DC UNIVERSE Month 25, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE #37 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez. The League battles the Legion of Doom. Inside the Hall of Justice, Superman, Wonder Woman, and others tap into the Totality to reverse the effects of the Doom Symbol. They almost succeed, but they lose the power and the sigil goes back to full strength. They ask Hawkgirl for help, but she and Jon Stewart is having enough problems with the Anti-Monitor. Perpetua destroys Earth-44 and the force of that energy endangers the heroes, with Forager pushing against it to save them. The Hall of Justice gets destroyed but Luthor discovers that the heroes within are all safe and seemingly supercharged.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #38 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez. The Trinity, along with Hawkgirl and Jon Stewart, tell Luthor they aren’t here to in but to lose in style. Luthor uses his enhanced powers to decimate most of the League, leading to a one on one face-off with Superman. Superman defeats him and Perpetua shows up, to handle matters by herself. Shayne enters Luthor’s mind and eventually his body, freeing Martian Manhunter with his sacrifice.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #18 by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno. Wonder Woman confronts the Upside Down Man in the Collective Unconscious. She makes a deal with him that would allow her to return to her body on Earth. He agrees but slays Witchfire in the process. On Earth, Circe calls upon Darkul Karfang to break into the Hall and gain access to Eclipso. That leads to a big decision: Khalid gets Dr. Fate’s helm and prepares to don it.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #16 by Dan Abnett and Cliff Richards. Blackfire, Dex-Starr, and Hax go out to the junked ships while Jessica speaks with Orion, who tells her the New Gods began to "unform" after the fall of the Source Wall. Being the only one to survive, he used Okkulting armor to remain hidden from the Eskaton. While he blames the League for what has happened, she tries to explain that Darkseid is doing this because of what is happening with Perpetua. Meanwhile, Blackfire, Dex-Starr, and Hax meet Gamma Knife, the daughter of Space Ranger, who is scavenging material for her boss. Jess and Orion arrive, but are taken down by Xothar, who is following orders from Cyborg.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #2 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook. The Horraz attempt to steal Aquaman’s trident but are defeated by the Legion. Rose Forrest, official Legion liaison to the United Planets, meets with Madamehonorable Brande, President of the United Planets. Jo reveals he was searching for the trident to bring to his mistreating father, so the team heads to Rimbor to meet with him. Supernoy travels back to the past to meet with Damian and bring him to Planet Gotham.

LOIS LANE #6 by Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins. Lois relives moments in her life as she deals with the death of her father.

LOIS LANE #7 by Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins. Lois, disguised as a nun, meets with Jessica Midnight, who is in a mental hospital, fearing Leviathan. Later, she is seen kissing Superman, which result in a confrontation between her and Renee Montoya. Once they sort things out, they both go to Lois’ apartment, only to find a new housekeeper cleaning the room. It turns out the housekeeper is an operative who has planted a bomb and blows up the room.

METAL MEN #3 by Dan Didio and Shane Davis. The team battles the winged creature while the Nth Man begs to be released to help them. Magnus eventually relents and the Nth Man defeats the creature. Nth Man brings an injured Tina back and Gold reveals himself to be alive.

NIGHTWING #67 by Dan Jurgens and Ronan Cliquet. The Nightwings battle Talon Ric Grayson, and they get an assist from Condor Red. Thing go badly for Red and it looks like Ric will kill him. He removes his mask and smiles.

RED HOOD OUTLAW #41 by Scott Lobdell and David Messina. Red Hood gets into a battle with Artemis and Bizarro while the rest of the team tries to find their teacher. It turns out that Vessel, who was kicked out of Red Hood’s school, by Hood and Shay Veritas, is seeking revenge and is controlling Artemis. It takes a kiss by Jason to Artemis to break the spell. The students free Veritas, Vessel’s plan is thwarted, and they all end up at Ma Gunn’s for dinner.

SHAZAM #9 by Geoff Johns, Marco Santucci, Scott Kolins and Dale Eaglesham. With his father transformed, Billy, Mary and dad team up to fight Black Adam and his team. The heroes get transported to the Wozenderlands, where they meet with the Wizard and the others. Billy is told he cannot share his powers with his father, but he says the magic word and they all transform into the Marvel Family. In the end, Sivana hatches his plan to bring King Kid from the Funlands to Philadelphia.

SUICIDE SQUAD #1 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. A new Task Force X has been formed, now that Waller has retired, made up of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark, Magpie, Cavalier and Zebra Man. They take on a group known as the Revolutionaries, ecologically-minded metahumans who have kidnapped a general. Magpie dies and one of the Revolutionaries has his head exploded by a brain bomb. In the end, the new team leader looks to put the two teams together to form the Suicide Squad.

