DC UNIVERSE, Month 19, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1012 by Brian Michael Bendis and Szymon Kudranski. While the mysterious villains plan, Superman spends quality time at the Fortress of Solitude with Lois. Meanwhile, Robinson Goode has footage of Lois kissing Superman, causing everyone at the Daily Planet to feel bad for Clark Kent, as it appears his wife is stepping out on him. Robinson gets a call and meets with a mysterious woman named Rose. Rose has an evil side know as Thorn, who has been diving into her dark self and taking out the bad guys of Metropolis, apparently with the okay of the Metropolis police. In the end, it looks like Leviathan has an offer for Thorn.

ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS #11 by Peter J. Tomasi and Carlo Barberi. The future versions of Jon and Damian arrive with Joker Jr, Tommy Tomorrow and Space Cabbie, leading to a battle with the Injustice Gang. With the Gang defeated, Rex blasts off and beats our heroes to the portal, where he traps them in the Hypercube and activates it.

AQUAMAN #49 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Viktor Bogdanovic. Mother Shark fills in the gaps in Aquaman memory when she tells him about Mera. In a flashback, Aquaman meets with Mera, who is currently the Queen of Atlantis. Aquaman is presumed to be dead following recent events in the DC Universe and she is settling into her role as Queen. She then reveals that she is carrying his child and things turn bad, as Aquaman is shocked but decides he needs to clear his head regarding the news. Mera becomes angry and allows her powers to blast Aquaman, apparently “killing” him, which led to him ending up with the old gods. Now he is ready to go back to Atlantis and deal with events. But Mera collapses, leading to her servants racing to save her.

BATMAN #72 by Tom King, Mikel Janin and Jorge Fornes. Batman continues to fight Bane while flashbacks to events during the run of this book are distributed throughout.

BATMAN #73 by Tom King, Mikel Janin and Jordie Bellaire. Batman has been knocked out following his battle with Bane, but awakes to find himself in the desert with his Flashpoint Batman father, Thomas Wayne. Thomas explains that, because of his skill as a doctor, he has repaired Bruce’ spine, which was snapped by Bane’s battle. Thomas reveals they are going to Khadym, which Bruce realizes is where Ra’s keeps a Naia Pit. During this journey, Thomas has been dragging along a coffin. Bruce realizes the coffin contains the remains of Bruce’ mother as Thomas explains it is time for Bruce to end all of his pain.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #2 by Bryan Hill and Dexter Soy. Kaliber tells Sofia he was a former arms dealer in Markovia and owes a debt to Batman. Later, a depressed Sofia is prepared to kill herself when Ishmael attacks, leading to the Outsiders to battle him. At the end of the battle, both Sofia and Ishmael are gone. Sofia wakes to find she is in the presence of the person who claims to be her teacher now: Ra’s Al Ghul.

BATMAN BEYOND #33 by Dan Jurgens and Rick Leonardi. Batman is battling with The Splitt while False Face Bruce Wayne is causing havoc at the casino. When he calls it a night, with a babe on his arm, he calls Alfred and orders everyone else out of the mansion as he plans on bring his date to the Bat Cave. Terry tries to intervene, but “Bruce” shoots him with a neural shocker. Matt and Melanie head to Arkham to find out what could have caused “Bruce” to act as he has been. They free one of the prisoners and find that this is the real Bruce Wayne.  In the end, False Face could be anywhere and someone gets mugged.

THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS #6 by Scott Snyder and Jock. While Batman lets himself be taken over by the toxin to battle the Batman Who Laughs, the Gordons team up to take on the Grim Knight.

CATWOMAN #12 by Joelle Jones and Fernando Blanco. Carlos and Selina are on the run from the police. The caper they had planned involved stealing an artifact which, when combined with another, could reveal a map to a pool which can give one immortality. They enlist help from forger James Thien, who creates an artifact that they can swap out with the real one during the heist. Eventually escaping from the police and getting back home, Carlos discovers his mother is missing. It seems Raina has kidnapped her.

DEATHSTROKE #44 by Christopher Priest and Fernando Pasarin. Villains have gathered to eulogize Deathstroke, who has been placed into what appear to be a funeral pyre. Even the Legion of Doom show up. Jericho arrives with Kid Flash, imploring Superman to intervene, but he is only a construct created by Doctor Light. Brainiac confirms that Slade is dead but sees the future in Jericho and offers him to join the Legion. In the end, Rose looks like she might be taking over her father’s career and contracts.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1005 by Peter J. Tomasi and Brad Walker. Batman and Robin battle the knights, along with Dr. Phosphorous and Arcane. The Day Bomb is set off and blinds everyone in Gotham. Despite all of this, Batman and Robin defeat the Arkham Knight and the Knights of the Sun. In the end, as the Knight is being transported to Arkham, one of her followers kills the guard and frees her.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1006 by Peter J. Tomasi and Kyle Hotz. Detective Detective James Corrigan and his partner Tony Martinez investigate an execution style murder when a group of Spectres arrive, killing Martinez and kidnapping Corrigan. The Spectre, in giant form, attracts Batman’s attention and together they go to the crime scene. Spectre explains that he needs Batman’s help in finding Corrigan. In the end, the Spectre group is chanting “the Host must die…long live the Host” as they prepare to sacrifice him.

DIAL H FOR HERO #4 by Sam Humphries and Joe Quinones.  Miguel and Summer go to the Justice League Detroit Headquarters where they encounter Justice League robots and Snapper Carr. The robots attack the trio, forcing them to use the dial and turn into Chimp Change, Alien Ice Cream Man and Lil’ Miguelito. The Operator shows up and convinces Miguelito to dial S for Sockamagee, which removes the trios’ powers and transforms the Operator into Mister Thunderbolt. As h flees, Miguel jumps into the transporting beam and finds himself inside the phone.

THE FLASH #72 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. While Central City has been stopped in time by Turtle and the Speed Force, Barry isn’t and confronts Turtle. During the battle, a wall comes down, knocking Turtle out, allowing the city to be unfrozen again. This allows the police to send Turtle to jail. With the crisis over, Barry and Iris decide to go to dinner. Later, Barry processes evidence which leads him to criminal Clive Yorkin. Iris has already found Yorkin and begins to interview him. Yorkin shoots at her, but Barry/Flash steps in to take the shot himself, leading to him heading back home with a bullet in his chest.

THE FLASH #73 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. Barry is bleeding out hen Irtis arrives at his apartment, forcing Barry to vibrate his hand just enough to remove the bullet, before tidying up and greeting Iris. They share a kiss and a night together. Later, he travels to Iron Heights Penitentiary, where he interviews Turtle. Turtle explains he was struck by the Still Force and became immortal. But he needs to suck away life energy to survive and kills his family in the process. He also reveals that he knows Barry is the Flash and that the to are connected through the Forces. Iris meets him at the lab and, just before he reveals his secret to her, the wall explodes and the Turtle from the future arrives with a captured future Barry Allen and his own version of the cosmic treadmill.

THE GREEN LANTERN #8 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. On Hadea-Maxima, Azmomza heads to Earth to kill an alien known as Glorigold. On Earth, Green Arrow and Green Lantern stop a drug deal. They head off to the docks where they find a giant green arrow and a giant green Robin Hood hat created by Xeen Arrow from Dimension Zero, ho has been attacked by Glorigold. They fight with Glorigold and then discover that Azmomza is on the moon and trying to kill Glorigold, so they use Xeen Arrow's giant bow and arrow to shot at Azmomza.  Later, Azmomza returns to Hadea-Maxima, his head blows up and Sinestro is seen drinking some tea.

HARLEY QUINN #62 by Sam Humphries and Otto Schmidt. Harley continues to try and battle her way out of the Dungeons and Dragons style world she is trapped in, eventually getting help from Johni DC Continuity Cop. This breaks the spell and Mirand’R arrives and explains Harley is now one step closer to gaining the powers of the Angel of Retribution. In the end, Harley and mom discover that mom’s cancer has spread and it’s time to prepare for the worst.

