ABSOLUTE BATMAN #6 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta. An injured Bruce takes refuge in Waylon's gym where he finds out that Bruce is Batman and is upset about just finding out about it, as are his other close childhood friends. Meanwhile, Gordon and Martha are trying to defend themselves amidst the chaos in the streets. Crates containing Party Animal masks drop from the sky and the built-in display shows target information and cash prizes, with Gordon and Martha having bounties of one million dollars each. At the same time, Julia Pennyworth’s train is attacked by the Party Animals but Alfred abducts her from it, with plans to leave the country and take her with him. Batman convinces Oswald to fly a helicopter that will take Bruce to Black Mask’s yacht, where he believes the servers are. He battles with Black Mask and uses his mask’s ears to blind the villain, beating him bloody and blowing up the yacht. With the yacht gone, the bounties end and Martha and Gordon dispatch them. In the water after the explosion, Batman is rescued by Alfred who says he is sticking around. In the end, The Joker is receiving transfusions from infants and, when informed that Black Mask has failed, he orders his assistant to get Bane.
ABSOLUTE FLASH #1 by Jeff Lemire and Nick Robles. In a desert, 15 year old Wally West panics as lightning explodes from within him. Two days earlier, a confused Wally makes his way back to Fort Fox, the Army base where he lives with his father. A guard threatens to notify his father about being out after curfew but scientist Barry Allen intervenes, taking him to an underground lab known as Project Olympus. Intrigued by their research into physics and biology, Barry offers him a part time job which is rebuked by Wally’s father, who orders the two not to have contact again. On the following day, Wally and his father have an argument and Wally sneaking out, seeing a man with red vertical rectangles around him as he enters the mountain lab. He sees Barry in a special containment chamber and yells for Wally to get out before there is an explosion that kills Barry. Back in the present a tank approaches Wally and he is attacked by a boomerang shaped drone, forcing him to flee into a cave. The Captain and Digger exit the tank and follow Wally. As he goes deeper into the cave, Wally discovers Barry’s corpse and blames himself for his death. In the end, set one year in the future, a shadowy figure emerges from a piece of metal in Barry’s ruined lab. He pulls up the archives of Project Olympus and watches Wally’s exploits, commenting that it is time to make the world fail.
ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER #1 by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez. A suicide bomber named Mike Miller sets off an explosion at a coffee shop which gravely injures FBI Agent John Jones. His wife Bridget encourages Jones to take time off, as do his superiors, but he insists to continue working. His bosses even insist that he stay away from the Miller case. Still, he continues while being tormented by multi-colored smoke that he sees everywhere, while also filling him with the thoughts of people he meets. In the end, as he feels he is losing his grip on reality, it becomes apparent a mysterious green being is telling him that he saved Jones…and the green man may actually be Jones.
ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #5 by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval. Six years ago, the Els escape from the Law Guild shock troopers that had been sent to kill them. In the Rao Mountains, their friends and neighbors are waiting to leave the planet with them and there is only a limited number they can take with them. As they load in, Kal goes back to collect some Kryptonian soil and the ground opens beneath him, forcing him to be saved by Krypto. On the crumbling planet, people riot and try to get on the Science league’s starships, which are soon destroyed. The exploding planet destroys all of the refugees pods, leaving only Kal -El’s ship. All of his family and neighbors are gone. In the present Superman breaks into the Peacemaker outpost in Pakistan, looking for Smith. He orders Sol to locate Smith but is told that Lazarus’ cyber defense are beyond Earth’s capabilities and Smith’s location is encrypted. Sol tells Superman that Brainiac is hacking into Lazarus and trying to get into Sol’s system, but he is able to find that Brainiac is in the Lazarus facility in Nevada. He also discovers that Brainiac’s lab has miniaturized cities in bottles filled with screaming people. Brainiac sends Superman a message telling him he can reveal Smith’s location to him but ignores it, landing in Kansas. He tells Sol he is afraid of what he would do if he found Smith and wants to be alone and reminded of home. He walks down the road towards the nearest town-Smallville.
ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #6 by Kelly Thompson and Mattia De Iulis. Diana finds herself having to explain her recent actions to Hades. When one of his followers goes to grab her lasso, he gets shocked. Diana explains how she scaled Mount Prometheus and temporarily freed Prometheus in exchange for a vial of his blood. He cuts off the tip of his finger and creates the skeletal Pegasus to assist Diana. Unsatisfied by her story, Diana then tells him how she slew the Basilisk by blinding herself and cutting off the creatures head. None of this explains the creation of the Nemesis lasso, and Hades shows how he has captured Circe.
ACTION COMICS #1084 by John Ridley and Inaki Miranda. The aliens, known as the Foreverers, tell Superman that they have been purchasing the telomeres of super villains in order to extend their lives. Superman is determined to stop them and attacks them but is overwhelmed because of their new powers. Scorch plans to help him but Manheim tells her not to and threatens to tell the truth about Major Disaster. In response, she opens a portal to Hell and he is dragged into it. Superman throws the Foreverers into it and their leader follows, saying he will return when Superman is dead. Superman insists on being told the truth and Scorch says she cannot but teleports them to Canada where they meet with Penny Booker. She explains that she went to see her father and, when angered, accidentally caused the earthquake that killed Boykin. Her father had Scorch teleport her away and he took the fall to protect her. As a form of penance, Superman makes her join the Titans. Even as he continues to allow her father to be jailed, which troubles him until Lois comforts him.
