DC UNIVERSE Month 10, Part 2

NEW CHALLENGERS #5 by Aaron Gillespie, Scott Snyder and V Ken Marrion. The two versions of Prof battle each other on the top of the giant Skeleton. A distorted Bethany has her head shot off by our Bethany, while good Prof explains what happened to the Challengers while stuck in the Dark Multiverse. Prof was injured but used the Dark Energies to heal himself. The bad Prof tries to explain how this Prof is just using them to achieve his on goals. The last artifact piece gets put in place, we see the original Challengers are captive inside the skeleton and it looks like the Multiverse may come apart.

NIGHTWING #48 by Benjamin Percy and Amancay Nahuelpan. Nightwing finds himself on the Isle of Harm, where he needs to win their deadly motorcycle race, in order to save the lives of Vicki Vale and Willem Cloke. After a bar fight that results in someone being shot and killed, the race begins. It’s a deadly that includes a number of villains including Pyg and his Dollotrons. As the race continues, the Silencer makes her appearance alongside Nightwing.

NIGHTWING #49 by Benjamin Percy and Amancay Nahuelpan. Nightwing and Silencer team up to continue the race, after she reveals that she killed the villain in the previous issue. At the end of the race, which Dick wins with Silencer’s help, he meets with Cimialcinnus, who is the Celtic God of Paths. Nightwing gives Cimialcinnus the access icon to the Dark Web and the issue ends in a flash of light, with Cimialcinnus saying the race is not over yet.

PLASTIC MAN #4 by Gail Simone and Adriana Melo. Sammy Mizzola has tried to recreate the condition that has affected Eel O’Brien on his girlfriend Janet, with disastrous results. Meanwhile, Plastic Man is trying his best to be a surrogate father to

Pado Saskatoon. Members of the Secret Six arrive, trying to take Plastic Man in regarding the murder. He discovers that Obscura has been behind the Cabal all along may actually be behind it all.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #26 by Scott Lobdell and Pete Woods. The Red Hood, on the run for attacking The Penguin, crosses paths with an FBI agent who is hunting him. He saves her from a gang of bikers who are connected to Underlife and that leads him into a confrontation with an Underlife boss and a corrupt cop. In the end, he visits the FBI agent in the hospital and heads off, in his new costume, to dish out his own brand of justice to villains.

RAVEN DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS #8 by Marv Wolfman and Pop Mhan, In China, Shing Jie battles a Shadow Rider and gets help from red Devil, who fails and gets Jie killed in the process. Baron Winters dismisses him from the Night Force team and brings in a new recruit: Klarion the Witch Boy. Together with Raven and Klarion go to Manhattan and help Zach Zatara save. a young man named Robert who is there with his husband Luis. Back at the mansion, we learn that Robert has powers and Luis has been with him to keep an eye on him. When the Shadow Riders arrive, Skye gets involved and Robert uses his powers to drive them back. But it isn’t over yet as the young boy who has spent his life in a coma looks to be prepped for the ultimate evil to use him as their pawn.

SIDEWAYS #8 by Max Raynor, Trevor Scott, and Dan DiDio. Sideways and the remainder pf the Seven Soldiers head off to the Dark Multiverse to find the missing Guardian, who is being held in Sheeda Lair. They are attacked by giant spiders and Zatanna decides that this is not Sideway’s place and transports hi away. He ends up in the Kingdom of the Benevolence where he meets with Perrus the Benevolent, who claims to be his protector and will protect him until his dying day.

THE SILENCER #9 by Dan Abnett and Patch Zircher. Hope and Quietus have switched bodies, but that means they continue to fight with each other. Mr. Gunn gets into the fray, even as Wishbone, who is pulling the strings, sends one of her followers, now turned into a giant lizard, to the scene, leading to Gunn getting eaten in the process. But ow the creature moves on…to Action Land.

