Hawkman by Geoff Johns #1-12 Review

 

Hawkman #1-6

• Hawkman #1 - "First Impressions" = A lot of compressed storytelling. I got a lot out of this, but it was a teensy bit overwhelming to some degree. The supporting cast is cool, and the quiet moments with Carter monologuing over St Roch are awesome. Bloque was interesting and I wonder if that's the last we'll see of him.
• Hawkman #2 - "Into The Sky" = Indiana Jones on crack! Break-neck pace and non-stop banter, this is shaping up to be something crazy. I had to do a little (a lot) research on Hawkman lore after the first issue and you'd think it gets better what with Vendetti's series, but the specifics of the cosmic raptor mumbo jumbo from Snyder/Tynion's run kind of ruins it. I loved the fact that Shadow Thief, Tigress, and Copperhead ended being the mercs and Roderic is 100% hath-set. The ghost dude picking up the picture might be Gentleman Ghost? And the final page with the elephant men keeps me hyped.
• Hawkman #3 - "Lost in the Battlelands" = This issue was fun, and I find the secret Hindu mythological lost world cool as mess. The Komeriah vs Makhna stuff brings the class warfare dynamic to a whole new level and the banter between Shadow Thief and Hawkman is great. It retroactively makes Vendetti's "Darkness Within" arc a lot better if you think about it. The green arrow sequence was pretty jarring; I'm not used to a seasoned GA killing CEO's, but now that I think about it he's coming off the Mike Grell run. I read "Longbow Hunters" a long time ago but it was so awesome.
• Hawkman #4 - "Beasts of Burden" = Cool finale, the character dynamics are carrying this book. Tigress sequence was awesome, Shadow Thief is still fun, and Carter and Kendra are badass. The elephant men revolt was dope, and I do hope they return to the Battlelands at some point. SO it seems like Hath-set's spirit is assaulting Roderic and maybe he is a descendant? Let's see this GA vs Hawkman fight!
• Hawkman #5 - Slings & Arrows, Part I : "The Birds & The Billionaires" = That last page got me so good! I need to reread a chapter of the Stargirl run just so I can remember more of the spider lore. Alright, just caught up and remembered that maybe this spider's dad was the one who betrayed the seven soldiers to the hand and nebula man, with wing ending up sacrificing himself. Ollie and Carter banter was great, Kendra coming in was even better. I honestly thought that ollie was the killer bc it fit in with his characterization before his death, but at least it makes him more heroic (thanks to Johns' silver age standards!). What's inside the coffin!
• Hawkman #6 - Slings & Arrows, Part II : "Eye-Spider" = I think this issue is where this series finally settled in with me. I love the characters, the dynamics, the dialogue! It's funny I should say that since this issue was pretty much a huge brawl. The fight was awesome, and I'm surprised Spider put up that much to hold off GA and Carter + Kendra. The history lesson in the beginning was great, and Spider's characterization was very compelling even though I know dear Moz shafts him eventually during Seven Soldiers for I-Spyder (RIP lmao). I think it's really interesting that Johns and Robinson aren't just going to have the two make up and be buddies: they respect the history between the two, it's not going to be that easy. However, Ollie's words end up having profound effect on Carter, and the brilliant soap in this series begins! The final pages with Spider are a testament to the quality of Johns and Robinson's writing.
• Hawkman Secret Files - "Hidden Past, Hidden Future" = This special was cool, and the flashback sequence carried. I'm glad we got an explanation as to why Nabu and Teth-Adam were gone, and the sacrifice scene was brutal. Shadow Thief continues to be a great character and I'm eager to see him in the future.

Hawkman #7-12

• Hawkman #7 - "Fine Day For A Hangin" = This was brilliant. The first non Geoff johns issue solely by Robinson was so much fun; a blast from the past as we visit faces old and new. The gentlemen ghost cameo was great, and I live for the fan-service mentions of Vigilante, Jonah Hex, the Evans ancestor and even the birth of Stonechat house. The reveal that Matilda was married to a Roderic implies maybe hath-set had mystically egged her on via reincarnated curse. Interesting that death ended up being the narrator for the issue, an echo of JLA #15 - "Twilight of the Gods". The wild western dialect was icing on the cake, and the action by Rags Morales was phenomenal.
• Hawkman #8 - "Small Talk" = This was so much fun. Johns did a spectacular job of giving you a whole lot in one issue. Ray and Carter having dinner was my favorite sequence, while the Kendra vs Warwhip brawl was great (besides his phallic arm whips, those were disgusting). We got some more hints for the Saunders murder mystery; "don't mess with the rats" or whatever that means. Excited for the Hector interaction. Less excited now that my boy Speed got yeeted of the mountain by what seemed to be a trusted ally? I hope its not one of the Evans family members.
• Hawkman #9 - "In The Hands Of Fate" = Jesus, Rags was channeling his inner Clay Mann in this issue (or is it the other way around?). We get more about Kendra's backstory, and this seems to answer the hint placed during the second JSA arc "Darkness Falls", where Kendra shows trauma from killing an unidentified man, now revealed to be a corrupt police officer. Very interesting interaction with Hector/Fate, who explains that once Kendra falls in love with Carter, they will be at the mercy of the incarnation cycle + fury of Hath-set. I'm assuming the relationship is going to be very different now, and it's pretty compelling that Carter's love for Shiera would make him cut her off just so she won't be vulnerable to Hath-Set. Also interesting that Hector is tangled up in this too, he will forever be born to warn them of the curse I guess?
• Hawkman #10 - "Snowblind" = So much happening! Gentlemen Ghost has been confirmed! I'm assuming it was him in the coffin a couple issues back, and damn I never noticed that the hotel that the Saunders' were murdered was called the Craddock house! Jumping right into the fire (or should I say ice) with the hawks and Jaiyta and Danny in the Tibetan mountains. The Zhang Zhung lore was cool, and who doesn't wat to see Hawkman fighting Yetis! Raven-bro looked sketchy from the get-go, and the introduction of the Hath-set reincarnation brings up some issues. Are they just going to shaft Roderic in favor of his new character? It seems like the motivations might be different due to the fact that she wants to reverse the curse.
• Hawkman #11 - "Everlasting Love...?" = Fun issue. The reincarnation of Hath-Set into a chick is messy, but I guess it works since it's past lives. As for the prophecy stuff, Fate explained a couple of issues back that Set can only kill them when the two are in love, so Carter's confidence is interesting. The Atom reveal was great, and neatly ties this in with the one-offs into a great 6 issue arc. As for the final battle, I find it cool that Carter and Kendra can take a lot of damage; I mean come on they're the Hawks! Badass brawlers reincarnated through a billions lives are not going to get stopped by steel and bullets. The Absorbacon was cool, I've definitely seen it pop up in a couple of different books and shows, but the purpose was always vague or inconsistent. The transformation into the giant crow/raven was wild, mainly funny because the pet bird got zapped into it too. Hawks vs Ravens for the finale!
• Hawkman #12 - "The Darkraven" = Abrupt ending, but the back-half of the issue made up for it. This whole arc was summed up in the epilogue: Hath-Set's machinations from beyond the grave, fooling the Hawks into thinking the cycle was over with the proxy Astar. Darkraven and Astar had a tragic end, but they were set up as dark mirror foils to Carter and Shiera. It's funny because their motivations were mainly to have their own reincarnating love cycle (albeit via stealing the soul karma of the hawks), they fail like the Hawks do in every life and nobody really gives it a second thought. No explanation for why Darkraven and his bird merged, or why Astar was turned to salt, or if Kendra got her memories back; but it's okay because let's jump into the next arc! Also, Hath-Set claims that Astar and Roderic are not reincarnations, but actually descendants of his bloodline, so the Astar being a chick is not as messy.