HAWKMAN #13 by Robert Venditti and Will Conrad.  Time on a world  is in space, trying to remember his past lives. He settles on called Nebulen where he keeps getting reincarnated during a centuries long war between the H'gris and Malanite. Eventually he decides not to kep fighting and offers food and drink to a soldier named Sherra from the other side, which leads to a permanent truce and peace between the people.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #25 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez. Superman is still trapped and slowly dying, leading him to reminisce about times with himself and his father. In the Sixth Dimension, the League is battling the older versions of themselves while Batman talks with the World Forager. Batman projects an image of the League holding light, which allows Superman to make a desperate dive towards a distant sun and restores his strength, which allows him to attack the Forager before he can strike the anvil. Superman and the League make peace with the Forager and they all travel to Earth, where they find he results of the Year of the Villain story. Meeting with the rest f the League, they discover that Luthor is dead and the Earth is turning towards Doom and against the heroes. In the end, Brainiac meets with a reborn Luthor.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #26 by James Tynion IV and Javi Fernandez. While most of the League is at the Hall of Heroes and meeting with the heroes of the Multiverse, Martian Manhunter goes in search of Lex Luthor. The Word Forager asks for everyone’s help in finding his brothers: the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor. In the end, Martian Manhunter finds Lionel Luthor.

DC UNIVERSE Month 18, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #11 by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno.  Most of our heroes and the people of Myrra on the run from the Lords of Order, with Blue Devil being turned to stone. Mordru holds them captive and reveals how he tortured Hecate and Zatara, before explaining that the Ruby of Life has enough energy to defeat the Lord of Chaos and possibly destroy the universe. Taking his leave, Zatanna and Wonder Woman end up creating some magical armor to take the fight to the Lords of Chaos.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #9 by Dan Abnett and Daniel Sampere. Azrael fulfills the prophecy and used his voice to stop the attacking armies. Blackfire has had enough of Azrael and teleports away, while Jessica tries to calm Starfire down and convince her that they are being played by Darkseid. Meanwhile, Cyborg is on his own, trying to find one of Darkseid's hidden relics, where he gets attacked by giant insects programmed by Brainiac. Successful, he returns to the ship and concocts a plan to take down Darkseid, while Jessica asks her power ring how much energy it would take to bring down her teammates.

NAOMI #5 by Brian Michael Bendis, David F. Walker and Jamal Campbell. Naomi tells Anna about Dee, her parents and herself.  Naomi was sent away from her homeworld which, like Krypton, was going to have a great disaster happen in the form of a Zumbado, who had decided to kill the 29 who had received powers. After revealing a brief look at her powers and her costume, Zumbado arrives.

NIGHTWING #60 by Dan Jurgens and Chris Mooneyham. The Nightwings continue to battle the fire creature and save lives. Blackburn confesses that he does what he does because he had many failures while trying to do the right thing as a cop. In a flashback, we learn how Blackburn met Hutch on the night Stapleton was shot. In the present, the Nightwings meet Stapleton’s daughter to inquire what she might know about the arson cases and the attempts to kill cops. A stream of fire interrupts them and leads to a car exploding. That’s when the fire creature arrives and offers to help Stapleton’s daughter. Elsewhere, Dick meets with Bea and they share a kiss.

RED HOOD OUTLAW #34 by Scott Lobdell and Pete Woods. Jason is off in Paris, for a romantic evening with Isabel Ardila. Actually, he is here to sever The Iceberg Lounge’ ties with The Euro-Bloc. In the end, Miguel taps on the glass of the aquarium and demands to speak with Penguin.

SHAZAM #5 by Geoff Johns, Marco Santucci, Dale Eaglesham, Scott Kolins and Max Raynor. Black Adam arrives in the Funlands, where he may have to kill the Shazam kids to keep them from having the power of Shazam and thus he would shutdown Magiclands.. Dr. Sivana shows up and gives Adam two choices: join the Monster Society of Evil or die, Shazam frees Mary, who transforms into Mary Marvel. Meanwhile, Eugene and Pedro enter the game, but with a twist as the gaming expert can’t compete. Elsewhere, Freddy and Darla are sentenced to death by tiger.

THE SILENCER #17 by Dan Abnett and V. Ken Marion. Hope has broken into her own home and is confronted by her husband, unaware it is his wife. She explains she is here to save him and her son from Smoke. The pair battle and leads to Smoke being killed, the result of which she relays back to Aftermarket. He arranges to have the NSA show up and explain that Hope was a witness and they tried to do everything to keep her safe. As the NSA leaves, Hope arrives home for a family reunion.

SUPERGIRL #30 by Marc Andreyko and Kevin Maguire. Zn’dr tries to explain to Kara that he didn’t betray her, with her eventually accepting his story. She then fights with Gandelo, who reveals she was responsible for the destruction of Krytpon and the bottled city of Kndor. This leads to Kara getting filled with rage and prepares to attack Gandelo with Zaar’s axe until Krypto intervenes. She throws the ae away and freezes Gandelo, until she can be taken to the authorities. The axe begins acting strange and it takes her into a space battle where she runs into Superman and his son, as seen in SUPERMAN #11.

SUPERMAN #11 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. Superman and son head off to save Jor-El from the Khunds, the Thanagarians and the Trilium Collective. Rogol Zaar shows up, sees the battle and flees. In the end, he returns with General Zod, which leads to another battle. But Team Blue has a secret weapon: Supergirl and Krypto.

SUPERMAN LEVIATHAN RISING #1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Greg Rucka, Matt Fraction, Marc Andreyko, Yanick Paquette, Mike Perkins, Steve Lieber, Eduardo Pansica, and Julio Ferreira. A mysterious person, with face changing ability, meets with Ms. Leone about Leviathan’s plans to change the world. Clark realizes there are people hunting for him in their apartment and decides to let himself be kidnapped. He finds himself in the clutches of Talia, who fits him with a Kryptonite vest that is designed to kill Superman when he shows up to rescue Clark. Lois gets concerned, getting a text from Jimmy looking for money. Lois contacts the Justice League, meeting with Batman and Wonder Woman. Meanwhile, Jimmy wakes up to find himself married and stuck in Gorilla City with Dex-Starr, no clothes, money or a way to get home to help save Superman. Supergirl goes to her home in National City, to find her foster parent’s home destroyed. It is revealed that the Danvers had split up and Eliza was attacked by Leviathan. Later, the leader of Leviathan frees Clark, who is visited by Lois, Firestorm and Jimmy(in a gorilla suit). Talia meets with the Leviathan leader, who tries to kill her, but she is saved by Superman. In the end, Goode meets with Leone as the Planet team search for who Leviathan is.

TEEN TITANS #29 by Adam Glass and Bernard Chang. THE TERMINUS AGENDA PART 3. Wally confronts Damian about his secret prison. Crush confesses that she is gay and shares a kiss with Djinn. Emiko threatens Deathstroke. The prisoners break free.

TEEN TITANS #30 by Adam Glass and Bernard Chang. THE TERMINUS AGENDA EPILOGUE. Deathstroke has been killed by Red Arrow and the team is at odds at what to with the prisoners, leading to a brawl and a break-up. In the end, Crush’ daddy, Lobo, arrives.

THE TERRIFICS #16 by Gene Luen Yang and Stephen Segovia. The team continues to fight the computer gnats Pixelix shows up and turns our heroes experience into a dungeon adventure, where they face off against giant flies. Mr. Terrific loses one of his digital lives and meets the creator, known as Noosphere. He rejoins the team, where they come across…King Stagg. Meanwhile, Plastic Man’s son notices that something is wrong with Metamorpho Dog.

