New 52 Year Seven (Part 2)

(July 2014 to December 2014)

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SUPERMAN: DOOMED – ENEMY OF THE STATE
————————–Action Comics Vol. 2 #32
Picking up directly from Superman Vol. 3 #31, Superman is quickly morphing into a new Doomsday. Out of control, he burns through hundreds of acres of woodland, forcing the US Air Force to bomb him. Meanwhile, Lana Lang tells Wonder Woman that origins of the recent mass coma in Smallville has been traced to outer space. Elsewhere, at a government facility, Senator Sam Lane and Lois Lane (still being controlled by Brainiac) revive Metal-Zero (aka Metallo). At STEEL, they revive Atomic Skull (Joseph Martin). The US Army then sends Metallo and Atomic Skull (with a multiple megaton payload blast of aerosol Kryptonite) to bring down Superman, whose mere presence has begun to kill everything within a few dozen meters of wherever he goes. The Army’s plan is for all three men to kill each other. Both Steel and Lex Luthor realize and disapprove of what the Army is up to, so Steel begins fighting-off Metallo and Atomic Skull. Superman tries to help Steel, but winds up detonating the aerosol Kryptonite bomb. The massive green cloud envelops Superman and causes him to morph further into a mindless Doomsday monster.

SUPERMAN: DOOMED – SUPERDOOM^[1]
————————–Action Comics Vol. 2 Annual #3
————————–Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1
Picking up shortly after Action Comics Vol. 2 #32, Superman has turned into Doomsday in a cape—”SuperDoom.” Despite having morphed into a monster, Superman still retains a heart of decency, but an internal battle that will determine whether he pulls out of the darkness or succumbs to it goes on within his mind. Meanwhile, Brainiac has reared his evil head and begun an all-out war against Earth. After fully taking control of Lois Lane’s mind and body, Brainiac leads Metallo, Cyborg Superman, and an army of War of the Worlds-like “nodes” into battle. Taking down Earth’s planetary defenses within minutes, Lois-Brainiac’s node army decimates Metropolis and several other large cities. When Cyborg Superman leads a flotilla of Brainiac-controlled space vessels en route to attack Earth, SuperDoom goes to fight him just outside of Mars. Aboard the JL Satellite, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Batman (via holographic satellite from the Fortress of Solitude) detect and discuss the incoming threat Brainiac’s invasion fleet. The “coma zones,” originally just in Smallville, but now also in Metropolis, are directly linked to Brainiac’s invasion. Cyborg tries to fire off a pre-emptive strike via a combined laser grid from all of Earth’s satellites, but Brainiac destroys the entire grid. Steel and Lana Lang contact the JL and explain that they can shut down Brainiac’s stranglehold over the planet by destroying a mere 36% of his nodes. In the Fortress of Solitude, Batman assembles Ghost Soldier, Harrow, Krypto, Lex Luthor (via hologram), and Dr. Shay Veritas (via hologram). This think-tank determines that Brainiac has manipulated everything that has occurred—Brainiac secretly manipulated Harrow’s recent release of Doomsday from the Phantom Zone knowing that Doomsday would infect Superman. Concerned about Red Hood and his “Outlaws” (Arsenal and Starfire) in Gotham, Batman radios his former Robin and tells him to get outta town. SuperDoom returns to Earth to help them fight off some nodes. However, with the Earth’s atmosphere still permeated with Kryptonite radiation, Superman begins to lose even more control of himself and begins to emit more poison from his body. Back in the Fortress, Batman declares that they must get rid of that damn Kryptonite. Luthor says that it is impossible, but Batman says that the captured Dr. Xa-Du can do it. But Xa-Du is a super-villain, so it will take some convincing (aka forcing). While Batman, Luthor, Harrow, and Doc Veritas try to steal and use Xa-Du’s metapower “to turn things unsubstantial” on the Kryptonite, Martian Manhunter is able to use his telepathic/telekinetic powers to temporarily purge the Doomsday virus from Superman in Sao Paolo. While Superman is heroic for a few minutes, Ghost Soldier and Baka join the Man of Steel and Martian Manhunter to defeat a bunch of nodes. Before long, however, Superman reverts back into beast-mode. In Cambodia, Hawkman and Simon Baz are having trouble with a node until SuperDoom arrives and smashes it up. Wonder Woman then checks in on Batman to make sure his plan is still working (a scene that is shown in both Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1 and Action Comics Vol. 2 Annual #3). Across the globe, the JL, Swamp Thing, the Teen Titans, Heat Wave, Weather Wizard, and members of the Red Lantern Corps (Guy Gardner, Bleez, and Zilius Zox) fight the good fight. (The Red Lantern Corps has recently taken over the Green Lantern Corps’ responsibility as protector of Sector 2814, which includes Earth.) In Metropolis, SuperDoom and Baka destroy a ton of Brainiac’s robots and sever Brainiac’s control over Lois and Metallo. Lois, still with flight ability and telepathy, joins Metallo to continue fighting against Brainiac’s army. In outer space, Steel and Lana Lang fight Cyborg Superman. Eventually, SuperDoom loses complete control of himself and winds up fighting Wonder Woman. Thankfully, Harrow is able to steal Xa-Du’s powers and she eliminates all of the Kryptonite from the atmosphere. Superman is fully restored in an instant and the Doomsday virus disappears! (Xa-Du, as a Kryptonian, gains his full strength back as well, which allows him to easily escape and flee.) Nearly all of Brainiac’s army is defeated, but it doesn’t matter. The real invasion force bursts through an interdimensional stargate—a colossal Brainiac mothership that is larger than the planet Earth itself.

SUPERMAN: DOOMED – LAST SUN
————————–Action Comics Vol. 2 #34
————————–Superman/Wonder Woman #11
————————–Superman: Doomed #2
Picking up shortly after Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1, Brainiac’s mothership has entered Earth’s atmosphere. Batman, from the Fortress of Solitude, detects that Brainiac is about to send out a mind-control pulse, so he tries to warn Red Hood, Starfire, and Arsenal in Gotham. But it’s too late. Millions of people (regular folks and metahumans) immediately succumb to Brainiac’s immense power, all flatlining and turning into mindless zombies. Shortly thereafter the remaining heroes—only Superman, Lois Lane (still with metapowers), Martian Manhunter, Krypto, Metallo, Harrow, Ghost Soldier, Batman, Cyborg, Steel, Lana Lang, Dr. Shay Veritas, and Wonder Woman—regroup on the JL satellite. Using her power to summon and command the dead, Harrow raises up history’s greatest deceased warriors. While Brainiac’s “daughtership” robots are distracted by the army of the dead, Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman attack his mothership. After a calculated strike, the heroes in the Fortress of Solitude (Batman, Lois Lane, Wonder Woman, and Dr. Veritas) combine their tech with the heroes aboard the JL satellite (Lana Lang, Cyborg, and Steel) in an attempt to suck both Brainiac’s mothership and the entire planet Earth into the Phantom Zone! But their plan fails miserably as Brainiac assimilates the ghost army and blows up the JL satellite. Brainiac’s mothership then tries to smash into the much smaller Earth but the combined brute strength of Superman and Martian Manhunter is enough to push the giant vessel back. Superman and Martian Manhunter then destroy a bunch of Brainiac’s elite Collector robots before rescuing Lana Lang and Steel. While they retreat to the Fortress of Solitude, Cyborg is assimilated by the Collectors. In the Fortress of Solitude, the heroes rejoin Batman, Wonder Woman, and Lois Lane and learn that those assimilated by Brainiac eventually die. With no other options left, Wonder Woman recruits Mongul and Non to help the good guys in exchange for Warworld and freedom. Superman taps deep into his unconscious mind, released the Doomsday virus shackled in his psyche, and once again becomes the monster Super Doom. Traveling at near light speed, Super Doom crashes into Brainiac’s mothership. There, Brainiac enters Super Doom’s mind and tells Clark to back down, claiming that he is simply trying to collect enough minds to reshape the universe into a perfect utopia. Brainiac also tells Clark that if his (Brainiac’s) body is destroyed, all of the assimilated people of Earth and other planets will perish. And Brainiac also reveals that Cyborg Superman is Supergirl’s father (and Clark’s uncle) Zor-El. Speaking of Cyborg Superman, Supergirl takes him down inside the Fortress of Solitude. Brainiac, however, manages to assimilate all of the heroes, including Batman. Brainiac then shows Clark visions of a false future 25 years later where Metropolis is safe and Bruce has retired and turned the Batcave into a restaurant. Inside the mothership, Super Doom battles his way to the inner core and meets the man behind Brainiac, an alien scientist formerly known as Vril Dox, who has done every evil act up to this point in an attempt to recreate the universe to bring back his dead family. Super Doom, with Lois Lane’s telepathic help and energy from a Wonder Woman controlled WarWorld, causes Brainiac to release his hold over his captives. Lois immediately loses her powers, but everyone on Earth is A-ok. Clark then saves the day by dragging the mothership, Brainiac’s Vril Dox body, and the remnants of the Doomsday infection into a black hole. From within the dark recesses of the unknown, Brainiac (in his Vril Dox body) is pulled to safely out of the black hole, through the Bleed, and into a realm outside of time and space. He winds up on the “Blood Moon” AKA the sentient planet Telos, home to the gargantuan other über version of Brainiac. (Telos is a transformed pre-Flashpoint Arak Red-Hand, Son of Thunder.) Vril Dox Brainiac looks in awe through various crystal windows that show images of previously deleted continuities from the DC Multiverse of yesteryear! Towering above the Vril Dox Brainiac stands the architect and collector of the crystalline worlds, the absolute über version of Brainiac himself. (See the above footnote about the über Brainiac for details.) Meanwhile, Superman is also spit-out onto Telos before eventually being ejected back through a black hole with his memory of the visit completely erased (as seen in Convergence #0). It will take him sixty days to return to Earth (as we learn in Action Comics Vol. 2 #35).

