With Rebirth now in full swing and so many exciting new titles to try, we can’t blame anyone for needing a reminder of what happened in the last issue. Or maybe you’re looking to add a new book to your list and need to get caught up on earlier chapters? Either way, we’re here to help. Every week, we’ll be recapping the prior issues of that week’s new Rebirth and Hanna-Barbera comics, as well as sharing our favorite moments. It’s a quick, easy way to ensure you’re up to speed and ready for New Comic Day. Plus, as a bonus, we’ve included a few animated recaps, to give you just a little more detail.

We hope you find these recaps helpful, but be aware that they do contain some spoilers!

 

 

Batman #10

By Tom King, Mikel Janin and June Chung

Bruce’s infiltration of Santa Prisca turns violent almost immediately as his plane is shot out of the sky above the country’s airspace. He’s brought before Bane himself, who—despite hearing Bruce’s clearly stated goals that he’s there for the Psycho-Pirate—is quick to brutally beat him and throw him in the cell Bane himself lived in for seventeen years. Not to be taken out of the picture so easily, Bruce struggles through his injuries (even going as far as snapping his own bones back into place against the walls of the prison) to escape and rendezvous with Selina and Albert. Catwoman reports that Bruce’s plan—occurring behind the scenes as Bruce dove in and got himself caught—has gone off without a hitch. Punch, Jewelee and Bronze Tiger are all in position. Now it’s time to take the fight to Bane on their terms, and if Bruce has his way, he’s going to see to it that Bane does not come away from this fight unbroken.

Unforgettable Moment: Through the entire issue, we get a glimpse of what, exactly, landed Selina in Arkham as such a dangerous criminal, as well as what she believes to be the force that continues to bind her and Bruce together. The two of them have always been, at least to Catwoman, two sides of the same coin.


Nightwing #8

By Tim Seeley, Javier Fernandez and Chris Sotomayor

Raptor has put Bruce in the middle of a deathtrap to prove a brutal point to Dick about the nature of his past and his present. According to Raptor, who reveals his own past as a friend of Dick’s mother, Bruce has done nothing but uproot Dick from his heritage, blinding him with wealth and privilege and turning him against everything his family would have stood for. Luckily, Dick is able to see through Raptor’s bravado and grandstanding to the heart of the matter: Raptor’s own rage and heartache over Mary Grayson’s death has caused him to lash out at anything and everything, and now he’ll stop at nothing to make sure Dick is dragged right down into that pit of despair with him. But Dick is no stranger to dealing with people who are stuck reliving one traumatic moment and he emerges from the fight victorious with Raptor finally being taken into custody and Bruce free from his death trap unharmed. He’s certain, now more than ever, that Bruce’s training didn’t steal him away from anything. Rather, their presence in each other’s lives saved them both from becoming the monster that Raptor is today.

Unforgettable Moment: The trust Bruce has for Dick isn’t something we get to see a lot of, considering how closed off Bruce tends to keep himself, but this time around we get to see it in spades. Bruce allows himself to plummet out of Raptor’s death trap to certain doom with complete confidence that Nightwing would be there to catch him. And (as usual), he was completely correct.


Superman #10

By Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray and John Kalisz

As Jon Kent and his friend Kathy leave school, Jon bumps into a girl named Maya—literally knocking her over. After helping her up, Maya walks away and secretly radios in to someone. Jon and Kathy cut through a swamp, where they look to see if they can find a Christmas tree for Kathy’s grandpa. Kathy gets spooked and heads home, but Jon remains and continues to look for a tree. In his search he’s startled by a multitude of forest animals acting strangely. Before he completely freaks out, he’s grabbed by Nobody (Maya in a high tech suit) and Goliath. The two take Jon back to the Batcave. Waking up from being sedated, Jon finds himself surrounded by Nobody, Goliath, Robin and Batman. Batman is furious with Damian for kidnapping Jon, and for good reason. Superman breaks into the cave—enraged. Everyone is at each other’s throats, until Jon breaks the tension when his newfound freeze breath. Batman runs tests on Jon that reveals abnormalities in his powers and abilities. Superman and Batman debate the results. Meanwhile, Jon and Damian hang out in the cave where the tension continues to build as the two talk about Damian’s pet cow, cat and dog. Damian pushes Jon’s buttons when he makes a snide comment about the trouble Jon’s been having controlling his powers—sending Jon over the edge. The two start fighting, but it’s quickly broken up by an angry Superman and Batman.

