DC UNIVERSE MONTH 8, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE #3 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez. While part of the team battles the Ultraviolet possessed John Stewart, the rest of the team battles with the Totality. Martian Manhunter and Superman find that the figures from the Source Wall are inside the dome and are alive. Flash, Aquaman and Wonder Woman discover white Martians in a secret lab under the ocean and they break out of their containers and attack. Finally, John Stewart is possessed again by the Ultraviolet and we learn that the invisible spectrum is here and now Earth is under its’ control.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #4 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez. As Martian Manhunter and Superman fight the giants rom off the Source Wall, The Joker makes his move and takes down Hawkgirl. Meanwhile, John Stewart and Cyborg battle against Sinestro, with Stewart’s Lantern ring being destroyed in the process. Elsewhere, Flash, Aquaman and Wonder Woman fight against the white Martians when Grodd, with the baby in tow(who turns out to be the old Flash villain Turtle), Black Manta and Cheetah join the battle.  Back in the Totaity, Luthor has managed to make his move and seizes control of Superman, while J’onn relates a conversation with an Old White Martian who told him that a telepathic plague is what killed al the Martians. In the end, Luthor has taken control of J’onn and Superman and has the key to the Multiverse in his hands.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #1 by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno. Magic is all messed up because of the events in DARK NIGHTS METAL and NO JUSTICE. So Wonder Woman puts a team together, starting with a reluctant Zatanna. While Zatanna meets with Constantine, who was responsible for getting Zatara killed, Diana goes to the Oblivion Bar, where she meets with Detective Chimp. At Wintergate Mansion, many of the magic users meet including Baron Winters, Jason Blood, Zauriel, Phantom Stranger, Witch Boy and more. Beneath the Hall of Justice, Diana and Detective Chimp meet with Man Bat, who is working with the government and examining a whole host of mutated corpses. The corpses reanimate and Man Bat springs into action. Zatanna meets with Swamp Thing at the Tree of Wonder, seeking his help, but she is visited by the ghost of her father who warns her that the Otherkind are coming. In the end, Swamp Thing and Zatanna arrive under the Hall of Justice in time to help fight the corpses.

MAN OF STEEL #6 by Brian Michael Bendis and Jason Fabok. Superman battles Rogol Zaar at the center of the Earth. Supergirl eventually joins the fight and they take it into space where she uses the Phantom Zone projector to send him away. The Justice League gathers and they send memorials to the fallen of Kandor into space. Supergirl tells her cousin she is going away for a time. Jon makes his decision to go off with Jor-El and Lois decides to go with him, leaving Clark all alone. To make things worse, the device that he was given to track them was destroyed during the battle. Elsewhere, a child tells the new Fire Commissioner that he saw Superman causing the fires which have plagued Metropolis. Continued in ACTION COMICS #1001.

MERA QUEEN OF ATLANTIS #6 by Dan Abnett and Lan Medina. Mera battles Orm for the ability to rule Atlantis and she wins. Tula goes back to Amnesty Bay and gives Erin and her son the bad news-that Orm is not coming back. Continued in AQUAMAN #38.

MOTHER PANIC GOTHAM A.D. #5 by Jody Houser and Ibrahim Moustafa. Violet and Fennec Fox meet with a reformed Gotham City Sirens, consisting of Ivy, Catwoman and Harley. When Violet mentions that she knows Bruce was Batman, Selina demands she leave. Violet decides not to get inolved with the upcoming battle involving the Sirens, the Collective and the Cult of the Bat, but Fennec decides to go out on her own and join them. Violet meets with her mother, who explains Violet must choose what to do. She decides to join the fight and help defeat the villains, with Selina understanding that Violet knew who Batman once as because Bruce was Batman in her world. In the end, Violet is attacked by Red Hood, who claims she has ruined everything.