–REFERENCE: In Action Comics Vol. 2 #35. With Superman missing following the events of Doomed, Bruce sets up a WayneTech satellite in Earth’s orbit to send an alert should Superman return. Along with the alert, the satellite with set off a small Kryptonite discharge that will test Superman to make sure he is completely rid of the Doomsday Virus. Bruce also covers for Superman’s secret ID, making a public announcement that the Wayne Foundation has hired Clark Kent on an indefinite overseas assignment.

–REFERENCE: In Batman/Superman #20. In light of Superman’s Doomsday episode, Batman asks Martian Manhunter to collect a drop from the core of former Krypton’s red sun, which the Caped Crusader uses to build a red sun generator, a handheld device that can briefly suppress Kryptonian superpowers.

–Red Lanterns Annual #1
Atrocitus, former leader of the Red Lanterns, has formed a splinter group of evil Red Lanterns (Skallox, Klarn, Dex-Starr, One-Heart, Nayk, Barg, Votun, The Judge, and Sarp) in order to wage war against Guy Gardner’s Red Lantern Corps. Atrocitus’ group now attacks Earth, destroying Baltimore, Paris, the Grand Canyon, Giza, Las Vegas, Shanghai, and Seville. Atrocitus then turns hundreds of humans into violent Red Lanterns that serve his bidding. In Gotham, the mindless new Red Lanterns start tearing apart the city. Batman fights them off while Guy Gadner shows up to explain what is happening. Bleez uses a Kormoraki “pacifying ray” to temporarily subdue the evil Red Lantern army. Meanwhile, across the galaxy on the planet Styge Prime, Zilius Zox gets mortally wounded by a possessed Rankorr. In his final act, Zilius Zox sacrifices his own life to destroy Atrocitus’ ring-making factory. In Earth’s orbit, Guy Gardner, Supergirl, and Bleez fight Atrocitus and Dex-Starr. Bleez uses her telepathic power to attempt to steal the reawakening new Red Lantern army onto Guy Gardner’s side, but she manages to only convert a mere seven soldiers, whereas Atrocitus uses his own much-stronger telepathic power to wrestle control of the remaining hundreds. (Guy and his pals defeat Atrocitus in the follow-up Red Lanterns #34. Also note that, per Action Comics Vol. 2 #35, the Pyramids of Giza must be rebuilt after Red Lanterns Annual #1 as well.)

KINGDOM
————————–Green Arrow Vol. 5 #35
————————–Green Arrow Vol. 5 #39-40
Green Arrow kicks-ass in Star City, but takes a bullet in the arm, prompting his partner John Diggle to take him to Glades Memorial Hospital. The next day, Oliver Queen returns to work as head of the Queen Foundation, a multimillion dollar science and tech company. Shockingly, Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne are waiting for him when he arrives. The unlikely business partners ask Oliver to join their group and merge the Queen Foundation with LexCorp and WayneTech. Oliver refuses. That night, Oliver’s business assistant and new love interest, Zehra Darvish, chastises him for turning down a lucrative offer. After dinner, Ollie suits-up as Green Arrow and goes to apprehend a computer hacker, who turns out to be the debuting (and friendly) Felicity Smoak. A few days later, millionaire philanthropist John King, father of Speedy (Mia Dearden) and actually secretly a sadistic super-villain who knows Green Arrow’s secret ID, has put a huge bounty on Green Arrow’s head and turned the entire city of Seattle, including the police, against him. Not only that, King has gotten to Zehra and used her to bankrupt Ollie’s company overnight. King has also caused Felicity’s arrest and detainment in a metahuman prison—with Cheetah as her cellmate no less. A pissed-off Ollie confronts and dumps Zehra. That night, with some inside help, Green Arrow breaks Felicity out of the Supermax. A night later, Green Arrow assembles an army to take back Seattle. Green Arrow meets with John Diggle, Felicity, Batman, Arsenal, Lex Luthor, Katana, Naomi Singh, Cupid (Carrie Cutter), and Ollie’s half-sister Emiko Queen. While Green Arrow’s team storms King’s headquarters, Batman pays a visit to the corrupt district attorney and pressures him into pressing criminal charges against King. Green Arrow and Felicity get evidence of criminal wrongdoing on King’s part, but they have to stall releasing it to the district attorney when King threatens to kill Mia. Green Arrow meets King face-to-face and the duke it out in a noir-soaked rain scene. Mia helps Green Arrow take down King, who is exposed and jailed.

–REFERENCE: In Batman: Rebirth #1. Child abuser and former henchman of the Squid, Julian Day, returns as the garish super-villain, Calendar Man. Having shaved and tattooed his head and genetically altered his body so that he literally ages each year until he dies and molts, birthing into a new body every winter, Day brings a seasonal obsession angle to his brand of super-crime. Batman defeats Calendar Man and jails him. Unseen on our timeline, but definitely occurring moving forward, Batman will continuously monitor Calendar Man and communicate with his prison handlers, eventually learning about the villain’s bizarre genetic alteration and condition.

–Batman Eternal #21-23
Jack Forbes is officially stripped of his commissionership and sent to Blackgate. Mayor Hady appoints Jason Bard as the new Commissioner of Police. Shortly thereafter, Jim Gordon is found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced accordingly with a life term. Meanwhile, Carmine Falcone’s lawyers work-up an extradition for him to return to Hong Kong, where he will basically go free. Before Falcone leaves, Batman, having finally discovered that the knife used to execute Dr. Falsario belongs to Falcone, roughs him up and demands answers. (As is par for the course with Batman Eternal, there’s a continuity error here. Batman says that Red Hood and Batgirl “just found” the knife. This is not true. They found the knife three months ago.) Falcone says that he merely had been taking advantage of the situation in Gotham and that a secret villainous mastermind is really behind all that has occurred. Batman then visits Bard, gives him a flash drive with the evidence needed to exonerate Gordon, but tells Bard that he doesn’t trust the new commish. At Wayne Manor, a security alarm goes off as Alfred and Julia are having a chat. Alfred locks Julia in a panic room and goes to intercept the intruder. The intruder, Hush, reveals himself as the mastermind behind everything and injects Fear Toxin into Alfred. By the time Julia gets to her father’s side, he is convulsing in agony, but manages to give her the secret code to get into the Batcave. Across town, Commissioner Bard goes to Blackgate, but instead of releasing Gordon, he releases The Architect (Zachary Gate) on the orders of Hush. Bard has been working for Hush since the beginning. After Alfred is safely in the hospital, Julia returns to Wayne Manor twenty-four hours later. There, she descends into the Batcave and learns Bruce’s secret. Batman vid-phones into the Batcave and gets the scoop from Julia before heading to the Beacon Tower to take on the Architect, who has taken hostage the workers that are reconstructing the building as a part of the Wayne Enterprises Gentrification Project. With Julia guiding him from the Batcave (using the call-name “Penny-Two”), Batman rescues the helpless victims and sends the lead architect, Andrew Trondsen, zip-lining across to the safety of a nearby skyscraper. Unfortunately for Trondsen, Hush is waiting and quietly executes him. Batman realizes that the Architect is working for the very man responsible for Gordon’s downfall and Alfred’s hospitalization: his old foe Hush. While Batman fights the Architect, Catwoman gets in the middle of a new gang war for Gotham’s top crime dog—Tiger Shark versus the Ibanescu family (led by paterfamilias Dragos Ibanescu)—to fill the void left by Penguin and Falcone. Afterward, Catwoman is escorted by Jade, via a secret underground tunnel, inside Blackgate. There she reluctantly chats with her estranged father, Rex Calabrese, who asks her to become leader of the Calabrese Mob and unite all of Gotham’s underworld in order to save lives. Catwoman accepts before leaving to drop Jade off into the care of Leslie Thompkins. At the Beacon Tower, before escaping, the Architect reveals his true part in Hush’s plan, to use the tower as a giant resonator that starts a small but powerful earthquake. that destroys a portion of the city surrounding the Beacon, although the Beacon itself remains standing above the wreckage. Commissioner Bard visits Mayor Hady and tells him it is time to call in the National Guard and declare martial law in Gotham, citing that the new gang war has erupted, Arkham is “haunted,” a nanobot virus is now spreading in the Narrows, and a villain-caused earthquake has leveled a chunk of the downtown area.

–REFERENCE: In Legends of Tomorrow #4 Part 3—originally told in Batman #312. Every day for a week, an escaped Calendar Man dresses in a unique varicolored costume, each representing a different day of the week. In these ridiculous get-ups—which include gaudy spandex togs that allow him to play the roles of Odin, the Moon, Tiw, Thor, Frigga, and Saturn—Calendar Man defeats Batman six days in a row. Not until he dons his classic goofy red-and-white calendar threads, on the seventh day, is Calendar Man defeated and re-jailed. All of Calendar Man’s goofy costumes will eventually wind up at the Metahuman Museum of Oddities in Atlanta.

–REFERENCE: In Superman Vol. 4 #5. Batman begins his most ambitious project to date (and possibly his most ambitious project ever). With the assistance of an unspecified selection of engineers and meta-powered super-folk, Batman starts building a new unheard-of kind of Batcave—a Batcave hidden in a crater on the dark side of the Moon. He will use this base to conduct experiments and tinker with inventions that are far too dangerous to do on Earth. Batman immediately sets up security Bat-drones—likely adapted from the bat camera drones he already uses—that will swarm any unwanted visitors should they infiltrate the bunker. This epic Moon-base project will continue in secrecy for the next couple years. We won’t visibly see Batman working on the Moon-base on our timeline, but we can imagine him rocketing up there every chance he can to work on its construction in-between listed items, moving forward. (Obviously, certain events, such as Bruce losing his wealth and getting post-death-and-resurrection amnesia, will put the construction of the Moon-base on hiatus several times in the upcoming year-plus.)

