Modern YEAR SEVENTEEN (Part 1)

2005 (January to June)^[1]
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–Batman: Room Full of Strangers
In this Harvey award-nominated one-shot by Scott Morse, recently retired Jim Gordon takes a much needed vacation to a seaside resort. When two dead bodies wash ashore, Gordon’s cop instincts kick in and he solves the murder mystery. A cosplaying Batman wannabe appears to help Gordon during the case.

–NOTE: In Superman: Lex 2000. January 20. Lex Luthor is inaugurated as the President of the United States of America.

–the second feature to Batman: Gotham Knights #20 (Batman: Black & White)
February—Bruce’s birthday. For his b-day, Batman decides to do something truly reckless—he breaks the cardinal rule of time travel by interacting with himself as a boy. Yep, the Dark Knight time-travels back to 1973 to meet with a nine-going-on-ten-year-old version of himself. Remaining unseen in the shadows, Batman speaks to his boyhood self in the caverns beneath Wayne Manor, delivering challenging but inspiring words of encouragement. Batman converses with young Bruce a few times in early 1973, paradoxically prepping the boy (himself) for a future of superhero vigilantism.

BATMAN/HUNTRESS: CRY FOR BLOOD Conclusion
——————–Batman/Huntress: Cry For Blood #3 Epilogue
——————–Batman/Huntress: Cry For Blood #4-6
The epilogue (last five pages) of issue #3 take place at the very end of Huntress’ three month training period in Canada. Huntress reveals her detailed origin story to the Question on the way back to Gotham. When Huntress and the Question arrive in the city they find Batman waiting for them in Helena’s apartment. Batman tells Helena that he knows she is innocent of murder, and that she must clear her name by finding the true killer. I love when Batman sends people that nettle him off on “special missions,” which are actually just cases he doesn’t want to handle. He does this a lot with Huntress and Azrael. Huntress discovers that mobster Santo Cassamento is responsible for framing her, so she goes to shake him down. Unfortunately, Huntress learns that Cassamento is also one of the hitmen that killed her entire family. Furthermore, Huntress learns that Cassamento is her biological father! Cassamento hates Huntress because, when he was putting out the hit on her family, he meant to spare Helena’s mother who he was deeply in love with. However, the hitman erroneously spared Helena instead, thus forever earning her Cassamento’s wrath. The final issue of this story-arc turns into Rucka’s version of The Godfather. Helena visits the don on a mob wedding day and asks of him a favor which he cannot refuse. After some wheeling and dealing, Helena is able to orchestrate the assassination of Cassamento while keeping her hands ivory clean.

–Detective Comics #755
Late February. Sasha Bordeaux has been Bruce Wayne’s bodyguard for exactly 106 days (over three months), although you wouldn’t know it since Bruce avoids her with such ease that we have barely seen her. Bruce’s bizarre behavior and elusiveness has finally started to make Sasha suspicious, but of what she has no idea. Bruce and Sasha attend Jim Gordon’s retirement dinner. Every Gotham cop is in attendance. Remember Kitch from a few years back? He’s now working in criminal defense. Nice reference to a character that disappeared for no good reason. Anyway, Tommy Mangles shows up to mess with the proceedings, but a zillion cops easily take care of the second-stringer. However, Two-Face shows up and he’s no second-stringer. Surprisingly, Two-Face flips his coin and it lands good-side up. Instead of killing Gordon, Two-Face makes a moving speech about his good friend and a lost partnership that ended far too soon. Two-Face then hugs Gordon and goes back to Arkham quietly and calmly.

–Batman: Gotham Knights #14
Late February. Azrael, who is sporting yet another new costume, does some male-bonding with Nightwing in Blüdhaven as they retrieve some stolen charity money from Double Dare, a duo comprised of acrobatic French super-villain sisters Aliki Marceau and Margot Marceau. Penguin had originally stolen the loot, only to have it stolen by Double Dare. Afterward, Nightwing meets with Batman, learning that the Dark Knight sent Azrael tto help out in Blüdhaven. NOTE: For anyone wondering about the awesome Paul Dini “kissing contest” story which takes place in the B&W second feature to this issue, it is non-canon as it takes place in the DCU Animated Universe.

–Superman Vol. 2 #168
Late February. Superman returns home from a Brainiac-built fake Krypton (as seen in Action Comics #776), brining Krypto the Superdog along with him!^[2] Soon afterward, Batman and Lois Lane covertly infiltrate the White House in an attempt to steal President Luthor’s Kryptonite Ring. After successfully getting past tight security, Batman and Lois run right into the middle of someone they least expect to be there: Superman! PS. Bruce becomes owner of the most famous Metropolis newspaper, the Daily Planet.

–Detective Comics #756
Late February—roughly three-and-a-half months (The Batman Files rounds this number up to four months) since Sasha Bordeaux began working for Bruce. Picking up right where Superman Vol. 2 #168 left off, Batman and Lois have just sneaked into the White House in an attempt to steal President Luthor’s Kryptonite ring. However, Superman is in their way defending truth, justice, and the American way even if it’s the Lex Luthor way. Batman and Superman have an epic battle all throughout the White House until Batman snatches the ring from the Oval Office. As Batman grabs the ring, Luthor and his Secret Service agents bust in to detain him. Superman gives the ring back to Luthor who opens its lead-lined case exposing the Kryptonite to the Man of Steel. Supes is just fine, proving that Batman’s ring was actually the ringer. After searching Lois, the legit ring is discovered and tested on Supes. He cries out in pain when exposed to the emerald jewelry. Superman then escorts Batman and Lois off the premises. Why aren’t they arrested? Who knows. Anyway, Lois is upset because her plan failed, but Batman and Superman smirk. It was all an act. The fight in the White House was a setup. The heroes have the real ring. Superman pretended to be in pain when exposed to the fake. Supes then explains how he was able to withstand the real deal saying, “I knew it was coming. He’d held it on me any longer I’d probably have passed out.” Meanwhile, Sasha Bordeaux searches through Bruce’s belongings and discovers something very revealing: Batarangs. Uh oh.