Superman Ending Battle + Lost Hearts Review

 

Superman : Ending Battle

• Superman #186 - "Morning Twilight" = This was fine. Not a great opener, but it sufficed I guess. The art brought it way down for me, the colors were terrible, and that kind of digital ink/color just isn't for me. Master Jailer and Neutron were cool, but I didn't get a lot out of it.
• Adventures of Superman #608 - "Dawn's Early Light" = I have to admit, this chapter was a step up. The art was a smidge better, and Joe Casey did a great job with the framing device of the senator's interview. The d-listers were all great (even a couple I never even heard of) and some of the targets were very diverse. I already know Manchester is involved, but still hyped to see how this plays out.
• Superman: The Man of Steel #130 - "In The Dark of The Noon Day Sun" = Oh my god the art is killing me! One of the small enjoyments I get out of this is seeing where the city of metropolis is at this moment in DC continuity, as well as what characters are doing. The appearance of Terra man is fascinating since he has a whole suit of armor here, and post 52 will return to silver age look just to get torn in half by Black Adam. Evil Star looks like vomit, and the inks on the art also look like vomit. Lois Lane's monologue has some merits, but it gets a little tiresome towards the back-half of the chapter. Last note; what did they do to Steel's helmet?
• Action Comics #795 - "The Thirteenth Hour" = Art was better, Lex interaction was fine. Not much to say, but this isn't as good as I hope. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I'm just not enjoying this as much as I wish I was.
• Superman #187 - "After School Special" = The pacing for this story is something else. I'm not sure if it's because I've been binging the whole storyline, but the formula is getting a little repetitive, even if the timeframe justifies the chaos (it's all happening over the course of one day?). I'm sorry guys, this art is making it real hard for me to engage with the story. Mxy posts up out of nowhere and then vanishes, lol so random. The only merit I can give is that this is making me as crazy as Superman is probably feeling, so moving forward into this next half I'm going to try to apply that perspective as much as possible.
• Adventures of Superman #609 - "Rush Hour" = The art was great in this one! Superman vs the Marvel universe I guess? I think it's funny how they set up Metallo in the last cliffhanger and Supes just smashes him to pieces in the opening. The use of the senator is interesting but if you take a step back and look at the environment of the DCU, you can render his argument inert pretty easily. The cat's out of the bag y'all, Neanderthals can't just sit around and complain while homo-sapiens go out and do better stuff. Opti-humans and super-humanity/meta-gene is just the next step in evolution, and super-hero vs super-criminal is just the next step of the power struggle between good and evil. You can't eradicate evil, so you just have to start fighting it in bigger and better ways. Humans in the DCU can't sit back and expect to go backwards, the future is here, deal with it. Batman/Lex Luthor and Orchis from HiX-Men are probably the best representations of this, except the Nimrod/Phalanx stuff in the MU is on a whole different level. As for humans becoming obsolete, good and good can still coexist, but the class warfare is where it starts to get messy I guess. But you can't eradicate inequality either, which blows because super-humans are just inherently better. But adaptation is adaptation and nature does it all the time sooooooo...
• Superman: The Man of Steel #131 - "Nightfall" = I can't lie, the Manchester Black vs Lois sequence was great. Those last couple pages were great. The art was a little stuffy, but the final battle with Supes using Neutron as a nuke was dope. It's interesting to see Supes more confident and headstrong since he feels a false sense of control knowing everyone is safe in the vault, but the fact that Lois got out makes it painful to watch Supes toy with Mongul and Master Jailer. There's a lot of hype about this final chapter, let's see if it lives up to the rep.
• Action Comics #796 - "The Last Super-Villain" = Wow. Joe Kelly saved it... or maybe all of the buildup was in prep for this? I don't know, but what I do know is that this was great. I loved this so much that I'm contemplating my love for Action #775 because this might be better. And that fight vision sequence was awesome.

Superman : Lost Hearts

• Superman #189 - "Lost" = This first issue was a mixed bag. The art wasn't good in the first half, especially the inking and the colors. I liked the Power Girl hinting and the fight with Mr. 104, but the dialogue just seemed clunky. However, when Clark and Bruce converse in the second half of the issue, the art/coloring had a significant improvement. The ambience was very fitting, even if the interaction between the two heroes made no sense in the context of that DCU. Why are Batman and Supes at odds? I wonder if it has to do with Hush, or Murderer/Fugitive, but since Obsidian Age it doesn't seem like they should have any beef. Final note: I had no idea this was the first appearance of Traci 13!
• Adventures of Superman #611 - "Heartbroken" = Very interesting look into poverty and the never-ending ouroboros of the drug epidemic through the lens of Superman. Traci and her iguana are cool, the heartbreakers are placeholders to make the story more interesting than just Supes vs Drugs. I'm not sure how Lana is so messed up, maybe uber-drugged or the heartbreaker got her extremely susceptible. The art is fine, but the dialogue was a little clunky. I'm starting to see that Joe Kelly can get a little hit or miss depending on the scenario; the first couple pages were rough, as he was trying to imitate some kind of ebonic/slang dialect.
• Superman: Man of Steel #133 - "Giving In" = Jesus christ what the heck is going on in this story. Clark gets Superman III'd by the heartbreakers and goes edgy, Lana is zooted to infinity, and Traci's iguana turns into a kaiju. I'm not sure if it's trying too hard or if I just really don't like this kind of story where the heroes get corrupted. The art is pretty good by Tom Derenick, but it barely saves the script. That last page was a major facepalm moment, and I feel second-hand embarrassment reading this storyline. One more to go, let's see if Kelly can salvage this.
• Action Comics #798 - "Heartsong" = Lukewarm, bittersweet, whatever you want to call it. I will have to admit that Kelly did cobble something wholesome for the end. It's a bit of a nothing-burger besides the intro of Traci Thirteen and the Power Girl sequence. In retrospect, this storyline appears to have been an attempt by Johns and Kelly to exorcise the Lana/Clark relationship and move on in some fashion. I don't think they did it in the cleanest way, but the back-half epilogue was solid enough for it to be passable. The first kiss scene was a little too sexualized, the Christ-pose floating was very meh, but Kelly throws in a couple powerful lines of dialogue to tie everything together.

JLA by Joe Kelly #61-76 Review

Golden Perfect & The Destroyers

• JLA #61 - "Two-Minute Warning" = I didn't enjoy this first chapter as much as I wanted to, and that definitely turned me off a little about the tone of the series.
• However, Golden Perfect was a fantastic arc and acted as a great primer for my getting used to Kelly's writing. The pacing was excellent, Mahnke's art is stunning, and Joe Kelly's dialogue set in way too well. The moral quandaries between Diana and Rama Khan paired with the bonkers universal physics turning the league topsy turvy was so fun.
• JLA #65 - "Bouncing Baby Boy" = was an awesome piece on Plastic Man, and the first appearance of his son Luke outside of the Kingdom Come universe. The sensitive interior side of O'Brien was very well presented, and his back & forth with Bats made this issue work.
• The Destroyers arc was awesome; the team dynamic is very enjoyable, Flash and GL + Bats & Plas are the standouts. It seems like Kelly has some Supes fatigue and saves the best moments for when he's writing action, since he hasn't had any memorable moments as of yet. Wonder Woman is always utilized well and Kelly does a great job of making her a badass with agency. The threat of Manitou Raven and Tezumak is presented in a big bad way, and I'm super excited to get into Obsidian Age.

