DC UNIVERSE Month 100, Part 2

 
HARLEY QUINN #62 by Elliott Kalan and Carlos Olivares. Brain Harley and her friends are watching a television show where Convoy is about to be interviewed. But the interview does not happen as Backhand, the man with the wrong-way arms interrupts it. Meanwhile, Brain Harley gets a visit from Detective Philo Charles, who takes her to the police station. At the television station, BatQuinn shows up to battle Backhand. Chicken Fingers arrives and tries to convince her to control herself and be his teammate, which she refuses before flying off. In the end, Backhand and Blimp find themselves in the same hospital bed when they get a visit from the Harley Quinn Revenge Squad.
 
JSA #19 by Jeff Lemire and Diego Olortegui. In the Unseem Realms, Kid Eternity has been taken over by the spirit of The Spectre and she gets confronted by the spirts of the deceased JSA members. Dr. Fate manages to separate The Spectre from Kid Eternity and Wildcat orders Kid Eternity to flee, with Mister Keeper ordering her to find Jim Corrigan. In the brownstone, Detective Chimp reveals that The Spectre may be coming back and his reappearance made be connected to the missing Kid Eternity. Later, a portal opens in the brownstone and Kid Eternity comes through, saying “it” followed her. As the JSAers race outside, they see the image of The Spectre overshadowing the entire city.
 
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #19 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. The Justice League has initiated an amnesty program for the villains who were involved with the K.O. event and that is not sitting well with the world. Gordon confronts Batman about it, but he says that Lex leaked the news but the League will handle it. :Later, Wonder Woman, along with Captain Marvel, The Flash, Doctor Polaris, Lex and Starro head to a military base where Neutron and Felix Faust are attacking. Starro disables Faust while the rest of the team catch up with Neutron. Lex holds a press conference saying Neutron and Faust were not given pardons but Polaris was because his desire for redemption and specific ability for this mission. Meanwhile, Mister Terrific’s team continue to Oa with the power bank. With Guy inspecting the power bank, their ship is hit by another ship and the power bank is thrown into space, with it crashing onto the planet’s surface. In the end, batman is surprised that Lex has managed to quell public outrage. Air Wave feels like he is losing control of his powers and disappears in a flash of green light, with the Brainiac Queen appearing in his place and asking about her mother.
 
LOBO #3 by Skottie Young, Jorge Corona and Nicoletta Baldari.  After having left his left job, Lobo has a virtual meeting with Dr. Bixwell of the Omega+ Department of Bounty Affairs. When asked about any traumatic events in his life, Lobo tells of a field trip with Miss Tribb’s class and he decides to release all of the Space Dolphins, which gets him in deep trouble as he continues his reckless ways. Later, he meets Francis Dalex: the Mauve Lantern. In the process, he steals the Mauve Lantern ring and creates butterflies that, unfortunately, bite and stab. After a week of chaos, Dalex makes a call and Green Lantern Staraor arrives to use their power to stop a rampaging mauve bear.Dalaz is stripped of his title and Lobo steals the mauve ring. In the present, Lobo refuses to go any further with the therapy session and decides to turn down continuing his duties as a member of the Intergalactic Bounty Union.
 
NEW TITANS #35 by Tate Brombal, Sami Basri, Jordi Tarragona, and Vicente Cifuentes. In the past, Eva meets with Victor Stone. In the present, Victor explains to his Titans who Eva is when the Fearsome Five attack. Red Devil transports the team away, with them ending up in the Justice League’s Secret Sanctuary where they face more hard-light constructs. Eva connects with Victor and he finds himself in Robo-Cyborg’s virtual world, playing video games with his younger self in a virtual moment; eventually convincing his younger self to merge, bringing the real Cyborg back to all of the Titans. In the end, Eva asks Cyborg when he will tell the Titans the truth about everything and he tells her he will when he feels they are ready.
 
NIGHTWING #138 by Dan Watters and Denis Cowan. Nightwing is still trying to figure out everything that has happened lately and that takes him to visit a farmer whose animals are being attacked by some kind of two-legged feral creature. Starfire arrives and Dick tells her that he tested alien blood and it’s a Psion. While they are talking, the Psion attacks, with Starfire cremating him. Then they discover what was his spaceship. Upon investigation, they see a prerecorded message from the alien who was named Vikil Shivic who asks for help. Starfire destroys the ship, setting the alien’s spirit free. In the end, Nightwing meets with D,A, Eastbourne to tell his side of the highway pile-up as the Witch of Bludhaven accepts a ride from someone who says they can help her..
 
POISON IVY #44 by G. Willow Wilson and Jaime Infante. Despite the Parliament of Trees expressing their anger at Ivy, she rebukes them, saying she has a city to run. She meets someone who has lost their job because of budget cuts and immediately reinstates him before holding a budget meeting, saying she wants to use money saved from firing certain contractors to reinstate services but gets pushback from the city council. The next day, Ivy finds out that The Den newspaper put out a hit piece on her and heads off to the newspaper to take care of things and learns the publisher was friends with Marie Henley, who Ivy killed. That night, Ivy makes her way to the publisher’s home where she kills him with a slow poison. With everything going on, Batman visits Janet and tells her she needs to find a way to convince Ivy to resign. In the end, Ivy brings the deceased publisher to the Parliament representative and feeds the corpse to it.,
 
SUPERGIRL #13 by Sophie Campbell. Black Flame is on a rampage and kills Thunderlad 002 and Thunderlad 004.Unable to help them, Supergirl flees and heads off to find Lesla, as Black Flame convinces Thundergirl to join her. Conner and Lena arrive and a fight ensues with Lena falling to the ground below as Thundergirl watches. Supergirl gets to Lesla’s lab, with lesla shocked to see the condition of Kara’s body. She agrees to leave, but wants to bring Grab and Melt, her two lab assistants, with them. Heading through the tower where the lab is, Lesla talks about how she wished she could undo everything. Then she decides to show Supergirl something in the sub-basement: a miniaturized Argo City, which they enter.
 
