DC UIVERSE Month 27, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #18 by Dan Abnett and Cliff Richards. Jessica, Orion Gamma Knife battle Cyborg and Xotor. Eskaton arrives and tears Xotor in two before to feed on him. As Eskaton reverts to his block space, Cyborg again attacks before heading back to Darkseid with new information. Darseid wants Jessica and Orion dead, so he sends Starfire, Azrael, Shadowheart, and Psykot after them. Jess and Orion meet with Gamma Knife’ boss, Epoch, the Lord of Time, and Jessica Cruz from the future.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #4 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook. Triplicate Girl explains that we are about to read the real reason Superboy was brought to the 31st Century. R.J. Brand, the alien President of the United Planets, formed the Legion because

Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy are brought together. In the process, Lightning Lad’s sister refuses the invite. Stepping away from this orientation, Brainiac 5 shows up and the team is arrested.

LEVIATHAN DAWN #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. Kingsley Jacobs makes arrangements to get Steve Trevor out of jail. He proceeds to put together a new version of Checkmate made up of Manhunter, Trevor, Green Arrow, Lois Lane, Talia, The Question and Mr. Bones. It is also revealed that Sam Lane told Lois that “it’s all in the snowman’s ticket”. Elsewhere, Leviathan plans their second act and Mark Shaw kills Dr. Netz for her failure.

LOIS LANE #8 by Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins. After the explosive end to last issue,

Renee Montoya fights off the assassin known as Kiss of Death. The pair are interrogated by the police and then go on a search for Lois' former maid, who has gone missing. Elsewhere, former Checkmate agent, Jessica Night is on her way to Chicago.

METAL MEN #5 by Dan Didio and Shane Davis. Tin, Lead with OMAC team up to fight Mother Machine and her followers at Robocon. But to defeat them, OMAC makes the ultimate sacrifice, which separates him from his human host Kevin Kho …possibly forever. Elsewhere, the Nth Metal Man has rebuilt Mercury and Iron and may be looking to do the same with Tina.

NIGHTWING #69 by Dan Jurgens and Ronan Cliquet. While the Nightwing Squad is loose in Gotham, Ric goes off to Switzerland to confront Haas and try to get his old life back. He demands she repair him, but she simply reactivates control. As he fights the mind control, the castle blows up and it looks like Ric may be the only survivor. Back in Gotham, someone with a crowbar is watching the news about the Nightwing Squad. That would be The Joker.

RED HOOD OUTLAW #43 by Scott Lobdell and Christopher Williams. Someone has tried to kill Suzie Su, but she’s hard to kill. Off in Germany, the team find themselves battling a pair of women who turn out to be The Untitled. With them defeated, the team meets General Glory who tells them the Untitled were here to steal an obelisk and take it to Qurac. Elsewhere, Ma Gunn is interviewing for a teacher and, among thosewho show up, are Monsieur Mallah and the Brain. In the end, Isabel Ardila gets an unexpected visit from Essence.

SHAZAM #11 by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins. Wizard Shazam has attacked Billy Baton's father and stolen his power. The family fights wizard before Billy transports him away, leading them into a fight with Black Adam. Meanwhile, Dr. Sivana and Mr. Mind are in the Monsterlands, where Mr. Mind is planning on freeing the Monster Society of Evil.  Mind convinces Sivana to trust a dagger into his scarred eye, in order to open the doorway to the imprisoned monsters. CC blasts Adam and causes him to be defeated. CC reveals that Mr. Mind has been communicating with Sivana, but CC is actually Mr. Mind’s host. The Monster Society of Evil is free and ready to take over the Earthlands. At last, the final captive is free: Superboy Prime.

SUICIDE SQUAD #3 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. Deadshot's team failed, thanks to Osita. But that just means Locke is pissed and everyone experiences a shocking blast from him. Despite the failure, they press on to find and kill the newly elected leader of Badhnisia. In the process, Fin kills Shark. The tea arrives and Deadshot radios that they have killed the leader, although they haven’t. It turns out the leader is Aerie’s mother. The team comes together to take down Task Force x, which they believed was still being run by Waller, from the inside. In the end, Locke’s mysterious leader demands he shock himself.