–Aquaman Vol. 7 #32
Batman goes on an unspecified mission with Aquaman and escorts him (in the Batplane) home to Atlantis. Aquaman is shocked to discover that Batman knows the secret location of his undersea kingdom.

–Batman Eternal #24
Late August—roughly two weeks have passed since Batman Eternal #23. (Cluemaster makes a reference that Labor Day is approaching. This is actually dead on the money. My calculations put Batman Eternal #24 in late August, less than a week before Labor Day!) Onto a synopsis. Spoiler secretly listens-in on her dad Cluemaster as he meets with his mystery partner—the money man, Lincoln March. Cluemaster reveals that his team is subtly causing mass chaos all over Gotham: Signalman is causing traffic gridlock; RatCatcher is causing piping problems and is leaking deadly pathogens into the water supply; The Prankster (Oswald Hubert Loomis) is causing blackouts; and Lock-Up is working with GCPD moles to ready a new “Big Brother” security blanket. The mystery partner (SPOILER: It’s Lincoln March) tells Cluemaster to end any communications with Lock-Up but continue with the rest as usual. Meanwhile, at the Gotham Gallery of Modern Art, Batman fights what appears to be a ghost that has some connection to Arkham’s Dr. Simon Ecks. Batman defeats the ghost, but then is unable to contact Batwing. On the outskirts of Gotham, Cluemaster chases after Spoiler, who leads him out of the city limits and right into the hands of an untainted group of state troopers, who immediately arrest the villain.

—^[2]

–Detective Comics Vol. 2 #27 Part 5
Early September. On the anniversary of his parents’ deaths, Batman is given an It’s a Wonderful Life treatment by the Phantom Stranger, who shows him what the world would have been like had his parents survived that fateful night. Bruce would have happily married Natalya Trusevich (!) and had a son. Unfortunately, Scarecrow-inspired and Joker-inspired gangs would have taken over the city and paralyzed Commissioner Gordon. Likewise, Dick would have been in jail, wrongfully accused of killing his parents. See, Bruce needed to become Batman.

–FLASHBACK: From Catwoman Vol. 4 Annual #2.^[3] Batman battles Catwoman atop a roof, but then they join forces to quell a raging street fight involving the dangerous Sons of Forster Lane gang. Eiko Hasigawa, heiress to the throne of the powerful Yakuza-linked Hasigawa Mob, spies on Catwoman from afar with keen interest.

–Grayson #3
September 8–the first day of school in Geneva, Switzerland. Batman only appears for a brief few minutes in this issue, but here is the lead up. Mr. Minos tasked Dick, Helena, and two other agents to retrieve Paragon’s eyes, which were in the hands of The Old Gun, an assassin that, following the brutal murders of his kids, underwent surgery to make it so that he literally sees through a pair of pistols. Dick, Alia (Agent 8), Helena, and The Tiger King of Kandahar (Agent 1) faced-off against the Old Gun in Kuala Lumpur. Once again, Dick refused to use lethal force, which allowed the Old Gun to escape. Cut to the present. After getting chewed-out, Dick secretly contacts Batman and confirms that Mr. Minos basically knows every superhero’s secret ID, including his. Dick asks Batman to search the Bat Computer for any info regarding the Old Gun. A quick search shows that the Old Gun has another son that is set to begin pre-school in Geneva. Thus ends Batman’s involvement in this issue as he immediately returns to the events of Batman Eternal. The next day, Dick will build rapport with the Old Gun, who will hand over Paragon’s eyes only to get shot by a spying Agent 8. The Old Gun will retaliate by gunning her down with his final breath. Back at Spyral HQ, Mr. Minos will order Helena to find out who has been sending secret transmissions.

–Batman Eternal #25-26
September 8-9. At the Gotham Gazette building, Commissioner Bard strong-arms Vicki Vale into publishing a news story stating that the city government under Mayor Hady has failed and that terrorist attacks are imminent. Within 24 hours, chaos reigns over Gotham as its citizens go into a panic. Julia Pennyworth hacks into Blackgate security, revealing that Commissioner Bard was responsible for releasing the Architect, prompting Batman to visit Bard at his home. Meanwhile, Red Robin (now finished training Harper Row and returned from Japan) and Red Hood visit a comatose Alfred at the hospital. Concurrently, Gordon finally gets to speak with Babs on the phone. They have a strained conversation and refer frustratedly to the fact that despite the evidence needed to exonerate him having been found, his release has still inexplicably been denied. Batman crashes into Bard’s apartment only to find a Hush holographic video feed. Hush berates Batman and then detonates a bomb from long range, completely demolishing the building. Red Robin, Red Hood, and Batgirl rescue Batman. Across town, Commissioner Bard convinces Mayor Hady to declare martial law and call in the National Guard. As Julia patches up an injured Batman in the Batcave, Batman addresses Red Hood, Red Robin, and Batgirl. Red Robin mentions that “Death of the Family” happened “months ago.” Since it happened seventeen months ago, this is a continuity error (or the genius Tim is really bad at math). After sending his Bat-Family to deal with the riots in the streets, Batman and Julia visit Alfred at the hospital. There, Batman tells Julia all about Hush. Meanwhile, Spoiler breaks into Kane County Correctional Facility to gloat in front of her incarcerated dad and give him a much-deserved punch in the head. But Cluemaster shows that he has a few tricks up his sleeve even from behind bars. Spoiler tries to upload Hush’s secret plans to the internet, but Cluemaster’s associates block her post and put up a $100,000,000 bounty on her head instead. Only two hours after Batman and Julia visit Alfred, Hush (as Dr. Tommy Elliot—and with his face fully restored) has Alfred transferred to Arkham Asylum into the direct care of Joker’s Daughter.

–Batman Eternal #27-28
September 9-10. Batgirl kidnaps, shakes-down, and interrogates the corrupt Commissioner Bard. Meanwhile, Jade McKillen is returned into the custody of her uncle, Dragos Ibanescu. Underneath the Narrows in Gotham’s Underground, Killer Croc wails on some of Deacon Blackfire’s soldiers (Arkham inmates that have turned into infectious demon zombies). Killer Croc then crashes into Leslie Thompkins’ Child Services office in search of Jade. Across town, Batman and Catwoman team-up to fight Ibanescu’s henchmen, the Whisper Gang, and the Ferrymen. Afterward, Catwoman argues with Batman and they part ways on bad terms. Ibanescu forces Jade to lead Louis “Bone” Ferryman (leader of the Ferrymen) to the apartment of his arch-rival Catwoman. Batman then runs across Eduardo Flamingo and easily takes him out. Pinned to Flamingo’s costume is a note from Spoiler telling him about a Twitter feed, used by fans and criminals alike, that tracks his every movement. Later at Noonan’s Sleazy Bar (!), Red Hood beats up some random goons before leaving to meet up with Batgirl. Meanwhile, Bone has taken a beaten-up and restrained Catwoman to the Moffat Building where he plans on publicly executing her in front of a bunch of sickos, including Ibanescu and Tiger Shark. Batman lets Flamingo go in order to follow him to Hush’s “rat’s nest,” which leads him to the Moffat Building just in time to witness Killer Croc tearing the place apart looking for Jade. In a chaotic scene, Ibanescu accidentally shoots Jade dead. Across town, Batgirl continues torturing/interrogating Commissioner Bard, but Red Hood stops her from doing something too brash (by doing something brash himself). As the sun comes up, Red Hood says goodbye to Batgirl and rejoins Starfire and Arsenal to travel into outer space. Meanwhile, a dejected Catwoman rebuffs Batman’s offer of a shoulder to lean on, instead breaking into Blackgate and accepting her dad’s offer to become the new “queenpin of crime.”

–Gotham Academy #1
September 10—first day of school in Gotham. Bruce only appears for an hour tops in this issue, but here is the lead in. It has been a busy day at the prestigious Gotham Academy for both teachers (like Professor Achilles Milo, who is shown) and students alike. Freshman Mia “Maps” Mizoguchi missed her first day orientation, after which hard-ass Headmaster Hammer appointed her a special chaperone in her best friend sophomore Olive Silverlock, the kinda sorta girlfriend of Maps’ older brother Kyle Mizoguchi. Cut to now. The first day of school ends and Maps and Olive skip an assembly featuring Bruce Wayne (who very briefly attended Gotham Academy) as keynote speaker. After examining a closed-off supposedly haunted wing of the building, Maps nearly falls to her death but is rescued by Olive—an episode that is witnessed by the entire student body, including Bruce. Shortly thereafter, Bruce and teacher Isla MacPherson make sure Olive is okay before returning to important events in Batman Eternal. Olive immediately hunkers-down with her dorm roommate Lucy Hunt, who swears she has just seen a ghost. A glowing evil eye peeks-in on the girls through a crack in the wall. SPOILER: This is Killer Croc, who has found a cozy hiding place. As we will see in Gotham Academy #4, Croc appears wearing broken chains on his legs and an Arkham jumpsuit. Why he’d be wearing chains and an Arkham suit makes little sense at this point on our timeline unless we assume that Croc was very recently arrested and then immediately escaped from Arkham’s provisional stadium housing. Also note that the Bat-Signal is shown in the night sky and the Academy kids even make mention of it. The Bat-Signal would not be in use at the moment, so this is either a continuity error or someone else is lighting up a makeshift Bat-Signal (as Selina Kyle will later do).

