An interview with author Joseph McDonald Jr.

Recently I conducted an interview with my dear friend and best selling author Tabitha Winter. At the conclusion, she challenged me to do the same and answer similar questions. As I told her at the completion: challenge accepted.

So here's a little look inside my brain as a fiction author.

1. Let’s begin with a bit of back story about you. What part of your education made you decide to go into that as a career?

So, back story. I am the only child of two educators; with my mom giving up her career after I was born. I went into college thinking I would follow in the family footsteps, with four people in my family in the education field, plus two relatives in the publishing world. When I was told that there were no teaching jobs I switched that up to a liberal arts education, graduating with a BA in Communication Studies and minors in English and Radio and Television Production. And, by graduation: no jobs in those fields…but we need teachers! When I got out, I stayed at the company I had worked for all through college and ended up staying there for a total of 37 years before going out on a medical.

What that work experience, along with college, gained for me was what I feel is a good knowledge of people: how they act, things they say and do, and how they look. I think I am fairly skilled at my descriptions of people and places and my dialogue feels real and not forced. YULETIDE was easy from that aspect as I was so familiar with the locales, including some places that the general public never saw. ELECTRIC FAME has similar vibes as the depiction of the college that opens the novel and some other aspects are truly spot on. Even the college president has confirmed that.

2. Something that plays a role, even if minor, in your work is religion or, more  specifically, faith. Is this something which has been deeply held since you were young or something that has gained prominence in your life since your career began? And how does your strong faith play a role in your writing and your process?

I was raised Catholic. Have made my First Communion; made my Confirmation…married in the Catholic Church. I have held a strong view of a Higher Power since my youth; even make a point to Thank God in every dedication of every book I have published. This isn’t just words on a page-I believe that any success I have is due to a Higher Power. When I was a young teenager, it was a no-no to be up until all hours of the night/morning to watch a concert or a Hammer Horror double feature. I would get shuttled to my grandmother’s where I would wheel out a folding cot and go to sleep around 8 at night, then get back up around midnight to watch that double feature, then back to bed. The deal was that I needed to get up the next morning and walk up that big hill to go to 9 AM Mass. And I did: every time I slept over.

When my mother passed, my father basically lost any faith in his religious beliefs where I became reacquainted to it. Over the years, it has been a part of my life; not totally evident to most until someone asked. In ELECTRIC FAME, before the climax of that novel, it rises within my protagonist, as it did earlier in a moment within a college chapel. That carried over into the eventual sequel where the hero’s youngest child is named Faith Hope because that is what everyone needs. When my youngest child came into my life, I named her Hope, after that character. In recent months, my faith has been brought to the forefront once again thanks to my friendship with Tabitha Winters. She is someone I can discuss my beliefs with regularly and was the first person among many who used the phrase that I was “doing the Lord’s work” in my day to day interactions. That means a lot to me!

3. Moving to your writing career. What was it that made you decide you wanted to be an author? When did you first have those aspirations: youth, teen, college or beyond? Or have you always had a voice in your head wanting to get you to create stories? Is that, in itself, its own type of therapy for you?

I always think of myself as a frustrated comic book writer. I have been crafting stories since I was a young child, even reaching out to Stan Lee and throwing X-Men plot ideas at him. Of course, I was 8 and he later told me that the postcard I received back was a fake as he “never listened to anyone’s ideas!” Having an uncle and an aunt who were journalists also inspired me. And my dad was always a huge reader, sometimes blowing through 6 library books in a week: all genres, all lengths…often going into historical fiction novels and correcting the glaring errors he discovered!

Post college, I was responsible for creating and designing a monthly newsletter for my employer, which I did for almost four years. I was simultaneously writing and designing a newsletter for the model building club I had been involved with since I was 8 years old. I wrote and produced a monthly comic book fanzine for five years and have been publishing it online since 2011.

I have always been writing something, be it long form fiction or short form pieces. I have always had it in me. It fuels me; nothing else but that.

4. As an author, which novelists are your inspiration? Who are the people you look up to when you are in writing mode? Do they all manage to become part of your writing experience or do you also have works and authors you read purely for pleasure? Who is foremost amongst those?

When I was young, maybe 8 or 9, my dad had me read a book called AN OLD CAPTIVITY by Nevil Shute, who was one of my dad’s favorite authors. It’s about three people who get transported into the past of the Norseman of Greenland. I was hooked and have read all Shute’s work; all of which are from my dad’s personal collection. He is such an underrated author whose most well-known works are ON THE BEACH and A TOWN CALLED ALICE. So, Shute is my personal hero who turned out over 20 novels in his 40 year career and I often look to them a inspiration. Revered in his native Australia, his stories are simple and often touch on spirituality and aspects of reincarnation.

I often reference some of the novels that have inspired me into my works, including Shute, Stephen King, Jack Kerouac, Hunter S. Thompson, Carlos Castaneda (whose work changed my life and the way of thinking about the world around me), Patricia Cornwell, and Janet Evanovich, among others. Their books sit next to my bed and I often look to them when I find myself getting down because I see literary fame as an unattainable goal. True story: I wanted to publish my first novel right out of college, sell a million copies, get rich, move to Vermont where I could lock myself away for six months at a time and create. That never happened and I probably would have ended up like Jack Torrance!

I do read for pleasure when I have time. I have what is probably a serious addiction to comics, based on what I purchase each week and there is a whole cadre of authors I gravitate to whose works I respect. Currently, Tom King, James Tynion IV, Tom Taylor, Jonathan Hickman, and Matt Fraction are in that group. Of course, I always pick up anything by those “crazy Brits”, as my daughter often calls them: Garth Ennis, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis, and Jamie Delano. And Terry Moore will always have a special place in my heart. His dialogue is always fresh and he writes females characters in such a way that it has always blown me away. I think I kind of subconsciously channeled Terry when I started writing ON THE ROAD TO SANITY. I was writing about two best friends and the relationship between his two main characters in STRANGERS IN PARADISE certainly was a part of my road map.

Currently I am reading Jasper Fforde and his THURSDAY NEXT novels and having a ball with them and will soon be sliding into his NURSERY CRIME series! I’m also dipping my toe into Marilynn Harper’s works which are definitely aimed at a mature audience! And then there is Tabitha Winters, whose psychological thrillers are just so captivating that they are almost impossible to put down. And such grit coming from the most caring person I know! I truly credit Tabitha for being my major source of inspiration for ON THE ROAD TO SANITY and how it turned out. If it were not for her, that book would still be sitting in my computer waiting to be finished. I can never thank her enough for her friendship and guidance on that one!

5. Let’s look at your novels, starting with your first published one-ELECTRIC FAME. Where did the original idea for that novel original from and at one point did it become more of a reality as opposed to a germ of an idea? Did you originally plan for this to be a series or simply a one-off? And where did the idea for the title come from?

ELECTRIC FAME first started to come together in college while taking a rather boring English class. It was a very rough version of what became the first two chapters, written long-form into my class notebook. I knew the characters right off the bat and what I wanted to happen to jumpstart the plot. Over the course of the next two years, I developed the story further, while also pouring a lot of my time and energy into 1,479, which was constantly changing and being added to.

Out of college with 1,479 basically completed, I went back to finishing ELECTRIC FAME, which was mostly done-all in long form. I edited my first draft, typed it up on an old Smith Corona manual, just as I did with 1,479. Eventually, it got re-edited and was computerized on an old-school TI-994A computer with a whopping 49K of RAM and was printed out by a colleague of my dad’s.

When I attempted to get it published, I found out just how difficult it was to do and garnered enough rejection notices to wallpaper my bathroom. Dejected but not totally turned off, I turned my attention to 2,940: even if it would never see the light of day. I had the need to finish the story.

WHAT PRICE FAME came about many years later; fully realized after I was married and raising a family. I was happy with how ELECTRIC FAME had ended but felt that any potential readers needed to know what happened next as I did leave a few breadcrumbs on the table. Much of what happened there was inspired by what had become my relationship with family. More on that later.

Regarding the title, as grammatically incorrect as it may be: it was all around the idea that these musicians were seeking fame and trying to achieve it with their electronic instruments. There is a line early on, in the first chapter, where my protagonist mentions that everything was there-“the power, the electricity, the fame.” It described their world perfectly: the power of being onstage, the electricity a performer feels and the desire for fame. That was the genesis. By the way, I have taken some heat for the cover, which depicts a guitar being crucified. Credit Coldplay and Jay Z for that in the song ‘Lost’: “if you succeed, prepare to be crucified.” Our hero specifically has a moment where he is betrayed and vilified/crucified by critics. That version of that song resonated with me and I felt that it represented how fame is fleeting and that, at any moment, your audience could turn on you.

6. Regarding the plot: did you know early on in the writing process the direction it would ultimately take? Did you plot out a bunch of story ideas and then throw them together to see what made sense? And how often do you come up with an idea and either walk away from it completely or file it for later use?

I usually know where the plot is going to go early on. I used to plot everything out as an outline: Roman numerals and all, with sub headings. Sometimes things change along the way and proposed chapters either get shifted or broken up, depending how the action takes me. There are exceptions to that as it’s not a hard and fast rule with me. 1,479 grew organically as things in my life and that of my fictional narrator happened. WILDEST DREAMS is an anthology, so those are free standing tales with no real connection to anything else I have written. ON THE ROAD TO SANITY has no plot except “two girls, road trip, and stuff happens”. All I know with that is their route and some of the places they go: that is plotted out. What gets said, what happens along the way? It happens when it happens. They guide me…and no, as a friend has said, I’m not insane!

There is only one time I can recall tossing away a story idea. When I was working on what became MEET ON THE LEDGE, I knew there would be a big moment in the book that would change everything for my characters. And I did have a big moment that changed everything but also set in motion a plot point and major storyline that I didn’t see coming that represents the final arc in the novel. Honestly, I couldn’t do what I had originally planned because I couldn’t do what was devised to one of my characters; just didn’t have the heart. As it turned out, the new ending is so much more satisfying than what I would have had happen and I can’t even remember how I was planning to paint myself out of the original corner I had proposed.

7. Can you talk briefly about your other novels? What was the idea for them? How did they come about?

Well, I’ve talked about ELECTRIC FAME, so that’s out of the way. 1,479 was originally just about me writing a diary of sorts about my college experience. I still have the diary that had every single day of my college years documented. But I quickly realized that no one would want to read this because I was a nobody and no one would care. So it quickly became about a fictional author describing HIS own experiences, which is where the title comes from: 1,479 days from high school Prom to college graduation. To be clear: it is a fictional novel by a fictional author. There are parts of it from my own experiences, those of classmates, various stories told by friends, and a bunch of made-up stuff for color. For me, it was a cathartic journey from college to full adulthood and would hopefully be seen as such for anyone who cared to read it. It wasn’t so much a roadmap as it was just one person’s experiences; fictional or otherwise. During the process, I connected with a high school friend and he acted as this other voice in the process, which explains how he is the co-author on the book.

