SUPERMAN REBORN, Parts 1-4

SUPERMAN #18 by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason. In Part One of SUPERMAN REBORN, Tim Drake taunts Mr. Oz by telling him that someone has escaped from him. Over in Hamilton County, Lois and Clark are celebrating their anniversary while Jon finds a photo album on the porch filled with pictures from before Jon was born. The house becomes engulfed in a blue flame, which leads to the house and Jon disappearing.

ACTION COMICS #975 by Dan Jurgens, Paul Dini, Doug Mahnke, and Ian Churchill. In Part Two of SUPERMAN REBORN, Clark and Lois are flying to Metropolis in search of Jon and they go to Clark Kent's apartment. All they find is a refrigerator filled with junk food until Clark shows up and begins fighting with Superman, saying how he left him to rot in a cell. Then Clark begins turning into a myriad of villains including Bizarro, Brainiac, Mongul, the Parasite, the Cyborg Superman, Doomsday, and finally his true self-Mr. Mxyzptlk. In the back-up, Mxzyzptlk tells Jon how he came to Metropolis to play with Superman when Oz took him off the game board. He knew Superman would show up to save him, but that never happened. He tried to escape but that didn’t happen either, so he became Clark Kent to hide from Oz, even convincing himself that he WAS Clark Kent. In the end, he promises to spend a lot of time with Jon, so that Superman will know what it feels like to forget someone.

SUPERMAN #19 by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason. In Part Three of SUPERMAN REBORN, Lois no longer remembers her son, who is in a void where two balls of red energy eventually start talking to him. Mxzyzptlk forces Superman to play a strange intergalactic board game filled with pieces from Superman and Lois' past. Superman and Lois eventually make it to the top of the globe of the Infinite Planet, even though they no longer know who he is. Jon breaks free of the globe and uses the balls of red energy, combining them with his parents and turning them into the New 52 Superman and Lois.

ACTION COMICS #976 by Dan Jurgens and Doug Mahnke. In Part Four of SUPERMAN REBORN, Jon has been freed by his parents, but he realizes that they not only look different, they don’t recognize him. By using the red energy burst, he has inadvertently replaced his parents with their New 52 counterparts. While Superman and Mxyzptlk fight, blue energy arrives and speak to Jon. He then convinces the New 52 Superman and Lois to let the blue energy balls enter them, which causes the memories of the Pre-Flashpoint Superman and Lois to merge with the New 52 versions. In this, both New 52 and Pre-Flashpoint history becomes one. And Mr. Oz is impressed.

DC YOU Month 22

EARTH 2 SOCIETY #22 by Dan Abnett and Vincente Cifuentes. It’s six months after the last issue and we see all of the Wonders going about Metropolis. They are doing what they do: being heroes and being individuals living their everyday lives. In the end, Dick Grayson is the new oracle, Hewlena is the new Batman and John Grayson is the new Robin.

That ends both EARTH 2 SOCIETY and the entire DC YOU line. From here on out, any DC superhero title I review will fall under the REBIRTH banner, even if it is not listed that way.

Thanks DC for an interesting ride.

Sears #2283: September 1975-March 2017

This may be one of the toughest pieces I have ever decided to write, at least since the death of my mother 19 years ago. But I need to do it because, on March 26th, a friend, an enemy…a major piece of my life, will pass away at the young age of 41 years.

The Sears store in the Swansea Mall will close forever as the result of a changing economic landscape in the town. As I write this, the attached Auto Center has already closed, the huge lighted letters have been removed from their building, and the associates who worked there have moved on. That 100,000 square foot store was my home for 37 years, supporting me through college, marriage, a home, and two children. It gave me food for an as yet unpublished novel, introduced me to my wonderful wife and gave me a group of friends that has influenced me and been in my life to this day.

I left that place in January of 2014 because of a combination of work pressures and complications from my Bi-Polar Disorder. But through it all, I never lost my love for the people I met there or for the building. The Japanese Anime films revolving around SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO make a point of treating the ship like the important cast member. For me, the building, with all of its’ bumps, bruises and blemishes, is a part of those memories as much as the people, events and all.

I was a Freshman at Bridgewater State College when the decision got made, mostly by my parents, that I needed to get a job under my belt to help pay for college expenses. With a car getting 20 miles to the gallon and driving 300 or so miles a week, even with gas only being around $.65 a gallon, that was an added expense on top of my tuition. Leave it to my mom to talk to her hairdresser, whose son, and one of my closest friends, was working there. Next thing I knew, mom had called the store and talked to a woman by the name of Martha, who was the personnel director. It was early in November and, since they were gearing up for the holiday season, they were obviously looking to hire.

So I went in, filled out and application and then took a standardized test they used to screen out the good applicants from the bad. I must have done something right because, about a week later, I got a call to come in and interview. The guy I interviewed with was the manager of the Toy Department and his name was Tim. I must have done okay with that too because the following Saturday, I was learning policies and procedures along with how to operate the register. 

Tim, my first boss, after a long and diverse career with this company, gets to close the store he helped open in September of 1975.

As you can imagine, working in a Toy Department at Christmas was a little on the crazy side. Back then, the store had an outdoor patio area for spring and summer gardening business. The covered patio area was where the cases of toys were stored. So that meant every time that Ernie, the stock guy, or any of the rest of us needed to get stock to refill the floor, we ventured out into the freezing cold to get it. For me the whole thing was a crazy adventure, as I was in college too. So, that meant going to school all day, working until 10 or 11 o’clock every night and then going home to study and such. Many nights, it was 2 or 3 in the morning when I finally got my schoolwork finished. It’s no wonder than I flunked two classes and ended up on Academic Probation.

The one advantage I did gain from the $2.00 job(yes…I was a minimum wage slave in 1977)? I got access to the hottest toy of the 1977 Christmas season: STAR WARS figures! Yeah-I managed to get a full set before Christmas arrived. Now, if only I can find them. They are supposedly stored somewhere at my dad’s house, in a Darth Vader carrying case. Unfortunately, they are not mint in package!

So I made my way through that first Christmas, dealing with the often demanding public and meeting new friends including my longest friend Bob, who has been one of my best friends for almost 40 years now. Bob was part of my wedding party, I was at his wedding and we have endured deaths, marriages, and children together.

The initial ride at Sears was a short one however as, being seasonal help, I was laid-off on Christmas Eve. Once again, I found myself unemployed and out of bread. Christmas and New Year’s came and went and then school started again, with another huge course load. Soon it was February and here comes the legendary Blizzard of 78. No…I wasn’t lucky enough to be working during that time, nor was I stuck on the Bridgewater campus as many of my classmates were. My dad was stuck in Fall River and had to bunk at his mom’s house and that meant I was the man of the house, taking care of my mom and shoveling snow for too many days to want to care.

Soon winter turned to spring and my job prospects were not looking very good. In fact, my godfather had arranged to have me come work for his company, which meant I would be riding a beer truck to New Hampshire twice a week and unloading beer along the way. Because there was nothing that I wanted to do more than anything else but engage in physical labor on my only days off. I was one week away from starting when Martha called and said they had an immediate opening to work in Sporting Goods and would I be interested.

From that day on, I never looked back.

So I went back to Sears and started working for Mike, who ran Sporting Goods, Housewares, Luggage, Office Equipment and Toys. Our department was rather large and had three full-timers and six part-timers. Three days after I started, they held a storewide meeting where the new store manager was introduced to us. I had never met the old store manager when I was there at Christmas and had only met the Operations Manager, Mr. M., once or twice. Mr. C. would be the Store Manager from 1978 until he opened the North Attleboro store in 1989. He was succeeded by Mr. P., who retired in 2001 and was followed by Mrs. V., then Ms. L. and the Mr. G., who was in charge when I finally left. Mrs. L. and then Mr. W., who stayed with us until he went to Middletown in 1989, succeeded Mr. M. as Operations Manager. As Mr. W.’s parting gift, they made me full time. Imagine: I stayed in that job for 12 years and did so on no more than 30 hours a week.

Somewhere along the way, Mike left and Rick was my boss and then Charlie. I got made Charlie’s Assistant Manger in charge of Sporting Goods and then, when he moved on, I was also made the Assistant Auto Center Manager. Not long after I became full-time, I got moved to the Display Department as the Assistant Display manager, which became the Assistant Visual Coordinator, then Visual Coordinator, and then In-Store Marketing Lead and then Operations Manager. I was a Manager until I stepped aside in 2008, becoming a Hardlines Merchandise Assistant.

For the record: I never really wanted that Operations job but felt the obligation to my boss and my family. I was happiest when I was the Visual Coordinator. I enjoyed making the place look nice, picking out the clothes for mannequins and, because of that, always making sure that my wife’ size ended up on them so, when the outfits went to clearance, I could guarantee that I would have one for her. But I was sold a bill of goods by the District Manager about the Operations position, given a hefty pay raise, and ultimately didn’t want to disappoint Ms. L., who I greatly respected and still do. In the end, I did disappoint and removed myself from the job. She was kind enough to protect my pay and I will always be grateful for her treating me like a member of the management staff, even when I no longer was, and always as a member of her family.

When Mrs. V. became Store Manager, I was informed that my schedule of working Monday through Friday, besides coming in on Sunday mornings to hang signs and one out of seven Saturdays, was over and I needed to work almost every Saturday like the rest of the staff. Suffice it to say that going from around eight Saturdays a year to having only eight Saturdays OFF put a major crimp in what was becoming a rather lucrative wedding video business which I folded in 2005 due to being unable to commit to clients. Throughout it all, I never held it against her and took the bullet like I was expected to do. I never held it against her even until the day she died several months ago after a long struggle with cancer. She was a good, but hard person and I miss her.

