Counterstrike
Blue Beetle awakens to find the team in joy over his impossible return, creeping him out a bit. After talking with his scarab he explains that it shattered the bullet before impact but the shock injured him to the point where the scarab had to insert enzymes into him to recover, putting his body in stasis, thus, the death-like state. Beetle explains what Max'd plans are while Max himself is putting them into action.
The JLI are shocked that they were duped into helping Max get Checkmate and that's when Batman (Bruce) and Powergirl show up to assist them in stopping him. Beetle says he's out to kill Wonder Woman and they rush to her aid after Batman explains that the White Lantern restored his memory and that she's in New York. Batman and Booster Gold try to explain the danger she's in when Max activates an army of giant OMACs to come after her.
This was a spectacular issue which explains how Jaime survived his gun shot to the head and the inserting of Batman and Powergirl into the story. Many will think the major flaw is that it still hasn't been explained why Max and the JLI remember her, but they can't. I read in an interview they intended to put it in the comic but they could never find the room to put it in to make it work. Iloved how excited Rocket Red gets when Blue Beetle is revealed to be alive and when Batman shows up. First the JLI and then Batman, he really loves his heroes. Even Captain Atom breaks into laughter at Beetle's survival. A great start to the end of the comic. A 5 goes to the comic that will hopefully continue some time in the future.