SUPERGIRL #39 by Jody Houser and Rachael Stott. The government decides to use the technology they have acquired from Lex Luthor’s stash against this rogue Supergirl. Back in Smallville, Supergirl is still struggling against Wonder Woman’s lasso but manages to break free. The pair fight, but their battle is broken up by the arrival of the government’s robots. Kara gets angry at her being protected by Wonder Woman and her rage destroys one of the robots, which ends up crashing into barn and endangering townspeople. Against her better judgement, she saves them. Wonder Woman fights and defeats the robots, but learns that the Kryptonite blast have made Kara’s madness worse and she turns her attention again on Wonder Woman.

SUPERMAN #20 by Brian Michael Bendis, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and Oclair Albert. While the world gets used to Clark Kent being Superman, some folks are angry that he has chosen himself to speak for Earth on Unity Day.  That leads Bethany Starr to meet Lois and ask who decided to make her husband King of the Earth. Elsewhere, Superman battles Mongol with the help of the United Planets.

SUPERMAN HEROES #1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, Greg Rucka, Kevin Maguire, Mike Perkins, Steve Lieber, Mike Norton, Scott Godlewski, Paul Mounts, Gabe Eltaeb, Andy Troy, Nathan Fairbairn, Troy Peteri, Clayton Cowles and Simon Bowland. Superman travels throughout his collection of friends to get their reaction to his reveal.

SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #8 by Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber. Jimmy’s alleged death has caused a number of Jimmy “clones” to arrive in the guise of a cyborg, a steel statue, a kid 90s wear, and a supermodel in glasses: all of which upsets Julian Olsen, who orders the Jimmy Olsen fan club to be shut down. Meanwhile, Jimmy, in his new identity as Latino Jaime Olsen, is still on a road trip with his sister that takes them to a town that loves the idea of having a celerity there. But Jimmy’s past comes back to haunt him as his alien wife and her evil fiancée arrive seeking revenge.

TEEN TITANS #39 by Adam Glass, Robbie Thompson and Eduardo Pansica, The team is off to Qurac where they are prepared to confront Elias. They have Book of the Damned in their possession and the plan is to cast a spell and force him into freeing Djinn. But that goes bad and, when all seems lost, Jakeen Thunder shows up and unleashes his Thunderbolt, which is apparently related to Djinn and Elias, who has now become the devil. He uses his power to destroy Thunderbolt, turning him into a crystal, and leaves with it and Djinn. Back at Marcy Hall, Robin announces they are going to have to die to save everyone.

THE TERRIFICS #25 by Gene Luen Yang and Dan Mora. Michael Holt has discovered a hidden enemy, and only through a series of life-or-death simulations, as part of the reader’s ‘choose your own action’ adventure, can he save them. Choose right and they live. Choose wrong…

WONDER TWINS #12 by Mark Russell and Stephen Byrne. Polly and Filo, who are currently living with Zan and Jayna since their home was destroyed, are still trying to put their lives back together. Later, the Twins go to work at the Hall of Justice, but are chastised by the League for their unauthorized activities. But Jayna’s makes a speech and everything is back to normal. Lex puts a team together made up of Sylvia, The Ringmaster and the head of his prison call enter to take back a phone the Wonder Twins stole from Sylvia. They secure the device, which of course sends people into the Phantom Zone, but a fight erupts between the villains and the ladies get transported into the Phantom Zoe. It is also reveals the Ringmaster was really an escaped Scrambler who used his powers to switch minds and bodies.