With so many people and so many memories, it’s hard to pinpoint them all. For the first 12 years there, I found myself trying to get a date and found that to be pretty unsuccessful! When Mrs. L., eventually becoming Ms. P., was in our building, she believed in positive vibes throughout the place and that meant setting up monthly parties at the St. John’s Club in Fall River. Cheap tickets meant a night of dining and dancing. I have many great memories of those. The funniest was one night Bob and I were out there with some of our co-workers and were dancing like fools. Someone came over to me and asked if I was okay to drive home…and I hadn’t had a drop.

The worst experience was the night that the store Christmas party came unglued, complete with a hostess shutting down the bar and threatening to throw all these “drunk fools” out who “allegedly” were having legal age folks buy for them. Truth be told, their servers said: “It’s a Christmas party…everybody drinks”. I had to get up in front of my co-workers and chastise them. That also meant I lost whatever time I had with my date and, as nice as she was, I would have loved to date her again. But that whole night just left a really bad taste in our mouths.

The year before that party, the band I was in, The Hellfire Club, got to debut their newest single Dance this Night at the annual Christmas Party. Two Christmas parties later, I protected my future girlfriend, who I recently discovered on Facebook (because EVERYONE ends up there eventually!) from a jerk who was hitting on her. We dated for several months until she left for Japan. She was a showgirl for Ringling Brothers(no joke) who I just recently reconnected with. Not long after she left, I met my future wife (thanks to a co-worker named Tom, the Grammy Awards and Sinead O’Connor).

Memories…

I remember freaking out Mr. C. because there was a very good possibility that the local news media would be in to harass one of our employees and I threatened to “throw them onto to sidewalk” if they did. Her son, who had contracted AIDS during a blood transfusion, was embroiled in a battle to be able to attend school in town. They never showed, he eventually passed away and they named an elementary school in his honor.

Anyone and everyone who ever worked there has heard the legend of the night one of our security personnel rappelled off the roof of the building to try to stop a potential thief. After a string of car break-ins with the hot item of the time being radar detectors, a sting operation was set-up. And when it all went down, this one security officer rappelled off the roof, screaming like a madman as he did. The perpetrator fled, another officer’s car blew it’s transmission during the high speed chase and some poor woman who was trying to get her VCR repaired almost crapped her pants during it all! But another radar detector never ever got stolen!

My boss Mike who was all about playing with the toys in the Toy Department, which he managed. That meant video games…yes-Pong, the Atari 2600, Intellivision, etc., and remote control cars. One night, he was zipping a car up and down the aisle around my ex-boss Tim, who was trying to sell some appliances to a couple. After several minutes of being annoyed, Tim excused himself and stomped on the car, blasting all four wheels off and putting the fun to an end.

There was that time when one of my co-workers was driving Tim nuts…so he locked him in a chest freezer. A customer asked if that could be harmful and Tim said: “No, we close in half an hour.” How about the person who wanted bags for a Regina vacuum but kept yelling she needed “vagina bags”? There was the customer who complained about the gas stove that had a clock that didn’t work. When I asked if they plugged the clock in, the reply was: “Why? It’s a gas stove!” One of the original maintenance guys came into the lunch room one day to change a light bulb. Someone said they would help. “You hold onto the bulb and we’ll turn the ladder.” He knew they would probably do it…because they would…and he left the room. That light never got changed until after he retired.

One of the greatest characters I worked with was a guy named George or, as he was known, “Sharkey”. George could sell the clothes off your back and has his own dedicated group of customers. I once watched him pull his own tooth with a pair of pliers he took off the sales floor. You did not want to have a drinking contest with him, as it was like drinking with Lemmy. I recall he and I drinking screwdrivers in the stock room on Christmas Eve with fixings that was stored in Mr. M.’s file cabinet. Of course, I recall drinking champagne in a security perch with the security manager on New Years Eve. I remember someone giving George a milkshake…only to find out he was lactose intolerant and sh*t himself all the way through the stock room to the bathroom. On the day he retired, he had a band come in and pipe him out of the building.

Speaking of bands and such, I remember the day we had a belly dancer come in for the 40th birthday of two of the managers. Or the multiple times my friend Keith dressed in drag to help roast other managers on their birthdays. Or the time my buddy Brian broke his hand…punching a cow in the head. If you were a friend of The Hellfire Club, you were coming to our “Lumber Party”, where you needed to bring wood to enter. There were nights after work at B.B. Binks or the Rustic Pub or even the Hoy Tin Restaurant (eat there once…and you’re “Hoytin”!). There were Sunday morning softball games and trips to the Red Sox or the Paw Sox or even…dare I say it…the strip club. There was always something to do, somewhere to go, or someone to be with. If you were there, although there was often competition among salespersons and competition among people looking for companions, you were family.

Thieves…the guy that tried to escape by jumping into the disgusting pond behind the building and breathing through a straw. The Auto Center Manager and a security person caught him by borrowing one of the canoes we had for sale and launching it in the pond. The bad guy got caught, but the canoe, covered in algae and nasty slime, was a total loss. Thieves…the fat man that took four of us to cuff and then found out that he was a walking needle mark. Standing in the bathroom with my friend Keith, also in my wedding, and praying that we didn’t catch something from skin to skin contact on this sweaty beast. Thieves…the guy who pissed himself after stealing a chainsaw and being apprehended by two security officers. Thieves…watching the two security managers bounce a shoplifter’s head off the pavement like a basketball until he finally went limp and they could put cuffs on him. Thieves…the gang of four that left carnage in their wake and one of my co-workers in a hospital bed for weeks.

Chaotic moments…that time that a pipe broke in the wall where the janitor’s mop sink was. That meant Tim and I were getting our pretty suits soaked as we smashed the tile wall with sledge hammers to gain access to the shut-off valve for the main. Chaotic moments…the guy who staggered in, clutching his belly, and bleeding all over the place as someone followed him brandishing a knife. Apparently, there had been some altercation in the parking lot that spilled into the store. Chaotic moments…taping up and boarding up windows because of approaching hurricanes.

Alarm calls…While a member of the management staff, I ended up on the alarm call list. In most cases, those were false alarms caused by any number of things from power outages to plow trucks setting off motion detectors to stray field mice doing the same. Alarm calls…the night I had to investigate a possible call, in a snowstorm, with my pregnant wife. Alarm calls…the night I showed up, meeting my security manager there, to find an entire window had been smashed and we had to hold the fort down in mid January with a 30 mile an hour wind whipping in through the broken window while we clean up broken glass. Alarms calls…having a major power outage at the store and finding that it went back to a major power surge. There is nothing like the rush of hitting the main transformer and praying that you won’t eat a voluminous amount of volts! Alarm calls…showing up and having the responding officer, who may have been brand new on the job, follow me (yes…the guy with the gun) and continually snapping and unsnapping his holster. I kept waiting for him to accidentally shoot me in the back!

Friends…There are far too many acquaintances made and far too many friends made in my 37 years to mention, between full-timers, part-timers, seasonal hires, etc. Many are still Facebook friends. As I mentioned earlier, I met my future wife there, even though our first meeting resulted in dual insults. 75% of my wedding party was made up of Sears co-workers-Geoff, Keith and Bobby. When my oldest child came into my life, my friends threw a baby shower. When my little one came along, more gifts. Because of that place, I met my mate Randy, which led to a friendship and a musical partnership that has lasted for 30 years. There are so many people I have been associated with over those years and so many that are gone too soon. At least two of my bosses are gone, as are several handfuls of co-workers, both young and old. Every time I see a name in the paper or on Facebook, it cuts into me. And while there are many I have not seen in many a year, I still am affected and remember the good times.

But there are nicknames I can recall and, if you were a part of this, you’ll know who they were and will smile. Totes, Johnny V., Trudy, The Wife, Bobby A., Paulie A., Wanker, Joe M., Kevin the Shipper, BSB., Big Tony, Connie, Hippo, Johnny M., “Rick”, Weeda, Robbie, Slappy, Slapnutz, Lobo, Neal Heaton, Scooter, Ange, Bobby K., Schwacker, Choo Choo Charlie, The Baby Killer, Bonzo, Weeble’s Wobble, The Walrus, Nattie, Netsie, The Misses, The Guv, Salto, Suzie Q., Peeps, Smithers, Little Tokyo, Six Pack, Kinnaneamania, Lats, Spike, Spot, Nibbles, Bleaker Bill, Big Dope, Queenie, Weezie, Mr. Ed, Joe Rap, Saez, and so on… 


So here we are: days away from the doors being closed and the lights being turned off one last time. The name will come off the building and it, like the Apex store at the other end of the Mall, will become another empty building…but a 100,000 square foot building. I have created a Facebook group for all of us who spent time there to reside in and share memories. 42 years means a lot of veterans, whether it was for a month, or several decades-all are welcome. As of this writing, there are almost 300 members from all eras of the place. And almost all say the same thing: this represented some of the greatest moments of our lives. This was a place where lifelong friendships were made.

For now, I leave it all here. I may revisit this blog and update. Maybe not. For now, I know that I have made a whole lifetime of friendships and those experiences, especially the influence of a handful of people who became my mentors, colored the person that I grew up to be. One door opens and one door closes. And while my door closed in 2014, the feelings left behind are still there. My hope is I can be there on the last day and help shut off the lights-something I never got to do when I left so suddenly. THAT would bring closure to me. What I also know, if that my children can never follow in my footsteps for their first jobs. At least not here.

DC REBIRTH Month 9, Part 2

MIDNIGHTER AND APOLLO #5 by Steve Orlando and Fernando Blanco. Midnighter is in Hell trying to rescue Apollo from Neron, leading to a bloody fight between them. But just when it looks like Midnighter will win, his seven minutes are up and he passes out. Apollo frees himself, but Neron is ready to make Midnighter play the unwinnable game. However, it looks like Apollo is fired up and ready to save his lover.

