PREVIEWS FEB15 - DC Convergence special

by Ben Fardon

By now many of you are used to the usual shenanigans that DC produce in September ever since the New 52 launched. Well, we've got an extra publishing stunt from them this year - as they cover their relocation from New York to LA - with the nine-week Convergence event that has been described by some at DC as a chance to have their cake and eat it.

I'm honestly not sure what to make of this. Basically it appears that not one, but two Braniacs have managed to squeeze the secrets of time travel and alternate dimensions out of - again - not one, but two Booster Golds. This leads to Convergence were said Braniacs are pitting pre-New 52 versions of characters against their New 52 versions, and indeed Flashpoint incarnations of heroes and villains too.

---

Written by relative newcomer Jeff King with assistance from Scott Lobdell and Dan Jurgens, the main nine-part Convergence miniseries is a weekly title starting on April 1st (I know, right?). Here's the pitch straight from DC:

Where do worlds go when they die? The Earthquakes felt round the Multiverse, Superman's lost days after 'Doomed,' the World's End - all these points will converge as the history of the DCU is spun from a new perspective, the perspective of a mad god and his arrogant child. The biggest story in DC history ties into literally every DC story ever told - and it all begins here. Kingdom Come, Red Son, Wild West Justice League, Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew - all the worlds you remember can still be found on Telos. Everything matters. Every story matters. Don't miss the start of DC's April/May 2015 event with this special issue! 

After that, there will be eight further issues for Convergence. In addition to that there will be twenty other titles, all running for just two issues, featuring an array of characters from the New-52, the previous incarnation of the DCU as well as Zero Hour, Crisis On Infinite Earths and Flashpoint.

These titles are as follows: Atom, Batgirl, Batman & Robin, Harley Quinn, Justice League, Nightwing Oracle, Question, Speed Force, Superman, Titans, Aquaman, Batman Shadow Of The Bat, Catwoman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern Parallax, Justice League International, Suicide Squad, Superboy, Supergirl Matrix, Superman Man Of Steel, Adventures Of Superman, Batman & The Outsiders, Flash, Green Lantern Corps, Hawkman, Justice League America, New Teen Titans, Superboy & The Legion, Swamp Thing, Wonder Woman, Action Comics, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Crime Syndicate, Detective Comics, Infinity Inc, Justice Society Of America, Plastic Man Freedom Fighters, Shazam and Worlds Finest Comics.

Full details on these issues can be found on DC's website here: http://www.dccomics.com/tags/convergence.

Despite serious concerns about the overall title, I do think some of the individual titles tickle my interest as a fan of the DCU prior to the New 52. My personal selections would be the Batgirl issues featuring Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain; the return of the Gotham City Sirens in the Harley Quinn issues; the Nightwing/Oracle issues because they're written by Gail Simone and Gail + Babs = win; the return of Renee Montoya as The Question in - appropriately enough - The Question; the grudge match between Batman and Azrael that we'll find in Batman: Shadow Of The Bat; and the fate of the Booster Golds at the heart of it all in their titular issues. 

We're offering a special offer on a complete set of all 49 comics in the Convergence for £140 saving you over £20. A deposit of £40 will be required by 2pm on Monday 2nd March to confirm your order if you take up that special offer. This can be paid in store or via PayPal.

(With regret the offer above has been withdrawn, due to a miscalculation in the number of Convergence issues (89 comics, not the previously stated 49). We will honour this offer for any customer who has paid in full before the release of Convergence #0 and contact all other customers to advise them of any replacements offers and refund deposits where already paid. We apologise for the inconvenience.)

Reservation Service customers are asked to complete our SurveyMonkey order form for the Convergence event before midday on Sunday 1st March. You can do this in the embed below, or follow this link if that's easier: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7X7XKVX. Alternatively, please pop in store and we can help you place your order.

Our orders for comics for the shelves on Convergence are going to be pretty low based on the reaction to previous DC New 52 stunts, so please do use this order form to guarantee your Convergence comics.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Convergence starts on Wednesday 1st April.

---

I'll be back later in the month with a look at the rest of the highlights from Previews. Please email any questions to shop@proudlion.co.uk.

Ben Fardon is looking forward to giving the XCOM Board Game a go.

PREVIEWS JAN15 - selected highlights (Last chance!)

by Ben Fardon

In what we're hoping to make a regular feature - time permitting! - I'm going to quickly run through some of the selected highlights from January's Previews that are available to pre-order from Proud Lion.

I'll try to do this earlier in the month in February and from then on, giving you longer to place your orders. For now, I need any orders back by 11:59pm on Tuesday 27th January to definitely guarantee said items if you want anything.

Please email all orders to shop@proudlion.co.uk. Please note that all release dates below are subject to change.

---

Frankenstein Underground #1 (of 5) is a five issue miniseries written by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola with art from Ben Stenbeck (Baltimore, Witchfinder, Living With The Dead): The Frankenstein creature is alone, abandoned, and wandering underground, where he will discover other strange creatures-and dark secrets to the universe!

In an interview previously posted on Dark Horse's web site, Mignola commented "It’s intimidating as hell to take on an icon like the Frankenstein monster,” said Mignola. “I’m trying to do something that’s true to the origin Mary Shelley created for the creature but also captures a bit of the feel that Boris Karloff brought to the role in the classic Universal films. At the same time I’m throwing the monster into an entirely new environment, so I think the result will be something new. It’s an odd one, but ultimately will add an important new wrinkle to the Hellboy/B.P.R.D. world.”

Scott Allie, Dark Horse Comics’ editor in chief, weighed in on the project by offering that “this version of the Frankenstein monster has the same thirst for knowledge readers will remember from Mary Shelley’s novel. The monster takes the reader through some of the biggest mysteries of the Mignolaverse, shedding new light on important stuff we’ve only touched on before.”

Frankenstein Underground #1 comes out on Wednesday 25th March.

---

Batman Endgame #40 also comes out on Wednesday 25th March and during that last month of the story there are four additional tie-in one shots:

• Arkham Manor Endgame #1 (One-Shot)
• Batgirl Endgame #1 (One-Shot)
• Detective Comics Endgame #1 (One-Shot)
• Gotham Academy Endgame #1 (One-Shot)

These books are $2.99 each and will automatically go aside for anyone who has the parent-title on their Reservation Service pull list (i.e. if you get Batgirl monthly you'll get the Batgirl Endgame #1 one-shot too) unless you opt out by Tuesday 27th January.

If you would like any or all of these added to your order, please email me ASAP.

The Endgame one-shots are due out throughout March.

---

Speaking of Batman, the eagerly anticipated next-gen video game Batman Arkham Knight is currently scheduled for release in June and DC have an official prequel comic starting in March.

Batman Arkham Knight #1 will fill the gaps in between Arkham City and the next chapter of the successful video game franchise: The Joker is dead. Arkham City is closed. As a new day begins, Bruce Wayne finds himself in devastating pain, recovering from his injuries and questioning whether his role as Batman is still necessary to the city's survival. But as the sun rises in Gotham City, dangerous new threats emerge from the shadows.

