So, What comics did you buy this week?

[Tom Foolery]

Here’s another batch of assorted back issues. The last time I caught up on Flash and Future State:Gotham was in Feb/March of 2025.

Dark Knights of Steel:Allwinter 6. Finished the mini. Slade escorts Alec back to the winter palace to confront Victor. While Slade teams up with Sir Bruce, Alex uses his powers to restore color to the kingdom and thaw everything. Slade actually gets a happy ending and reunites with his wife and his three children. I think I enjoyed this mini even more than the original DKoS series.

DCU Lazarus Planet Revenge of the Gods 3. I had already read the variant issue. This is the main cover. Story was still weaksauce.

DC vs Vampires All Out War 4. I’m honestly not even sure which ones were vampires and which ones weren’t. Confusing.

Unstoppable Doom Patrol 3. Had already read the variant cover issue. This was the main cover.

Flash 773. Flash vs Heatwave. Had already read it, but this was an alternative cover.

777, 779. Flash ends up on Gemworld with the Justice League Dark fighting Eclipso. His kids sneak out and get teleported to Gemworld to help out their dad. Linda finds out she has super speed powers.

780. Crossover event called War for Earth-3. Johnny Quick steals the cosmic treadmill for Amanda Waller.

781-782. Wally teams up with Kid Flash and they break into Iron Heights prison because the warden is up to some shady shit.

785. Dark Crisis tie in. Barry was one of the Justice Leaguers who “died” but he’s been trapped on a pocket universe world. After Wally and Linda rescue him, they realize the rest of the League is probably also alive.

Future State:Gotham 1-5, 9, 12, 14-17. Filled in the gaps of this Black and white series. Alternate future tale where Jace is Batman in a Magistrate controlled Gotham city. By the end of the series, there are FIVE Batmen running around vying for the title. I’m still missing the final 18th issue.

Green Arrow 3. Ollie and Lian Harper arrive in the 31st century where Connor Hawke and the Legion of Super Heroes welcome them. In the present, Roy and Dinah are interrogating Count Vertigo on what Amanda Waller is planning.

Green Arrow 29. Ollie is solving a mystery about a new villain called Crimson who turns out to be a former mercenary that Ollie trained how to use bow and arrows.

Up next, another batch of back issues to read. Could be anything.

[Tom Foolery]

The back issue palooza continues.

Guardians of the Galaxy 18. Final issue of the 2020 run. My other copy was damaged, so I found a replacement.

Harley Screws up the DCU 4. Harley time travels back to Themyscira and accidentally steps on Hippolyta’s clay baby before she makes it come alive. Then she hooks up with a randy fisherman, and he’s not out on the high seas to save an Atlantean Princess and his future baby mama, so Aquaman is never conceived. Then Harley’s future self recruits her to go back and un-screw these problems. This was a 6 issue series. I’m still missing the final two issues. Not a priority.

Justice League 64. From Bendis’ run. It was the final variant cover I was missing for a full run. Naomi’s parents visit the Hall of Justice. And some alien dude escapes space prison and heads to Earth to find Superman.

One Star Squadron 1-3. Mark Russel’s satirical take on C-List heroes trying to scrape by by doing birthday party appearances and humiliating security jobs. I was harsh on Russel when I read the last three issues back in October, but there were some pretty funny bits in here.

Outsiders 7, 8. The story of how Jakita Wagner survived the demise of the Planetary Universe because the “story” was finished so everybody ceased to exist. Issue 8 was about Jinny Hex finding a cursed six shooter in her Greatx7 Granddad Jonah Hex’s footlocker. I read these out of order and wasn’t hooked by the first issue. But I think if I sat down and read the entire 11 issue run in order it’d be pretty good.

Rook Exodus 3. An Image book by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. Not interesting enough to keep up with, but I’ll buy back issues if I see them cheap. After three years they’re only on issue 10.

Robin 4. Damian gets trained by his grandfather R’As before the beginning of the Lazarus tournament.

5. The other four previous Robins come to bring Damian back home. But after a rooftop chase and some bonding, they decide to let him ‘escape’ and return to the tournament. I read this entire series completely out of order.

Robins 3. Variant cover of a book I already read. Apparently there was a female Robin before Dick and she’s back for revenge.

Sentinels 1-5. I dropped this series when it came out, but found the entire thing for less than the cost of one issue. At that price, it wasn’t a bad read. The Greymalkin Prison has turned wounded war vets into sentient Sentinel hybrids. But they discover the donor behind the nanotechnology is the kid from the early 2000s Sentinel miniseries(that died in Avengers Arena) being exploited and some of the team attempts to rescue him.