WONDER WOMAN #751 by Steve Orlando and Jan Duursema. Diana is about to be arrested by Boston detective Nora Nunes, who has moved next door to Diana to keep an eye on her. Diana convinces Nunes to give her a few days to prove herself. An unusual unseasonal storm that threatens Boston's South End, which leads to a team-up between and gives Orlando a chance to put Nunes, Diana, Etta Candy and her recently formed recently-formed Sight, Support, Sustenance team. Averting disaster, Diana confronts the Sons of Liberty and, later, the Dark Fates. While Diana considers seeking out Donna Troy, Valda the Iron Maiden hits town. In the end, Paula Von Gunther arrives to find Devastation beating Firebrand and tries to get her to join her Four Horsewomen.

WONDER WOMAN #752 by Steve Orlando and Max Raynor. Valda gets in a barroom fight and Diana arrives to handle it. It seems a man at the bar was brandishing a knife and Valda killed him. The pair fight and Diana defeats her by destroying her sword, although she does give Valda hers as a sign of peace. As a giant beast who has been chasing Valda arrives, the pair team up. Elsewhere, Von Gunther tells Devastation her story and enlists her into joining the Four Horsewomen.

YEAR OF THE VILLAIN HELL ARISEN #3 by James Tynion IV and Steve Epting. As Lex is about to be beaten by the Infected heroes, the Joker and Punchline arrive to save Apex Lex. After literally picking Lex’ brain, Joker reveals that the Joker toxin is combined with Dark Metal to remove the moral centers of the brains of the Infected. Meanwhile, the Batman Who Laughs also has his hands-on Nix Uotan, just as he also has Phantom Stranger. Lex arrives at the Hall of Justice in his battle suit to face off against the Batman Who Laughs and his team. But Lex also has an army made up of Lobo, Grundy, Klarion, Manta, and more.

YOUNG JUSTICE #13 by Brian Michael Bendis, David Walker, Michael Avon Oeming, Mike Grell, and John Timms. The team is prepared to take down Dr. Glory at STAR Labs, but instead head off following a Kryptotracheon Energy Surge that matches the same energy that  sent Superboy to Gemworld. Elsewhere, Superboy is feeling sorry for himself in Skartaris, where Warlord reveals his origi and they fight the Green Manaleeshi. In the end, Impulse meets Spoiler, Jackson Hyde, Arrowette and Sideways. They want to join the team declaring themselves the “real” Young Justice. 

DC UNIVERSE month 27, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1020 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita, Jr. Young Justice has assembled at the Hall of Justice and immediately jump into a battles between Superman and the Legion of Doom. After getting blasted halfway around the world, he flies back and assigns Young Justice to help the people of Metropolis. While most of the team goes off, Connor introduces himself and sticks with his half-father to bring the fight to the bad guys. While Superman fights the Legion. Connor knocks their headquarters into the sea.  The Justice League arrives and joins the fight. All the while, Leviathan watches and Mark Shaw reveals that Luthor was part of his plan all along.

AQUAMAN #57 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Robson Rocha. After the battle of Amnesty Bay, Mera has fallen ill. Aquaman takes her to hospital, where there is not only an epidemic but also survivors of the battle. Aquaman learns that Mera is put into a coma and that Vulko is her fiancé. Orm shows up, leading to angry words. In the end, the medical staff presents Arthur with his newborn daughter.

BATGIRL #44 by Cecil Castellucci and Cian Tormey. On Unearth, Batgirl and Jason continue to fight the dragon. Part of the problem is the creature feeds on fear and love and Jason has a fear of telling Barbara his feelings, causing the dragon to grow bigger. Batgirl talks with Jason about his fear and Travesty sacrifices himself. It is finally decided that a sword forged by the Maker and Margaret is the only thing that can kill the dragon, but Jason is mortally injured in the process. Margaret tells Maker to give Batgirl the dragon scale, the only thing that can save Margaret. Jason lives and they both come home. Barbara goes to see Jason but…he might actually be a monster. Either that or something from Unearth has come to our world.