NEW CHALLENGERS #3 by Scott Snyder, Aaron Gillespie, Andy Kubert and Ken Marion. Krunch lived in Suicide Slums and was someone who got into trouble and hung with the Dingbats of Danger Street. When he got out of prison, he found that Intergang had come through and killed off all of the Dingbats. This sends Krunch on a mission to take down Intergang and sends him into direct confrontation with Mantis and his followers. In the present, the New Challengers meet the original Challengers and a fight ensues between Rocky and Krunch. Prof arrives to break it up: a Prof created by the whole Dark Universe events. He reveals their recent mission have been to gather artifacts to help him reassemble a giant skeleton and to be able to explore the mysterious of this world and others. The new team heads off to Skartaris to gather the last bone fragment while the old Challengers battle to stop the dangerous security measures that are taking over the mountain. In the end, the other Prof. arrives and shoots them all.

NIGHTWING #46 by Benjamin Percy, Lalit Kumar Sharma and Chris Mooneyham. Dick battles with the Wyrm entity which is trying to fully possess him, causing him to flee by jumping out a window. Luckily, Batgirl arrives to save him and they have to face off against an army of digital worms. As the worms continue to infect the citizens of Bludhaven, and causing a local judge to commit suicide, Dick and Babs go to his secret hideout, where they discover there is a connection to the dead and Willem Cloke. He races off to save him, but it looks like Willem is to blame, as now Nightwing must face an army known as The Terminals.

PLASTIC MAN #2 by Gail Simone and Adriana Melo. Plas relates how he escape his meeting with the SWAT team at the end of last issue to Lila and Doris. He explains how he got saved by an 11-year-old kid, but then ran away when Batman kidnapped the boy. Obscura contacts him and says she knows that the kid was taken by the Cabal, which leads Eel to find the child. When he arrives, he sees that the Batman is really Man-Bat and they fight, leading Eel to ask how to join the Cabal so he can avoid possible death.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #24 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. Bizarro, Red Hood, Artemis, Pup Pup, Starfire, Creeper, Arsenal and the Creeper battle a gang of villains including Solomon Grundy, The Joker, Sinestro, Cyborg Superman, Bane and Grodd. Nut it’s only a movie Bizarro is watching. While Artemis discovers that the headquarters has been armed against her getting to Bizarro, she manages to get in and convinces him to go with her. Meanwhile, Red Hood goes after the Penguin. He reveals his identity to Cobblepott and then shoots him. While this is broadcast live and the police give chase, Batman watches and decides he must get involved.

SIDEWAYS #6 by Dan Didio and Carmine diGiandomenico. Derek fights with his mother and storms out, leading him to crash at Ernie’s for a time. He leaves an ends up being involved in a fight between Tempus and The Inverse. After the fight, Tempus explains he is old and not as strong as he once was. Meanwhile, Derek’s mom investigates files at her office and sees the connection between Derek and Sideways, She downloads the files and leaves but doesn’t make it out, ending up another statistic in Crime Alley.

THE SILENCER #7 by Dan Abnett and Viktor Bogdanovic. Honor and her family are on their way to Sansaro, where she plans on tracking down what she assumes will be a resurrected Talia. But her son notices “the boy” from the diner, also known as Cradle, and she realizes that Cradle and Grave are here. She heads to the bathroom and changes into Sideways, employing her powers to fight them. They transform into their true enhanced selves and the fight goes into the belly of the plane, where Cradle fires off a canon blast that rips a hole in the plane. Graves gets dumped out and Cradle gets killed, with his corpse plugging the hole. She makes a patch to secure his dead body to the hull and rejoins her family. They prepare to land on Sansaro just as Mr. Quietus does, discovering Grave’s corpse.

SUICIDE SQUAD #44 by Rob Williams and Joe Bennett. Batman and Deadshot continue to fight with the Suicide Squad, even as the Squad’s helicopter crashes. Captain Cold uses his gun to freeze the water and save his team as Batman and Deadshot make their way to Kobra’s lair. It turns out that Deadshot’s daughter was the bait and they turn Deadshot into a reptile as Jeffrey Franklin Burr inhabits him. The Squad arrives and team up with Batman to battle the transformed Deadshot, but it’s his daughter that takes him down with his cybernetic arm, forcing Burr to flee. Batman saves Deadshot’s life and then leaves, leaving a befuddled Waller to have to deal with her team. Deadshot’s daughter tells her that her dad saved her and Batman was never here.

