Harbinger

SMALLVILLE SPECIAL COMIC

Series

Miniseries

Miniseries No.

3

'Continuity

Season 11 Special

Continuity No.

5

Writer

Bryan Q. Miller

Pencils

Daniel HDR,
Rodney Buchemi (finishes)

Cover

Cat Staggs

Inks

Daniel HDR

Colors

Garry Henderson

Lettering

Saida Temofonte

Assistant Editors

Jessica Chen

Editors

Kristy Quinn

Publication Date

July 30, 2014

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Smallville Special: Titans	Future Comic

Smallville Special: Harbinger is a comic book from DC Comics that follows the continuity of the Smallville: Season 11 comic book series,^[1] which in turn followed the continuity of the television series. Following the tradition of the Season 11 parallel stories, the four-chapter arc features a story independent but chronologically parallel to the story arc in Alien.

Summary

"When the DEO´S newest agent convinces Director Steve Trevor they need an expert in Magicks, Tess knows just who to recommend. But Zatanna´s latest tour stop in London isn´t going well until magician steps into...help?"

Issues

Smallville Special: Harbinger (Released July 30, 2014)
- Smallville: Harbinger - Chapter 1 (Digital Release January 3, 2014)
- Smallville: Harbinger - Chapter 2 (Digital Release January 10, 2014)
- Smallville: Harbinger - Chapter 3 (Digital Release January 17, 2014)
- Smallville: Harbinger - Chapter 4 (Digital Release January 24, 2014)

Recap

Chapter One

Diana contacts Watchtower looking for a consultant.

At Watchtower, Diana Prince contacts Tess in search of a prospect with magical powers that will help D.E.O. deal with magickal and mythological threats. Tess says she knows just the person for the job but Diana has to get a hold of her agent first.

At a nightclub in London, Zatanna performs in a room full of people. After a drunk heckler calls her a phony, she admits her tricks are fake but then she mutters a spell and makes the heckler float for the audience's delight. Two encores later, Zatanna exits through a back entrance of the stage into an alley where she signs some autographs for some young fans but seconds later, a mysterious man with magical powers attacks her. Zatanna defends herself and fights back but the man gains the upper hand, by zipping her mouth so she can not perform a spell. Just as he's about to hit her someone interferes and knocks the man out. The interloper then introduces himself as Johnny and offers her a cigarette.

Chapter Two

The Church of Blood frees their "brother".

Two police officers escort the man who attacked Zatanna to jail. Unfortunately for them, they're intercepted en route by a group of magic-wielding people in hoodies, who cast a spell that makes blood shoot from the officers' eyes, killing them both. Then they free Zatanna's attacker and deliver an ominous message: "Brother Blood would like a word."

Zatanna and John learn about the Church of Blood.

Zatanna and John argue about who will take the Book of Magick.

Meanwhile, Zatanna and Constantine arrive at his place of business, which appears to be a black market of cursed items. He informs her that the Book of Magick she's looking for, which used to be in her father's possession, was stolen from him by a group of cultists just like the one they encountered, the Church of Blood. Zatanna says that the acolyte she fought with was already very powerful and John says that they must be planning something big. John also says that he wants the book because he intends to sell it to collectors but Zatanna says that the book belonged to her father, from which he got all his spells, so she won't let him have it. She needs to find the book of Magick and destroy it like she did with all the other items he had cursed. Constantine then says that she can't battle with all these men from the cult on her own and that she needs help to do so. The two form an uneasy partnership, even though they still disagree about who will take the book at the end.

The Church of Blood sacrifices their "brother" to Trigon.

Elsewhere, Zatanna's attacker is incinerated by a man, who seems to be the leader of the cult. While the acolyte is still smoldering, the leader says Zatanna and Constantine will come for them, and when they do, the cult will send Trigon the late cultist's regards.

Chapter Three

John and Zatanna prepare their next move against the cult.