SUPERGIRL #37 by Jody Houser and Rachael Scott. Kara relishes in her new powers and goes about seeking justice with extreme violence. Superman comes to her and tells her he can find a cure for her infection. She slaps him and then flees, but runs into Batman in the Batwing. She pulls him out and tosses him away, knowing Superman will save him. She changes into street clothes and is met by Ben. But she hears a screeching voice in her head and that leads her to The Batman Who Laughs.

SUPERMAN #18 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. Clark wrestles with the decision he wants to make. After revealing himself to Perry and Jimmy, who learned of this earlier from Lois, Superman reveals to the world that he is Clark Kent: a reveal that angers Luthor, who believes he should have known.

SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #6 by Matt Fraction and Steve Leiber. Jimmy starts the issue in jail, but is quickly out on bail. Meanwhile, Princess Jix is poised to get married, but it is revealed she is already married to Jimmy, sending her on a hunt to kill him. Nathan Guy has “killed” Jimmy and that leads to Lex eliminating him to clean up loose ends. Jimmy and his sister are accosted by thugs, but Dex-Starr saves the day. When Batman sows up, he says whoever is responsible for all this is off his radar and he can’t help him.

TALES FROM THE DARK MULTIVERSE: THE JUDAS CONTRACT #1 by Kyle Higgins and Tom Raney. In this version of the tale, Dick Grayson decides to stay the Teen Titans and that leads Tara Markov to take control of her life. She meets with her lover and protege Slade Wilson and kills him, before turning her attention on Wintergreen. She sets her sights, having changed her named to Gaia, on the Titans, eventually killing all of them and then the rest of the heroes n this Earth. In the end, she is seen riding a great dragon and wreaking havoc.

TEEN TITANS #37 by Adam Glass and Bernard Chang. With Kid Flash, Crush and Red Arrow captured, Damian faces The Other, who reveals himself as…Damian’s clone, long thought to be dead. The Other explains how he was reborn in the Lazarus Pit and tells Damian to join him. Elsewhere, Roundhouse has a heart to heart talk with his mother and makes his way to where his teammates are held captive, with the thought being to free them and become a Teen Titan again.

THE TERRIFICS #23 by Gene Luen Yang and Sergio Davila. The Terrifics have been turned into kids and are now being forced to relive the same day over and over again-a day that ends with Ms. Terrific being sucked into the Initial Singularity. Mr. Terrific finally figures out that they are repeating the day and gives her a mental way to break out of the Time Loop. He convinces the rest of the team that they need to go into the Time Vortex, which they do along with The Terribles. This is going to take them to the very beginning of time.

WONDER TWINS #10 by Mark Russell sand Stephen Byrne. Lex Luthor is stuck in space and his employees are just concerned about having a party on his dime. Eventually, he makes contact with Gorilla Grodd, who gives him landing coordinates. But he finds himself tapped as Grodd is really Jayna in disguise. The Twins, along with Gleek and Polly commandeer the spaceship and head to the Phantom Zone, where Zan uses his ice power to free Polly’s dad and others. Elsewhere, Colonel 86 is free and now controls the Internet.

WONDER WOMAN #83 by Steve Orlando, Jheremy Raapack and Miguel Mendonca. Diana faces off against Barbara Ann in a battle that takes them all the way to Boston. The Silencer arrives, looking to get revenge for Cheetah’s attack that put her husband and son in danger. This leads to a three-way battle for supremacy that get interrupted by…Hera.

YEAR OF THE VILLAIN: OCEAN MASTER #1 by Dan Watters and Miguel Mendonca. Orm has returned to Louisiana, but Erin doesn't want him back. Despite that, he tells her about the Rig and the experiments being conducted by the recently upgraded Marine Marauder. He does his best to save the poor unfortunates before taking revenge on Marine Marauder, establishing the city of Dagon in the process. The citizens declare him to now be King Orm. Lex visits him and he rejects the offer, saying to keep him out of the war. In the end, he leaves Erin and her son and goes back to rule Dagon.

YEAR OF THE VILLAIN: HELL ARISEN #1 by James Tynion IV and Steve Epting. A year ago, Lex meets with The Batman Who Laughs, who asks who is going to win when Lex finally has to have his help. In the present on Earth-3, Lex arrives at the headquarters of the Crime Syndicate and takes them to meet Perpetua. She tells them they are free to rule Earth-3, but all the people have been changed to Apex Predators. She kills Johnny and then sends them back to Earth-3, while she sends Luthor back to Earth-0. The Infected pay Lex a visit, as it seems The Batman Who Laughs is free and has captured Rip Hunter, Time Master.

YOUNG JUSTICE #11 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Timms. The Young Justice crew finally makes it back to their Earth, where they end up at S.T.A.R. Labs in Oregon…where they meet up with Naomi, who had already made her way here. The team crashes at Naomi’s house. Connor learns they were at S.T.A.R. Labs and so was Dr. Glory, who was responsible for sending him to Gemworld. He flies off to confront her, but she tricks him and sends him to Skartaris…where he meets The Warlord. In the end, the team meet Glory, who asks if these are the friends he was speaking about.