Week Thirty-Six

So, Supernova’s working for Rip Hunter, for some reason. In Kandor. Under the watchful eye of Skeets. After collecting all sorts of stuff for whatever Rip’s working on. For some reason. We’ll get back to that.

This week starts off out in space, where Lobo’s brought Animal Man and Starfire to Lady Styx’s throne room. He still lives by his vow of non-violence, though, so when he brings them in, he merely lets them free to fight for themselves. This turns out to be too difficult for the duo, at which point Lady Styx unwisely begins mocking Lobo and his religion, calling him a coward. Lobo snaps, rips through some of the Lady’s minions and tosses her to Ekron, who flies her out into the nether reaches and blows the both of them up. During the ruckus, however, Animal Man’s fatally wounded and dies in the arms of Starfire. Buddy’s wife, back on Earth, sheds a few tears while hanging the laundry out to dry.

Meanwhile, at Charlie’s deathbed, Renee Montoya decides to take matters into her own hands and fly him back to Nanda Parbat, where they can hopefully find a miraculous way to cure the dying Question. Elsewhere, Osiris acts like a little crybaby punk whose only consolation comes from a big talking Crocodile. What a wimp.

The issue closes with Supernova talking with Rip Hunter in the bottle-sized Kryptonian city of Kandor, reminding Rip that he’s brought everything that’s been asked of him–the staffs of the Starmen, Luthor’s Kryptonite Gauntlet, Shadow Thief’s Dimensionometer, and more. Rip’s straight out of his mind, though, and can’t figure out how to make something of them. Supernova assures him that they’ve got plenty of time to figure it out, and, as long as they’re there, they’re safe from Skeets. Skeets, however, is hovering just outside the bottle, peering in menacingly.

Let me just say, straight out of the gate, that this stuff with Supernova is downright confusing. Not in a, “I have no idea what’s going on” kind of way, but in a, “hurry up and explain who this guy is so that everything can fit into place already” kind of way.

Kandor shows up OYL, though, doesn’t it? I seem to recall something about it being in the Supergirl and Legion of Superheroes stuff, but I never picked that up. Can anybody confirm or disconfirm this and explain what’s up with it all? I swear, in order to understand most of this stuff, you have to be a walking DCU encyclopedia.

Which I’m not.

See ya in seven.