–Batman 80-Page Giant 2010 #1 Part 3^[3]
February 29. It’s a leap year (hence the February 29 date) and thus, Calendar Man is acting up! He’s once again shaved his head and is ready for trouble. In the process of attempting a daring escape from Arkham, Calendar Man beats up Funland! Batman shows up in time to calm Julian Day, who is escorted back to his cell. Arkham psychiatrist Dr. Bridget Fitzpatrick makes a cameo as well. I’ve placed this story here because Batman’s costume fits with the times and the appearance of Aaron Cash seems like an appropriate indicator as well. Oh and for anyone wondering, the serial killer known as Funland is a Neil Gaiman original character from The Sandman (aka Sandman Vol. 2)!

–Superboy Vol. 4 #85
Superboy visits Gotham to hang out with Robin, but winds up teaming-up with Batgirl to defeat Dr. Sin. Batman is not happy that Batgirl fraternizes with the Boy of Steel.

–FLASHBACK: From Superman/Batman #32. Batman battles Joker in the rain and stops him from detonating a nuclear device. Batman stores the bomb in the Batcave (as referenced in Superman/Batman #33). I’ve placed this item here because it is said to occur a “couple years” prior to Superman/Batman #32. Writer Mark Verheiden could be referencing a specific past nuclear threat involving Joker, as there have been several. However, it seems probable that he isn’t referencing anything at all, which is why I’ve added this flashback note. We also learn via a reference in Batman #604 that, around a year before the conclusion to Bruce Wayne: Fugitive (i.e. right now), Joker attempts some sort of unspecified scheme that utilizes a clown gang led by #1 man Jimmy, who will later return as the one-shot super-villain Punch. We can assume the nuclear plot is that very same scheme.

–Robin Vol. 2 #84
Late March. (Robin Vol. 2 #85-86 take place before issue #84.) Regular Young Justice ally Lagoon Boy has a giant male pet sea monster named Spotty. Spotty impregnates a giant female stray sea monster that lives in Gotham Harbor. The giant female sea monster kidnaps a bunch of people to use as incubators for its eggs. One of these people is Robin. (Why does Robin keep getting kidnapped lately? Maybe he has lost focus since his relationship with Spoiler is going down the tubes.) Batman grows concerned after Tim is missing for two days and consults Spoiler in an attempt to locate the Boy Wonder.

–Robin Vol. 2 #87-88
Late March. Robin returns to Brentwood from his sea monster adventure, but having failed to check-in with Batman has caused the Dark Knight to fear the worst has happened. Batman takes Spoiler under his wing and gives her a ride in the Batmobile and shows her the Batcave. Worried about Robin, Batman tells Spoiler Robin’s secret identity (!) so that she can better assist in locating him. Eventually, Spoiler meets with Robin atop Brentwood Academy. When Robin learns that Batman has told Spoiler his secret, the Boy Wonder is furious. Robin then confronts the Batman in the woods just outside of the school grounds before storming off angrily. Later, back in the Batcave, Batman trains Spoiler and introduces her to Batgirl. Meanwhile, a pissed-off Tim tries to cool his head by taking Alfred’s advice and heading to Spring Break with his friends from school. At Virginia Beach, Tim gets involved in an altercation with the Kobra Cult, which kidnaps his buddy Danny Temple. Robin follows the Kobra Cult and Danny to the Himalayas.

–Harley Quinn #6
April 1. Harley Quinn and her gang infiltrate Bruce Wayne’s April Fool’s Ball at Wayne Manor. As Harley begins to rob the mansion, the Riddler and his crew have the same idea and they enter Bruce’s home with the intention of burglarizing the place as well. Meanwhile, Bruce sneaks away from his own party (and also from Sasha Bordeaux who has yet to question him about the found Batarangs in his briefcase) to take care of some special business (see Detective Comics #757, which overlaps with this tale). While Batman has his own adventure in Detective Comics #757, Harley’s crew then begins to brawl with Riddler’s crew. Oracle knows what’s going on, but can’t make contact with any member of the Bat-Family. Desperate, she puts out an alert to the JLA reserves with details about the Wayne Manor situation. Big Barda responds (!), thrashes the two villainous gangs, and ruins most of Wayne Manor in the process.

–Detective Comics #757
April 1—this item picks up directly from Harley Quinn #6. Batman leaves his April Fool’s Ball to chase down some cop-killing Triads and then saves a family from their car, which is trapped underwater.

–Robin Vol. 2 #92-94
April 2. Having just left a Himalayan Lazarus Pit site where they fought the Kobra Cult and King Snake, Robin and Danny Temple (who learned the Boy Wonder’s secret identity during the altercation) return back home to Gotham. Robin immediately visits the Dark Knight in the Batcave. Batman is super pissed when he finds out that Robin took on the Kobra Cult by himself, but Robin is still pissed that he told Spoiler his secret identity. In fact, while Robin doesn’t outright resign from his post as Batman’s sidekick, he more or less effectively quits with the following actions—refusing to speak to Batman and storming out of the cave. While unable and unwilling to reconcile with Bruce, Tim is quickly able to make-up with Stephanie. Tim returns to school and Stephanie continues her intense training with Batman. When Stephanie goes home she finds her dad (Cluemaster) hanging out with Query, Echo, and the Riddler! Cluemaster has an ankle-bracelet on and is now legally living at home due to prison over-crowding. He invited his friends over just to chill. (Friends? I’m pretty sure last time they were in a comic book together, Riddler and his henchwomen tried to kill Cluemaster by strapping a bomb to his chest, but oh well.) Stephanie deals with this unusual situation, while Tim deals with an alcoholic teenager friend at school. Tim’s life is like one big after-school special all the time.