–Batman Eternal #29-31
September 10. At Arkham Asylum, Deacon Blackfire’s demon army (which includes many transformed Arkham inmates) tortures the still-captured Batwing and Jim Corrigan. At her hideout, Joker’s Daughter receives a mysterious purple letter telling her to continue to do Hush’s bidding. Clearly a fake Joker letter, an angered Joker’s Daughter decides it is high time she betrayed Blackfire and broke out on her own. Batwing finally gets communications working for the first time in four months (ever since Joker’s Daughter sent Batman a false message from him) and immediately radios Batman. (Again, the whole pacing and timing of Batwing and Corrigan’s Arkham mission in direct relation to everything else that happens in Batman Eternal seems to be one giant continuity error.) Batwing reports that Blackfire is using Arkham for sinister purposes and also delivers a coded message that Riddler had scrawled onto his cell wall. While Julia decodes Riddler’s riddle, Batman takes on a GCPD riot squad. Batwing then attempts to save Corrigan’s life from Blackfire, which causes Arkham to erupt in a towering green blast of Hellish energy, decimating the entire building. A beam of pure evil energy blasts from Arkham Asylum straight up into the Earth’s atmosphere, knocking a plane out of the sky in the process. While Batman assists in the plane’s safe landing, Deacon Blackfire, still controlling Maxie Zeus’ body, declares premature victory. Corrigan turns into the Spectre and vanquishes Blackfire and his demon hordes with a relative snap of his fingers. Arkham then sinks over a hundred feet into the crumbling caverns beneath it, swallowing hundreds of inmates and staff (including Corrigan, Batwing, and Alfred), and injuring and killing an unknown number of people. Despite all of this, the GCPD still attempts to arrest Batman, who swings down into the crater where Arkham used to be. Down below, Joker’s Daughter attacks Batman atop a heap of rubble. While Batman defeats Joker’s Daughter, Mr. Freeze, Clayface, Victor Zsasz, and Imperceptible Man crawl out of the Arkham crater and attack a bunch of cops. This prompts Batman to ascend back to the top and defeat the villains. Meanwhile, Julia hacks Arkham’s computer system and learns that her dad was committed by Hush the day prior. Downtown, crooked cops pursue Spoiler right into the waiting arms of Hush. While Batman races downtown himself, Alfred teams-up with Bane (!) to fight a swarm of demons as the duo treks through the disaster site and into the adjoining sewer tunnels. Alfred leads Bane right to one of Batman’s substations/weapons caches, activating a defense mechanism that knocks-out Bane with sleeping gas. Alfred logs back online and cheerfully greets both his daughter and Batman via radio.

–Batman Eternal #32
September 10. Batman saves Spoiler’s life from Hush and the latter two flee in opposite directions. Batman then saves Batwing, pulling him out of the Arkham crater. Alfred tearfully reunites with Julia in the Batcave before checking himself into the care of Dr. Leslie Thompkins. Batman discovers that Hush has accessed his secret McGregor Files, which list the exact locations of each of his Bat-Bunkers, weapons caches, and safe houses across Gotham. Meanwhile, Hush meets with Commissioner Bard and gives him new directives. Bard hands the McGregor Files over to Vicki Vale, exposing the Wayne Enterprises-built weapons caches to the public via the Gotham Gazette. Hush, using Alfred’s DNA and a sliced-off fingerprint, then enters one of the Bat-Bunkers and detonates the entire stockpile of explosives right below a strategically placed National Guard/GCPD SWAT squadron, killing a bunch of soldiers and cops. Curfew falls over the city.

–Batman Eternal #33 Part 1
September 11. It is the morning after Batman’s weapons cache disaster. Gotham’s public is venomous towards Wayne Enterprises for having put secret dangerous weapons depots all over their city. Batman and Julia depart to secure all seventeen of the depots. While entering the first, they are interrupted by a new GCPD SWAT super-soldier, but only briefly as Batman easily takes him down. Batman and Julia then split up to cover more ground. I’ve split up Batman Eternal #33 into two parts to accommodate Batman’s check-in call with Dick from Grayson #4, which takes place a full day after Grayson #3 and mentions specifically that Julia is out-and-about securing the weapons caches.

–Grayson #4
September 11. Since Batman is only in this issue for a few minutes, let’s get caught up to speed. Two days after the Old Gun affair (from Grayson #3), Dick substituted a lollypop for a CSI swab, collecting microscopic evidence off the floor at Spyral HQ—with plans to send said evidence back home to Batman in the States. Then, after stealing a Paragon hard-drive from Checkmate, Dick and Helena returned to St. Hadrian’s, but not before Dick filled-in Batman on the details and overnight-mailed the lolly-swab to him in Gotham. Cut to now. While Julia Pennyworth is out securing the Dark Knight’s secret downtown weapons caches (as seen in Batman Eternal #33), Batman receives Dick’s package and returns to the Batcave to conduct tests on the lolly. Batman discovers tiny microscopic nanite machines designed to clean-up any traces of DNA or fabric that come off of Mr. Minos. These micro-machines apparently are swarming all over Spyral, both cleaning-up and collecting info. Dick then has another encrypted radio chat with Batman before the latter returns to events in Batman Eternal #33. The rest of Grayson #4 does not involve Batman, but it is interesting enough to continue a synopsis. Dick will play tag with St. Hadrian’s students Bryce Nussbaum, Janni Amireh, Paris Pantoja, and Lotti Duff (aka the old-school Batwoman-costume-wearing “Skullgirls“). These concupiscent co-eds simply want a parietal piece of the sexy side of man-beef that is Dick Grayson. After a jovial run around campus, Headmistress Helena will put a stop to the shenanigans. After getting chewed-out by Mr. Minos, Dick is punished by being forced to teach a gymnastics class while appearing, thanks to hypnos-tech and Fraulein Netz’s imagination, as both physically unremarkable and homosexual in the eyes of the young ladies of St. Hadrian’s. Later that night, Helena will play some sexy catch-me-if-you-can games with Dick too.

–Batman Eternal #33 Part 2
September 11. While securing more weapons caches, Bruce takes a phone call from a disappointed Lucius Fox, who tells him that his secrets will bring a devastating backlash against Wayne Enterprises. Meanwhile, Julia enters another weapons cache and runs straight into Hush, who is inside.

–Batman Eternal #34
September 11. Picking up right where Batman Eternal #33 Part 2 ended, Hush fights Julia Pennyworth, nearly killing her and detonating another of Batman’s weapons caches. Batman rushes to the scene and saves Julia’s life. Meanwhile, Mayor Hady and Commissioner Bard react to the second explosion by bringing the hammer down on Lucius Fox. With Julia unconscious but safe in the Batcave, night falls over Gotham. Batman confronts Hush at another weapons cache beneath Martha Wayne Foundation Hospital. Batman beats-up a Batman-helmet-wearing Hush in an epic slug-fest. However, the victory is soured when Alfred patches in a live news feed. Lucius announces that the federal government has seized control of Wayne Enterprises. All of the company’s foreign and domestic holdings are also seized. Bruce has just lost his company. Batman takes an invitation card, the same one given to Carmine Falcone, out of Hush’s pocket. The card is from Hush’s boss (meaning there is another real Big Bad of this arc).

–REFERENCE: In Batman Eternal #35. September 11. Batman puts Hush into a holding cell inside the Batcave.

–REFERENCE: In the second feature to All-Star Batman #6. September. Batman prepares for Riddler to attack the city on the anniversary of his Zero Year attack. Sure enough, as he does every year (whether he is in prison or not), Riddler initiates a new pre-planned puzzle-themed strike on Gotham in commemoration of Zero Year. Since the reference to the anniversary attacks in the second feature to All-Star Batman #6 is vague and does not give specifics, we don’t know what this attack entails. Nor are we told whether or not Batman is able to stop Riddler’s plot.

–Action Comics Vol. 2 #35
Sixty days have passed since the end of Superman: Doomed. Superman, after traveling through several Black Holes and across the vast expanse of the universe, finally returns to Earth where he gets immediately zapped with Kryptonite and scanned for traces of the Doomsday Virus by Bruce’s WayneTech satellite. Supergirl greets Superman and fills him in on the details of the battle against Brainiac. Superman begins the reconstruction sequence for the Fortress of Solitude, which will take forty days to complete. In Smallville, Lana Lang (now dating John Henry Irons) tells Clark that her parents died during Brainiac’s invasion. After that, Clark visits Bruce at Wayne Manor. Bruce deduces that Superman’s powers are temporarily weakened from his journey and tells Clark to take a vacation. That night, a gutted but coy Clark writes a biting blog article dissing Superman. In the morning, Lois Lane (having now lost her memories of Superman’s secret ID thanks to Brainiac) bursts through the door and scolds Clark for writing the piece. Just as Clark had planned, Lois writes a pro-Superman article (for a readership that is much, much greater than Clark’s, boosting the Man of Steel’s approval rating back upward. Meanwhile, in Smallville, Lana’s parents terrifyingly rise from their graves courtesy of Ultra-Humanite.

–REFERENCE: In Arkham Manor #1 and Batman Eternal #35. Bruce has already lost control of his company. Now, the unthinkable happens as well. Bruce also loses his ancestral home in the worst way possible. Ever since Arkham Asylum’s recent destruction, all of Arkham’s inmates have been temporarily housed in a stadium downtown. Mayor Hady uses the power of eminent domain to turn the now government-owned Wayne Manor into “Arkham Manor,” the new permanent home for Gotham’s super-villains. Bruce is given the legal option of allowing contractors to turn his house into a prison or to allow bulldozers to raze the place and build a new facility. Bruce takes the first option. He then puts his remaining valuables into storage, except for a painting of his parents, which goes down into the secret Batcave below. Batman, putting a positive spin on things, cites that an emotional attachment to the house was making him weak anyhow. Plus, Batman will be able to keep closer tabs on the bad guys locked up in Arkham. For security, Batman and Julia Pennyworth being cementing-up all connections between the Batcave and the manor. Note that Bruce has lost his home, but won’t actually physically move out Wayne Manor for over a month.