JLA : Obsidian Age 

• JLA #68 - The Obsidian Age, Prelude : "Stillborn Atlantis" = time travel mumbo jumbo, I'm all for it! Garth casting the spell during worlds at war created a new history for Atlantis, one where instead of it sinking to the bottom of the sea, ancient magic concealed it with the artificial trench. When Tezumak and manitou used the old magic of the spell to send them back into the past, they revealed the ancient Atlantis and undid the mirage.
• JLA #69 - The Obsidian Age, Part I : "New Blood" = Oh my god: new blood was one of the best JLA stories I've ever read. So ironic that I'm reading this as dark crisis is coming out with their bummy rehash. The lineup is pretty great, except for major disaster and the faith chick (who I'm sure I will learn more about). The art wasn't as good as Mahnke, but I still enjoyed some parts.
• JLA #70 - The Obsidian Age, Part II : "Revisionist History" = Holy dense batman! I was under the impression that the leaguers on the cover were our league transformed by magic or whatever; but no they are an actual primordial jla. I can see proto supes, Diana, and green lantern I think, but the big surprises were ancient Rama Khan and a newbaddie named Gamemnae. I loved Golden Perfect already, but the fact that it ties into this makes me very hyped to see him throw down with Diana. Not sure if the mysterious virus infecting batman is just ancient disease (but he should just have immunity since he's from the future?). Manitou Raven's internal monologue was dope, and I'm definitely feeling more sympathy for him, but lets be honest screw Tezumak. The final page reveal of Arthur was great.
• JLA #71 - The Obsidian Age, Part III : "Transition" = I don't think I've ever had a storyline surpass my expectations like Obsidian Age. That last page reveal had my jaw drop. I'm loving the dynamic between [nu]League and the fact that they double shipped JLA with the past story issues drawn by Mahnke and the present by Guichet brings great contrast/pacing to the story, and the tension builds up in an exciting and engaging fashion. The dialogue is so clever, and the Zatanna reveal also got me good. Nightwing is the scene stealer of this issue, with the intro and his exchange with Jason Blood being the high points. SO excited for this next one.
• JLA #72 - The Obsidian Age, Part IV : "History Is Written By..." = THIS IS BREAKING MY HEART AND MAKING ME SCREAM! So much revealed but so many questions! What the hell is up with green lantern! What the hell do the flies mean! What is going on with Batman's fever! The Batman-Kyle exchange was top, the league as manta-rays was top, and goddamn Kelly did everything in his power to make you hate the proto-league and Gamemnae. Justice for Mera!
• JLA #73 - The Obsidian Age, Part V : "Last Call" = This was the epitome of "what the heck is going on" comics. We get a bit more on Faith, and her powers are pretty sketchy if you ask me, mainly because her selection for the backup JLA could have been because of her power influencing Bruce. Nightwing's writing was fun, definitely a side of his I've grown more accustomed to the more I read stuff he's in. Gamemnae's patchwork corpse body was horrifying (but the rough Guichet pencils helped and hurt it). I love how Kelly writes everybody as a dysfunctional team that actually ends up operating really well. They know they have to fill in big shoes, and they put aside the BS to show up and take names. Jason Blood is awesome, and I'm glad he saved my girl Zee, but the final reveal of Kyle's willpower ghost and the withered immortal Manitou was pretty wild. Who's heart is he holding! Let's jump into the next one!
• JLA #74 - The Obsidian Age, Part VI : "Obsidian" = This chapter might have been my favorite alongside New Blood. The (not-so) final stand of the JLA vs Gamemnae's League was absolutely bonkers. I honestly did not even notice that Wally's legs had been ripped off until this issue, and I had to flip back to #72 just to make sure. Our heroes getting clapped sucked, and it was genuinely horrifying to see Kyle's heart get ripped out and the League's corpses put on pikes for display. J'onn's internal monologue was brilliant; I especially liked the idea that the Obsidian Age is a savage time, with civilizations resorting to primitive violence as more common reactions to "invaders". Manitou Raven steals this issue completely, and the final half of the story is pure comic kino. The Aquaman moment was awesome, and I wonder if there is a reason as to why Plastic Man is not in the ghost entourage. I'm so excited to see Gamemnae get shredded (hopefully).
• JLA #75 - The Obsidian Age, Part VII : "Tragic Kingdom" = 54 pages of ancient mysticism, Atlantean lore, time travel shenanigans, and JLA taking names + saving the day. I got anxiety reading this. In an ideal world Doug Mahnke would have drawn all of it, but the art shifts worked when they worked, and kinda didn't when they didn't. The lore dumps were great, the time travel was fun but vague, especially when the two histories collided. I guess because of Hypertime, they will always have memories of the Obsidian Age, but it's definitely more of a "don't think too hard about it". At the end of the day, I would definitely let Manitou Raven rip out my heart to save my friends' souls too.
• JLA #76 - "Picking Up The Pieces" = The epilogue was fantastic. Kelly nails these quiet transition issues, his dialogue is on a whole different level. He's not trying to impersonate or mimic any style, he's just so good at making the JLA people. The art was fine, but the John Stewart reveal was disgusting, he looks like he wants to consume my soul. The intro with the Plas dream sequence was fantastic as well, and the art actually looked a lot cleaner to me. J'onn stole this for me, and I'm sad to see him, Kyle, and Plas go. They were without a doubt the all-stars until this point.

FLASH BY GEOFF JOHNS VOL I - IV REVIEW

So here's something a little different.

I'm currently doing a huge reread of Pre-Flashpoint DC and I just decided to start doing issue by issue reviews of the books I read. The main reason I'm doing this is because I'm trying to avoid compartmentalization of what I consume, a huge side effect of binging media. This is essentially when you burn through a huge story and end up losing some of the substance and minor minutiae because you are more focused on the binge than actually noticing the masterful storytelling that the creators put so much effort in.

A huge problem with trade reading is that people forget that these stories are published monthly, and each chapter has its own themes, narrators, pacing, and unique poetry that writer's spend an immense time infusing into each issue. I sadly didn't do this for the first two storylines of Geoff Johns Flash, but I will be doing this for the rest. For now, this post will feature a short blurb I scrambled together before I got into volumes 3 & 4, but every write up is composed before I read the next issue, so enjoy my journey through these books!

Flash vol I & II = The "Wonderland" arc was very rough. I did not enjoy Angel Unzeuta's art and the story went on for too long. The Mirror-World lore was cool and Wally using the arsenal of silver age Green Lantern villains was kino, but the Grimm stuff was not as engaging. Vol 2 changed up the pace real quick with Scott Kolins excellent and kinetic art that is perfect for a flash book. The script was super tight and the Cicada cult was horrifying. The Weather Wizard two-parter was also fun and I forgot how much I liked Jesse Quick. The Iron Heights special was a lot more fun that I remembered. EVS was on point the entire time. Interested to see how the Pied Piper plot plays out.

[Flash vol III : Rogues]

• The Flash: Our Worlds at War #1 - "Time on Target" = Black Racer special was fun, but the art brought it down for me. That final page was great.
• The Flash Secret Files & Origins #3 - "Rogues" = The secret files special was fun, and I like the character of Zolomon, even though I know the endgame of how he turns out. His personality is easy to sympathize with, and his pathos is engaging.
• The Flash #177 - "Event Horizon" = The black hole issue was not my favorite, nothing memorable whatsoever.
• The Flash #178 - "Caged" = The Grodd chapter was fantastic. Scott Kolins on art was the standout, the pages where Wally confronts Grodd as well as the realization of the damage the battle caused keystone were brilliant. Johns developing the Goldface union is very interesting, the Rogues foreshadowing through line started in the first chapter is shown once more, and the Pied Piper plot is brough to the forefront. There are some hints with Grodd that he might have been manipulated.
• The Flash #179 - "Smile for The Camera" = The Last Laugh tie-in was pretty cheeks, the Warden Wolfe bits were good, but I could care less about the jokerized crap.
• The Flash #180 - "Peek-A-Boo" = The peek-a-boo chapter was fine, but its starting to get way too freak of the week. The twist at the end with Iris was unbelievable; I thought it was going to be Golden Glider or one of the rogues, but I never saw that coming.
• The Flash #181 - "Fall Out" = The fallout chapter was very good. Goddamn rip Morillo, but that final page twist was great.
• The Flash #182 - "Absolute Zero" = The Captain Cold issue was phenomenal; Johns really succeeds at bringing the chapters home with a final page that stays with you. Chillblaine has an iconic cameo during the RCDC special, and I'm sure Johns was the one who chose to include him in that.

[Flash Vol IV : Crossfire]