SUICIDE SQUAD #46 by Rob Williams, Dan Abnett, and José Luís. SINK ATLANTIS Part Three. Aquaman and Dolphin head into the Lower Trides to recruit King Shark and his followers to help stop the Suicide Squad in their efforts to attack the risen Atlantis. They head off to the Silent School which Master Jailer has found a way to break into the Silent School, despite some protests from Harley and Deadshot Urcell, who is behind much of this, tries to convince Satanis that they can rule together, and he kills her. Aquaman and King Shark arrive and Dolphin goes off alone to take on Satanis. In the end, Mera and the U.S. Ambassador meet while a tidal wave looks to be taking aim on Atlantis.

SUPERGIRL #22 by Marc Andreyko and Kevin Maguire. Supergirl and Krypto head to Mogo, when their ship is destroyed, resulting in them being saved by Jon Stewart and Kyle Rayner. On Mogo, she meets with C’zal, who makes note of the axe she carries with her. That night, she sneaks into the archives, her axe grows and that leads to a guard arriving. The Lanterns arrive and, thinking she is a threat, try to subdue her. Krypto arrives and the axe transports her away, where she meets with the holographic image of Appa Ali Apsa, who is a Guardian who claims he was part of the Cabal that was responsible for Zaar. He wants her to hunt down The Circle: the remaining members of that Cabal.

SUPERMAN #3 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. Superman and Livewire meet up in S.T.A.R. Labs, which, like the rest of Earth, is trapped in the Phantom Zone. Superman reveals he has no idea how to get them all home. Meanwhile, Rogol Zaar meets with Jaz-Ur, who unleashes his minions upon him, to disastrous results for them. Zaar convinces Ur that they need each other, leading to them teaming up to take on the heroes of Earth. War is on the horizon.

TEEN TITANS #22 by Adam Glass and Bernard Chang. The team is still dealing with the death of Roundhouse and that means they go into intense training sessions. Meanwhile, Robin visits with Black Mask, who admits that The Other is real. Later, the team takes on Golden Glider and Swerve, with Glider leaving Swerve to fight alone. After the fight, Robin meets with Red Hood, who reveals the next target of The Other is Commissioner Gordon. Kid Flash goes to meet with Roundhouse; family, only to find that Roundhouse is alive and at home.

THE TERRIFICS #8 by Jeff Lemire and Dale Eaglesham. The team, along with Tom Strong, breaks free of the giant tree holding them and learn that they are no longer connected to each other. Splitting into multiple teams, they head off to arious dimensions. Phanton Girl and Rex Mason end up at the Aztech Empiure, where they discover Tesla Strong. Pneuman and Plastic Man go to Funnyland, where they battle with Duckter Dread and save Solomon, with the help of Warren Strong. Mr. Terrific and Tom end up in Slaughter Swamp, where they cross paths with Swamp Thing.

TITANS #25 by Dan Abnett, Brandom Peterson, and Guillem March. The team battles a giant robot before Nightwing and Ms. Martian end up at an old woman’s house and get sucked into her television. This leads to a series of channel changing moments payed out on the woman’s television while Donna Troy battles the Blood Cult, which to destroy the machine which is causing the disruptions. Upon defeating the Cult, she meets with Ben Rubel, formerly from SUPERGIRL, whose is the person who can stop all of this. Together, they destroy the machine, the robot is destroyed and Martian and Nightwing are freed. Despite all of this, the Cult still exists, as the followers bow to “Mother”.

TITANS #26 by Dan Abnett and Brent Peeples. Most of the Titans are in Norway, where they discover and entire town of nearly 1,000 are dead. They get attacked by some monsters and, after defeating them with the help of Ben Rubel in the Boom Room, they learn the monsters are the murdered people. What that means is the Blood Cult is involved. In the end, Rubel promises Miss Martian that he won’t reveal her secret.

THE UNEXPECTED #4 by Steve Orlando, Yvel Guichet, Cary Nord and Scott Hanna. Huntress and The Signal cross paths with Neon and Firebrand, leading to a fight between Huntress and Firebrand. Neon breaks up the fight, telling them that the Isotope was nearing the point of exploding. As they try to work together, Synn and his army arrive to attack. During the fight, Neon is able to use his powers to transport the villains away. With the team at Caste Frankenstein, they are visited by Hawkman.