–NOTE: In JLA/Haven: Arrival. A bunch of wrongly-imprisoned aliens from the planet Competalia turn their gulag into a giant spaceship. The refugee Competalians crash land their flying city, called Haven, into Earth—specifically Lamont, California. The world is introduced to the Competalian superhero team known as The Alliance, including members Valadin, Katalia, Siv, and Nia. President Luthor immediately welcomes the aliens, and even makes Haven an official United States city, mainly so he can raid their alien tech.

–Batman #588-590 (“CLOSE BEFORE STRIKING”)
Our story starts out with Dick (wearing the Batman costume) pretend brawling with Bruce (in his Matches Malone disguise) at a seedy Gotham bar in order to lure information about a new major crime player from onlookers. Bruce (as Matches) is taken to the boss, who turns out to be an old player; the Ventriloquist (with Scarface). Bruce (as Matches) is able to get the details on Scarface’s next heist. Later that night, Bruce (as Batman) is able to bust up Scarface’s action. Scarface thinks Matches is a snitch and wants him six feet under. The next day, the real Matches (who Batman thought had died sixteen years ago) resurfaces in Gotham to prove he ain’t no snitch, but winds up with a fatal bullet in his gut courtesy of Scarface. Why would Matches, who has been in hiding for so long, decide now that he has to defend his name and honor? Brian K Vaughan’s body of Bat-work is either really strong or really nonsensical. Unfortunately, the latter wins out with this particular tale. But I digress and move on. Batman eventually avenges Matches’ death by burning Scarface into a pile of ashes. Meanwhile, Dick and Barbara share a moment of sexual tension. Oh my! Note that the real Matches estimates that he hasn’t seen Batman in a decade. In actuality, he hasn’t seen him in over sixteen years. Also, Babs talks to Dick about Sherlock Holmes, referring to him as a fictional character. In the Modern Age, Sherlock Holmes is not a fictional character.

–Batgirl #14-15
A group of ex-Army Special Forces Green Berets secretly analyzes Batgirl’s fighting abilities on behalf of the US Government. The summary: Batgirl has the unbelievable abilities of a metahuman, but she is only a regular human. Batgirl can also take bullets and feel no pain. Conclusion: Batgirl is awesome.

–Batman: Absolution
When an ex-Children of Maya terrorist shows up in Gotham, Batman revisits an eight-year-old case and finds information which leads him in search of fugitive Jennifer Blake. Batman travels to London, where he meets with his long-time British informant, Bert. After Bert is killed by the Children of Maya, Batman stays in London for at least two-and-a-half weeks before finding clues which lead him to India. As Batman closes in on Blake, he passes out due to a combination of a viral infection and injuries suffered at the hands of the terrorist cell. Blake unmasks Batman and then, surprisingly, nurses him back to health! Blake is a bit unpredictable, but claims that her past misdeeds are behind her, as she has joined a convent and has a group of villagers which she loves and cares for. The Children of Maya then swoop in and try to wipe out the entire village. Batman successfully wards them off and saves the town, but Blake dies in a fire. NOTE: There is an editorial flashback to “eight years ago” in this story in which Batman is depicted wearing the wrong costume. He should be wearing his yellow oval costume.

–Green Lantern Vol. 3 #134-136 (“WHILE ROME BURNED”) 
The JLA defeats Kyle Rayner’s evil arch-enemy, the yellow power ring-wielding Nero.

–the second feature to Batman: Gotham Knights #16 (B&W)
Scarecrow sprays Batman with a new Fear Gas that makes Batman afraid of bats and anything bat-related. Bruce deals with this horrible ailment for a full week before bribing Poison Ivy to concoct for him a similar Fear Gas that causes people to fear books. Bruce, disguised as a homeless wino claiming to know Batman’s secret identity, is granted an audience with Scarecrow (who loves reading books). At their meeting, Bruce doses Scarecrow with the Fear Gas. In a stalemate, both parties are forced to give each other the respective antidotes. Bruce, still in disguise as a homeless drunk, enters a bar and regales its patrons with a tale of what happened to him a week ago (this tale), claiming to have witnessed the encounter between Scarecrow and Batman. Why does Bruce want to continue this homeless bum charade in public even though it serves no purpose whatsoever? Because acting like an old drunk weirdo beardo is fun!

–Batman: Gotham Knights #16-19
May. Bruce is visited in a nightmare by the spirit manifestation of the Hindu karmic loop known as Samsara. Bruce first dealt with a Samsara occurrence less than a year ago. In the dream, Samsara guides Bruce to Matatoa, a Soul-Eater which has taken possession of a tattooed motorcycle-riding warrior. Bruce first encountered a Soul-Eater way back in Bat Year Two when he was in a coma after a car accident. Basically, Soul-Eaters must consume innocent souls in order to survive. Matatoa specifically must consume the soul of an “undefeated warrior,” namely Batman. After Batman easily beats Matatoa in battle, the Soul-Eater offers up a deal. If Batman gives up his life, Gotham will forever be protected from crime and evil. Batman immediately sends Matatoa to Arkham, but Matatoa escapes in bloody fashion. Meanwhile, Dick visits with Batman and reveals that he and Barbara are officially a couple! Batman (with Nightwing) defeats Matatoa yet again, but more importantly, Bruce legally makes Dick his son. Therefore, Dick officially becomes heir to just about everything Bruce owns! (The legal documentation is actually shown on a splash page in issue #17 and is dated “May 16, 2001.” The May date is actually correct, but it should be earlier in the month, and of course, this is 2005.) In issue #18, Batman is bored after a slow crime night and calls up Aquaman. Feeling a bit lonely, Bruce tricks Aquaman into hanging out with him by asking him to assist in the retrieval of his giant penny, which has been lodged at the bottom of a ravine ever since the earthquake. (NOTE: The B&W addendum to issue #18 is a non-canon Elseworlds tale about Gotham’s fattest woman and some sentient grease that terrorizes the city. It’s non-canon because it features Charles “Chubby” Chesterfield as mayor of Gotham. Chesterfield, who also gets killed in the story, is wholly novel to this tale.) In issue #19, a petty criminal listens to one too many Batman tall tales at the bar and gets spooked on his next heist. He then spends the entire night running from an imaginary Batman until he eventually runs into the real thing. This issue ends with Bruce in his Matches Malone guise listening to criminals talk about Batman.