SUPERMAN #38 by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora. C.K. has closed the comic shop when he sees a woman being chased by monsters, that turned out to be illusions created by the girl, who reveals herself to be Witchfire. She hits him with a fire spell and that has no effect on him, exposing him as Superboy-Prime. She tells him she was trying to use a regular person to draw out demons her coven had discovered. Prime offers to help her. Changing into Goth themed clothing, they go to a nightclub that contains dark magic. She explains that her exposure to dark magic has led to her being killed and resurrected many times. Inside a secret tunnel, they encounter two of her coven: Encantadora and Mirabai, with the four of them continuing into a dungeon that has an effect on gravity. They eventually reach Blaze and Satanus: siblings of Neron. While Prime flexes his strength, the witches cast a spell that banishes the demons from Metropolis.  Later, Witchfire thanks Prime and considers them going on a date but Prime’s speech is distorted with him being dragged into a white void on a comic book page. There he meets Manchester Black, who provokes Prime into punching a hole in the white space, with Prime now in his black suit and being right in the middle of Infinite Crisis.
 
SUPERMAN UNLIMITED #13 by Dan Slott and Lucas Meyer. Two scientists, Rho and Sigma watch Beppo having lunch with Bippo. Robbers show up and Beppo bites one, who shoots Bippo in the chest. Beppo, irate, takes down the robbers and then  attacks the scientists. Meanwhile, Jon is troubled by nightmares and Lois calls for help, with Krypto responding while Tomorrow Man deals with another matter. Tomorrow Man eventually arrives and he heads off on a mission with Jon while Lois hears about the rampaging Beppo. Tomorrow man and Jon go to the devastated laboratory of the scientists and discover the scientists, who look remarkably like Dabney Donovan. Beppo attacks and bites through Tomorrow Man’s armor, causing Tomorrow Man to be infected by the animal that has been injected with Kryptonite. Beppo attacks Superboy, who fights back by almost knocking out the monkey. Tomorrow Man calls the Planet to find that Bippo is safe in the hospital. He also tells Lois about the Kryptonite experiments and she wonders why Jon was not affected, leading Tomorrow man to wonder what his younger self will do next..
 
TALES OF THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS: GUY GARDNER #1 by Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli, Laura Braga, and Vasco Georgiev. Guy captures an alien drug dealer and brings him to the planet of the Drekonites, where he demands to be paid 500 credits. Zardum from Green Lantern Internal Affairs has issues with his recent conduct and his paranoia about the Manhunters, who he insists are incapable of reactivating. Zardum summons John Stewart to meet with him, telling John that he needs to “reel in” Guy. On Earth, John heads to guy’s apartment, where he finds a lot of spoiled food and a pre-Lantern Manhunter in guy’s shower. Meanwhile, Guy is in space fighting space gorillas. John shows up and Guy immediately wants to know who he really is as “the real John” died. After a full-on, knock down, drag out fight, Guy is finally convinced that this John IS his John. Later, Killowog, at the direction of Zardum, that the Manhunters had been subverted by an alien from the Dark Pocket Universe; something they would have not known about if not for Guy and John. In the end, John and Guy go to dinner together and, after that, Guy had best watch his back as there is an angry gang of gorillas gunning for him.
 
WONDER WOMAN #33 by Tom King and Daniel Sampere. Twenty years from now, on the shore of Themyscira, Trinity gets a brief reunion with her father Steve Trevor but Wonder Woman tells the two that they need to follow her as she opens a way into the Underworld. Reaching the gates of the Underworld, they are greeted by Cerberus but the beast is easily tamed by Diana. They find Charron, who Steve had previously punched in the face and stolen his boat. Steve nicely asks to let them pass and Charron attacks them. Trinity subdues him and Diana knocks him out. Crossing the River Styx, they meet Zeus who refuses to let them pass so Diana cuts off her leg and they head to the palace of the Three Fates, where Diana demands they unmake the world they made which they refuse, saying what they did was not a mistake. Meanwhile, the Matriarch uses a Green Lantern ring to simulate Kryptonite and torture Superman, where he refuses to betray Diana and dies in the process. She races out and meets up with Diana, preparing for battle.
 
ZATANNA #2 by Jamal Campbell. Zatanna has gone to the Serpentes Shrine in the Sea of Dreams where she performs a purification spell, banishing the black tide from the shrine. She explains that the tide was the result of someone in the realm misusing magic. She returns to Shadowcrest and is greeted by Papa Midnite who says the spirit of singer Elodie Arnette has requested her. Elodie tells the story of Clara DuBois: a famous singer who died last week after being allowed to live for centuries. Aede, the spirit in the opera house where Clara had performed was devastated by her death and has become a plague spirit and started killing musicians. Meanwhile, Agent Di manes informs Director Bones at the DEO about the events from the last issue, which resulted in the deaths of civilians and agents. He is not happy and has found that the spirit’s origin is from a village in Southern France and instructs Di Manes to go there and finish the mission. Zatanna and her allies set up a performance to attract Aede while Di Manes and DEO agents watch. As soon as Zatanna begins to cast her spell, Di Manes and Agent Rhodes cast their own spell that knocks Zatanna out, with Di Manes taking control of Aede, with the spirit spreading flowers and red vines throughout the house.