–REFERENCE: In Gotham Academy #4. Bruce visits Gotham Academy to check up on Olive Silverlock, but he winds up having an undisclosed “moment” with teacher Isla MacPherson.

–Gotham Academy #4-6^[4]
The abandoned and supposedly haunted North Hall of Gotham Academy gets sealed-off by Headmaster Hammer and Achilles Milo after Olive Silverlock, Maps Mizoguchi, Pomeline Fritch, and Colton Rivera break into it the night prior. In the morning, Olive overhears a visiting Bruce Wayne awkwardly chatting with Isla MacPherson. Olive then slips on some wet leaves and literally falls into the arms of the mysterious Tristan Grey (secretly a man-bat that has been following her around). After interrogating a boy named Eric Jørgensen, who drew the weird North Hall symbol on a notebook, Olive learns that the symbol is hidden all over campus. That night, Olive discovers that a ghost pertaining to a string of recent sightings has actually been a fake, made up by Pomeline’s boyfriend Heathcliff Ray to make Pomeline feel better—(Pomeline has been frustratedly trying to summon the ghost of Millie Jean Cobblepot and has been failing to do so for a long time). Later, Maps discovers a hidden room behind Olive’s dorm wall. Olive goes behind the wall to discover Killer Croc, who has escaped from custody and has been living there for the past few days. Killer Croc explains that he promised Olive’s mom that he’d check up on her (before Arkham collapsed and put Olive’s mom into a coma). Olive surmises that Croc must have been living in the Academy’s walls ever since the collapse of Arkham Asylum, but based upon Croc’s other appearances in Batman Eternal after the collapse of Arkham, this obviously cannot be true. Croc runs off. The next day, Olive, Maps, Pomeline, and Colton make a map of the underground tunnels that run between campus buildings and formulate a plan to find Croc. The next day, the foursome ditches both a school dance and Kyle Mizoguchi thanks to some help from Warren McGinnis (who will later father Terry McGinnis years down the road, in case you forgot). After gathering weapons, they head toward North Hall. Olive is startled by a man-bat and shoots it with a crossbow, revealing Tristan, who explains his Langstrom Virus condition. Tristan also tells Olive that he witnessed her, in the summer, sleepwalk into North Hall and accidentally set it ablaze with her latent pyrokinetic ability, a genetic gift from mom. Tristan flies off when Maps jumps out of the bushes. Olive, Maps, Pomeline, and Colton then enter North Hall and deliver food to a happy and grateful Killer Croc. Then Batman crashes into the building and begins fighting Killer Croc. Olive starts a fire to save Croc, who returns the favor by saving her. They talk about Olive’s mom before Croc departs. Later, Batman confronts Olive and asks for the missing diary of Millie Jane Cobblepot, but Olive denies having it. The next day, Lucy tells Olive that she will be transferring to a school in Metropolis. At lunch, Olive, Maps, Kyle, Colton, and Pomeline discover the arcane symbol they’ve seen everywhere is an old Arkham Asylum monograph. They decide to form a “detective club” to delve deeper into the hidden connections between Arkham and Gotham Academy. Meanwhile, Damian Wayne (!) steals the diary of Millie Jean and returns it to his dad, who has just finished enrolling him as a new student at Gotham Academy!

–Deathstroke Vol. 3 #4-5^[5]
Recently, Deathstroke was made young again thanks to the magick of I-Ching. Now, he’s involved in a convoluted plot featuring the “Dead Bastards,” a secret hit squad that works for the CIA and Interpol. One of the Bastards, Red Fury (Kendal James), having already captured and drugged Deathstroke’s pal Bronze Tiger, introduces her teammates—The Spanish Inquisitor (Victor Ruiz), Angelica, and I-Ching—who fill Deathstroke in on the latest spook scoop. The CIA and Interpol want Deathstroke to help the Bastards eliminate his evil and powerful father Odysseus (Charles Henry Wilson) and capture his dangerous son Jericho (Joseph Wilson), who is in Gotham, hiding out with his deadly half-sister Ravager (Rose Wilson). Knowing that Odysseus has partnered with the Lady Shiva-led League of Assassins, the Bastards send a brainwashed Bronze Tiger—complete with false information about having murdered Deathstroke—back to the roost. Odysseus and Lady Shiva make plans to depart for Gotham. Meanwhile, Deathstroke arrives in Gotham and asks Harley Quinn (also visiting Gotham) to help locate his kids. Harley double-crosses Deathstroke and leads him straight into the waiting fists of Batman. Deathstroke and Batman fight until Harley levels the building with a stack of bombs. Harley tells Deathstroke that his daughter Ravager works for Penguin (who is currently in prison). This prompts Deathstroke to ride off with Harley on a Vespa. Batman crawls out from the rubble in time to see them depart. Across town, Ravager and Jericho are confronted by Odysseus, Shiva, and Bronze Tiger.

WAR-TORN^[6]
————————–Wonder Woman Vol. 4 #36
————————–Wonder Woman Vol. 4 #38-40
On Paradise Island, an Amazonian political council argues about the effectiveness of Wonder Woman’s reign as queen, questioning her loyalties and her radicalism. (Wonder Woman has recently allowed the Amazonian males to return to Themyscira, a very unpopular move.) Clyemne and Wonder Woman’s own aunt Derinoe call for a change in leadership while Wonder Woman’s friend Dessa defends her. Meanwhile, after mysterious unnatural disasters level villages in various parts of the world, the Justice League assembles. Shazam, Captain Cold, and Luthor are not present and Flash notes how nice it is with Luthor not being around. Each Justice Leaguer pairs-off and visits the disaster sites. We don’t see where Batman goes (possibly Ecuador), but we do see Wonder Woman and Aquaman have a brief altercation with Swamp Thing in Thailand. Wonder Woman and Aquaman then have a heart-to-heart. She mentions that Clark has “only just finished overcoming Doomsday.” Wonder Woman returns to Paradise Island to learn that her mom, Hippolyta, has died—her magick clay statue form has melted and crumbled. Later in London, Wonder Woman has a horrible nightmare featuring the death of many of her fellow Amazons. Wonder Woman’s half-sister Strife (the Greco-Roman Goddess of Discord also known as Eris) secretly watches her dream. Diana has a chat with her bestie Hessia before rejoining the JLA when another village is leveled in Peru. In Peru, Batman, who has finally learned that Wonder Woman is the new God of War, questions whether that is a good thing or not. At the base of a volcano, Superman comes across a bizarre cavern filled with deadly insects. Meanwhile, on Paradise Island, the council votes to dethrone Wonder Woman as their queen. Derinoe introduces the new queen, a brainwashed Donna Troy! Donna Troy, the original Wonder Girl who has been missing for the past several years, has now just been conjured forth from an occult ritual performed by Derinoe. (As revealed in Titans Vol. 3 Annual #1, Donna was originally shaped from magick clay to be a weapon used against Wonder Woman, but the Amazons turned her good and gave her false memories of being born and raised as an Amazonian gal.)^[7] Back at the bug cavern, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman come across all the missing villagers, all dead and gooey and strung-up like an HR Giger art-piece. Wonder Woman sword duels and angrily stabs the culprit, a weird bug man. (This fight is also shown via flashback from Wonder Woman: Rebirth #1.) With the bug man in custody aboard the JL satellite, Batman scolds Wonder Woman for striking first without asking questions. Later, after chatting with the spirit of her mother and the male Amazons, Wonder Woman meets and fights Donna Troy in a very public confrontation. The fight is curtailed and Dernioe gives Wonder Woman two days to prepare for a final rematch. After long conversations with Dessa and Superman, Wonder Woman rejoins the JLA to enter the cave home of the queen hive of the bug-people. There the skeletal leader of the bug-people reveals that their long dormant alien race (which crash landed on Earth millions of years ago and went into stasis) was revived when Wonder Woman herself recently killed and buried the evil First Born (Zeus and Hera’s first child). Meanwhile on Themyscira, Donna Troy and a small band of followers brutally slaughter a bunch of defenseless Amazonian males.

–FLASHBACK: From Batman & Robin Eternal #22. Batman and Robin train in the Batcave and the Boy Wonder nearly falls over a cliff, forcing the Dark Knight to save his life. An embarrassed and self-deprecating Robin compares himself to the other previous Robins, but instead of dissing himself, disses his father’s training methods. Batman removes his mask and calmly addresses his son, telling him the value and differences of each prior Robin. He tells Damian that it’s not his job to train perfect soldiers. Batman says that even he too makes mistakes and that he only wants to protect and offer support to his boys in hopes they will each find their own path.

–REFERENCE: In flashback from Robin: Son of Batman #1. Robin trains in the Batcave and receives a message from Batman telling him to take the night off while the Dark Knight patrols Gotham solo. Alfred makes Damian an ice cream sundae, but Damian feeds it to Titus. Ravi, caretaker of al Ghul Island, calls Damian and tells him that his giant man-bat monster Goliath has escaped. Damian goes to al Ghul Island, collects his pet, and decides that he will go on a yearlong globetrotting adventure quest—a year of atonement for all the sins he committed while being raised by the League of Assassins. (In reality, Robin’s quest will take around nine months to complete, ending on the very day of the public announcement of Batman’s “death,” two weeks after “Endgame.” Robin will return to Gotham two months after that, making his full time abroad add up to about eleven months.) Meanwhile, in Gotham, Nobody’s daughter (Maya Ducard) takes up his mantle to become Nobody II and vows revenge on her father’s killer: Robin.