–the second feature to Batman: Gotham Knights #19 (B&W)
Batman busts up a drug cartel, but in the process, a call girl gets shot in the chest. In a panic, Batman sends out a JLA emergency alert to Superman, who rushes to the scene and uses his heat vision to surgically save the woman’s life in time to get her into stable hospital care. Superman chastises Batman and reminds him that this is the second time his carelessness would have caused an innocent death if not for the intervention of the Man of Steel. We are never told the details of the first time nor when it happened, but I’ve placed it in Year Eleven.

–REFERENCE: In Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne. May 9. Bruce sends a flower arrangement to Dick to commemorate the anniversary of the deaths of the Flying Graysons. Despite Alfred having nothing to do with the sending of the flowers this year, Dick will mistakenly believe Alfred has sent them (which is something Dick usually thinks anyway). Note that Bruce did not send flowers last year due to NML.

–Batgirl #17
Batgirl has not only been video taped without her mask by the police, but has even had her blood sampled and taken by the police as well. Not to mention, common thugs have been successfully landing punches on Batgirl in the field. Batman grows concerned and puts Cassandra through some re-training. Everything seems fine, so Batman sends Batgirl on a mission to infiltrate police headquarters and retrieve her video files and blood sample. Expertly, Batgirl completes her mission with success. Meanwhile, Barbara argues with Bruce over his treatment of Cassandra, saying that Bruce must acknowledge that Cassandra is more than just a crime-fighting tool; she is a growing 17-year-old girl that needs nurturing and happiness in her life as well.

–The Spectre Vol. 4 #2-4 (“REDEEMING THE DEMON”)
Shortly after becoming the Spectre, Hal Jordan was able to cast out and imprison God’s Wrath, the virulent, inhuman, and vengeful half of the Spectre. (God’s Wrath is actually a sentient anthropomorphic entity unto itself, formerly the fallen angel Aztar.) Usually, without the presence of God’s Wrath, Hal wouldn’t be able to act as the Spectre. But somehow Hal still manages to wield God’s power without his annoying dark-side interfering. And without Wrath/Aztar haunting him, Hal has been able to be a kinder and more fair agent of the heavens. However, the Wrath not only is able to escape from its prison and re-bond with Hal, but is able to take over the Spectre completely. Meanwhile, Superman meets with Batman and tells him that he thinks Hal might be alive again! They talk about the most recent JLA encounter with the Spectre, which was a while ago (before the quake) and decide to investigate based upon info from that old case. Bats, Supes, and Zauriel track the weakened Spectre to a floating citadel in the Pacific, home to the immortal super-villain known as Mistos. When they arrive the Wrath takes over Zauriel’s body. The Spectre battles a Wrath-controlled Zauriel while Batman and Superman deal with Mistos. This story is unnecessarily complicated, so I’m not going to go into any more details. Just know that in the end; Hal’s ever re-emerging personality is at the forefront of the Spectre, Superman still loves him like a teddy bear, and Batman still hates his murderin’ guts.

–Batman #591-592 (“SHOT THROUGH THE HEART”)
May. When old mob-boss Lew Moxon comes back into town, everyone wants a piece, including Deadshot, who wants the bounty on Moxon’s head. (PS We haven’t seen Moxon in ten years!) When Bruce and Sasha meet Moxon at a black tie event, Bruce is confronted by two surprises. One, Moxon’s daughter is Mallory Moxon, a young boyhood friend of Bruce’s from before his parents were murdered. And two, Moxon’s bodyguard is Philo Zeiss! When Deadshot sets off some fake explosions to test Zeiss’s security detail, Batman swings into action, but Deadshot is able to make a clean getaway. After Bruce has dinner with the Moxons, Batman encounters Zeiss, who tells him that he orchestrated Jeremy Samuels’ death (almost six-and-a-half months ago in Batman #583) as revenge against the Waynes for an incident which had occurred between Thomas Wayne and Moxon over thirty-five years ago. Enraged, Batman tussles with Zeiss and before he knows it has played right into Deadshot’s hands. By essentially using Batman to neutralize Zeiss, Deadshot has a clean opening and shoots Moxon in the chest, paralyzing him for life. Mallory blames Batman for the tragedy which befalls her dad and swears bloody revenge against the Dark Knight. Strong Brubaker stuff here. REMINDER: Sasha knows Bruce is Batman. She’s known for a month-and-a-half now (ever since ‘tec #756). However, she still doesn’t know how to handle the situation and has yet to confront Bruce about it. In the meantime, Sasha has been acting out her role as bodyguard as typically as possible, but at the same time has been secretly tracking all of Bruce’s nighttime Batman activities.