WONDER WOMAN #54 by Steve Orlando and Raul Allen. Diana, Artemis, and Atalanta fly to Qurac to drop Atalanta back with the people of Bana-Mighdall.  When they arrive, they note that the people of Bana-Mighdall have gathered. When they meet with Queen Faruka II, they see that her advisor is Rustam. The Queen shoots Atalanta, wounding her and throw Diana outside the castle. Diana breaks back in and frees Atalanta. Meeting with the queen, it is revealed that Rustam and Atemis have taken the war party out and that the queen plans to kill Rustam once she is done with him. Diana races out to confront the army and finds herself siding with them in their fight with the Quarci military.

WONDER WOMAN #55 by Steve Orlando and Raul Allen. Diana tries to convince Artemis to side with her and uses her lasso to convince her to jump back to her side. They team up to fight Rustam, with Diana eventually using the lasso on him, where he reveals he lied to the queen to convince her to start this war. Diana and Artemis break into the castle to free Atalanta, with Din having to restrain Artemis from killing the queen. In the end, Atalanta becomes the ruler and Diana gives Artemis the Golden Prefect.

DC UNIVERSE Month 10, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1003 by Brian Michael Bendis and Yanick Paquette. Goode meets with a woman known as Candy, who provides her with a small piece of Kryptonite. Later, t the Daily Planet, Clark falls gravely ill, discovering that Goode is in the room with the Kryptonite in her purse. When she leaves the room, he recovers. Shortly, Batman chases down Goode and takes the Kryptonite from her. Goode meets with Candy and explains what happened and it looks like Candy is going to kill her. Suddenly a red cloud envelops Cady and kills her, just as Superman arrives. In the end, Lois gets a visitor at the hotel she is holed up in. It’s Lex Luthor.

ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS #2 by Peter J. Tomasi and Carlo Barberi. Superboy and Robin continue to battle Rex and his team of kid super villains. With the threat of Robin’s death hanging over his head, and a mental push from Puppeteer, Superboy is forced to go to the Arctic to retrieve the Hypercube. Upon returning to the villains, Rex turns his gun on Puppeteer, which leads to Superboy saving his life. Joker Jr. takes him to a cell, revealing he is actually trying to stop the villains. He gives the heroes a box containing synthetic Kryptonite and they flee. The villains gave chase and the Kryptonite actually splits Superboy into two beings. 

AQUAMAN #40 by Dan Abnett, Rob Williams and Joe Bennett. SINK ATLANTIS Part Four. Satanis and Master Jailer enter the Silent School, but so does Aquaman, Dolphin and King Shark, leading to a battle between them. Croc ends up with the bomb, which is set to go off, and Harley convinces him to not set it off. Master Jailer turns hero and sacrifices himself to save Atlantis and everyone else. Later, Harley delivers, a microchip to Mera, which reveals that this was orchestrated by Admiral Meddinghouse, leading to his arrest on charges of Treason. In the end, Mera meets with Waller, revealing that she knew that Waller wanted her to get that microchip.

BATGIRL #27 by Mairghread Scott and Paul Pelletier. Barbara wakes up in the hospital and is told that her implants are failing and she needs to have an operation.  She goes back to her apartment and continues to investigate Grotesque. Later, as Batgirl, she investigates several buildings connected to Phillipe Brionne, eventually finding his dead body stuffed in a refrigerator. Grotesque arrives, leading to a fight between the two. She takes Grotesque down but then her implants fail again. When she wakes, GCPD is there, looking to arrest her for Phillipe’s murder.

BATMAN #54 by Tom King and Matt Wagner. A tale of Bruce and Dick, set throughout different times in their lives, as Dick tries to adjust to life without his parents.

BATMAN #55 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel. Nightwing and Batman battle Phantom Pharaoh and his army. Once done, the pair proceed to test their skills on each other. Meanwhile, the former KGB Beast arrives in Gotham and, after buying a rifle, he kills am apartment resident and sets himself up to compete his mission. Nightwing and Batman visit Commissioner Gordon, who tells about how a napkin was discovered that had a question mark on it and the phrase “who’s afraid of The Joker” on it. Batman notes it is the anniversary of the war between the Riddler and The Joker as a shot rings out and hits Nightwing in the head.