NEW SUPER-MAN #8 by Gene Luen Yang and Billy Tan. Kenan is trying his best to hit Master I-Ching, as he needs to hit him once before the Master hits him eight times. Meanwhile, Baixi is battling Rongpei for the rights to be the true Batman of China while Wonder-Woman is battling Alpaca, who turns out to be Baixi’s sister. Kenan hears cries for help and soon is out saving everyone he can, much to the delight of Master I-Ching, who allows him the one strike he needs to take him under his wing. Baixi wins his fight, but then Rongpei takes Schoolmaster O hostage with a threat to kill him unless Baixi gives him the cowl. He hands him the cowl, but it is booby-trapped, allowing him to save Schoolmaster. In the end, Baixi’s sister is sent to jail and Superman Zero has a visitor…is that Fu Manchu?

NIGHTWING #14 by Tim Seeley and Marcus To. The police are searching for Nightwing, who is hiding beneath Detective Svoboda's car. Nightwing, Defacer and Svoboda head to Jim Nice’s hideaway where we find that Cherry Annabel was helping Mayor Madrigal with his weapon smuggling ring. Nice sees this as a crime and is ready to kill her. She gets away and runs into our heroes, resulting in Nice teleporting Nightwing and himself to the spot where Nice killed his wife. Luckily, Svoboda shows up and causes the mirror he is holding to explode and weld to his face. In the end, Dick takes over Shawn Tsang's Run-Off support group and a mysterious person wearing what looks to be a version of Nightwing’s costume watches him.

NIGHTWING #15 by Tim Seeley and Minkyu Jung. 68 days ago, Dick Grayson started a relationship with the former Defacer. Through ups and downs, we see our couple still together. Yesterday, as Dick admitted to Bruce Wayne that he was in love, she is apparently kidnapped.

RAVEN #6 by Marv Wolfman and Diogenes Neves. As Raven tries to get into the mysterious energy dome, her Aunt Alice shows up and pleads with her to help save Mary-Beth. Everyone on the outside of the dome holds hands and their energy helps to free  the town.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #7  by Scott Lobdell, Mirko Colak, and Tom Derenick. Red Hood and Bizarro tell Black Mask's followers to get out of Gotham when Killer Croc shows up. Of course, it’s a mechanical Croc that gets dispatched fairly quickly. Later, we see Artemis looking at video of Bizarro’s origin and that leads jason to wondering if he should eliminate a potentially dangerous Bizarro and goes to talk to Alfred about it. Jason and Bizarro head out and Jason has a Kryptonite bullet in his gone. In the end, Jason can’t kill him and they watch the sunset together.

SUICIDE SQUAD #11 by Rob Williams, John Romita Jr. and Eddy Barrows. Rustam is going about releasing every criminal everywhere, starting with those in Belle Reve and then those in Blackgate. With Amanda Waller on leave, Harcourt is left in charge. Meanwhile, the Suicide Squad is on a mission in Tibet, where they have been assigned to take down someone and steal a hard drive. But Deadshot is a little anxious and kills both the perp and the hard drive. Hack manages to gather some classified information about a spy within the Squad and she sends it off to Waller. In the back-up, the team gets a little r&r while Waller gets shot point blank in the chest.

SUICIDE SQUAD #12 by Rob Williams, John Romita Jr. and Eddy barrows. Amanda Waller has been shot and, although a medical team struggles to save her, it appears that she has died. Meanwhile, Rustam has a new team of super villains he calls the Burneing World and they are all about beating up on the Squad. Once word arrives of Waller’s death, Rustan and company leave. In the back-up, Emilia Harcourt presides over Waller’s funeral, takes over Task Force X and introduces herself as the new leader. In the end, it looks like the only person who could have killed Waller…is Deadshot.

SUPERGIRL #6 by Steve Orlando and Brian Ching. As the government sends troops to help out in National City, the warship known as Argo City is on its’ way down to Earth and Supergirl battles with her father, the Cyborg Superman. Cat Grant convinces the Daily Planet to allow her to use their radio tower to let her app. broadcast a signal that shuts down the cyborgs. Her father is defeated by being overloaded and that means Argo City crashes into the sea. The next day, Kara, with ben’s covering up, convinces Cat to be a part of the Young Innovators. And we see that dad’s not dead…he’s just in stasis.

SUPERMAN #16 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Tony S. Daniel, and Clay Mann. Prophecy has Superman in his clutches and we are told he is capturing all these Super beings so he can take on some major Multiverse enemy. Superman gets tossed into a pit with all the other powerless Supermen and Superwomen. Elsewhere, the Justice League Incarnate try to come up with a plan, which leads to Red Racer putting a plan in place, at the cost of his life. But that allows the Justice Incarnate to track down Prophecy. All the Supermen and Superwomen get their powers allowing them to fight back. Prophecy disappears into a blue glow during the fight and the heroes win. In the end, Kenan Kong and Superman go back home to New Earth while we see that Mr. Oz has added Prophecy to his collection that already includes Doomsday and Red Robin.

SUPERMAN #17 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Sebastian Fiumara. Kathy shows up at Jon’s house to tell him that her grandpa Cobb went out  hours ago to find a stray cow and is still missing. They end up going to Deadman's Swamp, where a shadow man and giant animals chase them. They eventually get to an old mansion that attacks them and they manage to get saved by Grandpa Cobb. In the end, Cobb says that they were just hallucinating because of swamp gas. Once home, Jon goes to bed and we see the fake Clark Kent watching from Deadman’s Swamp.

SUPERWOMAN #7 by Phil Jimenez, Matt Santorelli and Jack Herbert. As the battle against Lena and her clones continues, it seems Lex is more useless than normal, as his suit is shut down and his legs won’t work. Kryptonite Man asks if he tried to reboot it, he does and viola-he can walk! Lena’s plan and her craft comes crashing down, Lois Lane-the live one-shows up and Superwoman seems to be suffering the same fate as her friend Lois did.

SUPER SONS #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Jorge Jimenez. After seeing what appears to be a family on the set of a television show, we get a brief snippet of Robin and Superboy teamed together. We then shift back two days where Jon has to confront some bullies while heading home from the Hamilton School. Damian shows up and it turns out he has been disguised at the school bus driver and also the science teacher and has been spying on Jon. Later, Damian gets left in the Batcave while his dad goes on a mission and, being bored, he heads to Hamilton and meets up with Jon, who is in bed. With a little convincing, they head to the big city, where they run into Lex Luthor.

TEEN TITANS #5 by Benjamin Percy and Khoi Pham. The teen Titans have come together and they head off to battle Ra’s al Ghul Demon's Fist members. But rather than fight, they are told how they were taken from their parents and brought here, which leads to them turning from supporting the cause and teaming up with the Titans, which Robin fights his grandfather. Ra’s flees, taking a hesitant Mara with him, the Demon’s Fist heads off to find their destiny and Robin has a confrontation with his father. Three months later, they return to their new home: a new Titans Tower in San Francisco.

TITANS #8 by Dan Abnett and Brett Booth. Mal and his wife meet with Peter Simon at Meta Solutions concerning her powers, when Mal reveals he has lost his powers. Meanwhile, the rest of the Titans are working through their various issues back at Titans Tower. While Mal is waiting for his wife to finish, he sees Mammoth hanging out in the waiting room and freaks out. The Titans catch up with him and follow him back to Meta where it looks like Psimon is making Bumblebee a part of his NEW Fatal Five.

TRINITY #6 by Francis Manapul and Emanuela Lupacchino. Mongul has possessed Clark kent to make his way into our world and that means that Poison Ivy has a problem. In the dream world of Black Mercy, Batman tries to convince White Mercy to help them get out. White mercy takes over Bruce’ body and meets her “mother”, which Wonder Woman stays inside the dream to save Superman. Bruce uses a Kryptonite necklace to save Superman, forcing Mongul out. With control broken, Lois gets free and everyone is saved. The Green eliminates Ivy's memories, so she feels no pain at the loss of her child, who may actually still be alive in The Green.

WONDER WOMAN #16 by Greg Rucka and Bilquis Evely. The first part of GODWATCH begins Veronica and Dr. Cyber discussing the Cyberwalker program and why Cyber hates Wonder Woman. Meanwhile, two mysterious twins manipulate Izzy to force Cale and Cyber to get them the location of Themyscira.

WONDER WOMAN #17 by Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp. In the second part of THE TRUTH, Castalia tries to chop down the mysterious black tree, but that just leads to the axe shattering. Meanwhile, Diana is in Nightsong Hospital where she is having a tea party with the snake that lives inside her arm. Elsewhere, Etta, Steve and Ferdinand find themselves under attack by Colonel Poison's team. To save them, Barbara Minerva agrees to let Veronica Cale  turn her back into Cheetah again. With the troops called off, the trio heads to Nightsong and Ferdinand hands Wonder Woman her clothes and her lasso.

DC REBIRTH Month 9, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #973 by Dan Jurgens, Patch Zircher and Stephen Segovia. Superman heads to his Fortress of Solitude where he finds Steel and a dying Superwoman. Superman doesn’t know what is causing her cellular degeneration but has an idea and they fly off to an unknown location. That’s when it is revealed they are being tracked by Hank Henshaw. Meanwhile, Lois is undercover as a waitress with a bunch of bad hombres including a crooked police detective. “Clark” is with Maggie Sawyer on this stakeout and decides he needs to rush in and save Lois. His clumsiness actually helps to rescue her. Later, he asks her out on a date and, since she wants to know who this Clark REALLY IS, she accepts.

ACTION COMICS #974 by Dan Jurgens, Patch Zircher and Stephen Segovia. While Superman and Steel try to figure out what’s wrong with Lana, Superman decides to put her into the classic Kryptonian Battle Armor he has to keep her alive. He also finds out that someone is near his Fortress in the Himalayas. It turns out to be Hank Henshaw and his men and they make their way into the Fortress. Blanque gets them to release him and he blows up the Fortress. Meanwhile, fake Clark goes out on his date with Lois and proposes to her. When she turns him down and leaves, he stalks her all the way back to her home and discovers that Jon is her son…and there is another Clark.