I always say that much of it is fiction and not things I directly experienced, although some have been influenced by my own experiences. Two chapters specifically are 99% me and those were the hardest to have to relive as it was written as they represented some wonderful moments and some really traumatic ones at the same time. Over the next few years, I crafted the sequel, 2,940, covering the next four years in my hero’s life. Eventually, when I made the decision to finally publish it, I added an epilogue that brought the character up to date and finally provided his happy ending. Also of note: after I had completed it, I tied the book into ELECTRIC FAME and that whole universe, as it were, by referencing that author and that book ; talking about how it was his generation’s CATCHER IN THE RYE. It also represented the first mention of ON THE ROAD TO SANITY as a failed play. Who knew that all those years later it would become a real thing…only much longer and a far different story!

I will also note that author K.G. Palmer, the fictional author of that book, is distilled from a lot of people I knew during my college career. He is sometimes thoughtful, sometimes brash, and very often misogynistic. That aspect totally represented almost every 18-21 year old male I knew back then. To that end, Palmer comes off as an a**hole and should not be considered to be a hero to readers. He is just one somewhat typical male from that period.

WILDEST DREAMS came about as I had all these various pieces I had written that were all based on dreams I had experienced. Back then, still single and living at home, I regularly slept with a notepad near my bed and would wake from a dream and jot down things I had experienced in the middle of the night-in the dark and then try to make sense of them the next morning. WILDEST DREAMS is almost entirely based on those, with the exception of three pieces: the eulogy I read at my grandmother’s funeral, a minor sequel/spin-off to ELECTRIC FAME, and a humorous piece written by Randy Blake and myself. I should also note that YULETIDE-with the concept of great destruction in a shopping mall-came entirely from a dream.

Speaking of YULETIDE: to that point, it was my longest and most challenging tale. There were over fifty major characters enduring six days as captives of terrorists with a mixed bag of demands. I was dating my future wife at the time I was working on it, banging it out on that afore mentioned TI-994A, which I would then later transfer to a typewritten copy by looking at the monitor and transferring it that way! I had a very good but also frustrating impetus to turn out a certain number of pages as my future bride would not speak to me until I had turned out at least 5 pages!

This was also the first book where I plotted out full chapters and plotlines and, with so many characters, I created several photo reference sheets of those characters pulled from my high school and college yearbooks. They weren’t necessarily people I knew-just interesting faces that I could craft into interesting characters. It was also the first time a true crossover with my previous works occurred as a few of my ELECTRIC FAME characters made appearances and, at the same time, a few made their way into future novels.

WHAT PRICE FAME came into fruition several years after I was married and living in a home instead of an apartment. Even though I had not approached trying to get published since ELECTRIC FAME, I still had the burning desire. And I wanted to revisit my protagonist and his life after fame and tell the next part of that story. It was a slow, frustrating slog at first, even though I knew what I wanted the major storyline to be. My hero is enjoying family life but still has that itch, leading to issues within his family. Throw into that mix another character with an offer too good to pass up. I knew how it would play out and how it would ultimately end, but I still couldn’t figure out the middle.

I ended up dipping into a moment from about six years prior when I attended my cousin’s first marriage and, during that reception, I had an interaction with a mysterious redhead that led to an interesting conversation that bolstered my confidence regarding the band. Recalling that night led to that inspiration I needed to continue on. What ground me to a halt was an communication online with someone who dissed the work as I wasn’t revealing the plot. I put that novel aside for nearly four years, picking it up sporadically. It wasn’t until after I finally published ELECTRIC FAME that I got the confidence to go back and finally finish it.

I was done with that story and those characters at that point; even had my protagonist give his “final interview” to put a ending to the story. That lasted about two weeks and I got the idea to come back to these characters I loved one more time. That was what became MEET ON THE LEDGE-set 26 years AFTER WHAT PRICE FAME ended.

8.    What is your usual writing ritual like? Is there a certain place that you do that and

that is your strict ‘writing place’ or does that matter? What is the space like? Candles? Music? Beverage? Anything else to get you into that creative space?

From the time that I went back and re-edited ELECTRIC FAME, adding about 200 pages to what I already had, and making it a much more immersive experience in my mind, my ritual would be setting up my laptop on the center island of my kitchen, with a cold beverage-usually iced tea-some music and some incense. That held true all the way through ON THE ROAD TO SANITY BOOK ONE and I was poised to continue with both BOOK TWO and RECOLLECTIONS. But, in early March, I lost one of my fur babies who had been with me since she was 8 weeks old and, being the puppy that would be on the floor by my side while I worked or even in my lap, I lost my inspiration at the same time. But I found another place to work besides home and, with an army of friends around me, have found new inspiration. The ritual is similar: music, candles and emotional support.

I still do work in my kitchen with music and candles and a cold beverage. But, because of my support from so many, I find I can work in a number of spaces with equal results.

9. Once you have a germ of an idea for a story, what is your creative planning process like? Do you have your rough ideas plotted out or do you do a lot of stream of consciousness writing or a combination of both? And what do you start with first: developing sketches of your characters or concentrating on the plot and then placing your creations into this world?

Up until SANITY, my full-length novels were almost entirely plotted out ahead of time. SANITY had no plot, as I have said before. And my characters were only partially fleshed out. Who they were and what they became changed as it went and there was a major plot point that changed everything about them. I have let them tell the story and direct me on where to go. As a rule, my characters come later in the process after my plot, unless they are the ones I have previously used. Any one new to a story gets dropped into the plot and then I create their back story.

10. Which of your characters are the most enjoyable to write and which ones are the most difficult and why?

My primary protagonists, Joe, Mike and K.G., are the easiest to write as they are all extensions of me to some extent: the wanna-be musician, the frustrated novelist, and the college student. I know them all so well, but also know Joe’s wife equally as well and the “core members” of ‘You R. I had been through two novels and was working on them in a third, so I knew their faults and flaws very well. MEET ON THE LEDGE created some problems as those characters had all aged up and were nearing retirement age. And their children were all adults now with their own lives and careers. To create their back stories was a challenge and to weave them into a connected story was a challenge.

The most difficult one to write is Matt Hewitson. Over the course of two novels, he moves from being a ‘second banana’ to a star and, with taking on a lead role, has taken on a bit of an ego. To flip the script on him was tough and I was determined to make him more of an antagonist along the way. It was a creative choice that worked, in my opinion. But it was a tough choice to turn him from ‘face’ to ‘heel’, to use some wrestling terms.

11. Many authors draw from real life interactions and often combine elements from those people into a character or characters? Is this how you work or is everybody in your universe totally sprung forth from your exceptionally vivid imagination? Are any of your characters an amalgam or people you have interacted with, past or present?

The short answer is most of them are based, even to a small degree, on people I have known, starting with the band. They were all people I knew from school or work and just manipulated them to my needs, even if it was just their appearances that inspired me. Joe’s first wife was inspired by someone I knew of from school but never associated with and then, when she came to my job and quit almost soon after, she became the love of his life who exits the scene in the process. One of K.G.’s girlfriends is directly based on a person from my life I refer to as my ‘white whale’. And sometimes, that doesn’t turn out as I planned. SANITY introduced a character named Rosie who was inspired by Tabitha Winters. But, as that story evolved, she only became Rosie in terms of appearance only, as Rosie’s persona is far from the author I know so well.

12. What led you to make MEET ON THE LEDGE be written as a time-jump?

Once I got the urge, I decided I needed to look at a new generation of characters and had planned for them to be my featured characters going forward. But I also felt I could not carry the novel on them alone, which led to bringing in their parents to flesh things out. But I also knew I needed to not just have them enter the picture, as there were so many good characters from other novels that needed to appear, and they all would have the own chance to have their story over a two decade period told.

I am super proud of that book for what I did with it by weaving multiple characters and plotlines together into a heartfelt story that touches on many themes from my previous works.. The biggest challenge was the decision to have the big plot point that closes the book be a massive Rock concert. In my mind, I needed to create all the performers to fill that concert bill. There were a multitude of bands and styles and they all needed to be believable. I’m really delighted of what I came up with regarding one particular act; so much so they are revisited in RECOLLECTIONS.

13. How did the idea for ON THE ROAD TO SANITY come about?

SANITY had been referenced in the revised version of ELECTRIC FAME; part of those added pages I felt I needed before publication. It was Palmer’s failed play and I wanted to make it a full-length story. But instead of my heroines going from Rhode Island to California, I wanted them to do all 48 states over the course of the summer and early fall. I also knew it would be a story too massive to fit into one book and had planned for it to be in two books. Lo and behold, that first book only got them to Washington state, which is when I made the decision to make it three books, with the second being set solely in California, and the final taking them from Nevada back to Rhode Island.

While I don’t know all of the details, except for their travel route, for books two and three, I do know a couple of things. Book Two ends with six words. And Book Three ends with an epilogue that finishes the story. What happens in the middle, except for them revisiting a previous location and a previous acquaintance? No clue!

I will say that the close friendship between Bonnie and Cassidy was inspired by my youngest daughter’s friendship with her best friend: their attitudes and the way they watch each other’s backs. And the success of that book, as far as it getting done as quickly and satisfyingly as it did, is all due to Tabi. The story is told in a first person narrative by one of the girls and I truly wanted a woman’s perspective; not wanting it to sound like a man writing a female character. I did something I never do: let someone read a work in progress. But I trusted Tabi’s instincts and let her read it, chapter by chapter. Her enthusiasm for them and constantly asking what came next forced me to write; even as I did not know what would come next. She was so inspirational to that novel that it was better because of her input.

14. How much of your work, if any, gets inspired by dreams you may have had? Does a dream play out in a way that makes you think you could manipulate that into a storyline or a character? And, if so, how often does that occur?

Not as much as it used to. Now I usually go to sleep thinking of plotlines and hope they will plant a seed that will root and grow. Sometimes they do and other times they are lost to sleep. SANITY BOOK TWO is almost halfway finished and I am currently taking a break to put a lot of my energy into RECOLLECTIONS. Much of that is because SANITY requires a lot of research regarding locations in 1983. It is not just about the plot; it’s about accuracy as much as possible. Also, Tabi has been busy working on her novels and has not had the time to devote to any new SANITY writings, which leave this skiff a little rudderless. RECOLLECTIONS features visits to plotlines she has not gotten to read yet and I would rather work with that so she won’t be hit with spoilers. Either way, she is still encouraging my work on that novel.

15. Is there a point that you write your story and you are done with it or do you always second guess yourself; wondering if the plot works or if you could have done something different? Do you sometimes think about what you’ve written and believe you could have done it better? Is any book every really done in your mind?

The only time I second guessed myself was in my initial plans for MEET ON THE LEDGE. I was determined to have the plot move in one direction but could not bring myself to pull the trigger on it. When I shifted what occurred to another character, I thought I sold out and took the easy way out. I didn’t bother to write it two ways: I went with my second choice and let it play out. A reunion with a friend I had not seen in 20 years helped to color one of the key scenes and that made me decide I had made the right choice. A certain gesture between she and I still gets utilized to this day with my fellow author mentor.

I think every writer looks at their work and says they could have done it better. I do not write for readers-sorry folks-I write for me. So I need to be happy with it. As a rule, I am happy with all of my work, with 1,479 the one I find hardest to convince people to read. K.G. and his friends are just tough to get through in a post ‘Me Too’ world.