Following an abduction of a teenage girl by the cult, Zatanna and John Constantine are closing in on the Church of Blood, who is preparing a final sacrifice at Stonehenge to bring the demon Trigon to Earth. They arrive moments before the cult appears ready to kill the girl. Just as Brother Blood, the leader, raises his ceremonial dagger, John and Zatanna descend from the sky. They succeed to prevent the girl's sacrifice with Constantine attacking the cult members but suddenly Brother Blood reveals that he was the true sacrifice all along and then stabs himself in the heart.

The duo faces Brother Blood and his cult.

Zatanna and Constantine stop the sacrifice.

While demons claw their way out of Brother Blood's body, Constantine grabs the Book of Magic and makes off with it, abandoning Zatanna and the girl to deal with the demons on their own. With no other options, the two run from the attacking demons.

Chapter Four

Constantine sends the demons back to hell.

Constantine retreats to a nearby truck as Zatanna is left alone with the girl at Stonehenge to face the demons. The ghosts of those he's let die in the past watch him accusingly, but he insists he doesn't care about leaving her and the girl behind.

Meanwhile, Zatanna is having a difficult time escaping the oncoming demonic hordes, as they pursuing the girl she's protecting. Constantine eventually has a change of heart and hurries back to Brother Blood's body. He reaches inside the slain man's opened chest to extract one of his organs. Then he recites an exorcism spell that banishes the demons back to the pits of Hell from whence they came, saving both their lives.

Later, Zatanna turns the young girl, who reveals that her name is Rachel Roth, over to Jay Garrick and the Teen Titans at the airport, with the team being very excited for their new teammate. Zatanna then meets Constantine at one of the bars and she thanks him for not letting her die. She also tells him that she considers D.E.O.'s offer to become a consultant and John says that now that she doesn't have to search for any other cursed objects of her father's she is free to do what she wants. He then gives her back the Book of Magick, deciding not to sell it, and takes his leave through a closet.

When Constantine returns at his home in London, two police officers meet him at the door saying they'd like a word with him. Constantine promptly turns them into frogs and collects their badges in a bucket already containing quite a few other police badges.

Characters

Zatanna Zatara
John Constantine
Tess Mercer
Diana Prince
Brother Blood
Rachel Roth
Jay Garrick
Conner Kent
Megan Morse
Mia Dearden
Jaime Reyes
Zan
Jayna
Steve Trevor
Hawkman
Aquaman
Black Canary
Booster Gold
Batman
Alec Abrams/Warrior Angel (flashback only)

Vehicles

TBA

Objects

Concepts

TBA

Titles

A harbinger is a person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another person or thing. This could allude to Brother Blood and his cult being harbingers of Trigon.

Notes

There is a reference in this story arc to the demon lord Trigon. In the comics, Trigon is an prominent adversary of the Teen Titans and the father of a well-known Titan, Raven. The church of Blood, Brother Blood's cult, usually appear to be his worshipers.
The Wonder Woman double-W logo is seen in Diana Prince's Skype profile when contacted Tess at Watchtower.
In a conversation with Tess, Diana mentions a Manticore that she felled in the museum of natural history, which in the comics is the alias of four individuals with the first three being members of several incarnations of the terrorist group known as The Jihad and the fourth being a Greek superhero and member of the Global Guardians. However because Diana was referring to mythological disasters this nod is probably for the Persian mythological creature of the same name, that also appeared in the pages of DC Comics' title Books of Magic.
During a Latin exorcism used against Trigon's demons, John Constantine invokes at first the "blood of Conduit", which in the comics is the alias of Kenny Braverman, Clark Kent's childhood friend and later his enemy, then he invokes Zauriel to purify the demons, this is a nod to the guardian angel known as Zauriel, who served Heaven and also became a member of the Justice League for some time.
Among the magical items in John Constantine's collection is a Native American Dreamcatcher, the Staff of Arion, a Fatherbox, the Ibistick, and Dream's Helm.