• The Flash #183 - Crossfire, Prologue : "Tricked" = What a way to open up a volume! Axel Walker is a geek, very capable but I'm excited to see him get dunked on. The Network segment was cool, we still don't know much about Blacksmith, but the 15 years thing was interesting. Johns took out the rest of Flash's support system real quick: Vic got jumped, Chyre ambushed and shunted to the mirror-world. I'm very pissed about Morillo, that mess was uncalled for. The Joan Garrick stuff was hinted at during the fallout issue but I think that it's crazy that she actually got leukemia. There's no way that could have been machinations by the Rogues because it's way too coincidental.
• DC First: Flash/Superman #1 - "Speeding Bullets" = Speeding Bullets was a great interlude, Abra Kadabra was a fun villain and his character has a lot to explore, his relationship to his time period and motivations are all fascinating. Jay Garrick is easily my second favorite flash after Wally.
• The Flash #184 - Crossfire, Part I : "Room To Think" = Awesome first chapter : high stakes and big threats. I wonder how this will last for 5 chapters? There were some fantastic pages in this as well. Kolins was on goat mode for this book. The colors are fantastic.
• The Flash #185 - Crossfire, Part II : "Hide & Seek" = Hide and seek was crazy, the Morillo resurrection was something I'm embarrassed to say I did not see coming. The Thinker stuff was cool, and that last page is iconic. Let's all be honest here, the mirror tech is BS. Very excited for Cold to join up with Morillo and Chyre.
• The Flash #186 - Crossfire, Part III : "The Thinking Man" = So thinking man was where the actual crossfire happened: it was fun, but the standouts of this chapter were Chyre, Morillo, and Cold. Cold steals every scene he's in, and him putting out the fire on the Barry Allen statue was perfect. Cyborg talking about Wally was great, and the info dump on Goldface vs Blacksmith was cool too.
• The Flash #187 - Crossfire, Part IV : "Run-Down" = Old Johns has so many ideas coming out of the pipeline, I can really understand why he's so burnt out these days. Showdown (run-down lol) in the mindscape had some great moments: Wally summoning his past selves and saying he's not afraid of death were awesome. Geoff also does a good job of using Flash's speed in realistic applications: Cyborg is about to get merked and Wally just speeds him to the McGees and goes back to showdown. Mirror Master is another scene stealer, and the mirror duplicates were dope. I'm hoping the Morillo regeneration power gets addressed and explained. The unveiling of the full Network army brings the stakes up and sets everything up for an action packed finale.
• The Flash #188 - Crossfire, Part V : "Metal & Flesh" = The Magenta/Girder setup and punchline is kind of great if you think about it since they have been giving us a lot of prelude up until this chapter. The Chyre/Morillo/Zolomon stuff is always dope, flash rebuilding the bridge was awesome too. The Goldface redemption is stupid since he killed my boy Tomar-re during the 80's. Pregnancy reveal was going to come sooner or later.
• The Flash #189 - "Messengers" = FILLER ISSUES WHERE A LOT HAPPENS! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT! Anyways, this was great. Rick Burchett's pencils were awesome and every check in had a great moment or two. I love the incorporation of Cyborg into this series, and I can't wait to see what johns does with Vic in the pages of Teen Titans. The Iris/Chyre stuff is going to be interesting knowing that Barry comes back in just 7 years! Zolomon is still goated, and its sad knowing his fall is coming soon. Who is Morillo's wife? That's the real question!
• The Flash #190 - Rogue Files, The Pied Piper : "Rat Race" = I was worried about Justiniano's art, but I ended up quite liking it. Pied Piper's backstory was interesting, especially the fact that it was Will Magnus who restored/augmented his hearing with nanobots. The reintroduction of Heatwave was great; though it's a little jarring to see a lot of the Rogues on the straight and narrow at this point in time, but after Crossfire and the fact that they've changed post-Barry + dealing with a more sympathetic Wally makes for interesting character development. James Jesse trickster is cool and I can definitely tell they are sowing the seeds for the next arc, but I hope it has a distinct personality compared to Crossfire.
• The Flash #191 - "The Brave & The Beaten" = Fun little team up with Hawkman. The Cliff/Grimm twist was interesting and made this story less random by actually having some buildup since Linda went back to med school. The stand-out sequence was Wally and Carter's interaction; I think this and GA's analysis of Carter (during the Slings & Arrows arc of Hawkman) is fascinating, and as I'm writing this I realize that the split personality of Carter - from super-aggro to warrior poet - definitely has to do with him getting merged with Katar Hol into the Hawkgod. Grodd foreshadowing, and I wonder what took the tranquilizers out of him or if he just telekinetically removed them.

STEVE ENGLEHEART'S DC UNIVERSE READING ORDER

DC COMICS PRESENTS

• DC Comics Presents #8 - "The Sixty Deaths Of Solomon Grundy"
• DC Comics Presents #12 - "Winner Takes Metropolis"
• Kamandi #51 - "The Next to the Last Boy on Earth!"
• Starfire #6 - "Citadel Of Silence"
• Starfire #7 - "Freedom Never Dies"
• Weird War Tales #50 - "An Appointment With Destiny!"
• Weird War Tales #60 - "Night Flight"
• Weird War Tales #73 - "The Curse Of Zopyrus"

JLA

• Justice League of America #139 - "The Ice Age Cometh!"
• Justice League of America #140 - "No Man Escapes The Manhunters!"
• Justice League of America #141 - "No World Escapes The Manhunters!"
• Justice League of America #142 - "Return From Forever!"
• Justice League of America #143 - "A Tale Of Two Satellites!"
• Justice League of America #144 - "The Origin Of The Justice League - Minus One!"
• Justice League of America #145 - "The Carnival Of Souls!"
• Justice League of America #146 - "Inner Mission!"
• Justice League of America #149 - "The Face Of The Star-Tsar!"
• Justice League of America #150 - "The Key - Or Not The Key!"

DETECTIVE COMICS

• Detective Comics #439 - "Night Of the Stalker!"
• Detective Comics #469 - "...By Death's Eerie Light! : The Origin Of Doctor Phosphorus"
• Detective Comics #470 - "The Master Plan Of Doctor Phosphorus!"
• Detective Comics #471 - "The Dead Yet Live!"
• Detective Comics #472 - "I Am The Batman!"
• Detective Comics #473 - "The Malay Penguin"
• Detective Comics #474 - "The Deadshot Ricochet"
• Detective Comics #475 - "The Laughing Fish"
• Detective Comics #476 - "Sign Of The Joker!"
• Batman #311 - "Doctor Phosphorus Is Back!"

DC COMICS PRESENTS II

[Mister Miracle]

• Mister Miracle #19 - "It's All In The Mine"
• Mister Miracle #20 - "Eclipse"
• Mister Miracle #20 - "Command Performance!"
• Mister Miracle #20 - "Midnight Of The Gods!"

[Tales From Earth-One]

• World's Finest #256 - "Prey Of The Harpies"
• Madame Xanadu #1 - "Dance For Two Demons"
• DC Comics Presents #88 - "Prophecy Of The Demon-Plague!"
• Heroes Against Hunger #1 - "A Song Of Pain & Sorrow"

GREEN LANTERN

[The Will To Love!]

• Green Lantern #188 - "Decent Exposure"
• Green Lantern #189 - "Echoes"
• Green Lantern #190 - "Time Out Of Mind! : Mind Out Of Time!"
• Green Lantern #191 - "Macho!"
• Green Lantern #192 - "First Star I See Tonight!"
• Green Lantern #193 - "Dead Ringer"

[Lanterns In Crisis!]

• Green Lantern #194 - "5"
• Green Lantern #195 - "4"
• Green Lantern #196 - "3"
• Green Lantern #197 - "2"
• Green Lantern #198 - "1 : 0"
• Green Lantern #199 - "Ignition"
• Green Lantern #200 - "Five Billion Years"

[Corps Reborn!]

• The Green Lantern Corps #201 - "Setting Up Shop"
• The Green Lantern Corps #202 - "Turf"
• The Green Lantern Corps #203 - "The Diabolical Dr. Ub'x"
• The Green Lantern Corps #204 - "Young & Innocent"
• Secret Origins #7 - "Secret Origin Of Green Lantern"
• The Green Lantern Corps #205 - "Bad Reputation!"
• The Green Lantern Corps #206 - "In Deep!"
• The Green Lantern Corps #207 - "Simple Minds!"
• Tales Of The Green Lantern Corps Annual #2 - "Escapist Entertainment"

[Crimson Dawn!]

• The Green Lantern Corps #208 - "Red Lantern"
• The Green Lantern Corps #209 - "Red Alert!"
• The Green Lantern Corps #210 - "See Red!"

[Love Kills]

• The Green Lantern Corps #211 - "Pink Elephants"
• The Green Lantern Corps #212 - "Fun Couples!"
• The Green Lantern Corps #213 - "For Want Of A Male...!"

[Cogito, Ergo Sum]

• The Green Lantern Corps #214 - "I Think, Therefore..."
• The Green Lantern Corps #215 - "...I Am!"
• The Green Lantern Corps #216 - "Secret Identities!"

[Cadets]

• The Green Lantern Corps #217 - "Inside Summer Skies"
• The Green Lantern Corps #218 - "Inside Some Other Skies!"
• The Green Lantern Corps #219 - "Inside Somatic Psyches"

{MILLENIUM}

• Millennium #1 - "THE ARRIVAL : Over"
• Millennium #2 - "THE SUMMONING : Under"
• Millennium #3 - "THE GATHERING : Back"
• The Green Lantern Corps #220 - "Sacred Identities!"
• Millennium #4 - "THE CHOICE : Forth"
• Millennium #5 - "THE TEACHING : In"
• Millennium #6 - "THE DREAMING : Out"
• Millennium #7 - "THE ASSAULT : Down"
• The Green Lantern Corps #221 - "Diversions"
• Millennium #8 - "THE ASCENSION : The Rising & Advancing Of Ten Spirits"
• The New Guardians #1 - ""
• The New Guardians #2 - "Blow In The Wind"

[Never The End]

• The Green Lantern Corps #222 - "The Last Testament Of Sinestro!"
• The Green Lantern Corps #223 - "The Last Testament Of The Green Lantern Corps!"

DC COMICS PRESENTS III

[Congorilla]

• Congorilla #1 - "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep..."
• Congorilla #2 - "I Pray the Lord My Soul to Take..."
• Congorilla #3 - "...If I Should Die Before I Wake..."
• Congorilla #4 - "I Pray the Lord My Soul to Take..."