Every book is done when I say it is. My problem is I finish a book and realize I might not have been able to say everything I wanted to and that leads me to writing a sequel. Or a sequel to a sequel, etc.!

16. After a day of your regular work and/or your writing stints, how do you unwind? Or does the urge to create always sit in your psyche to a degree?

I was always told to write something, even if it is only a paragraph, every day to keep those mental muscles fresh, so thoughts of creating are always in my head. And I no longer have a “regular job”, just a part-time one. After a day working at that, I usually come home and write some more, in between handling household duties. I don’t unwind until the end of the night when it either becomes a movie or some comics. That usually doesn’t last long as I find sleep comes early and deep. My time to unwind is either cooking a meal for the family or crashing in bed with the sound of thunder from my white noise machine lulling me to sleep.

17. Do you ever see the possibility of dipping your toes into a different genre? And, if so, what would it be and why?

Since I never know what to call the genres I write within-I simply call them “contemporary fiction” and find myself explaining the storylines and let people decide for themselves…although Amazon lists YULETIDE as a psychological thriller. I have tried to step out into new genres and I think that is best evident in WILDEST DREAMS. MEET ON THE LEDGE has one of my characters writing detective Pulp fiction and I labored with it, although I love that genre. I just didn’t have it in me. I would love to write a Science Fiction story and have one sort of moving around in my mind, but haven’t worked out all the scientific mumbo-jumbo to make it work. There is an idea for a satirical superhero story that I have tucked into one of my future novels and that may happen, although I would love it to be a collaboration with Tabi. I just think she will be busy with her own franchise for years to come and I will end up writing it alone.

18. Where do you see the future of this franchise? Would you like to see it adapted into a television mini-series or a feature film? If so, who would you cast in those key roles? And, as a fan of the graphic arts, would you like to see these novels adapted into graphic novels?

When I was first working on ELECTRIC FAME, I would tell people that I would be in the middle of something and it was like someone turned on a movie projector and I would see the action and the dialogue and race to at least to catch that lightning in a bottle and get it down on paper before I lost it. I think most of my novels have those moments that would play well as a film or mini-series. But my books are LONG!!! Really long!!! SANITY clocks in at close to 300,000 words! That is something like an entire 24 episode series! And it is also more of a character driven piece than my other titles. It’s a lot of driving, a lot of music, a lot of sightseeing, food and motels, along with a lot of dialogue and inner monologues. Not exactly a story that television executives gravitate to.

I have a number of people I would love to see as my characters but most are far older than I would like them to be to play them, especially in the ELECTRIC FAME/WHAT PRICE era. If MEET ON THE LEDGE were made into a film, most of them would fit perfectly. Unfortunately, I don’t know a lot of 25 year old actors who could fit the roles in ELECTRIC FAME.

Graphic novel? I have always said I am a frustrated comic writer so yeah: I could go with that with the right artist handling it.

19. How soon can we expect a new novel or more? Do you have a timetable in mind or are you just seeing where the spirit moves you?

My goal was always to have nine books in print before the beginning of 2026 but I don’t see that happening. RECOLLECTIONS should cross that line and hopefully be in print around Thanksgiving. It is at the halfway point, including the addition of some special surprises in it. The book features my characters reminiscing on moments in their lives so why not show the reader what these people look like in 2025? That is the surprise. As of now, 1/3rd of that book has been laid out and I love how it looks.

SANITY BOOK TWO may make it to the finish line, once I dive back in again. The girls are within a few weeks in their timeframe from reaching the end and those six words. If I can truly push out those final eight chapters in RECOLLECTIONS to my satisfaction, I can take a breath and get the girls back on the road. The pause is a mental reset for me as well as the dynamics have gone from three people during the first half of the novel back to two and I need to reacquaint what that relationship was like. Time will tell.

2026 looks to have me doing the second part of the RECOLLECTIONS piece, entitled REFLECTIONS. It is not so much of a sequel as the other side of the coin, with the same characters dealing with topics that have affected all of us over the last eight years.

20. Any last comments or things you would like to add to this?

I am just glad and grateful to those folks who have bought my books and enjoyed them. And I just hope that they tell their friends about them in the process. I realize they are long and not something to read in a night or two, but I hope there is enough there to make the journey worthwhile. I am proud to have been able to put seven books into the marketplace in less than three years-some 3,000 pages worth! I am proud of the support from my family as they understand how this is an addiction, even if it is not a big revenue source. Writing keeps me young, I think. My Hope gave me the greatest gift of all for Father’s Day 2023 when she presented me with a Spotify playlist called SOUNDTRACK TO ELECTRIC FAME that featured every song referenced in that novel in chronological order!

I thank God for the support and faith to persist despite lackluster sales. And to my sister from another mister, who dropped this challenge into my lap in my email VERY EARLY this morning: thank you for your kindness, our seemingly unbreakable bond, your invaluable assistance, your sarcastic wit and your constant encouragement. Without being repetitively told how I am prolific and a great author, I would probably just stop. I am now and always will be eternally grateful and look forward to sitting back and watching your success.

One last thing: my photography team in Colorado Springs refer to me as “The Storyteller”, mostly because I enjoy regaling tales from Cons or life in general. I wear that moniker with pride with them; maybe I should remember that when I get embarrassed by compliments from friends near and not just far.

DC UNIVERSE Month 88, Part 2

HARLEY QUINN #51 by Elliot Kalan and Mirka Andolfo. While Harley continues to fight with Quintellect, that has taken her over, the citizen captives decide to come to Harley’s defense before Gunbunny and Mayfly can kill Harley. Harley and Quintellect come together and have something equivalent to virtual sex, allowing Harley to come to and subdue the villains, with them eventually being brought back to their boss. Undaunted, she has a plan and has hired Ravanger to take out Mrs. Grimaldi.

JSA #7 by Jeff Lemire and Rafael De Latorre. The members of the JSA gather for Wildcat’s funeral filled with memories and hard feelings. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman arrive and offer their help, accusing the JSA of not handling their jobs well. In the demon dimension, Hawkman, Hawkwoman and Kid Eternity try to make their way out along a brimstone path. Kid Eternity receives a summons and passes through a tunnel where she is greeted by the original, deceased members of the JSA, who ask her for her help.

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #7 by Mark Waid and Travis Moore. WE ARE YESTERDAY PART FIVE. The time displaced villains unleash their attack on the Watchtower as many Justice League members find themselves scattered throughout time. Superman, Batman, and Robin are in Arabia 14,000 BC, The Captain and Stargirl are trapped in 19,000 BC. Flash and Green Arrow are stuck in Tombstone in 1872. Mr. Terrific, Suoergirl, and Martian Manhunter are on Jupiter in the distant future. Nightwing and Beast Boy are at the End of Time, while Green Lantern and Thunderlord are in 40,000 BC.  Suddenly, they all receive a transmission from Air Wave, where he apologizes and it is revealed that he was weaponized and responsible for them being time displaced. On the Watchtower, Grodd shows his teammates the Omega Rift and shows off the only known fragment from Apokolips. Seeing that Grodd looks to take the Ultimate Power for himself, Lex attacks Grodd and grabs the rock from Apokolips, only to discover it is a ruse. Air Wave uses his power and has it amplified by the other Leaguers, allowing them to arrive at the Watchtower and are ready to fight back. To be concluded in JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #8.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE ATOM PROJECT #5 by Ryan Parrott, John Ridley, and Mike Perkins. In the past, we see how the military, led by General Eiling, demand that the Atoms release Captain Atom to him so the military can test his powers. He proceeds to strip powers from those affected and then leaves the Watchtower. In the present, Inferno meets with Captain Atom while also attacking Eiling and the military. Captain Atom saves Eiling and allows Inferno to take him. Inferno reveals themselves as the Legion of Doom, threatening to change the world now that they have access to his powers.

METAMORPHO THE ELEMENT MAN #6 by Al Ewing and Steve Leiber. Metamorpho seemingly sacrifices himself to save the Earth and meets Mark Merlin, now known as Prince Ra-Man. Ra-Man shows Metamorpho how this was an unfair fight because it should have happened in an earlier era. After defeating Ra-Man, Metamorpho resumes his mission and destroys Solaris using Hydrogen, which also kills him. In the end, Superman returns Metamorpho’s remains from Sol II and they end up in a lab with Stagg deciding he can bring the hero back to life.

MISTER TERRIFIC: YEAR ONE #1 by Al Letson and Valentine De Landro. In the past, Michael Holt meets with his friend Dre, where he reveals what he calls a skeleton key, as he continues to tinker with his T-Sphere, which may be used as Dre’s personal trainer app. Dre shows Holt a news report that declares people on the South side of Gateway City are being sickened by a loud noise coming from Prescott Tower. It seems to be related to an engine being tested by Athena Prescott of Prescott Industries. Holt, who has lost his wife Paula, refuses to get involved. Later, a team of individuals break into Prescott Tower but their entry is seen by Athena and she activates the engine, debilitating most of them. Dre calls Holt and says he is in trouble, leading to Holt to come get him. he does and they flee town. But, when they stop, a sniper shoots Dre, killing him.

THE NEW GODS #6 by Ram V,  Evan Cagle and Filipe Andrade. The Black Racer drives Lightray to The Source after his death at the hands of Karok. He explains they must travel through liminal space and must do so while avoiding The Darkness, which cannot enter liminal space. But it does, breaking the rules, leading to Black Racer leading The Darkness away to protect Lightray’s soul. He then demands The Source return Lightray to fight the battle that is coming. Meanwhile, Highfather tells Lightray’s origin and how he developed powers during a fight against a group of soldiers from Apokolips. On Earth, Superman tells Orion to stand down as the Justice League rescues the New Genesis ship as it was falling to Earth.

NIGHTWING #126 by Dan Watters and Francisco Francavilla. A group of corrupt cops tend to one of their own and prepare to have Captain Hallow handle things with the police commissioner. Maggie is with her new girlfriend Katie and meets Katie’s daughter, who fears The Wanderers. Nightwing makes his way to the dilapidated Harlow Manor, where the crooked cops are hold up. He takes out the cops and meets with the injured Henry Allison, soon realizing the fourth cop is not here. Dressed as Captain Hallow, he attacks Maggie and her new family, leading to her ultimately killing him. Later, Maggie tells Nightwing she needs people she can trust. In the end, someone makes their way into the evidence locker and removes the Hallow gear.

POISON IVY #33 by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara. Janet struggles with recuperating even after the help of the Bog Venus. Undine explains that Janet has Mucormycosis: a fungal infection that will probably kill her in the next month or two. He reveals there may be specialists in Gotham or Metropolis that could help her and she needs to figure how to get her there without tipping off law enforcement. Janet overhears and calls up the Bog Venus for help. Bog Venus says that if Janet can tell her how Ivy can be separated from Xylon. Janet tells her that if the Bog Venus can break the enchantment over Marshview Ivy won’t have anywhere to run. Ivy shares a tender moment with Undine when GCPD shows up and shoots at them. Janet says how she betrayed them and Ivy refuses to leave Marshview and decides to reach out to the Order of the Green Knight.

