Thunderbolts Annual #1: The Thunderbolts are tasked by W.A.N.D., the magicial/supernatural department of SHIELD to take down a rogue Dr. Strange, who has turned everyone in New York City into happy, mindless slaves. After heading out into the Marvel universe to gather magical weapons and artifacts, the team learns that Strange is actually a Lovecraftian fairy disguised as Dr. Strange and they all fall under his happy influence, except The Punisher, who is happiest when he is killing and he takes out the fake Strange and WAND rescues the real Strange from the astral plane.
X-O Manowar #20: Following the battle on his alien flagship, Aric is separated from his armor and it’s taken by Unity member Livewire, Aric still has some control and causes the suit to attack the other Unity team members but Livewire finally gets full control of it. Aric retreats and tries to get his people off the ship before it’s flooded with water, since it crashed into the Pacific Ocean, but Unity arrives to stop them, only to get a ton of guns pointed at them.
Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion #3: The Rogues ended up in Gotham City after escaping the attack by the Crime Syndicate in Central City and wind up in Poison Ivy’s garden. Ivy lures Trickster in and poisons him with a kiss, forcing the other Rogues to figure out some way to get sunlight to her precious plants. Mirror Master rebuilds his mirror gun and tries to use it reflect light off a satellite in space to the garden but has to bail before he’s trapped in the mirror universe. The Rogues flee from Ivy’s garden but run headlong into Mister Freeze.
Indestructible Hulk #17: With the spread of the Terrigan Mists on Earth, turning hundreds if not thousands of people into Inhumans, the greatest minds in the Marvel universe try to work on solution. Bruce Banner is close but gets frustrated by the mistrust and condescension from likes of Tony Stark and Hank Pym. Bruce designs some sort of bomb but is dismissed by Tony, Hank and Beast when they come to talk about a solution. Bruce gets pissed, Hulks out and takes the bomb, forcing the Avengers to follow. After a midair skirmish, Beast asks if maybe they should trust that Bruce found a solution and Tony shoots missiles at the bomb, seemingly detonating it.
Deadpool #21: DP and Agent Preston meet with Dr. Strange to find out if they can get Preston’s mind out of Deadpool’s head but there isn’t an easy solution for the problem. They then go to SHIELD agent Adsit, who looks into possibly putting Preston’s consciousness into an LMD but he learns there’s already one out there, under the control of the dirty Agent Gorman, who puts a $10 million bounty out on Deadpool’s head, drawing in all of the big mercenaries of the Marvel universe. We also learn that Phil Coulson is personally looking into Preston’s case as well and working with Adsit to possibly take down Gorman.
Thor: God of Thunder #16: The League of Realms collapses as Thor accuses Ud the Troll of being a traitor after Malekith continues to be one step ahead of them after he escapes into Jotunheim with a newly formed alliance with the Frost Giants. Thor executes Ud and then goes to Earth with the dark elf Waziria to try and get the remaining dark elf tribes to unite against Malekith, but they refuse and, after Malekith ambushes the meeting, it’s revealed Thor was infected by some sort of creature that caused him to be the traitor to the alliance.
Fantastic Four #15: The FF learn that their degrading powers were the result of absorbing the alternate dimension FF’s powers after their planet was taken over by Doom, Annihilus and Kang. The two groups meet and our FF transfer the excess powers to their counterparts, only to have Ant Man stop them in the middle. He’s been working with Doom for some way to get his daughter back and the FF have to go and rescue Marvel Girl, who is a time anomaly that Doom also wants. After fighting off Doom, Marvel Girl is able to destroy the “time grenade” that was keeping the other FF in stasis and the power transfer is completed. Kang absorbed Annihilus’ powers and attacks but Doom traveled back in time briefly and set it up so that he would absorb both of their powers and becomes Doom, the Annihilating Conqueror.
Secret Avengers #13: While Maria Hill and Modok hash out a deal, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Nick Fury are being held hostage by AIM forces and Mockingbird reveals herself to Taskmaster, before executing him.