WONDER TWINS #4 by Mark Russell and Stephen Byrne. The issue begins at a Science Fair, where Zan and Jayna end up finding dates, Later, Jayna meets up with her date, a would-be villain named Red Flag, at the Legion of Doom’s Super Villain Mixer. At the same party, Polly finds her Dad is also there, which leads to a confrontation between the two. Jayna heads out with Red Flag to the Garlic Dungeon while Zan goes to see the movie Gun Cop with his date.  In the end, Jayna finds out Red Flag is a jerk and Zan gets dumped by his date in lieu of her ex, but they can still be friends.

WONDER WOMAN #70 by G. Willow Wilson and Xermanico. Diana and Aphrodite meet up with Atlantiades, who explains why she has done what she has done. Steve shows up, under the influence of the town and Diana and he break up, although it is revealed to all be in her subconscious. In the end, the acolytes are revolting as their life has been ruined by lust.

WONDER WOMAN #71 by G Willow Wilson and Xermanico. As the town is ready to take out Atlantiades, Wonder Woman steps in to stop them. As a child comes looking for her parents, Atlantiades gins remorse and leads the child to her parents. Meanwhile, Maggie and Aphrodite search through Atlantiades’ house and come across the man-beast Colossus who, along with other Olypians, have come here from numerous portals. Wonder Woman arrives to save them momentarily, as the beast rises again.

YEAR OF THE VILLAIN #1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Jim Cheung, Alex Maleev, and Francis Manapul. Amanda Waller goes to see the President to warm him about Luthor, who is already there waiting for her with the Legion of Doom in tow. Later, her tells Brainiac of his plan to bring the villains of the DC Universe together. Captain Atom arrives and Luthor blows himself up. Meanwhile, Green Arrow and Batgirl meet with Merlyn, who explains that Leviathan is here to change the world. There is a flash of blue light and then Batgirl wakes to find herself meeting with a mysterious stranger, who explains she can help reboot the  is there as well, the big deal is Leviathan is in the house and after his blue energy zap, we get Batgirl and an offer to help change and reboot the world. Batman talks to Arrow while Damian plans to prove that Leviathan is really Red Hood. In the end, the Justice League comes to the decision to bring all of the heroes together to fight the upcoming war. At the same time, Perpetua is alive and has plans for Lex Luthor, hose body she has in stasis.

YOUNG JUSTICE #5 by Brian Michael Bendis, John Timms, Kris Anka, and Doc Shane. In a flashback, Tim and Stephanie meet with Zatanna, who allows him to recall his Pre-Flashpoint memories. In the present, Young Justice confronts Dark Opal.

DC UNIVERSE Month 18, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1011 by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve Epting. Kate Spencer has been framed by Talia concerning the attack on DEO and Director Bones and now Manhunter is hunted. Meanwhile, Superman searches for Lois, who is off with Tiger, who reveals that he knows she is Lois Lane and not a Spyral agent. He gives her everything he has on Spyral and she calls the Planet, to get the story out there. She goes off with Superman and Tiger gets eliminated by Leviathan. Lois and Clark meet with The Huntress, who questions thow smart it was to have Amanda Waller in the Fortress. They go there and find that Jimmy was knocked out and Amanda escaped, seemingly shocked when Jimmy accused her of being Leviathan. In the end, the Guardian gets a hospital visit from someone trying to make him part of Leviathan’s team.

ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS #10 by Peter J. Tomasi and Carlo Barberi. An older Jon is telling his and Damian’s grandkids the story of their battle with the Injustice Gang. The team is going in to stop Rex and his army from invading Earth. Meanwhile, Jonah shoots Al-X, which kickstarts the security measures put in place by the Guardians and allows him to have access to a fully functioning ring. Then Rex kills Robo-Hex, which is when Kid Joker shows up with General Tommy Tomorrow and the rest of his Planeteers: grown up versions of Damian and Jon.

AQUAMAN #48 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Viktor Bogdanovic. The younger gods give Aquaman a special potion which allows him to go on a vision quest with Mother Shark and sees his past, allowing him to restore a lot of his memory. In the process, he sees the person who killed him: Mera.

BATGIRL #35 by Mairghread Scott and Paul Pelletier. Batgirl has been captured by the Terrible Trio and it looks like she is going to be killed by them. But she uses her Bat Prachute to blast out of captivity and take down Shark. Meanwhile, Alysia meets with Remige Investments and finds out that they have information that Barbara has been working with Poison Ivy. They demand that Alysia fires Barbara and that THIS is a hostile takeover of Gotham Clean Energy.

BATMAN #70 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Batman finally breaks out of his Knightmares, which leads to him making his way through Arkham and beating up prisoners there including Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow, Solomon Grundy, Amygdala and Two Face. He leaves Arkham, after making a promise to come back with and army to take on Bane.

BATMAN #71 by Tom King, Mikel Janin and Jorge Fornes. In a flashback, Batman is confronted by Commissioner Gordon, who tells him that he has gone over the line and is no longer welcome in Gotham anymore. Batman turns on the Bat Signal and a red-light shines into the sky, alerting the Bat Family. He meets with them and tells them they need to take back Arkham and reclaim Gotham from Bane. In the present, Batman confronts Bane at Wayne Manor, where Alfred tells Batman that Bane has broken him.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #1 by Bryan Hill and Dexter Soy. Sofia and her father Gabriel get attacked by a villain who drains the life from her father before throwing her off a bridge and into a fuel truck, which burns her but seemingly doesn’t kill her. Next we see Black Lightning and the team taking on a villain called Saint John. Later, Batman reveals that Gabriel was connected to something called the Ark Program and that Sofi is different because she was genetically engineered to be. He aalso knows that she is being targeted by whoever killed her father. Batman instructs the team to find Sofia, who is on the run. But she runs into a bi guy with a gun who tells her that she will be responsible for a new age of humanity.

BATMAN BEYOND #32 by Dan Jurgens and Rick Leonardi. Batman is trapped and it looks like he might die. Matt desperately tries to find a way to save him and Bruce Wayne calls it a lost cause and eaves the mansion. Matt figures it out and Terry comes back to the Cave. After refusing help from the former villain Ten, Terry goes out to find Splitt, which leads to another battle. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne goes to a casino and does some gambling. But the REAL Bruce Wayne is still in Arkham, where the inmates believe he is False Face.

THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS #5 by Scott Snyder and Jock. While trapped by the officers who thinks he is the Batman Who Laughs, Batman uses his knowledge of the officers’ private lives to convince them, through threats, that he is the REAL Batman. Meanwhile, Jim Gordon is being chased by the Grim Knight's Crows, who are twisted versions of James Gordon Jr. Luckily the real Jim Gordon Jr. arrives to save his father. Elsewhere, the Batman Who Laughs stumbles onto the lair of the Court of Owls and unleashes his own twisted version of Talons, along with a Dark Multiverse Bruce Wayne who leads his own version of the Court of Owls. In the end, Gordon and Batman reunite and decide the only option is to unleash the Last Laugh protocol.

CATWOMAN #11 by Joelle Jones, Fernando Blanco and Hugo Petrus. The armored car which Carlos is trapped in is on the loose and Catwoman is in hot pursuit, especially because it is headed directly for a red carpet event. She saves the day, Carlos and survives some cops shooting at her. Meanwhile, Detective Yilmaz is assisting “Mother” and visits a pawn shop, with evil intentions.

CATWOMAN ANNUAL #1 by Joelle Jones, Elena Casagrande, Hugo Petrus and Scott Godlewski. Set in her early days in Villa Hermosa, Selina has been framed for a triple murder and must find out who is responsible. It turns out to be the Immortal Man, who she battles and defeat. In the end, she takes her revenge on the girl who framed her.