SECRET SIX #3 by Nicole Maines and Stephen Segovia. Senator Gravenport, who aided Waller when she blackmailed him, goes to meet with CheckMate, which does not end well for him. The Secret Six sneak into the same club, looking for information that will allow them to find Waller and shut CheckMate down permanently. Nia spots Gravenport and jumps him, revealing themselves and blowing their cover. That leads them into direct confrontation with CheckMate’s leader-Banshee.

SUPERGIRL #1 by Sophie Campbell. Supergirl receives a phone call from her adoptive parents in Midville and want her to visit over the July 4^th holiday. She agrees although she is not a fan of digging up old memories. When she arrives, she finds the town filled with signs and posters about Supergirl, even though the images do not look like Kara. She saves an old school friends as Supergirl but the townsfolks accuse her of being an imposter because she doesn’t look like the Supergirl they know. The ‘real’ Supergirl arrives and attacks Kara before flying away. Later, Kara heads to her home and her parents do not recognize her but introduce her to the “real Kara Danvers”.

SUPERMAN #26 by Joshua Williamson, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, and Sean Izaakse. Lois has lost her powers as solar energy Is no longer charging her cells. The Atom tells her he is uncertain if they will ever return and she heads back to Earth, telling Superman she is fine, although he does not believe her. Meanwhile, Lena visits Lex in prison, telling him exactly what she thinks of him. She then meets with Mercy, quits Supercorp and steals a Superbike and heads to Midvale. Superman arrives and tells Mercy he is shutting Supercorp down but she says that only Lex can do that. Elsewhere, the Darkseid Legion tortures Time Trapper to learn more about Earth Prime’s Superman, even as Zod’s ship is invaded by Khund raiders carrying Supercorp weaons. In the end, Superman visits Lex in prison, where he offers to restore Lois’ powers if he continues to work with him. This enrages Superman and his Red-K infection erupts, with Suerman breaking Lex out of prison. Once out, he strokes a deal with Pharm and Graft to help him cure the Red-K infection. That’s when Marilyn Moonlight arrives to stop Superman.

SUPERMAN UNLIMITED #1 by Dan Slott and Rafael Albuquerque. Imani Edge, Morgan Edge’s ex-wife, has obtained the Daily Planet in the divorce settlement and wants to use the Planet to establish outlets around the world, including policing misinformation for several social media platforms. During the announcement, Clark flies off as Superman. After many calls, he gets a Watchtower call about a meteor made of Inerton heading to Earth. He punches the meteor and the outer skin breaks off revealing the entire meteor is made of Kryptonite and, despite the pain, he pushes the meteor to an uninhabited part of the planet and guides it down. He wakes three months later aboard the Watchtower and finds the world has changed. Kryptonite is available all across the Earth, with El Caldero turning it into a business and becoming the most advanced nation on Earth. Somehow, he has developed a resistance to Kryptonite, as revealed by a spectrograph, even as it makes life horrible for the rest of the Super Family.

TITANS #23 by John Layman and Pete Woods. The Titans continue to get used to Vanadia, even as she struggles with the depth of her powers. Elsewhere, Slade, Clock King and the rest continue to plot, even as Clock King has a secret weapon: Terra!

TWO-FACE #6 by Christian Ward and Fabio Veras. After meeting with Batman, Harvey reconvenes at the White Church and goes back on trial. Mid trial, Lake callsd him and says that Zsasz is there and he races out. Harvey arrives and fights Zsasz and is being beaten when he agrees to let Two Face back out, defeating Zsasz. Back at the trial, two Face flips the coin and it is good side up, meaning the Shadow Hand is innocent. Later, he reveals to his daughter that he had a regular coin and not the scarred one, which is observed by Lake. In the end, Harvey is now trapped in his own mind as Two Face is finally free again.

WONDER WOMAN #21 by Tom King and Guillem March. As Batman recovers from the attack, Diana visits with her mother before meeting with Hephaestus, whose dagger was used in the murder. He claims he only made the weapon before demanding she leave after she tells him she met with Aphrodite. After checking in on Batman, she visits Zeus and demands another day, which he refuses. Aphrodite tells Diana she is not interested in Hephaestus and that Area would cry as he told her he was sorry for those who suffered in his wars. Diana goes to see Dionysus and, after threatening him, he reveals he told Hephaestus about Aphrodite’s story regarding Ares, which leads her back to Hephaestus, who attacks her, using the Lasso of Truth and wrapping it around her neck . She tells him Batman is behind him, distracting him, even though Batman is not there, and she knocks him out. She and Batman return to Zeus and she declares that he is actually the murderer and he admits to it, saying this was his revenge on Diana for instilling “female weakness” upon his son. He refuses to release Diana’s mother until Batman threatens him with Deadman telling Area and Hades of what Zeus did. Wonder Woman brings Batman home, with the mystery solved.

ZATANNA #4 by Jamal Campbell.  Still dealing with what has been done, Zatanna escapes the realm and returns home. Later, she meets with Fuseli, the demon of nightmares, and has him read a piece of paper she retrieved from the realm and he tells her it’s an invitation for her to attend the next Night of Desires/, which she does. She demands Peck show her Adam and Blue Devil and The Lady White produces him, threatening to kill him with an arrow. Adam attacks Zatanna, forcing her to freeze him so she can continue the fight. Even Blue Devil attacks her, causing her to pull the sword out of her, vowing to escape, even if she has to tear herself apart to do it.

 

DC UNIVERSE Month 88, Part 1

ABSOLUTE BATMAN #8 by Scott Snyder and Marcos Martin. Bruce wakes to find himself in a Cryo chamber . Victor Fries Jr.  fills the tank and begins the freezing process, causing Bruce to recall a memorial with his friends for Matches Malone, where it is revealed that Thomas Wayne died because he stayed outside to save Matches. Fries contacts his benefactor and it is revealed that the snow he created contains a marker and will infect everyone in the city whose skin touches the snow. Suddenly, Batman breaks down the door to Fries office and he lets loose an army of zombified frozen individuals, causing Batman to flee. In the end, Waylon is drugged and taken to Ark M.

ABSOLUTE FLASH #3 by Jeff Lemire and Nick Robles. In a flashback of what happened during the lab accident, Barry has his fleshed peeled off of him while still begging to be helped as Wally runs into the desert. In the present, Wally has run to a farm and, when he wakes, he sees that Fort Fox has deployed “the monkey” after him. At Fort Fox, a scientist named Thawne bring up a video feed from Grodd. Grodd reaches out with a glowing finger and Wally touches it and the two of them experience their memories psychically. Grodd tells Wally telepathically tells Wally that they are the same because of their experiences. They exit the barn and see a boomerang shaped drone, which blasts at them and destroys the barn. Wally has a panic attack but Grodd calms him down and then the monkey knocks out all the Rogues but Harkness is immune. As Harkness flees, Wally chases after and knocks him out. Wally and Grodd bury Barry before donning Barry’s suit and they race off.

ABSOLUTE GREEN LANTERN #2 by Al Ewing and Jahnoy Lindsay. Jo and Hal sit in what’s left of the diner and talk about what happened. He asks her what the alien did to her as the green light around her looks like something from him. He also tells her to stay back as he cannot control his Black Hand and he just didn’t have the willpower to stop it from killing everyone in the diner. It is revealed that the alien, Abin Sur, stepped onto the ground in Evergreen and was then surrounded by residents, including Guy Gardner and his deputies, with Guy being blown away by an energy burst from the alien. As the deputies shoot at Abin Sur, he fights back, decapitating Rita and cutting off Roy’s hand. John arrives and convinces Hal not to shoot before the alien flies back to his ship. Later, Jo, Hal, and John meet up and John says that no one is coming to sabe the town, leading him to take Jo’s ring out of his pocket and him saying he knows what can save them. In the present, Jo asks Hal what happened to the guy and it appears in his hand and then his eyes turn black as he tells her to flee.

ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER #3 by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez.  John and his Martian companion investigate random people committing arson on homeless people. When Jones interrogates suspects, the Martian detects the influence of the White Martian. It is explained that the White Martian has a need to destroy. Later, Jones reads his wife’s thoughts and realizes their marriage is in trouble. He visits with his son and discovers him playing with the Green Martian. A call comes in saying random people are burning homes and Jones heads off to rescue people. A woman on fire who is revealed to be the White Martian, tells him that “it’s about the smoke.”

ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #7 by Jason Aaron and Carmine Di Giandomenico. In the present, the Omega Men enter a base in Nevada, searching for the Brainiac server that powers Lazarus Corporation’s A.I.; thinking they can shut the A.I. down if they destroy the data center. But they are soon obliterated in the grossest way possible, except for one who is taken hostage. Brainiac proceeds to dismember this Omega Man; going as far as removing his brain and placing it in a jar while it is still connected to his body. Brainiac is a cruel being who enjoys torturing humans and destroying the shrunken cities he keeps in his lab. He then reveals his life story to his captive. In the past, this Brainiac began as Brainiac 419,732 and was part of a collective with the job of shoveling waste Brainiacs into the incinerator. This went on for 137 years until no more bodies showed up, leading this one to leaves the room and discover all the other Brainiacs dead. Eventually, he reaches out to the Brainiac Collective Council to get assistance identifying Superman from the red dust that was collected off his cape. They identify the sand as coming from Krypton. In the end, Brainiac is seen completing cybernetic enhancements on Peacekeeper Smith and is ready to send him to Kansas, based on orders from Ra’s al Ghul himself.

ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #8 by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman. Steve, Barbara, Etta, and Gia find Diana living in the woods new Gateway City, where she uses her magic to create a home called The Hieron. Meanwhile, Veronica Cale enters Area 41 to deliver an item to Dr. Poison: a gas body in a containment suit. Cale offers two hours of outside time in exchange for Dr. Poison reviewing a recording of the Teracide’s death call that she is looking to weaponize. Later, Diana hears a sound that sounds like the Tetracide’s call and heads to Gateway City where she finds robotic spiders releasing the sound. She destroys the spiders and follows them to the sourse, where she find Dr. Poison, who claims she needs Diana’s help in exchange for information about the Amazons.

ACTION COMICS #1086 by G. Willow Wilson and Gavin Guidry. Kilg%re reveals that he wants Superman to join him in destroying all humans so machines can rule. Superman gets attacked by cybernetically altered orca whales, leading to him creating an ice barrier to keep them from the lab. He attacks Kilg%re and destroys his circuitry and Superman tosses him into a low orbit. The next day, Clark returns to Metropolis and Lois reminds him that he doesn’t have to fight every battle by himself.

AQUAMAN #5 by Jeremy Adams and John Timms.  In a city within The Blue, a starving family is sentenced to death for breaking Dagon’s law about hunting within The Blue. Meanwhile, Aquaman, Vivienne and Arion see a man being hassled by guards and, of course, Aquaman gets involved, chasing the guard away. The man reveals himself to be Captain Nemo. He tells them he ended up in The Blue after sailing his submarine The Nautilus into it; eventually being arrested and sentenced to death for treachery. Aquaman asks if he encountered Atlantis on his way here and he says he did. To get to where the sub is, Aquaman finds a way to get arrested. When brought in front of the magistrates, he breaks free, and after interrogating their attackers, make their way to the sub and escape. Elsewhere, Dagon tells Mera that Aquaman is coming and, instead of having him killed, he wants him to see what has become of Atlantis.