[Legends Of The Dark Knight]

• Legends Of The Dark Knight #109 - The Primal Riddle, Part I : "Nasty, Brutish, & Short!"
• Legends Of The Dark Knight #110 - The Primal Riddle, Part II : "Perhaps Only Riddle That We Shrink From Giving Up!"
• Legends Of The Dark Knight #111 - The Primal Riddle, Part III : "A Dumpster of Chèrées"

[The Brave & The Bold]

• Batman Chronicles #19 - "Got A Date With An Angel"
• Legends Of The DC Universe #26 - "The Fishy Laugh"
• Legends Of The DC Universe #27 - "Reign Of The Joker!"

[Dark Detective]

• Batman: Dark Detective #1 - "Some Enchanted Evening"
• Batman: Dark Detective #2 - "You May See A Stranger"
• Batman: Dark Detective #3 - "Two Faces Have I"
• Batman: Dark Detective #4 - "Thriller"
• Batman: Dark Detective #5 - "Everybody Dance Now"
• Batman: Dark Detective #6 - "House"

[JLA : A Game Of Chance]

• JLA Classified #22 - "Deal"
• JLA Classified #23 - "Bet"
• JLA Classified #24 - "Raise"
• JLA Classified #25 - "All In!"

[JSA : Double Or Nothing]

• JSA Classified #14 - "Fast Shuffle"
• JSA Classified #15 - "Deal From The Bottom"
• JSA Classified #16 - "Busted!"

BLACK ADAM #1 ANNOTATIONS

Page 1

Global Economics are fun! For those who have little patience to decipher realpolitik jargon, here's the TLDR: Black Adam violated a number of laws/sanctions in the Sinai area that resulted in this senate hearing. We don't know the specifics yet, but we do know it has to do with Egypt and arms trading.

This incarnation of Adam seems to be an amalgamation of the Theo Adam persona and the N52 origin. We don't normally see depowered Adam so it's obvious as to how this can get messy.

The Theo Adam persona in Pre-Flashpoint continuity was a total douche who killed Billy Batson's parents. He gained the power of Black Adam, but the Theo Adam persona ended up getting removed during Geoff Johns' JSA run (JSA #21).

Black Adam was introduced to the N52 in the back-ups of Geoff Johns' Justice League run, where he was unleashed by Sivana, fought the Shazam Family, and then got depowered by Billy, resulting in him being reduced to ashes due to his old age. Black Adam was then resurrected during a JLA Villain's Month special (Justice League of America #7.4) around the time of Forever Evil. Billy had brought his ashes to Kahndaq during Trinity War, and a rebel group known as the Sons of Adam ended up restoring him with an ancient spell (that story featured incarnations of Amon and Adrianna Tomaz from 52, which is another great Black Adam story). However, Bendis' use of Black Adam during his Justice League run has restored the events of 52, so the whole resurrection thing is very messy.

I'm assuming that since his 'resurrection', Adam has been able to freely transform back and forth between the two personas without disintegrating.

I love the non-invasive editor's notes on the acronyms at the bottom of the page. Wish more books would do that.

Page 2

I find Black Adam saying he wants to "evolve Darkseid's Theology" very fascinating, and I can't help but wonder how he would go about doing that.

The setting on Messier 54 reminds me of the Fawcett origin of Black Adam, with the Wizard Shazam banishing him to a remote planet in deep space. Could Messier 54 be his former purgatory?

Page 3

The closest we've gotten to Black Adam interacting with New Gods was during the 52/Final Crisis days when he took down the Four Horsemen (Veronica Cale and Intergang had 4th world links) as well as him fighting a Desaad possessed Mary Marvel.

The list of figures in his diatribe towards Darkseid are all Egyptian Pharaohs and former regions in the Middle East/Sinai area.

Dialogue mentions classic Kirby lines almost verbatim. "...Tiger Force at the core of all things..." and "...I am the revelation..." are all from Forever People #3.

Page 4/5

Epic splash page. Rafa Sandoval is S-Tier.

Theogony is the title of this arc, taken from the poem by Hesiod detailing Olympian genealogy and bloodlines.

Page 6

Impossible indeed! [See page 8] I definitely facepalmed when I first saw the unlettered art, but I happen to have a few more braincells than reactionary comics twitter-folk and knew not to overthink a sequence like this. I have no doubt that Priest included this sequence as a break the internet type of moment, which I think is hilarious in hindsight.

Adam already seems to catch on that there's something fishy about this showdown.

Page 7

Previous page had red blood, but I guess they're sticking to translucent blue ooze? The panel arrangement by Sandoval is so cool.

Desaad stuttering is hilarious.

Page 8

Duped!

I don't think we've seen Darkseid clones before, and there is definitely more to this encounter than meets the eye. Priest has mentioned in interviews that we will come back to the ["Liar"] flashback plot:

"You'll see in this story arc that it takes place on a couple of different planes of existence. One is certainly the world we live in, but another is this outer space adventure that we keep flashing back to."

Page 9

Global Economics are fun! (Reprise)

TLDR: the US Government has invested a ton of money into Egyptian defense in an attempt to stave off Kahndaq, the investment has artificially regulated their exchange rate so it no longer has to be pegged to the dollar in order to maintain value (this is something some countries do to prevent/undo crises like hyperinflation and whatnot). This gives more context to the first section of ["Busy"] on page 1, as Adam and Kahndaq had collusion with arms dealing in Egypt as a result of the US pushing influence into the Sinai.

Page 10

The J'onn reveal is great and Black Adam's mic drop sets the tone for this run extremely well. Can't help but wonder if "Sandbox" (this issue's title) is a reference to the Sinai or Kahndaq itself? That seems pretty obvious, but as of now that's all I can think of.

Page 11

Mike Ehrmantraut expy anyone? Shep is our fixer archetype, though I'm not sure if he's an OC or an unbelievable pull from Fawcett limbo. Could Shep be a nickname for Hatshepsut?

The Kahndaq retconning to reconcile with the Egyptian link works very fluidly. Here's a pull from a Chris Priest interview where he goes into it:

"Obviously, by changing it so that Black Adam is from Kahndaq, we now have a fuller level of agency over the country, as opposed to making it a literal historical place. But what bothers me about that is that we are taking away agency from Egyptian people by severing that connection. So I try to split the difference and say, ‘Okay, he is the ruler of Kahndaq. His investment is in this area of Kahndaq. But these people are hereditary Egyptians.’ That restores that agency to that constituency, to that group of people that read our comics."

Reference to Archduke Ferdinand obviously indicates that the deceased is a powder keg for political crisis and incoming conflict. 

Page 12

The dialogue implies some kind of entanglement between Adam and Shakur's wife, but it could always be something else.

Priest made some interesting statements regarding the Kahnaqi reform movement in an interview:

"We're dealing with a storyline where there is a democracy movement going on in Kahndaq. Black Adam opposes it, but the reason he opposes it is that this is a country that never had democracy. You can't just suddenly flick a switch and impose self-rule on people who have never had it. America has done that over and over again and it's had mixed results at best. It's not that he doesn't want them to have self-rule, it's that it can't just happen overnight. It has to be a process, let's put it that way."

Page 13

Meet Malik Adam White, comic internet's new Pariah! The character arc is coming folks, don't worry! He's intentionally a snarky loudmouth!

Page 14/15

I saw an interesting take on the "How Do You Do, Fellow Kids" dialogue, someone said that Malik might be doing in on purpose to hide an accent or maintain some kind of cover. If not, then I guess Priest ended up selling/trying too hard on these couple pages to display this character's personality.

Facepalmed at gangam style and calling Black Adam a karen.

Page 16

The Dracula reference is funny since Priest has referred to Black Adam as a Dracula type character during an interview:

"It's an introspective look at a Count Dracula type of character who has been around since the 14th century. It's about a man who has lived too long and what that feels like for him. I've described his immortality as this heavy overcoat that he has to wear everywhere he goes, even though he's longing to take it off. There are people who want to live forever, but I think that if we had a chance to live for centuries, at the least, it would get boring and, at some point, even oppressive."

Page 17

We saw Adam's arm get fried during the Darkseid clone fight, but Priest has said in interviews that there is more to his ailment than what we've seen so far in the ["Liar"] sequence.

"At the same time, Black Adam gets infected with this space virus, so he believes he’s going to die."

Space Virus = Punching a hole through a Darkseid Clone? Desaad is a conniving SOB so I wouldn't be surprised.

Page 18

The rental car GPS did say that the last place Shakur had visited was Malik's house, so either he's lying or Shakur was intercepted by another individual and placed where the police found him during ["The Fixer"].

Looking back at the controversy surrounding Shakur's wife, could Malik be related to the Nassars and that's why Shakur went to his house? Given what we learn on the final page, this could be a possibility.