Batman Arkham Knight #1 comes out on Wednesday 11th March.

---

Image Comics go from strength to strength with their incredible offerings of late and this month is no exception.

Chrononauts #1 is from Mark Millar (Secret Service: Kingsman) and Sean Murphy (The Wake) and will almost certainly be turned into a movie in the future. Which is ironic considering it concerns time travel: A bromance for the ages! Corbin Quinn and Danny Reilly are two buddies who love to have fun. They're also scientific geniuses. When their research leads them to a time-traveling adventure, will they use their knowledge for the good of all mankind? Or use the space-time continuum for their own ends? This is the story of man's first, televised steps through the time-stream and everything going wrong in the process.

Chrononauts #1 comes out on Wednesday 18th March.

Fans of Trillium and Sweet Tooth will want to check out Jeff Lemire's new title Descender #1 with art from Dustin Nuygen (Lil Gotham): One young robot's struggle to stay alive in a universe where all androids have been outlawed and bounty hunters lurk on every planet. A rip-roaring and heart-felt cosmic odyssey that pits humanity against machine, and world against world, to create a sprawling space opera. Extra-sized first issue. 30 story pages for only $2.99!

Descender #1 comes out on Wednesday 4th March.

There's definitely a science fiction theme to this month's new Image titles which suits me just fine! Next up is Invisible Republic #1: Breaking Bad meets Blade Runner. Arthur McBride's planetary regime has fallen. His story is over. That is until reporter Croger Babb discovers the journal of Arthur's cousin, Maia. Inside is the violent, audacious hidden history of the legendary freedom fighter. Erased from the official record, Maia alone knows how dangerous her cousin really is...

Invisible Republic #1 comes out on Wednesday 18th March.

Not to be out done, Becky Cloonan and Andy Belanger are also producing a new science fiction series called Southern Cross that has been eagerly anticipated since it's announcement at the Image Expo last year: NOW BOARDING: Southern Cross, tanker flight 73 to TITAN! Alex Braith is on board retracing her sister's steps to the refinery moon, hoping to collect her remains and find some answers. The questions keep coming though-how did her sister die? Where did her cabin mate disappear to? Who is that creep across the hall? And why does she always feel like she's being watched? Inspired by classic mysteries and weird fiction, SOUTHERN CROSS is a crucible of creeping anxiety and fear as Braith struggles with the ghosts of her past on board a ship that holds secrets best kept buried.

Southern Cross #1 comes out on Wednesday 11th March.

As a big fan of Terry and Rachel Dodson's work together, I have to say that Red One #1 has really piqued my interest: What happens when America's greatest hero...is a Russian Spy? Soviet Agent Vera Yelnikov is sent to 1977 Los Angeles by the Kremlin to become an American Superhero and spread communist values in the land of Uncle Sam in a funky superhero romp straight out of a Tarantino film by TERRY & RACHEL DODSON (Uncanny X-Men, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Harley Quinn) and XAVIER DORISON (Long John Silver, The Third Testament).

Red One #1 comes out on Wednesday 18th March.

And finally, those chaps from the Thrilling Adventure Hour are serving up a new comic Beyond Belief #1: It's time to send the little ones to dream land, and set your radio's dial to 'SPOOKY.' Steel yourself for mysterious suspense in...BEYOND BELIEF! Meet Frank and Sadie Doyle, toast of the upper crust! Headliners on the society pages. And oh yes...THEY SEE GHOSTS! Who cares what evil lurks in the hearts of men... unless evil's carrying the martini tray! Based on the hit Nerdist podcast! 

Beyond Belief #1 comes out on Wednesday 18th March.

---

Never one to rest on his laurels, Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan) is back with an interesting new miniseries called Blackcross from Dynamite Entertainment that sounds like it as potential to be one of the creepier reads of the coming year: All small towns have secrets. All small towns have ghosts. Blackcross, in the Pacific North West of America, has more secrets than most. And it is being haunted by something impossible. BLACKCROSS, a supernatural extension of the PROJECT SUPERPOWERS mythos, is a ghost story about something reaching out from the other side of the night, through the forest and mist of this remote town, to grasp at the hearts of a handful of people who may not find out that they're the targets of a strange killer until it's much, much too late.

Blackcross #1 comes out on Wednesday 4th March.

---

And that's your lot for this month. Next month will include the chaos that is DC's latest nonsense, Convergence.

Please send any orders back by 11:59pm on Tuesday 27th January to shop@proudlion.co.uk. Many thanks!

Ben Fardon welcomes any feedback on these new Previews highlights articles.

New Beginnings - Multiversity #1

by Jon Lock

Somewhere in a mundane world a boy dissects a comic book – literally – with scalpel and forceps. This “supposedly haunted” comic is the story of a boy dissecting a comic book; only it’s also the tale of Nix Uotan the Superjudge, last of the godlike Monitors, who descends into a work of fiction to investigate a caustic blight on the face of creation and becomes trapped at the hands of the demonic Gentry. With all of existence in peril it’s up to a crack team of superheroes from across the multiverse to rescue Uotan – not to mention his partner Stubbs, the talking pirate monkey – and prevent the destruction of the universal orrery.

Confused? Welcome to the marvellous mind of Grant Morrison. It’s his world, we just live in it.

To those familiar with Morrison’s work, it should come as no surprise that the Multiversity is Meta is a capital ‘M’. More than just a love letter to the endless possibilities of a super-heroic multiverse, this is a story about comics themselves and the language of sequential storytelling. Surrounded by hellish foes, the Superjudge feels the panel borders contracting around him. Heroes from one universe discover that their lives are another world’s comics. One character directly references DC and Marvel (or “Major Comics” for legal reasons…)

On the face of it, however, the Multiversity is primarily a comic about the dark, the wonderful and the outright ridiculous. Quite how much enjoyment you get out of the book will depend on how much weirdness you’re willing to tolerate along the way.

Moving along at a fantastic pace, this first issue Multiversity introduces us to a staggering array of characters and concepts – each of which could support a series of its own, let alone a brief cameo. Amidst the breakneck chaos, there’s a lot to love. An Aboriginal yet strangely familiar thunder god brushes shoulders with a thinly veiled homage to Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon. Captain Carrot, a Bugs Bunny-esque Superman with the daunting power of cartoon physics, taps into our recent Rocket Raccoon goodwill, while Barack Ob… sorry, President Calvin Ellis, the Black Superman of Earth-23, feels like Morrison’s pitch for the best Superman comic you’ll probably never see.

The art team, as led by Ivan Reis on pencils, deliver a solid if unexceptional looking book, balancing the demands of a large and complex cast. Special mention should be given to the depiction of the Gentry, whose suitably unsettling appearance brings to mind a Hieronymus Bosch-like vision of hell. There’s also enough subtlety in the art to depict two teams of Avengers analogues (classic and modern) while still retaining a sense of uniqueness. As with any Morrison book, however, the script is the real attraction, and it’s here that the Multiversity’s strengths and weaknesses are apparent.

