Fantastic Four #5: After recent events where monsters from other dimensions escaped the Baxter Building and a fight with a new Frightful Four leveled half of the city, the Fantastic Four are locked out of their home and put on trial. Despite a valiant effort by She-Hulk as their defense attorney, the Four are convicted, seemingly for all the damage ever done by super heroes. The kids of the Future Foundation are, fortunately, in good hands though as they are brought under the care of newly minted SHIELD agent, Jim Hammond (the OG robot Human Torch) at the base where he was created.
Suicide Squad #30: After the events of Forever Evil, the US and the world are trying to rebuild and Amanda Waller becomes the scape goat for a number of the things that happened. She’s stripped of command of ARGUS and Task Force X is now fully under the command of the US government, who will send the Squad in to perform clandestine assassinations, demolition, etc. Deadshot is transported back to the rebuilt Belle Reve and Black Manta, despite getting pardon for helping defeat the Crime Syndicate, decides he can’t function on the outside and volunteers for the Squad.
Thunderbolts #26: In South America investigating a mysterious power source, all the ‘Bolts suffer horrible deaths, either from each other or traps. Punisher and Elektra are crushed in a trap room, Deadpool is melted by a pit of lava, Leader’s head explodes trying to drink the Celestial blood that is the power source, etc. General Ross finds one of the members of the team he originally sent, Mancusco, who offers him the choice to either die with his team or go back and choose a better path. Ross chooses the latter and time reverts back to before Ross started the South America mission, which he now passes on and the team is back alive and well.
Guardians of the Galaxy #15: Going off the events of the Free Comic Book Day issue, the Guardians are all captured by the various enemy races they’ve made in their time defending the galaxy. Rocket is captured by the Kree, Drax by the Shi’ar, Gamorra by the Badoon, Groot by the Brood and Venom by the Skrulls. Peter Quill was taken into custody by his father, who wants him to give up the Guardians and take his place as Star-Lord. Peter almost makes the deal but after learning Guardians are in trouble, escapes.
Disney’s Seekers of the Weird #5: The misadventures in the Museum of the Weird come to an end as Max and Melody Keep use their newly learned skills to get an army of plants to fight against the evil Shadow Society and the supposedly good Wardens. The apocalypse bringing Shadow King is unleashed from his clock prison but Max is able to retrap him by using the keys he and his sister were given by their parents and the Shadow Society is scattered. Melody and Max keep up their studies of all things weird and are ready for if the Society ever returns.
All New Invaders #5: Cap’s plan to rescue Namor from the Kree goes off without a hitch as Winter Soldier frees the original Vision, Aarkus, who goes and finds another Eternal, Maakari, who manages to help stop the mind controlled Ikaris. Jim Hammond, meanwhile, has been slowly increasing the radiation of the room they are being held and unleashes his power to knock out all the Kree soldiers. Cap then disables the Supreme Intelligence with his new, nanite, laced shield and forces Tanalth to let them leave. Back on Earth, Cap recruits Jim for SHIELD and Aarkus turns the God Whisper device over to the Eternals, who are attempting to use it gain control of Galactus.
Godzilla #12: A massive final battle takes place between Godzilla, Titanosaurus and the other monsters, destroying the alien Devonian base. The US launches a nuclear strike against all the targets and Godzilla is buried under tons of ocean floor. The monsters already captured are safe and contained on Monster Island, ready to be studied by the science team but Godzilla is never out of the picture for long.
Iron Man #26: With Iron Man and the other Mandarins after him, Malekith is finally in over his head and he makes deal with Tony to turn over his Mandarin rings to avoid being hunted down for the rest of his life. Tony returns to Earth and finds that the Extremis infected woman he captured earlier in the series seems to be changing or deteriorating but he leaves that in the hands of his magic advisor, Dark Angel and he goes to visit his brother Arno, to secure the captured rings and work on creating a ring of his own to stop the others.
Aquaman #31: Picking up from the last issue of Swamp Thing, Aquaman has been hunting down the being of responsible for covering the ocean in algae. Alec did this to show the Parliament of Trees that he was worthy of retaking the Avatar mantle but there’s apparently still a large patch of algae causing massive damage to sea life somewhere in the South Pacific. Alec learns this after a brutal fight with Aquaman where the gets some help from alligators. Back in Atlantis, Queen Mera tries to find out who is responsible for an assassination attempt against her and Aquaman.
Wolverine #7: In Madripoor, Logan is ambushed by Hand ninjas but rescued by MI-13 agent Faiza Hussain, who heals him with her powers. Logan’s new teammate and love interest, Pinch, sees this and realizes Logan has been lying to her since he joined their group. Logan manages to recover the powerful artifact they were sent to collect but it has some sort of security programmed into it and creates duplicate versions of Logan. Pinch manages to override and she and the team abandon Logan, who is back in the crosshairs of Sabretooth.