Unforgettable Moment: Loved seeing Jon land that left into Damian’s midsection!


Suicide Squad #5

By Rob Williams, Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Jonathan Glapion, Sandra Hope and Alex Sinclair

Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad break down the Phantom Zone sphere at Belle Reve. The sphere puts Harley in a strange trance, but before she can touch it, Deadshot grabs her. This causes a fight to break out between the two, but Waller puts a stop to it by sending a shock through their brains via the explosives implanted in them. June Moone and Killer Croc share a heart-to-heart moment, where Croc admits she’s the only person he doesn’t want to eat. Harcourt and the squad watch on as a team of scientists extract Zod from the sphere, where he has grown to a massive size. Hack follows a mysterious voice she hears in her head to a room with graffiti sprayed all over the walls. Waller and Harcourt talk about making Zod a member of the team—which makes Flag furious. In his rage, he pulls out his pistol, points it in Waller’s direction and pulls the trigger.

Unforgettable Moment: A giant-sized Zod? Awesome!


Green Lanterns #10

By Sam Humphries, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira and Blond

Simon tries on the Phantom Ring and his emotions fly out of whack—earning a firm talking-to by Rami for putting on the ring. Jessica and Simon decide to not to travel the cosmos and find Hal and the Green Lantern Corps to help them protect the Phantom Ring, choosing instead to stay on Earth and protect it. Meanwhile, Frank lights a nearby neighbor’s house on fire. As Simon and Jessica rescue the homeowner and her daughter, Frank makes his move and sneaks into Nazir’s house. Rami tries stopping Frank before he puts the Phantom Ring on but Volthoom emerges from the shadows and grabs him. With Rami subdued, Frank puts the ring on and becomes the Phantom Lantern. Nazir attacks him, but Frank unleashes Yellow Lantern power to show him his worst fear. Frank and Volthoom escape with Rami.   

Unforgettable Moment: Finally seeing the Phantom Ring put to work was awesome. It’s obvious that it’s a VERY powerful weapon!


Trinity #2

By Francis Manapul

Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman are shocked and confused. They’re somehow in their costumes and in the barn with a young Clark and Jonathan Kent—who has succumbed to a heart attack from the shock. Scared and angry to see his dad in that state, young Clark attacks the three, before running away. Jonathan comes through, unknown to young Clark who has hidden away in a cave in the forest where a mysterious voice is speaking to him. Jonathan shows the three the ship that young Clark traveled in to get there. Recognizing the symbol on the rocket to the one on Superman’s suit, he turns to Superman for answers about where young Clark is from. Leery, Superman gives Jonathan very few details—not wanting to tell Jonathan what his relationship to the father and son actually is. The four leave to find young Clark, much to Batman’s disapproval, who believes they’ll cause some sort of butterfly effect with their current timeline. As the group gets closer to the cave where young Clark is hiding, Superman collapses into the river that leads to the cave. Jonathan saves him and Superman tells him what a good father he is. Batman discovers there were traces of Kryptonite in the water. They find young Clark and reunite him with Jonathan, but back at the barn, Jon notices it’s covered in all kinds of ivy and plants. Following close behind him is Poison Ivy. Inside the barn, Ivy has Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman tangled up in her plants, where they remain in a comatose state.

Unforgettable Moment: We really liked when Jonathan pulls Superman from the water and Superman tells him all the memories that two shared…very heart-warming!


Aquaman #10

By Dan Abnett, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy and Gabe Eltaeb

The Widowhood sees a vision where the King of Atlantis dies and the distraught Queen assumes the throne. Her grief is too great and she becomes the “Fatal Queen” who unleashes the Deluge, which wipes the world away. The vision shocks the Widowhood to their core. Mera fights back—arguing that she would never do that and that the Deluge is a terror cell. The Sisters of the Widowhood explain that the Deluge took their name from the Atlantean myth which speaks of a cleansing force that will wash away the surface world. Mera deciphers that Sister Elasmar is of Xebel blood—the same as her. Elasmar tells Mera they can’t sanction the marriage. Mera returns to the surface world and finds a note from Joanna Stubbs asking to meet with her. Mera meets Joanna at a restaurant, where Joanna tells Mera that N.E.M.O is the real enemy behind the recent attacks. The two are then attacked by Broadside—a N.E.M.O operative. After Mera manages to stop Broadside’s attack, Joanna tells Mera what happened to Aquaman after his fight with the Shaggy Man—leaving Arthur’s future bride shocked and scared.   

