ABSOLUTE BATMAN #2 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta. When his father was killed, Bruce Wayne found himself trapped in the bat cage. Not long after Thomas’s death, Selina climbs through Bruce’s widow with the medal, telling him to get up and go with her. In the present, Alfred continues to surveil Bruce’s activities, noting that he works by day and fights crime by night.. he also has discovered numerous “boltholes” throughout the city that form the shape of a bat. Alfred’s handler order him to stop surveillance and let Batman be taken out by the Party Animals. They attack the empty skyscraper that is his base of operations but he blows the top levels of the building, leaving the tower in the shape of a bat. Elsewhere, Martha visits Gordon in the hospital. That night, Bruce joins in on Waylon’s poker game and all his friends are there, except for Selina who is travelling the world. He brings out one of the Party Animal’s masks and Eddie, who says that one of the chips in it can be decoded to anticipate where the Party Animals would strike next. After gaining information one Mayoral candidate Hamilton Hill, Bruce breaks into Hill’s campaign office, finding a folder on his computer labeled ‘ArkM’. When he opens it, Roman Sionis tells him that he will give Batman anything he wants if he can get out of the building alive, signaling that both GCPD and the Party Animals were on their way, leading Batman to go through a hatch and climb into the control room below. There he finds Alfred. Alfred says the Party Animals are not what they seem. Batman agrees to listen and hits a switch that turns the building into an armored vehicle.
ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #1 by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval. Many years ago, Krypton is ruled by the Science League and the bottom of the class structure is the Labor Guild. The Labor Guild wears the letter S on their outfits. Labor Guild members Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van live in the agricultural area known as the Redlands. Both have been blacklisted by the Science League because of their criticisms about them. At the mine where Jor-El works, he investigates splintering in the mine shaft and orders it evacuated but the mine manager disagrees. An earthquake rocks the place and green radioactive gas shoots forth, killing all but Jor-El, who escapes. In the present, migrant workers are forced by an army of Peacemaker soldiers into a diamond mine owned by Lazarus Corp. The workers discover that every amount of asbestos is gone, as are the diamonds, with one of the miners wondering if the Omega Man is responsible. The night previous, a new worker arrived and was invited by Joao to have dinner with him; a man who said he had been seeing things in Joao’s world before leaving saying he had work to do. As one of the Peacemakers beats Joao as he demands to know where the diamonds are, the Peacemaker learns that one worker did not show up: the worker Joao met the night before. His name is Kal-El and he is the now adult son of Jor-El and Lara and he has been travelling around the world trying to help exploited Lazarus workers. The Peacemakers attack Kal-El but his A.I. suit, known as Sol, protects him, telling him that their weapons are based on alien tech. He fights against the Peacemakers and the Phenomena Field Team arrives, causing him to activate his heat vision. A Lazarus agent named Lois Lane sneaks up on him and takes him captive. Meanwhile, an abandoned farm house in Kansas bearing the name Kent is seen.
ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #2 by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman. In the past, Diana is walking along the shores of the Wild Isle in hell and finds an injured pilot named Steve Trevor, rescuing him from a Hydra. As she and her mother care for him, she reveals that he is in Hell. In the present, Diana confronts Harbinger Prime, with her using both her abilities and some magic. She finally convinces Harbinger Prime to stop its’ destruction and leave. Following this, Steve meets with Diana, surprising her in the process and telling her he has orders to take her to meet with his superior officer. While the officer berates her and accuses her of being responsible for the monsters arrivals, she explains that Harbinger Prime was only the first of many. She and Steve leave and, as he marvels that her flying horse is actually the animated skeletal remains of the mythical Pegasus, a bigger monster arrives.
ACTION COMICS #1074 by Mark Waid, Mariko Tamaki, Skylar Patridge and Clayton Henry. Suck in the past on Krypton, Superman tries to figure out when he is and, after a violent earthquake, he realizes he is here shortly before Krypton is destroyed. To get back home, Superman knows he must find a way to recharge the solar battery, leading him to meet with Jor-El and seek his help. His mother opens the door while holding an infant Kal-El, leading to him to be overwhelmed and he introduces himself as Klar-Ken. Jor-El arrives, complaining about the Science Council. Superman shows him the batteries, impressing Jor-El. Superman also notices a protype of the Phantom Zone Projector, which Jor-El declares is a way to save the populace. A Science Council member bursts in and seizes the Projector. He also orders his men to take the batteries, knocking Superman unconscious and arresting everyone. Meanwhile, in the Phantom Zone, Aethyr tells Lar that he is planning to repurpose the Phantom Zone. Elsewhere, at the X’rphoan Intergalactic Exposition, the Khunds burst in and demand the bones of Emperor Kharlax, Superman of China tells them he is willing to help them so they will then leave but they attack him instead. What does not help is a fleet of Khund warships poised to strike. In the backup, Supergirl and Prisoner 8912 are captured by aliens who imprison them, deciding to auction off 8912.Supergirl is captured and the bailiff robot is finally able to free her. They burst into 8912’s cell with 8912 thinking they will be one once again.