–REFERENCE: In Batman Eternal #35, Arkham Manor #1, and Arkham Manor: Endgame #1. This item occurs two days before the main action of Batman Eternal #35. Bruce hands the keys to Wayne Manor over to Jeremiah Arkham. Contractors immediately begin morphing the house into a prison. Due to his state of immiseration, Bruce moves into a city apartment owned by Alfred. Jeremiah begins the process of staffing Arkham Manor with guards (including longtime orderly Lou Marrone and former Penguin henchman Mike Stone).

–REFERENCE: In Infinity Man & The Forever People #4. Bruce moves Bat-Cow to her new home at a Wayne Enterprises dairy farm in Ventura, California.

–Detective Comics Vol. 2 #35-36 (“TERMINAL”)
November—this arc occurs in specifically in autumn. As far as our timeline is concerned, this story functions as the last time Bruce spends a bit of his personal wealth before losing it entirely. Alfred encourages Bruce to take a vacation here, citing that one is long overdue. Alfred also probably senses that there is nothing they can do to stop the banks from freezing his accounts in the very near future. Thus, the mini vacation acts as one final reprieve/hurrah before the moolah goes away. Onto the synopsis. Unluckily for Alfred, but, luckily for Bruce, a plane crashes at the airport just as they are about to depart for vacation. Batman cancels his plans and checks out the plane, which is filled with mummified and skeletal corpses, victims of a weird chemical weapon that causes rapid aging. Batman, who complains of nagging injuries (suffered during Batman Eternal), orchestrates a quarantine with the Port Authority. An international terrorist named Magnus Magnuson appears on a live TV feed and takes credit for the attack, citing that he wants all US troops out of the Middle East or millions will die. Batman contacts Dick Grayson, who is in the middle of assisting in a Spyral torture session in Belarus, and tells him to drop everything to focus on Magnuson. A rapidly aging Batman then gets info on the attacked plane, learning that the source of the outbreak came from a corpse being transferred in the hold. In Minsk, Dick visits a criminogenic nightclub and confronts Magnuson’s S&M girlfriend. After some making-out and some kinky spy dialogue, Dick learns that Magnuson is at the Gotham Airport and that the antidote is flowing through his bloodstream. Back in Gotham, Batman punches out some asshole CDC guy in a hazmat suit and calms dying airport security man, Chief Ed Boar. After a quick chat with Dick, Batman finds Magnuson, shocks him with a taser, collects his blood, and cures everyone. Bruce and Alfred then take a very short but much-needed out-of-the-country tropical vacation. Bruce leaves behind a one-way ticket to Hawaii for Chief Boar.

–Batman Eternal #35-36
An editorial note tells us that two weeks have passed since the fall of Hush in Batman Eternal #34. This is an out-and-out error. A full two months has to have passed if Batman Eternal is to truly take us to mid January by Batman Eternal #47 (which gives us the specific date in that issue). Bruce meets with Lucius Fox to discuss the details of the collapse of Wayne Enterprises. Things are as dire as they seem. Lucius, having just met with Bruce’s lawyers, glumly reports the bad news. Since the majority of Bruce’s assets were tied to Wayne Enterprises, Bruce has now officially lost his personal wealth and family fortune and his bank accounts have been frozen. Lucius also notes the government has denuded and shut down the entire R&D Division, including anything Batman Incorporated related. He also tells Bruce that he will fully cooperate with Commissioner Bard. Julia then checks-in with Bruce from the Batcave, citing that Arkham construction is going on above her in the mansion and that Alfred is resting, still feeling weak ever since his stay at the asylum. Three hours after his meeting with Lucius, Batman purposefully drives into a Bard-designed trap, hoping to confront him one-on-one. However, Batman underestimates the trap. While sad Bullock and sad Sawyer stand idly by, Lucius, using Batman Inc tech, helps Commissioner Bard remote-control the Batmobile, which Batman is behind the wheel of. The Batmobile rockets into the top of Wayne Tower, crashing through the building before plummeting down from forty stories and exploding on the sidewalk below. Across town in one of Red Robin’s Nests, Harper Row tends to her comatose brother, who must have been moved to the Nest at some point. He has been in a coma for about six months now! Red Robin interrupts to alert her about Batman’s situation. Meanwhile, in Detroit, Vicki Vale and Joey Day dig up some dirt on Jason Bard in his hometown, learning about his troubled past from a bartender named Frank. Frank explains that Bard’s partner got killed on duty thanks to a Batman-copycat, causing Bard to vow revenge on the real Batman. The very night of his partner’s death, Bard (still covered in his partner’s blood for dramatic effect) was recruited by a pre-Hush Tommy Elliot to set into motion the plan that would ultimately unfurl itself as the nefarious plot against Batman and Gordon in Batman Eternal—meaning that Elliot and whoever he was working with set up Bard to become susceptible to wanting to join them then and there. If it seems like I’m having trouble explaining this in a succinct fashion, this is because all of Batman Eternal is a conglomeration of nonsensical dross. Seriously, why does Bard immediately blame Batman for a Batman-copycat that wasn’t even really responsible for his partner’s death? And how does Elliot (even assuming this is all a setup to snare Bard) know that Bard will be on board with his evil plan, especially mere hours after the death? Have they been scoping for a psychological profile of a person that will undoubtedly be willing to move across the country to engage in a highly illegal, convoluted plan to discredit and possibly murder two people he barely even knows? And since this would have had to been before Elliot scarred his face and became Hush, so if a long-game plan was in motion, why did he become Hush and jump the gun? Because he was antsy? Or maybe just plain reckless? This entire piss poor narrative makes my brain hurt. Moving on. After hearing the sordid tale, Vicki accepts a phone call from Commissioner Bard, who gloats about having taken down Batman. Vicki dumps him. Batman, having escaped the fiery wreckage of the Batmobile unscathed, arrives to punch Bard in the face. Batman, Red Robin, Red Hood, and Batgirl (in her brand new hipster Burnside costume) then threaten Bard and tell him to right all the wrongs that he’s done—or else. Back in the Batcave, Batman briefs his Bat-Family and tells them to start figuring out who Falcone and Hush were working for. Elsewhere, Riddler chuckles to himself and claims that he knows the answer.

–Batman Vol. 2 #34
In a Newsarama interview in July 2014, Scott Snyder said Batman Vol. 2 #34 takes place after Eternal‘s end right around the time of “Endgame,” but this can’t be right at all. Here are a few things to consider. Batman Vol. 2 #34 has to take place before Arkham Manor‘s “A Home For the Criminally Insane” since the Meek appears in that arc. In turn, “A Home For the Criminally Insane” must occur before Hush escapes his imprisonment in the Batcave, which happens in Batman Eternal #47. Here’s what else Batman Vol. 2 #34 shows us. Jim Gordon is still in prison, Selina Kyle is a “kingpin,” and the GCPD is still gunning for Batman. One error to note: A single panel (with no text) shows an out-of-prison Penguin. He won’t get out of Blackgate until Batman Eternal #50. Okay, onto a synopsis. Dr. Leslie Thompkins alerts Batman that someone has been kidnapped from her free-clinic. After a cursory investigation, Batman unearths that many under Leslie’s care have been abducted and murdered over the past few months. After tracking down the serial killer, who calls himself The Meek, and setting a lure, Batman poses as Leslie (using his digital face-altering tech) and gets the jump on the bad guy in Leslie’s home. With the assistance of orderly Eric Border (SPOILER: Border is Joker in disguise), Batman sticks the Meek into an empty Arkham Manor cell, which just happens to be the cell reserved for Joker. (The single shot of Arkham from the outside clearly resembles the old Arkham Asylum, which is a continuity error since Arkham should be in Wayne Manor at this point.) The next day, Harvey Bullock lets Batman examine the “potter’s field” on the outskirts of Gotham where the serial killer has dumped dozens of corpses.

–Arkham Manor #1-3 (“A HOME FOR THE CRIMINALLY INSANE”)
Mid November. Gotham is facing an early snowfall and we are told specifically that it isn’t yet Thanksgiving, making it likely a few days or a week before the holiday. This series also takes place specifically before Hush, who is shown in captivity in Arkham Manor #4, escapes in Batman Eternal #47. Here we go. Batman broods in the Batcave before violently taking his frustrations out on an unnamed petty thug. Afterward, Bruce shrugs-off the advances of a high-handed unnamed paparazzo and then shares a whisky drink with Alfred. Later, Batman visits Arkham Manor to help Harvey Bullock investigate the double murder of two inmates, but they find no leads. Batman and Alfred then erase the police records database of a recent deceased crook. Batman takes the dead man’s identity and goes undercover as Arkham Manor’s newest inmate: Jack Shaw. Within hours, “Jack” attends his first group therapy meeting along with Scarecrow, Amygdala (recently transferred from Blackgate), Seth Wickham, Mr. Freeze, and the Meek. Eric Border (secretly Joker in disguise) interrupts to announce that Victor Zsasz has gone missing. Later that night, a wheelchair-using John Doe is admitted to Arkham. Batman thinks he is suspicious. After hours, Batman—still as “Jack”—checks in on comatose metahuman inmate Calamity (Olive Silverlock’s mother Sybil). Then, Batman (as Batman) tells Border to keep an eye on the wheelchair man, who he has deduced is a burnt-out Clayface (actually a lost living fragment of Clayface). Returning to his Jack persona, Batman witnesses the near-murder of Wickham from afar. He runs into Wickham’s room to corner the tenebrous assailant, but an orderly clunks him on the head. (SPOILER: The agile mystery man is the debuting Spider.) Border runs in, but the killer has hidden himself away. Later, Batman disguises himself as an orderly and sneaks about his former home searching for the killer. Outside, Wickham, while being transported to a hospital, falls into a sinkhole, prompting Border to rescue him (and likely dose him with Joker Venom). Back inside, Batman fights the spidery mystery villain but the latter escapes again. Batman then finds Zsasz, barely alive, having been tortured by the mystery man. Across town, Wickham kills the EMTs and runs away. At Arkham, Border doses the wheelchair-using Clayface fragment with Joker Venom and turns him into Clownface. Border muses aloud to himself that Joker is ready to return, citing that he will be coming back in a few days, an insinuation that he’s going to start his “Endgame” attack on Batman in Batman Vol. 2 #36. However, that timeline seems way off. Maybe Joker holds off because Eternal ramps-up and he wants Batman’s undivided attention?