DEATHSTROKE #43 by Christopher Priest, Adam Glass, Carlo Pagulayan, Sergio Davila and Pop Mhan. In the finale of THE TERMINUS AGENDA, the villains Damian has had held in his homemade prison are loose and it’s up to the Teen Titans to stop them from completing their escape. We also learn that Robin, who has one of his eyes injured during the previous part of this crossover, had managed to put poison in each of his prisoners, just in case they did make their way outside. In the end, Robin and Deathstroke confront each other and Robin aims a gun at Deathstroke, who dares hi to kill him. That’s when an arrow pierces his eyepatch-an arrow from Emiko.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1003 by Peter J. Tomasi and Brad Walker. Batman searches for Robin, who has been captured by the Arkham Knight and he Knights of the Sun. Arkham Knight reveals herself to Robin, who releases Robin as a good faith gesture. He uses his Robin badge to make a Robin Signal, which Batman finds, with Robin explaining he wanted to make certain that Knight hadn’t put a tracker on him. Back at the Batcave, Batman explains he already had deduced that Knight is a woman and they head into Arkham to confront her. Once there, they find none of the Knights of the Sun, but they do find her father, who reveals she is Astrid Arkham.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1004 by Peter J. Tomasi and Brad Walker. Dr. Jeremiah Arkham tells the Arkham Knight’s origin. His wife was working at Arkham and had developed a good relationship with the prisoners. The night she was to deliver Astrid, Batman attacked some of the prisoners. While the villains helped her deliver he daughter, a stray Batarang thrown by a new transfer patient kills her mother. Astrid grew up in Arkham, believing her mother as alive and just left the country. But one day she finds a digital file that shows the event, and thus her hatred for Batman fueled her training to become the Arkham Knight. Batman and Robin figure out she has gone to the observatory to make that her new base. Indeed, that is where she is and has crafted new Day Bombs with Dr. Phosphorus’ help. That’s when the Dynamic Duo arrive.

DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL #2 by Peter J. Tomasi and Travis Moore. The Reaper has returned and is killing criminals in Europe, leading Batman to find out how a dead villain has come back. He digs through the Black Casebook to find out. The Reaper Judson Caspian-a crime fighter who killed criminals when Bruce was just a boy. He died during a fight with a young Batman. Bruce and Alfred travel to Crete and meet with Sophia Zervas. Later, Alfred and Bruce set things up to attract the Reaper, leading to a confrontation where Reaper escapes. Batman goes to an old book store and finds the Reapers hideout. It turns out that the Reapers are a whole organization. The leader is Judson's son, Julian. Julian unleashes a giant version of Reaper, who Batman defeats as the building they are in explodes. Julian escapes, meaning he’s around for future stories.

DIAL H FOR HERO #3 by Sam Humphries and Joe Quinones. We begin with a flashback to the original Dial owner, Robby Reed. Meanwhile, Miguel tries to get The Flash’ attention by pulling some stunts with Summer’s help, but to no avail. Corrine, the police officer from last issue, talks to the Operator and dials up The Blue Bird of Happiness. Miguel and Summer confront The Blue Bird of Happiness, with Summer, who suffered a traumatizing childhood, using the dial to become Lo Lo Kick You. She defeats Blue Bird and the pair travel to Detroit. In the end, The Operator is revealed to be…Robby Reed.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK #10 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. On November 2, 1985, Dr. Manhattan leaves his world to come to our Earth…on April 18^th, 1938, where he encounters Carver Colman-the star of the Nathaniel Dusk films. They become friends and, over the years, Jon tells Carver about what will happen next, thus directing his career and his life. April 18 is also the day Superman first appears. Over the years, more heroes appear and the Justice Society is formed. But Superman’s origin is changed and he never appears. Over the years, Superman’s origin changes, as he appears in 1956 and 1986, due to Dr. Manhattan’s interference. Superboy even makes his way to the future, where he meets the Legion of Superheroes. But Dr. Manhattan changes things again, by allowing Alan Scott to die and thus the Justice Society never is formed. Five years ago, he changes the Multiverse again, creating the New 52 timeline. Eventually, the heroes, specifically Wally West, discovers Manhattan.

THE FLASH #70 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. The book opens with a young Barry watching a lightning storm as a young kid. Flashing forward 15 years, Barry meets with August at a crime scene when Iris shows up and August suggest that Barry should ask her out. Later, Barry is trying to figure out his mother’s murder when he is struck by lightning and gains his powers. He finally wakes after months in a coma and discovers he has powers, which he goes out experimenting with. After designing some speed-proof shoes, he discovers himself in the future and that Central City has been taken over by the Turtle King. A much older Barry finds him and explains that this is what happens when you mess around with time travel.

THE FLASH #71 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. While Future Flash tries to explain who he is and calm Barry down, Turtle’s soldiers attack, causing the Flash pair to flee. The soldiers go off to tell Turtle that Flash has returned push their attack. The Barrys are able to get away quickly and the men decide they must inform Turtle that the Flash is back and he uses the Still Force to suck the life out of someone. While teaching Barry how to stop, Future Flash reveals that no one has been able to stop Turtle since he came to power. He decides he must send Barry back to his own past. They manage to find the remains of the Cosmic Treadmill and Future Flash sends Barry back to his proper place in the timeline. Back home, Barry researches how to get rid of his abilities, but gets an alert on his phone reminding him he has a date with Iris. In the process, he sees that the Central City Trust is being robbed by Turtle. Iris is almost hit by a car and Brry uses his power to save her before chasing after Turtle.

THE GREEN LANTERN #7 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. Hal is trapped in his ring with the wizard Myrwhidden, who has constructed a world where constructs have been made to love him. One construct, named Pengowirr, tells him that she moved Hal into to the ring to save his life after Hal defused the U-Bomb. But she is dying because of the loss of power and Hal has to find Myrwhidden to gain enough energy to get free. He does and then gets free and finds the nearest Lantern to recharge and save Pengowirr.

HARLEY QUINN #61 by Sam Humphries and Otto Schmidt. During what should be a quiet game night, Harley ends up in a life size version of Dungeons and Dragons, where the evil Enchantress rules. She controls the Rogue Enforcers and even Tina is affected, and battles against Harley.

HAWKMAN #12 by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch. Hawkman faces off against Idamm while the Hawkmen of past lives battle the Deathbringers. Hawkman prevails, as Idamm admits that Carter is truly the General of the Deathbringers, which brings them all into line. He orders the Deathbringers away and, as a result of all of this, Carter can now remember all of his past lives. In the end, Hawkman meets with Idamm, who explains that his new blood campaign will begin soon.

HEROES IN CRISIS #9 by Tom King and Clay Mann. Wally is five days in the future where he is about to have his neck broken by his younger self. Harley, Batgirl, Booster and Beetle crash land and Harley reunites with Poison Ivy, who has been transformed into an emissary of The Green. Booster explains that Flash doesn’t have to kill Flash-he just needs to bring the already dead body back five days and close the time loop, which he does. Sanctuary is reopened and Wally is imprisoned. In the end, there is a Flash symbol bathed in blue light.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #23 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez. Superman makes a last ditch attempt to get off the rock that the World Forger has stranded him on, while the rest of the team, minus Batman, struggle to free themselves from their prison. They get free, with Shayne’s help, but end up back in the soup, leading to them jumping into a space ship, which is piloted by Darkseid. Batman makes a choice to move the suns away from the planet, which could cost Superman his life.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #24 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez. Superman, mostly powerless because Batman took away the sun, continues to try and free himself. The Legion of Doom teams up with the League, as they understand that the World Forger’s world has issues. With Lois and Jimmy chasing them , the Legion sacrifices themselves, killing Lois and Jimmy and allowing the League to get away. They confront the World Forger, who has a secret weapon: an armored Batman.