Page 19

Supporting cast expansion pack!

Reaffirming the lack of interaction with Shakur with a close friend seems to cement the fact that Malik most likely didn't meet with Shakur. It's all up in the air with the information we've been given so far.

Page 20

Magic van portal?

Page 21

That's an interesting group of characters (a chef?). The reveal that Shep is working with the reform group is interesting, he is a part of the State Department and could easily be in charge of Kahndaqi relations.

Page 22

This is very interesting. ["The Fixer"] sequence explained that Shakur Nassar was Adam's chief political rival, as he was in charge of the democratic reform movement in this country. Priest has confirmed in interviews that Black Adam only opposes democratic reform because there will be an immense cost of transition that could be disastrous. Kahndaq has always been under autocratic rule.

However, the circumstances as a result of ["The Liar"] sequence would seem to have given Adam little choice. It appears that Shakur chose Malik due to the fact that he's a descendant of Adam (but we still don't know if he has a connection to the wife controversy), and this makes the transition more enticing to Adam.

The Black Adam family has grown once more! I wonder if Priest will fold in Isis and Osiris, or if he's just going to stick to the N52 stuff.

PENDING QUESTIONS:

-What happened during the rest of [The Liar] flashback sequence?

-How did Black Adam get poisoned by a space virus?

-Who killed Shakur Nassar?

-What are the rumors about Nassar's wife?

-Why does Malik deny meeting Nassar even though the rental's GPS indicated Nassar had visited Malik's house?

Ultimate Jonathan Hickman Marvel Reading Order

Secret Warriors

[VOL I : "Nick Fury, Agent of Nothing"]

• Secret Warriors #1 - "Nick Fury Has A Plan"
• Secret Warriors #2 - "Heads of the Serpent"
• Secret Warriors #3 - "Benched"
• Secret Warriors #4 - "Recoil"
• Secret Warriors #5 - "Good & Damned Ready"
• Secret Warriors #6 - "Howling"

[VOL II : "God of Fear, God of War"]

• Secret Warriors #7 - "Executive Action"
• Thunderbolts #135 - "The Bad Guys Always Win"
• Secret Warriors #8 - "Mercy"
• Secret Warriors #9 - "Five Minutes"
• Dark Reign: The List | Secret Warriors - "Leviathan"
• Secret Warriors #10 - "Judgement Day"

[VOL III : "Wake The Beast"]

• Secret Warriors #11 - "Gorgon"
• Secret Warriors #12 - "Hive"
• Secret Warriors #13 - "Baron"
• Secret Warriors #14 - "Madame Hydra"
• Secret Warriors #15 - "Viper"
• Secret Warriors #16 - "Kraken"

[VOL IV : "Last Ride Of The Howling Commandos"]

• Siege: Secret Warriors - "Will We Always Be Together?"
• Secret Warriors #17 - "Never Forgotten, Never Defeated"
• Secret Warriors #18 - "Incoming!"
• Secret Warriors #19 - "Hold Your Head Up"

[VOL V : "Night"]

• Secret Warriors #20 - "Eclipse"
• Secret Warriors #21 - "How It's Supposed to Be"
• Secret Warriors #22 - "Mountain-Breaker"
• Secret Warriors #23 - "Rebirth"

[VOL VI : "Wheels Within Wheels"]

• Secret Warriors #24 - "I Did My Best"
• Secret Warriors #25 - "Zodiac"
• Secret Warriors #26 - "Scorpio"
• Secret Warriors #27 - "Final Words"
• Secret Warriors #28 - "One Man"

SHIELD

[SEASON I : "Architects of Forever"]

• SHIELD #1 - "The Infernal Resurrection of Leonardo Da Vinci"
• SHIELD #2 - "Newton's Theory of Eternal Life"
• SHIELD #3 - "The Theory of Eternal Life"
• SHIELD #4 - "The Madness, The Star Child, & The Celestial Madonna"
• SHIELD #5 - "The Forgotten Machines of Nikola Tesla"
• SHIELD #6 - "The Master's Hand"

SHIELD: INFINITY #1 - "Colossus"

[SEASON II : "The Beginning Of The End"]

• SHIELD #1 - "Terribilita"
• SHIELD #2 - "Fire"
• SHIELD #3 - "The Fall"
• SHIELD #4 - "All Together Now"
• SHIELD #5 - "Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow."
• SHIELD #6 - "I Am The Sun"

Fantastic Four

[Dark Reign: Fantastic Four]

• DR/FF #1 - The Bridge, Part I : "Building Bridges"
• DR/FF #2 - The Bridge, Part II : "Civil Discourse"
• DR/FF #3 - The Bridge, Part III : "Illuminate"
• DR/FF #4 - The Bridge, Part IV : "There Is Always A Way"
• DR/FF #5 - The Bridge, Part V : "The World I Created"

[VOL I : "Solve Everything"]

• Fantastic Four #570 - "Unsolvable"
• Fantastic Four #571 - "Initiation"
• Fantastic Four #572 - "Burning Bridges"
• Fantastic Four #573 - "Adventures on Nu-World!"
• Fantastic Four #574 - "Days of Future Franklin"

[VOL II : "The Prime Elements"]

• Fantastic Four #575 - "The Abandoned City of the High-Evolutionary"
• Fantastic Four #576 - "The Old Kings of Atlantis"
• Fantastic Four #577 - "Universal Inhumans"
• Fantastic Four #578 - "The Cult of the Negative Zone"

[VOL III : "To Do The Impossible..."]

• Fantastic Four #579 - "The Future Foundation"
• Fantastic Four #580 - "The Frank-Tastic Four"
• Fantastic Four #581 - "When Everything's Lost, the Battle is Won"
• Fantastic Four #582 - "Because of All These Things I've Done"

[VOL IV : "Three"]

• Fantastic Four #583 - "In Latveria, the Flowers Bloom in Winter"
• Fantastic Four #584 - "Congratulations, Mister Grimm. You're Handsome Again!"
• Fantastic Four #585 - "The Kings of Atlantis!"
• Fantastic Four #586 - "World-Eater!"
• Fantastic Four #587 - "The Last Stand!"
• Fantastic Four #588 - "Month of Mourning"

[FF ACT I : All Hope Lies in Doom]

• FF #1 - "The Club"
• FF #2 - "Doom Nation"
• FF #3 - "Whatever Happened To All Those Reeds?"
• FF #4 - "The Beating of Drums..."
• FF #5 - "...The Sound of War"

[FF ACT II : War of Four Cities]

• FF #6 - "Two Kings"
• FF #7 - "The Supremor Seed"
• FF #8 - "Ascension"
• FF #9 - "Burn it Down"
• FF #10 - "What I Need"
• FF #11 - "Intelligence"

[Forever]

• Fantastic Four #600 - Forever, Part I : "Fire In The Sky"
• FF #12 - "Too Many Kids"
• Fantastic Four #601 - Forever, Part II : "We Follow The Storm"
• FF #13 - "The Bridge"
• Fantastic Four #602 - Forever, Part III  : "A Season of Dying"
• FF #14 - "27 Minutes"
• Fantastic Four #603 - Forever, Part IV : "Can You Be Strong?"
• FF #15 - "The One Where Power Pack Shows Up"
• Fantastic Four #604 - Forever, Part V : "And If Tomorrow..."

[Four Reborn : Nightmares in the Negative World]

• FF #16 - "One Step Beyond"
• Fantastic Four #605 - "End of Line"
• Fantastic Four #605.1 - "Origin Story"
• Fantastic Four #606 - "Adventures in Red"
• FF #17 - "The Roommate Experience"
• FF #18 - "What Do You Call The Opposite Of a Field Trip?"