Unforgettable Moment: Mera with the big save before the bomb goes off was too good!


Cyborg #4

By John Semper Jr, Timothy Green II, Joseph Silver and Guy Major

Vic continues his desperate fight through his own mind as his unconscious body rampages through the real world S.T.A.R Labs. It turns out that his encounter with Malware several weeks ago didn’t end as simply as everyone thought. The villain managed to infect Vic’s systems and has now loaded himself into Vic’s subconscious. Now, trapped in his nightmares, Vic is made to confront not only his friends and teammates, but his own past as Malware takes him on a tour of his most traumatic memories, twisting and corrupting them to break Vic’s spirit. Meanwhile, back in the waking world, Sarah manages to program a “cure” for Malware’s infection and pull Vic back into consciousness, thankfully before he can actively hurt any bystanders. Vic’s body may be back in his control, but the imposter Silas Stone is still going unnoticed in the heart of S.T.A.R Labs, with Vic’s real father still imprisoned back in the imposter’s lair.

Unforgettable Moment: Part of Malware’s tour of Vic’s most traumatic memories included uncovering something that was apparently not just forgotten, but purposefully deleted by Vic’s father when he was reconstructing his son. Vic sees a hooded figure who claims to be the love of his life, someone who was stolen from him, but Vic has no idea who they are, or if they were telling the truth. It’s entirely possible that Malware and Malware’s master aren’t the only one manipulating him.


Justice League #8

By Bryan Hitch, Neil Edwards, Daniel Henriques and Tony Aviña

Something is attacking Vic’s systems, which is bad news for a number of reasons, but namely because he is currently stationed in the Watchtower on monitor duty, and whatever has gotten into him makes quick work of getting into the Watchtower’s systems as well. From there, it uploads itself into the Batcomputer back in Gotham, and nearly proceeds to get both Bruce and Alfred killed while Vic frantically tries to regain control of the space station and his own body. With the station literally falling out of the sky, Vic regains control for just long enough to boom tube the pieces roughly back into orbit—but not long enough to stop himself from careening back down to solid ground. Just, apparently, as the malicious force inside of him intended. Vic lands right amidst a fight involving his teammates and—before he can stop himself—allows the malevolent code controlling his body to upload directly into Simon’s Green Lantern ring.

Unforgettable Moment: The Batcomputer’s systems aren’t the only things compromised in the attack—virtually every piece of technology in the cave is weaponized against Bruce and Alfred…including the cave’s iconic robotic dinosaur statue. Thankfully, Alfred’s pretty resourceful (and handy with a rocket launcher).


Green Arrow #10

By Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra

Team Arrow narrowly escapes their island fate by stowing aboard yet another relic of Ollie’s past: a high speed transatlantic train that his father designed, which was being put to use by the island dwellers and their Ninth Circle overlords to traffic mysterious chemicals, possibly drugs, across the world. But that’s not all. In addition to the shady chemicals, it appears the train is transporting...diplomats? Someone has organized a meeting of political figures from all over the world to meet aboard the train with the noble goal of working towards “peace in our time.” While that goal may seem noble, it has all the makings of a situation just waiting to go south—and south is exactly where it goes. A familiar face from Diggle’s past—Eddie Fyers—also happens to be aboard the train, and his mission is anything but peace. Posing as a waiter, Fyers poisons the train’s champagne, causing at least one casualty before Team Arrow springs into action to try and stop him. Unfortunately for them, the chaos not only exposes them as stowaways, but also allows Fyers to escape...and makes it pretty easy to blame the assassination attempt on Team Arrow themselves. Whoops.

Unforgettable Moment: Ollie’s pretty well known for his arsenal of…uh, “creative” arrows, but maybe the most iconic of all of them is the boxing glove arrow. Sure, it may be the “equivalent of a silencer,” but it still looks completely ridiculous, and we still absolutely love it.
 

We'll be back in a week with another set of Reader Recaps. Also, don't miss our weekly new comic book unboxing every Tuesday on Periscope for an exclusive preview of the week's new comics!