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,