time for Jaime to head off on his date with Naomi.

CYBORG #16 by John Semper Jr., Allan Jefferson and Will Conrad. The S.T.A.R. mobile lab is taken over by Anomaly's forces, causing it to crash and their Anomaly gets free. The Anomaly of two worlds now meet and join forces, revealing that they have Variant in their clutches. Meanwhile Cyborg and Beast Boy go to the White House to face off with this world’s Cyborg, so they can get the cure and save Exxy. It turns out that this Cyborg is the “red” Cyborg and the red robot we have seen previously, meaning that this happened and was not imagined by Cyborg in the Boom Tube. Blue shows up and tells Cyborg how to use his skills to save the digiverse.

DARK DAYS METAL #2 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. We begin with the revelation that the Metals are forming Bat signals all over the world.  The Justice League is in the Amazon Rainforest where they run into Swamp Thing and Batman tells Superman that he has been getting ready for the return of Barbatos and has been exposed to four of the five metals. It's all about five metals, four of which Batman has already been exposed to.  Meanwhile, Kendra heads to the "Ends of the Earth" where she meets with the Immortals inside of the “Legion of Doom” headquarters and they decide to use the Ultimate Option to save the world. Ra’s reveals that Batman is taking on Barbatos alone and she realizes he is walking into a trap. Batman reveals to Superman and Wonder Woman that he plans to use baby Darkseid to initiate the Omega Sanction. It is a trap and the Owls are responsible, covering our hero with Batmanium. The doorway is opened and the characters of the Dark Multiverse arrive on our world.

DEATHSTROKE #23 by Christopher Priest and Diogenes Neves. After beginning with a flashback to a year ago where Deathstroke went under contract to protect a group of East Africans from Ja Zaki, we move to the present where Deathstroke is training his Defiance team. That leads to him battling with Rose and he gets stabbed by her sword, which is surprise as his suit is supposed to be impenetrable.  You know, the one we all thought Slade set up in the Minneapolis pawn shop. We see Adeline talking with Tara, who fumbles with a business card from the Willow Armed Professional Escort service. Then there is Willow, who has been taken in for her safety and is aptly named because of the same Willow business card. Back at Defiance, Deathstroke finds out that Rose and Hogun have gotten married. The team goes off and stops some African Pirates, who we saw at the beginning of the issue. In the end, someone is REALY interested in Willow.

DETECTIVE COMICS #964 by James Tynion IV, Chris Sebela and Carmen Carnero. Clayface visits visits Mudface in Arkham and he tells her that he might have a cure. But she reminds him that he was and always will be a monster to her. He goes back to Victoria and that leads to him flipping out and almost kiloing her, until Cassandra calms him down and convinces him they are both alike. Over in Monster Town, Spoiler gets the tour of Utopia with Anarky and we find that Leslie and Harper are here too. Lonnie and Stephanie kiss and that gets broken up by Batman who tells Stephanie that this whole thing is just a big lie, as Lonnie has ties to the members of the Victim Syndicate. This leads to Steph fighting Anarky and Batman making the save. He arrests Lonnie and Steph leaves, before Batman can tell her that Tim is still alive.

DETECTIVE COMICS #965 by James Tynion  IV and Eddy Barrows. After a flashback which retcons Tim Drake’s origin, telling us he was at the circus the night the Graysons were killed, we see Tim being interrogated by Mr. Oz. After revealing himself as Jor-El, he compares himself to Tim and tries to convince him NOT to go back to his superhero days. He leaves, allowing Tim to send out a distress call to Batman, who is being held captive. He orders Tim to open a corridor full of containment cells, but Tim opens all the cells, causing his reunion with Batman to be a little tenuous, especially after Batman pulls out a gun to shoot some of the escapees. Batman reveals himself as the Tim Drake of Tomorrow before Doomsday comes bursting in.