–Catwoman Vol. 2 #94
Ever since breaking out of prison, Catwoman has done enough political spin and damage control to make the public at large doubt that Selina Kyle was her real identity. Despite the relative success of this campaign, Catwoman’s troubles keep on piling up. Batman chases after Catwoman, who has just survived an altercation with Scarecrow and has now stolen a statue from the art museum. When he catches up to her they chat about their complicated history as rivals and lovers. Catwoman reminisces about the first time she saw Batman (in Frank Miller’s “Year One”). Catwoman says that she will never change her spots, but she wishes that the Caped Crusader would share his secret ID with her since they have been close for so many years. Catwoman then hands over the statue and kisses Batman passionately. Unknown to the pair, Deathstroke (who has been sent to execute Catwoman) is watching. When Batman departs, Deathstroke goes in for the kill, wounding Catwoman and sending her running into a Gotham crowd. Batman doubles back and tries to help her fight off Deathstroke, who blows up a gasoline tanker truck. When the smoke clears, seventy-two people are injured and Catwoman is missing and presumed dead. What happened to Catwoman? She barely survived the blast and will now go into hiding abroad in order to let the world continue thinking she’s dead.

–Detective Comics #758-760 (“UNKNOWING”)
May. The GCPD is convinced that a super-villain is responsible for brainwashing clean cops into committing crimes. Commissioner Akins is finally forced to do something he has been hesitant to do since gaining his position. He turns on the Bat-Signal and meets with Batman to discuss the case. Meanwhile, Sasha has become paranoid that Bruce may know that she knows his secret. As this pressure builds, Detectives Allen and Montoya are brainwashed into robbing a strip club. Who is behind these mind-control hi-jinks? The Mad Hatter, of course! Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce and Sasha finally have their long awaited confrontation. Bruce has indeed known for some time that Sasha was aware of his double-life. Sasha pledges her admiration and loyalty to Bruce and the latter agrees to make the former an official member of the Bat-Family! Together, Batman and Sasha discover that the Mad Hatter has been selling coffee with nano-controllers in it to Gotham cops, essential for controlling their minds. After nearly every cop in Gotham goes on a riotous rampage, Batman and Sasha are able to end the chaos and bring the Hatter to justice. Afterwards, Sasha has become smitten with Bruce/Batman and is excited to speak with him at Wayne Manor. However, there is a surprise waiting for her at the mansion. Bruce’s old flame, Vesper Fairchild, has returned! (We haven’t seen nor heard from her since before NML!) NOTE: Issues #759-760 contain the first two parts of the second feature entitled “Slam Bradley: Trail of the Catwoman.” Following a recent altercation with Deathstroke, the public thinks Catwoman is dead. However, the misinformed public incorrectly believes that a fugitive Selina Kyle is responsible for the murder of Catwoman (not knowing that they are actually one and the same). Private investigator Slam Bradley begins an investigation (funded by Mayor Dickerson) into discovering the truth about everyone’s favorite feline femme fatale. He questions a ton of people, including Bruce Wayne.

–Green Arrow Vol. 3 #1-10 (“QUIVER”)
Kevin Smith’s epic tale. The official return of the original Green Arrow, Oliver Queen! Ollie returns in Star City and when Bruce spots him on a TV news report, he can’t believe his old friend is back. Aquaman runs into Ollie first and they team-up to defeat Black Manta amidst a media frenzy. After Batman investigates the Black Manta crime scene, he is able to confirm that Ollie is indeed alive and well. The JLA assembles on the Watchtower to welcome Ollie back, but Ollie flips out since everything is so different. Ollie’s confusion is only increased because he believes he has only been gone for a few days when he has really been missing for three years! Thinking he is in the middle of a sinister plot, Ollie attacks the JLA, but winds up unconscious and in the arms of Batman, who takes him to the Batcave for further examination. As Batman and Spoiler study Ollie, the latter awakes and is still pretty weirded out. Bruce is able to calm him and together they try to put back the missing pieces of the puzzle. After filling in Ollie on all the happenings he missed while he was gone, Etrigan shows up with the intent to kill Ollie, saying that Ollie is a “hollow,” or soulless body which is a prime target for evil demonic possession. Etrigan then kills Ollie! After a trip through Heaven, Ollie’s soul is released back to Earth (thanks to the Phantom Stranger and Deadman). However, the heroes aren’t out of the woods yet. Kevin Smith has always had a knack for playfully using amazing age-old characters like no one else does, and Smith does it here excellently once again. Occultist Stanley Dover aka “The Star City Slayer” wants to be reborn inside Ollie’s hollow body. There is an amazing back-story here where Smith reveals that years earlier Dover had stolen the occult tome known as the Magdelene Grimoire from Alexander Burgess i.e. the Magdelene Grimoire and Alexander Burgess from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman #1! With help from Stanley Dover Jr and The Beast With No Name aka the duo known as “Stanley and his Monster,” Connor Hawke teams-up with his dad and they are able to defeat the Star City Slayer. I can’t stress how great of a comic book writer Kevin Smith is when he’s kicking his A game. Read this!

–JLA/Haven: Anathema
Over a month ago, a bunch of persecuted aliens from the planet Competalia turned the gulag in which they were imprisoned into a giant spaceship. The Competalian refugees wound up crash landing their flying city, called Haven, into Earth, specifically California. President Luthor immediately welcomed the aliens, and even made Haven an official United States city, mainly so he could raid their alien tech. Flash forward to now; the evil dictator of Competalia, known as Anathema, has discovered the location of Haven. Anathema is able to travel to Earth, but is unable to bring an army with her. Upon arriving on Earth, Anathema secretly brainwashes and empowers an army of humans to serve her bidding instead. The JLA teams up with the Competalian superhero team known as The Alliance and is able to defeat Anathema. In the end, Haven remains a US city and permanently settles at the former location of the destroyed Coast City.

–FLASHBACK: From the second feature to Detective Comics #758. Evidence in a homicide case leads GCPD detectives to believe that Black Mask might be up to his old tricks again. Reluctantly, Commissioner Akins uses the Bat-Signal to confer with Batman. He also tells Montoya a story about how he doesn’t trust costumed vigilantes because of a past bad experience with one.

