If you’re like me, you want to know what the hell’s been going on in the DCU priior to this week’s ‘INFINITE CRISIS’ premier, but either couldn’t afford all the various tie-ins and minis, or you just didn’t manage to keep up with everything. Well, I asked Eric to give me a to-the-point rundown, and he came through. Figured I’d share it with everyone else, because i KNOW there has to be others like me that want a quickie list without too much detail. Eric promises that he’ll cover ‘OMAC’ and ‘Villains United’ ASAP.

Day of Vengeance

Jean Loring (ex wife of Atom Ray Palmer) is possessed by the Eclipso force.

Eclipso convinces the Spectre (now without a human host after Green Lantern: Rebirth) that magic is the root of all evil in the DCU

A group of magical heroes - Detective Chimp, Nightshade, Nightmaster, Ragman, Blue Devil, Enchantress band together loosely as the “Shadowpact” to try and stop the Spectre.

Enchantress taps the power of all of the magic users in the DCU and channels them to Captain Marvel so he can fight the Spectre. Captain Marvel wins the day, but Spectre escapes.

The Shadowpact know they can’t use the same trick twice, so the enlist Black Alice (who first appeared in JSA last year) to help them. Black Alice has only one power - she can “borrow” the powers of others.

Once Spectre recovers his strength, he returns and Black Alice steals his power leaving him just a “ghost,” but there’s nothing they can do with him since he’s now completely intangible.

Alice can’t hold the powers and Spectre regains them returning to full power.

Realizing that they need to get Eclipso out of the picture, Nightshade uses her powers to teleport Eclipso into orbit around the sun, where she will be powerless under constant sunlight.

Spectre and Captain Marvel throw down again, this time at the Rock of Eternity. Spectre says “Shazam” and turns Captain Marvel back into Billy Batson. Last we see of him. He’s dropping through space.

Spectre destroys the Rock of Eternity and, apparently, the Wizard Shazam with it. (This plot point picks up in Outsiders #29)

Rann-Thanagar War

Due to instability introduced with its movement to the Polaris system (in the Adam Strange mini, I believe) the atmosphere of Thanagar is destroyed, making the planet virtually unable to sustain life.

Since Rann is now conveniently close, the remaining Thanagarians invade Rann to claim it for their own.

Onimar Synn, one of the Seven Devils of Thanagar raises an army of undead Thanagarian wingmen to fight for Thanagar.

Adam Strange, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Captain Comet and Tigorr of the Omega Men fight on the side of the Rannians (with brief assists from Prince Gavyn - Starman of Throneworld and L.E.G.I.O.N.) as does Komand’r (Blackfire), initially. They also rally Hawkwoman (Shayera Thol) to their cause in the interest of restoring peace - despite the fact she is a Thanagarian.

Besides trying to takeover Rann, the Thanagarians want the Rannian Zeta beam technology to allow them access to other worlds to conquer.

Blackfire betrays the group and kills Hawkwoman. She did want to defeat Onimar Synn, but only to claim the Thanagarian army as her own.

Synn tracks down the group of heroes, but they finally defeat him by using the very Zeta beam technology he desires. The heroes “beam in” near Synn and place 7 Zeta Beam homing devices on him and activate them - beaming parts of him to the heart of 7 different suns.

The heroes have apparently won the day, though Blackfire is now in charge of the remaining living Thanagarian army, but suddenly a giant glowing rift appears in space…continued in Infinite Crisis.

DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy

Following her death in Titans/Young Justice Graduation Day, Donna was rescued again by the Titans of Myth and restored to life, but without many of her previous memories.

Operating from the planet/space station New Cronus, the Titans of Myth are trying to take the world of Minosys by force.

The Teen Titans and The Outsiders rally to Minosys to defend the helpless citizens of the planet, who are being slaughtered by the Titans of Myth.

We eventually find out that Minosys stands on a Nexus Zone, a kind of dimensional gateway where the barrier between dimensions is weak. The Titans want to use it to escape our reality, which they have forseen is headed toward a time of turmoil.

Why did the Titans of Myth need Donna back? Donna is the “key” to the gateway due to her connection to many different realities. She (like Power Girl, apparently) was an anomaly post-Crisis.

Donna eventually does open a Nexus, but she tricks the Titans, sending them to apparent nothingness rather than the paradise they had hoped for. She feels badly about it, but they were willing to destroy the entire population of Minosys to meet their goals.

Donna is given Harbinger’s history sphere - where Harbinger had recorded all of history for the Monitor. When Donna gets her memory back she remembers everything - including the multiverse and all of her past existences - including being the sidekick of the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Diana Prince Wonder Woman. Looking into the sphere she says “but…it’s still wrong! The universe isn’t fixed!” She takes New Cronus as her base of operations and realizes that now she is the Harbinger and must assemble the heroes to stop the coming Crisis.

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