DC UNIVERSE Month 100, Part 1

ABSOLUTE BATMAN #20 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta. A horrific looking Joker is seated in a chai watching images of Batman on a video monitor; appearing to be fed by the bodies of babies! Batman is in his basement, listening to a news report hyping up the Robin Initiative while musing about Gordon’s death. Harley and Alfred eventually break in to find him gone, with Harley finding Gordon’s files. Meanwhile, Waylon visits Eddie and asks for updates on Harvey and Oz. Harvey, bearing the light and dark, is hanging outside of Cosmo’s and Oz is upset that his place is empty and decides to go to Cosmo’s. Waylon convinces Eddie that they should seize back control together. Batman makes his way into Blackgate and meets with Chill, telling him he has read Gordon’s files and knows everything around the zoo incident was a setup to kill Thomas Wayne. But Scarecrow is also inside Chill’s cell, who tells him everything was done because his mother was a member of the Court of Owls and Batman was created as a joke between Grimm and himself. Because of Crane’s apparent influence, Chill hangs himself. Spotted by a guard, Batman flees but runs into a giant mech suit and the rerst of the Robins.

ABSOLUTE FLASH #15 by Jeff Lemire and Nick Robles. Wally wakes to seen Linda and Ralph being menaced by the Black Flash, who kills both of them. Heartbroken, Wally goes after it but is stopped by a future version of Wally who tells him to stop looking for his father. In actuality, this is simply a future vision. Linda shows him that she has been researching things and has discovered an upstart super-lab made up of Barry, Ray Palmer, Elias Stone and Sam Scudder. There is no information on Scudder, Palmer is apparently dead and Stone is working out of Detroit. Meanwhile, the Rogues are hiding out  in Missouri when a drone arrives with a message saying that vacation is over. The message is from Colonel Rick Flag and he tasks them with killing Grodd. In Detroit, Wally is greeted by a hologram of Ray Palmer who talks about the Dark Particles and instructs Silas to destroy his lab and find Barry and Thawne and destroy their work as well. But Wally now has a notebook with notes, including information on…Still Point.

ABSOLUTE GREEN ARROW #1 by Pornsak Pichetshote and Rafael Albuquerque. While Jubal Slade, the cofounder of Greenarrow’s Trading, is talking to someone on the phone, he discovers that his bodyguards have been slain by someone firing arrows. A hooded man arrives and kills Slade too. Through news reports, it is revealed that there was a very public feud between Slade and the recently murdered Oliver Queen. Meanwhile, Dinah Lance is struggling as a bodyguard for hire in order to help pay her father’s medical bills. Despite her better ideas otherwise, she considers a job from Malcolm Merlyn to take a job protecting Reese Tyler, who has been named the head of Hammond Pharmaceuticals. She learns there are three suspects in Stone’s murder: Roy Harper, Mia Dearden, and Tom Hallaway. She refuses and Hammond cancels her father’s medical insurance in response. Later, in her new assignment, the mysterious archer arrives at the Archer Cave and kills Tyler with a poisoned arrow. Unleashing another arrow, an explosion occurs and the archer attacks, killing the bodyguards and cutting off Hammond’s right arm. In the end, Merlyn and Lance investigate the Cave and discover a long deceased boy with eyes all over his body.

ABSOLUTE GREEN LANTERN #14 by Al Ewing and Sid Kotian. The spirit of Hal Jordan meets with Ain Aur(John Stewart) and Ain Rao(Guy Gardner), with the spirit of Tomar Jo(Jo Mullein) arriving, explaining that Todd Rice is alive and turned into a monster in an obsidian shell. John tells her they are inside the Green Lantern, in the presence of Oa. Jo tells Tomar Re that she is not leaving  Cam again, but he tells the story of how Tomar’s mother passed her red flame to him before she died, as the planet of Xudar was destroyed and Tomar Re went about killing every Blackstar he encountered. He tells the gathered Lanterns that they are going off to kill Mogo. Blackstars Katma Tui and Salaak arrive and Hal, Ain Aur, and Ain Rao are sent to fight them while Tomar Re holds Jo back, but she fights back against him. Back on Earth, Cameron tells Simon that it was Tomar Re who was responsible for Jo and Hal being abducted. That is when Hammond’s private army arrives, leading to the pair heading into the garage where Simon grabs Rice as Cameron gets the car. Jumping inside, the trio heads off. .

ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER #11 by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez. John continues to struggle with everything as the Agency battles with The Martian, with John threatening to kill himself but ultimately firing at Despair-O, but ultimately kills the agents instead by mistake. Meanwhile Bridget tries to find a way to escape even as Tyler is currently possessed. Despair-O takes John to Death Row where an inmate named Derrick is executed, with Despiar-O telling John that “free will is a fairy tale”. Bridget finally escapes and reunites with John, who is in a very bad state physically and mentally.

ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #19 by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval. In the recent past, John Henry Irons, who developed the Peacemaker helmet for Lazarus, was working at a minimum wage job at a meat processing plant where he is seen preparing to use his hammer to kill a cow. In the present, he is in the basement of the Lazarus building, planning to kill Ra’s al Ghul but King Shazam has been freed and has disrupted those plans. King Shazam is upset by the noise in the world and finding he has been dead for many centuries. When Superman tries to calm him down, he is punched and sent thousands of miles away. Ra’s tries to convince Talia to give him the Father Box but she refuses. King Shazam turns his anger to Talia and demands to know where the Wizards Brainiac are. When Ra’s tells him that he had only been Pharaoh for eight days and died 3,000 years ago, King Shazam says he has the wisdom of Solomon, declares Ra’s a liar and kills him using his cloak of black sands. Superman returns and, finding Ra’s dead, unleashes his rage upon King Shazam. Burning off his beard, King Shazam returns and Superman tries to explain that murder is wrong but the two fly off and battle in the sky. Irons activates the jets in his boots and flies towards the battle, hitting King Shazam in the jaw with his hammer. After battling across the sky and even through Gotham where Absolute Batman watches, they land on a beach, continuing their battle. That is when Hawkman arrives.

ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #20 by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman. Diana sends Zatara and his daughter away so she can battle the Iron Maiden, which leads to Cale changing the Prime Directive of the robot to capturing Wonder Woman, which happens and she is brought to Area 41.X. As she is tortured, she begs Hecate for help. In the home of the king and queen of the underworld, Hades and Persephone try to patch their fractured relationship. And, in the process, Diana is transported to the Wild Isle. Cale meets with a captured Minerva and tells her that her friend Diana has left her behind.

ACTION COMICS #1098 by Mark Waid and Skylar Patridge. Epoch has stolen Clark’s spaceship and Martian Manhunter believes the villain is looking to weapon that could kill Clark and possibly the Justice League. While Booster wants to pursue him, the ultimate decision is to stay and protect Superboy. At the Kent farm, John and Martha explain how they had spent years trying to have children when the ship crash landed and how they had to clear legal requirements to adopt Kal. Later, Jonathan found a crystal that projected images of both Krypton and Kal’s parents. Clark says how he is scared about his friendship with Lana and Mary has a solution which has her going to school with him, making her jealous and inviting him to study with her. When Clark and Mary return, the team track Epoch to the abandoned farmhouse, finding Epoch who uses his weapon on Kal and it has no effect because Superboy is actually Martian Manhunter in disguise. Epoch manages to use a red solar energy net to trap the heroes but, when he threatens to kill Superboy and his parents, Superboy breaks free and damages his armor, causing the villain to disappear. Superboy falls to the ground as he realizes his senses have weakened following the fight and his powers are gone.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN: BOOK OF EL #8 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Cian Tormey. Superman, Otho-Ra, Khan-El, and Alura Van-El head to Tamaran to recruit the daughter of Brandon Kent, Theand’r Ban-El but have to fight there way through Kry-Ux’s forces first. Theand’r debates whether she should send forces to help but her husband declares Kry-Ux has been an ally and they should send a diplomatic mission instead. As Kry-Ux’s forces attack, Theand’r orders an evacuation of the planet.

Meanwhile, Ronan and Rowan head to where Brainiac-3 has sent them to seek out the children, but find them on an island in space surrounded by a force field. Once inside, they find that the island resembles Ancient Greece and realize they have been led to the home of Pyrrhos the Red and he attacks, draining their powers. Inside his castle, Pyrrhos takes Osul-Ra out of the dungeon, explaining that he was created when Superman broke the magic hourglass and freeing Circe in ACTION COMICS #1060. He explains he plans to take the Fire of Olgrun from him and use it to defeat Kryl-Ux, although it will also kill Osul-Ra.Elswhere, Ronan and Rowan manage to telekinetically move Brainiac-3 into an old Superman robot, who may or may not kill the pair.

BARBARA GORDON BREAKOUT #1 by Mariko Tamaki and Amancay Nahuelpan. Continued from BATMAN #9. As part of the Bat Family’s plan to figure out what Vandal Savage’s ultimate plan is, Barbara Gordon has allowed herself to be arrested and sent to the Supermax, where prosecutors and cops have been housed with criminals. Jennifer Peck, former Gotham A.D.A. has already died there, labeled a “suicide”, as has former police captain Daniel Rascott. While helping to break up a fight, Barbara gets into it with Die: “daughter” of Two-Face. That night, while in her cell, she hears noises and is surprised by what she sees .

BATGIRL #19 by Tate Brombal and Takeshi Miyazawa. While fighting against Wu Bin and her spirit ninjas, Wu Lin seemingly turns and joins with the Midnight Eye. But he turns on Wu Bin and slays her, asking The Midnight Eye to remove batgirl’s curse as the contract is voice because of Wu Feng breaching his own contract, provided she agrees to allowing herself to one day work for him. She agrees, all are returned to the land of the living and  Wu Lin is resurrected.

BATMAN #9 by Matt Fraction and Ryan Sook. With the Bat Family being considered outlaws by GCPD, Batman and Oracle decide it is time to change their tactics. He sends Duke and Stephanie out with items they need protected from GCPD and send them to various locations around the city, with orders to use their burn bags if needed as they make their way to various bunkers. At the same time, he tells them to get to the catacombs in Harborview and leave their equipment with “Father Michael(Azrael)”. As the team members head out, he meets with Damian and swaps missions with him. As Duke flees the police, Batman activates Bat-Bollards from under the street to stop the chasing vehicle. Oracle sends out a message that GCPD hears, basically saying she is signing off. This leads the police to the Clock Tower and she is arrested. Damian’s mission was a simple one: set explosives and blow up Wayne Manor. To be continued in BARBARA GORDON: BREAKOUT #1.

BATMAN #163 by Geof Loeb, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams. As Batman fights with The Joker, the villains tries to convince him they are on the same side in the ongoing battle with Hush. Bane, Croc, Mister Freeze, Penguin, Ivy, Scarecrow and Clayface all claim that Hush has betrayed them and follows them, sending Clayface as a decoy to fool the Bat Family. They find ‘Batman’, who is revealed to be Clatface and their combined might defeats him. Batman and the villains he has teamed up with find Hush, Jason and Silence. Batman tries to convince Jason to join him but he is mortally wounded by Hush. Talia arrives and kills Hush. In the end, Talia takes batman to a Lazarus Pit. When he rises, she notes he is different and something is wrong, even as her kisses her.