BATMAN BEYOND #24 by Dan Jurgens and Will Conrad. Melanie Walker sees Robin attacking Batman and how everyone thinks he is a demon, leading to her putting on her costume and saving him. To stop Robin’s attacks, Terry unmasks, revealing himself to a surprised Melanie., which breaks the control Scarecrow has on Robin. Meanwhile, Jack Ryder is with Scarecrow, who is threatening to kill him. Batman, Robin and Ten arrive, and Jack stands with her, claiming that her whole life was ruined because Batman physically beat her father in front of her. Later, Terry and Matt explain how they trust Melanie and how she is trying to be a better person. In Arkham, Scarecrow is dealing with the life she has made, but the person in the next cell promises that they will go after Batman once they get free.

CATWOMAN #3 by Joelle Jones and Fernando Blanco. Selina meets with the younger Creel, who tries to hire her, forcing her to beat up his entourage and flee with her landing several floors down on top of a car. Meanwhile, the Governor’s wife reveals her dismay about her husband’s resigning and tells how she dealt with her childhood. She was taken in by a family whose children died, leading to the arrest of her step-mother. She later married her step-father, who allegedly killed himself. In actuality, she murdered him. She then proceeds to murder the Governor. In the end, Selina heads out as Catwoman and goes to visit her wheelchair bound sister.

THE CURSE OF BRIMSTONE #6 by Justin Jordan and Denys Cowan. While dealing with the possessed children, Jack turns out to be the real villain of the piece and begins killing the children. Joe turns into Brimstone and battles the child possessed by Slackjaw, eventually freeing him from the possession.

DAMAGE #9 by Robert Venditti and Aaron Lopresti. Damage battles and defeats Jonas’ team. Jonas tries to convince him to feed into his own anger and be her weapon once again. But Ethan’s voice in his head convinces him not to kill her. In the end, the Unknown Soldier gives Ethan some clothes and money and Ethan goes on a road rip to take him back to where it all began.

DEATHSTROKE #35 by Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan. And injured Batman and an equally injured Deathstroke make their way out of the cave, while the FBI continues to comb Wayne Manor. Jericho arrives and, with the help of Alfred and Wintergreen, a “court order” is produced causing the FBI to leave. Robin and Nightwing find Deathstroke and Batman, allowing Deathstroke to leave so the sons of the Bat can care for their “father”. In the end, Slade meets with Talia, who set up the false DNA results and set everything into motion. Bruce, while recovering, burns the actual results, which reveal that Damian is truly Bruce Wayne’s biological son.

DETECTIVE COMICS #988 by James Robinson and Stephen Segovia. Batman investigates the murder of Harold Frank, leading him to end up in a confrontation with two Fireflies. This results in Batman having to save the residents of Frank’s apartment building and allows the Fireflies to flee. In the end, it seems that Kobra may be behind it all.

DETECTIVE COMICS #989 by James Robinson and Stephen Segovia. Batman and Alfred are in the Batcave, looking at evidence and finding out that Harold Frank is not Harold Frank. He is actually a terrorist named Karl Twist. At their hideout, the Fireflies continue to work on their skills when Batman arrives and they fight. Bridgit finally tells Batman who gave them their job, which leads him to seek out TweedleDee and TweedleDum. He has figured out, with all the twos involved, that Two-Face is the mastermind. In the end, Batman meets with Harvey Dent.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK #7 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. In 1940, it is revealed that Alan Scott died in a train wreck and never got to be the Green Lantern. In the preset, Johnny Thunder currently has that lantern and, along with Veidt, Saturn Girl and Rorschach, head off in the Owl Ship to find Dr. Manhattan. Meanwhile, Marionette, Mime and Joker torture The Comedian. Batman arrives and battles with the villains, but so does Veidt and, eventually, Dr. Manhattan. Manhattan transports them to a different pace, here he reveals that he altered Alan Scott’s life, that Rorschach’s mother and father died alone and that Veidt does not have Cancer. He also reveals that he was responsible for taking Marionette’s baby, but that she is pregnant again. In the end, Manhattan reveals he can’t see the future after a month from now and he is preparing to meet with Superman.