BATMAN #88 by James Tynion IV and Guillem March. Selina is digging up a grave while making a phone call to The Riddler. While he tells her of a potential deal made with Joker and The Riddler, she opens the grave and finds Joker’s body. A green gas comes out of Joker’s body and she gets attacked by a gang of thugs. Just as they are about to bury her alive, Harley arrives, freeing Selina and saying this goes deeper than she thinks. Elsewhere, Batman defeats Cheshire and apprehends her, before heading to a meathouse where Penguin has tied up the assassins, including Deathstroke, who gets free. Penguin offers the assassins double their rate to leave Gotham. Deathstroke turns is down and attacks, slitting Penguin’s throat. Batman gets Penguin and he reveals the assassins’ target is Bruce Wayne.

BATMAN #89 by James Tynion IV, Carlo Pagulayan and Guillem March. Pnguin stumbles into Gotham Mercy Hospital and, before he is taken into surgery, orders the doctors to call a certain number he gives to them. Batman is off battling Gunsmith while Catwoman and Harley Quinn are in the graveyard battling a bunch of thugs. It is revealed that the body in Joker’s grave is a double and he has been making plans, which explains why she came back to Gotham. Batman takes down Gunsmith and then heads to a warehouse, where he encounters Mr. Teeth. Batman takes him out before realizing he is in the Riddler’s hideout. He accesses Riddler’s computer, solves the riddle and views video footage with a masked figure with a D on his mask. Catwoman and Harley Quinn arrive and Catwoman says the masked man is called The Designer. She reveals she and all the villains made a deal with him many years ago and she’s sorry. In the end, Punchline, Joker’s new partner, tells Joker that they found the clue, they are wrapped up

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #10 by Bryan Hill and Dexter Soy. The team, or most of it, is trying to reset themselves. Bruce Wayne has gotten information on Martina Dementieva and Kaliber. It turns out Jefferson is in Cambodia, meeting with Shiva, who wants to take down Ra's. They take down Martina and that’s when Kaliber shows up. Luckily, so does the Outsiders.

BATMAN BEYOND #41 by Dan Jurgens and Sean Chen. Blight is preparing to transfer himself into Terry’s body when Batwoman shows up and throws a monkey wrench into his plans, just as he remembers who he is. Batwoman breaks him out and it looks like Blight could be ready to die and take Bruce Wayne with him.

BATMAN: PENNYWOTH R.I.P. #1 by James Tynion IV, Peter J. Tomasi, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Chris Burnham, Marcio Takara, Diogenes Neves, David LaFuente and Sumit Kumar. The Bat Family gather to pay tribute to Alfred with stories of how he affected them. But there is a lot of hard feelings about how Batman could let this happen.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN #7 by Joshua Williamson and Nick Derington. After revealing the history behind Kandor and how Brsainiac stole it, Superman and Batman head to Stryker's Island to investigate the grave of the Kryptonite Man. They get attacked by Ra's Al Ghul, who reveals that Zod plans on using a Lazarus Pit to resurrect the inhabitants of Kandor. This leads the trio to The Lost Temple of Quetzacoatl, where they find Ra’s guards slain and Zod ready to throw Kandor in the pit. He reveals he has already emptied Kandor and that can’t be good.

CATWOMAN #20 by Joelle Jones and Fernando Blanco. Raina's locks her son Adam with the other zombies, but he breaks them out and they surround Creel Mansion.  Selina is with Maggie, but suits up and leaves her cats to care for her sister, heading to Creel Mansion, we get a convoluted and ambiguous explanation of what Raina might be doing and how she has for a final showdown with Raina. 

DETECTIVE COMICS #1020 by Peter J. Tomasi and Brad Walker. Two-Face has made his way to Gotham City and kills the brothers of a black market coin operation, stealing coins from 1922. But he gets shot before killing them and is forced to go to a doctor to get the bullets removed. Not happy with the pain level of the surgery, he kills the doctor and pulls the second bullet out by himself. Batman hears about the shooting at the clinic and investigates, getting attacked by thugs with scraped coin emblems on their shoulders. They set fire to the place and Batman gets them out, by they set off a brain bomb that kills them. In the end, Two Face gives coin communion to his followers.

