Alright so right out the gate there is a lot to talk about here, because there are a lot of characters all doing there own thing and all of it is pretty grand in scope because it all concerns big mysteries, the multiverse, and a few reveals we may not have seen coming. That in mind I’ve decided to break into all spoiler boxes under specific characters after a brief intro, hope that’s okay.
Anyway I will say that not a lot of this is follow up from the #0 issue back in March, obviously things like Alan Scott, Barry Allen, Roy Harper, and Darkseid are all important but it’s not exactly 1 for 1 as things have moved on and only certain characters are getting focus compared to the whole DC universe. There’s also a lot to deal with the multiverse and how to handle it in the wake of events such as Death Metal, in fact they do reference the dark multiverse a few times. Either way I think it’s an interesting first issue that’s throwing us into a multiverse mystery that will lead to a crisis event, only problem is that it’s not new reader friendly.
It does not take time to explain who people are and goes straight into the story, which is fine and for some people like me who read a bunch of comics from a wide variety of stories since childhood. But unfortunately if you don’t know about Director Bones, Agent Chase, The Justice Incarnate, Flashpoint Batman, and the Psycho Pirate, which you may not be because its a wide range of odd characters from Earth-0 to Flashpoint, to the multiverse, then you may be a bit confused when a Batman crash lands on Earth-23. Luckily Secret Files is a thing huh. But I do think it’s a good start to an interesting story that I can’t wait to see more of. And with that onto the spoilers.
Alan Scott and Family (Obsidian and Jade only)
spoilers:
So after stomping on Extant in the opening, Alan goes off with Obsidian to an old JSA base in Gotham where Jade is with undisclosed friends, no doubt a JSA or Infinity Inc. tease, but then the base blows up via green fire and everyone including Jade has suddenly disappeared and Obsidian can’t track her. In reading this scene it does feel like it may tie-in to what’s going on with Roy and Flashpoint Batman. |
end of spoilers
Chase and Director Bones
spoilers:
Not too much happens here, it’s basically Bones recruiting Chase in a reformed DEO to deal with the fact that the multiverse is now common knowledge and that weird stuff is happening because of it. I’m assuming it leads to more but not much for the first issue. |
end of spoilers
Flashpoint Batman and The Justice Incarnate
spoilers:
Okay so as the preview shows Thomas Wayne crash lands on Earth-23 in a ship in front of Calvin Ellis’ parents and Calvin takes the unconscious body to the Justice Incarnate to get a look at him and see what’s going on. Because as you recall last we saw old Thomas Bane had broken his back in prison but this makes it seem that since then someone captured him and kept him trapped somewhere else and he only now managed to escape, maybe the same people who captured Jade and the JSA, but who knows. All we know is someone is kidnapping and holding multiverse people hostage. |
end of spoilers
Barry Allen and Psycho Pirate
spoilers:
So Barry has gone off on his own to explore the Omega world and to do so he’s decided to run through the whole “mapped” multiverse to build up speed and energy, by the way I like that scene because we get a glimpse of what looks like classic Earth-2 Helena Wayne. But anyway Barry’s plan works but he immediately regrets it when he comes across the murdered corpses of the Quintessence.
But he doesn’t get long to think about it when an upgraded Psycho Pirate attacks working alongside Darkseid who apparently want Barry for something. All we truly know is that Psycho knows of a coming crisis and says he and Barry will be on the same side. So yeah Psycho and Darkseid have captured the Fastest man alive now. |
end of spoilers
Finally Roy Harper......and the mysterious new Black Lantern (shocked gasps!), yeah they reveal who it is in the first issue of series.
spoilers:
So Roy is sitting in a dinner and the scene is kind of long because we are just getting dialogue of people talking about Death Metal and the multiverse and then we get a guy who basically claims the Multiverse is fake news created by the superheroes...but that doesn’t last long when that new multiverse bounty hunter X-tract shows up coming for Roy with a squad of henchmen.
And things look bad until the black lantern appears and kicks out X-tract and her people. The Black lantern of course is none other then....Roy Harper! That’s right, Roy is the Black Lantern and is making constructs of himself. I guess that’s where Batman’s black lantern ring went but Roy looks a little concerned of course he probably should be because I think he was around for Blackest Night. But that’s the final shot of the issue, Roy in Black Lantern gear with dark colored constructs of his past. |
end of spoilers
All sounds pretty crazy right. Either way I know I’m coming back next issue as I’m generally intrigued by multiverse shenanigans and big crazy ideas like what Williamson presents here.