DC UNIVERSE Month 17, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #10 by James Tynion IV and Alvarez Martínez Bueno. Khalid recalls how he overheard Nabu and the Lords of Order plan to destroy other realms of magic and got trapped in the urn. Meanwhile, Zatanna and Wonder Woman are with Circe and still looking for Mordru. Circe reveals that Constantine was an agent of Zatara’s who has been leading Zatanna to where her life has gotten to. The Otherkind attacks, but is buried under the earth. Zatanna and Wonder Woman leave and the Upside-Down Man arrives to taunt Circe, even as it’s revealed they are working together. Back in Myrra, one of the Lords of Order, who says they cann all make safe passage back to Earth if they agree to be stripped of all magical knowledge and memory. If not, they will die.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #8 by Dan Abnett and Daniel Sampere. Cyborg has build a restraint to hold Darkseid, who tells them he lied to them to get them to the Ghost Sector to save the universe. He explains that the breaking of the Source Wall has long been a prophecy on Apokolips.  But he needs to be at full power to stop what’s coming and he used Other Box to change time and plant Jessica, Starfire, and Azrael onto planets in the Ghost Sector where they would one day be seen as gods. Blackfire and Rapture attack and Darkseid makes his escape in a Boom Tube with Cyborg in tow. That leaves Jessica, Starfire, and Azrael behind and Azrael uses his voice to convince Rapture not to kill them, as that will mean the end of everything. In the end, Cyborg finds himself in peril at the temple Darkseid has built.

NAOMI #4 by Brian Michael Bendis, David F. Walker and Jamal Campbell. Naomi’s father reveals he is a fighter from Rann who came to Earth to seek out a missing Thanagarian guard, Dee. While here, he spends years integrating himself into Earth’s lifestyle. In the meantime, he meets his future wife. One day, alien forces show up chasing a woman and her baby and he teams up with Dee. The woman is killed but the baby survives, wrapped in a blanket with a mysterious box inside. After all these years, Naomi is given the box and opens it.

NIGHTWING #59 by Dan Jurgens and Chris Mooneyham. Ric is seen training with Hutch before Hutch leaves to visit a police comrade he was partly responsible for putting in a coma. The injured officer’s daughter arrives and castigates him. Later, a fire breaks out at a local police precinct and Hutch and Ric race into help get officers out. But they realize the fire is alive and talking to them.

RED HOOD OUTLAW #33 by Scott Lobdell and Pete Woods. Jason Todd is still running Penguin’s casino and still has Penguin locked away. The Five Aces how up to find the missing Penguin and battle Wingman, Bunker and the Su Sisters, while Jason battles a member of the All-Caste. In the end, he leaves Suzie Sur to clean up the remains of the All-Caste member.

THE SILENCER #16 by Dan Abnett and V Kenneth Marion. Hope battles her sister Smoke and loses. Later, while recuperating, Quietus tells her that Talia has locked down her place, as she knows Smoke is coming for her. He gives Hope 24 hours to figure it out. Smoke goes to Aftermarket’s garage and convinces them to give her some weapons. Meanwhile, Hope goes home as Silencer and meets with her husband.

SUPERGIRL #29 by Marc Andreyko and Eduardo Pansica. Kara, Zn’dr and Krypto are all relaxing when Krypto finds some stones, which are the stones Zn’dr has been looking for. Using her super-speed, Kara finds all the stones, which all have the symbol of the Circle on them. Zaar’s axe appears and begins interacting with the stones, activating a hologram of Appa. He reveals that The Circle as started to end violence but Gandelo teamed up with Rogol Zaar. It is revealed that Gandelo is Zn’dr’s mother. They are then attacked by hunters, who finally decide that Kara is the “chosen one”. They are suddenly killed by Gandelo, who is ready to fight with Kara. Meanwhile, Zaar plans his escape from the Phantom Zone.

SUPERMAN #10 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. Jon battles Superwoman before he is rescued by Jor-El, who has been searching for him for seven years. On the trip back home, they encounter Zod and his army before Jon finds himself back on Earth in Wisconsin. In the end, Jon and his dad head off to help fight a space battle.

THE TERRIFICS #15 by Gene Luen Yang and Stephen Segovia. Mr. and Mrs. Terrific are out on a date when they are interrupted by two T-Spheres, informing them of a giant snake destroying the Stagg Industries Campus. Metamorpho and Plastic Man get eaten by the snake, but Phantom Girl help free them and stop it, which transforms into a digital woman calling herself “his Herald”. Stagg later does a demonstration of his new digital training program, which goes horribly wrong and the digital frogmen go on the loose, showing up at Mr. and Mrs. Terrific’s second date. After defeating them, holographic gnats show up and Plastic Man realizes these are some of the Plagues of Israel and they are fighting God.

TITANS #36 by Dan Abnett and Bruno Redondo. After a flashback with a conversation between Nightwing and Raven, we good to the present where the team is trying to stop Mother Blood. To open the portal into The Bleed, she will have to destroy Unearth and betray Lord Travesty. Raven faces off with Mother Blood and Beast Boy tackles Mother Blood into The Bleed and closes the door, tapping her forever. In the process, Beast Boy is restored. The team leaves Unearth, with Hinston staying behind to make new stories.

WONDER TWINS #3 by Mark Russell and Stephen Byrne. Jayna makes a friend in Polly Math, whose father is a world renowned scientist and under Lex Luthor’s thumb. Meanwhile, the League of Annoyance plan to take out the Wonder Twins. Gleek’s history is revealed, as he was once a mistreated ape in a circus. The League attacks the Twins while they sleep and Gleek saves the day.

WONDER WOMAN #68 by G. Willow Wilson and Cary Nord. While Eirene and her mythical creatures examine the mysterious sword, Wonder Woman and Giganta attack the Elementals. Eirene arrives and, with sword in hand, demands the Elementals stop fighting, which they do. It is revealed to be Antiope’s sword and Eirene goes off with Cadmus to find her.

WONDER WOMAN #69 by G. Willow Wilson and Xermonico. In Summergrove, Connecticut, the whole town has been taken over by lust. Wonder Woman and Maggie show up and get attacked by cupids with razor-sharp teeth. Aphrodite arrives and the attack ceases, as they listen to her. They reform as the face of Lust, which leads them all to visit Aphrodite’s daughter.

YOUNG JUSTICE #4 by Brian Michael Bendis, Patrick Gleason and John Timms. Today, Amethyst and her new friends are locked up. Yesterday, the council of Gemworld were looking to vote Amethyst out of the council. After a discussion with Turquoise, she finds an intruder in the form of Damian. Today, Superboy and Impulse confront the troops of the Dark Lord Opal, with Superboy chasing them away. After revealing that he came here with Young Justice, Impulse and Superboy free the prisoners.

DC UNIVERSE Month 17, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1010 by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve Epting. While Kate Spencer, who is not really Kate, meets with Bones, Lois and Clark meet up with Tiger from Spyral under the guise of Chaz and Andi. Superman goes off and fights a super powered creature and, when he returns, Lois and Tiger are gone.

ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS #9 by Peter J. Tomasi and Scott Godlewski. Over on Leone-5, a robot version of Jonah Hex is being held up by bandits who work for Tommy Tomorrow, when our heroes pop in through a Vroom Tube and knock them out. Hex offers to help them get off planet” and knock out the bad guys. After quickly catching Robo-Hex up, he offers to help them get off the planet. After several days of travel and “four untold adventures”, where Damian may have made out with a princess, they make their way to assault the central battery at Engine City. They succeed and then head off in a space train to their next destination. Meanwhile, Rex and his Injustice Army prepare to invade Earth.

AQUAMAN #47 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Robson Rocha. Aquaman battles against Namma, who has transformed into a dragon. The Young Gods show up to help and sacrifice themselves to stop her. Caillie suggests Aquaman use his telepathy on her, which causes the Young Gods to burst forth, destroying Namma. The water God appears, saves Aquaman and presents him with a trident, as he is told he belongs to the sea.

BATGIRL #34 by Mairghread Scott and Paul Pelletier. The Terrible Trio, Fox, Vulture and Shark, discuss that they must go after Batgirl now that Cormorant is dead. Babs is at work as an intern at newly-elected Congresswoman Alejo’s headquarters. The mail delivery results in a box with a severed hand in it. The office is closed for the day and that means Batgirl can investigate the hand, which she finds contains leads to three possible people. Alysia calls to tell her there is a possible hostile takeover of Gordon Clean Energy, resulting in all their assets being frozen. Batgirl heads off the opening of a social club known as “The Den,” where she is captured by the Terrible Trio. Meanwhile, Jason Bard goes to Barbara’s apartment to find that she has been evicted.