In a sea of mundanity, any Morrison project is a welcome breath of fresh air, and while his ambition may occasionally outstrip the success of his stories, you can’t help but be excited for a writer willing to take such risks. While at times his offbeat storytelling can feel like “weird for weirdness sake,” it’s often saved by his infectious faith in the power of superheroes and the medium of comics in general. The Multiversity is an exciting comic, but it’s also a confusing and slightly impenetrable one. It remains to be seen if readers unfamiliar with Morrison’s quirks will be willing to stick around for the inevitable resolution. A collected edition, where a spider web of plot threads can be contained neatly, might be easier on the brain.

With DC glossing over its past in the form of the New 52, it’s indicative of Morrison’s star power that he’s been given full access to the dustier corners of the archives. This begs the question, however, as to who exactly the Multiversity is aimed at. Classic DC fans, alienated by recent editorial decisions, may be unwilling to risk being bitten again. A modern generation of readers, raised on the New 52, might be baffled by the unfamiliar faces and references to retconned events such as Final Crisis. Mad, challenging, bizarre and steeped in its creator’s personal logic and mythology, ultimately the Multiversity is a book for fans of Grant Morrison. 

Read into that what you will.

Jon Lock is the writer and creator of Afterlife Inc. 

New Beginnings - Batman #34

by Matt Puddy

OK, I know, I know, Batman isn’t exactly a new character seeing as he has just celebrated his 75th birthday. It’s not a new writer seeing as it is still Scott Snyder driving this issue forward (with Gerry Duggan) and there are no new twists, villains or characters entering the fray. So why this issue?

Well to be honest this is a new beginning. Zero Year has (finally) finished and now Batman is back in present day Gotham, returning to the New 52 status quo. This is also bringing the main Batman book in line with the current weekly title, Batman Eternal. However, instead of jumping straight into a new arc. this issue is more stand alone, giving the reader a reprieve from the pace of recent issues and relentless schedules.

Issue #34 is a small story simply called The Meek. Rather than focussing on the big villains that Gotham and Arkham hold, Snyder and Duggan take notice of the little folk and the ones that hunt them. Even with all the hustle and bustle of the city life, Batman still manages to notice that a number of lost and homeless people are going missing. All of them patients of the same Doctor Thompkins. So, doing as Bruce always does, he has the urge to step in and protect the residents no matter who they are. What he finds though is a quiet killer, one who wants to murder and then disappear into obscurity again. A nameless face from the shadows who doesn’t want to be known.

This is a completely self-contained issue that Snyder has planned, and acts as a bridge in between arcs. As I mentioned before there are no huge plot twists or major characters, but that doesn’t mean that he hasn’t put a lot into it. Developing a story from nothing and following it through in just one issue, is not an easy feat but he pulls it off. He even manages to have Batman cracking a joke with one of the men from the Asylum, as well as putting a very nice twist on a punishment for him by locking him up in the Joker’s cell where everyone will see him.

What also does is that instead of leaving with a happy ending, there is a much more sinister feel to it with the immense realisation of the depths to which this has gone, and for how long is immense. That Batman is fallible - as this could have been caught quicker - and there is no way to know how far this actually went.

Artistically, Matteo Scalera (Black Science) is the main man on this issue, with Lee Loughridge working the colours. What I’ve liked is that the art has at no time given any sort of positive vibe to the story. It feels quiet, dialled down and in some cases totally bleak, which is how it should feel. Part of this is also down to there being a very big tonal shift on different pages. These again are muted and fit the scene with the exception of the blood red washes over the last pages.

This is not an issue that will drive any of the story for Batman forward, but then again it’s not meant to be. What it is though is a great jump on point for new readers or fans who are coming back to a Batman title after a break.

A good little issue which gets you ready for the next big thing.

Matt Puddy is looking forward to the Endgame.

New Beginnings - Bodies #1

by Matt Puddy

Bodies is not the most enigmatic title I have come across in recent times yet combined with the cover imagery of a glamorous woman from the Fifties complete with blood splatters, it certainly makes it a perplexing offering.

When you add in the premise for this comic, it’ll throw you out even more. Four time periods, four detectives, four murders, identical MO, identical location – the twist? It’s the same body.

Spread over 1890, 1940, 2014 and 2050, the story follows four distinctly individual sleuths, each trying to get to the bottom of an apparently impossible body. Each has their own foibles and quirks, but all are dedicated to the cause. They all also seem to have their own trials to overcome. Whether it be religion, sexual preference, intelligence (albeit through the devolution of society) or simply sadistic tendencies, all four of our crime fighters are up against it in one way or another. 

From a reader's point of view, you get an entry level whodunit with the added advantage of seeing the body through the eyes of various people who all pick up on different things. It’s a professional job, but one with a ritualistic killing as it was marked with a sign. It also seems to appear in whichever time you see it in out of thin air regardless of who is around. So from your own perspective it creates a lot of different questions around the whole thing too.

From a writing perspective Si Spencer clearly has a wide ranging plan. From reading his piece in the back, it is clear that a lot of time has been spent engineering the whole impossible idea in reverse to make it happen. I can’t decide if it’s too convoluted to be kept under control, or if it’s just on the right side of crazy to border on genius.

Whichever way it lies, careful consideration has been made over a lot of the different elements. Instead of burdening one artist with the peculiarities of drawing in wildly different styles, no less than nine artists are all attached to this project. Four are directly linked by the artwork in each timeframe, with the others adding sections and covers alike. It’s quite a bold step but it works well as it gives a very strict differentiating factor to keep all the time lines unique - aside from the identical body that is!

The individual artist styles also compliment the timelines that they portray, including an almost soft and fluffy future where knowledge being constantly forgotten seems to be a big issue. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there was a lot more hidden in there too as a result.

Combine it all together and Vertigo have an interesting title with a delightfully abnormal approach, led by a writer who is obviously very committed and enthusiastic about the project. You can’t question Spencer’s love of what he’s doing here. I just hope he hasn’t bitten off more than he can chew.

Will the stories cross? How will this all be solved and resolved? We will be sure to find out.

Matt Puddy is fascinated by what comes next.

New Beginnings - Robin Rises Omega #1

by Matt Puddy

Being Batman's protege is not an easy task. For a start, there are at least five in the New 52 continuity, without then counting Earth 2 counterparts or other variations. Secondly there are times when the life of a Robin is specifically endangered, such as the well renowned Death in the Family story.

A prime example of this is Damian Wayne, the most recent Robin who polarised fans and last year died at the hand of Heretic (who happened to be a clone of himself).

Whilst every Robin has had their own effect on Bruce, the death of Damian hit harder than that of say Jason Todd. Bruce literally fought his way back through time to be reunited his son and become the father figure he missed in his own youth, only to have that taken away from him by Leviathan.