THE FLASH #54 by Joshua Williamson and Christian Duce. The transformed Flash and Trickster team up to save themselves from Commander Cold. Trickster escapes and menaces Warden Wolfe, leading to Flash battling him. This leads to his draining of the Strength Force, but Trickster is still transformed, which is a good thing as he finds himself holding up the wreckage of the prison. He holds it long enough to allow everyone else to escape, sacrificing himself in the process. The next day, Cold heads off, Barry meets with Iris, who is still having memory flashes, and we learn that Axel isn’t dead. In fact, he’s now in the clutches of Jesse James-the Trickster.

THE FLASH #55 by Joshua Williamson and Scott Kolins. It’s Halloween in Central City and Barry’s friends are meeting for drinks. But he is teamed up with Justice League Dark to battle a transformed Solomon Grundy. When he finally gets to his friends, he finds out that Commander Cold is the bartender. He thinks he sees something and excuses himself to the bathroom, where he has a vision of a Wally as a disfigured zombie. Over in Iron Heights, Heat Wave bursts into flames in his cell. This leads Barry his partner to go investigate Iron Heights, where he learns that Heat Wave is alive but in critical condition. Giant flaming skeletons appear and causes Iron Heights to be destroyed with almost everyone burned beyond recognition. Iris tells Cold to go and help while Flash saves Detective Burns from the fire. Heat Wave shows up, distorted by the Sage Force.

GREEN ARROW #44 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Javier Fernandez. Ollie finds himself on the run because of the recent actions by Citizen, who continues his reign of terror. He later reveals to Canary that he was once responsible for a hit and run that killed a woman, which his father arranged to bury. Citizen kidnaps another victim, leading to Arrow showing up and trying to save the day, which he does. Later, Superman shows up, demanding to talk to Ollie.

GREEN LANTERNS #54 by Dan Jurgens and Marco Santucci. Simon is still possessed and that means he will do anything to free the Cyborg Superman, ho he believes is the real Superman. After taking down Superman’s security, he frees Cyborg Superman, who discovers the Phantom Lantern ring and takes it, making him even stronger. After defeating Simon, he heads off. When Simon awakes, he heads back into the Fortress and arms himself with guns based on Kryptonian tech.

GREEN LANTERNS #55 by Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins. Henshaw flies to space and meets with his followers: Lord Eon and his team. The Lanterns meets with the Guardians, who explain that the Phantom Ring is gone, and Simon had it. While the Lanterns go in search of Simon, Henshaw and his armada show up, leading to a battle. Soon, they lose their powers as Henshaw has hijacked the main Power Battery and now possesses all the powers of all the various spectrums of the Lanterns.

HARLEY QUINN #49 by Sam Humphries and Alisson Borges. Lord Death Man is at Harley’s apartment, proving that he has not been assassinated by her. Harley smashes his head off, but he disappears. Harley later continues to fight to get enough money to save her home before midnight. Harley sets up a fake party and Dead Man goes to it, where Harley believes she has killed him. Although it is revealed that he is still alive and in love with Harley, Harley gets her money and saves her building. But a strange HARLEY QUINN comic has appeared and there are changes in continuity, leading Jonni DC, Continuity Cop, to get back on the job to save the universe.

HARLEY QUINN #50 by Sam Humphries, John Timms, Whilce Portacio, Agnes Garbowska, John McCrea, Kelley Jones, Jon Davis-Hunt, Brett Booth, Norm Rapamund, Scott Kolins, Dan Jurgens, Guillem March, Mirka Andolfo, Babs Tarr, Tom Grummett and Cam Smith. The strange comic book that Harley has causes Harley’s mom to disappear from reality. Jonni DC shows up and explains that continuity is broken and Harley needs to fix it. In a variety of episodes, Batman has a changed origin, Harley ends up at a Goth girl in high school, Swamp Thing ends up as a monster pirate, Adam Strange experiences a strange battle and more. They go searching for M. Clatterbuck, who is the creator of the comic and discover she is Meredith Clatterbuck,: a young girl who is Harley’s biggest fan and who created the comic. The Anti-Monitor shows up and the universe ends. But Harley draws her own comic, which results in her mom and continuity being restored. In the end, evil is about, and Captain Triumph arrives to stop it.