SUPERMAN #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. Superman is seen out in space looking for his family and runs into The Dominators. Later, he creates a new Fortress of Solitude in the Bermuda Triangle.  Later, he meets with Martian Manhunter, who tries to convince him to help take over the world. Superman discovers that the entire Earth is now inside The Phantom Zone.

TEEN TITANS #20 by Adam Glass and Bernard Chang. Robin and his new team come up against Brother Blood and his followers. In flashbacks, we see Robin put his team together, consisting of Kid Flash, Red Arrow, Crush(Lobo’s daughter), Djinn and Roundhouse. After taking them down, they see strange markings that they have seen at every raid they have conducted in the last month. It’s a sign b y a villain known as The Other. Later, while the gang chills out, Robin takes Brother Blood down to a secret jail where the other villains they have recently defeated, including the Atomic Skull and Black Mask, are being kept…permanently.

THE TERRIFICS #6 by Jeff Lemire and Joe Bennett. The team fight to get back to each other while Metamorpho confronts Algon, who plans on using the Orb of Ra to become human again.  Slowly, they all win their battles and join up with Metamorho to escape through the portal. But Algon reaches out and it takes Mr. Terrific using the sun to shine through the Orb of Ra to send him back. Phantom Girl, who momentarily had been cured, finds she is not stable once again and Rex Mason is no longer Metamorpho. They discover they are not on Earth and they meet Dr. dread, who is planning on killing Tom Strong.

TITANS #23  by Dan Abnett and Brandon Peterson. The new team is still dealing with people being affected by the falling of the Source Wall. After battling mutated rats, they come across a young man named Tyler who has powers and can’t control them. Beast Boy shows ho he was affected by all of this and the young man calms down. It turns out that the local shopkeeper is affected as well and, while trying to save the Titans, Tyler kills him. Nightwing puts the blame on Miss Martian. Apparently, there is more to this than meets the eye, as there is a preview of the next issue where Miss Martian reveals to Martian Manhunter that she doesn’t know if she will be able to complete her mission.

THE UNEXPECTED #2 by Steve Orlando and Cary Nord. Neon is still skaen at the deaths of his teammates. In a flashback, he reveals that he was once a performance artist in Burnside performance artist who performed a magic act which killed his friends and followers but showed him the World Forge but cost him his eyesight in the process.  He forms a team to help him get over the loss of his friends. The police arrive and Neon and Firebrand transport away. Onimar Synn, whose body is becoming Nth metal deficient talks with Phade, who is examining the site. Back at Neon’s apartment, Phrade and the reanimated Manhawks show up, with Neon and Firebrand taking them down. They travel to Slaughter Swamp, to try and hide from Synn, before going to Blackhawk Island where they meet with June Robbins, who was a teacher for Quench. In the end, Quench s dead, but it looks like Synn has taken over his body.

WONDER WOMAN #50 by James Robinson, Stephen Segovia, Jesus Merino, Andy Owens, Emanuela Lupacchino, and Ray McCarthy. Set in the now, Diana explains to Steve what happened in the battle against the Dark Gods. Flashing back one month, we see Diana fighting her brother Jason who has been possessed by the Dark Gods. In actuality, he has been faking it to gain their trust and joins with her to fight them. Ultimately, he offers himself to King Best, which will allow him to absorb Jason’s powers and return to their reality. Best accepts and Jason is transported away with the Dark Gods.

WONDER WOMAN #51 by Steve Orlando and Laura Braga. In a story that begins in WONDER WOMAN #28, Diana battles Mayfly, ending up with her being imprisoned in Slabside Prison. Over a period of several years, Diana gains the villain’s trust and let’s her know that, despite what she has done, Diana respects her. Several years from now, Mayday is released from prison and Diana meets her as a friend.