ACTION COMICS #1075 by Mark Waid, Mariko Tamaki, Joshua Williamson, Jon Bogdanove, Skylar Patridge and Clayton Henry. Superman wakes in a cell along with his parents. Lara explains that Ro-Zan is jealous of Jor-El, which is a story different from what Kal-El had always believed. The Els get taken to the Science Council, where the decision is to not charge Jor-El but to keep both the battery bracelets and the Projector, with plans to use it as a prison for all of Krypton’s criminals, despite Jor-El’s objections. After Lara claims Ro-Zan is doing this only because she married Jor-El instead of him. In actuality, this is a distraction to allow Jor-El to steal back the bracelets. Once released, Jor-El takes Kal-El to Zor-El’s home so he can help find a way to charge the bracelets. While there, he meets his bratty teenage cousin Kara, which also goes against everything he understood. Superman asks how it would be possible for someone to create solid matter in the Zone and was told it was impossible. Elsewhere, at the X’rphoan Intergalactic Exposition, Super-Man and Superboy defeat the Khunds and demand to be taken to the Khund flagship. Connor challenges the Khund leader to a fight to determine leadership of the fleet. On Earth, Jimmy runs into Lois’ office, telling her there is sudden climate change occurring. Just then, the sun begins to disappear as Aethyr drains its’ energy. In the first backup, Power Girl asks Superman what Supergirl is doing in space and Superman says he cannot tell her, but Kara was the only person who could do this. Supergirl, the bailiff robot and 8912 make their way onto the prison ship, despite 8912 trying to escape. As they fly off, the bailiff robot tells Kara that 8912’s court records declare them “the destroyer of worlds.” In the second backup, Perry White wins the election.
ACTION COMICS #1076 by Mark Waid, Mariko Tamaki, Skylar Patridge and Clayton Henry. Zor-El tells Superman that he invented a device that would charge the bracelet but that was taken by the Science Council. There is another earthquake and Superman tells Zor-El that Jor-El’s theory is correct, which is rebuffed by Zor-El, to Superman’s surprise. Superman sneaks into the Science Council and finds Zor-El’s machine, partially recharging the bracelets before being attacked by the guards. He tells Ro-Zan he is from the future and that Jor-El is right and Ro-Zan will be known as the man who destroyed Krypton. Two guards shoot Kal-El but he is unharmed, flying back to the rift that leads him to the Phantom Zone. He re-enters the Well of Time, only to find the Phantom Zone ripping itself apart. Elsewhere, Superboy and Khuarr head to the Murder Pit. Kong tries to stop them but he is thrown into the ship’s furnace. He breaks out and finds that Conner won the fight and is now the “superoveradmiral”. In the backup, the bailiff tells Kara that 8912 is responsible for 157 planets. 8912 tries to take control of the shuttle, with Supergirl restraining them. 8912 makes psychic contact with Kara, begging her to kill them.
ACTION COMICS #1077 by Mark Waid, Mariko Tamaki, Meghan Hetrick and Clayton Henry. Currently, thanks to the work of Aethyr, the sun is shrinking and Earth appears to be doomed. In the Phantom Zone, Superman is doing his best to save the residents there from the growing field of solid matter. He finds Mon-El who reveals he was being attacked and had to kill his attackers. Her also reveals that Xa-Du told Aethyr where Earth is located and he will kill everyone in the solar system if he isn’t stopped. Superman confronts Aethyr and, with the help of Mon-El, stop him but at the cost of the villains own life as his plan to make things in the Zone solid resulted in killing him. With that, Superman heads to the rift that will bring him home. Meanwhile, Connor and Kong return to the museum with the Khunds where they arrange, under penalty of death, to return the missing items to where they belong, including the Fortress of Solitude. In the backup, 8912 reveals she has a brother and that he was the rage and she the fear and together they destroyed worlds, again begging Supergirl to kill her as that was the mission.
BATGIRL #1 by Tate Brombal and Takeshi Miyazawa. Cassandra meets with her mother and find themselves attacked by a legendary order of warriors known as The Unburied. Working together, they defeat their attackers and flee. Lady Shiva sees that her temple has been attacked, leading to mother and daughter investigating, finding everyone slaughtered. The Unburied attack and now they must truly work together to save themselves and to solve the mystery.