ALL STAR BATMAN #7 by Scott Snyder, Tula Lotay and Francesco Francavilla. Batman tracks down Poison Ivy so she can help him find an antidote to the bacteria that got loose during his battle with Mr. Freeze last issue. In the CURSED WHEEL back-up, Batman tells Duke that he needs to keep up the good work but to be careful and get some rest to recover from his injuries. Instead, Duke sneaks out.

AQUAMAN #16 by Dan Abnett and Brad Walker. Warhead is using his deadly psychic powers to get his hands on weapons and such. Meanwhile, Aquaman and his people are hard at work helping to rebuild Amnesty Bay, even as Warhead is trying to use his powers to convince people to help him take control of Aquaman.

AQUAMAN #17 by Dan Abnett and Scot Eaton. Aquaman goes to the United Nations and, during his speech there, is struck with a headache from Warhead’s ability. He begins to hallucinate, seeing a vision of a wounded soldier. The vision and the headache eventually passes. With the speech over, he again sees the soldier as he exists the building and is asked to follow him. He takes off and goes to Beckman College, where the soldier says “no more” before disappearing. A student, controlled by Warhead, fires a shotgun at Aquaman and eventually Arthur hunts down Warhead. Again struck with a headache, Warhead touches Aquaman’s head and suddenly he is in the middle of a battlefield.

BATGIRL #8 by Hope Larson and Chris Wildgoose. While Ethan Cobblepot and Barbara Gordon are on their first date, Cobblepot tells her how his mother was a waitress who Penguin got pregnant. He paid regular child support and also sent a check to have Ethan go to yale. Ethan went to Gotham to tell off his father and, at the same time, used the money to start a company called Vicform, which made him very rich. Vicform is responsible for an app. called Walkhome, which is like Uber but with people and not cars. Later, after a trip to a local bar, she interrupts a potential assault only to find that one of the people working for Walkhome is Magpie, who earns herself a special knockout punch from Batgirl. In the end, Ethan reveals that he sees Batgirl as an obstruction.

BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #7 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Claire Roe. After confronting the Zodiac Master, the girls crash at Dinah’s place. Barbara is trying to figure out why her realtors are so interested in the Clocktower she bought so Dinah and Helena set up a sting operation. What they eventually discover, thanks to Oracle’s hard work, is there was a robbery of the Gotham Bank many years ago and the loot was never found. Barbara tears apart the Clocktower and finds the missing gold, leading to her turning it over as a donation to Gotham’s Children’s Hospital, much to the realtors dismay. In the end, the girls celebrate Valentine’s Day by themselves.

BATMAN #16 by Tom King and David Finch. Psycho Pirate may be locked up in Arkham Asylum, but he is still using his influence to cause havoc, as he takes control of Bronze Tiger and has a guard almost kill Jeremiah Arkham. Later, at a place called Batburger, Bruce tells his sons and wards that Bane coming to Gotham and he needs five days to cure Gotham Girl. And he needs his family to get out of Gotham City as soon as possible, for their own safety. Later, he responds to the Bat Signal and  finds Catwoman instead of Jim Gordon. She knows bane is coming and he’s probably coming for her. In the end, Batman begins to work on curing Gotham Girl, only to find three bodies hanging in the bat cave, dressed as Robin, Nightwing and Red Hood, with the phrase I AM BANE painted across their naked chests.

BATMAN #17 by Tom King and David Finch. Bronze Tiger is in a hotel room, trying to kick his Venom habit, when he gets shot. Over at the Fortress of Solitude, Superman puts the bodies of the three Robins in hibernation for their own safety. At Arkham Asylum, what we are led to believe is Hush being brought to see thew Psycho Pirate by a guard, turns out to be Alfred bringing Gotham Girl for her Psycho Pirate therapy. Elsewhere, Bane’s men capture Selina Kyle, Jim Gordon and Duke. In the end, Bane has four of Batman’s acquaintances and is apparently waiting for a confrontation with the Bat.

BATMAN BEYOND #5 by Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang. Batman is trying to figure out how Bruce Wayne can be alive when he saw him die during a battle with Brother Eye. He then heads over to the Wayne-Powers building, where it seems that Terminal has set up. Terminal had found Bruce in a medical tent after he was presumed dead and has kept him alive so he can gain access to a device called Keystone that allows you to tap into any computer in the world. Before he can gain access, Terry stops him, but then has to let Terminal escape so Terry can save Bruce.In the end, the escape ship crashes and Terminal means his end at the end of a crowbar…being wielded by The REAL Joker!

BATWOMAN REBIRTH #1 by Marguerite Bennett, James Tynion IV and Steve Epting. We see Kate kane are five ages in her life. At age nine, she watched as her mom and her sister are murdered. At age twenty, she is in the Army and she is dealing with her feelings for the woman she spars with. At twenty-two, she is a party girl who also gets dishonorably discharged from the army. At age twenty-three, she is on the Island of Coryana where she is in a relationship with a woman named Safiyah. Later that year, she goes back to Gotham where she rekindles a relationship with Renee Montoya. At age twenty-four, Batman saves Kate and that forces her to train harder. She becomes batwoman and, after recapping various stories from the past, it takes us to today, where we find that Monster Venom is on the Black Market and it’s Kate’s job to try and stop the supply.

BLUE BEETLE #6 by Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins. Jaime expresses his extreme displeasure to Ted about all that has happened and the secrets he has been keeping…like that the scarab is mutating him. After finding out that the scarab may have been responsible for killing Dan Garrett, Blue Beetle heads off to confront Mordecai. The essence of the scarab comes forth and transforms Blue Beetle into a monstrous force that can only be stopped…by Doctor Fate? 

CYBORG #9 by John Semper Jr. and Paul Pelletier. Cyborg is confronting OTAC, who reveals that he wants to be known as Anomaly. He reveals that Dr. Stone was trying to create what he called the Omniscient Transformational Advanced Cell and that caused the explosion which eventually gave his wife cancer. He then created a series of clones of himself and tried to cure their cancer, but his wife died in the process. While he wanted the clones destroyed, they got sold to black market research and were used for torturous testing. Along the way, one of the scientists, named Aldous, became his friend and that is the person who currently has the real Dr. Stone. In the end, Victor and Exxy use a Boom Tube to get away from Anomaly long enough for Exxy to try and fix Cyborg’s blindness caused by Anaomaly’s malware.

CYBORG #10 by John Semper Jr.and Will Conrad. Cyborg is on the run after the press is saying how he’s gone rogue. Exxy teams up with him, getting some things from Holt Industries to purge Anomaly’s virus from Vic’s system. Over at Star Labs, Anomaly is trying to absorb Variant's technology when he says that he is doing all of this because of a voice in his head. The voice tells him to find Rizzo Rattama, who has trained rats to run drugs for him. But now, because of Anomaly's OTAC tech, he has the rats going off to kill Cyborg. 

DEADMAN DARK MANSION OF FORBIDDEN LOVE #3 by Sarah Vaughn and Lan Medina. Berenice, Sam, Deadman and Adelia make their way into Nathan’s office where they find a spell book. Seems Nathan hasn’t been working on his book…he’s been playing with spells. He is actually Adelia’s husband Edward who has been killing and maintaining an everlasting life in the process. Deadman takes control but to little success and the solution seems to be to burn the mansion down and everything inside it. As the fire spreads, Edward releases his grip, Deadman gets free and Edward finally dies. In the end, Berenice and Sam end up together and Deadman heads off to help someone else.

DEATH OF HAWKMAN #5 by Marc Andreyko, Aaron Lopresti and Rodney Buchemi. In the present, Green Lantern Isamot is killed by Despero and that leads to Ryan Kral of Thanagar being chosen as a member of the Green Lantern Corps. In flashback, it seems that Despero is using his will to push everyone he encounters to act on his behalf, including Adam’s wife. In the end, even Cyborg is revealed to be part of the conspiracy and, since Despero now controls all of the Nth Metal, he is in the process of removing it from Hawkman and possibly causing his death!

DEATHSTROKE #12 by Christopher Priest, Larry Hama and Joe Bennett. Slade explains to Pat that Luis/Richard will stay alive until he decides to kill Deathstroke. We also see that Slade is blind. Flashing back, we see Red Lion breaking Slade out of prison. Over in Minneapolis, Hosum shows up and asks Rose for help. He also reveals that the person behind all of this is Adeline. Jericho is still fighting off migraines while Slade visits the prison warden and finds out that Red Lion is also helping Raptor. Deathstroke tracks Raptor down and find out that Raptor has stolen Deathstroke’s Ikon Suit.

DEATHSTROKE #13 by Christopher Priest and Joe Bennett. Slade and Raptor battle until we discover that getting them together was all part of Red Lion's plan: gain control of his ship, which allows him to get back to his country. In the end, Red Lion gets to go home, Deathstroke gets evidence on his ex-wife, we find that Jericho loves Ikon, who is in a coma, and Slade is in bed with Jericho’s fiance.

DETECTIVE COMICS #950 by James Tynion IV, Marcio Takara, Alvaro Martinez, and Eddy Barrows. In the first tale, Cassandra helps bust up a drug ring while trying to come to grips with who she is. And Shiva is poised to play a part in her future life. Plus, Duke has come up with a compact way to allow Clayface to change to human shape. Unfortunately, it looks like he is going to have physical problems no matter who he is. In the second tale, Azrael is training with Batwing and we learn a little something about Ascalon. In the final tale, set before his “death”, Tim Drake confronts Batman about the war he apparently is preparing for, which will lead to the DARK DAYS saga later this year.
 
DETECTIVE #951 by James Tynion IV and Christian Duce. Three months ago, Shiva is interrogating one of Kane’s men and pronounces that the League of Shadows is coming. In the present, Batman goes to talk to Mayor Hady, only to find that Hady is pinned to the wall by a plethora of swords. Batman flees the dying Mayor and heads to see Jacob Kane, who confirms what we already knew: the League of Shadows is coming. Then Gotham seems to get hit with a dose of Joker Gas and the townspeople looked possessed and ready to take on Batman and his team.
 