In the past few months the Batman & Robin title has taken a different path to explore Batman’s loss, including him lashing out at people who care about him. Working through his grief, he had almost reached a point where he'd come to terms with the death of Damian, but then Bruce’s world is thrown into turmoil once again when Ra’s Al Ghul steals the boy's body - as he feels is his right as his Grandfather. Almost managing the feat through various Lazarus Pool attempts, Bruce triumphs in liberating Robin's corpse and is leaving Nanda Parbat when things go awry again.

This is where the Robin Rises Omega one-shot opens. The departure with Damian’s body would have been fine, except for the Boomtube opening bringing a select band of residents from Apokolips. These servants of Darkseid re searching for the Chaos Shard that Ra’s Al Ghul conveniently used in the sarcophagus to support Damian’s body.

Faced with insurmountable odds on his own, a fragile partnership is formed. The combination of the League of Shadows, Batman and his combined associates are enough to hold the Apokolips forces back, culminating in Batman finding the Shard, but the fight isn’t over. Glinting visions of things he shouldn’t see leaves Batman open to a shot from Glorious Godfrey, allowing him to take the shard back.

Things could have been worse but the arrival of the newly Luthor-led Justice League appear, starting another fracas. It’s not as productive as they wanted though, as Godfrey escapes with the sarcophagus and thus the Shard, but more importantly Damian as well.

Bruce is left once again without Damian, but instead a burning passion to head to Apokolips to get him back, putting him at odds with the League.

Peter Tomasi is a writing favourite of mine, so I was looking forward to this one shot. In essence this is a very good bridging issue between arcs, designed to entice new readers into the story as it sets up the new storyline for issues of Batman & Robin to come. As always the writing was strong, although parts of the story retcon felt a little over the top (even if it is for the benefit of anyone using the issue as a jump on point as DC hope).  It does have a certain amount of possibilities that it opens as well; some will obviously be followed up in issues to come, though some that may be dead ends or red herrings.

The legendary artist Andy Kubert also returns to the Damian character on this issue, making it an all star line up on the production. There is a neat distinction between the catch up and the present story within the colouring and inking which makes for a really nice touch.

This is a cracking issue with a great amount of talent working on it. What is there not to like? For seasoned fans or new readers stepping into the breach with Batman you are spoilt for choice, but this is one that's worthy of a space on your shelf.

Matt Puddy rises every morning. Wink wink.

New Beginnings - Grayson #1

by Matt Puddy

“You think you know Nightwing... you don’t know Dick” 

A very bold statement used in the advertising for the new series starring former Robin, former Nightwing and former Forever Evil captive, Dick Grayson. Putting the risqué pun aside, will this in your face approach live up to its own hype?

Tim Seeley’s story opens like a spy film – on top of a moving train – complete with acrobatics and gunshots, whilst a black clad operative looks on. For readers of Stormwatch, you’ll immediately recognise Midnighter and wonder why he’s there too.

Grayson meanwhile works his way onto the train and it’s clear that he has a target in mind. He's also not alone. A female accomplice is also on the train helping to clear the way for him to extract Ninel Dubov, a seemingly low level trafficker. Once exfiltrated from the train though, things begin to clarify. A drugged Ninel is quite compliant with Grayson, but once Midnighter steps in and raises the stakes Dubov’s true colours show. He hides away power inside him. Not in the classical sense, but actual power and is being used as a smuggler. Once pushed though, he uses it to save Grayson before collapsing and being removed from the scene. 

Back at Spyral HQ we are finally introduced to the man behind it all, Mr Minos, whose face is obscured even to his agents by the implants that also protect their identities. An extra layer of mystery added to what transpires to be an even shadier organisation. With the equivalent of “he’s gone to a farm up north where he has plenty of space to run around,” it appears that Grayson has been diverted away from the truth - Ninel has been harvested and in reality Minos is tracking down and trying to create transparency of all the supers.

I feel a little let down by the story if honest and it came across to me as a mish-mash of older ideas and toned down individuals. Midnighter, for example, the man who can see a million moves ahead in a fight - so much so that he’s won it before it even starts - is matched by Grayson without too much trouble. There are hints of the Superhuman Registration Act ideology that Marvel hinged their Civil War arc on. It’s also sat firmly on top of a James Bond-styled story too, which felt very beneath Dick Grayson. This is a man who became Batman for a while after all.

Artistically speaking it’s not a bad looking comic. Between Janin’s artwork and Cox’s colouring you are given a bright and vibrant issue. The cover is stylish and bold – although I still prefer the look of Nightwing to the current Grayson visage – and it really creates an impact, but it’s one that the comic itself somewhat fails to live up to.

You may have gotten the slight hint that I was underwhelmed by this issue and I don’t really enjoy giving bad reviews but in this case I can’t help it. The promise of what this could of been was so much more than what was given. The cynic in me doesn’t believe that all is as it should be with Grayson working for Spyral, and there are certainly hints that he is an inside man for Batman Inc. that will hopefully lead to him breaking it apart. I’m hoping that there are significantly interesting twists to come in the next couple of issues, as otherwise this could be another New 52 casualty.

Matt Puddy is gutted that Kingsman: The Secret Service has been delayed until next year.

New Beginnings - Superman #32

by Stuart Mulrain

Okay, cards on the table time. I’m a Superman fan and have been for a very long time. The first superhero comic I bought was a UK edition Superman comic that featured the second part of John Byrne’s Man Of Steel miniseries. The first American comic that I bought - from an actual comic book store (the long-passed Hobbit Hole in Gloucester) – was Superman #82. I then spent most of my teenage years buying as many issues as I could get my hands on, from the Man Of Steel miniseries up to that issue and beyond.

At a point where most teenagers were getting into the darker comics, I was binging on Superman comics, as well as episodes of Lois & Clark on TV and obsessive listening of the Dirk Maggs BBC Radio Superman movies. At a certain point though, the Superman comics stopped being of interest to me, partly because the creative team began to change - and Mike Carlin moved on as Editor - and partly because I’d decided it was time to start looking at other types of comics and comic book heroes.

I did dip back into Superman occasionally - Jim Lee’s run on the character in the mid 2000’s in particular - but they just failed to grab me like the comics did in that first post-Infinite Crisis decade did. And then came The New 52...

There was very little about The New 52 that grabbed or excited me, but on a whim I bought the first trade paperback edition of Grant Morrison’s Action Comics run and while I quite enjoyed it, I have yet to get round to picking up the rest of the run. And that was it for me and Superman until this very issue I’m here to review.

DC are clearly excited to be putting this book out, even going so far as to give it its own title credits sequence that boldly declares that “DC Comics Proudly Presents” before listing the names of all involved in creating the book. They clearly think they have found a winning team in Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr.