BATGIRL #7 by Tate Brombal and Takeshi Miyazawa. While riding on a train to home, Cass opens a mysterious package she has received, which contains a Walkman and a book. The Walkman contains a recorded message from Lady Shiva, who begins to tell her life story, who saying that if she is hearing this then she must be dead. Ming-Yue and her older sister Mei-Xing were nomads in the Himalayas when they are attacked by ninjas who kill their parents as the girls flee. They end up training in the martial arts by monks. Sometime later, Ming-Yue saves an old woman being assaulted and that leads to them being recognized and are on the run again. They return to the temple and the monks are attacked. The girls help in the fight until they are told to flee and live..

BATMAN #160 by Geof Loeb, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams. Batman reviews his security tape and discovers that Hush told Red Hood not to kill The Joker as he is needed for his plan, while also reminding Jason that Hush is the only one to save him from a failing brain injury. Meanwhile, Gordon finds a tablet that shows Batman rescuing The Joker. Riddler tells Nightwing and Batgirl that he knows everyone’s secret identity and that no one should race off to confront Jason unless they are all together; advice that Nightwing ignores. Nightwing find The Joker strapped to a table at the top of a lighthouse, Jason attacks and a awakened Joker picks up the two pistols Jason left by his bedside and points them at the heroes. Batman heads to Wayne Med Tower and is attacked by Armor Damascus and Hush’s henchman. He gets backup as Damian arrives with Bane but that ends quickly as Hush arrives and takes Damian hostage.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #21 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Javi Fernandez, and Carmine Di Giandomenico. In the past, Memento apparently kills Professor Blye. In the present, Lautrec meets with Batman at the Vauxhall Opera House. Memento arrives during the production, with dynamite strapped to his chest. He cannot stop the explosion but is able to save the cast, even as Memento flees. He captures Memento, who is revealed to be Travis Grimwell: the organizer of the International Mementist Society, Even with clues presented to him, Batman seeks the help of the Gotham Irregulars: a gang of Gotham urchins. In the end, Robin sees his captor-Aticus Blye.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #39 by Mark Waid and Clayton Henry. WE ARE YESTERDAY PART FOUR. In the present, there is a confused reunion as Batman finds himself elated that Dick is on the Watchtower, saying Robin had been missing for years and he only knows him as Nightwing. Even Superman is confused but understands that time is apparently broken. Nightwing and Robin shake hands and Robin disappears. Actually, the current Batman and Superman are in the past on the Justice League Satellite and the past Superman, Batman and Robin are in the present where Superman sees Lois as Superwoman. Sinestro and the Scarecrow arrive and attack while, in the past, Superman, Nightwing and Batman go to the Batcave, where they meet with a very much alive Alfred. Sinestro fires the time gun and that trio ends up in a desert. The past team travel in a Legion Time Bubble but hit a firewall and disappear.

BIRDS OF PREY #21 by Kelly Thompson and Sami Basri. The Birds are in disarray. Black Canary is in a fight with Copperhead in Tokyo while Cass and Sin are battling against her own assailants. Once they have defeated their enemies, Oracle orders them back home, where she tells them that Barda has crash landed in the Dubai desert where she continues to be attacked by Inque. Oracle puts a call out to other Birds even as Inque returns to Daemon Prime, possessing Barda’s body.

BLACK CANARY: BEST OF THE BEST #6 by Tom King and Ryan Sook. In the recent past, Dinah is met by Vandal Savage, where she agrees to the deal while they share a sandwich. Later, she is at home, removes her wig, and tries to convince herself to say the words “I surrender”. In the present, it is Round Six and Shiva is issuing a tremendous beating, actually ripping Dinah wig off during the brawl. This inspires her to fight back, knocking out Shiva with one solid kick. Then she stands in the ring and loudly says that she surrenders. Afterwards, she visits her mother, who is recovering thanks to Savage keeping his promise.

CATWOMAN #76 Torunn Gronbekk and Patricio Delpeche. In the past, Shota saves Evie during their bungled operation. In the present, Evie is on a boat with Shota and learns that Suzy is in trouble. In a flashback, Shota is seen at the house when Evie broke into the vault and he stood and watched with someone else when Theodore Belov died from poison.. Who was the other person?

DETECTIVE COMICS #1097 by Tom Taylor and Lee Garbett. Ambrose executes Warden Slattery. Elsewhere, Batman meets with Bullock, who is investigating the murder scenes that Aesma was responsible for. Batman offers to hire Bullock, now a private investigator, to help him shut down Elixir. Bullock tells of something that happened when he was a rookie and finds Ambrose torturing a man but his partner, Sulley, pulls him away. He says that people who interfere in Elixir business end up dead. Bullock meets with Sulley, off the force and possibly dying, and he agrees to give Bullock a file for a fee. Bullock sends the information to Batman on a line that leads to Oracle. A group of armed men break in on Bullock and they fight. Batman arrives at Bullock’s apartment and finds him missing and signs of a struggle. Oracle traces the van that was there to Pokolistan, leading Batman to give chase. He breaks into the van and finds a hooded prisoner, but it’s not Bullock. It’s The Penguin.

FIRE AND ICE: WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER #2 by Joanne Starer and Stephen Byrne. Fire and Ice may have gotten their powers back, but now they have ended up in each others’ bodies, meaning they are still having issues. Later, at the New Kooey Fair, Tora, in Bea’s body, mistakenly undresses while trying to remove her sweater, exposing herself to the crowd. Bea accidentally unleashes what she hoped would be a snowstorm but it results in balls of ice. Even later, while Grodd prepares to come and get his sister, Bea has a meltdown that results in all of their friends swapping bodies. Zach explains all of this is due to the bracelet and the Chaos Magic within and the only way to fix things is with the Ring of Nabu. Bad news: it is in Hell!

THE FLASH #21 by Simon Spurrier and Vasco Georgiev.  As F8-3-1459 sneaks into Heliophage’s space to overhear him briefing the Rogues, Wally argues with his family about his motives in tis war. Jai teleports Barry Allen to talk sense into her father. F8-3-1459 heads back to headquarters with an assist by Max Mercury, now known as Max Mercy. Wally shows Barry the results and death on the battlefield and his mentor is horrified. They go to a bunker where Inspector Pilgrim is waiting with Sliders to deploy and it is revealed these clones go out into the Spectraverse and die screaming. Barry demands his ring back and Wally tells him it was lost by the first clone. Max and F8-3-1459 arrive, with the clone saying Heliophage’s plan is to move the moon to block out the sun. Wally orders F8-3-1459 to merge with a clone called Dead Drop as Barry is sent back to Earth. As Dead Drop prepares to merge with F8-3-1459, he refuses, saying he is going rogue.

GREEN ARROW #24 by Chris Condon and Montos. Ollie meets with the arrested Kenny Gordon, telling him he has arranged to level Freshwater and rebuild it. He later meets with Benitez, telling her he plans to have a conversation with the person he left in charge when he left. Later, he breaks in to Max’ office, gives him a list of people affected by Horton’s dealings and tells him this will be his next investment. In the end, he has a family dinner with the Arrow family.

GREEN LANTERN #23 by Jeremy Adams and Xermanico. In Hell, G’Nort, who explains he has been trapped her for some time, joins Hal, Zuriel, and the Phantom Stranger as they search for the next item to stop Sorrow Lantern from building his Power Battery. Uriel opens a prison door and they find Aidia, who was imprisoned here when Hal was The Spectre. Hal takes Aidia’s necklace, breaking a Hal previously had made and Aidia swears revenge. Leaving the cell, The Spectre arrives, demanding Hal reclaim that mantle. Hal refuses and the pair fight., with Hal telling The Spectre to find another host. Elsewhere, Kyle, Odyssey, Kon-El, and the Silver Scarab escape getting eaten by a space creature. In the end, Starbreaker visits Aidia and turns him into Disgust Lantern.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #4 by Jeremy Adams, Morgan Hampton, and V. Ken Marion. Guy Gardner is stuck with taking Narf out on patrol. Guy takes him to Necrocopia-a dead Starro that has become a trading post so Guy can meet with Evil Star for information about where Starbreaker is. That leads to the two of them becoming trapped by Evil Star. Meanwhile, Keli and Ellie meet with Simon in search of a psionic battery. Ultimately, he decides to take them to Necrocopia to celebrate Keli’s birthday. With Ellie staying in the construct car, Simon meets with a shop owner who deals in contraband. He ends up activating a sphere that traps Simon and Keli in a mind maze, as he wants to steal Keli’s gauntlet. This forces Keli to confront a memory that may change everything the reader’s know about her origin.

 

DC UNIVERSE Month 87, Part 2

JSA #6 by Jeff Lemire and Diego Olortegui.  On Earth, the JSA team members make their way to Dr. Mid-Nite’s communication signal and they are forced to fight KOBRA soldiers, with Yolanda finding Mid-Nite’s gear and a lot of blood. She attacks and kills one of the soldiers. They return to their headquarters and there is dissention among them. Meanwhile, in the demon dimension, Khalid is trying his best to hold back the demons but, after a pep talk from Wildcat, gets back in the fight as the Injustice Society arrives. Ted Grant fights against them so Khalid can continue his work. As the Tower of Fate is destroyed by a giant demon, Shiv runs a chest through Ted, killing him. Wotan grabs the Helm of fate off of Khlaids head and the villains leave. The JSAers return to their headquarters with Ted’s body.

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #6 by Mark Waid, Christopher Cantwell, and Dan Mora. WE ARE YESTERDAY PART TWO. Grodd reveals how he convinced Air Wave to work to Grodd’s goals. He sought out someone he could corrupt and discovered the recently restored Air Wave, convincing him that he was one of the good guys and the Justice League were the actual villains. By telling Air Wave that he was dying due to the exposure to chronal forces within the bio-field he had been held in and that, unless he was cured, he would cease to exist and everyone he ever helped will never have been helped; even his sister. When Grodd eventually springs his trap, Air Wave realizes that Grodd and the League are actually Inferno. Air Wave fights back but Grodd shoots him with a tachyon pistol and Air Wave is disintegrated. The League arrives but they are all shot with the same pistol. Continued in BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST 2025 ANNUAL.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE ATOM PROJECT #4 by Ryan Parrott, John Ridley, and Mike Perkins. In the recent past, Captain Atom is able to drain the errant powers of the people on The Watchtower. The Atoms make the decision to keep Nathaniel here so they can continue to examine him, but they are interrupted by a team of soldiers, led by Master Sergeant Garcia. Eiling contacts the Atoms to tell them to let him do what he wants, which is to have Captain Atom transfer the power set of Atom Smasher to the Master Sargeant, which he does. In the present, Captain Atom battles Major Force in what turns out to be an unfair fight as Eiling has instructed his team to blast Nathaniel, which drains his powers. The Atoms are trying to assist Nathaniel but Eiling tells them they should concentrate on helping the injured, all while Nathaniel is being blasted and drained. Major Force makes the decision to kill Nathaniel, even though Eiling wants him alive. This leads Captain Atom to drain Major Force’s powers, turning him back into a regular powerless human. As Ray Palmer attempt to console Captain Atom, he is blasted by two members of Inferno, telling him they are here to rescue him.