BATMAN #154 by Chip Zdarsky and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Mayor Nakano has been killed and Batman, Bullock and Jim Gordon investigate, with Batman interrogating Nakano’s assistant while Bullock interrogates Nakano’s wife. Batman gets a lead on a local businessman named Leonid Kull. Kull, newly established Mayor Jacob Horgan and Ed Nygma are having dinner when Batman arrives, with police trying to force him out of this private event, leading Batman to fight back and pulling a badge belonging to the Court of the Owls off one of them. Under the threat of being arrested, Batman leaves, going to the morgue and examining Nakano’s body. Later, Bruce is told by his personal assistant about things regarding his long-lost brother, telling him to sign over half of Wayne Enterprise shares. During a visit to Leslie Thompkin’s clinic, Leslie tells him how his father once had an affair with a woman named Tara. An angry mob attacks the clinic and Bruce fights back, getting saved by the new hero named Commander Star. Jim and Batman investigate at Nakano’s when Bullock calls and says that Koyuki was having an affair. That leads to Jim turning a gun on Batman, claiming he was only defending himself. Is Jim Gordon the murderer?
BATMAN AND ROBIN #15 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Javi Fernandez. The fire from the explosion continues to burn while father and son try to fight their way through and save people. After the dust has settled, with the young girl Damian had met seriously injured, father and son discuss what happened, with Bruce saying out the person Damian saw bears a resemblance to the serial killer known as Memento, although he tells Damian that this was likely a copycat. With Gotham buzzing about the appearance of memento, Batman and Robin continue to investigate. That night, Memento appears on a flaming boat and attacks Tiger Shark and his men.
BATMAN/SANTA CLAUS: SILENT KNIGHT RETURNS #1 by Jeff Parker and Lukas Ketner. Ten hours ago, in Egypt, an empty suit of armor shows up and begins to drain the life-force of people; similar to what is happening all over the world. Currently, Damian arrives at Zatanna’s home, telling her he needs the help of her magic and then proceeds to explain what has occurred. Members of the Justice League arrive in Egypt and contained the suit of armor, but the entity broke free and touched his sword against Superman and also Nubia, who has noticed that Doom’s Doorway has opened. As the heroes fail, Thunderheart gets Robin out of the battle and sends him away, telling him to bring back help. As he finishes telling Zatanna the tale, Klaus comes down her chimney explaining how, in their last meeting, one of the Monsterkind had escaped and he is sure this is related. Back at the battle site, a Norse giant appears and the heroes fight it. They defeat it but batman demands they stop as they realize the Silent Knight has built a castle out of human lives.
BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #33 by Mark Waid and Adrian Gutierrez. While the heroes struggle to both break free of Eclipso and alternately fight against him, with The Spectre getting involved. But even with his help, the fight goes badly until Doctor fate arrives and is able to use his power to destroy the black rock. Superman and Doctor Fate put the rock back together and trap Eclipso within it, leading to The Spectre hurling it into the sun to act as Eclipso’s permanent prison.
BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #19 by Zac Thompson, Dave Wielgosz, Michael W. Conrad, Brendan Hay, Rich Douek, Stefano Raffaele, Nikola Cizmesija, Christopher Mitten, Marco Santucci, and Stevan Subic. Batman teams up with The Scarecrow to attempt to stop a device that is causing fear and anger among Gothamites. The pair succeeds, even though it is eventually revealed this was part of crane’s long-term game after all. In the second story, Wonder Woman teams up with Plastic Man to try and retrieve her stolen lasso. That leads to them crosses paths with Roulette and she sets him on fire. But Plastic man meeting with Shadow King and then going undercover. In the third story, Animal Man’s daughter Maxine senses something wrong with her and that brings Martian Manhunter into the equation to reach inside of her mind where it is revealed she has become one with a hive of killer bees deep inside The Red. In the fourth tale, the Robins find themselves captured by Killer Moth, who is seeking revenge on the Robin that once sucker-punched him with a lead pipe, leading our heroes to declare it was Jason Todd. Despite that, he is willing to kill them too, but they team-up to escape and capture him. In the final tale, a meeting of people affected by the acts of Zsasz gets a surprise visit from the killer, who is prepared to finish what he started when Batman arrives. But one of the patients has now gained the courage to take a knife to Zsasz’s throat and, while Batman begs him not to do it, the man slits the killer’s throat. In the end, Zsasz will survive and the man will have to live with the consequences. But he may have already gone over the edge as he is seen adding a fifth scar to ones he already had.
BIRDS OF PREY #15 by Kelly Thompson and Sami Basri. Cass continues her undercover operation to try and free the Amazons who have been held captive by the Ninth Day Corporation, but she has underestimated them and is attacked and gets captured. She struggles to find a way out of her cell and uses her many skills to do so. She gets free and ends up in the bowels of the building where she comes face to face with one of the Ninth Day’s failures: a creature transformed by the Corporation’s experiments.