DC UNIVERSE Month 8, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1001 by Brian Michel Bendis and Patrick Gleason. With Lois and Jon still out of the picture, Superman continues to try and discover who is behind the arson attacks in Metropolis. A kid has pointed the finger at Superman, but he finds out the kid was paid money by a mysterious stranger to plant the false story. It seems a new villain named Red Cloud and her team are behind the arson attacks and are out to take out the Man of Steel. In the end, it looks like Lois may be back and preparing to write about her marriage to Superman. But…is that really Lois?

AQUAMAN #38 by Dan Abnett and Riccardo Federici. Aquaman, Dolphin and company battle the possessed Corum Rath. With his trident shattered, things look grim until Mera and her team arrive, allowing Aquaman to stab Rath, driving the true enemy out of him. Defeated, and no powerless, Rath is left to survive in the sea while the Drift are restored to human form. In the end, Mera is accepted as the Queen of Atlantis and Arthur, by way of his wish during METAL, cases Atlantis to rise to the surface.

BATMAN #50 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. It’s the big day and everyone has the pre-wedding jitters. And no one more so than Selina, who decides that if she marries Bruce, he will be less effective as a hero. So she leaves him stranded at the altar and moves on with her life.

BATMAN #51 by Tom King and Lee Weeks. Still angry at what happened with his wedding, Batman has ben taking it out on the criminals of Gotham. Specifically,  his anger has allowed him to take down and beat up Mr. Freeze. Now Freeze is on trial and Bruce is one of the jurors. In open court, Freeze admits to confessing to killing three women, but says he did so to save his life because he believed that Batman was going to kill him. The jury goes off to deliberate and they are all in agreement to convict Freeze…except for Bruce Wayne who thinks that maybe Freeze should get off.

BATMAN BEYOND #22 by Dan Jurgens and Will Conrad. Everyone in Neo-Gotham has turned against Batman, thinking he is truly a bat creature. Bruce has designed a new suit for Matt and Robin swings into action to help his brother. Jack Ryder goes to visit Bruce, in an effort to find his friend Adalyn Stern. What he finds is that Stern watched her father, who was a crook, get crippled by Batman. Back in the fight, a new Scarecrow has arrived and it looks like this could very well be…Adalyn Stern.

BATWOMAN #17 by Marguerite Bennett and Fernando Blanco. Kate is trying to readjust to her life, with her sister getting treatment and her search for Safiyah over. She goes off to fight a robot with a clock face that is menacing the city and Renee specifically.  She learns of a drug called Kairos, which lets the user to see, only for  a second, into the future. In a flashback, we see Kate meeting with Safiyah and discovers that Fatima is her daughter. She figures put the Clock King is the man behind the robot and that leads to her going to a party to try and catch him. But he has seen the future and he is prepared for her.

CATWOMAN #1 by Joelle Jones. It’s several weeks after Selina left Bruce at the altar and Catwoman is back to her old ways. At the same time, we see that Catwoman is involved in an incident here she shoots two police officers, killing one. But this Catwoman isn’t Selina. She is someone hired by Raina, the wife of Governor Creel. Raina looks perfect on camera, but off screen, it is revealed she is old and disfigured. A confrontation occurs between the two Catwomen and, as Selina gives chase, she ends up in a building filled with copycat Catwomen.

THE CURSE OF BRIMSTONE #4 by Eduardo Pansica, Justin Jordan and Eduardo Pansica. A giant slime monster is attacks someone in Atich, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, Joe and Annie  meet Enoch, who is hunting the salesman. He warns Joe that every time he uses his power, he lets a little more of the power from the Dark Multiverse into our world. Enoch cuts his hand open and bleeds on the ledger that Annie carries, which shows them where to go. The monster is ready to attack a family when Brimstone arrives and battles the creature. With the help of Enoch, Brimstone destroys the creature. Worried that Brimstone would be out of control, he attempts to take his powers, but Annie stops him and Joe and Annie find themselves alone again.