–Arkham Manor #4-6
Clownface runs amok at Wayne Manor, causing Sybil Silverlock to awake from her coma and escape. Batman, still posing as “Jack Shaw,” recruits Mr. Freeze to help him take on Clownface. Batman then rescues the injured petty thug that he violently beat up a day ago and Jeremiah Arkham. Mr. Freeze freezes Clownface to defeat him. Batman knocks-out Jeremiah Arkham and runs outside. Mr. Freeze opts not to escape, citing that he’s got nowhere else to go. Back in the Batcave, Batman puts his Batman costume on while being heckled by Hush from his cell. Batman re-enters the asylum (this time as Batman) and tells Jeremiah Arkham that he now knows who the mystery killer is. The spidery villain scuttles through the walls as Batman tells Jeremiah to lock down the building. The Meek finds Joker’s calling card in his cell, left there by Joker himself, but no one will listen when he tries to tell them. Batman finds the weird villain and beats the crap out of him in front of the whole Arkham populace. The villain refuses to speak, instead biting off his own tongue and spitting it at Batman. Once “Spider,” as Batman calls him, is locked up, Jeremiah Arkham looks him over and realizes that he is one of the day-laborers that helped adapt Wayne Manor into Arkham Manor. Batman then goes after Seth Wickham at his family’s apartment only to find them murdered. While Batman trails Wickham, Alfred radios-in and tells the Dark Knight that there is a way to legally get back possession of Wayne Manor. But Batman can’t chat about that at the moment as he recaptures Wickham. Batman then, at the urging of Dr. Arkham himself, bugs every cell in Arkham Manor in order to keep tabs on the inmates. He also links to every security camera in the building. A few days later, after Bruce calls in a favor with the Wayne Foundation, Jack Shaw’s corpse (the real Jack Shaw whose name Batman had borrowed to go undercover) gets an official military burial. Dr. Arkham, meanwhile, allows for the opportunity for Batman to use Jack Shaw’s identity in the future by lying and saying to Harvey Bullock that Shaw has been contacting him via phone. After Shaw’s funeral, Bruce tells-off the same paparazzo from the other day and then decides not to sign the challenge-of-seizure paperwork that would return legal possession of his home, citing that Gotham is safer with Wayne Manor as Arkham’s permanent residence. Clownface is taken to STAR Labs for holding. Back to business as usual, Batman spies on the Arkham inmates.

–Batman Eternal #37
Roughly two weeks have passed since Batman Eternal #36. (We need this passage of time, which seemingly should be a shorter ellipsis than it is, in order for things to be reconcilable later on i.e. take us into January 2015 by the end of Batman Eternal as the narrative states outright.) At Selina’s hidden underground Egyptian Nightclub casino, which was set up about two weeks ago, a Ghost Dragon attempts to kill Selina, but she easily disposes of him. Meanwhile, Luke Fox and Rory discover that their apartment is now haunted (thanks to some bad Arkham juju/Corrigan magick being stuck inside the Batwing armor). Batman, hoping to locate escaped Arkham inmates, gets some info from Noonan’s Sleazy Bar leading him to a known human-trafficker. But the lead is a dead end and Batman departs after a chat with both the human-trafficker and Killer Croc. Selina appears afterward (the last time she wears her Catwoman costume) to recruit Croc. On the other side of town, Bane, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Clayface, and Joker’s Daughter hideout in an abandoned restaurant and form a team. Catwoman uses a kitten with a camera-collar to spy on them. Downtown, Commissioner Bard tries to apologize to Bullock and Sawyer, but they won’t hear a word of it. Later, Selina lights up a makeshift Bat-Signal and Batman comes calling. She tells him that she knows how to round-up all of the Arkham escapees.

–Grayson Annual #1
Batman isn’t shown in this issue, but he does appear off-panel. Dick contacts Batman and briefs him on an upcoming Spyral mission to retrieve Paragon’s skin in Ireland from some mobsters connected to the super-villain St. Francis and an old criminal contact that knows Matches Malone from back in the day. Dick tells Batman to vouch for him (as Malone) should the Irish mob vixen call him. I won’t get into the nitty gritty details of Dick and Helena’s successful dupe of the Irish mobsters, but during the affair, the phone call is made to Malone, who vouches for Dick’s alter-ego of Rob “Rock” McGinn.

–Grayson #7
Dick has been kidnapped by Midnighter and imprisoned aboard the cloaked “Godgarden” satellite in Earth’s orbit. There, an seemingly cosmic-powered old lady called The Gardener watches over Dick. (Paragon, whose body parts Spyral has been collecting these past months, was originally created to destroy the Gardener.) The Gardener tells Dick that, within the hour, the Fist of Cain plans on killing thousands at a rock concert in Tel-Aviv, an act she has personally orchestrated in order to scare the world into ending the proliferating “super-human arms race.” Grayson reasons with the benevolent Gardener, reminding her that even a good cause isn’t worth the cost of thousands of lives. Gardner sees the light and sends both Dick and Midnighter to stop the massacre. At the Silence By Sin concert, the heroes join Helena Bertinelli and Mr. Minos to prevent the band (who, despite being one of the most famous bands in the world, are Fist of Cain cultists) from using Paragon’s brain to kill everyone. Dick takes the brain into Spyral custody. Later, Dick has a secret phone call with Batman and fills him in on the details of the case. Both Dick and Helena’s memories of Mr. Minos having been present are erased. It is revealed (to the reader) that there are multiple identical doppelgänger Minoses running about in order to hide and protect the real deal. Meanwhile, Midnighter leaves the employ of the Gardener. Note that Dick and Helena will eventually expose Minos for the evil he is, ousting him from power.

–Batman Eternal #38-40
A couple days have passed since Batman Eternal #37. In Blackgate, Rex Calabrese tells Jim Gordon that he should break jail, especially since everybody knows he is innocent. Gordon says he won’t. He respects the law too much! Meanwhile, Batman glides into Willowwood Hospital where the Arkham villain team is holed up. There Bane, who has fallen under Poison Ivy’s spell, is led into a trap by Ivy. Killer Croc ambushes Bane and defeats him in combat! Batman easily captures Joker’s Daughter, Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow, and Clayface. Back at the abandoned restaurant hideout, Ivy meets with Selina Kyle and collects a briefcase of cash, her prize for selling-out the Arkham baddies. Concurrently, down-and-out Commissioner Bard realizes that everything he has done has been wrong—(this guy flip-flops more than politicians during re-election campaigns). Bard visits Gordon at Blackgate and says that he will try to help make things right again. At the Egyptian Nightclub, Selina celebrates her victory over the Arkham villains with her new bodyguard, Killer Croc. Later, Batman gives Riddler code (given to him by Batwing three months ago) to Red Robin for deciphering. Red Robin successfully deciphers the code as a riddle that says Riddler knows who the Big Bad is. Julia reminds Bruce that he’s lost everything, except for a few properties that were purchased off-the-books. Batman then realizes that Riddler is holed up at Bruce’s Bullseye Casino Resort in the snowy Pineskills. Batman flies up to Miller Mountain and engages Riddler in a game that involves more riddles and following a series of packages lining a mountainside. Meanwhile, back in Gotham, the Arkham escapees are en route to Blackgate when their prison transport is ambushed and the guards are killed. In a parking garage, the escapees are joined by Firefly, Lock-Up, a freed Cluemaster, Signalman, and RatCatcher. Selina Kyle is also present, having been invited by the mystery Big Bad. ED-209-style Bat-mechs enter the room and a fleet of Bat-vehicles and weapons are unveiled. Over a loudspeaker, the Big Bad tells the villains that all of Batman’s arsenal is at their disposal. On the slope of Miller Mountain, Batman roughs-up Riddler, who says he hates the mystery Big Bad and wants to help Batman, but refuses to say who it is. Riddler’s packages explode, sending an avalanche pouring over both he and Batman. At the Gotham Gazette home office, Warren White and Vicki Vale begin to put together some of the pieces of the mystery themselves, but an intern named Patrick enters, shoots Warren, and tries to shoot Vicki. But Vicki is a badass and knocks the assassin out. Cut back to the villain meeting—an obstreperous Selina refuses to join up with the merry band of psychos, which results in Firefly blowing up her limo and leaving her for dead. But Selina is a badass and easily escapes, reuniting with Killer Croc and getting details about the huge hundred mil bounty on Spoiler’s head from another of her henchmen. Selina departs to nab Spoiler. Meanwhile, Jim Corrigan finally escapes from the tunnels underneath Arkham Ground Zero, crawling out of a sewer drain with an unconscious Maxie Zeus in tow. Corrigan can’t be too sure, but he states that he thinks it has been about two weeks since Arkham collapsed. For all of his magick genius, he’s way off. It’s been three months! (Jeez, this is bad continuity.) Corrigan looks up at the Gotham skyline to see multiple explosions. The villains have begun bombing the city using Batman’s old vehicles. Meanwhile, a bunch of teens with glowing eyes wander the streets like scary zombies, influenced by the nanovirus outbreak.