THE FLASH #30 by Joshua Williamson and Neil Googe. Barry makes it out of the fire, but gets into a fight with Singh and dares him to fire him. Kristen explains how she is worried about Barry because of how her sister was self-destructive and killed herself. She convinces him to stay on the case and he deduces that Ramsey destroyed the samples. Apparently, he suffers from hemophilia and used his position to begin experimenting with blood to cure himself. Now he is indestructible and he battles The Flash under the villain name of Bloodwork.

THE FLASH #31 by Joshua Williamson, Neil Googe and Gus Vasquez. Flash is battling Bloodwork, who continues to grow and mutate. Barry, who promises to help Ramsey, uses his Negative Speed Force powers to take away the villain’s powers. Ramsey is arrested but claims there is no evidence because the evidence got burned up. But Kristen reveals that Ramsey left digital fingerprints on the records. In the end, Singh transfers Barry and Kristen to Iron Heights. He meets with Kid Flash and offers up his ring, claiming he can’t be Flash anymore because his powers are out of control. Kid Flash insists he take the ring back and he will train Barry on how to be The Flash again.

GREEN ARROW #30 by Ben Percy and Otto Schmidt. Oliver is heading to Area 51 and battling the Burned along the way. Hal Jordan shows up and they head off into space together in a construct spaceship/car where they find the Ninth Circle satellite. They face the Mecha-Burned, Hal loses his construct and now Ollie is out in space with no life support. Meanwhile, Black Canary and Emiko find The Auctioneer, who has Wendy.

GREEN ARROW #31 by Ben Percy and Otto Schmidt. With Ollie stuck in space, he fights to make his way inside the satellite and gets into it with the Mecha-Burned. He manages to get his hands on the Broadhead he found awhile back and jams it into the power unit on the Burned’s back, causing the whole satellite to explode. Hal sends the Justice League to protect the cities of the Earth from the falling debris and they save Ollie in the process. In the end, the League decides to make Ollie a member and he pleads his case to become a Rogue Operative instead of a regular member. Batman sends him off to work with Robin before the whole Dark Multiverse thing happens. Meanwhile, Dinah and Emiko take on the Auctioneer and rescue Wendy.

GREEN LANTERNS #30 by Sam Humphries and Carlo Barberi. Volthoom is unable to break the shields of the Science Citadel and he takes it out on the Guardians. The Lanterns arrive to fight him and that leads to all of the original Lanterns getting killed. Volthom faces off against Simon and the rings from the dead Lanterns come to him, powering him up for a final face-off.

GREEN LANTERNS #31 by Sam Humphries and Ronan Cliquet. In present day, Rami is healing Tyran'r, while, in the distant past Simon and the surviving original Lanterns battle Volthoom, with Z’Kran dying in the process. He convinces Jessica that Volthoom has great emotional issues and suggests they should help him and not kill him. Simon traps Volthoom in a construct, Jessica calms him down and tells him about the Emerald Sun. With him calmed down and it seems like this moment will change the future but the Guardians show up, take his ring and are responsible for betraying him once again. Rami decides that Green Lantern rings are too powerful and Volthoom, now sane, tells Rami he will do everything to find a way to kill Rami. Volthoom makes Jessica’s ring go to his Travel Lantern and they get to go home. Simon gets his ring back from Tyran'r, who has been restored to his youth, so he can go on a quest for Rami..

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #28 by Robert Vendetti and Rafa Sandoval. The Omega Beams are trying to catch Highfather and Lightray while Hal is doing his best to catch them. When he thinks he has failed, that is when Hal’s dad pops in to the construct jet and encourages his son to push harder Hal eventually catches up with them and puts them into the construct, thus outrunning the Omega Beams.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #29 by Robert Vendetti and Rafa Sandoval. While Hal takes Highfather away, Two-Lobe probes Orion’s mind to find that the golems are now heading to Yuga Khan, who is currently housed in the Source Wall. As the Lanterns race to the Source Wall, Hal heads there too, allowing the Omega Beams to spot in the center of a golem’s chest, exploding the creature. The Lanterns arrive and take out almost all of the golems, except for the last one which deflects their attempts. John Stewart makes a construct sniper rifle and take the creature out with the shot. Back on Mogo, Orion’s heart gets put back into his chest while Kyle gets some much needed rest.