DIAL H FOR HERO #12 by Sam Humphries and Joe Quinones. Captain Thunderbolt is ready to dial up a change to the Multiverse but Summer and Miguel use the hope in their hearts to call up a battery of heroes and transform Thunderbolt back to Robby Reed. Summer dials C-M-Y-K and that sends Robby back to his grandfather…but actually as an aged character in a classic DIAL H FOR HERO story in HOUSE OF MYSTERY. Summer and Miguel dial H-O-P-E and travel through moments in the Multiverse before ending up with The Operator. He sends them back home, Miguel gets Chidozie’s number and all is good with the world.

THE FLASH #88 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. Paradox was studying the Time Tream at the point where Barry Allen was struck by lightning. His machines pick up the readings and he sees the multiverse. Continuing his research, Flash fights King Turtle during Year One. He and his family go to watch the battle and he disappears, finding himself in a wasteland with a group of survivors. He finds a crashed ship and begins stripping it to rebuild his research laboratory. He creates a tower, but it sucks the life force from the other survivors. Totally connected to the time stream, he sees The Flash’ entire life and comes back to his family, who doesn’t recognize him. He heads to the future to start a new life, but meets Eobard Thawne and is arrested. He reveals to Godspeed that he was able to escape when Force Barrier was destroyed. He vows to take down The Flash and reveal him as a monster.

GREEN LANTERN: SEASON TWO #1 by Grsant Morrison and Liam Sharp. Hal Jordan is back with The Green Lanterns and gets teamed up with Rykaktoro of Karalyx to go to Maltus and see the birth of the newest Guardians of the Universe. After a battle that was just a test for Rykaktoro, the new Guadians are born and send Hal to his newest assignment: Earth.

HARLEY QUINN #70 by Sam Humphries and Sam Basri. Harley is a wrestling queen and she is forced to battle her best friend Alicia the Crusher. She has mixed emotions but Booster Gold, who she finds singing Karaoke, convinces her to do the job. She battles her best friend and wins. But when she goes to the locker room, she finds Alicia has been killed.

HARLEY QUINN & POISON IVY #6  by Jody Houser and Adriana Melo. Harley and Ivy confront the other Ivy, only to learn that her road buddy is only a garment of the whole and not the real Ivy. She reveals that the fire Harley started to save Ivy from the copies may have done more damage than she thought. The real Ivy is pretty pissed about everything and unleashes her minions to fight Harley. The fake Ivy gets Harley out and then heads back into Ivy’s realm, where she gets absorbed. Harley hits the road and feels sad.

HAWKMAN #21 by Robert Venditti and Fernando Pasarin. Hawkman, possessed by the Sky Tyrant, goes up against the Titan paladins, who are protecting the key. Sky Tyrant wins but Hawkwoman, Adam Strange and the Atom race to get to the key before Sky Tyrant does. Atom gets inside Sky Tyrant and short circuits his brain, taking him don. Adam gets to the key and they all leave. Now they have to figure how to destroy the key and save Carter from the Sky Tyrant.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #40 by Robert Venditti and Doug Mahnke. The League encounters an injured Daxamite named Yat, who reveals the world is I danger because of The Eradicator. They head off to face The Eradicator, who has used the Daxamites to recreate his version of Krypton on Earth. Meanwhile, Batman meets with Madame Xanadu.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #41 by Robert Venditti and Aaron Lopresti. Our heroes battle the Daxamites while  Batman tries to recruit Madame Xanadu. The team is taking a beating until Xanadu joins the battle. The team defeats the Daxamites and flee. But they learn they left Wonder Woman behind and The Eradicator has her. He broadcasts to the world that, within the hour, Krypton will take over Earth.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #20 by Ram V, James Tynion IV and Kyle Hotz. Mysterious

spores are infecting people and then controlling them to go off to infect others by having the carriers heads explode. Animal Man visits the team to make them aware of this. Since Jason Woodrue is locked up, that leads them to believe it was something to do with Abigail Arcane-the Avatar of The Rot. But Woodrue may still have his hands in all of this.