AQUAMAN #3 by Jeremy Adams and John Timms. Arion and the Lady of the Lake, named Vivienne lead Aquaman to a lake surrounded by walls of ice, telling Aquaman that the lake is her home. Dagon observes this from The Blue and sends his Mercenary Maids, led by Lori Lemaris, after them. Vivienne points to an anvil and says that the fire still burns within the ice and they will have to create a new weapon to kill Dagon and fulfill the prophecy as The Dark Tide. Arion tells Aquaman that Dagon is the person who took Aquaman’s family. As Aquaman waits outside the barrier as the weapon is being created, the Mercenary Maids show up, with Lori stabbing him, transforming him into ice. When Aquaman awakes, he finds himself chained to the mast of a galley and being transported to Dagon.
BATGIRL #5 by Tate Brombal and Takeshi Miyazawa. Batgirl battles the Unburied and seems to get the upper hand until a powder is sprayed into her face, leading her to fall asleep where she has dreams involving her mother and Stephanie. When she wakes, she finds herself captured along with her mother.
BATMAN #158 by Geof Loeb, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams. Batman stops a clown-masked crook who is hauling Joker Fish in a truck. Suddenly The Joker attacks with a crowbar and knocks Batman into a reservoir filled with piranha. Luckily the electronics in his suit stuns the fish and he manages to gets free, eventually being rescued by Talia al Ghul. At the same time, someone going by the name of Silence stuns Joker with a voice amplifier that ruptures the villains eardrums. When Batman deduces the short circuit may have compromised communications with the Bat Family, he orders them all to shut down all their systems for now. He then examines The Joker’s shoe that he found and that leads him to an abandoned carnival, where he finds that the villain alive, while still alive, had been tortured. Observing a series of videos and a table filled with scalpels, he deduces that Hush has returned.
BATMAN AND ROBIN #19 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Javi Fernandez. Batman and Robin continue to fight crime, even as Batman has recurring visions during the fights. He sends Robin back home, telling him to never face Memento alone. Oracle reaches out to Batman, saying that Bashar had worked in Kahndaq and his work was funded by a group called Manos Sanadoras that later seemed to morph into Novo Comeco and had ties to the League of Assassins. Lautrec meets with Crane who tells her that Professor Blye, presumed to be dead, remembers her and she insists that Blye’s body needs to be exhumed. That night, Damian goes to work with Bashir but finds a listening device his father had planted. Bashir takes Damian to the sub-basement where Memento kills Bashir. Batman goes to help his son, who is trying to flee. When he arrives, he finds Bashir’s body and his “spirit” tells Batman that Damian has been captured by the devil wearing Crowe’s face.
BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #37 by Mark Waid and Adrian Gutierrez. Lori has kissed Superman and this angers Ronal. Meanwhile, Swamp Thing is trying to stop the influence of Woodrue, whose plan was to get the two factions in Atlantis to war with each other. Aquaman has a heart-to-heart with Ronal and they team up to help the other heroes to battle Woodrue. But he soon learns that this is a trap and Aquaman, Ronal, and Mera all launch an attack on Woodrue, defeating him. In the end, Ronal and Lori work at repairing their relationship.
BIRDS OF PREY #19 by Kelly Thompson and Juann Cabal. At the safe house, Sin and Canary are attacked and seem to be doing well until Canary is shot by a sniper. Megaera breaks loose and scares the assailants away, giving Canary medical treatment after they’re gone. Meanwhile, in the Seam, Barda and Batgirl fight demons, with Batgirl capturing the demon possessing Constantine, tossing him back into our world and saving Constantine.
BLACK CANARY: BEST OF THE BEST #5 by Tom King and Ryan Sook. It’s Round Five between Canary and Shiva, beginning with Shiva telling Canary that she is a white trash loser, just like her dead mommy. While the fight continues, there is a flashback to Canary siting with her mother in hospital as she fights for her life. In the end, as part of the flashback, it appears that Canary’s mother has died, even as she says she will find a way to save her.
BLACK LIGHTNING #5 by Brandon Thomas and Fico Ossio. The Sons of Liberty beat up a powerless Black Lightning until Thunder arrives to take them down. MCPD arrives and orders her to power down and she is able to do so with Grace Choi’s help. The reunited team, with powers restored, confront Volcana and her team, with Black Lightning saying how Volcana sent Windfall to the Sons of Liberty with the nullifier and turned it on Windfall, that leads to a brawl between the pair. There is a massive brawl and Thunder uses her powers to eventually defeat Volcana. In the end, Black Lightning meets with Councilman Harriman and he tells him that he knows everything and will be watching him. Later, he meets with Josiah Power, telling him it’s time to talk about The Power Company.