HARLEY QUINN #27 by Frank Tieri and Elonora Carlini. Penguin has decided to take over a bunch of properties to build his new Iceberg Casino in Coney Island. After all of the supporting cast show up and continually try to get Cobblepot to stop his plans with no success, Harley shows up with The Joker, who convinces him to change his plans. It turns out that Mr. J. is just a hologram projected by Sy Borgman. In the end, she calls Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner to complain about the story. But they’re on vacation and could care less.

HARLEY QUINN #28  by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, John Timms and Tom Derenick. Chief Spoonsdale has Harley, Poison Ivy, and Harlem Quinn hide in the truck of a car being sold to a chop shop by Big Tony. That plan goes bad fast and that means the trio, with help from Red Tool, needs to kill off the crooks, making sure to do it in front of news camera That leads the current mayor to flip out and beat up Madison Berkowitz, who arranges to get him some assistance in the form of The Scarecrow.

HARLEY QUINN 25TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Dini, Daniel Kibblesmith, Chip Zdarsky, Paul Mounts, Chad Hardin, David Lafuente and Joe Quinones. In the first story, Harley tells Red Tool about the two days they spent in Las Vegas, where Harley, Ivy and Selena save Sam Gladstone who gave them cart blanche at one of his hotels, leading to all sorts of destruction when they hosted a party there. In the next tale, after thinking that Mr. J. has forgotten her special date, it turns out there is a surprise party for her, thanks to Ivy’s pressure upon The Joker. In the third story, Harley and Ivy team up with Swamp Thing to save the world. In the last tale, Joker and Harley are pulling off a caper which could result in a lot of deaths, leading Robin to convince her to disrupt the plot and save the day.

THE HELLBLAZER #14 by Tim Seeley and Jesús Merino. Constantine uses some magic to take him back to his youth at the same bar where he ingested the demon potion in the present. That’s when we see how he met policewoman Margaret Ames. In the recent past, he sees how he was fooled by two dwarves who got him to drink from the Mead of Poetry. Ames is investigating the murder of the bum from last issue and the dwarves cause the doctor to slit his own throat and, it appears, kills Ames. After that, John gets drunk, smashes his empty bottle and mutters a curse while walking away.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #28 by Bryan Hitch and Fernando Pasarin. Hunter is enjoying a meal on the Kent farm, where Clark later tells Lois he believes that the reason the future is in jeopardy is because of the Justice League. Later, Hunter reveals how everyone died, including Jon and Lois. After seeing the other kids reconnecting with their parents, we go to Midway City where Green Lantern Simon and Steve Trevor trying to figure out what is going on there. At the Watchtower, Diana is watching footage of the Kindred attack and comes to the conclusion that the war that happened in the future was with her. IN the end, Cube and Hunter come to the decision that Diana must die to save their future.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #29 by Bryan Hitch and Fernando Pasarin. Aquaman from the future bursts into the Kent kitchen and uses some tech he stole from Batman to beat down Superman and take him away. He then heads to Barry’s apartment, where he takes out Barry and Jessica, before taking Barry away. As he heads off to take down Cyborg, Batman arrives at the apartment and learns that there are children form the future involved too. and finds out that Wonder Woman has gone to Nova Scotia and gets attacked by the children of the future. After a time, Cube uses a Boom Tube to send them all to Midway City, which was not her plan. Simon is blasts the dome and it bursts open and the darkness within covers Wonder Woman. In the end, Arthur shows up to meet with Dory and Mera and he explains that Sovereign has come here to reclaim what she lost.