| Re: The Semi-Complete Story of "52" (abridged)... any interest? |
Subject: Re: The Semi-Complete Story of "52" (abridged)... any interest?
by Gnostic85 on 2007/2/18 10:48:25
PART FOUR:
- In Gotham, Intergang boss Bruno Mannheim builds up an empire centered around a religion of crime, the outgrowth of his encounter with Darkseid five years earlier, an encounter that left his mind warped.
- In space, Adam Strange and his fellow spacefarers attempt to escape the wrathful Ekkron, because Lobo is still bound by his religious vows not to use violence. However, they soon discover that Ekkron is in fact a Green Lantern from whom Lobo had stolen an eye (to which Lobo responds that he had been carrying out orders from the Triple-Fish.) Ekkron tells them that he'd seen the sector under his protection destoyed. Strange, Starfire, and Animal Man decide to invite Ekkron to join them, deciding that the giant head would help them keep Lobo in check.
- Renee and the Question get a lift from the Black Marvel family to Nanda Parbat, where Renee is to receive training from Richard Dragon, while the Question and his longtime friend Tot study the "Crime Bible" stolen from Intergang's Kahndaq headquarters... or so Renee believes at first. As time goes on, she suspects something is wrong with her new collaborator, who can't stop coughing. When she finally confronts him about it, she learns why he approached her all those months before - he's dying of cancer, and wants to stop Intergang before he goes. As they look over the Crime Bible, they read a prediction that the "apostle" of crime will tear out and consume the heart of the "daughter of Cain". Looking at the illustration, Renee notes how the "daughter of Cain" resembles Batwoman Kathy Kane, which causes her and the Question to hurry back to Gotham. They manage to contact Batwoman and together, the three of them stop Mannheim from ripping out Kathy Kane's heart. Alas, Mannheim escapes.
- Johnny Warrawa, facing eviction by a corporation which has purchased his people's land, uses the Red Tornado's parts to construct the Tornado Man, a mechanical representation of the local spirit believed to guard over their land. He uses the robot in an attempt to drive out the developers, but the robot's original programming kicks in and it starts to create a large, destructive tornado. In order to stop it, one of Johnny's friends whacks the head off, disabling it. The boy's hauled off to jail, but the Red Tornado's head is still functioning...
- Robin and Nightwing, having spent months looking for Batman, and in the process recreating the journey that turned him into the Dark Knight, end up somewhere in the Middle East. After realizing the state their city is in without them around, they resolve to split up, with Nightwing returning to Gotham to clean things up, while Robin continues the search for Batman. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne wanders the Empty Quarters, seeking out the Ten-Eyed Surgeons, fanatical warriors who promise to excise the demons that have made him so paranoid and angry in recent years. When Robin finds him, he declares that "Batman is gone."
- On Vartu, one of the planets formerly under Ekkron's watch, Captain Comet tries to stop an invasion by Lady Styx, but to no avail. The planet is overrun by the Stygian hordes, who destroy everything and leave Comet dead and mutilated. Two Green Lanterns, Thormon Tox and Xax, show up, looking for their fellow Ekkron, and they try to stop the Stygians, with Tox managing to hold them back for five days before being killed, but when Xax calls for back-up, the Guardians decide to deactivate their rings for fear that Styx might get her hands on them. The insect-size Xax dies and is made into an earring for Styx. However, before dying, Comet manages to send out a radio-telepathic message which reaches Adam Strange and his makeshift crew.
- The Teen Titans, struggling with an ever-changing roster after their partial decimation by Superboy Prime, hold auditions for new members. Among those who show up are Talon, the Earth-3 version of Robin; Bombshell, a teenage female successor to Captain Atom, and Kid Devil, the wannabe-sidekick of Blue Devil. Secretly, the auditions are also intended to draw in young Everyman subjects so that Beast Boy and Raven can find out more about Luthor's project. Osiris and Sobek show up, hoping to join, but are turned away because of their connection with Black Adam. However, Marvel Junior promises to help them join if they can get Adam to make a gesture showing that he has changed his ways.
- In Metropolis, Lex Luthor's getting frustrated. His main scientist for the Everyman Project, Dr. Dennis Laughlin, has been running tests to determine if Luthor is eligible for receiving powers from the project, but for every test, Laughlin reports that Luthor's ineligible. Meanwhile, among the ranks of Infinity Inc., Natasha and her teammate Jake are an item, while everyone's getting paranoid about Everyman after learning that his shapeshifting powers require him to eat organic matter from whatever person or animal he wants to imitate...
- In Nanda Parbat, Dibny seeks out Rama Kushna, who answers questions about death and dying. Instead, he encounters the Yeti, a reserve member of China's Great Ten. The Yeti attacks him, and their battle causes an avalanche. Fortunately, Ralph is discovered by another Great Ten agent, Yao Fei, the Accomplished Perfect Physician, a man who can heal or destroy using his voice. Yao Fei explains that the Yeti was an shapeshifting agent who inexplicably went rogue, and asks Dibny's help in capturing it with a charm designed to inhibit its abilities. Though Ralph wants to wait to see Rama Kushna, he is informed that she will not grant him an audience, and so he agrees to help the Physician. When they encounter the beast, he nearly kills Yao Fei, but Dibny manages to place an inhibitor around its neck, causing it to transform back into a man. Following the battle, he finally gets his audience with Rama Kushna, but her answers to his questions are vague, except at the end, when she tells him how to be with his wife once more - apparently it was not what he wanted to hear, because he leaves dejected, muttering that he'd already written his own end months earlier. Later, he is seen getting the "Anselmo Case" handgun out of storage...
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