THE FALL AND RISE OF CAPTAIN ATOM #2 by Cary Bates, Greg Weisman and Will Conrad. Eighteen months have passed since the end of last issue and it New Year’s Eve 1996. And Captain Atom, living under the assumed name of Vince Mallory, has just gotten mugged! But he gets to meet his future wife Doctor Takara Sato. Once he is better, he goes to visit Professor Rathaway, posing as a fiction writer looking for information on time travel and is told of the dangers of a potential Butterfly Effect. He eventually marries Takara, becomes a rescue pilot and even saves the life of Perry White. Several years go by and the Mallorys move to Central City. Nathan visits the Professor, who believes that Nathan is a time traveler. Nathan fears he is becoming Captain Atom again and, on the way home, he is carjacked and explode, only to awake in 2017. What’s worse-Takara is pregnant.
 
THE FLASH #16 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Last issue, Barry Allen was totally outsmarted by the Rogues and this issue he finds himself kicking himself for it. Even Iris West wants to know what happened. He tracks Heat Wave to his old family home just as he lights up the other houses in the neighborhood, leaving Flash to save the day while Mick escapes to join up with the other Rogues. When Captain Cold arrives, he is quite mad because Heat Wave screwed up the plan. Because of that, The Flash arrives and beats them all down. All except Cold, who has a special weapon he has made from the parts Black Hole used to create the Speed Force Storm. He has a Black Ice Gun.
 
THE FLASH #17 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Captain Cold explains the whole thing behind his Black Ice gun. Flash defeats Cold, but that’s when the Rogues arrive and it’s a battle until Lisa Snart arrives and it looks like she will finally kill The Flash, but he mustered up enough energy to take them all down. In the end, Flash returns all of the things that the Rogues had stolen and Captain Cold declares himself the new crime boss of Central City.
 
GOTHAM ACADEMY SECOND SEMESTER #6 by Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl, Adam Archer and Msassyk. Pomeline and Tristan find a sarcophagus under the school that leads to a cave where they find some strange symbols. Following the symbols, it eventually leads them to Maps, Olive, and Amy, along with Kyle and Colton, who had been talking about Colton’s non-existent family life. Eric arrives, wearing a headband with the Arkham Asylum symbol on it and calling himself The Symbolist. He fires a bolo at Tristan, who bites Eric and then falls to his apparent death.
 
GREEN ARROW #16 by Ben Percy and Otto Schmidt. Arrow, Canary, Red Arrow and Chief Westberg end up tracking the Vice Squad to O’Neil Airfield where the two teams battle. In the end, some well-placed grenades kill off Notting and his men. Later, Ollie tries again to get Domini. Later, after a family dinner, Arrow meets with the Chief and reveals his secret identity to him. Unfortunately, when the Westberg goes into the bathroom to compose himself, he gets murdered.
 
GREEN ARROW #17 by Ben Percy and Otto Schmidt. Malcolm Merlyn has framed Green Arrow for Chief Westberg’s murder and, thanks to that, Nathan Domini is now the Mayor of Seattle. Nathan tries to plant Oliver's cloning device on Broderick's computer, but that fails and he is taken to the Ninth Circle to be branded, literally, as a traitor. Arrow goes to visit Victoria Much and gives her his evidence on Broderick.  Later, Oliver and Emiko get attacked by Merlyn. Ollie eventually takes him down, but Diggle arrives to knock Ollie out and take off with Merlyn, saying he has to do this because Merlyn saved his life. In the end, Victoria finds out that Queen Industries was built at the center of a star…Star City.
 
GREEN LANTERNS #16 by Sam Humphries and Neil Edwards. The Lanterns head to Gotham to help Batman and Gordon solve a crime. Unfortunately, there are problems right off the bat as Batman wants Simon to not have his gun with him while in Gotham. Jessica figures out that the yellow spectrum is being to influence people, which might mean the Sinestro Corps is responsible. Soon, Alfred is affected and beats up Simon, stealing his gun in the process. In the end, it seems the yellow spectrum is spreading and that The Scarecrow is responsible.
 
GREEN LANTERNS #17 by Sam Humphries and Eduardo Pansica. Alfred has stolen Simon’s gun and is going to kill Batman until Batman activates a post hypnotic trigger that brings him back to normal. The trio tracks down Scarecrow, all the heroes fight their fears and defeat Scarecrow and Simon gives up his gun, as he has conquered his fear. In the end, “Rami” calls the Lanterns home to help on a mission.
 
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #14 by Robert Venditi and Rafa Sandoval. Guy Gardner tracks down the Space Cabbie and offers a deal to him, wherein he gains immunity for helping to find the missing Sinestro Corps members. . Meanwhile, Jon is trying his best to make the new alliance between Green and Yellow Lanterns work, even as Hal Jordan heads out on a special mission with Kyle Rayner.They end up at a planet that is close to being destroyed and it’s Kyle job to find hope here. Eventually, he does, in the form of Saint Walker.
 
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #15 by Robert Vendetti and Ethan Van Sciver. While Yellow and Green lanterns are learning how to live and work together, Guy steals Space Cabbie’s ride and heads off to find and confront Arkillo. Meanwhile, Hal and Kyle are captured by Misery, until Saint Walker arrives to lend a hand. He shows them their worst nightmares, which only makes them stronger and allows them to defeat the beast.
 
HARLEY QUINN #13 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Bret Blevins, John Timms, and Chad Hardin. After much torture, the fake Joker reveals his name is Edwin and he first showed up in issue #9 of the 2013 series. He had fallen in love with Harley and had endured diets, plastic surgery, and even a dive into toxic chemicals to win her love. Too bad she is not impressed and shoots him right between the eyes in front of all her friends.
 
HARLEY QUINN #14 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Khari Evans and John Timms. While Deputy Mayor Berkowitz tells the vampires where the best eats is, Harley, Harlem and Tony face giant ants who are the followers of Zorcrom: a silver skinned creature that was awakened by Harley and Red Tool when they were beneath the wax museum. After he eliminates his followers and some police officers, she sends him to Washington D.C. Meanwhile, Harley Sinn is transferred out of Arkham, only to be recruited by a shadow government to perform a hit. They fake her death and send her off to kill Randy Houser, a guy with a Band-Aid across the bridge of his nose, universal symbolism for “bruiser.” In the end, Atlee from Strata arrives to try to help Harley stop Zorcrom from tearing up Coney Island.

THE HELLBLAZER #7 by Simon Oliver and Philip Tan. Everyone, good guys and bad,  is heading to Henry’s apartment. Dante is prepared to shoot Henry, who refuses to answer the questions of the bad guys, when Dante has a heart attack. As he dies, Henry tells Dante about a book containing all of his memories. Constantine arrives and Dante shoots at him, causing John to dive out the window and find himself at gunpoint.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #14 by Bryan Hitch. A huge spaceship entered Earth’s atmosphere, blew a hole in a city in Canada and trapped the League 12 miles underground. After an entire issue where they try to figure out what to do and deal with Jessica’s fears, they come up with a plan and free themselves.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #15 by Bryan Hitch and Fernando Pasarin. While Batman and Superman go to the Infinity Corps building, the rest of the team get shifted from a U.N. Meeting to various places in time by Molly, to try to stop The Timeless. Aquaman is in ancient Atlantis, Wonder Woman is in ancient Greece, Cyborg is in the 31st Century with Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Superheroes, the Green Lanterns are in a distant future where the use of their rings is frowned upon and The Flash is back on the day when he got his powers. And they all need to hurry up as The Timeless is coming.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA REBIRTH #1 by Steve Orlando and Ivan Reis. Batman takes Frost to the Happy Harbor Sanctuary in Rhode Island, which is home for the new Justice League of America’s headquarters. Frost meets up with Black Canary, who is itching for a fight until Batman intervenes. Black Canary goes out and gets Lobo, leading to he and Batman seeking out Ray Palmer. Instead, they find Ryan Choi-the NEW Atom. In turn, The Atom gets The Ray to join the team and, finally, Batman convinces Vixen to come in to the fold.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1 by Steve Orlando and Ivan Reis. An alien superteam arrives in Saratoga , New York and begins to wreak havoc, causing the new Justice League of America to spring into action. They all take a bit of a beating and it looks like The Atom may lose his life. That’s when Batman tells their leader to leave the kid alone and to take him instead.

DC REBIRTH Month 8, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: THE ATOM REBIRTH #1 by Steve Orlando and Andy MacDonald. Ryan Choi is attending Ivy University where he gets to work with his idol, Professor Ray Palmer. A year into his time there, Ryan is called to Palmer’s office where the Professor shows him that he is The Atom. For the next year, Ryan watches and assists The Atom until he disappears one day. When Palmer finally contacts him, he explains he needs his help to save the universe. Ryan straps on a shrinking belt and heads off to save his friend.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: KILLER FROST REBIRTH #1 by Steve Orlando, Jody Houser and Mirka Andolfo. Killer Frost is supposed to be released from Belle Reve today, based on an agreement between Waller and Batman. But Waller has “lost” some of the release paperwork and is refusing to feed her the heat she needs. She also has moved her into a cell with Heatstroke, which gives her cohorts access to Frost. As much as she does not want to, she uses her powers to feed some energy from her attackers and survive. In the end, Batman gets her out and trusts her when she swears that her hunger is under control.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: THE RAY REBIRTH #1 by Steve Orlando and Stephen Byrne. We begin many years ago with a young boy watching movies in the dark and his mother brings him a birthday cake with no candles. This is Ray Terrill and he's allergic to light and could explode if exposed to it. Ten years later, he decides to finally leave his home, at night, and take his chances, but he means a group of kids and when one of them offers him a light, he explodes again, this time turning invisible. He decides to stay that way so he can watch people. That lasts for four more years when he gets to see his old friend and lifelong crush Caden, who he thought he killed as a boy, running for Mayor. He watches him at a speech but, when someone pulls out an energy sword and plans to attack Cade, he finally reveals himself as a being of fire and defeats the would-be terrorist. Caden thanks his mysterious rescuer and calls him a Ray of Hope for the city.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: VIXEN REBIRTH #1 by Steve Orlando, Jody Houser and Jamal Campbell. Mari McCabe is a super model and an activist who grew up in Africa and was left an orphan because of poachers. But she was left a totem by her mother that allows her to channel animals and use their powers for good. She stops a criminal named Spiderbite and then reveals herself to the world as Vixen.