–Detective Comics #761 Part 1
Bruce starts Sasha on an intensive thirty-day training program designed to make her or break her. As Sasha trains in the Batcave, Bruce re-kindles his relationship with Vesper, who is now a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist trying to write a big story on Batman. By the tenth day of this issue, internal affairs has begun to crack down and investigate every GCPD officer (supposedly in response to the Mad Hatter fiasco from ‘tec #760, but as we will find out, that is just a red herring).

–the second feature to Detective Comics #758
Renee Montoya meets with Barbara Gordon for lunch (because they are friends now) and Montoya tells her the story about how Commissioner Akins reluctantly used the Bat-Signal last week. Montoya also stresses her belief that Akins is a good man and a suitable replacement for Babs’ father.

–Detective Comics #761 Part 2
Day 11 of Sasha’s training. Bruce goes on another date with Vesper (his third this week). Sasha is a chaperon, much to her chagrin.

 –JLA: Black Baptism #1-4
This tale overlaps with days 11 through 13 of Detective Comics #761, which shows Sasha continue her training program in the Batcave. It also shows Internal Affairs continue to harass GCPD detectives. Meanwhile, The Diablos, a group of demons from Hell, go on an all-out attack against Earth’s primary magickal heroes, the team known as the Sentinels of Magic. After most of the Sentinels are severely injured, the JLA steps up to the plate. Aquaman, Tempest (Garth), and Sebastian Faust (former Outsider and son of Felix Faust) tackle the demons head-on in the magical conclave of B’Miria (which exists in the frozen tundra of Greenland). The Diablos are able to steal the mystical Fountain of Lessing, which gives them unimaginable power. Meanwhile, Zatanna has been pushed to her limit due to her encounter with the Diablos, so J’onn and Batman take her to Arkham and watch over her until she recovers. Sebastian Faust is acting very suspicious and Batman calls him out on it, but the former assures the latter that he is trying to help. Eventually, it is revealed that Sebastian’s father, Felix Faust, is working in conjunction with the Diablos in order to bring about the “Black Baptism” (a very bad thing). Everyone also finds out that Felix Faust has been possessed by Hermes Trismegistus ever since the Ghosts storyline, which took place a year ago. Lots of magickal mumbo-jumbo follows, and the good guys win. Yay!

–Batman: Orpheus Rising #1-5
This tale overlaps with days 14 through 17 of Detective Comics #761, which shows Vesper attempt (in vain) to snap a photograph of Batman. Meanwhile, as the top mafia groups in Gotham clash in bloody encounters, Batman begins developing a better relationship with Commissioner Akins. Meanwhile, cops are getting offed left and right, drugs are flowing, and racial tension and racial profiling are on the rise. Enter Gotham’s newest savior, Orpheus! He’s here to fight crime because (and I quote): “[There aren’t enough] heroes of color.” Orpheus and Batman team-up and discover that a series of cop murders are linked through the fact that each officer downed had worked for the same precinct before NML. After exploring the underground of the abandoned precinct, the duo finds a weapons cache. Meanwhile, power hungry cop Karl Esterhaus has arranged a setup that sends both The Deacons gang and the Russian mob towards the scene to slaughter each other. Batman and Orpheus are able to bring Esterhaus to justice, while Oracle calls in Black Canary, Batgirl, and Robin to stop the gang war. Orpheus gets the last line in this story: “Hello, Gotham. Now there’s a darker knight in town.” Oh, jeez. We get it already.

–Detective Comics #761 Part 3
Early June to mid June. Sasha completes the last two weeks of her thirty-day training program. At police headquarters, IA reveals that they don’t care about the Mad Hatter incident. They are actually investigating the murder of Jordan Reynolds aka Jordan Rich (the man who shot Jim Gordon). This is very scary news for Bullock, since he is the man who organized Rich’s murder.

–REFERENCE: In Detective Comics #762 and the second feature to Detective Comics #789. Batman commissions the Tailor to make a superhero costume for Sasha Bordeaux.

–Detective Comics #762
Bruce goes on a date with Vesper. Sasha is sickened to learn that she will be accompanying the lovers as a chaperon yet again. After the date, Batman takes Sasha up to the rooftops of Gotham’s tallest buildings, dresses her up in a vigilante superhero costume (!), and teaches her how to use a grappling gun. (The Batman Files details this rooftop training session via a Batman journal entry, but author Matthew Manning changes the dialogue enough that it’s probably best to ignore the reference.) Batman and Sasha pause their training session to take down some would-be muggers. Meanwhile, Montoya and Bullock are feeling the heat of Internal Affairs increase by the minute. Things are looking bleak and Bullock can’t stand it anymore. He turns in his badge and quits the force!

–REFERENCE: In The Batman Files. Batman continues training Sasha Bordeaux on how to use the grappling gun atop the rooftops of Gotham City.

–the second feature to Detective Comics #761-762 (“SLAM BRADLEY: TRAIL…”)
Parts Three and Four of the “Slam Bradley: Trail of the Catwoman” story-arc. Slam is closing in on Selina and Batman warns him to back off. Slam ignores his old friend and winds up finding Selina, but instead of reporting her whereabouts to the mayor, he is taken by her charm and beauty and chooses to let the breathtaking bombshell keep her secrets. Batman then meets up with Selina and offers her his help in any way he can. This story-arc functions as a direct prelude to the Catwoman Vol. 3 series, which will begin soon, and serves as a new beginning for Selina.