Up next, more back issues. Since I’m on a tear.

[Tom Foolery]

Another pile of back issues, mostly Superman stuff.

Spider-Gwen: GwenVerse 4. The Greg Land variant.

Star Wars Bounty Hunters 13, 14. War of the Bounty Hunters tie ins. Valance and Dengar are looking for frozen Han Solo that was recently stolen from Boba Fett.

Steelworks 1. First issue of a mini written by Michael Dorn aka Worf from Star Trek and also Steel’s voice actor.

Suicide Squad 13. Part of the War for Earth-3 crossover between the Squad, Flash, and Titans Academy.

Supergirl:Woman of Tomorrow 3, 4. Couple issues from the series the movie is based on. Written by Tom King, who rarely disappoints.

Action 1027. Near the end of Bendis’ run on both Action and Superman. Romita Jr’s art is ABYSMAL.

1029. After Bendis finished his run, Phillip Kennedy Johnson came on for a crossover team up where Clark and Jon fight some interdimensional aliens coming thru a breach STAR labs accidentally opened.

1033. The lead up to the WarWorld saga. Tensions between the US and Atlantis are high because an energy source used by fleeing WarWorld refugees landed in the ocean and Atlantis won’t just hand it over to the US govt.

1037, 1038, 1044, 1045. Part of the WarWorld saga where Superman recruited the Authority and a bunch of other heroes to go liberate WarWorld from Mongul. Because it’s powered by Red Sun generators in its core, Superman loses his powers and is forced into gladiatorial combat, but still manages to rally the slaves into revolting. This story arc lasted for over a year and finished up in a oneshot further down the list.

1055. Cyborg Superman is back and he’s holding Metallo’s sister hostage. Metallo teams up with Superman and the other Supes family to rescue her, but Henshaw has turned her into another Metallo.

1061. First part of an arc by Jason Aaron where Bizarro turns all of Metropolis into Bizarros and eventually Superman has to team up with Joker(who is now the only sane person left) to return the world to normal.

Superman 32. Variant cover of the final issue of Bendis’ run of Superman. But Bendis had left the book a couple issues prior, so this was part of that PK Johnson story arc.

Superman Son of Kal-El 1, 2, 9, 11, 15. While Kal was off planet for the WarWorld saga in Action comics, his son Jon stepped up and was Superman on Earth. Tom Taylor wrote this ongoing that had Jon taking on the evil president of a small techno-powered nation and also finding a boyfriend. It was a pretty good series. The more stuff I read of Taylor’s the more I look forward to. His Nightwing run was excellent and he’s currently writing Detective Comics.

Adventures of Superman:Jon Kent 2, 3. Tracking down a multiversal serial killer killing off Clark Kent variants, Jon faces off against Ultraman, his abuser that kept him trapped in a volcano for years. Then Injustice Superman shows up and kills Ultraman and takes Jon to the Injustice universe.

Superman and Robin oneshot. Jon and Damian team up fight aliens breaking in to the Fortress of Solitude. This was written by the SuperSons writer, but it was after Jon had been aged up and both Jon and Damian had their own ongoing series starting up at the time.

Superman: WarWorld Apocalypse oneshot. The finale of the WarWorld saga. Superman gets his powers back, rallies his allies, and defeats Mongul.

Superman 6, 7, 9, 13-16. Finished filling the gaps from the current Superman run by Josh Williamson(currently on issue 39.) Issue 7 was a giant sized Legacy 850th issue. 13 thru 15 were part of the House of Brainiac crossover, and 16 was an Absolute Power tie in.

Up next, more of the random back issues but also this week’s books.

[Tom Foolery]

7/8’s books.

Absolute Batman 22. The secret origin of Batman’s ally Harley Quinn. Turns out her mother is Dr. Arkham, the scientist behind all the experiments at the Ark-M facility. And her dad is Jack Grim aka the Joker.

Absolute Catwoman 2. While trying to find out who abducted her old heist mate Holly, Selina runs into their other two former heistmates, Victoria Sage and Helena Bertinelli. The three of them have to escape a fancy auction house built on a glacier after they are attacked by the assassin Cassandra Cain.

Barbara Gordon: Breakout 3. Barbara is still in prison. She has a flashback to a time when she and the other Bat-lings got trapped in a house by the Joker.

Betty & Veronica Swimsuit Special 2026. Exactly what it sounds like.