It’s true that any new arc that has Geoff Johns’ name on it is something to get excited about. Following the huge success he garnered following his Green Lantern: Rebirth series in the mid 2000’s, Johns has been the go-to-guy for reinventing characters that have fallen out of vogue, making them new, exciting and relevant again. He’s essentially to DC what Martin Campbell is to James Bond.

But given Johns' pedigree for making an event title out of reintroducing/reinventing old or stale characters, it’s a shame that this first part of his Superman is something of a nothing issue, taking a very casual approach to the way it tries to set up future issues and doesn’t really concern itself with trying to hook you in for future issues.

So what about the art?

Well, I know that he has his fans out there, but I’m personally not keen on John Romita Jr’s art and there’s nothing about the cover of Superman #32 that made me feel any differently about his work and it didn’t fill me with confidence about what I could expect on the inside. It’s a pleasant surprise then that after the first few pages you are greeted with a nice splash page of Superman fighting Titano.

There just seems to be a lack of depth to some of the panels, while others look like Romita Jr. sketched them out on the bus on the way to handing them in. While his rough art style works fine in a book like Kick-Ass, it lacks the sheen and polish that Superman deserves that somebody like Dan Jurgen’s would bring to him.

It’s odd then that, despite my issues with this first instalment and its seeming lack of effort to hook me in, it has actually succeeded in making me curious enough to want to pick up the next issue and see if and how this arc is going to move forward.

Stuart Mulrain is at Proud Lion this Saturday for True Believers Day!

Rescuing Strays – Grant Morrison’s Action Comics Vol Three

by Jack Meldrum

Volume Three: At The End of Days

Okay.

I need a minute. Let me just compose myself.

Volume Three of Morrison's Action Comics run is a transcendent and almost flawless piece of comics. And I love it. It makes the previous two volumes better by virtue of their leading into it. It feels like a magic spell, some sort of occult incantation designed to transform the mind and reshape the soul.

It being Morrison, it might be just that.

End of Days opens on one of the best single issues I've ever read  - a story about a boy and his dog, and ghosts, and Halloween. It features the wickedly cool Dr. Xa-Du, a Kryptonian scientist with the ethical integrity of wet string, who makes himself real outside the Phantom Zone with pure willpower. He's another living idea, of course, just like so many of the foes we meet in Action. The story itself is a tear-jerkingly sweet little tale, a critical interlude in the mind-bending space opera we're stepping into. Xa-Du is poached by the Little Man for his Anti-Superman Army and Krypto joins the Superman cast and I cried and cried when the little dog gets carried to the sun by his loving master.

It just amps up from there. In the mind of the five-dimensional Ms. Nyxly, we see Superman save astronauts on Mars and we meet the Little Man for real, as the legitimately terrifying, 5D satanic monster Vyndyktvx. The Little Man really is the devil.

After that, it's nothing but flawless, pitch-perfect comics. Soaring, sweeping emotion. Meta-fictional madness. A tight, dense, mythical story where Superman, in the end, fights his own extradimensional doppelganger, Superdoom – himself just another tool of the cackling Vyndyktvx. We meet our Mxzptlk, a charmingly corny old bloke, and we see everything Morrison put into play in the past two volumes collide in a cross-time war against the sun-god.

Vyndyktvx is one of Morrison's finest creations, a master plotter without a conscience, hamstrung by his own addiction to complexity. He appears, in fleeting, as a heinous tentacled beast, and more often as a many-faced, multi-armed thing. He's truly incredible. Employed as the power behind every plot in the run, Vyndyktvx crosses time and space to stack the deck against his self-declared nemesis, and Morrison and his cabal of artists make him... unfathomable.

Constantly, this last volume reminds us of what Morrison has said since issue one: that Superman has power as an idea, a concept, a myth. In the end, the very end, that's all that matters – the vast, cross-time madness of Vyndyktvx's scheme, a scheme we met as far back as that first page, that we first saw in those crazy encounters with the Legion of Superheroes, collapses with nothing more than one word (not that I'm telling you what it is), because we believed in Superman. He stops doomsday, banishes the devil.

Grant Morrison is one of the best comics writers who ever lived. He's not the best, but he's my favourite, and this run manifests his everything. This is a story about stories, one where the sanctity of ideals is what wins the day. One where dimensions bend at the whims of a monster but where it's us, in ourselves, inspired by one man, who can change everything.

It's a wild, deranged, hyper-intelligent drug trip of a story, a life-changing exploration of everything Superman was and is. It dives deep into the power of the written and spoken word, the unbreakable power of the human soul, the potency of belief and faith. It's everything I ever wanted in a comic. Everything I ever wanted from Superman. And I want you all to read it. To join in, to be there at the end of days, to add your name to the moment where we banish the devil, together with a boy and his dog.

Jack Meldrum has no words. Murdlem Kcaj believes in Superman.

Rescuing Strays – Grant Morrison’s Action Comics Vol Two

by Jack Meldrum

Volume Two: Bulletproof

Having spent Volume One redefining the myth of Superman, Morrison then proceeds to reinvent the myth of Clark Kent. On top of that, he recreates a long-forgotten character and starts to stack the cards for his grand finale.

Bulletproof is probably the weaker of the three volumes. As second acts so often are, there's a bit of a sense of wheel-spinning – even when the final instalment reveals just how much this one mattered, there's still an odd, wandering feel in places. But it is still very good, especially in the places where it escapes the three-part Forgotten Superman story and focuses on what are, essentially, massive metatextual middle-fingers to DC corporate/heartwarming and ingenious dissections of what Superman is.

In the opening salvo of these surreal trips into Morrison’s meta-myth, we meet Calvin Ellis, President of America in Earth-23. This charming, charismatic man of colour (and blatant Barack Obama parallel) is also the Superman of Earth-23, and his story is a brief interlude in the narrative of these volumes as much as it is a high point in the themes. Ellis fights a paranoid, drug-addled Lex Luthor and then encounters a musical meta-machine that summons the awesome Superdoom, a monstrous Superman dreamed up in a universe where Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane created a Tulpa-device to teach children.

It is very hard to talk about Superdoom without becoming a little sketchy – Morrison's work is dense and florid – but he's a Superman perverted by malignant businessmen, a tool of a fascistic society created by the still-present, still-enigmatic Little Man and employed to hunt down dissidents. He's been modified incessantly by a committee to be as marketable and effective as possible. He's a murderous psychopath, hopping from universe to universe in these bizarre cross-dimensional cubes that, somehow, every Lex Luthor dreams up.

He's the most effective parody/satire/commentary on DC's approach to Superman in particular that it's a miracle they let the run continue.

The following series of stories involves a three-part story with three distinct ideas. We see Clark Kent die, replaced by 'Johnny Clark', as our protagonist wrestles with the reality of being a living ideal. We meet Captain Comet, or Adam, the 'Forgotten Superman' who enlisted with an alien army to fight... something. Something ominous. And we have further development of the Anti-Superman Army, the nefarious team run by the Little Man. This story is a little too ponderous, and and perhaps a little too fast – nothing quite hits the mark in the story itself. But it's still so bursting with smart, potent ideas that it deserves reading.