MIDNIGHTER AND APOLLO #4 by Steve Orlando and Fernando Blanco. Midnighter finishes off Mawzir and moves on to try and rescue Apollo, who is in the middle of a game with Neron where he is forced to put his soul on the line. Midnighter arrives, but it appears to be too late as Apollo has lost his soul to Neron.

NEW SUPER-MAN #7 by Gene Luen Yang  and Billy Tan. Lex Luthor is in Shanghai to award Kenan, Wonder-Woman and Bat-Man for their rescuing the airliner last issue. Later, he tries to get the trio to spend the New year’s holiday together, but they leave him hanging and Baixi and Deilan go off to the Academy of the Bat, where Bat-Man trained. Inside, they find all of the potential people trying to be him, leading to a battle for the cowl with Baixi against Rongpei. Meanwhile, Kenan goes to I-Ching’s studio, where he discovers that he can’t impress I-Ching, who we last saw in WONDER WOMAN,  because I-Ching is blind. I-Ching will train Kenan, but first HE must be blind.

NIGHTWING #12 by Tim Seeley and Marcus To. We begin with Nightwing investigating a crime scene, before going off to meet with Jim Nice and set up a meeting with The Run-Offs. In the meeting, they explain that they were trying to smuggle guns and that ended badly, so someone is killing off members of the gun running group and making it look like The Run-Offs are responsible. Nightwing and The Run-Offs go to confront Forsyth and that’s when Orca and The Whale's Enders gang show up. The Run-Offs help to take them down, only to find that this was a distraction, allowing someone dressed as Thrill Devil to run down Forsythe.

NIGHTWING #13 by Tim Seeley and Marcus To. Nightwing and the Run-Offs find
Forsythe who, before he dies, explains that the next target is probably Mayor Madrigal. As Nightwing heads to City Hall, Detective Svoboda notices that this is similar to a homicide from years before and she may enlist DeFacer’s help. At City Hall, the killer is wearing a Nightwing disguise and throws the Mayor out the window. Luckily, DeFacer catches him in mid-air, allowing Nightwing to reveal the killer as Jim Nice. He gets away and that means the police arrive thinking Nightwing is the killer. He bails and meets with DeFacer, who has brought Detective Svoboda with her.

RAVEN #5 by Marv Wolfman and Diogenes Neves. Raven is still dealing with the giant orb and it doesn’t take long for people, inclduing her family, to figure that Raven is Rachel. Her cousin heads down to the incident and gets caught by the orb, which causes her to almost release her Trigon side. Mary-Beth gets sucked in and she finally submits and is taken inside the orb.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #6 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. Black mask is ready to shoot Red Hood when a falling Bizarro and Artemis distracts him long enough for Jason to turn the tables. Jason has a plan and that is to keep on fighting Black Mask until the techno virus takes him down. Eventually, he falls down and begins to foam at the mouth as he begs for a cure which Jason denies him. Now he no longer has control of Bizarro and it looks like the Dark Trinity will now be going on a mission for Artemis.

SUICIDE SQUAD #9  by Rob Williams, Si Spurrier and Riley Rossmo. Set many years ago, Amanda Waller sends her first Suicide Squad team, the same team that Max Lord broke out of prison, on a mission to stop a North Korean dictator on the island of Jangsun. Besides the team from The Catacombs, there is another member called Cyclotron. On the island, the team defeats the gods that Jangsun created but Cyclotron tries to convince the others that they can use the machine to make themselves gods. Waller tells Lobo that she will double his deal if he kills Cyclotron, which he does. But it turns out that Waller had made Cyclotron a living bomb to act as damage control and eliminate the team and all inhabitants. They are all caught in the explosion but survive, leading to Waller having them brought back to Belle Reve for a future mission.

SUICIDE SQUAD #10 by Rob Williams, Si Spurrier and Giuseppe Cafaro. Rustam, having escaped from Eclipso during the JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD, has gotten access to a nuke and taped a photograph of Amanda Waller’s kids to it. She arranges to have her kids brought to an undisclosed location while Croc is sent after Rustam. Waller’s daughter wants to know what she has been doing for the last three years a good portion of their family had been killed by terrorists. A courier arrives with a tablet and Rustam reveals that the only reason he taped the photo on the nuke was to bring Waller and her kids together. The kids scream at her for ruining their family and walk out on her.

SUPERGIRL #5 by Steve Orlando and Brian Ching. Over in National City, the Cyborg Superman is confronting Jeremiah Danvers when Supergirl shows up just in time to save Cameron Chase. Then she goes off and saves Ben Rubel, who just got tossed out a window by one of the Cyborgs minions. Then she heads back into downtown to save her foster father from her real father, who claims he is doing all of this for her. And he may be right as their home is coming into Earth’s atmosphere.

SUPERMAN #14 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Ivan Reis. Clark is driving home when he is met by an injured Red Son Superman who explains the Gatherers are coming and they are after Kenan Kong. The gatherers arrive and the two Suprman team up to defeat them. The Justice League Incarnate arrive, made up of the Superman of Earth 23, Mary Marvel of Earth 5, Aquawoman of Earth 11, Red racer of Earth 36, Green Lantern of Earth 20 and Machinehead of Earth 8. They explain that someone is capturing Supermen from across the Multiverse and Kong is next. They are too late to save Kenan from being captured and taken through a portal by the Gatherers. In the end, we see some of the captured Supermen, including Val -Zod from Earth-2 and Captain Carrot from Earth-26, who gets transformed back into an actual rabbit.

SUPERMAN #15 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Ryan Sook, Ed Benes, Clay Mann and Jorge Jimenez. On Earth-14, the Gatherers kill the Justice League of Assassins and captures Squad Superman. At the House of Heroes, the Justice Incarnate and Superman are trying to figure out a plan to get to as many Earths as possible and save the other Supermen. So they gather up the other Supermen and bring them back to the specially designed space ship while they plan to attack the villain known as Prophecy. Acting as bait, Superman teleports all the Supermen away so he can battle Prophecy by himself.

SUPERWOMAN #6 by Phil Jimenez and Matt Santorelli. With Lex trapped in a Hypercube where he chats with the head of Kryptonite Man, while Lana is being saved from the Superwoman clone by one of Lena’s Bizzaro Women. Bizzaro Woman, after seeing the ghost of Lois, brings Superwoman to Steelworks. Once she recovers, Lana goes to Lex and finds out that he was responsible for accidentally paralyzing his sister while trying to cure her. Lana finds his actions reprehensible but is willing to try to free him. That may take the help of a certain glowing skull and a Bizarro Woman-but at a cost.

TEEN TITANS #4 by Benjamin Percy and Khoi Pham. Damian is giving himself to Ra’s to save the life of his teammates. Demon's Fist arrives and that leads to a duel between Damian and Mara that ends with him getting knifed in the back. There may be some dissention in the ranks as Demon’s Fist questions Mara’s character. The rest of the team heads to Infinity Island to see if they can help, eventually busting Damian out of prison.

TITANS #7 by Dan Abnett and Lee Weeks. The Titans have made their way to Manhattan, where they are fighting bad guys. After dispatching him, Superman shows up and he and Wally proceed to race. When they stop, Superman admits that he knows Wally from his timeline. Back in New York, Garth grows a new Titans Tower and the team hires a lawyer named Dale Cendali while the Duncans prepare to meet with someone from Meta Solutions-someone from the Titans’ past.

TRINITY #5 by Francis Manapul. Poison Ivy tells a tale of meeting a small child and then tries to explain to Lois why she has put the Trinity into a deep sleep, even though she doesn’t know why a farmer like Clark is friends with Bruce Wayne. Meanwhile, the Trinity is fighting Mongul in their dream world, although Mongul tells them they are actually in HIS dream and the child is his child. She is the White Mercy it is revealed that she has the ability to channel dreams and nightmares from Mongul’s world. Mongul used Ivy to get the Trinity and he plans on stealing Superman's solar power, allowing his child to rule the world. That makes sense as Ivy explains to Lois and Jon that the solar energy provided by all three will allow her daughter to come home. And apparently, she is inside of Clark.

WONDER WOMAN #14 by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott. This is the YEAR ONE FINALE. Ares threatens to harm Steve Trevor until she cuts a deal with him. He wants directions to Themyscira and she agrees to give it to him. But when he tries to read her mind, he cannot believe that she doesn’t know the way. She battles him and eventually dispatches him, even if she doesn’t kill him. The owl uses a cell phone to show them that there is going to be a multi-faceted attack on several cities by the Sear group and Diana and Steve head off to stop it, ultimately ending up at a school to stop the final attack. In the end, Steve, Barbara and Diana share Tequila Sunrises and Diana learns the world has named her Wonder Woman.

WONDER WOMAN #15 by Greg Rucka and Liam Sharp. In the first installment of THE TRUTH, Diana is in Nightsong Hospital where she is trying to sort out all of the memories she has. Meanwhile, Colonel Maru is explaining how she lost Wonder Woman and it seems the team at Empire Industries are not too concerned as they plan on getting what they needed through Barbara Minerva. Steve meets up with Etta and Barbara, but their reunion is short-lived as the Poison Brigade shows up at the motel. While Steve and Etta escape, Barabra, once a member of Godwatch, stays behind. When the Brigade busts in, Barbara asks to be taken to Veronica Cale.  In the end, Etta and Steve meet with a Minotaur in disguise and living on the streets.