BATMAN/STATIC: BEYOND #6 by Evan Narcisse and Nikolas Draper-Ivey. Batman and Static continue to battle against Melvin and, during the process, his parents are injured. In the aftermath, he is teleported away and not by his own doing. In space, the Justice League battles the invaders who have captured Melvin. Batman and Static figure it out and make their way onto one of the ships, fighting the aliens

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #51 by Mark Waid and Adrian Gutierrez. Superman, Batman and Robin head off to try and find two SR-71 pilots who have gone missing. In the process they hit a magnetic field that forces them down to what turns out to be Skartaris, where they meet not only a T-Rex but Travis Morgan: one of the missing pilots who is known as The Warlord. Warlord shows them a battle going on between the residents of Skartaris and lizard men controlled by someone calling himself Tyrant Rex. In the process, Superman is stabbed and captured.. Batman and Robin and Warlord’s allies-Machiste, Tara, Mariah, and Shakira defeat the lizard men. Travis explains time moves differently and that the other pilot is Tyrant Rex. What they do not know at this moment is Kreitzer has been transformed into a lizard man himself.

BATWOMAN #3 by Greg Rucka and Dani. In Petalon, the police are dealing with the aftermath of Batwoman’s killing of the attackers from last issue. In the sanitarium, Kate is missing and Dr. Agelastos is not even certain she is in the place. At the Palas Tyche Casino, Despina tells Pagona that Batwoman has declared war on them and they plan to counter attack. Kate’s father visits Dr. Sidaris and demands to see his daughter. She refuses but notices he is bleeding and, as he leaves, he demands they restrain and sedate her and don’t let her out. Sidaris meets with Kate and she insists that she was there all night, even though her father implied Kate left the grounds last night. Jacob has a video conference with batman, asking for the Dark Knight’s help. Elsewhere, Gores goes to the police station to speak with Brigadier General Verdanis, bribing him to drop any investigations into his business and the murders. That night, Batwoman goes into Eschaton Tower where she battles with Pagona. Renee shows up as The Question and the pair battle Pagona, who manages to escape.In the end, the two kiss but Batwoman stabs Renee and then flees, leaving her former lover bleeding on the floor.

CATWOMAN #87 by Torunn Gronbekk and Davide Gianfelice. Black Mask has captured Holly and is now having an unnamed woman, possibly a part of the False Face Society, masquerade as Selina, traumatizing Holly. Elsewhere, Catwoman is searching for clues regarding Holly when she receives a call from Black Mask, showing Holly in some sort of padded cell.. The room is running out of oxygen and he had provided her with a syringe in case she wants to take a quicker way to her ultimate death. Catwoman, believing she has figured out where Holly is, heads off to rescue her, ending up at the ruined Seagate Home for Troubled Teens, where she meets with a contact named Phillip, who tells her where Holly is before being shot by a member of the Society. Catwoman battles and defeats the attacker and makes her way to Holly, who is petrified to see Selina, even as she explains that she was not the person who tormented her. Elsewhere, Maggie Kyle realizes that Black Mask has been in her home and is coming for her. In the end, the fake Selina puts a package in a locker in Burnley Station before calling 9-1-1- to tell them there is a bomb there.

DEATHSTROKE THE TERMINATOR #3 by Tony Fleecs and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Many years ago, Wintergreen had called together a group of assassins, including Deathstroke, Captain Boomerang, Cheshire, KGBeast, Black Spider and others to discuss the need for them to all have guidelines. At that point, Ra’s al ghul and his League of Assassins attack. Woreking together, they fight the ninjas and Slade captures Ra’s, who orders the League to stand down. Among the established rules is to follow orders and family is off-limits. In the present, Deathstroke, still reeling from the death of Wintergreen, faces off against Deathblow and Deadshot, demanding to know who killed Wintergreen. What gets revealed to Slade is that he was actually the person who killed Wintergreen and it has been caught on camera..

DETECTIVE COMICS #1109 by Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin. In the past, a young man, revealed to be Prion,  arrives at Wildcat’s gym, seeking training. In the present, Ollie is falling after having been pushed off the top of a building but saves himself because of his acrobatic ability. Batman and Ollie go back up top to confront Reynoso’s granddaughter and she flies away with a parachute, but Batman catches her and they end up fighting on the ground. An explosive in her backpack stuns Batman and she attacks him with some sort of unknown power she possesses. Green Arrow arrives and his gas arrow disrupts her attack and she is ordered to flee. She ends up at a safe house with Black Canary and Mr. Muniz.

EMPEROR AQUAMAN #17 by Jeremy Adams and John Timms. The Crimson Queen and the Old Crone meet with Black Manta, with Lolanna suggesting they need to work together to achieve both the destruction of Atlantis and the death of Aquaman. In Atlantis, there is some concerned that Aquaman has opened up the undersea kingdom to everyone. Aquaman is off in O-World where he and Jarro are meeting with the being known as Father Star.Captain Nemo detects a large heat signature and Jarro attempts to save Aquaman my attaching himself to Arthur’s face in an effort to save him. Jarro believes that Father Star is going to release his children and Jarro believes that he and Aquaman must destroy this world to save other worlds. Jarro harnesses Aquaman’s power of the Blue and destroys Father Star.

THE FLASH #33 by Ryan North and Gavin Guidry. Seeking the nuclear bomb, Flash races across both Central and Keystone City with a Geiger counter. He tracks down Robby Eve’s office but finds it empty. He meets with Linda who tells him the man behind the website is George Stebbings. He gets Captain Cold and they head to a government bullion depository, deducing the bomb is inside the safe. Wally opens the vault and they find the bomb with one second left. Cold defuses the bomb and then Wally sends him away so he cannot steal anything. Flash then heads to Stebbings’ office in Brooklyn, with Stebbings saying he planned to destabilize the United States’ economy and make money in the process. Wally gets a vision of where Stebbings’ servers are located and heads off to shut it down. The next morning, Wally has multiple visions of what happens to people around him and uses his super-speed to prevent accidents from happening to them. He now realizes he can look into the future whenever he wants to.

THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #2 by Jeff Lemire and Rafael De Latorre. In the past, Ronnie Raymond struggled to be something great, so he lied to get a position working with Professor Martin Stein in order to impress a girl named Doreen Day. Stein takes pity on Ronnie and brings him on to help with his research, acting as his mentor. One day, Stein discovers a bomb which goes off and merges the two into Firestorm.. But, after years together, Firestorm has seemingly become sentient and Ronnie has been separated from Stein. After the events of last issue, the Justice League has arrived and hopefully will be strong enough to stop the rogue Firestorm.

GOTHAM ACADEMY: FIRST YEAR #4 by Brendan Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl, and Marco Ferrari. Following the fire at Arkham, where she was saved by a bat version of Tristan,  Olive has a series of time gaps. She is also crossing paths with Madigan who blames her for everything happening to him. She flees Madigan and ends up being saved by Tristan, with the pair landing in a cornfield where she sees a vision of Jonathan Crane as Scarecrow. Later, while still having memory gaps, she sees that someone has been in her room and torn up letters from Kyle. Tristan visits her and dresses in a fantasy inspired outfit before they fly off together. When she wakes, wearing his sweatshirt, she wonders what has happened. In the end, she once again begins taking the medicine she got from Crane.

GREEN LANTERN #35 by Jeremy Adams, Ig Guara, and Montos. Somewhere in Beverly Hills, an alien is about to get his physical appearance changed to a doctor. Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Odyssey finds herself in a makeup chair while Kyle acts as her bodyguard. But the makeup artists cannot cover her face tattoo and the director sends her to see Dr. S. while Kyle gets a message about a hostage situation in Terrificrecords. Kyle finds a Cantarian disguised as a human holding a woman hostage. After saving the hostage, he defeats the creature and threatens to bring him back to his home planet unless he tells him where he got his skinsuit. At the same time, Tobi Y2K helps Hal and Jayna escape from the Guardians while relating his origin. He claims he comes from a version of Earth where everyone had become dependent on technology and Y2K devastated their world. But Tobi’s father had constructed a spaceship and sent him to Takron-Galtos, where he became a bounty hunter. But he also has been leading the pair to a tap involving the OOEC. Jayna gets trapped in some kind of goo so the OOEC soldiers can kill her but Tobi is angered by it and helps her escape, even though the soldiers have already taken Hal away. In the end, Odyssey is with Dr. Stanley Kin, better known as Dr. Skin and she requests he change her face completely so not to be a burden to Kyle. Kyle breaks in and is attacked by his alien secretary. He defeats her and saves Odyssey, as they learn Dr. Skin is also an alien.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #16 by Morgan Hampton, Juan Jose Ryp, and Will Conrad. Guy, Razer, Yrra and the projected form of Aya make their way back to the Interceptor to find it smashed, as the real Aya, currently controlled by a Manhunter, reunites with the other Manhunters within the Biot and they are all reformed in Aya’s image. Their plan is to use the Entities’ power to control the universe. Guy and the Lanterns head to Oa, with Guy using his new powers to see that the reformed Manhunters have captured Butcher and Predator-the red and blue entities. Seeing that Effigy is going after orange entity Ophidian, the Lanterns head off to stop them, with Soranik using Parallax and Yrra doing the same with Proselyte. Effigy allows Ophidian to possess him before the Manhunters can take it and, as Yrra and Soranik arrive, Effigy makes Oa’s sun into a supernova to destroy the Manhunters, with the two heroes being pulled into a black hole. As Guy, Jo, John, Razer and Larfleze approach the black hole, they are all pulled in.

Some more new first issues.

 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1000/QUEEN IN BLACK CGD 2026 by Joe Kelly, Al Ewing, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, John Romita Jr., Iban Coello, and Nic Klein. Spider-Man faces off against The Answer. Nothing great to see here, honestly, until you get to the one page end where Mr. Crane finds he is a 99.89% parental match to a Parker. Is this a long, lost brother to Peter? If you haven’t heard that Hela is going to become the Queen in Black in the next symbiote saga. And the Hulk, if you haven’t been reading it, has completely been taking over by The Eldest and everything is going to lead into INFERNAL RAGE.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN/VENOM: DEATH SPIRAL BODY COUNT #1 by Charles Soule and Kev Walker. Spiral was the villain who had spent months tracking down family members connected to Eddie Brock, Peter and Mary Jane. Well, now he’s dead but this is his origin story with a hint of something to come in the future. If you read the mini-series and crossovers, it fits. Other than that, nothing to see here.

ARMAGEDDON/X-MEN CGD 2026 by Chip Zdarsky, Jed MacKay, Ryan North, Francesco Monili, Frank Alpizar, Delio Diaz, and Federico Vicentini. One of Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day entries promises to give exclusive looks inside of upcoming stories. AVENGERS ARMAGEDDON is the first and somehow Red Hulk, based on everything happening in recent titles, has gone rogue and now has created a scary future where he rules. The X-Men piece  is setting the stage for DNX, where the X-virus is being prepared to be unleashed into the world. And, if you followed the X-Men X OF REVELATION stories, you know this is bad stuff coming down the road. As always, these pieces could end up in the actual comics but, if not, this is the first glimpse of it all. Oh yeah: there is also a preview for DOOMQUEST.

BEYOND MEGALITH #0 by  Matt Kindt, Lewis Laroga, Joshua Dyart, David Lapham, Bill Sienkiwicz, Jacob Phillips, Tony Millionaire, Robert Venditti, Trevor Hairsine, and Tomas Giorello. Bad Ideas has put out this $2.00 ashcan to hype four of their upcoming series: MEGALITH(a cool looking Sci-Fi series), THE HAB, THE ODDBALL’S ODYSSEY(a sure to be trippy tour de force from the guy who created SOCK MONKEY), and TANKERS VS ANCIENT ALIENS. Also included are brief previews of Derk Kolstad and Robert Venditti’s WARBIRD and the Horror Fable PROJECT: GOAT from David Yardversky, Philip Gelatt, and Adam Polina. A nice promotional piece that has me definitely interested in many of these projects. Not bad for two bucks!