BLACK CANARY: BEST OF THE BEST #1 by Tom King and Ryan Sook. In the recent past, Black Canary goes to stay with her mother, the original Black Canary, as she is looking for her to train her for a sanctioned, no powers allowed MMA submission fight against Lady Shiva. As it turns out, her mother is fighting an aggressive form of cancer that has already left her bald because of her treatments. It is shown that the reason for the fight is Dinah making a deal with someone who has promised her cash and a cure as long as the fight goes six rounds. The two begin training, despite their reunion being a difficult one. In the present, Shiva comes out swinging and quickly gains the upper hand.
BLACK LIGHTNING #1 by Brandon Thomas and Fico Ossio. On the night that Amanda Waller won, Black Lightning, Lightning, and Thunder did their best to fight back, but their powers failed and Jefferson still feels guilty about it. Later. Jefferson learns of a teen named Isaac who has developed powers and is being held at bay by police. Jefferson intervenes, taking him to the Watchtower, along with Lightning. While there, Lightning gets a call from her sister Anissa, with Lightning picking her sister’s brain about when they would be together again and what happened with the relationship between Anissa and her girlfriend Grace Choi. Isaac breaks free of the containment unit as an energy surge is noticed in Suicide Slum, sending father and daughter back to Earth. Lightning tries to reason with the being who turns out to be Anissa, saying she is sorry that this happened again.
CATWOMAN #70 by Torunn Gronbekk and Fabriana Mascolo. Selina, still in her disguise as Evie, meets with Suzy Sinner, who fills her in on the activities of Katarina Belov and her sons Alex, Ivan and Mitya. The sons apparently each have keys to a vault that they must work together to open or kill the others who possess it. After the meeting, where Suzy realizes she is not really Evie, Selina realizes that she is being stalked and fights back against the man, where she finds out her identity has been compromised. She flees to a rooftop and is attacked again, defeating the would-be assassin and flees before anyone else can arrive.
DC HORROR PRESENTS CREATURE COMMANDOS #2 by David Dastmalchian and Jesus Hervas. Two months ago, the team confronted Zatanna, who was attempting to free some captive women who it turned out had been transformed into horrible creatures. In the process, Lt. Marilyn Harris was killed. In the present, Dr. West In the present, as Dr. West is flooded with those memories as the team made up of the newest members are prepped for the next mission, despite their infighting. Elsewhere, Brainiac has plans of his own by making his subjects becoming living bombs.
DETECTIVE COMICS #1091 by Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin. Batman continues to investigate the recent deaths of teens that were recently released from juvenile detention, including one that Batman had struck as he was holding a gun on the hero. Oracle reaches out to tell him that one of the teens they were keeping an eye on has been kidnapped. With Robin’s assistance, they free the boy and learn that this was retribution for the boy stealing from The Penguin. During the fight, Batman is injured by a crowbar strike and, meeting with Superman later, he reveals he is considering the treatment to keep him young. As Bruce, he goes to the clinic and receives his first dose of the drug. With Robin taking the boy to a hotel room to keep him safe, Batman visits The Penguin, telling him that whatever his problem was with the boy that it ends now. At the same time, the boy gets a visit from a mysterious and seemingly dangerous visitor.
THE FLASH #15 by Simon Spurrier and Vasco Georgiev. As it turns out, Wally West has been split into two beings. One is back in the real world and the other is with the family in Skartaris. The plan, as put forth by Inspector Pilgrim, is to eventually get the two back together again without causing a temporal implosion. Irey returns to her family just as strange creatures begin to attack, which they believe is due to Warlord saying that magic is fading. They notice a usually shape in the sky where only a single shard of light is getting through. Wally goes to investigate but his powers suddenly quit on him. A strange reptile woman arrives and, being unable to communicate, attacks the family, leading to Wade bringing forth Inspector Pilgrim who uses his powers to subdue the woman before leaving. Wally and Linda seem happy but Irey wonders what the connection is to their dog, which seems to be the source of some of the strange things happening.
GREEN ARROW #18 by Chris Condon and Montos. Many years ago, a boy named Kenny finds a puddle of black goo that comes from chemical waste barrels that are leaking. After stopping a criminal, Ollie goes back to his apartment and sees a news report that talks of the death of Donald Sherman: CFO of Horton Chemical and former business partner of Ollie. The police believe that Sherman’s death is connected to a string of murders. While breaking into the crime scene, he sees a photo of Sherman at a dinner and he recalls having gotten into a bit of a scuffle as Ollie accused him of illegally dumping chemicals. His investigation is interrupted by a police detective. Cooler heads prevail and she tells him of the death of Senator Eustace Foley, who was also at the same awards dinner.
GREEN ARROW ANNUAL 2024 by Joshua Williamson, Sean Izaakse, and Amancay Nahuelpan. Sometime in the future, Ollie is on the island and telling tales of his adventures to a group of children, including the sons of John Diggle and Roy Harper. After explaining how he spent years trying to track down the villain Firestarter, the kids convince Ollie to form a new Team Arrow and, together, they finally take down Firestarter.
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