BATMAN #68 by Tom King Dan Panosian, John Timms, Mikel Janin and Amanda Conner. KNIGHTMARE continues with the days before Batman’s wedding that never was. Clark and Bruce enjoy a quiet Bachelor Party involving talk and chess while Selina and Lois go to the Fortress of solitude and get very drunk. But again, it’s all part of Batman’s Knightmare.

BATMAN #69 by Tom King and Yanick Paquette. Batman and Catwoman, while Batman is still inside of his Knightmare, discuss why they can’t get married. In the end, she reveals that he needs to be really scared to defeat the Fear Toxin. Meanwhile, Bane battles Thomas Wayne.

BATMAN BEYOND #31 by Dan Jurgens and Rick Leonardi. Bruce Wayne goes to visit Arlham Asylum when the lights go out. Shortly after they come back on again, Bruce hurriedly leaves, but seems different somehow. Back at the Batcave, his mood continues to be off. There have been a rash of thefts at the old Powers Tech facility and Batman goes off to investigate He gets attacked by a super villain team known as Splitt, who proceed to capture and attempt to kill Batman. Bruce could care less. In the meantime, someone at Arkham has been locked away and maybe this wil explain why Bruce is different-he’s not Bruce!   

THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS #4 by Scott Snyder and Jock. Batman has created a Batman Who Laughs mask and broken the anti-toxin vial as the toxin has taken over his mind. He fights to maintain his sanity. It’s revealed that the Grim Knight has been using the electrical grid for the city to make use of Dark Metal to open portals to bring the various Bruce Waynes to Earth. After meeting with a still living Joker, Batman heads to Blackgate Prison, which houses a small deosit of Dark Metal, when he is transported to another Earth where Bruce Wayne runs Backgate. They pop back into our Blackgate, where The Batman Who Laughs, disguised as a prison guard, kills Wayne and blames it on Batman, causing the police to open fire on the Dark Knight. Meanwhile, the Grim Knight releases Gordon and sends the Robin Hounds after him.

CATWOMAN #10 by Joelle Jones and Fernando Blanco. Catwoman goes after Penguin to get back the letter from Holly, resulting in a trade of sorts. She’s visits her sister, who is an invalid, before she heads off with Carlitos to meet with a forger named James. Meanwile, Raymond Creel is forced to take a break from his campaign to meets with his mother and brother.

DAMAGE #16 by Robert Venditti and Aaron Lopresti. Ethan and Congo Bill get free from Ehidna’s clutches, releasing Congorilla and Damage in the process. They take on the collection of monsters before finally defeating her. The monsters change back to normal size and then Congo Bill shows Ethan a raft and sends him back home, where he will deal with his issues by himself.

DEATHSTROKE #42 by Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan. THE TERMINUS AGENDA Part 2. Slade has been captured by Robin, who has sent the Teen Titans out to capture Blackrock. But that leads to a battle between he and the team. It is revealed that he was trying to turn himself in and his powers have ruptured a gas line, meaning the team needs to save everyone. Meanwhile, Deathstroke has freed himself and he tells Robin that not only did he flinch regarding his team, Robin’s jail is out of mayo.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1001 by Peter J. Tomasi and Brad Walker. Bats are mysteriously dying throughout Gotham City and Batman can’t find an answer. He goes to visit Francine Langstrom, who injects herself with serum and changes into a Man-Bat. She rides her all the way to Gotham Park Zoo, where he gives her the antidote and she changes back to human form. There is an explosion in the night sky, which turns out to be some sort of self-generating light, followed by the Knights of the Sun. Batman gets shot with a barrage of arrows and finds himself gravely wounded with Arkham Knight standing over him. 

DETECTIVE COMICS #1002 Writer: Peter J. Tomasi and Brad Walker. Batman has been gravely wounded and now the Arkham Knight is ready for the killing blow. But GCPD arrives and stops him. After a standoff between he police and the Knights of the, Knight leaves saying there will be another time for this. Gordon helps Batman into the Batmobile, which takes him back to Batcave where Alfred starts patching him up. Damian heads off to find the remains from hunts down residuals from the Day Bomb, but gets captured by Arkham Knight. He eventually frees himself, but is confronted by the Knight who removes his helmet to reveal himself to Damian.

DIAL H FOR HERO #2 by Sam Humphries and Joe Quinones. Miguel and Summer have made their way to Grand Junction, Colorado. The mysterious phone keeps ringing, leading to the owner threatening to throw them out. A strange man observes it and is being told to answer it, but Miguel answers it first and is told by the Operator to beware of the Thunderbolt Club. Miguel ties a rope around the phone and throws it in the river, but the strange man retrieves it and activates it, becoming Jobu, the Zonkey King. He starts firing off blasts at a boat and that causes Miguel to jump into action, grabbing the H-Dial and becoming Iron Deadhead. The two battle before Miguel gets the upper hand. In the end, a lady police officer, a member of the Thunderbolt Club, takes the H-Dial.

THE FLASH #68 by Joshua Williamson and Scott Kolins. The Trickster is interrogating Commander Cold when he is joined by Axel. We see they have taken over Iron Heights, where the prisoners get put in a machine and made happy. Barry recalls the original Trickster and also remembers that if he vibrates right he can walk through the machine without being affected. He heads off to an old Rogue hideout to save Cold, but gets attacked by Axel before he can free him. After taking out Axel, Trickster captures Cold and Flash and explains that he made the call to bring Flash back to Central City, not Cold. Cold gets free and they capture Trickster, but they discover that people are attacking each other to keep their happiness. Flash goes off to save them, but is captured by Cold, who is under Trickster’s spell. When he wakes, Barry discovers that his legs have been amputated.

THE FLASH #69 by Joshua Williamson and Scott Kolins. The Trickster appears to have won and is enjoying the chaos he has created. He has captured his parents and asks them if they are proud of him. Meanwhile, Flash is dealing with his missing legs when Commander Cold convinces him it is just an illusion created by the Sage Force.  Flash faces off with Trickster, but needs to let him escape to save Central City’s citizens. Cold constructs a device to stop the effects of the Sage Force, which Flash wears, running through the city and saving the people. Arriving at Iron Heights, it explodes, leaving no bodies behind. Later at CCPD, Barry is met by a strange hooded man who tells him that to save the Multiverse, Barry must go remember something he has forgotten. Barry is next seen as a young boy reading comics before being called downstairs by his mother.

THE GREEN LANTERN #6 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. To prove his allegiance to the Blackstars, Hal must kill Adam Strange. Hal does that, which allows him an audience with Controller Mu, who wants Hal to unlock the secrets of his Power Ring so he can bring his own version of peace to the universe. Mu reveals that he knows Hal is a mole and he shows him a universe-collapsing bomb that will go off if he dies. Dam, who was only put into a temporary coma, charges at Mu, but Hal stops him. The Guardians power up Hal, who uses his new powers to stop Mu. But the ensuing blast traps Hal inside his own ring with a case of amnesia.

HARLEY QUINN #60 by Sam Humphries and Sam Basri. Harley Quinn breaks into S.T.A.R. Labs in order to steal some cancer-curing drugs for her mom. But there is an interdimensional breach that causes Harley to fight off some creatures with lasers while also dealing with hallucinations. Mirand’r shows up and explains that this is just one of the trials which has been manipulated by the Lords of Chaos and Order to make it really difficult. Harley figures it all out and manages to send the baddies back to their own dimension. In the end, Enchantress arrives and is ready to take on Catwoman.