DC/MARVEL: SUPERMAN/SPIDER-MAN #1 by Mark Waid, Tom King, Christopher Priest, Sean Murphy, Matt Fraction, Jeff Lemire, Greg Rucka, Gail Simone, Jorge Jimenez, Jim Lee, Daniel Sampere, Steve Lieber, Rafa Sandoval, Nicola Scott, and Belen Ortega. In celebration of the classic team-up, DC strikes first with this anthology featuring cross-company team-ups. Yeah, we get Supes and Spidey fighting Doc Ock and Brainiac in the main story. In the seven backups, we get Lois and MJ, Superboy-Prime and Spidey, Jimmy Olsen and Carnage, Jonathan Kent and Uncle Ben, the Planet and the Bugle, and Power Girl and The Punisher. Fun stories, lots of cameos throughout. 

DEADPOOL: APRIL POOL’S DAY #1 by Gail Simone, C.F. Villa, Robert Gill, and IG Guara. Poor Wade! Everyone’s favorite Merc with a Mouth gets visited by numerous characters, thanks to a mysterious portal. There’s Starr the Slayer, who looks very much like a Barry Smith era Conan before ending up in a Romance comic where he has to deal with Sgt. Storm’s Ragin’ Raiders. Apparently, this all has to do to the ending of…wait for it…the Genre-Verse, where all the classic comic genres of the past-Romance, War, Funny Animals, Westerns-are no longer produced or even being read. Don’t expect anything earth-shaking here: it’s just dumb fun!

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT MIMI GREEN? #1 by Connor Goldsmith and Josh Cornillon. Mimi Green is an influencer who has opted to go to some kind of wellness retreat after a scandal. But, what she discovers is that there is some weird world beneath the retreat and they are trapped in it. Did I mention that she has a secret lover named Natalie and there is a chance that Natalie might have gotten eaten by what lurks there. It is a really weird tale with some neat twists and turns and an almost hypnotic looking creature. The art is very cartoonish but serves the story.

ENERGON UNIVERSE 2026 SPECIAL #1 by Dan Watters, Robert Kirkman, Joshua Williamson, Pye Parr, Jason Howard, Conor Hughes, and Tom Reilly. Here’s a Free Comic Book Day sampler for the four Energon titles from Image: TRANSFORMERS, VOID RIVALS, GI JOE and the forthcoming coming M.A.S.K. Honestly, M.A.S.K. was not a cartoon I gravitated to or know much about. But this actually looks like it could be fun!  The others? If you want to jump onto a series, find this free book. Otherwise, you won’t find much here for you.

ESTUARY: A GHOST STORY #1 by David “DB” Andry and Tim Daniel. Oni delivers this mysterious, yet beautifully illustrated ghost story. Wrapped within the search by a young woman hired by a nun to search for sunken treasure there is this ghost that arrives. What is the connection between this mission and the ghost and where will it lead? You won’t get a lot of info in this first issue but it sure looks like there is enough space in the plot to just give us small breadcrumbs until the big payoff. It’s an interesting story but the true highlight is Daniel’s art.. 

FLASH GORDON #0 by Dan Abnett and Manuel Garcia. I am a bit baffled why Mad Cave decided to start a brand new arc in this series by giving it a Number Zero. This is not a true origin issue and the next issue following this will be number 16. But this is the prologue to a new story arc and follows directly after the events of the previous issue. Flash is back on Earth after saving the universe again. And now he is teaching trainees, which leads to an unexpected space journey, first contact with an alien species, and some other shenanigans with his rookie team. It also gets him in hot water with his boss who grounds him. Abnett’s story lays in some groundwork and Garcia’s art shines. Oh yeah: Flash reunites with Dale but not on the best of terms, it seems.

GIANT-SIZED SAVAGE TALES #1 by David Avallone, Mariano Benitez-Chapo, Pasqual Qualano, and Sebastian Piriz. Dynamite brings us another one-shot anthology featuring Red Sonja, Vampirella, Allan Quatermain and Gulliver of Mars. All well and good as they are all self-contained stories features those characters. HOWEVER, the Gullivar story is Chapter Four, meaning you are going to be more than a little lost unless you know where to find the previous three chapters in SAVAGE TALES #1 from 2022, plus the 2022, 2025 Winter Specials. Happy hunting!

IF DESTRUCTION BE OUR LOT…#1 by Matthew Rosenberg, Mark Elijah Rosenberg, and Andy MacDonald. This is such a wild story and I cannot wait to see where it ends up. Here is the basics: humanity is extinct and the robots who once helped humans could not be happier. But not the robotic replica of Abraham Lincoln, who questions what it his purpose if not to serve and assist humanity. His only friend among the robots is a sentient bus named…Bus. When the two one day come across a barrier and see there is something outside of it and make the decision to find out what exists there and believe there is more to their lives than only what they were designed to do. While the art is cartoony, the story is filled with a ton of heart. Highly recommended! This may be one of the best new series of 2026.

LADY MECHANIKA: THE MECHANICAL MENAGERIE #1 by Madeleine Holly-Rosing, Joe Benitez, and Martin Montiel. Lady Mechanika is the survivor of a serial killer in London and has had her own amputated limbs replaced with mechanical ones and became a private detective. That is the basics except it was created by Benitez and he has won awards for his amazing art. This is the newest one, but the multiple mini-series have been coming out for over 15 years and also run through a host of FCBD issues. If you love great art and a steampunk world, this is for you!.