METAMORPHO THE ELEMENT MAN #5 by Al Ewing and Steve Leiber. The Thunderer has arrived and he reveals the grand plan of CY.L.O.P.S., which all goes back to the Sun Gods of the universes battling each other before deciding that it would be better to use proxies to engage in their duels and if a proxy loses it will result in sun death. Simon Stagg determines that the asteroid that created Metamorpho was a simple act of recruitment for a new proxy. Rex and Element arrive and battle The Thunderer, making the decision to run off, to draw the villain away. This takes them to Emily Sung, better known as Element Woman who, along with Element Dog, reluctantly agrees to team up. But, when Algon, the ancient Element man arrives, there is turmoil as Algon swear revenge on Metamorpho. He eventually agree to help but The Thunderer blasts Algon and turns him into a puddle of goo. Element Woman becomes air and enters The Thunderer, blasting him apart from inside. Despite that, Solaris, the Tyrant Sun, arrives to rule the planet.

THE NEW GODS #5 by Ram V,  Evan Cagle and Andrew MacLean. In a prologue piece, Lightray questions the meaning of Life, Death, and Existence. During his musings, The Racer arrives and tells Lightray that he will understand the meaning of Existence is The racer ever catches him. In the present Highfather meets Karok on the battlefield. Karok refuses to leave, saying that New Genesis will be hollowed out just as Darkseid once did to Karok’s home world. Highfather annihilates Karok, who reassembles himself and then presents Grayven, the bastard son of Darkseid. Grayven unleashes a ray of black Omgea energy to destroy Highfather but that is blocked by Lightray who decides to sacrifice himself and is run through with a sword as Highfather and the New Gods take a portal to Earth. On Earth, Scott and Barda continue to try to protect the child from Orion when Superman arrives to stop Orion..

NIGHTWING #125 by Dan Watters and Francisco Francavilla. Maggie gets a call telling her Frank Dietrich, part of the Helios Project, has been murdered. Speaking with his widow, she reveals that Frank would abuse his children for transgressions, meaning their may be numerous reasons for his murder. Maggie meets with Nightwing, who says he will look into the murder but believes Dietrich deserves what he got for killing Marcus Moran. Later, she gets a call from a former officer who explains that Captain Hallow, the BPD’s legendary boogeyman, must have been responsible for the killing. Just then, Captain Hallow arrives as does Nightwing. Hallow tosses the older officer out the window and flees.

POISON IVY #32 by G. Willow Wilson and Brian Level. Ivy and Undine fight against the transformed Ed Cooper, with Undine trapping him in a cage of vines. But he breaks free and attacks a spying Janet, killing her. Ivy flips out and uses her powers to unleash carnivorous plants that slowly begin to devour Ed. Devastated, Ivy wanders off and calls on the Bog Venus to ask for a favor to restore Janet’s life. The Bog Venus arrives and refuses to deal with Ivy, until Ivy says that if the Bog Venus saves Janet, she will tell her what Xylon told her. Bog Venus agrees, saying that Janet is beginning to transform as part of their deal. Janet sees the creature and, surprisingly, is not afraid of it. Ivy enters the Bog Venus, where she explains that The Grey only wants peace which the Bog Venus cannot believe and refuses, leading to Ivy becoming angry and saying they need to figure this out.

THE POWER COMPANY: RECHARGED #1 by Bryan Edward Hill, Khary Randolph, Alitha Martinez, Norm Rapamund, Ray Anthony Height, and Studio Skye Tiger. The story begins with a young boy and his family getting murdered by an assassin, leading to Signal reaching out to Jace Fox to come to Atlanta and help solve the case. Upon his arrival, Jace meets with Jeremiah Power, who has put together a team consisting of Signal, Vixen and Black Lightning. Jace wants nothing to do with a team and visits the crime scene himself. While investigating, the killer sets off a device, causing the house to explode with Jace inside. The team, having deduced that the murders are caused by an anti-metahuman group known as the Sons of Liberty, Signal and Vixen track the possible next victim, a journalist named Aki, who reveals the boy was a metahuman, and they save her from a Sons of Liberty attack. She reveals she was contacted by Agent Liberty, who actually is the killer even though he claimed to be a supporter of metahumans. Jace tracks Agent Liberty down and takes him down but the villain escapes. In the end, Black Lightning agrees to be available if The Power Company needs him..

POWER GIRL #20 by Leah Williams and David Baldeon.  Up above Asgard, Power Girl and Axel have an intimate moment where Axel says he loves her and they kiss, even though she is worried about the Karen Starr imposter. The following day, Paige walks into the headquarters and Omen immediately realizes it isn’t Paige but Karen Starr, who transforms into a series of weapons. Although she transforms into looking like Natasha, Mariposa comes in and punches her in the face, leading to Starr’s escape even as Mariposa has injured her hand. The following day, the Stargraze launch press conference is getting ready when Paige meets with Starr, realizing she is actually Ejecta, telling her she can have the name as Paige has already used Starr’s assets. That evening, Mariposa admits to having feelings for Natasha, who agrees to take her out to dinner. Omen has a heart to heart chat with Paige and then reunites with Siegfried. In the end, Power Girl realizes she has made peace with herself and her life.

THE QUESTION: ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER #6 by Alex Segura and Cian Tormey. Renee has been shot into space and the heroes onboard The Watchtower have been corrupted by Cyborg Superman. Renee has made her way back onto The Watchtower, believing she was saved by a shield around her. As she looks for the villains, she encounters Vic Sage and shoots him with the Phantom Zone rifle, which manages to eliminate Henshaw’s influence. Eradicator reveals that someone, probably him, has cut off Henshaw’s power from the Phantom Zone, just as Renee and Sage arrive and use the Phantom Zone gun to fully free the other heroes. Henshaw is jettisoned into space by Renee using the Green Lantern ring, and all those corrupted Leaguers are now ready to follow her as there appears to be Darkstars trying to gain access to the Watchtower.

SECRET SIX #2 by Nicole Maines and Stephen Segovia. We open with a group of scientists working on Amanda Waller’s body, fitting her with a helmet that brings back her memory. Over at the House of Secrets, the team argues as Deadshot reveals he was disguised as a guard and got pulled here by the teleportation spell. And no one knows why an injured Catman is here. Jon fights with Deadshot, Jay fights Black Alice and Catman wakes and fights with Deadshot. After the fights end, Deadshot explains Checkmate took Waller and he needs to get Waller back for the intel she has. But Dreamer wants to kill Waller before her memory comes back, although it may be too late for that.

SUMMER OF SUPERMAN SPECIAL #1 by Mark Waid, Dan Slott, Joshua Williamson, Jorge Jimenez, and Tomeu Morey. In the past, a teenage Clark sits with Lana, where he plans to tell her his biggest secret. Suddenly Validus arrives from the future, causing him to make an excuse and become Superboy. During their battle, he sees moments from his past, present and future, including finding out that Lois will be his true love. Validus fades away and Superboy forgets the memory of the future, thanks to a mental block once put in place by the Legion of Superheroes. In the present, Lana and John Henry are preparing to get married when Validus appears again, bring with him the storm of the century. While Superman battles Validus, the rest of the Superman Family deal with the storm. Validus disappears again and so does the storm. With the town in something like ruins, Lana and John get married. With the pair on their honeymoon, Superman contacts Mr. Terrific and Omen to see why Validus keeps appearing at the same spot in different times. Mr. Terrific detects a rift and uses a containment unit that will hold Validus while Omen probes his mind. Vaklidus disappears again as Omen notes that his mind revealed he was scared and on the run for something. In the end, Validus ends up in the clutches of Darkseid’s Legionnaires while Booster Gold is seen chained nearby.

SUPERMAN #25 by Joshua Williamson, Jamal Campbell, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, and Dan Mora. In the past, before Lex went to jail, he and Mercy put a plan in place that included working with Superman and, creating Supercorp. However, he did warn her not to unleash his superpowered clone, Project X-El (PXL), as he was too dangerous. In the near past, Lex has developed feelings for Marcy but she is still set on having his original plan come to light, even installing upgrades into PXL and letting hi loose, where he uses his Kryptonite beam to weaken Superman and Superwoman. At the same time, Lex is headed to Strykers Prison and, seeing Marcy out of control, has Marilyn Moonlight break him out, where he puts on his power suit and joins the battles against the clone. During the battle, PXL becomes unstable, recalling what had previously happened to Bizarro. PXL threatens the Kent family and Lex delivers the killing blow to his clone, causing Superman to question what was right. In the end, Superwoman has lost her powers.

TITANS #22 by John Layman and Daniel Bayliss. Months ago, Deathstroke is in stasis and is released by Terra, who explains that Waller has a plan, which we know became ABSOLUTE POWER. Now, the Titans figure out that Deathstroke and Clock King helped Mammoth escape custody and now has teamed up with Clock King and Killer Frost. At the same time, the Titans have to fight Volcano Man, eventually dropping him into the water to negate his power. After, Raven and Gar talk and Gar seems to want to take out Deathstroke permanently.

TWO-FACE #5 by Christian Ward and Fabio Veras. Harvey has chained himself within a mystic circle with Lake Cantwell acting as his eyes and ears. She c=goes to a casino where the villainess known as Die arrives, who uses her dice to destroy the White Church. While demanding to know where Two face is, she shoots Lake and, just before she stabs her to death, Harvey arrives. Die calls him dad but she really means Two-Face himself, who is no longer active. Later, Lake is recovering and Harvey says that Die has disappeared. Unsure of what to do, Harvey reaches out to…Batman.

WONDER WOMAN #20 by Tom King and Guillem March. Diana is lifting weights in an Amazonian temple when she is visited by her mother in the form of a ram. She explains how she invited a man into her bed after a wild night during one of Dionysus’ parties and now the man, who turns out to be Ares, is dead. Diana seeks out Batman to assist in the murder investigation. The pair travel to Olympus, stopping first at the temple of Zeus, where a herald demands a sacrifice with Diana punching him, saying she sacrificed a moment of peace and this blood would be dedicated to Zeus’ thunder. Zeus says that her mother will be punished with mortality if she is found guilty, meaning she will be sent to Hades. Diana asks for a day to solve the crime and Batman says that if they fail to solve the mystery he is willing to be sacrificed in Zeus’ honor. The pair travel to the temple of Dionysus and he tells her he saw Ares leave with someone who wasn’t Hippoylta. Ater Diana hits him with a bottle of wine and he experiences pain, he admits he saw Area leave with Aphrodite. Aphrodite seems unmoved that Ares is dead and turns her attention to Batman, who gets hit suddenly by a lightning bolt belonging to Zeus. Diana meets with Zeus who says someone stole that lightning bolt and an investigation is underway. As Diana tends to Bruce’s wounds, he admits he had lost religion until he met Diana. She lights some candles and promises to find whoever hurt him and make them pay.

