Broken Frontier

Last week was a HUGE week of DC releases so let's jump straight into rounding up all the DCU releases. But first please don't forget our Spoiler Warning: Read no further if you’ve not had your DC fix this week and don’t want to read about key story elements.

Worlds Will Live... Worlds Will Die...

It goes without saying that the meat and potatoes release this week is Final Crisis #5. As the series progresses more of the elements of Countdown resurface; albeit it in a somewhat disconnected fashion. A more Kirbyesque OMAC army in the form of the BIOMACS is under Amanda Waller’s control, for example, while Mary Marvel’s corruption is a major plot point, even if it’s really down to Desaad possessing her. With Darkseid in control of the Earth and its population, the imprisoned former Monitor Nix Uotan is aided by his fellow captives (is that Metron and Anthro in the cell with him?) in assuming a new role in the coming conflict. The Fifth World, it would appear, begins here...

Those wanting a more light-hearted spin on recent DC mega-epic storylines should check out Ambush Bug: Year None #5. Join the Bug on his package tour around the worlds of the Multiverse and meet the greatest threat the DCU has ever faced – the insatiable cosmic powermonger known only as… Dan Didio!

There’s something very interesting going on in theological terms in the DCU at the moment. Not so long back in Rann-Thanagar Holy War #6 gave us a science fiction-oriented version of the creation and Lucifer’s fall from grace. In Reign in Hell we are being provided each month with insights into Hell’s politics and hierarchy. And, of course, Final Crisis: Revelations (#4 out now) has the original Cain returning to carry out the Crime Bible’s prophecy that he will wreak vengeance on God’s creation via the Anti-Life Equation. The reason the Spectre is powerless to intervene, as we have seen in his confrontation with Libra earlier in the series and now with Cain, is that this Crisis is a battle for humanity’s freedom. As such, mankind’s fate is in its own hands. Note also Darkseid’s proclamation that he is the New God in Final Crisis #5. Are all these plot threads linked?Only time will tell…

There’s a Sightings banner on Justice League of America #27 this week. This signifies another appearance by characters from the much-missed 1990s Milestone line as they continue to be integrated into the DCU. Last week we saw Static in Terror Titans #3. This week it’s the turn of the Shadow Cabinet who want possession of the candle that the Spectre turned Dr. Light into when he killed him in Final Crisis: Revelations #1.

We have more retreading of Identity Crisis in Booster Gold #15 when Booster’s attempts to repair another chronal anomaly lead to a team-up with the Elongated Man and touch on our hero’s guilt that he cannot forewarn Ralph of Sue’s murder. Elsewhere the friends and family of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman seek to put the timeline right in Trinity #28 and find themselves in a reality where the iconic nature of their lost mentors is revealed in all its splendor.

Batman Family

We know, from the pages of Final Crisis #5, that Simyan and Mokkari will fail in their attempt to use Bruce Wayne as a template for a clone army even before we get to see that happen in the upcoming Batman #683. But what of the rest of the Dark Knight’s supporting players in his absence…?

Nightwing #151 is a Last Rites tie-in issue that acts as a postscript to Peter Tomasi’s recent Two-Face arc. Apart from the revelation that Carol Bermingham survived the events of the last few issues after all, there are a couple of other key points in these pages. Firstly, an imprisoned Two-Face’s threats that he has big plans for Nightwing must surely be more than just ranting super-villain dialogue. Secondly, and I’ve mentioned this before in ATDCU, the removal of the corpses of fallen super-heroes from the Valhalla Cemetery to stop their remains being used as criminal power sources could be a significant detail. With all those dead bodies now being placed in the JLA’s headquarters, and the Green Lantern mega-storyline In Blackest Night… next year rumored to see an army of the dead rising from the grave, do the words "ticking" and "timebomb" seem appropriate to you?

Harvey Dent’s imprisonment in New York is very temporary indeed as he’s active again in Gotham in Detective Comics #851 and on the trail of a Two-Face impostor. Could his revenge on Nightwing be sooner than we had imagined? Those with very short attention spans, who are already bored of Batman books without Batman, can take comfort that the early days of the Dark Knight’s relationship with the Joker are explored further in Batman Confidential #24.

Doorway to Nightmare

In another mystical-based storyline in Superman/Batman #54 the World’s Finest team are still coming to terms with their powers being magically switched by Silver Banshee. While Clark struggles to deal with his newfound humanity, Bruce wastes no time in using his new super-powers to wage a one-man war on Gotham’s criminal element. I suspect all may not be as it seems, however, even taking into account this book’s less-formal approach to strict continuity. For example, Bane is depicted as manufacturing and distributing the drug Venom, which Secret Six readers know he has totally renounced. Given that a super-powered Batman also sticks his fist through Bane and kills (?) him, and that Clark Kent takes an apparently fatal shot to the stomach in a street mugging, I would speculate that this could all be some kind of illusion.

He had been seldom mentioned for years but the DCU’s current Satan stand-in Neron is moving front and center with pivotal roles in books like Reign in Hell. His presence is felt in this week’s Secret Six #4 as the monstrous crimelord Junior continues his relentless pursuit of the Six who have possession of Neron’s supernatural "Get Out of Hell Free" card. Events here must occur before the Terror Titans miniseries as the recently-deceased Bolt, who died again in #3 of that book, is alive and well and part of Junior’s super-villain army.

Fans of the Gothic mystery of Simon Dark will be pleased to know that more hints are given as to the character’s supernatural origins in Simon Dark #15. And there’s a double whammy of paranormality for the World’s Finest team this week as Superman and Batman Vs. Vampires and Werewolves #5 sees the duo and Etrigan the Demon taking on the plague of Children of the Night threatening Gotham.

DC Comics Presents

Green Arrow and Black Canary #15 has a clearing of the supporting cast that we traditionally expect when a new writer comes on board. Mia and Connor strike out on their own, the events of the recent Green Arrow: Year One miniseries are touched on and Dinah appears to inadvertently cause Golden Age villain the Fiddler to permanently lose his hearing with her Canary Cry. As the Fiddler died as an early member of the Secret Six (and in a Hawkworld Annual in the early 90s!) we either have a new incarnation, some retconning going on here or I’ve completely misinterpreted the final scenes of the issue…

In Action Comics #872 the Kryptonians set themselves the task of rebuilding the cultures devastated by Brainiac. As I mentioned some time back Ultra the Multi-Alien is, indeed, one of the captives on Brainiac’s ship, as are the Creature Commandos from Weird War Tales. The latter appearance does contradict evidence elsewhere that all but one of the Commandos were dead but we will cover that when our Continuity Corner returns over Christmas… Interesting to note that we have two G.I. Robots (and between the 60s Star-Spangled War Stories and Weird War Tales appearances there were a few) currently active across the DC line. Check out The War That Time Forgot maxiseries for more pivotal G.I. Robot appearances.

Luthor’s use of Metallo and Reactron to infiltrate the Kandorians as their "prisoners" leads to tragedy when Reactron, now equipped with a Gold Kryptonite heart, apparently murders Supergirl’s father Zor-El. Do I get a sense of a more solid future  Supergirl Rogues Gallery beginning to be built up here?

The big revelation of Titans #8 is that Jericho has psychic control of Nightwing. Readers of DC Universe: Decisions will remember Jericho’s murderous rampages during the Presidential elections. Next issue promises to elaborate on Joey Wilson’s "story" so perhaps it’s there that the Titans/DC Universe: Decisions timelines and Jericho’s unsettling turn to the dark side will be clarified in full. There must be more to it than being corrupted by his body hopping powers surely?

Join us next time around for a festive look at the worlds of the DCU. See you next week and thanks for reading.