DAMAGE #7 by Robert Venditti, Diogenes Neves and Tom Derenick. The issue begins with Col. Jonas in Columbia, Missouri, visiting with her comatose husband Tom. Meanwhile, Damage is off battling Jonas’ team she has sent to capture him. He takes them down, they flee, inform Jonas of their failure and Damage, reverting back to his normal self, gets rescued with the other passengers on the ship he was fighting on.

DEATHSTROKE #33 by Christopher Priest and Ed Benes. Deathsrtroke and Robin team up on a mission to retrieve a key that belonged to Dr. Mann. In the process they encounter Nightshade and, after scrambling Robin’s mind, she tells him that their contract is to keep Mann safe and not the key. Deathstroke allows her to take the key. Deathstroke says he finally figured it out and heads off for a confrontation with Batman.

DETECTIVE COMICS #984 by Bryan Hill and Miguel Mendonca. We begin with Cassandra battling Karma, who has a vendetta against Batman, who it is believed is weakened by his allies. Meanwhile, Jefferson Pierce arrives in Gotham and, after being told to suit up by Batman, heads off to help Cassandra in the fight. After beating up our heroes, including Batman, Karma flees, but not before leaving a knife behind for Batman to ponder over. Later, Batman puts a new team together made up of Cassandra, Jefferson and Barbara Gordon.

DETECTIVE COMICS #985 by Bryan Hill and Philippe Briones. Despite Alfred pleading with Batman to make use of the Batman Family to help him stop Karma, Batman protests. After a drive, he recalls here he had seen the knife before: many years ago after defeating a bad guy in Markovia. Meanwhile, the family debates what to do and Karma kidnaps a bus filled with kids, along with a newscaster. Later, Karma goes on television and, forces the newscaster to make a speech condemning Batman and telling him to give up the Family in exchange for the hostages. Then he kills the newscaster, which inspires Batman to fight back.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK #6 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. In Marionette’s back story, we learn that her family was having to pay money to some corrupt cops. She makes friend with a new boy named Marcos next door, who turns out to become Mime. After one encounter, her father hangs himself so she won’t have to be a part of this anymore, which leads them to take revenge on the cops. They eventually fall in love and have a child together, before they end up in jail. In the present, Marionette, Mine and The Joker, with a captured Batman, go to a meeting of super villains, including Typhoon and Moonbow. Typhoon is killed by The Comedian, who also manages to kill someone from the Court of Owls and wound Riddler and Mr. Freeze. Fleeing the carnage, the pair go to a motel room and make love, only to be interrupted by The Comedian. But, before he can act, Joker takes him down with a joy buzzer. They suggest that maybe The Comedian knows how to find Dr. Manhattan, which make The Joker happy because he needs a good dentist.

THE FLASH #50 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. Zoom has defeated both Wally and Barry and explains that breaking the Force Barrier has resulted in him getting his hands on two new forces: the Strength and Sage Forces. Hunter heads off into Hypertime, so he can collect the Still Force, with our heroes in pursuit. Wally discovers that his seizures causes pain to Zoom and uses those to defat him. Back in the present day, with Iris, Kid Flash and Commander Cold, Kid Flash realizes that he is the speedster that doesn’t count as true family to Barry and leaves. In the end, it is revealed that time travel is now impossible which means Wally can’t get to his family and runs off to try and find them anyway. A surprise return in the form of Impulse greets us and, back in the 25^th Century, someone is breaking out of Iron Heights and promises revenge on the Flashes and the Multiverse.

THE FLASH #51 by Joshua Williamson and Scott Kolins. Beginning two days after the conclusion of Flash War, we find that Wally is still running around the world searching for Zoom and his children. At the same time, Iris is beginning to remember things from before Flashpoint. Speaking of Flashpoint, Kid Flash is upset that he is not truly part of Barry’s “family” and only exists because of Flashpoint. He leaves to join the Teen Titans, which allows Barry a chance to give his apartment to the time-0displaced Commander Cold. When Wally finally stops searching, Superman and Wonder Woman take him off for treatment at the Sanctuary.