Ghostbusters #16: The Ghostbusters are in a very familiar scenario as Dana Barrett and Louis Tully are possessed and a Sumerian god has taken up residence on the top of a building. After getting a warning from their older, future selves, the group confronts Tamat. This time though, they have almost triple the fire power with their new recruits. Crossing the streams again seems to have worked to defeat Tamat but the goddess of chaos may not have gone down as easily as Gozer.
24: Underground #2: The prequel to Live Another Day finds Jack on the run from the surviving Drazen brother, bent on getting revenge. After a shootout and car chase, Jack and his friend Petro try to gather Petros’ family, including Jack’s new love interest Sofiya before Mishka Drazen can get to them. Meanwhile, the CIA tries to track Jack and are closing in.
Batman #31: Zero Year continues as Batman goes face to face with the Riddler for the first time in the month since Riddler took over Gotham. Distracting Nygma long enough for Jim Gordon and Lucius Fox to track his location, Batman is dropped into a pit of lions, which he manages to defeat. With Riddler’s location, the final fight is near.
Deadpool #29: Dracula continues to try and destroy the marriage of Deadpool and Shiklah by sending vampires to disrupt the Monster Montropolis’ operations. Wade visits SHIELD to see Agent Preston, who is working on trying to find out if Wade’s daughter is alive. Wade tries to recruit Dazzler to help him fight the vampires but she passes so Wade sneaks into the ruined Baxter Building, steals a time travel device and recruits 70’s Dazzler to help him.
Samurai Jack #8: Trying to get some rest at a capsule hotel, Aku transports Jack to a cave where he has to fight off evil mirror versions of himself. The cool thing is that is a “silent” issue of the book, with only the pictures telling the story of the issue.
Star Trek #33: On their five year mission, the Enterprise crew are scanning and cataloging planets when they find a world teeming with life. Kirk takes an away team down to investigate and find what seems like a paradise but they uncover evidence that humans from the early 20th century may have arrived in the past. A creature steals Sulu’s tricorder and he gets separated from the rest of the team trying to retrieve. Spock arrives with reinforcements and finds a giant, vicious looking beast holding Kirk in it’s clutches.
Doc Savage Annual #1: After stopping an attack on NYC by the Sea Spider Society, Doc learns that his old friend Jimmy has died. Visiting the reservation that Jimmy grew up on, Doc reflects on how Jimmy helped him survive World War I and then goes to see an old friend in South America. He unwittingly stumbles on the base of Sea Spider Society and manages to stop their latest operation before it starts and then reunites with his team in NYC.
Batman Eternal #8: After a restless night stopping dozens of Falcone men committing various crimes, Bruce is livid when they are ignored by Commissioner Ford, who is working for Falcone. Ford tries to set a trap for Batman using the Batsignal but rookie Jason Bard helps Batman escape. Bruce decides to investigate what Carmine was doing in Hong Kong prior to returning to Gotham but may run into Catwoman, who might be doing the same thing.
The Star Wars #8: The original vision of Star Wars comes to a close as General Luke Skywalker leads a squad of Imperial fighters, piloted by Wookie warriors, against the Empire’s Space Fortress. Inside the Space Fortress, Jedi Anakin Starkiller gets help from an unlikely source, Sith Prince Valorum and together they are able to rescue Princess Leia before the fortress explodes, killing Darth Vader. Every is honored on Aquilae and Anakin is named the new High Protector of the planet.
Future’s End #4: Frankenstein returns to SHADE, first to get answers about why they attacked him but then agrees to help them find out what destroyed Stormwatch. Grifter, meanwhile, kills a group aliens disguised as a support group but is attacked by the mysterious Faraday, who wants Grifter working for him and paralyzes him when he refuses, leaving him to be arrested as a serial killer by the police. Red Robin also learns about the existence of Batman Beyond.
Shadowman: End Times #2: Jack Boniface is on a quest of revenge against his father, Josiah, who abandoned him and faked his death after a battle with villain Master Darque. Voodoo priestess Punk Mambo helps Jack find where Josiah may be hiding and he sets out to enter the Voodoo Lands but a sacrifice has to be made before he can enter. He thinks giving up his mother’s wedding ring, the last thing he has of her, may be enough but it takes him breaking the heart of his new love, Alyssa, that allows him to enter and start tracking down his father, which may require resurrecting Master Darque.
Tomb Raider #4: With her best friend Sam kidnapped by crazed cultists, Lara Croft has to gather the Endeavor survivors and begin a new expedition to Yamatai Island. Their fishing frigate is attacked on the way and Lara just barely escapes into a life raft before it explodes. Lara makes it back to Yamatai but this time she is prepared with her bow, climbing axe and guns.
Star Wars: Rebel Heist #2: Princess Leia goes undercover as a drug dealer to recover a vital Imperial code and recovers a Twi’lek agent who was also undercover as a dancer. Breaking into a crime lord’s mansion, Leia finds the code is actually an undercover Stormtrooper and together, they fight their way out. Leia gives herself up so that her fellow spies can escape and the trooper learns he’s to meet up with Chewbacca for the next leg of his mission.