Much better are the 'backup' stories. We have more exploration of Superman-as-concept and myth, more consequences to his presence. And there's the wonderful The Boy Who Stole Superman's Cape, from DC's Zero Month, which features all of the themes in the volume explored in perfect harmony with a sweet, charming little tale.

And at the very end, we meet Ms. Nyxly – Clark's landlady – properly. Which means we meet Nyxlygsptlnz, Princess of the Fifth Dimension... and the whole story kicks into high gear.

Jack Meldrum was President on Earth-10, once. He quit when he found how the hours worked out.

New Beginnings - Batman ’66 meets the Green Hornet #1

by Matt Puddy

Kevin Smith is known for a variety of things - indie film making, being Silent Bob, comic book writing, podcasting and general geekery to name few. One of his partners-in-crime from the SModcast is Ralph Garman and together they have taken us back to the past for this review title.

Batman ’66 meets the Green Hornet is exactly how it sounds. Set in the era of Adam West and Burt Ward, the story opens in a typical scene from the TV series. A mundane moment for the Dynamic Duo sees them relaxing and Dick getting ready for a date with the daughter of the Mayor. Things are going well until the special telephone in the study rings.

As with many of the old TV episodes the premise of the Sixties' Batman series was quite simple. A gentle opening followed by an almost random piece of information or situation leading to some kind of conveniently linked escapade over several episodes. Much in the same way, this first part of a six issue series uses the same mechanics. In this instance the scene setter is the fact that a valuable – and yet undisclosed – artefact is being shipped out of Gotham and is believed to be the target of the criminal element. 

So off our valiant Caped Crusader goes sporting the non-disguise of Bruce Wayne to accompany the transit on the Gotham Express. In an unusual twist, the Boy Wonder is given the evening off and allowed to go on his date, but later this becomes an apparent ruse to be used when things go awry, to allow Batman to officially enter the scene complete with hammed up third party self references to continue the pretence of dual identities. 

Whilst aboard the train Bruce meets Signore Bollo – the overseer of the artefact  - and then finally Britt Reid and his man servant, a duo who suffer a similar fate to Wayne and Grayson in that they both have secret identities – The Green Hornet and Kato.

Green Hornet and Batman have crossed paths in the past, coincidentally over the villain in the shadows here too, and the camaraderie/competitive nature of their relationship comes out. A fledgling argument between them both is stopped when the train comes to a halt all due to a strange super adhesive on the tracks. On reboarding the train the villain and his cronies are revealed – General Gumm.

No Sixties Batman episode would be complete without the obligatory cliffhanger which this issue delivers with aplomb, seeing not only the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder, but also the Green Hornet and Kato, all glued to the train roof with a low tunnel not far away. 

Ty Templeton provides the artwork for the issue and has a strange job to do. On one hand there is a change to put his own style on the issue, but on the other it is deliberately drawn to showcase Adam West et al accurately – which he does. Fans of the old TV series will easily recognise all the regulars from the show complete even with trademark looks and glances. He’s done a great job of that in fact.

This is an issue, and series, that fans of the original series will love. It has all of the components that made up the original stories and flow of episodes all the way down to hammy acting and – at times – cringeworthy dialogue. It doesn’t try to be a new take on Batman or expose him to a new threat or different angle. The depiction of Green Hornet is nothing new either and even their personas from the original show are also represented well. For a standalone story arc it’s not for my liking or to my tastes, as I used to get frustrated with the spoonfed nature of the show, however for what this comic is trying to be, an homage to the show and it’s values, it does a great job. 

Matt Puddy wil be back again soon, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.

Rescuing Strays – Grant Morrison’s Action Comics Vol One

by Jack Meldrum

A little while back, the final volume of Grant Morrison’s Action Comics dropped. I bought it, instantly. I'd had it pre-ordered for months. I'd read every issue digitally at least a dozen times each. I'd cried during it more than I did even for All-Star.

Grant Morrison’s Action Comics run is my favourite thing in comics, ever, so far. I think it's wonderful. And magical. Mythical. Mind-bending, transcendent wizardry.

And now that you can have it all, I'm going to try to sell you on it.

Volume One: The Men of Steel

Morrison’s run doesn't begin with a hackneyed origin story. It doesn't even have his previous take, that glorious one-page, four-panel recap from All-Star Superman. It begins with police storming the mansion of new character Glen Glenmorgan, ready to stop... Superman? Superman clad in jeans and a t-shirt, grinning like a kid.

From the word go, Morrison steeps the story in Superman history. But not in a slavish or detrimental manner. Morrison takes the germ of that first Action Comics issue, way back in '38, and reinvents it. Here's a rougher, leaner, cruder Superman, a Superman who throws abusive husbands into the river and jumps of rooftops to shake information from oozing, corrupt businessmen. He's just a kid, but one helluva kid – a kid with all the morals and decency Superman has always had. You can see, in this dangerous, intelligent, wild young boy, the makings of that shining paragon.

And Morrison just goes on shooting. We have Lex Luthor as a slimy soda-chugging brain-for-hire, playing every party against each other with his 'Gemini' alias. We have the recurring figure of the Little Man, a bizarre dwarf who seems to be playing parties we can't even see. We get Brainiac, Metallo, the Legion of Superheroes, and it's all completely wild. Huge, comics-perfect action ensues. Morrison and Rags Morales slam Krypton-sized metaphors into single panels, like when Superman is KO'd by a speeding bullet-train. Or when he stands, god-sized before a shrunken Metropolis, and they hold their candles to him. Or when the Legion of Superheroes – involved in a curious time-travel plot that is the secret story behind this run – extract Kryptonite from the Anti-Superman Army, in their fortress in Superman's brain.

There's a profound rejection of anything 'easy' here. Nobody is a writ-large archetype or a cutout. Glenmorgan, wicked as he may be, is also a man of faith, led astray by the devil in the form of the Little Man (who, we'll learn, is very much a Faustian figure). And so on. And so forth. But always coming out in this first volume is how powerful Superman is as not just a mere superhuman, but as a beacon of hope, and an ideal made manifest. He fights super-metaphors in his super-foes.

And as the run goes on, we'll learn just how crucial those super-metaphors are. Because Morrison’s run, at the core, is not about Superman as a character – even though he handles him very, very well. It's about Superman as an idea. And about how powerful those ideas are.

Jack Meldrum knew how powerful Superman was as an idea, but he didn't know why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Shipping delays on Batman, Justice League Dark and Red Lanterns

Sorry folks, we've just had some bad news from Diamond UK concerning a few comics expected this week:

Due to a problem at the printers the following DC titles will not be shipping this week as originally scheduled:

MAR140212 - BATMAN #31 (ZERO YEAR)

MAR140213 - BATMAN #31 VAR ED (ZERO YEAR)

MAR140237 - RED LANTERNS #31

MAR140178 - JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #31

MAR140179 - JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #31 VAR ED

These titles will be in deliveries next week.