Ghostbusters #11: The Ghostbusters head to Rhinebeck, NY because of reports of mysterious creatures appearing outside of children’s windows and learn that the evil spirit of Sinterklaas is coming to abduct them for being naughty. The team manages to fight him off but learn that it might only be the tip of the iceberg, as Kylie and Ray uncover a pattern of ghost activity that seems to be leading to an imminent major paranormal event. Also Eduardo of Extreme Ghostbusters stars in the backup story where he gets a vision that a powerful god may be making her way to Earth after opening a mysterious book delivered to the occult bookshop.
Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth #7: Godzilla and Jet Jaguar team up to take on Gigan while the evil aliens recover the regenerating remains of Orga. After taking down Gigan, Godzilla turns on Jet Jaguar, and Jet flies him out and dumps him in the middle of the ocean. The aliens retreat to an island they are using as a base, only to have Jet Jaguar attack and take down their ship.
Mars Attacks Judge Dredd #4: The epic crossover concludes with Dredd and Judge Anderson discovering that the mysterious spheres around the world are actually housing Martian brains. Anderson, with Dredd as a buffer, attacks and manages to psychically take out the brains, bringing back all of humanity’s weapons and letting the various cities take out the Martians, who flee. It’s implied Dredd wants to take the fight to Mars but for now, Earth is safe.
TMNT #29: After the brutal battle of City Fall, the turtles, Splinter, Casey and April head to April’s family farm in Northhampton. Leo is still suffering aftereffects of Shredder’s brainwashing and lashes out randomly at his brothers. Arriving at April’s farm, the group is surprised by Aloplex, who snuck onto the roof of their van. She claims to not be a Foot anymore but the turtles are wary and she heads off into the woods by herself. April and Casey meet April’s parents at their house up the road and they may have some sort of important info about Stockgen and the ooze, as April’s father worked there before he had a stroke.
Samurai Jack #3: Jack arrives in the seemingly peaceful and beautiful city of Grantus and meets it’s champion Gloer the Great. Gloer gives Jack loads of hospitality but has strangely forbade the citizens to talk or interact with strangers. An attack by Aku’s robots seemingly kills Jack and destroys the city but it’s revealed to be some sort of vision from Gloer’s ghost, as he was killed when the city fell long ago and his piece of the Thread of Time is the only thing keeping him on Earth. Jack tells him that there is no need to feel shame and that he should go in peace, which he does and gives Jack another thread and brings him closer to getting home and stopping Aku.
Animal Man #26: A crazy new twist in the Red/Green/Rot balance established in Animal Man and Swamp Thing. Buddy is teleported to an alien planet and finds other creatures battling a giant monster alien. Buddy uses his powers to match the strength of the creature and kills it and The Bridgemaster reveals himself. The Bridgemaster is an alien who oversees the Seed World, which may be the source for all the Red/Green and Rot power in the universe. Defeating the creature made Buddy the apprentice and the next Bridgemaster, but he refuses until he makes a deal with The Bridgemaster to be allowed to return to Earth, save his family and then he will come and learn how to oversee the Seed World. Buddy is dropped back into the Red, only to come face to face with Brother Blood.
Eternal Warrior #4: Gilad and his daughter Xaran, make their way to the tree housing the Goddess of the Earth and launch an attack against her and her minions. The Goddess tells Gilad that he could kill her, but the tree would rot and eventually a door would open, unleashing Nergal, the God of Death but Gilad kills her anyway and his ally Buck, the Geomancer, tells them they have 2,000 years to prepare for Nergal’s return.
Star Trek #28: After multiple double crosses, the conflict between the Enterprise crew, the Romulans, Section 31 and the Klingons ends with Khitomer being saved from a detonation of red matter while the Romulans and their fleet are destroyed. Sulu’s sister, Yuki, who was a Section 31 spy, leaves with the Section 31 agents in a cloaked starship and the remaining red matter, claiming to be working for the benefit of humanity to protect against all threats. Kirk and the Enterprise crew report in and then head back out to continue their 5 year mission.