HAWKMAN #11 by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch. Hawkman takes on the Deathbringer army with all of his past lives in tow as back-up. Hawkman battles Idamm, who commands his Deathbringers to incinerate the Earth.

HEROES IN CRISIS #8 by Tom King, Mitch Gerads and Travis Moore. It is revealed that Wally had a bad time with therapy and ran outside, unleashing a Speed Force supernova. Other heroes heard the alarms and ran outside, getting killed by the blast. So Wally used Sanctuary’s holodeck to show Booster and Harley two different scenarios where Wally was dead and that the other had killed everyone. Then he destroyed the Sanctuary robots and reset the scene to no longer implicate him, including bringing his body from the future to the site.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #21 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez. Superman battles his older self, who tells him he created this pocket universe just to hold Superman. Back in the 6th Dimension, Bruce and Dick are enjoying some quiet time until Batman is called into a psychic conference called by Martian Manhunter. Just before Shayne can reveal what is going on, the older Superman shows up and explains he is the son of Perpetua and brother to the Monitor and Anti-Monitor. He is also the World Forger. He explains that to save the Multiverse, his created world must replace the existing one. The heroes vote him down and he sends them to Apokolips where Lois Lane rules. Meanwhile, the rest of the team battles a possessed Mxyptlik.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #22 by James Tynion IV and Francis Manapul. Mera and Starman are menaced by the Legion of Doom when Bat-Mite shows up to try and save the day. Twenty billion years ago, Perpetua assigns her three sons to create the Multiverse, Barbatos, and Earth which is cool but feels more like filler than it should. Over the next billion or so years, the brothers realize their mother has plans to change the Multiverse with her Doom plan, so the Source Wall becomes a place to lock her away.

More first issues reviewed

ARCHIE & FRIENDS#1 by Dan Parent. In this world of twisted takes on the Riverdale gang, it’s nice to see a straight forward, old school Archie comic. This one, called MUSIC JAM, features a handful of tales involving Archie and his band. Parent is a long time Archie artist in the classic style and every now and then…that’s what you need. No twisted plots, lots of inside jokes, some of which are plain silly, and a clean, non-threatening book for children of all ages. And let’s not forget the killer cover by Jeff Schultz. Next time around, it’s BEACH PARTY.

AVENGERS NO ROAD HOME #1 by Mark Waid, Al Ewing, Jim Zub and Paco Medina. This weekly mini-series, the grounds of which were set in motion during last year’s mini-series, starts with the destruction of Olympus and all of those gods, which seriously pisses off Hercules. The big baddie here is Nyx and even Voyager is back. For completists, these issues have a legacy numbering in addition to it’s own self-contained numbering. The story is a bit on the winding side, which you could expect with three writers putting in their two cents worth, but the art is gorgeous!

BLACK WIDOW #1 by Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska and Flaviano. The twins of horror, known for such movies as DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK and SEE NO EVIL 2, come on board with the adventures of the presumed dead Avenger who has been hiding out since SECRET WAR ended. There were high hopes for this title and this issue, which deals with Tasha and Cap fighting against a Cap impersonator, is a letdown. I was hoping for some dark, gritty stuff and it just feels…light. Flaviano’s art is kind of cartoony and is a little inconsistent. And there is a big bad at the end of the book who looks to be a super powered pimp. Is this really what I want in a Black Widow title?  

CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 by Kelly Thompson and Carmen Carnero. She’s the hottest superhero going at the moment, with the new movie dropping in March and her back issues going through the roof. So now, Marvel drops a new #1 on us to whet out appetite. Coming out of her mini-series that redefined her origin, Carol Danvers is back on Earth, dealing with that knowledge, the death of her mother and the resurrection of her man Rhodey. She is also dealing with getting hit on by Tony Stark. So, by the end, she is in another world with a new team of unknowns. Thompson does some nice stuff and possibly some of her best work since HAWKEYE, despite the obvious man-hating jabs throughout. Truly, this was a pleasant surprise.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1 by Jason Aaron and Mahmud Asrar. After many years at Dark Horse and a very disappointing crossover with Wonder Woman as their last gasp, Robert E. Howard’s legendary hero is back home again where it all began almost a half century ago: Marvel. It begins with a beautiful collage featuring some of the classic art by some of those Marvel artists most associated with Conan and then runs headlong into a tale that ops between the past and the present, where Conan is king. Overall, it’s a fun story with a decent amount of plot, back story devices and action. All hail the King!

COSMIC GHOST RIDER DESTROYS MARVEL HISTORY #1 by Paul Scheer, Nick Giovannetti and Gerardo Sandoval. After much fanfare with advance press, Marvel unleashes this obvious cash grab. Well, what was promised is not quite what gets developed. The Cosmic Ghost Rider shows up in the recent past, where he meets up with his wife and kids. Obviously, this is before Frank’s family gets killed and The Punisher is born. So Frank’s “uncle” relates a story of how the Ghost Rider became a part of the Fantastic Four. Obviously, the whole story is totally made-up and that’s the only way it works. It’s Cosmic Frank retelling his view of the origins of the Marvel Universe. Don’t expect Earth changing things here…it’s just a little bit of silly fun.

CRYPT OF SHADOWS #1 by Al Ewing, Garry Brown, Stephen Green and Djobril Morissette-Phan. During the horror boom of the Seventies that brought us FRANKENSTEIN, WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, TALES OF THE ZOMBIE and more, Marvel produced a series of horror anthologies which featured new and reprinted material. In honor of their 80^th anniversary, Marvel gives us this one shot with three tales with a connection. It’s not E.C., but it is nice to see. Not the best food forward, except for the variant cover that feels like a Fifties horror title. A shame the insides didn’t live up to the expectation. For my dollar, I’d rather read one of the various horror reprint collections out there.

DAREDEVIL #1 by Chip Zfarsjy and Marco Checchetto. The Man Without Fear is back from the almost dead and ready to take back his spot in the world of superheroes. After a pretty useless mini-series that told tales which Matt Murdock was comatose, he’s out of the dreamworld and finds himself accused of killing a small-time crook. Looks like Wilson Fisk is back in the business of discrediting his biggest enemy. Also included is a short silent tale by Zdarsky. Basically, the book picks up from the previous run and probably didn’t need a new numbering system, although it does follow the Legacy numbering. If you were a fan of the old series, you will like this one, even with the addition of Zdarsky as the new scriber.

DOMINO HOT SHOTS #1 by Gail Simone and David Baldeon. With the end of the DOMINO series, which I really enjoyed, we get this mini-series which actually feels like a continuation of the regular series. Because it is. If you enjoyed that series, you will love this. The art is great, the story is fun and Simone’s characters and dialogue are sharp.

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #1 by Tom Taylor, Juann Cabal and Marcelo Ferreira. Marvel ends their PETER PARKER title and comes back with this. Initial reports said this is all ages and allegedly out of continuity, but I question that. It is designed to focus more on Peter’s alter ego fighting street level crime in his neighborhood instead of big villains and this issue truly delivers that. The story is nicely written and has some great sentimental notes in it. But the back-up, by Taylor and Ferreira, drops some stuff that I find hard to believe is out of continuity. It’s a heavy plot drop that I really can’t believe won’t pop up as a plot point going forward in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Overall, I recommend this title if you’re a Spidey fan.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1 by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw. So, Thanos is dead and the universe has taken note. But, as always, the beheaded Thanos has a plan which would allow him to be resurrected. That leads to a wild ride which results in a reborn Guardians of the Galaxy with a ragtag group of heroes. Gone are Gamora, Rocket and Drax but now on board, whether they ant to be or not, are Star Lord, Groot, Moondragon, Phyla, Beta Ray Bill and the Cosmic Ghost Rider. Leave it to Cates to turn up the heat on what was a dead franchise. This was a ton of fun and I look forward to the next issues.