DC REBIRTH Month 8, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #971 by Dan Jurgens and Stephen Segovia. Last issue, Superman agreed that Luthor should be killed to keep him from becoming Darkseid. Well, that was all a ruse to fool his captors and he breaks the weapon that gave him to kill Lex. That leads to Superman fighting L'Call and Zade while Lex gets away, restoring his suit’s powers. He and Superman open a Boom Tube but L'Call manages to disrupt it and they end up lost on a distant planet that orbits a red sun. So it’s up to Lex to save the day as Superman is powerless and L'Call and Zade have arrived. Back on Earth, Lois and Jon are in this planet’s Lois apartment when Clark Kent shows up and wants to know what’s going on.

ACTION COMICS #972 by Dan Jurgens and Stephen Segovia. The powerless Superman and Lex continue to battle against L'Call and Zade. Superman promises that he will never let Luthor become the future Darkseid and tells L’Call to look into his orb and see what his future holds. Convinced, he lets them go, although we see that he has an uphill battle in his future including moments with Mr. Oz and the Cyborg Superman. But Luthor also decides things are important as he turns a new leaf and arranges to have the New 52’s Superman’s cape delivered to Perry White in a glass case. Meanwhile, Lois blows off “Clark kent” and he begins to wonder why Lois is lying to him about stuff.

ALL STAR BATMAN #6 by Scott Snyder, Jock and Francesco Francavilla. Batman is in Alaska chasing after Mr. Freeze and discovers that he has been reanimating the dead in hopes to save his wife Nora. Freeze plans on unleashing a bacteria that will destroy the world but, in the process, he plans on freezing himself until after the world ends. But Batman has brought in a virus that will thwart his plans. Then Batman locks himself in a cryogenic chamber with Mr. Freeze as jets come to bomb the madman’s lair. In the Cursed Wheel back-up, the Riddler has a building ready to explode on the anniversary of Zero Year if Batman can’t figure out his puzzle. Time runs out for the Dark Knight and it looks like the Duke may be caught in the explosion.

AQUAMAN #14 by Dan Abnett and Philippe Briones. As the Aquamarines head into action, Aquaman has to explain to Joanna Stubbs how her dad died because there was fast growing coral inside his head that was used to kill him. The Aquamarines arrive and start killing Atlanteans, leading to a battle between Aquaman, Mera and the Aquamarines. Defeating the assassination attempt, Arthur tells his people that he is going to make one last attempt to stop a war with the surface world and, if he fails, he will step down.  Aquaman and Rowa find where N.E.M.O.is and Aquaman burst in, ready to battle Black Manta and Black Jack.

AQUAMAN #15 by Dan Abnett and Philippe Briones. Aquaman attack N.E.M.O. and battles with Black Manta who decides the best way to protect the secrecy of the organization is to blow up the secret base. Aquaman escapes and, along with Superman, visits the President and explains that he could kill him because of the Aquamarines being sent to assassinate him. Instead, he surrenders, leading to a joint press conference where Superman gives Aquaman a new Justice League teleporter card. In the end, Mera is told she still must be vigilant of the Prophecy and it seems like Black Jack lives to fight another day.

BATGIRL #7 by Hope Larson and Chris Wildgoose. Barbara Gordon is back in Burnside and dealing with two criminals breaking into the local pet store and leaving dog doo that the people living in Burnside don’t bother to clean up. The next day, Frankie buys Barbara a coffee, makes her aware that the landlord is doubling their rent and she is moving out to move in with her girlfriend Malaya. At Burnside College, Babs enrolls in some Library Science classes and later, goes to a charity event at Club Angelfish, where she runs into Alysia and Jo, who are talking starting a family. There are a bunch of hipsters complaining about the number of homeless people cluttering Burnside, which upsets her and impresses Ethan Cobblepot, who asks her on a date. On her way to that date, she sees a group of hipsters using an app to have a homeless person and this forces her to take action and finds that he is being taken to Fright. With help of the homeless guy, she takes down Fright and her crew with enough time to make her date with the son of the Penguin.

BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #6 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Roge Antonio. Huntress is confused to find that Fenice is her mother, who was believed to be dead. The team k, with the help of some of Oracle’s Mafia clients, battle the snakes in a movie theater. Huntress catches up with Fenice and reveals her true identity. Fenice reveals that she and Santo were having an affair and he was responsible for the hit that killed her family. Santo begs for mercy and reveals his men had gone rogue and he wasn’t responsible for the hit. In the end, the rest of the Birds arrive, along with Jim Gordon and GCPD and they take all the bad guys into custody. So now there is a team and a new Oracle, who may still be doing someone else’s dirty work.

BATMAN #14 by Tom King and Mitch Gerards. Catwoman helps Batman catch a bunch of criminals before making love on a roopftop.

BATMAN #15 by Tom King and Mitch Gerads. Picking up where we left off, Batman and Catwoman dress and she flees. Batman visits Jim Gordon and inquires about Holly Robinson, who Batman goes and visits. Holly slices him open and flees, leading to Batman chasing after her but passing out from his injuries. Luckily Catwoman saves him and brings him back to the Bat Cave. She explains that Holly is responsible for killing the 237 Selina is accused of killing and then she leaves, leaving Batman a sad hero.

BATMAN BEYOND #4 by Dan Jurgens and Pete Woods. Terry and Dana are still strung up and having balls of acid thrown at them. Terry sees Matt running around and this gives him the will to break free. He catches up with Matt, who gives him the prototype Bat suit that he brought, which pisses Dana off who now realizes that Terry is Batman and never told her. Putting on the suit, he proceeds to take out the Jokerz, but Terminal flies away with Bruce Wayne. In the end, terry figures out who The Joker is and realizes that Bruce Wayne lives.

BLUE BEETLE #5 by Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins. Doctor Reyes is working on Blu and another member of the Posse when Mordecai shows up and attacks, killing Blur’s friend. When Jaime gets wind of it, he turns into Blue Beetle and comes to her aid, which is a mistake because it’s Blue Beetle that Mordecai wanted. Ted Kord's arranges for Jaime's sister and father be put in safe keeping while Mordecai tries to rip the scarab off Jaime’s back. Luckily the Posse come to Jaime's aid, allowing Jaime to blast Mordecai back to his master. And Dr. Fate makes a mysterious cameo.

CYBORG #8 by John Semper Jr., Paul Pelletier, and Will Conrad. A holographic projection of Cyborg convinces a tech thief by the name of Exxy to break into S.T.A.R. Labs and help bring Cyborg back on-line. Once awakened, the pair must flee, as they are attacked by the creature that is NOT Victor’s father, who reveals himself as OTAC. This scares his real dad really badly!

DEATH OF HAWKMAN #4 by Marc Andreyko, Aaron Lopresti and Rodney Buchemi. In present time, Hawkman and Adam discover that Despero has taken over Rann and is having a huge Zeta portal built for him. We also find out that Sardath is not dead and is working on the project with Despero. Flashing back in time, Hawkman and Adam go to Kalador to find out Despero’s plan from the planet’s last remaining elder. In the end, the zeta-beam device transports Nth metal from Ryngor onto Despero, making him more powerful. It also causes the moon to explode and kills a lot of Thanagarians in the process.

DEATHSTROKE #10 by Christopher Priest and Cary Nord. We begin in Serbia where Deathstroke is all about getting his hands on Dragas. After seeing how he met Aeline at the end of that mission, we move to the here and now, as Slade and Dex meet and plans are put into place. Jericho who is being looked at by Dr. Villain who explains how Jericho and Rose got their abilities. Rose has gone to Minneapolis to visit family. In the end, Red Lion arrives to spring Slade from prison.

DEATHSTROKE #11 by Christopher Priest and Denys Cowan, with inks by Bill Sienkiewicz. Jack Ryder is here covering another unnecessary death due to gun violence. At the same time, someone has hired Deathstroke, who is sending a message by taking out gang-bangers and criminals in general without using a gun. Ryder goes to visit a woman whose boss was just killed by Deathstroke and gets shot by her in the process, causing Ryder to turn into The Creeper just as Deathstroke arrives. The two fight and The Creeper offers to team up. As it turns out, Deathstroke is the transplanted Reverand from Philadelphia and Slade kills him because he was “diluting the brand”. When Ryder asks Slade what the answer to gun violence in Chicago is, Slade tells him it’s “better aim”.

DETECTIVE COMICS #948 by James Tynion IV, Marguerite Bennett and Ben Oliver. After a flashback with a quiet moment between Jacob and Kate Kane, we go to present day where Batman calls Kate away from a visit with her dad. He has her meet him in Monster Town-the are a that was affected during the Monster Men story and is now quarantined so A.R.G.U.S. can clean it up. Seagulls are eating the flesh of one of the dead creatures, which are filled with Venom, and turning them into hybrid seagull-like humans. In the end, Colony Prime shows up at the Belfry in an attempt to free Jacob Kane. Batman and Batwoman arrive and suddenly have the Belfry’s technology unleashed upon them.

DETECTIVE COMICS #949 by James Tynion, Marguerite Bennett, Ben Oliver, and Szymon Kudranski. We begin two years ago as Kate gets a visit from Batman, who warns her to stop watching him. Little do either of them know that The Colony is watching it all happen. Back in the present, Kate is battling Colony Prime while Batman tries to heal the Belfry, which is out of control. Kate and Batman lure Colony Prime into the Mud Room where it all goes bad for him. He injects himself with Monster Venom and transforms into a monster and escapes. Kate visits her father and he asks her if she is ready to fight the war, which she says she is. This will lead directly into BATWOMAN REBIRTH.