–Batman Eternal #42
In downtown Gotham, Mad Hatter (working on behalf of the mystery Big Bad) has constructed a large tower machine that controls the nanovirus outbreak. With Red Robin, Red Hood, Batgirl, Cullen Row, and dozens of teenagers under his spell, Harper Row is Gotham’s only hope. Harper becomes Bluebird, donning a cool costume and anti-nano barrier. As Bluebird heads toward Mad Hatter’s location, Stephanie is captured by Killshot and delivered to her mom Crystal, who takes her back in and claims that she wants nothing but the safety of her child (which is a lie). Downtown, Bluebird successfully defeats Mad Hatter, undoes his spell over everyone, and destroys the tower machine. Batman, having just returned from the Pineskills, swoops in and finishes off Mad Hatter. Later, Harper chats with an impressed Red Robin. At the Brown household, Selina breaks-in, ties up momma Brown, and kidnaps Stephanie.

—^[8]

–REFERENCE: In Batman Eternal #48. Batman, who already has the remote ability to tap into Batwing’s costume via the Bat-computer, adds a similar fail-safe to Bluebird’s costume (possibly without her knowing). Batman adds a similar fail-safe to Red Robin’s costume as well (almost definitely without him knowing)—although it is possible that Red Robin’s fail-safe override has been secretly installed for a while already.

–Detective Comics #37-40 (“ANARKY”)
December 24-29—this item specifically starts on Christmas Eve and also specifically takes place “a few months” after Detective Comics Vol. 2 #34 (around seven months to be exact). Anarky returns and executes corrupt business exec Jeb Lester at Wayne Tower. Meanwhile, Batman apprehends an escaped Mad Hatter, Tweedledum, and Tweedledee and then finds several skulls belonging to children, which he takes back to the Batcave for analysis. There, Batman discovers that they have been decomposing for around six years, meaning that Jervis Tetch had been secretly killing kids even before his debut as Mad Hatter. Bruce, Alfred, and Titus then hike through the snowy forest on the outskirts of Gotham and Alfred delivers his Xmas present—Wayne Manor lit up with holiday lights. (Don’t forget that this is Arkham Manor, so this either a huge continuity error or Alfred has gotten permission to dress up the mansion in spite of its current prison status simply to give Bruce a moment of joy.) At police HQ, Harvey Bullock and Nancy Yip talk about how shitty Gotham is. Yip chastises Bullock for obsessively mapping out anarchy symbol graffiti for the past few months. Bullock, Yip, and Batman then investigate the scene of Lester’s murder with Lucius Fox guiding them when, all of a sudden, the building’s computer systems lock-down and a bomb goes off, scorching a giant anarchy symbol into the façade of the structure. On Christmas morning, Anarky announces that he has erased the digital footprint of everyone in Gotham, making it so all police records, bank records, and credit debt are completely erased. Blank masks have also been sent to nearly every household, including what appears to be Wayne Manor (where Alfred receives one). Again, shady continuity here since this should be Arkham Manor at this point. Anarky tells Gotham that social revolution has begun, and all should decorate their masks and fight oppression. The next morning, Sam Young pledges support to Anarky, claiming there is sound reasoning behind his antics, especially compared to the right wing Mayor Hady. Bullock exclaims his support for Young, but then asks about his connection to Lester, which results in the brush-off. Batman goes in disguise as Matches Malone and visits the strip club where Greta Mitchell works. Behind the building, Matches interrogates Lonnie Machin (aka Moneyspider), citing that only he could have helped someone gain access and control of Wayne Tower. Machin admits to the hack job, but says he gave the info to Lester, not Anarky. Batman then visits Mad Hatter in Arkham and questions him about the dead kids he found under ice. Later, at the Gotham National Bank, several hoodlums don their decorated masks and pull off a bloody robbery. Batman crashes into the middle of a shootout between cops and robbers. Innocent bystander Machin gets shot by Yip, causing the onlooking crowd to immediately blame both Batman and the cops for what has happened. A comatose Lonnie is rushed to the hospital and stabilized. Bruce and Alfred visit him there. The next day, Internal Affairs tells Yip to blame Batman for Lonnie’s shooting or it’ll be her badge. Atop the GCPD HQ building, while standing next to the still-trashed Bat-Signal, Yip tells Bullock the news and he’s not happy about it. A day later, Batman meets with Bullock and tells him that Jeb Lester’s murder is linked to Mad Hatter’s six-year-old child killings via Sam Young. The investigation takes the duo to an abandoned boarding house in the mountains north of Gotham. There, Batman and Bullock fight some of Anarky’s masked citizens, revealing that his blank mask Christmas presents are infused with Mad Hatter tech. The riots are being caused by mind-control. With a knife in his shoulder, Bullock points Batman to a portrait on the wall, revealing that Jervis Tetch was a groundskeeper that terrorized and killed the kids at the boarding house, including a young Anarky. Anarky and his army break Mad Hatter out of prison with vengeance in mind, bringing him back to the blue house. While Batman saves Mad Hatter from execution and fights Anarky, Alfred remotely guides the injured Bullock to sever the mask signal that is emanating from a top hat within the house. Alfred tries his best to quell the city riots with a vaguely conservative speech (through a commandeered mask signal) directed at the rioters, but it fails. As Batman punches off Anarky’s mask, revealing Sam Young behind it, Bullock puts on the chapeau and switches off the citywide Mad Hatter brain-signal. Young, defeated, explains that, years ago, Lester sold off kids to Tetch at the blue house, including his sister, who became Tetch’s first “Alice” victim. The next morning, Bullock recovers in the hospital and Lonnie, alive and well, checks-out of the hospital. Alfred chats with Bruce atop Arkham Manor, as they take down the Xmas lights. When night falls, Batman is back on patrol.

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1. ^[1]COLLIN COLSHER: Action Comics Vol. Annual #3 and Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1 literally overlap each other completely from beginning to end, simply showing different parts of the story and different perspectives. Both issues share a common scene featuring Batman in the middle of their narratives and both issues end on the exact same cliffhanger.↩
2. ^[2]COLLIN COLSHER: As per info taken from Gotham Academy #3, there is a roughly two week gap in-between Batman Eternal #24 and Batman Eternal #25. This gap exists because Gotham Academy #3 tells us specifically that Arkham Asylum gets destroyed in the summertime (aka early September/summer break before school starts). Thus, the last possible place that event (shown in Batman Eternal #29-31) can go is in very early September. Also Detective Comics Vol. 2 #35-36 take place before Bruce loses his personal money, so we need a gap to accommodate that Autumn tale. I’ve put several items that seem to fit well in this gap below.↩
3. ^[3]COLLIN COLSHER: Catwoman Vol. 4 Annual #2 is essentially an Eiko Hasigawa origin story that spans several months and leads directly into Catwoman Vol. 4 #35 next year. Batman makes two appearances in the story—once here for this flashback portion and again for the main action at the end of the narrative, which will lead directly into Catwoman Vol. 4 #35.↩
4. ^[4]COLLIN COLSHER: These issues take place during a time when Achilles Milo is still working at Gotham Academy, so they must appear prior to his outing as a criminal in Batman Eternal #44.↩
5. ^[5]COLLIN COLSHER: This item takes place months after Ra’s al Ghul’s disappearance in “Robin Rises.” Lady Shiva has since become leader of the League of Assassins. Ra’s al Ghul will soon return to reclaim his throne (as referenced in Batman Eternal #46).↩
6. ^[6]COLLIN COLSHER: “War-Torn” takes place after “The Hunt for Robin”/Robin Rises Saga, which features Wonder Woman’s mother.↩
7. ^[7]COLLIN COLSHER: Technically, Titans Vol. 3 Annual #1 is non-canon on the New 52 timeline since it occurs definitively after “Superman Reborn.” However, the answer to the longstanding New 52 mystery surrounding Donna’s true origin is still the same answer, so that bit should remain a fact in New 52 continuity.↩
8. ^[8]NICK SMILES: There has to be a gap between Batman Eternal #42 and Batman Vol. 2 #28/Batman Eternal #43. Selina seems to keep Stephanie sedated for some time—she wasn’t so much interrogating her as keeping her on ice for Batman—and she has enough time to obtain and change Steph into her Spoiler costume—(Steph is captured in track pants and a top)—and then set her up in the Egyptian Club. Furthermore, in Batman Vol. 2 #28, Harper mentions having received what surely must be additional training from Batman’s sidekicks, which could only have occurred since Batman Eternal #42. Also, I can’t imagine Bats taking her on a mission without at least some additional basic training.

   COLLIN COLSHER: We can’t assume a gap between Batman Eternal #42 and Batman Vol. 2 #28/Batman Eternal #43 without dabbling in two things I execrate: conjecture and unsubstantial evidence. Unfortunately, with Batman Eternal‘s nonsensical time-flow (i.e. its obstinate insistence in slowing down narrative while paradoxically stating that large amounts have time have transpired plus the fact that we are supposedly in mid January by issue #47) we’ve got to make as many lengthy gaps and ellipses as we can, even if it feels wrong. The Eternal writing team sure didn’t leave any room for any other stories or logic when it comes to passage of time in its own narrative. We already knew that Harper Row trained with Red Robin (and possibly Sergei Alexandrov) in Tokyo—as mentioned earlier in the pages of Batman Eternal. But if we are talking semantics here, the plural sidekicks, does imply that Red Robin or Batgirl had a hand in the training as well, leaving prospective room for an immediate gap prior to her first mission. In order to fully accommodate passage of time, however, this gap must span around one month, which means that Selina keeps Stephanie Brown captive although well taken-care-of all while not allowing Steph see who her captor is or to know where she is being held. Seems a bit improbable, but, then again, the entire Eternal narrative has been improbable since Day One. The gap must exist, so therefore it does.↩