–JLA: Gatekeeper #1-3
When Green Lantern’s friend is trapped in the alternate dimension known as Kurnugi aka The Land of Forsaken Gods, he seeks help from the JLA and Dr. Fate (Hector Hall). Kurnugi is actually the divine realm of the ancient Babylonian/Sumerian gods. Naturally, the JLA and Dr. Fate enter the Babylonian god plane and battle the ancient demon-gods known as Nergal, Ereskigal, and Tiamat.

–JLA Classified: Cold Steel #1-2
When alien Ghoji refugees are almost killed by the monstrous Voruk aliens from the Lagoon Nebula after being chased all the way to Earth’s moon, the JLA decides to involve itself in an interplanetary war hundreds of light years away. Once at the Ghoji planet, the League learns that the Voruk race has designed a gigantic living-weapon known as the Infinity Coil. Each JLAer rocks his own battle mech, complete with a pimped-out paint job by Wally and Kyle, into space to take on the Voruk armada and the Infinity Coil. Once the battle begins, the JLA learns all is not what it seems. The Infinity Coil has created a time paradox on the planet Penumbra, which causes time to literally stand still. After a very confusing battle, the Ghoji and Voruk join forces (sort of) against the Infinity Coil itself. A sentient 900-year-old Voruk creature/battleship sacrifices himself to destroy the Infinity Coil, thus ending the crisis. Supposedly, this entire tale only takes a week. However, due to editorial time compression, it can only take, at most, three days.

–JLA #55-58 (“TERROR INCOGNITA”)
Since this item shows Atlantis and tells us that Aquaman is active, it must go prior to Our Worlds at War, hence placement here. As Batman swings down from the top of a building to rescue someone, Nightwing inexplicably cuts his rope and nearly kills him! Meanwhile, Lois tells everybody at work that Clark is Superman! Nightwing can’t explain why he did what he did. Neither can Lois and she and Clark frantically tell everyone they were joking. Similar occurrences happen across the globe. Only after a nuclear reactor explodes in Russia and a bunch of “ghost” sightings are reported across the US is Batman able to find out what is going on. The White Martians are back and they are messing with people’s heads! Batman discovers their secret headquarters and after infiltrating it, he learns that the White Martians are harvesting the brains of latent telepathic metahumans in order to achieve their ultimate goal: The destruction of the JLA. Before the Martians attack, they activate the second part of their plan, eliminating their only weakness (fire) by altering Earth’s oxygen so that it is incapable of combustion into flame. The JLA is beaten back to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude by an army of White Martians. Wait, aren’t all but three or four Martians thought to be extinct? Where did this army of White Martians come from, you ask? Turns out that during the JLA’s altercation with the Cathexis and Id (about eight months ago in JLA #54), J’onn made a wish to “not be alone” and thus, all of the White Martians were resurrected and had been biding their time in preparation for the attack ever since. (Note that Batman says JLA #54 happened mere “weeks ago,” but as stated, it’s actually been eight months.) Eventually, the JLA is able to restore fire and trap all of the White Martians in the Phantom Zone (using Superman’s Phantom Zone Projector).

OUR WORLDS AT WAR
——————–Batman: Our Worlds at War #1
——————–JLA: Our Worlds at War #1
——————–Nightwing: Our Worlds at War #1
——————–Batman #593-594
——————–World’s Finest: Our Worlds at War #1
June. When an alien spaceship crash-lands in Gotham, Batman investigates and discovers a government cover-up that leads all the way up to President Lex Luthor. After infiltrating a secret underground compound in Metropolis (with a little help from Lexcorp CEO Talia), Batman discovers that Luthor has been running secret experiments on both aliens and metahumans. He also discovers a secret project known as “The Doomsday Contingency.” The Dark Knight then pays Luthor a personal visit and gives an encore of his prior threatening Oval Office speech. Bruce Wayne then visits The Daily Planet offices (which he now owns) and talks to Clark about Luthor’s “Doomsday Contingency” program. What does Luthor know that they don’t? Luthor knows that Imperiex Prime is on his way to Earth and he is frantically trying to prepare for his arrival. And right on schedule, Imperiex Prime, a cosmic destroyer from the future, attacks Earth (having already destroyed several other planets on his way) with the goal of re-creating the Big Bang. Imperiex Prime and his army of Imperiex Probes and Hollowers detonate massive explosions across the planet, the largest and most devastating of which occur in Topeka, Kansas, Frankfurt, Germany, and Atlantis. Every superhero team (and some villains) are assembled by President Luthor to fight against the army of Imperiex Probes. Meanwhile, Nightwing and Oracle believe that a lethal computer virus from the future (that kills humans) is linked to Imperiex. Imperiex has indeed sent the murdering sentient virus from the future with instructions to kill a long list of heroes. Nightwing and Oracle head over to a secret STAR Labs location and hop in a time machine! I wish I was kidding. The machine is pretty unstable and they wind up jumping around from 1934 to the Precambrian Era to the Ice Age (where they fight cavemen) to the distant future where Blüdhaven is a barren wasteland to WWI to the Cretaceous Age and a dozen other epochs until they reach the 1700s where they fake their own deaths. Supposedly, this temporarily “changes recorded history” or something like that, which fools the virus’ software and causes it to stop hunting down the couple. As the Imperiex War continues, Gotham is oddly and miraculously spared from most of the chaos, which allows Batman to continue on his own personal endeavors, such as taking down Philo Zeiss, who has been in hiding for over a month. Meanwhile, yet another alien craft lands in Gotham, and the FBI and DEO (on Luthor’s orders) try to take control. However, the cute little big-eyed alien escapes and takes refuge at a local church where Batman meets him and learns more about Imperiex, shortly before the alien dies of injuries. A short time later, Bruce Wayne and Mallory Moxon are both present as Lew Moxon is released from the hospital. Zeiss then shows up and re-pledges his allegiance to the Moxons. Concurrently, Metropolis is a complete war-zone as Imperiex Probes, and now a few other evil alien races, cause destructive chaos on an epic scale. Nearly every citizen of Metropolis is evacuated to a gigantic ark in outer space. Luthor is able to convince Darkseid and Brainiac-13 to join in the battle against Imperiex. The President also finally unveils his “Doomsday Contingency.” Doomsday, telepathically re-programmed to be a superhero, teams-up with Superman (!), but is ultimately killed in battle. Brainiac-13 turns out to be just as evil as Imperiex, so—in the end—the good guys eliminate both of the bad guys with some help from a Brainiac-13-tech-infused Lena Luthor (Lex’s daughter) and Strange Visitor (basically a female version of Superman Blue, who is the cosmic protector of the universe Kismet mashed up with the spirit of the deceased Sharon Vance). Afterward, Lena returns to Lex’s care.While the heroes can make a V for victory, the war is quite tragic/upsetting for many reasons: Hippolyta is killed, Strange Visitor is killed, General Frank Rock is killed, Major Sam Lane (Lois’ dad) fakes his own death in order to work on a top secret government project, Maxima is killed—with Mongal (Mongul’s daughter) taking over her throne on the planet Almerac, Guy Gardner goes missing, Steel is badly injured and is forced into retirement, the Amazonian home of Themyscira is completely destroyed (and then rebuilt as an archipelago of floating sky islands), and Atlantis and all of its people completely disappear without a trace—including Aquaman, who is MIA and presumed dead. But worst of all, over 8 million people die on Earth. In total, hundreds of billions perish across the universe, making this one of the bloodiest occurrences since the original Crisis on Infinite Earths.