Black Cat 12. Felicia accidentally ran over the Punisher’s dog last issue. Now they are beefing. Until a giant undersea leviathan shows up and they need to team up to fight it.

Clayface:Celebrity Dirt 1. Clayface breaks out of prison, but he’s not sure if he’s Basil Karlo or Todd Russell. This miniseries is because there’s a movie coming out later this year. Also, there’s been like EIGHT Clayfaces at this point, and keeping their convoluted history straight after umpteen DC continuity reboots and retcons is a hassle.

Daredevil 4. DD is about to get whacked by the Omen, until Leland Owlsley of all people saves him. Some nefarious techbro is stealing students data at the University. And two cops are investigating Omen’s serial killings and he shows up a kills one of them and steals his eyeballs. Gross.

Fantastic 4 First Foes:Shalla Bal oneshot. Set in the new film’s universe. The Silver Surfer brings peace to a world by disarming all of its rival nations militaries. Then she announces to them that Galactus will be by soon to eat them.

Firestorm 4. Professor Martin continues to explain to Firehawk the retconned origin of Firestorm and herself. Then they completely lost me when they casually strapped a five-ton device that can stop Firestorm to the top of their car to drive it to Pittsburg. Sorry, Jeff Lemire, a car cannot support the weight of FIVE TONS. Do you even drive, bro?

GIJoe:ARAH 330. Sean, Dawn, and Snake-Eyes have triggered their subliminal commands from Dr Venom’s old brainwave device. Lara Croft, the Tomb Raider unexpectedly shows up on the last page because there’s some crossover book coming out this fall.

Jeff the LandShark:Superstar 1. Mojo has created a new super team for his new television series. But his “Jeff” is just a guy in a costume, so he needs to kidnap the real one to anchor his Jeff Coast Avengers.

MASK 2. A black hole opens up in North Atlantic Ocean because of some alien tech. Trakker sends two MASK agents; Sato and Baker to turn off the tech before it destroys the world. They do. And then Miles Mayhem shows up in his flying heli/jet and blows them up! I only vaguely remember some of the toys from the 80s, but I know zero about any of the characters. I never watched the cartoon. So all of this lore is brand new to me.

Sorcerer Supreme 8. The Extinction King has sent his next destructive weapon to destroy Earth. It’s a gigantic cannon on the astral plane. Wanda can’t figure out how to stop it, so she casts a spell to make it sentient, and then politely asks it not to fire. After saving the planet, she and the Sorcerer Supreme of the Quantumverse get teleported to a giant evil sentient sun, the next weapon of the Extinction King.

Sonic the Hedgehog 35th Anniversary oneshot.
Star Wars Shadow of Maul 5. The prequel series concludes. Lawson is tracking a corrupt Internal Affairs officer who has been dogging him. The corrupt cop has a meeting with alien arms dealers who get into a fight with Maul’s criminal organization. The corrupt cop gets shivved by Maul’s lightsaber and dies in Lawson’s arms.

It’s Symbie oneshot. Much like Jeff and Alligator Loki, there’s an adorable little symbiote running around the 616. This issue collects his first six digital first shorts, as well as parts of his first appearances in the main ASM ongoing.

Transformers 34. General Flagg asks Optimus to accompany him while he recruits a new commander for ShadowWatch since Miles Mayhem fucked off to become a villain. Haha, ohmigod it’s Dr. Arkeville! Also, Cliffjumper and ShredHead face off against the Combaticons. They combine into Bruticus and beat ShredHead to death. One can only hope that sticks. Please please please let it stick.

Wolverine 23. In this week’s stupid fucking Wolverine book, Dept H scientists are using MINIATURE TELEPORTERS to steal Logan’s healing factor and beam it into Taskmaster. I swear to god that while Dr. Cecilia Reyes was explaining this to Logan while they were looking at a tech readout. If this had been a movie, I would’ve stood up and walked out. Logan heads to Seattle to confront the scientist that stole his healing factor, and threatening the guy triggers him turning into an armored blue hulk creature.

Uncanny X-Men 31. Aliens are attacking the high school dance where the X-Men are chaperones. They think the aliens are coming for the mutant kids, but Mutina translates their language, and it turns out there’s a giant Brood nest under the school. Meanwhile, Monet and the others at the former Graymalkin Prison discover the true purpose of the prison was to turn the prisoners into the next army of Weapon Xs.

Up next, another big pile of random back issues.

[anarky]

Hama, given completely free rein, set up a crossover?

I did not see that coming.