CATWOMAN #74 by Torunn Gronbekk and Marianna Ignazzi. “Long John” Johnson gets assassinated and that leads Suzy to contact Selina, as Evie. Evie orders her to check out any security cameras at Alexander’s warehouse. Currently, Suzy tells her that Anton is at the warehouse leading to Evie blowing up the warehouse. Evie is nowhere near the warehouse and she is making her way into Alexander’s vault, subduing him in the process. As she proceeds forward, Anton attacks her and takes her down. In the end, a surprise visitor arrives and she passes out.
CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #4 by Christopher Cantwell and Sean Isaaske. Ace, Hal and Captain Comet head out to check out an anomaly on an asteroid. Once there, Red hears a cry for help and dives into a deep crater, with Hal following. They find the digested body of Cave Carson with a message written on the wall in Red’s blood, asking why he brought Cave here. Suddenly he is hit with a vision first of him being trapped on the plane that created the Challengers and then of Black Manta carrying Aquaman’s dead son. Hal carries Red out and he reveals he cannot feel his legs. Back on the Watchtower and confined to a wheelchair, he is quarantined with the other Challengers, except for Rocky who has not exhibited any signs of the anomaly effecting his teammates. In the end, Wonder Woman and Rocky visit the others, telling them they will not like what they have to be told.
DETECTIVE COMICS #1095 by Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin. Batman has been handed an envelope by Asema which appears to contain everything he has been looking for. Inside are the medical records confirming his life was saved by Thomas Wayne. It also shows that Scarlett Scott is Chill’s daughter and was taken away from Chill by Martha Wayne. He also learns that Theromise is made from the blood of the murdered teens. Batman visits and beats Chill, deducing he didn’t target the Waynes. He meets with Superman and provides the information about Theromise, which gets broadcast to the world and ruins the company. Batman then confronts Scarlett, who says she did not know the identity of her father. But she also tells him they need to be afraid of the organization that has been watching her, named Elixir. That is when an explosion happens that may have killed them both.
THE FLASH #19 by Simon Spurrier and Vasco Georgiev. As he is having an episode, Wally is Boom Tubed into space, allowing Green Arrow to freeze him with an arrow that has been treated with Grodd’s stasis tech. But he manages to phase through stasis and disappear. He ends up falling through the Spectraverse along with Pilgrim, who tells him the beams of colored light they see are the streaks of the sun, moon, Earth and the Atlantean machine in Skartaris, which causes Wally to leave. Back in Skartaris, the other Wally is being beaten by Y’hil. The Flash Family all arrive and, with Foxy with them, their powers come back and Wally defeats Y’hil. Linda speaks to her and tells her that Eclipso is not planning to marry her but kill her, which he admits to. She destroys the machine which causes his rage to force him to leave Warlord’s body and threaten to eat the Flash Family to find the energy he feels. Foxy attacks and is devoured by Eclipso, who feeds off the energy and they disappear through the portal. Jai teleports them to the moon and the two Wallys meet and agree to become one but the Skartaris Wally hears Foxy and is distracted, leading to Eclipso blasting the other Flash. Eclipso has now become Hellophage, threatens to take Darkseid’s throne and says Earth will submit or be destroyed.
GREEN ARROW #22 by Chris Condon and Montos. At a meeting where the evils of Freshwater are presented to citizens, it seems that there may be an uprising coming. With the Freshwater Killer who attacked Ollie in custody, Ollie goes back on the hunt and follows Benitez to Freshwater. Benitez gets confronted by a gang wearing Freshwater Killer masks and Arrow the dog tries to defend her but is savagely beaten and she is taken away by them. Ollie arrives and finds Arrow, tending to him and putting him in Benitez’s car before going on the hunt for her.
GREEN LANTERN #21 by Jeremy Adams and Jack Herbert. Kyle, Odyssey and Kon-El fight Starbreaker over possession of the Source Energy orb. Hal shows up to help but, in the process, Sorrow Lantern snatches the orb and escapes with Starbreaker. Later a plan is hatched where the Corps will rebuild all the destroyed Power Batteries before Starbreaker can build his own. Then Kyle and his team head to Reach to find Nth Metal. Hal returns to Earth and he and Carol take down a villain named Mind-Bomber. But when the Department of Extranormal Operations arrive to take the villain, he is shocked to see Hector Hammond working for the DEO. Carol gets Dove to infiltrate DEO to check on Hammond, only to find he is siphoning off Mind-Bomber’s powers to restore himself to the villain he once was.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #2 by Jeremy Adams, Morgan Hampton, and Fernado Pasarin. The team of John Stewart, Kilowog, and Razer, along with Shayera, arrive on what is left of Thanagar and find many Thanagarian refugees. Meanwhile, Atrocitus and his team are on a ship which is firing a drilling laser to steal a wealth of Nth Metal beneath the planet’s surface. John and Shayera make their way onto the ship and find Zillius Zox strapped to the engine to siphon off his Rage. While Atrocitus goes after them, Kilowog and Razer watch as Atrocitus’ team uncovers a cache of Nth metal buried underground. That is when Sorrow Lantern arrive to take the Nth Metal , but the cave collapses and reveals a huge egg made of the metal.
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