ZATANNA #3 by Jamal Campbell.  Zatanna remains in the illusion world with Bruce as her companion. They observe as Basil Karlo and the Lady White arrive at the party. Zatanna confront Lady White but can do nothing as the sword is still in her. The scene changes and Bruce recognizes Zatanna as an actress and Basil’s co-star. Basil thinks Adam was just a character he played in a movie but Zatanna insists he was real and died because of Lady White. Basil insists this world is real even as Zatanna explains it is an illusion, which causes the illusion to fade and basil’s wife and daughter turn into clay. He gets stabbed through the chest with a spear and turns into Clayface and attacks Zatanna. Lady White reveals that Zatanna’s father took everything from her and she is going to collect what she was owed. Despite the pain, Zatanna casts a spell that destroys the illusory realm they are in. The illusion becomes a ruined landscape and the Lady White a red letter with her. Meanwhile, in Adam’s apartment, Blue Devil is visited by Brother Night, who wants to take the skin of the demon Neibros, but he fails and concentrates on turning Adam’s corpse into his slave and leaving Blue Devil as a meal for Lady White.

 

 

 

DC UNIVERSE Month 87, Part 1

ABSOLUTE BATMAN #7 by Scott Snyder and Marcos Martin. It is a month after the end of the previous issue. Gordon has been defeated in the election and Hamilton Hill has placed Gotham under martial law. Waylon, Harvey, Eddie and Ozzie meet in Crime Alley to construct a memorial for their childhood friend, Matches Malone. Bruce arrives to explain that he had asked Matches to craft documents to get Bruce onto the work crew at Ark M. Matches delivered the documents, revealing he had managed to sneak himself onto the work crew and had evidence showing prisoners in the unfinished building. At that point, Matches dies from exposure to some biological weapon. The evidence includes a list of scientists, including Pam Isley, Hugo Strange, Kirk Langstrom and, specifically Victor Fries. Fries runs V-Core and uses enough power to run ten city blocks. Batman tries to break into V-Core but is attacked by police drones. In the process, Alfred calls to tell him that Matches did die from a bacteria that there is no record of. Inside, he sees blocks of ice with prehistoric animals in them. He meets with the director, who is eventually shown to be Victor Fries Jr., and reveals that Victor and Nora Fries are no longer in charge and he shows them frozen in ice. The company cryogenically freezes the terminally ill and he does research which actually saved him from a childhood illness. Victor’s skin turns blue and he touches Bruce’s face, causing the veins in it to also turn blue.

ABSOLUTE FLASH #2 by Jeff Lemire and Nick Robles. With Wally fleeing into the cave, the boomerang drones find him as The Captain tells Harkness to find him while he seals off the exits with ice. As he tries to flee, Wally runs into Jesse and Glider, who hits him with energy blades that triggers him to run at super speed. He gets held in place by The captain freezing his feet to the ground and this triggers lightning from his body. And sends him back to yesterday in Barry’s lab. Barry is caught in a whirlpool of energy and Wally saves him. Wally’s father enters and begins punching Barry, even as Wally turns into red energy. Barry tries to talk him down and Wally hits Barry in the chest with the lightning flying out of his body. Back in the desert, Jesse tries to hold Wally in a force field so they can take him back to Fort Fox for experimentation. But he bursts free and flees from the Rogues, entering the timestream and seeing his entire life all at once, including two future visions: one where he is a hero and one where he destroys the world. Back in the desert, The captain decides to release Grodd: the green monkey Wally had seen in Barry’s lab.

ABSOLUTE GREEN LANTERN #1 by Al Ewing and Jahnoy Lindsay.  Five days ago in the town of Evergreen, Hal Jordan is having lunch with John Stewart and Jo Mullein, recently divorced from what is inferred to be Guy Gardner, who refuses why she left Coast City. A green dome falls around the area and a motorcycle rider hits it and splatters against it. John cannot get cell service and Jo looks to the sky, seeing a green lantern in the sky and an alien who is believed to be Abin Sur. In the present, Hall wanders along a desert highway on his way to the California state line. When he closes his eyes, he sees a ring of light and hears a voice in his head. He is stopped by a police officer who orders him to take his hands out of his pocket. A crying Hal says he cannot because something has happened to him and he closes his eyes. When he opens them, all that is left is the cop’s badge and a crater in the ground. He eventually reaches a small town and enters a diner, where he sees a news broadcast that shows the lantern above Evergreen. Recognizing this alien to be Abin Sur, he says that he wanted to be a hero and the diner owner demands Hal takes his hand out of his pocket, doing to at gunpoint. The hand is covered in black, with Hal saying it responds to threats. The diner owner shoots and the hand kills everyone in the diner. In the end, Jo, glowing in a green light, arrives and asks what happened to him.

ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER #2 by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez. As Agent Jones tries to piece things together, Trigger Taylor murders his parents because he believes they are infected by an alien being. Believing the residents of a town of Syrian immigrants called Little Damascus are also inhabited by aliens, he heads there to kill them all.  Elsewhere, the green smoke takes a shape and tells Agent Jones that it isn’t from Mars at all and has come to Earth because the planet is under attack by a similar race of aliens. The entity teaches Jones to reads minds and their deeds, which are represented by different colors of smoke. Agent Jones gets the call about Trigger’s attack on Little Damascus and responds, with the entity invading Trigger’s mind, making the shooter’s thought available to Jones, who tricks Trigger into believing they are old friends. The Martian entity finds something in trigger’s mind and destroys it, restoring him to sanity, even as a responding officer shoots Trigger in the head, killing him. In the end, the Martian says that Trigger had been infected by a White Martian.

ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #6 by Jason Aaron and Carmine Di Giandomenico. In the past, Sol and Kal-El fly through space looking for a livable planet to land upon. After seventeen months, Kal tells Sol to send him into the sun but Sol’s prime directive will not let him. Just then, he finds the third planet from the sun and puts them down on Earth, even as the yellow sun is causing Kal unbearable pain. On the planet, Jonathan and Martha Kent are negotiating their drought-ridden farm, thanks to weather manipulation from the Lazarus Corp, who wants the Kents to go bankrupt so they can take their land. Kal’s ship crash lands. Sol tells Kal that their solar cells are depleted and need to recharge, dissolving into partial armor and attaches itself to Kal. He babbles in Kryptonese before passing out and spends weeks in and out of consciousness, battling high fevers and bodily spasms as his powers unleash around him. After several weeks, he suddenly wakes and, bursting through the wall of the Kent home, he races at incredible speed into the fields, which reminds him of his own Redlands. He spends the next few weeks, unable to communicate with them, helping around the farm until Sol finally reactivates , wraps him in full armor and gives him the ability to speak and understand English. Lazarus drones arrive and Sol deactivates them, causing it to finally rain on the farm for three days straight. Kal gets reported to Lazarus as am undocumented immigrant and the Peacemakers arrive to capture him but he flies away as he realizes this is very similar to the corruption he witnessed on Krypton. In the present, Lois tracks Martha down at the Smallville Senior Living Center. Brainiac, who has been observing her, reports what he has seen to Lazarus’s Director, who is revealed to be Ra’s al Ghul and declares that he will see Superman kneel before him.

ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #7 by Kelly Thompson and Mattia De Iulis. In the past, young Diana makes friends with Persephone: the captive Queen of the Undwerworld. As she grows up, her mother asks Hecate for advice on how to free Diana from the Underworld. The answer lies in Circe’ interpretation of the story ‘The Lady, or The Tiger?’ In the present, Circe is held in chains and forced to watch Diana battle a Chimera, which Diana ruefully has to kill. Hades gives her the option of one of two doors: one leads to death and other freedom. She choses no door and breaks her mother’s chains, saying she ate one of Persephone’s Pomegranate seeds, which gives her a third option. Diana is allowed to leave but if she sets foot on the Wild Isle to visit Circe, she must remain for one moth in The Underworld.

ACTION COMICS #1085 by G. Willow Wilson and Gavin Guidry. Perry has Lois investigate the heat wave will have on Metropolis, even though he had previously assigned her to interview scientists working on a project in the Arctic, which is now assigned to Clark. Clark meets with Dr. Addison and Dr. Pearce, who are working on a device to reverse the effect of greenhouse gases. However the machine is not working and Clark thinks it may have been sabotaged. At this point, they are attacked by a pair of cybernetically enhanced polar bears leading to Superman arriving and taking the bears away, where they vanish. Later, Superman stands guard when a large robot arrives, that gets stopped by the Man of Steel. That is when the true offender makes themselves known: Kilg%ore

AQUAMAN #4 by Jeremy Adams and John Timms. In a flashback, we see the moment when Arthur met Mera and fell in love with her. At the present, Arthur wakes in chains aboard Dagon’s ship, with Lori telling him they are headed to their master. Arthur uses his powers to draw moisture from the decking and breaks free, even as Lori and the crew give chase. Elsewhere, Arion and Vivienne realize Arthur was taken through the Alpha Portal and make their way through with Thalassa the Trilance Saber. They stop Arthur’s capture and give him the blade. In the end, he uses the weapon to destroy the ship and is heading to Dagon.

BATGIRL #6 by Tate Brombal and Takeshi Miyazawa.  Cass and Shiva have been captured and still argue with each other as Kalden the Unseen comes in and says that even though the al Ghul’s were responsible for starting a war with The Unseen,  Shiva found their hidden world and paid them back for their kindness by stealing their sacred poppies. Shiva tells her daughter that she did it because she needed a fresh challenge. Jayesh arrives, having taken out the guards, and cuts them down. But Nergui the Unknown runs him through, killing him. Shiva and Cass flee with Cass saying she will help them escape but never wants to see her mother again. Cass calls bats in the cave and they attack The Unseen. They escape the cave but are confronted by Kalden and his followers, leading to Shiva ordering Cass to leave as she stands her ground to fight. As she rides out of the area, Cass sees Kalden holding up the remains of Shiva’s outfit.