GREEN ARROW #42 by Mairghread Scott and Matthew Clark. Ollie continues to battle the parasite until, at one point, he realizes that Parasite has been mistreated in prison and fears going back. The warden shows up, forcing Ollie’s hand. He saves the warden and Parasite is again locked way, leading Ollie to wonder if he did the right thing.

GREEN LANTERNS #50 by Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins. On Mogo, Guardian Kada Sal notices a disturbance. In space, John Stewart finds a derelict starship and is attacked by a space force. Guy and Kilowog are on a planet where they find that L’Call, the slayer of gods, has been mortally injured by Rv Gerz, who is being manipulated by an unknown leader. Simon, Jess and Kyle, out on a night on the town, get the distress call, only to find a badly injured John Stewart. Later, they discover that Guardian Kada Sal has been murdered.

GREEN LANTERNS #51 by Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins. The dead and badly injured re brought to Mogo before Guy, Jess, Simon, Kilowog and Kyle head off into space. They end up back on Mogo, where they attempt to build a dome. But that is not working and everyone may be doomed.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #48 by Robert Venditti and Rafa Sandoval. The Lanterns battle the Darkstars, with less than successful results. Meanwhile, Hal and Hector Hammond go off to the Darkstar stronghold here they discover that the Controllers are the source of the Darkstar’s power battery. That means they are pretty sure that they have a way to defeat the Darkstars.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #49 by Robert Venditti, Rafa Sandoval and Sergio Davila. Hal and the Lanterns, along with their collected allies, take on the Darkstars. Thanks to Hector Hammond’s mental abilities, the Darkstars telepathic link to each other is severed, meaning they can be defeated. Hal goes off after Tomar-Tu by himself, meaning there is a final battle to be had.

HARLEY QUINN #45 by Sam Humphries and John Timms. Harley is enjoying a nice quiet day at the beach when Lashina and Bernadeth of the Female Furies arrives and, after a battle, they take her to Apokolips, where she goes into battle for Granny Goodness. After successfully winning her first fight, she is renamed Hammer Harleen. In the middle of a match, she is given a mission to go capture an escapee named Petite Tina. Only, she finds out that Tina ain’t that petite!

HARLEY QUINN #46 by Sam Humphries and John Timms. Harley and Tina fight to a standstill, when Tina reveals she is a fallen Fury. Harley feels sorry for her for a brief moment and then takes her down. She returns the S[;inter of Destiny back to Granny, where she reveals that she has built the Subjukator as a tribute to Darkseid. After going out and getting food, Harley returns to the Subjukator, where she finds prisoners who will end up being sacrificed to Darkseid. She frees the Lowlies and goes for a beer, only to be brought back to Granny, who locks her up. Now, with Tina also captured, it looks like Bernadeth is going to scramble their minds.

HAWKMAN #2 by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch. Carter and Gertie travel to the museum that contains artifacts from Prince Khufu, where he meets with the curator, so he can give advice and assistance regarding some of the artifacts. Carter becomes Hawkman and travels to the past, here he battles himself. When he awakes, he discovers Khufu’s staff and steals it. Upon examination, he realizes that it is a map for him to follow which will take him to Dinosaur Island.

THE HELLBLAZER #24 by Tim Seeley and Davide Fabbri. Constantine dies, but manages to come back to life and injects the possessed Margaret Ames with vampire blood. He then promises to make a deal with her, which allows Burke to possess The Huntress. But John conjures up Huntress’ dead father, who manages to drive Burke out. Ames is furious that she is now a vampire and John leaves her to meet with an angry Huntress. The two end up in a romantic embrace.

THE IMMORTAL MEN #4 by James Tynion IV and Tyler Kirkham. After learning that the war between The Immortal Man and the Infinite Woman began over their disagreements on how to save the world, we go to the present where the Immortal Man and his team are losing the war with the Infinite Woman and her Bloodless. Caden uses his ability and begins using Kung-Fu on the Bloodless, but that doesn’t stop Infinite Woman from killing the Immortal Man.