Regards,

Diamond Comic Distributors UK

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Ben Fardon wishes this happened less often.

ORDERS DUE NOW for DC's Future's End month - September 2014! *ALL RESERVATION SERVICE CUSTOMERS - PLEASE TAKE NOTE*

by Ben Fardon

Here we go again. The annual September event month from DC rears its ugly head again with The New 52 Future's End month.

Many of you will have read the New 52 Future's End #0 given away at Free Comic Book Day (if you missed out, you can read it for free at Proud Lion Digital).

This series has continued with a weekly comic that launched earlier this month. The story shows us a horrific future for DC's New 52 - one where a machine called Brother Eye is trying to assimilate all of humanity and only a few superheroes have been able to fight back. In a final desperate gambit, Batman is able to send his protege Terry McGinnis (the Batman Beyond in his New 52 debut) back in time to try to prevent the activation of Brother Eye. There's also storylines involving Grifter, Firestorm and a fairly fateful encounter for Green Arrow...

In September 2014 - for one month only - the entire New 52 line jumps forward five years to show us your favourite DC characters in this new future.

As before though, enough hype, here's the rub. There are 3D and 2D covers for each of these issues and DC have announced that the print run for these comics will be set at the point where we place our Previews order. In a nutshell this means that there will most likely be NO RESTOCKS for these comics. Once again, we have to get this right first time. We won't be able to guarantee any order adjustments after the Previews order is sent in.

Here's what we're going to do here at Proud Lion. All normal DC New 52 comics Reservations will be filled with the New 52 Future's End 3D cover of your chosen title(s) in September. If you're happy with that, you don't have to do anything.

If you'd like to downgrade to the 2D cover or amend any of your order for that month only (maybe you read Batgirl regularly, but have no interest in that Future's End issue of Batgirl?), please contact me by 5pm on Wednesday 21st May.

If you'd like to order anything extra, please let me know by 5pm on Wednesday 21st May. You can download a pdf order form here, which you can print off and bring into the store, or you can email me your order at shop@proudlion.co.uk. Those orders will be binding once placed; please honour your commitments.

We will be ordering very little for the shelves, so please don't rely on the shelf stock to fill your interest. If you want it, please order it! I'm afraid that's the only way we can do this.

Non-Reservation Service customers can also use this form to place orders, however those orders will be subject to a deposit of the full cover price I'm afraid. 

One final special offer though, anyone who wants all 41 of these comics can order the Proud Lion Future's End Month Bundle Deal. You'll get all 41 comics for £100 (saving you over £30 off the normal total price)! Please note that to secure your Bundle Deal order, you will need to pay a £25 deposit by Wednesday 21st May. We can invoice you via PayPal if that helps.

Download:

Proud Lion Villains' Month Order Form

Here's a look at the solicitations, plus the cover images that have been revealed so far.

ACTION COMICS: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Sholly Fisch
Penciller: Pascal Alixe
Cover: Lee L Weeks
With the Man of Steel missing, ordinary people around the world start to mysteriously exhibit his strengths and abilities.

AQUAMAN: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Penciller: Alvaro Martinez
Inker: Raúl Fernández
Cover: Yvel Guichet
Mera has claimed the throne of Atlantis for herself – and she’s sentenced her unfaithful husband, Aquaman, to death!

AQUAMAN AND THE OTHERS: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Penciller: Sean Chen
Inker: Mark Irwin
Cover: Yvel Guichet
The Dead King leads the Others in a final assault on Atlantis to end Mera's reign forever!

BATGIRL: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Gail Simone
Penciller: Javier Garron
Inker: Javier Garron
Cover: Clay Mann
It’s five years later, and Barbara Gordon has become Bête Noire – a.k.a. The Black Beast! Part Batman and part Bane, she leads a squad of female agents through the Gotham Underground!

BATMAN: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Scott Snyder & Ray Fawkes
Penciller: Aco
Inker: Aco
Cover: Jay Fabok
It’s five years later and Bruce Wayne is using dangerous science to help him continue his war on crime. What is it, and what forced Bruce to resort to such extremes?

BATMAN AND ROBIN: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Ray Fawkes
Penciller: Dustin Nguyen
Inker: Dustin Nguyen
Cover: Pat Gleason & Mick Gray
Bruce continues to feel the fallout from his extreme new crime fighting methods – is he ready to face the might of Heretic?

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Greg Pak
Penciller: Howard Porter
Cover: Aaron Kuder
A new super beings seeks out Batman: a creature born of hate who the broken Bat may not last long against!

BATWING: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray
Penciller: Eduardo Pansica
Inker: Julio Ferreira
Cover: Dan Panosian
Luke Fox has rejected his father, which leads him to rebuilding a more deadly and dangerous Leviathan!

BATWOMAN: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Marc Andreyko
Penciller: Jason Masters
Inker: Jason Masters
Cover: Rafael Albuquerque
Now a creature of the night, Batwoman turns against her former lover, Nocturna, in final, deadly conflict.

BIRDS OF PREY: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Christy Marx
Penciller: Robson Rocha
Inker: Oclair Albert
Cover: Dan Panosian
Free of Ra’s al Ghul’s control at last, Black Canary claims her rightful place as the head of the League of Assassins!

BOOSTER GOLD: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Penciller: Moritat, Steve Lightle, Stephen Thompson, Mark Irwin, Ron Frenz, Brett Booth
Cover: Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund
Trapped out of time on a world that defies reason, Booster Gold struggles to escape the fate that has held him and so many forgotten heroes captive!

CATWOMAN: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Sholly Fisch
Penciller: Patrick Olliffe
Inker: Tom Nguyen
Cover: Terry & Rachel Dodson
Catwoman’s battle to be kingpin of crime in Gotham City takes an unexpected turn when Selina and Black Mask are revealed to be one and the same!

CONSTANTINE: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Ray Fawkes
Penciller: Juan Ferreyra
Inker: Juan Ferreyra
Cover: Juan Ferreyra
After a desperate five-year quest, John Constantine has claimed the ultimate occult prize: the Helmet of Fate!

DETECTIVE COMICS: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato
Penciller: Scott Hepburn
Inker: Scott Hepburn
Cover: Jay Fabok
Batman takes his war on crime to the next level, but he needs the help of his greatest ally - The Riddler?!

EARTH 2: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Daniel H. Wilson
Penciller: Eddy Barrows
Inker: Eber Ferreira
Cover: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Michael Holt has survived the war between the two worlds he's called home. Now, he's taking drastic measures to ensure that there will be no more war - regardless of the cost!

THE FLASH: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Robert Venditti/Van Jensen
Penciller: Brett Booth
Inker: Norm Rapmund
Cover: Booth/Rapmund
It’s the final showdown between The Flash and his future self for control of the Speed Force – with Wally West’s life hanging in the balance!