THE BIG NOISE / OUR WORLDS AT WAR Conclusion
——————–Superman/Batman #64
——————–Superman/Batman #68-71
Tagged as an Our Worlds at War tie-in (although written nearly ten years after Our Worlds at War was originally released), this story-arc picks up shortly after Our Worlds at War. Notably, writer Joe Casey includes Alfred working hand-in-hand with Batman in this arc. So either Alfred has temporarily made amends with Batman in order to help him deal with the messy aftermath of the Imperiex War or this is an out-and-out continuity error. I’m assuming it’s the latter—an error stemming from DC publishers green-lighting a tie-in arc a decade after the original story was published, and then failing to perform due diligence in regard to canon. If we choose not to ignore Alfred’s presence in this item, then we must assume his return is temporary and that he will angrily depart after the story ends. Onto a synopsis! Still reeling from the events of the Imperiex War and the loss of many good friends, the JLA discovers a gigantic ancient spacecraft deep in outer space that may be Kryptonian in its origin. Batman and Superman travel to the ship in order to investigate and wind up fighting ancient battle droids. Superman then uncovers dozens of Kryptonian corpses and the remains of an alien life-form from an unknown race. A single escape pod has been jettisoned in the direction of Earth. (Unknown to our heroes, the escape pod rocketed to Earth quite a while ago.) A short while later, back on Earth, Batman deals with a returning Death-Man! After busting Death-Man, Batman then examines DNA samples from the Kryptonian ship and learns that the non-Kryptonian sample belongs to a Durlan shapeshifter. This is bad news for the World’s Finest, especially since this shapeshifter is quite homicidal and thinks he is at war with Krypton. The Durlan alien, who has been on Earth for six months already, has murdered and replicated the director of STAR Labs, Anderson Gaines. Finally ready to strike, the Durlan hires super-assassin NRG-X to attack Superman at the Daily Planet building. Posing as the head of STAR, the fake-Gaines then meets Bruce Wayne and begins using the high tech STAR space program for his own devious benefit. The fake-Gaines then sends NRG-X to attack Superman inside the Fortress of Solitude. After quickly beating down the returning Hooded Hangman (!), Bruce finds out that fake-Gaines has fooled him, and Bruce is pissed. The Dark Knight rockets towards fake-Gaines’ orbiting satellite looking for a fight. Superman defeats NRG-X and zooms up to help Batman defeat the grotesque alien Gaines.

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1. ^[1]COLLIN COLSHER: Surprisingly, Year Seventeen is one of the least compressed years on our chronology. In fact, the first two months of this year barely feature any stories at all.↩
2. ^[2]THE LITTLE MUAR: Action Comics #776 originally featured Krypto the Superdog’s Modern Age debut, but, thanks to a retcon from Superman: Secret Origin #2, this is no longer the case and Krypto has actaully been around for well over a decade. Where has Krypto been hiding all these years? Since Krypto will get put into the care of a Superman Robot called Ned in the Batman-less Superman Vol. 2 #170, we can assume that the super-powered canine has been with Ned (or another Superman Robot) this entire time.↩
3. ^[3]COLLIN COLSHER: The original three-issue run of Batman 80-Page Giant was released very straightforwardly—issue #1 was the 1998 edition, issue #2 was 1999, and issue #3 was 2000. The return of the series (2010-2011) is not straightforward at all. The first return issue has a cover date of February 2010 with a cover title of simply Batman 80-Page Giant #1. A such, this issue is known as Batman 80-Page Giant Vol. 2 #1. The second return issue (this very item) has a cover date of February 2011 with a cover title of Batman 80-Page Giant 2010 #1. And the third return issue has no cover date listed (although it was released in October 2011) with a cover title of Batman 80-Page Giant 2011 #1. To further confuse matters, much of these return 80-Page Giant issues are chopped up by story and placed randomly throughout the timeline. À la Alasdair Gray’s Lanark, matters get even more confusing from there as, chronologically, our timeline initially sees the second return issue (this issue, Batman 80-Page Giant 2010 #1), then the third return issue (Batman 80-Page Giant 2011 #1), and then the first return issue (Batman 80-Page Giant Vol. 2 #1).↩