Week Forty-Five

Avenge us, indeed. After last week’s fight with the Four Horsemen, Black Adam sets out on the warpath, hunting for the Horseman of Death, who has found refuge in Bialya. He’s angry, he’s pumped, and he’s got murder on the brain. We’ll get to all this.

This week opens at the funeral for the recently departed Isis and Osiris, with the Marvel Family helping as pallbearers along with Black Adam. After that, Montoya meets with the Black Marvel to discuss Isis and what’s been going on in Kahndaq. Black Adam tells her that Intergang has other targets, and that she should head home (to Gotham). That’s really all there is to discuss other than the warpathing part. From this meeting, he heads out and starts murdering massive amounts of men, women, and children, leaving the deathtoll in the millions.

Eventually, the Horseman of Death makes his appearance, claiming that all of these deaths have only served to make him stronger. He’s not stronger than Black Adam, however, and Death goes down like a bitch. Meanwhile, all sorts of government agencies are deploying groups to confront Black Adam and, with a little luck, put an end to the murdering. Checkmate, the Chinese Ten or whatever they’re called, and the Suicide Squad are all mentioned. The issue closes with Black Adam arriving on Oolong Island after murdering Death, ready to exact his revenge on the mad scientists behind this whole thing. Doc Sivana welcomes his arrival and claims he’s been waiting for this moment.

So this is it, then. The beginning of World War Three. Black Adam versus the World. I’m not sure who has the better chance of surviving it. Let’s put down some big money bets!

With only seven weeks left, there remains a lot of ground to be covered, including the war, so I’m guessing that there will be a week between now and fifty where we take a big-time breather and wrap up some of the loose ends (like the end of the Batman or the Red Tornado’s body or Animal Man’s adventure or what Ralph Dibny’s wish was or why Dick and Babs broke up or whatever’s going on with Booster, Rip, and Skeets). They’ve got seven issues left to put the old shineola on this one and ready us for Countdown. Can they do it? I guess we should start placing lots of bets on lots of things.

See ya in seven.