GRAYSON: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Tom King
Penciller: Stephen Mooney
Inker: Stephen Mooney
Cover: Andrew Robinson
Branded a traitor, Dick Grayson has become the most powerful hero in the newly resurgent and dominant Mother Russia - and now, he must battle the Beast from the East in one final struggle for supremacy!

GREEN ARROW: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Penciller: Andrea Sorrentino
Inker: Andrea Sorrentino
Cover: Andrea Sorrentino
Green Arrow is dead - and his replacement finally stands revealed!

GREEN LANTERN: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Robert Venditti
Penciller: Martin Coccolo
Inker: Martin Coccolo
Cover: Billy Tan
Across the universe, the dead are rising - the Black Lanterns are back! Only one being knows what it will take to destroy them this time.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Van Jensen
Penciller: Igor Lima
Inker: Ruy José
Cover: Francis Portela
John Stewart makes a fateful decision – will he choose to take his last shot at redemption? Or will he pull the trigger and kill any chance of a life worth living, in the name of saving the Corps?

GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Justin Jordan
Penciller: Dio Neves
Inker: Marc Deering
Cover: Dio Neves
The power of the White Lantern power has brought Kyle to the brink of death! Now, he must decide whether to release that power into the universe, or find another unsuspecting soul to take it on.

HARLEY QUINN: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti
Penciller: Chad Hardin
Inker: Chad Hardin
Cover: Amanda Conner
Harley and The Joker make it legal at last! Follow the happy couple to their secret honeymoon spot, where it’s literally till death do they part!

INFINITY MAN AND THE FOREVER PEOPLE: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Dan DiDio
Penciller: Philip Tan
Inker: Jason Paz
Cover: Howard Porter
Five years from now, the New Gods are missing, Infinity Man is trapped on Earth, and all is not as it seems in Mark Moonrider’s life. Is he living some beautiful dream, or is he stuck in a never-ending nightmare?

JUSTICE LEAGUE: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Penciller: Jedd Dougherty
Inker: Jedd Dougherty
Cover: Mike McKone
The mystery of the Martian Manhunter is revealed at last as his decades-long plan for world domination comes to fruition! Continues in this month’s JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED: FUTURES END #1!

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Penciller: Jedd Dougherty
Inker: Jedd Dougherty
Cover: Mike McKone
In the concluding chapter of the epic story that began in this month’s JUSTICE LEAGUE: FUTURES END #1, the armies of Mars rise against the unsuspecting population of Earth – and only the combined might of the Justice League and the Legion of Super-Heroes can stand against them!

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK: FUTURES END #1
Writer: J.M. DeMatteis
Penciller: Andres Guinaldo
Inker: Walden Wong
Cover: Juan Ferreyra
An emotionally and physically scared Zatanna struggles to find a way to return her team and the House of Mystery itself to our own dimension – but the cost might doom them and our world!

NEW SUICIDE SQUAD: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Sean Ryan
Penciller: Andre Coelho
Inker: Scott Hanna
Cover: Jeremy Roberts
Amanda Waller’s covert war against the United States reaches the boiling point as the Suicide Squad takes the White House!

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Penciller: Scott Kolins
Inker: Scott Kolins
Cover: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Red Hood rides solo in the future as he reveals hints to how the Outlaws and his partners Starfire and Arsenal parted ways and how that lead to Jason Todd’s new mission of retribution and brutal justice.

RED LANTERNS: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Charles Soule
Penciller: Jim Califiore
Inker: Jim Califiore
Cover: Scott Hepburn
The ranks of the Red Lanterns have grown to monstrous numbers, and with no Blood Lake to restore their sanity, they’re terrorizing the universe. It’s up to Blue Lantern Guy Gardner to correct the deadly mistake he made!

SINESTRO: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Penciller: Igor Lima
Inker: Ruy José
Cover: Kevin Nowlan
Sinestro has been imprisoned by a powerful new intergalactic force with ideals based on a twisted version of his own code! Lost in a super-max prison on the far side of the universe, he orchestrates an escape… and his revenge!

STAR-SPANGLED WAR STORIES FEATURING G.I. ZOMBIE: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray
Penciller: Scott Hampton
Inker: Scott Hampton
Cover: Dave Johnson
G.I. Zombie stands alone against a zombie army of thousands as the U.S. military’s experiment reaches its horrifying fruition!

SUPERBOY: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Frank Barberie
Penciller: Tyler Kirkham
Cover: Jorge Jimenez
Kon has a final, fateful confrontation with his clones and finds help from some unlikely allies!

SUPERGIRL: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Tony Bedard
Penciller: Ema Lupacchino
Cover: Giuseppe Camuncoli
At last, Supergirl reconciles with her father, Cyborg Superman – in the most horrific way possible!

SUPERMAN: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Penciller: Lee L Weeks
Cover: Ken Lashley
There’s a new, much darker Superman prowling the streets of Metropolis! But who exactly is he?

SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Charles Soule
Penciller: Tom Raney
Inker: Tom Raney
Cover: Tom Raney
The battle between the God of War and Nemesis can only spell doom for humanity – but can Kal restore Diana to her senses before it’s too late?

SWAMP THING: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Charles Soule
Penciller: Jesús Saíz
Inker: Jesús Saíz
Cover: Jesús Saíz
The Avatars of the Green, Red and Gray go to war with the avatars of Bacteria and Metal! It's five years later, and Alec Holland is trying to mediate a ceasefire that could also be his last stab at reconnecting with humanity!

TEEN TITANS: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Will Pfeifer
Penciller: Andy Smith
Cover: Karl Kerschl
With the Teen Titans dead, a new group of young heroes seek justice in the future DC Universe!

TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Ray Fawkes
Penciller: Francis Portela
Inker: Francis Portela
Cover: Guillem March
Pandora’s box has been reformed – but it can only be sealed from the inside! How can she make the ultimate sacrifice to safeguard the world against the deadly evils it holds?

TRINITY OF SIN: PHANTOM STRANGER: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Dan DiDio / J.M. DeMatteis
Penciller: Phil Winslade
Inker: Phil Winslade
Cover: Guillem March
With one coin of redemption left, the Phantom Stranger faces his final challenge - in front of the new Council of Eternity!

WONDER WOMAN: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Charles Soule
Penciller: Rags Morales
Inker: Rags Morales
Cover: Tom Raney
Her humanity lost forever, Wonder Woman embraces her true nature as the God of War to battle the armies of Nemesis!

WORLDS’ FINEST: FUTURES END #1
Writer: Paul Levitz
Penciller: Yildiray Cinar
Inker: Paul Neary
Cover: Stephen Segovia
Power Girl must break into Cadmus Island to free Huntress – but she ends up a prisoner herself!

Download:

Proud Lion Villains' Month Order Form

Ben Fardon is getting to old for this s... tuff.