[Ancient History : Inhuman Beings]

• Fantastic Four #607 - "Inert"
• Fantastic Four #608 - "City of The Dead"
• FF #19 - "Safari"
• FF #20 - "Deus Ex Inhuman"
• FF #21 - "Ronance"
• Fantastic Four #609 - "The God Ship"

[Fantastic Finale: Like Father, Like Son]

• Fantastic Four #610 - "The Wizard"
• FF #22 - "You Are Whatever You Want To Be"
• Fantastic Four #611 - "Foundation"
• FF #23 - "Run"

The Ultimates

[Ultimate Thor: Siege Of The Golden City]

• Ultimate Thor #1 - "Do You Lack Faith Brother... Or Do You Believe?"
• Ultimate Thor #2 - "Change Is Chaos"
• Ultimate Thor #3 - "Salt and No Spirit"
• Ultimate Thor #4 - "Bring the Thunder"

[Ultimate Fallout: Spider-Man No More]

• Ultimate Fallout #1 - "Spider-Man RIP"
• Ultimate Fallout #2 - "How The World Killed Spider-Man"
• Ultimate Fallout #3 - "Moving Forward"
• Ultimate Fallout #4 - "New Kids on the Block"
• Ultimate Fallout #5 - "The Art of the Deal"
• Ultimate Fallout #6 - "The Blame"

[Ultimates: "The Republic is Burning"]

• Ultimates #1 - "That One Thing You Don't See Coming"
• Ultimates #2 - "Last Day of Legend"
• Ultimates #3 - "There's No Win Here"
• Ultimates #4 - "The Man Behind The Mask"

[Ultimates Hawkeye: "A Tale Of Two Cities"]

• Ultimate Hawkeye #1 - "I Don't Miss"
• Ultimate Hawkeye #2 - "Boogeyman"
• Ultimate Hawkeye #3 - "The Sun Is Setting"
• Ultimate Hawkeye #4 - "Celestial & Eternal"
• Ultimates #5 - "Let The Bloodletting Begin"
• Ultimates #6 - "Rewrite The Rules"

[Ultimates: "Two Cities, Two Worlds"]

• Ultimates #7 - "The Flower Reaps, The Hammer Yields"
• Ultimates #8 - "Let's Talk About It"
• Ultimates #9 - "All-Consuming"
• Ultimates #10 - "Invincible Under The Sun"
• Ultimates #11 - "Long May It Reign"
• Ultimates #12 - "Quorum"

Avengers

[Illuminated]

• New Avengers #1 - "Memento Mori"
• New Avengers #2 - "In Secret, They Rule"
• New Avengers #3 - "Infinity"

[Eden on the Red Planet]

• Avengers #1 - "Avengers World"
• Avengers #2 - "We Were Avengers"
• Avengers #3 - "The Garden"

[Swan Songs of a Dead World]

• New Avengers #4 - "World Eater"
• New Avengers #5 - "Black Swans"
• New Avengers #6 - "Blue Hell"

[Heroes Assembled]

• Avengers #4 - "The Death & Resurrection of Major Titans"
• Avengers #5 - "Superguardian"
• Avengers #6 - "Zen and the Art of Cosmology"

[Heralds of the New Universe]

• Avengers #7 - "The Last White Event"
• Avengers #8 - "Starbranded"
• Avengers #9 - "Star Bound"

[Survival of the Fittest]

• Avengers #10 - "Validator"
• Avengers #11 - "Wake the Dragon"
• Avengers #12 - "Evolve"
• Avengers #13 - "Strong"

[Prelude to Infinity - "The World is Screaming"]

• New Avengers #7 - "Thrones"
• Avengers #14 - "The Signal"
• Avengers #15 - "Sent & Received"
• Avengers #16 - "To The End"
• Avengers #17 - "...To the Light"
• New Avengers #8 - "What Maximus Made"

[Infinity Act I - "War on Two Fronts"]

• Infinity #1 - "Infinity"
• Avengers #18 - "Avengers Universe 1"
• New Avengers #9 - "The Cull Obsidian"
• Infinity #2 - "Fall"
• Avengers #19 - "Building Towards Collapse"

[Infinity Act II - "Spawn of the Mad Titan"]

• New Avengers #10 - "The Thanos Seed"
• Infinity #3 - "Kingdoms Fall"
• Avengers #20 - "The Offer"
• Infinity #4 - "Thane"
• Avengers #21 - "Emancipation"
• New Avengers #11 - "Builders"

[Infinity Act III - "Avengers Into Oblivion"]

• Infinity #5 - "Left Hand of Death"
• Avengers #22 - "To The Earth..."
• Avengers #23 - "...To The Very End"
• Infinity #6 - "Amber"
• New Avengers #12 - "Epilogue"

[Through The Looking Glass]

• New Avengers #13 - "Inhumanity"
• New Avengers #14 - "The Agamotto Gambit"
• New Avengers #15 - "See How The Swans Fly"

[Invasion of the Alter-Avengers]

• Avengers #24 - "Rogue Planet"
• Avengers #25 - "Carve A Hole... Crawl Inside"
• Avengers #26 - "Look Around... There's No Way Out"
• Avengers #27 - "Only Dirt... Six Feet Deep"
• Avengers #28 - "The Case"

[Last Stand of The Great Society]

• New Avengers #16 - "A Perfect World"
• New Avengers #17 - "A Perfect World II"

[Sins Unveiled]

• Avengers #29 - "Infinite Avengers"
• Avengers #30 - "Fifty into the Future"
• Avengers #31 - "500 into the Future"
• Avengers #32 - "Five Thousand into the Future"
• Avengers #33 - "Fifty Thousand into the Future"
• Avengers #34 - "The Last Avenger"

[Fall of the Illuminati]

• New Avengers #18 - "Into the Breach"
• New Avengers #19 - "We Are All Monsters Now"
• New Avengers #20 - "Blu'Dakorr"
• New Avengers #21 - "The Bomb"
• New Avengers #22 - "We Are Not Brothers"
• New Avengers #23 - "All The Angels Have Fallen"
  

[Time Runs Out Act I - "Aftermath"]

• Avengers #35 - "The Three Avengers"
• New Avengers #24 - "The Cabal"
• Avengers #36 - "Universal Avengers"
• New Avengers #25 - "What Happened When the World Woke Up"

[Time Runs Out Act II - "Schism"]

• Avengers #37 - "Archangel"
• New Avengers #26 - "Cages"
• Avengers #38 - "Origin Sites"
• New Avengers #27 - "Triage"

[Time Runs Out Act III - "Countdown"]

• Avengers #39 - "You Can't Win I"
• New Avengers #28 - "You Can't Win II"
• Avengers #40 - "We Three Kings"
• New Avengers #29 - "8 Months Ago..."

[Time Runs Out Act IV - "Destroyers Descending"]

• Avengers #41 - "Over There"
• New Avengers #30 - "Beyonders"
• Avengers #42 - "It All Comes Crashing Down"
• New Avengers #31 - "Rabum Alal"

[Time Runs Out Act V - "Everything Dies"]

• New Avengers #32 - "The Fall of Gods"
• Avengers #43 - "... And All That's Left is Ashes"
• New Avengers #33 - "In Latveria, the Flowers Die in Summer"
• Avengers #44 - "One Was Life, One Was Death"
  

[SECRET WARS]

• Secret Wars #0 - "Prelude"
• Secret Wars #1 - "The End Times"
• Secret Wars #2 - "Doom Messiah"
• Secret Wars #3 - "The Eye of Doom"
• Secret Wars #4 - "All The Angels Sing, All The Devils Dance"
• Secret Wars #5 - "Owen Reece Died For Our Sins"
• Secret Wars #6 - "We Raise Them Up... Just So We Can Pull Them Down."
• Secret Wars #7 - "King of The Dead"
• Secret Wars #8 - "Under Siege"
• Secret Wars #9 - "Beyond"

X-MEN

[HOX / POX]

• House of X #1 - "The House That Xavier Built"
• Powers of X #1 - "The Last Dream of Professor X"
• House of X #2 - "The Uncanny Life of Moira X"
• Powers of X #2 - "We Are Together Now, You And I"
• Powers of X #3 - "This is What You Do"
• House of X #3 - "Once More Unto The Breach"
• House of X #4 - "It Will be Done"
• Powers of X #4 - "Something Sinister"
• House of X #5 - "Society"
• Powers of X #5 - "For The Children"
• House of X #6 - "I Am Not Ashamed"
• Powers of X #6 - "House of X"

[DAWN OF X]

• X-Men #1 - "Pax Krakoa"
• New Mutants #1 - "The Sextant"
• X-Men #2 - "Summoner"
• New Mutants #2 - "Space Jail"
• X-Men #3 - "Hordeculture"
• X-Men #4 - "Global Economics"
• New Mutants #5 - "Endangered Birds"
• X-Men #5 - "Into The Vault"
• X-Men #6 - "The Oracle"
• New Mutants #7 - "Spoilers"
• Giant Size X-Men: Jean Grey & Emma Frost - "Into The Storm"
• X-Men #7 - "Lifedeath"
• X-Men #8 - "Swarm"
• Giant Size X-Men: Nightcrawler - "Haunted Mansion"
• X-Men #9 - "The King Egg"
• Giant Size X-Men: Magneto
• Empyre: X-Men #1 - "Alien Plants vs Mutant Zombies vs Old Ladies"
• X-Men #10 - "Fire"
• Giant Size X-Men: Fantomex - "The World"
• Empyre: X-Men #4 - "Un-Ring"
• X-Men #11 - "One War, One Mutant"
• Giant Size X-Men: Storm - "Disintegration"
• X-Men #12 - "Amenth"

