Bullet Review: Hell Arisen #4

Hey!!!

New comics!!!

As strange as it seems given the more recent history, my comic story was sort of open this week! I was able to get new comics, including the print versions of Lois Lane #10 and Jimmy Olsen #10 which I purchased digitally during the closure of the stores during the pandemic.

And look at that fat stack! Hooray for me!

Tucked into all this new goodness was Hell Arisen #4, a book I threw in my pull folder prior to the store closing. But I forgot that I had held it aside and didn't purchase it way back in March. As a result, it sat there festering.

But this was the ending of Kara's infection and I felt I need to read it to complete that story in my head.

I did not get the first three issues of this. So I don't know much. I do know that between Justice League and Batman/Superman I knew enough of the concurrent Perpetua and Batman Who Laughs storylines that I was glad reconciling the two competing plots in one book.

Or were they?

Turns out that this mini-series ends as the prologue for the upcoming Death Metal mini-series. Nothing is necessarily ending here.

At the very least, the infections are over. But does the solution make sense? Perhaps someone who did read the beginning of this series can answer that for me.

On to a quick Supergirl-centric bullet review.

One thing that is interesting is that we get a bit of a monologue from Lex where he explains to Mercy why he became 'Apex Lex' mixing with Martian Manhunter.

He makes direct references to Forever Evil and his time in the JLA.

Is Forever Evil in continuity??

The DC timeline has been rebooted, smudged, blended, recast, and rewritten so many times in recent years that even a weekly reader like me no longer knows what has happened and what hasn't happened.

That can't be good.

But the issue then drops us into a fight.

Lex has an army.

The Batman Who Laughs has his infected army.

A brawl ensues.

And Lex and the Batman Who Laughs square off.

To make sure that they won't be disturbed and to take advantage of Lex's absorbed Martian weakness to fire, the Batman Who Laughs has Supergirl surround them with fire.

Of course, in her own book, Supergirl was rebelling against the Batman Who Laughs, doing her own thing. So falling in lockstep and calling him 'Boss' seems contrary.

I guess asking for some editorial continuity is asking for too much?

But then Lex pulls out his ace in the hole.

He knows that the Batman Who Laughs is pulling power from the 'Dark Universe' to keep the infection going.

So Lex injects the Batman Who Laughs with a something akin to a vaccine, blocking the passage of energy from that universe to this one.

My question I hope people can answer. Was creation of this injection a plot point in this mini-series? Or was this a deus ex machina?

But just like that the energy stops flowing and the infection subsides.

Suddenly everyone is back to normal.

All too easy.

At least once she is snapped out of it, Kara tries to lead the troops into action.

But it's too late.

The Batman Who Laughs cuts a deal with Perpetua to become her strong right hand to fight the JLA who escaped somewhere at the end of Scott Snyder's JLA. And Lex gets stripped of Martian powers and is back to being just a guy.

I really just want all this stuff to be over.

Unfortunately, it is over ... for Supergirl, She is the collateral damage for this never-ending darkening of things.