MAD ABOUT DC #1 by NOT the Usual gang of Idiots. Surprise! Not a reprint! DC let Chip Zdarsky take the helm on this look at DC’s heroes. And he has loaded it with spoofs, satire, and a ton of guest contributors. And it’s a true who’s who! Skottie Young, Tini Howard, Mark Waid, Ty Templeton, Jim Zub, Dave Johnson, Gerry Duggan, Tony Moore, Rainbow Rowell, Kyle Starks, Joe Kelly, Cody Ziglar, Kelly Sue DaConnick, Gail Simone, Colleen Doran, Scott Snyder, Mariko Tamaki, Riley Rossmo, Ryan Noth, Erica Henderson, Shannon Wheeler, Al Ewing, Joshua Williamson, Leah Williams, Mark Russell, Steve Lieber, Matt Fraction,  Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, and even more! Covers by Dan Panosian and Simon Bisley!  Just buy it! If you’re a DC fan, you’ll get all the riffs!

MARK SPEARS MIDNIGHT MAN #1 by Mark Spears. Spears is hot right now and, to that end, Keenspot keeps putting out books. The book ties directly into MARK SPEARS MONSTERS and THE MONSTER AND THE WOLF. It looks beautiful in its’ own way but will mean nothing to anyone if you haven’t been keeping up on the main series. Look at it this way: there are only nine covers to collect as opposed to the usual plethora that comes with the main series.

MARVEL/DC: SPIDER-MAN/SUPERMAN #1 by Brad Meltzer, joe Kelly, Dan Slott, Geoff Johns, Louise Simonson, Stephanie Phillips, Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Jeph Loeb, Pepe Larraz, Marcos Martin, Humberto Ramos, Gary Frank, Todd Nauck, Phil Noto, Sara Pichelli, Russell Dauterman, and Jim Cheung. Just like DC/MARVEL: SUPERMAN/SPIDER-MAN #1, we have this anthology featuring team-ups with Marvel and DC heroes and villains. Yeah, we get Supes and Spidey  in not just one but two stories plus eight backups featuring Spier-Man Noir, Gwen Stacy and Lana Lang, Mysterio, The Thing, Hobgoblin, Steel, Ghost Spider, Supergirl, Miles Morales, and a host of Symbiotes coming to Metropolis. Fun and definitely a fan-service book.

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH #1 by Sarah Gailey and Haining. The book begins with a murdered body and goes from there! We get two sides of what appears to be the same coin. We have Willow Haven: the perfect gated community and Open Arms: defined as an “intentional collective”. Two distinct lifestyles exist and the characterization of each is documented. But soon one of the residents of Willow Haven is found shot by two residents: one from each community. Confusion reigns as each woman refers to the woman as someone else. Who could have done it and what is going on with the confusion of what this woman’s name is? This is a fun mystery story with nice art and no answers in this issue.

REBORN: ULTIMATE IMPACT #1 by Chris Condon and Stefano Caselli. In the recent mini-series where Miles had to find his missing sibling, Miles ended up with ‘Origin Boxes’ when he came back from Earth-6160: the Maker’s Earth in the Ultimate Universe. His plan was to get the boxes to the Avengers for safe keeping. Easy, right? Well of course not! And the boxes have been stolen and this looks like it might result in the arrival of the Cult of Annihilus.

SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY #1 by Dan Slott and Marcus To. Yeah…we’re back to this era! For newbies, Peter revealed his identity to the world during the CIVIL WAR series, which we all know was a bad mistake and he had Doctor Strange cast a spell to make everyone forget he was Spider-Man. And he made a deal with Mephisto to save Aunt May, resulting in history being changed, Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage never happening and their daughter never being born. Fans are still pissed about that all these years later. So, we’ve got a story during that time period, complete with the Punisher, Kingpin, Martin Li, and a surprise appearance by Bailey Briggs, who eventually becomes Spider-Boy. It’s a fun romp that tries to take the aftertaste out of the mouth of readers of that era.

SUPERMAN: FATHER OF TOMORROW #1 by Kenny Porter and Danny Earls. DC unleashes another Elseworlds mini-series. In this instance, a rocket ship smashes through Skywatch and crashes to Earth, being discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent. But this is not an infant-it is Jor-El. Jor-El becomes Jordan and helps around the Kent farm, just like Kal-El has in the core DC books. Jonathan has a heart attack and, even though Jordan has knowledge that will save Jon, the doctor’s refuse him and Jonathan Kent dies. This leads to Jordan donning a familiar but altered outfit and going out to changes things for the better, even saving a young Lois Lane. This will not be for everyone as it is not canon, but could be fun.

VAMPIRELLA #1 by Christopher Priest and Davis Goetten. Dynamite: why are you doing this? It is the same storyline readers have been following for some time, with Christopher Priest at the helm for close to 40 issues now, not including the two Vampirella/Dracula mini-series, the two Draculina mini-series and the SACRED SIX series.. And it is legacy numbered 688. Why do we insist on doing the Marvel renumbering schtick!? For the uninitiated, here goes: seven years ago, Priest shook things up by incorporating all these bits and pieces from Vampi’s history, revealing that Vampi had been here since 1969 and Drakulon is an alternate version of our moon and Arcadia is Earth’s alternate. She has fought with her mother Lilith, married Dracula, and had a son named Cicero that was taken away by Draculina, who is Vampi’s twin sister. It has been some heavy stuff! I highly recommend any of Priest’s work but you need to hunt down the trade paperbacks to play catch-up.

ZORRO #1 by Howard Chaykin and Jorge Fornes. What happens when you let comic legend Howard Chaykin loose on a classic hero like Zorro? You get this! It’s got everything you want: a hero, an equally tough damsel, monks, brigands, Spanish soldiers, and some guy who sounds like he might be from New jersey. It’s a lot of fun and will soon be joined by ZORRO’S LEGACY by Dan Abnett and Aaron Lopresti, where our hero is in 20^th Century America. I grew up in the era of Guy Williams as Zorro, so this is right in my wheelhouse.