[X OF SWORDS]

• X of Swords: Creation - "Chapter One"
• X-Men #13 - "Chapter Ten"
• X of Swords: Stasis - "Chapter Eleven"
• X-Men #14 - "Chapter Twelve"
• X-Men #15 - "Chapter Twenty"
• X of Swords : Destruction - "Chapter Twenty Two"

[REIGN OF X]

• SWORD #1 - "Mysterium"
• SWORD #2 - "In The Dark"
• SWORD #3 - "Everywhere Man"
• SWORD #4 - "The Krakoan Sun"
• X-Men #16 - "Sworded Out"
• X-Men #17 - "Empty Nest"
• X-Men #18 - "Inside The Vault"
• X-Men #19 - "Out of The Vault"
• SWORD #5 - "Giallo"
• X-Men #20 - "Lost Love"
• X-Men #21 - "The Beginning"
• SWORD #6 - "This Is What Comes Next"
• SWORD #7 - "Full Spectrum Diplomacy"
• SWORD #8 - "Unbroken"
• SWORD #9 - "Friends In High Places"
• SWORD #10 - "Triple Threat"
• SWORD #11 - "Final Frontier"
• Inferno #1 - "Destiny"
• Inferno #2 - "Moira"
• Inferno #3 - "Nimrod"
• Inferno #4 - "Mystique"

[ETERNALS ACT I - "ONLY DEATH IS ETERNAL"]

• Eternals #1 - Only Death Is Eternal, Part I : "The Arrow & The Child"
• Eternals #2 - Only Death Is Eternal, Part II : "The Vision & The Titan"
• Eternals #3 - Only Death Is Eternal, Part III : "The Book & The Blade"
• Eternals #4 - Only Death Is Eternal, Part IV : "The Snake & The Mask"
• Eternals #5 - Only Death Is Eternal, Part V : "The Forgotten & The Forge"
• Eternals #6 - Only Death Is Eternal, Part VI : "The Machine & The Truth"

[ETERNAL ADDENDUM]

• Eternals: Thanos Rises #1 - "Sins Of The Sons"
• Eternals: Celestia #1 - "A Pilgrim's Complete Lack of Progress"

[ETERNALS ACT II - "HAIL THANOS"]

• Eternals #7 - Hail Thanos, Part I : "Election Night"
• Eternals #8 - Hail Thanos, Part II : "Greetings From Lemuria"
• Eternals #9 - Hail Thanos, Part III : "Death Of An Artist"
• Eternals #10 - Hail Thanos, Part IV : "Secrets Of The Divine"
• Eternals: The Heretic #1 - "Thanos' Grandfather"
• Eternals #11 - Hail Thanos, Part V : "The Gods Cannot Hear You"
• Eternals #12 - Hail Thanos, Part VI : "Never Doubt A Serpent's Cunning"

[IMMORTAL X-MEN/X-MEN RED]

• Immortal X-Men #1 - "The Left Hand"
• Immortal X-Men #2 - "All Mankind's Woes"
• X-Men Red #1 - "The Broken Land"
• Avengers/X-Men FCBD 2022 - "Prologue To The End"
• X-Men Red #2 - "Man on Fire"
• X-Men Red #3 - "Loss"
• Immortal X-Men #3 - "The New Testament of Irene Adler"
• X-Men Red #4 - "Three Short Stories About Death"
• Immortal X-Men #4 - "Diamonds Are Forever"

[JUDGEMENT DAY]

• A.X.E : Eve Of Judgement #1 - "How I Learned To Love The Bomb"
• A.X.E : Judgement Day #1 - "A Victory By Erosion"
• Immortal X-Men #5 - "Meditations On The X"
• X-Men Red #5 - "The Hour Of Uranos"
• A.X.E : Judgement Day #2 - "Everyone Is Important"
• A.X.E : Death To The Mutants #1 - "Forgotten Weaknesses"
• A.X.E : Judgement Day #3 - "All You Need Is Love"
• A.X.E : Death To The Mutants #2 - "Day of the Deviants"
• Immortal X-Men #6 - "The Devil's Party"
• X-Men Red #6 - "The Hour of Magneto"
• A.X.E : Judgement Day #4 - "No More Tomorrows"
• A.X.E : Judgement Day #5 - "Assemble & Avenge"
• X-Men Red #7 - "The Winning Side"
• Immortal X-Men #7 - "Red In Blue"
• A.X.E : Death To The Mutants #3 - ""
• A.X.E : Starfox #1 - ""
• A.X.E : Avengers #1 - ""
• A.X.E : X-Men #1 - ""
• A.X.E : Eternals #1 - ""
• A.X.E : Judgement Day #6 - "Every Day"
• A.X.E : Judgement Day Omega #1 - ""

[DESTINY OF X]

• X-Men Red #8 - "Mission To The Unknown"
• Immortal X-Men #8 - "The Curious Case of Dr. Essex & Mr. Sinister"
• X-Men Red #9 - "Return of the King"
• Immortal X-Men #9 - "The X Lives of Moira VI"
• X-Men Red #10 - "The New Age"
• Immortal X-Men #10 - "Hated & Feared"

[SINS OF SINISTER]

• Sins of Sinister #1 - "Everything Is Sinister"
• Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants #1 - "Storm's Seven"
• Nightcrawlers #1 - "Voices of Fire"
• Immoral X-Men #1 - "The Bond Age"
• Nightcrawlers #2 - "The Apostate"
• Immoral X-Men #2 - "Four-Letter Words"
• Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants #2 - "No Hope"
• Immoral X-Men #3 - "Our Nine-Hundred-Years-And-Counting Mission"
• Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants #3 - "The Song of The End"
• Nightcrawlers #3 - "The Sacred Heart"
• Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1 - "∞ Deadly Sins"

[BEFORE THE FALL]

• Immortal X-Men #11 - "A Hard Reign"
• X-Men: Before the Fall | Sons of X #1 - "Run It Again"
• X-Men Red #11 - "A Storm on the Horizon"
• X-Men Red #12 - "Storm Warning"
• X-Men: Before the Fall | Heralds of Apocalypse #1 - "Genesis & Revelations"
• X-Men: Before the Fall | Sinister Four #1 - "Lonely Hearts Club"
• Immortal X-Men #12 - "The Idiot"
• Immortal X-Men #13 - "Deadlocked"
• X-Men Red #13 - "The Annihilation of Arakko"

[FALL OF X]

• X-Men: Hellfire Gala (2023)
• Immortal X-Men #14 - "Sympathy for the Scarlet Witch"
• X-Men Red #14 - "To War We March"
• Immortal X-Men #15 - "Thirst Things First"
• Uncanny Spider-Man #1 - "Park Life"
• X-Men Red #15 - "Nothing & Nobody"
• Immortal X-Men #16 - "The Island of Doctor Xavier"
• X-Men Red #16 - "The Fall of Prometheus"
• Uncanny Spider-Man #2 - "Blue Streak"
• Uncanny Spider-Man #3 - "Superpositional"
• X-Men Red #17 - "The Avatar of Life"
• Immortal X-Men #17 - "The White Hot Danger Room"
• Uncanny Spider-Man #4 - "Slice & Dice"
• X-Men Blue: Origins #1
• X-Men Red #18 - "The Mended Land"
• Uncanny Spider-Man #5 - "Fade To Blue"
• Immortal X-Men #18 - "Happily Ever After"

[FHOX // RPOX]

• Fall of the House of X #1 - "The Trial of Cyclops"
• Rise of the Powers of X #1 - "Data Pages"
• Resurrection of Magneto #1 - "The Lightning Path"
• Fall of the House of X #2 - "Long Games End"
• Rise of the Powers of X #2 - "Out of Space"
• Resurrection of Magneto #2 - "The Weight of the World"
• Fall of the House of X #3 - "The X Deaths of Dr. Stasis"
• Resurrection of Magneto #3 - "Falls the Shadow"
• X-Men: Forever #1 - "A Ghost"
• Rise of the Powers of X #3 - "The Ex Life of Moira"
• Resurrection of Magneto #4 - "Reawakening"
• Fall of the House of X #4 - "The Turn"
• Rise of the Powers of X #4 - "Sentinel X"
• X-Men: Forever #2 - "Quiet Council"
• X-Men: Forever #3 - "Unhappy In Their Own Way"
• X-Men: Forever #4 - "No Hope"
• Fall of the House of X #5 - "The Turn II"
• Rise of the Powers of X #5 - "Now & Forever"
• Uncanny X-Men #700 - ""