THE FALL AND RISE OF CAPTAIN ATOM #1 by Cary Bates, Greg Weisman and Will Conrad. Beginning in the present in December of 2012, Captain Atom explodes and it leads to Dr. Megala and General Eiling believing Atom has died because of it. We move back to 23 minutes earlier where Captain Atom is trying to save an ocean liner in trouble and realizes that he may have some sort of “quantum fever”, which is affecting his powers. Luckily Superman, Green Lantern and Cyborg show up to help and escort him to The Continuum in Kansas, but he blows up on the way and accidentally destroys a city in the process. He goes inside the The Continuum, which takes us back to the beginning of the book. Atom is not dead: he’s been thrown back in time to 1994 to the exact spot where The Continuum will eventually be built.

THE FLASH #14 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine DiGiandomenico. The Flash is fighting it out with Paper Cut, Sand Blaster and Bone Dry, eventually defeating them and getting them into Iron Heights. But there is still the mystery about where the Rogues have gone. Flash does some asking around and comes up with a bunch of dead ends.He ends up in the deserted Polar Ice building where he finds evidence that shows they had recently been here. He trips a booby-trap and that blows up the building along with key evidence. The Rogues have planned this and watch it all happen. The Flash has taken the bait.

THE FLASH #15 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine DiGiandomenico. The Rogues have made their way to a museum in Corto Maltese for a great heist. Flash arrives to stp them and battles them fiercely, until he realizes that they are all mirror constructs of the Mirror Master, who uses mirror images of The Flash to attack him and also creates a Mirror Monster. Mirror Master then steals the Statue of Mercury and escapes into the Mirrorverse. Flash realizes that this has all been a diversion and, when he returns to Central City, he sees the thefts and destruction they have created while he was gone.

GOTHAM ACADEMY SECOND SEMESTER #5 by Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl and Adam Archer. It seems that Colton was expelled from Gotham Academy because of an attempted theft of Professor Silversmith’s goggles and stealing a map that belongs to Headmaster Hammer that had been stolen by Mr. Scarlet. While Pomeline and Tristan break into the Wedgewood House, Colton goes on trial and the map has disappeared again, which has ended up in Pomeline and Tristan’s possession. But then it looks like Eric may be looking to steal it…

GREEN ARROW #14 by Ben Percy, Eleonora Carlini, Carlos Rodriguez, and Gus Vazquez. Oliver looks like the guilty party who has been gunning people down with arrows and he is currently trapped at Queen Industries Field, where he’s chasing after the real killer. The police arrive and corner both men and Green Arrow takes a bullet the Chief. The bad guy turns out to be Malcolm Merlyn-the original Dark Archer and gets away during the process, as Black Canary reveals herself to be the rookie policewoman in disguise.

GREEN ARROW #15 by Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra. While Ollie and Dinah recover from the Dark Archer incident, Sergeant Notting and his crew are killing off prisoners at the Detention Center. This leads to Arrow and Canary getting involved in a high-speed chase and all. And just when you think Notting is going to succeed in killing off out heroes, the NEW Red Arrow arrives in the form of…Emiko!

GREEN LANTERNS #14 by Sam Humphries, Eduardo Pansica and Ronan Cliquent. Frank Laminski has exploded and become an Indigo Lantern in the process. He develops compassion and removes the ring, which means the greedy Frank comes back. He demands his ring, but Jessica wears it and is engulfed by all the color spectrums before she removes it and gains willpower in the process, using her Green Lantern ring to subdue Frank. Lantern Isamot Kol and Lantern Vath Sarn arrive and complain about being sent out on an alleged emergency. Rami arrives, telling everyone he has taken down Volthoo, but plans to stay on Earth to train Simon and Jessica. Actually, Volthoom has captured Rami’s energy and is now masquerading as the Guardian.

GREEN LANTERNS #15 by Sam Humphries, Tom Derenick and Miguel Mendonca.  Jessica spends the entire issue trying to work through her anxieties. In the end, Simon shows up at her house and makes her pancakes. That’s when Batman contacts them and says he needs their help in Gotham City.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #12 by Robert Vendetti and Ethan Van Sciver. The Sinestro Corps and the Green Lantern Corps work together to fight Larfleeze and his orange army while Hal, Kyle, Sayd and Ganthet head to help. The Lanterns begin breaking Larfleeze’ collection of specimens, including a miniaturized Starro and a miniaturized New 52 Lobo. Hal and company arrive and they all fight against Larfleeze’ army, resulting in him destroying Brainiac, although he in turn becomes one of Larfleeze’s constructs. Larfleeze flees while the two Corps, Green and Yellow, agree to work together as one.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #13 by Robert Vendetti and V. Ken Marion. On Xudar, sixty years from now, Grandma Somar tells her grandchildren a tale of when Starro came and attacked their world, killing her parents. Luckily, the Green Lanterns came and saved the day. But they soon found themselves captured by Larfleeze and it took the help of Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner to save them. She tells of  conflicts we have yet to see involving a Sinestro Corps led by a Xudarian and the reappearance of Evil Star. In the end,  Somar and Zumol relive their glory days as Green Lanterns.

HARLEY QUINN #11 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner and John Timms. The Joker meets Harley in her apartment, but agrees to leave and meet her at the New York Aquarium the following day. On his way out, he bumps into a jealous Red Tool, who visits Harley before they decide to go and break into the chained door in the wax museum’s basement. Once inside, a giant, pink-tentacled monster attacks them but they blow it up with a hefty bunch of hand grenades. She heads up to bed, but Red Tool changes the time on her alarm clock so that she misses her meeting with Mr. J., which Red Tool goes to instead.
 
HARLEY QUINN #12 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, John Timms and Chad Hardin. We begin with the Mayor’s new assistant greeting a freight container of vampires she has had imported into the city. Over in Coney Island, Harley is still asleep while Red Tool meets with and fights with The Joker. Harley wakes and realizes she is late, so she heads to the Aquarium and sees the fight.. She begs Red Tool off of a severely beaten Joker and they take him back to her place, where he swears he is a changed man. She responds by having him moved out into the middle of Brooklyn traffic with a sign that says “Brooklyn sucks!” hung on him. But the worst is yet to come…next issue.

THE HELLBLAZER #6 by Simon Oliver and Pia Guerra. Mercury is being chased around by a multi-eyed monster, when she wakes up to find she is on a train with Constantine. She reveals that this was not a dream, but her memory of being in The Rot. While there, she met the good Djinn and managed to get him out of The Rot, despite telling Constantine otherwise. Over at the Tate Club, Clarice is hosting a party thrown by the bad Djinn who tells the party goers that he will lead them back to paradise.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #12 by Tim Seeley and Christian Duce. Set before the first issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. THE SUICIDE SQUAD, Amanda Waller has Maxwell Lord in chains at a Task Force X Black Site after he struck her at the end of a mission. We find out that Maxwell’s father committed suicide when he was young and that his mother was all about power and money. We also sees how he used his power of suggestion to help him climb the ladder of power at Checkmate. After showing us his run-in with the Justice League during the Apokolips invasion, he uses his powers to get Waller to tell him about The Catacombs prison. He uses his talent to escape his prison. He heads to his parents’s grave as he looks at the list of the prisoners he is planning on springing from The Catacombs.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #13 by Tim Seeley and Scot Eaton. Taking place after JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. THE SUICIDE SQUAD #5, Master Chief Steve Trevor is set to go home to his sister, niece and nephew when Superman crashes into the White House and his plans get changed. Maxwell Lord is changing everyone into Eclipsos and they are all after Steve, including Wonder Woman. He eventually gets home to find that his family has changed…and then he does too.

JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. THE SUICIDE SQUAD #3 by Joshua Williamson and Jesus Merino. Batman is being held in restraints at Belle Reve, but it doesn’t take him long to break free and meet up with Waller. While this is going on, the Suicide Squad shows up to see the Justice League as captives. Eventually, the League is released. While Waller fills everyone in on the mission at hand and the players involved, Max Lord has the escapees from The Catacombs on a South Pacific island. He fills them in on his mission: retrieve a particular weapon and kill Amanda Waller. Waller reveals that Lord’s team is really the FIRST Suicide Squad.

JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. THE SUICIDE SQUAD #4 by Joshua Williamson and Fernando Pasarin. Max and the escapees break into Belle Reve, leading to a big, issue long fight. The escapees are eventually defeated, complete with Lobo getting his head blown off by one of Waller’s brain bombs. Max makes his way to the secret vault and makes Killer Frost break into it, so he can retrieve The Heart of Darkness. It makes him into Lord Eclipso…and he manages to corrupt most of the Justice League in the process.

JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. THE SUICIDE SQUAD #5 by Joshua Williamson and Robson Rocha. Maxwell Lord is sitting in the White house with his personal bodyguard, Superman. In thirteen minutes time, he has had his Justice League make the entire world safe. He orders Superman to go get Waller so he can show off, but she is stuck in what’s left of Belle Reve with Batman, Deadshot, and a headless Lobo. Superman arrives and takes her away even as Lobo, with his head grown again, joins with Batman. Flag and Katana soon appear, revealing that Polaris and Rustam escaped. Cyborg is possessed, but is fighting to keep his humanity and reveals vital information about Max.. Batman enlists Deadshot, Harley, Killer Frost, Croc, Boomerang and Lobo and welcomes them to the Justice League. Waller is brought to Maxwell, who reveals the chaos that is Washington to her. Batman’s “League” arrives and does battle with the Justice League as Maxwell is transformed into Eclipso.

JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. THE SUICIDE SQUAD #6 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. As the battle rages, Eclipso turns Batman’s “League” into his Eclipsos, leaving only Batman, Lobo and Killer Frost to fight them all. Killer Frost creates an ice prism which, when Superman's heat vision hits it, becomes like sunlight and reverses the Eclipso effect. The restored teams come together to allow her to take some of their life energy to defeat Eclipso and restore Lord. In the end, Batman demands that Waller let Killer Frost go with him. Then he also recruits Lobo for his new Justice League of America. Maxwell Lord is locked up and Waller tells him she has a place for him in Task Force XI.