GUNHAWKS #1 by David Lapham, Maria Lapham and Luca Pizzari. Back in the day, Marvel was all about superheroes, romance titles, war books and Westerns. In this 80^th anniversary throwback one-shot, the Laphams, the driving forces behind STRAY BULLETS, tell a tale of a sheriff with a price on his head by the Soldaderas. Pizzari’s painted art is beautiful and the story is a typical Lapham jaunt with gunfights and a lot of heart. This was one of my favorites of the 80^th anniversary one-shots because it just touched back to simpler times with a twist.

INFINITY WARS INFINITY #1 by Gerry Duggan and Mark Bagley. The one-shot is a nice epilogue which ties up some dangling plot points from the mini-series but then drops a bomb into the ending which will lead to another mini-series. Adam Warlock has taken the Infinity Stones away from the heroes and is allowing them to find their own users. That’s the major plot point here as to where those stones end up and who has them.  Well written and expertly drawn by Bagley, it’s a fun piece that will set the table for the next great series.

INVADERS #1 by Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno and Butch Guice. I passed on the recent DEFENDERS reboot, which, along with recent issues of AVENGERS, has established Namor as a bad guy again, meaning he has had more face/heel turns than most Professional Wrestlers. With Zdarsky at the helm, known mostly for writing ARCHIE and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, I didn’t have high hopes for this title and the characterization of our heroes and villain. But I will totally admit that I was mistaken. Set both in the days of the World War II Invaders and in the present, the art shines and the story is fun. I was a huge fan of the classic 1970’s Invaders stories and I don’t see this attaining the same heights, but I like where it is going, especially bringing in some of those classic heroes like the original Human Torch. So this may end up on my pull list while BLACK WIDOW, which I had planned to add, may not.

JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS #1 by Cullen Bunn, Clay McLeod Chapman, Guillermo Sanna and Francesco Manna. Marvel again visits it’s past in the 80^th Anniversary one-shot. Two tales of a science fiction/fantasy nature are presented here. In the first, we have a team of scientists , an alien skeleton and a twist. In the second, a boy scout outing and a ghost story turns ugly when an alien arrives. All in all, it as old school 50’s style fun.

LOVE ROMANCES #1 by Gail Simone, Margaux Motin, Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum, Jon Adams, Roge Antonio, Pacco Dorwling-Carter, and Annapaola Martello. The 80^th anniversary one-shots continue with four tales of unrequited love and lust. I was never a fan of the romance titles but this one has some nice twists to the stories and art styles which, in many cases, seem to come from Indy comics or even harken back to the old Warren line of horror books. Truly, for me, the highlight as the variant cover of Spidey and Mary Jane, by Russell Dauterman.

MAJOR X #1 by Rob Liefeld. Well, the man who helped create Cable and Deadpool is back. In a tale set in the past, Major X debuts in a big, bold, brash title with lots of action and not much substance. While it is some of Liefeld’s best artwork in some time, the story falls flat, even with guest appearances from Beast, Wolverine, Cable and Deadpool. Oh…and a last page reveal of who Major X is and it’s just another red herring, I’m sure.

SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH #1 by Kelly Thompson and Veronica Fish. Fans of the CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA series will be severely disappointed with this one. Where the last series was all about creepy, horror stuff this is a light-hearted book that owes as much to the old TV series as it does to the classic ARCHIE series. Oh sure: there are mystical pieces and a scary monster too. But, all in all, it’s a nice, fun little book without the scary elements.

SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #1 by Gerry Duggan and Ron Garney. Marvel continues mining old classic characters with a second CONAN title, now that they have gotten the license for this character back. Set in the days of a younger Conan, it’s a typical sword slinging adventure with our hero fighting, drinking and loving. Duggan’s story is truly influenced by the groundwork laid many years ago by Roy Thomas and Garney’s art truly feels like his own take on the John Buscema style. This was good Cimerian fun!

SPIDER-MAN: LIFE STORY #1 by Chip Zdarsky and Mark Bagley. Here’s a real unique take on the story of Peter Parker. This mini-series will follow Peter and his cast as they move through life, starting in 1966 with Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, as a 19-year-old college student. The book is filled with familiar faces including Gwen, Harry, Norman, JJJ, Flash and more. The series to promise Peter through his life to the present, which means we will get to see them all age in real time. Zdarsky’s story hits home telling a tale of turbulent times and the war in Vietnam. Bagley’s art shines as always. Can’t wait to read this rest of this series.

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1 by Christos Gage and Mike Hathorne. Spinning out of recent events in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and the recent SPIDERGEDDON mini-series, Otto Octavious is back as a “hero”. He’s been reborn in a new body and a new identity and he’s determined to split his time between working at Horizon University with his old girlfriend Anna and fighting bad guys. I was especially thrilled to see Stilt Man open the book and Terrax end it. But it’s just an okay tale with a character I find still works best as a super villain and not a wanna-be hero.

TUROK #1 by Ron Marz and Roberto Castro. I grew up as a huge fan of the Gold Key characters, especially Dr. Spektor, Solar, Magnus and Turok, although finding those books were not as easy as finding Marvel and DC books on my local newsstand. When Valiant brought these heroes back, I was thrilled. And then we have had to suffer through some reboots from Dynamite which were not exactly for my taste. But this book, by legendary writer Ron Marz is going to my youth! Bringing back Turok, Andar and the Lost Valley just means, despite having a sparse story thus far, we’re looking at some classic dinosaur meet cowboys stuff. And Castro’s art is gorgeous! So happy to have a book which looks to have great potential.

UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #1 by Ed Brisson and Carlos Gomez. Spoiler: Cyclops is back from the dead, like most heroes and villains in comics history, and this “first” annual is all about his rebirth. It seems that it goes back 13 years ago when a young Cyclops saved a man and now, so many years later, “young Cable” shows up and gets the guy to reverse engineer a device to bring Scott back from the dead…twice. So now the mutant boy scout is back and teamed up with a version of his son to lead the mutant revolution. Interesting…

WAR IS HELL #1 by Howard Chaykin, Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Alberto Alburuerque. As part of their 80^th anniversary, Marvel presents another of their rebooted one-shot of classic titles in their history. WAR IS HELL was a short-lived anthology title during the Seventies and this one picks up the baton here. A great World War II tale by legendary creator Chaykin which  shines as the highlight here while Johnson’s tale set in Afghanistan is fitting but doesn’t have the same bite that Chaykin’s does, either from a story standpoint or artistic. Overall, it’s a fun book with a great variant cover by Greg Land.

WOLVERINE INFINITY WATCH #1 by Gerry Duggan and Andy MacDonald. Well, the old Canucklehead is back from the dead and now he is in charge of finding the Infinity Stones. He meets with Loki, who fills him in on what he missed during his death, and also the future Wolverine, who possesses the Pheonix force. So he’s looking for Stones and so are the Chitauri. The story is a bit rambling with a lot of the issue spent getting our hero up to speed and the art has a nice Barry Kitson feel to it. Seek out the George Perez variant, you’ll be very happy with it!

X-FORCE #1 by Ed Brisson and Dylan Burnett. The “other” mutant team is back as Domino and company put the band back together. Along with Domino is Shatterstar, Warpath, Cannonball, Deathlok and the young Nate Summers. Also along for the ride is Boom-Boom, although not quite back with the team. I was hoping for a great book here, but unfortunately while the story is fun the art work is a little hard to swallow. When we first see the team, I found it hard to figure who was who and wasn’t 100% sure that Cannonball was on the team until Domino called him by name. I’m uncertain if I will be around for issue #2, as much as I look forward to the adventures of this rogue team.

ZIGGY PIG SILLY SEAL #1 by Frank Tieri, John Cerilli and Jacob Chabot. As part of Marvel’s 80^th Anniversary, we get another throwback one-shot. Yes: funny animal comics were once a thing and this is a nice nod to those books, especially the original version of this that was published back in the Forties. A whole of bunch of classic characters show up including Doctor Doom and…Method Man? Wow! Didn’t see that comin’! This was a fun way to end up these tribute books.