BATMAN #159 by Geof Loeb, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams. Faced with no other good option, Batman takes the critically injured Joker to Leslie Thompkins. With no real resources available and issues about saving the villain’s life, she treats his wounds and wires his jaw shut. With nowhere to take him, Batman takes him to the Batcave to recuperate. Later, batman is attacked by Red Hood, resulting in Batman being knocked out. When he eventually wakes, The Joker is gone and Batman concludes that Red Hood is working for Hush. Meanwhile, Batgirl and Nightwing discuss possible choices when they are visited by the only person who seems to know what is going on-The Riddler.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #20 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Hugo Petrus, Miguel Mendonca, and Juni Ba. Dr. Bashir is dead and Robin has been captured by Memento. An infected Batman goes to Ribin’s room and finds  a comic Robin has created, which tells of the encounters with Memento but also reveals he wants to be a doctor like his grandfather. An image of Alfred tells Batman to look closer and he finds a casebook that Damian created about Memento

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #38 by Mark Waid and Clayton Henry. WE ARE YESTERDAY PART ONE. Clark and Bruce watch the testing of a new plane that Hal is piloting when something goes horribly wrong and Hal is forced to eject, but disappears as he parachutes to the ground. They receive a transmission  where they see he has been captured by Grodd, who declares war on the human race. They head into action along with The Flash, who has known about Gorilla City for a time and explains that he has a good relationship with King Solovar. Entering Gorilla City, they are approached by armed gorillas who are quickly dispatched by Superman until he is taken down by a giant ape with Kryptonite eyes-Titano.  Flash finds Grodd seated in a chair and behind a force bubble. Batman finds Hal and Solovar in captivity and frees them. But Grodd has managed to swap brains with Superman and attacks. Batman has Titano turn onto the possessed Superman, knowing this might kill his friend. Flash races to Grodd and brings him to Superman, engaging the swap again before Titano kills Superman. With Grodd jailed, he is visited by his future self who takes over his mind. Continued in JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #6.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST 2025 ANNUAL by Christopher Cantwell, Mark Waid, and Dan McDaid. WE ARE YESTERDAY PART THREE. Inside the Hall of Doom, Grodd explains his master plan to the Legion of Doom, knowing he needs to convince them first, telling them they will all be defeated in the future by the Justice League. His plan is to send the villains out in a three-prong attack to where they will steal time-related tech that will transport them to the future where they can defeat the League and take over the Watchtower. Bizarro and Lex go to Central City where they create a tachyon pulse using the Cosmic Treadmill. Joker and Scarecrows got to Dr. Nichols lab to steal his tachyon particles when Batman and Robin arrive, with Robin being hit with a tachyon gun and disappearing. Sinestro, Black Manta, and Cheetah attack The Atom to steal his Time Pool. With all the teams successful, Grodd is ready to transport them to the future. but he has also made a deal with Pythoness to use her magic on the trip. In exchange for revealing to Pythoness about her future death, the villains leave, but leave Cheetah behind in the process as part of that deal. The villains arrive in our present, but the displaced Robin also arrives there, where he meets Batman and Nightwing? Continued in BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #39.

BIRDS OF PREY #20 by Kelly Thompson and Sami Basri. Batgirl investigates an alleged suicide which, once Batman arrives, is tied to a robbery at a military black site where an experimental drug had been stolen. Batgirl deduces that the scene has been staged, although she notes all of the evidence here. Back at Birds of Prey Headquarters, Black canary sends the team out to investigate the various leads, with Barda being sent to the UAE and Dinah going to Tokyo, while keeping Cass and Sin local to investigate. They observe a man Cass had seen previously at the crime scene and watch as he drops down a manhole, which leads them to follow. In Tokyo, Dinah investigates a tech conference where she observes a new kind of  camouflage that could be a game changer for espionage. In the UAE, Barda arrives at a seemingly deserted town and makes her way into a large skyscraper. Once inside, she hears a voice in an air vent and a black creature slithers out, steals her power rod, transforms and flies away. Shortly after that, the room Barda is in is launched into space and explodes. In the end, someone who is targeting the Birds comments that one is down and there are four to go.  

CATWOMAN #75 Torunn Gronbekk and Patricio Delpeche. Years ago, Evie and the crew she is working with are planning their heist. The day prior to the operation, Belov decides that Donny and Anton are going to accompany them. During the operation, things go well until Danny and Anton go rogue, shooting and killing their target’s dog and all of the security guards.

CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #5 by Christopher Cantwell and Sean Isaaske. All of the Challengers except for Rocky are infected by Omega energy. Wonder Woman uses her lasso to get the Challengers to spout about how their Omega is dying and Omega must not die. The decision is made to put all the Challengers affected into medically induced comas under a cure can be found. Angry about it, Rocky shuts down the primary power systems of the Watchtower and Ultivac arrives and begins drawing Omega energy out of the Challengers. The Watchtower becomes an Omega rift and begins to alternate space and time. Rocky confronts Ultivac and asks why he has no Omega in him with Ultivac saying he does not know but can breach the threshold with his death and kills him. A rift tears apart part pf the Watchtower and Rock and Ultivac drift into space and disappear. In something resembling an afterlife, Rock and Ultivac talk, with Rocky saying life is power. In the end, Rocky and Ultivac find themselves near Challengers Mountain, which had been destroyed years ago. It is then that Rocky realizes they are in the past.

DC HORROR PRESENTS CREATURE COMMANDOS #6 by David Dastmalchian and Jesus Hervas. As the team flees Brainiac’s base, Eiling argues with Dr. West, saying this needed to be done, even at risk of their lives. The team goes to the Delaware State Fair where they seek the other weapon that brainiac is planning to use. They find her and Brainiac arrives. They delay him from activating the weapons, fighting off his troops while Velcro drops the pair of weapons into the ocean, killing them and defusing them at the same time. Brainiac flees and then the team is attacked by military, resulting in Lucky accidentally killing a little girl. Suicicidal, Lucky is about to kill himself when a spectral projection of  Zatanna arrives, saying she will help them if they stick together and transports them to a safe house..

DETECTIVE COMICS #1096 by Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin. Batman gets Scarlett out of the burning lab and, when he asks if anyone else is there, she says Dr. Forster is. As he rescues her, he tells her that he knows who she really is. Dr. Forster is a de-aged Evelyn Scott: Scarlett’s mother and also Asema. She reveals she has Joe Chill locked in a room beneath the burning lab and that is how she will get her revenge on him; more like she wants Bruce, knowing Batman is Bruce Wayne, to be able to gain his revenge. He overwhelms her, save Chill and arrests Evelyn. At the same time, the Bat Family intercepts men authorized to take teenagers out of Faultless, defeats them and arrests Warden Slattery. Later, Bruce meets with Scarlett and tells her Chill is her father. He promises to use his money to shut down Faultless and open a rehabilitation facility for troubled teens. In the end, Elixir visits Evelyn Scott in prison, promising to spare Scarlett but saying that others will not be so lucky.

DETECTIVE COMICS 2025 ANNUAL by Al Ewing, Stefano Raffaele, John McCrea, and Fico Ossio. Batman follows a musical signal that is giving out a message in Morse Code. He gains entry into a secured bunker belonging to a technocrat named Cody Morse. What he discovers is a dead Morse and a message in blood declaring: Batman, don’t solve my murder. As he investigates, he sees that the entire place is automated by gravity defying technology. He also finds five identical books; all with the same five pages torn out. he heads to London and meets with Dr. Jenny Sykes who tells him about Arthur Milligan and how he once created a series of equations that could end the world. He goes to a publishing house in search of a sixth copy and ends up fighting with Mr. Mystic, who has solen the magic powers of John Dee. He finds the book and then gets a call from the killer, who wants the book and has taken Sykes hostage. The killer is Morse’s business partner, Briar, and he forces Batman to give him the missing pages. Batman does, but only one page. Briar inputs the information and finds himself trapped permanently in something akin to a giant glass ball. In the backup, a seventh grade boy, who is also the president of the Junior Batman Detective Club, is convinced the Scarecrow is at the school and has done something to cause the kids to get sick and hallucinate. What the boy and Batman discover is that the school was built on a former Scarecrow lab that didn’t get cleaned up properly.

FIRE AND ICE: WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER #1 by Joanne Starer and Stephen Byrne. Fire and Ice are in new Kooey and they have problems dealing with their powers being totally switched. That night at a karaoke night, Fire finds a Monkey Paw and makes a wish to switch them back, which doesn’t work. But the next morning Ice wakes up next to Charlie. But here is something wrong here. Tora has her powers back but this isn’t Tora: Fire and Ice have their powers back but she and Bea have switched bodies.

THE FLASH #20 by Simon Spurrier and Vasco Georgiev.  Wally has split himself into thousands of versions of himself where a war is going on. The T-Sphere of Mister Terrific that is investigating meets with a Wally, who is dressed in a black costume, where Wally send one of his duplicates to meet with General Judy Garrick. Wally brings the T-Sphere to a room filled with injured Flashes and they meet with Inspector Pilgrim, who explains that the Heliophage is using Godspeed’s powers to steal the moon. Later, the ‘Terrible Two’ (Avery Ho and Wallace West) arrive to create a cluster bomb and clear out the enemy. With General Garrick telling the Flashes to “die well”, they attacks the enemy vent. The casualties are horrendous as Magenta watches from above. Captain Zero arrives to watch the proceedings and then a giant Eclipso is seen, complaining how much it hurts as the family dog struggles inside of him.

GREEN ARROW #23 by Chris Condon and Montos. Ollie battles the Fresh Water Killers who have captured Detective Benitez. He manages to free Benitez and they team up against all their enemies. Eventually, Ollie meets with Kenny Gordon, who is the leader and the young boy we first met at the beginning of the storyline. Kenny gets the upper hand but Ollie is saved by Benitez, leading to him musing about the damage that was done to the townspeople.

GREEN LANTERN #22 by Jeremy Adams and Xermanico. Hector Hammond has regained his powers and is using them to attack Hal, Carol, and Dove, but they gain the upper hand by working as a team. Later, Hal grills D.E.O. Bones, saying the Department is on notice but is willing to overlook it for the use of a special key. Meanwhile, Odyssey picks the lock of the man that was found at a Reach outpost. Insectoid aliens on giant beetles attack, with Kon and Kyle fighting them while Odyssey tends to the man, who reveals he is Dan Garrett: the original Blue Beetle. Dan finds a magical beetle and transforms into the new Silver Scarab. Hal, with the help of Zuriel and the Phantom Stranger, heads to St. Patrick’s Purgatory in Ireland and uses the key to open a doorway to Hell in order to retrieve the next item Sorrow Lantern needs to build a Power Battery. But they end up encountering…G’Nort?

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #3 by Jeremy Adams, Morgan Hampton, and Fernado Pasarin. John and his Lanterns faces off against Atrocitus and his form Red Lanterns. Atrocitus explains  that many Red Lanterns died when the United Planet Lanterns destroyed the Red Power Battery because their hearts were tied to the Battery’s energy. Because of what was going on with the Emotional Spectrum, Zillius Zox’s rage filled him with Red Lantern energy, so Atrocitus figured out a way to siphon his power along with Nth Metal to help the surviving Lanterns. Atrocitus now seeks Nth Metal to find a permanent solution and take revenge onto the Green Lanterns. The Nth Metal egg hatches and the Thanagarian god Horus emerges, wondering why he had been forced to come out centuries ahead of schedule. The Lantern ship fires at him and he rips them in half, forcing John to hold it together. Shayera begs for mercy and Horus flies off to find a planet that can be the new Thanagar. In the end, the surviving Red Lanterns decide to go into cryo-freeze until a new battery can be restored.

HARLEY QUINN #50 by Elliot Kalan and Mirka Andolfo. Harley has suddenly had a change of heart and is being influenced by Quintellect: her brain which has taken over Harley’s actual instincts, leading to her taking on more than she should in the town. Harley tries to fight back and, in the process, finds herself being shot at by Gunbunny and Mayfly. Harley tries to fight them but, because of Quintellect, didn’t have a weapon with her. In the end, it looks like her decision to give up being violent may cost Harley her life.