HAWKMAN #4 by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch. Hawkman finds himself on Thanagar, here he battles his own self in Katar Hol. After battling, Hawkman convinces Katar that they are one and the same person. Hawkman explains he is looking for a hawk symbol, which leads to him finding it on the statue of Kalmoran. He ends up in Indonesia with the icon, before being transported to the Microverse, where he meets with Ray Palmer.

HEROES IN CRISIS #1 by Tom King and Clay Mann. Booster Gold and Harley Quinn meet at a diner, leading to a massive fight between the pair. The Trinity go to Sanctuary, a place set up by Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to treat heroes suffering from PTSD. When they arrive, they discover a massacre. Most of the robot therapists are dead along with heroes Blue Jay, Hot Spot, Citizen Steel and numerous more. Once inside, they find the dead bodies of Arsenal and Wally West Flash. The question is who did all of this. Harley says she has an answer: Booster Gold.

THE IMMORTAL MEN #6 by James Tynion Iv and Tyler Kirkham. The Infinite Woman calls a council meeting with the other four Immortal Clans, where she reveals the Immortal Man is dead. Elsewhere, Roderick Clay is being interrogated by Amanda Waller, where he reveals that the Immortal Men are real. Caden and his team end up in the Immortal Woman’s headquarters and battle them all. Timber manages to take down the magic tower that hides them all from our world, showing them fighting in the middle of New York. The bad guys flee and so do the heroes. But now the word knows the Immortal Men exist.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #7 by Scott Snyder and Jim Cheung.  The Justice League continues to battle with the Legion of Doom while Flash tries to access the Still Force and shut down Umbrax and stop the Legion from controlling The Totality. With Hawkgirl’s help and Jon Stewart controlling the UltraViolet Spectrum, the heroes stop the Legion. In the end, Starman arrives at the Hall of Justice while a dejected Luthor meets with The Batman who Laughs.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #8 by James Tynion IV and Mikel Janin. Back in 1988, there is an attempt to harness the power of the Totality, which leads to Will Payton becoming Starman. It also leads to Lex Luthor showing up. This is all part of Starman’s memories and that is here those memories end. Luthor meets with the Batman Who Laughs, seeking answers. He learns that the person responsible for everything is a woman named Perpetua. Meanwhile, Cheetah and Black Manta track down and kill Proteus. Batman and Martian Manhunter meet and a strange visitor appears at the Hall of Justice.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #3 by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno. Wonder Woman and Zatanna confront the mysterious Upside-Down Man, before Detective Chimp and Man-Bat join the fray. Bobo is turned into a puddle of goo, leading Swamp Thing to grow to giant size and take on the villain, who is quickly turned into rotting wood. Constantine uses a special sigil to attack Upside-Down Man and is tortured for his actions. Diana discovers a new power and the light from this, along with a spell Zatanna teaches her, vanishes the Upside-Down Man. That restores our heroes to where they once were. Zatanna muses that the most powerful sorcerer in the world sold them out and this is obviously just the beginning.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #1 by Joshua Williamson and Stjepan Sejic. In the Ghost Sector of space, a Lantern named Topal searches for her ring and is killed by an unseen evil. Several days later, Jessica Cruz is patrolling the area hen she sees Brainiac’s ship, which is being piloted by Cyborg and Starfire, along with stowaway Azrael. Jessica meets the ship, leading to a confrontation with Starfire. Once inside, she discovers that the team is on a covert mission which the Justice League is unaware of. When they get attacked by the same creature which killed Topal, Starfire powers up Cyborg, which allows their ship to escape, but causes it to crash on a planet in the Ghost Sector. There they are met by Darkseid, who tells them that Cyborg , Starfire and Azrael are the old gods and are here to bring about a new age for the Multiverse,