DC UNIVERSE Month 29, Part 2

THE JOKER 80^TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Gary Whitta, Greg Miller, Denny O'Neil, Peter J. Tomasi, Paul Dini, Tom Taylor, Eduardo Medeiros, Rafael Albuquerque, Tony S. Daniel, Brian Azzarello, Jock, Mikel Janin, Dan Mora, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Simone Bianchi, Riley Rossmo, Eduardo Risso, Rafael Albuquerque and Lee Bermejo. An 80^th anniversary collection of stories about the Clown Prince of Crime. The most important, to current continuity, is the story of a college girl named Alexis, who is being berated for wearing a Joker shirt during “dress like your hero day”. While claiming that society made her who she is, she infects him with a homemade version of Joker Toxin. Then she puts on makeup and transforms into Punchline. While the administrator laughs and delevops the grin, The Joker steps out of the closet, pleased that she has passed her audition.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #44 by Robert Venditti and Xermanico. The team is in the South Pole and Tartarus has opened up. From out of the pit comes mythical beats including a hydra and a manticore. Suddenly the Spectre shows up and each team member find themselves possessed by his vengeful spirit.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #45 by Robert Venditti and Eddy Barrows. The team fights itself, as they have been possessed by The Spectre. It seems Jim Corrigan has decided to separate himself from The Spectre, allowing the vengeful spirit to run free. Wonder Woman opens a pathway to Themyscira, which brings about the wrath of the Amazons.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #46 by Robert Venditti, Xermanico and Robson Rocha. The team battles the Amazons of Themyscira, who have been infected by the spirit of The Spectre. Eventually, the Justice League get to Mount Tartarus, where they find Jim Corrigan. He tells them he’s been there for twenty years, even though it is much less than that in “real time”. That’s when Tartarus shows up and says he is now free.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #47 by Robert Venditti and Eddy Barrows. The team battles Tartarus, while the repercussions from Jim Corrigan’s separation from the Spectre is tearing the world apart as people fight with each other, fueled by rage. While the stakes have been building with each and every issue that we've gotten from this arc, this conclusion really just kind of comes out of nowhere for everything that it has set up as one big letdown because it seems that with all the grudges coming to the surface. Corrigan finally forgives God, as the League forgive each other, leading Corrigan to join with The Spectre again. This reverses everything and peace comes to the world again.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #22 by Ram V, James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno. Wonder Woman, Detective Chimp, and Animal Man fight against The Grey, while Zatanna and Constantine have gone to The Rot to find Abigail Arcane. Animal Man takes control of a flatworm and convinces The Divided. Meanwhile, Doctor Fate talks with the Parliaments of Stone, Waves, Flame and Vapors. Constantine and Zatanna battle Anton Aracne, who has tried to take over The Rot by keeping Abigail in a forced sleep, where she dreams of her past. In the end, Wonder Woman, Detective Chimp, and Animal Man arrive to battle Arcane.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #23 by Ram V, James Tynion IV and Kyle Hotz. With the team arriving to battle Arcane, Abby awakes and joins the team, even as Zatanna has been infected by The Rot. Arcane flees and the team head back to base to help cure Zatanna. Dr. Fate prepares a ritual that will restore the Parliament of Trees and that means Constantine is going to use the Floronic Man, who was responsible for the vine in The Rot that put Abby to sleep, as a sacrifice. They convene the Parliaments and the Guardians must give up their powers. One by one, Woodrue, Animal Man Abby are called but Abby changes plans and attacks the Parliament of Flowers, destroying them. John gathers a seed and heads to The Rot, where he confronts Arcane. Swamp Thing arrives, grown from the seed Constantine planted. Arcane is turned into a tree and the Guardians are restored. Swamp Thing is like a child, with some memories but not all. In the end, Zatanna is recovering, but troubled by dreams of an old enemy: The Upside Down Man.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #20 by Dan Abnett and Cliff Richards. Starfire has been killed by her sister Blackfire, and Azrael has arrived to attack Epoch. This leads to Jessica taking on Azrael, with some unexpected help from Blackfire, who kills Azrael. Blackfire and Orion tell her there was no other way. She comes up with the idea to use Epoch's time manipulator to go back in time and send a message to Cyborg. It may or may not have worked but, either way, Darkseid had arrived.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #21 by Dan Abnett and Cliff Richards. Darkseid and his new New Gods have arrived and are trying to get Epoch’s time machine. Dex-Starr unleashes Eskaton and it seemingly destroys Darkseid. Jessica goes to Epoch and tells him to destroy his machine, but he snaps his fingers and makes her disappear.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #6 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook. Brainiac 5 announces a Level 5 emergency and orders everyone off Earth, as the Horraz pirates have landed and are attacking. The Legion fights back and gets some unexpected help from The Gold Lantern. After defeating the invaders, the President declares it’s a great day as the Earth is getting its’ oceans back. But General Crav is not happy about it, resigns from the United Planets and threatens war.

LOIS LANE #10 by Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins. Renee Montoya explains to Sister Clarice and that they have been affected by the Multiverse becoming thinner. It seems that the different personas from other universes are melding together. Meanwhile, The Kiss of Death shows up at Lois’ apartment and is preparing to kill her. But Jessica Midnight casts a spell at that exact moment and The Kiss is transported away, changing places with Sister Clarice. She ends up in Jessica’s apartment as she pulls the trigger…and shoots Renee.

LOIS LANE #11 by Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins.  Lois sends a text to the dying Renee, instructing her to put her mask on. She does and the Kiss of Death has a flash of memories revealing she was Renee’s lover. By using magic, Anti-Life is transferred to life from Kiss to Renee. The Kiss is no more and now is revealed as Elicia Sanchez, who was influenced by the Religion of Crime. Now Lois is prepared to reveal all.

METAL MEN #6 by Dan Didio and Shane Davis. Almost all of the Metal Men have been altered by the Nth Metal Man from the Dark Multiverse. He gives Tina a file on Christina Novak, who's Tina's responsometer is supposed to be based on. She meets with Christina, only to discover that Will’s alleged love for her wasn’t reciprocal. Disturbed by it, Tina goes back to the Nth Metal Man and accepts his offer to give her a new version of life. Elsewhere, Chemo is free again.

METAL MEN #7 by Dan Didio and Shane Davis. Camp Holzherr is being attacked by the Missile Men when Doc Magnus arrives with his new Metal Mammals(Oxygen the wolf, Xenon the gorilla, Helium the falcon, Fluorine the cobra and Nitrogen the bear). They defeat the Missile Men and Magnus talks with their leader, Z-1, who says he is searching for his missing love, Tina. She has gone off with the Nth Metal Man and no one can find her. The old team go to a bar to try and live like humans, when they discover Will has created replacements for them. Later, Will and Janet discuss their relationship while the new team fight among themselves. In the end, Chemo attacks Manhattan.

NIGHTWING #71 by Dan Jurgens and Ronan Cliquet. Ric and Bea are hanging at the Prodigal Bar when he hears a siren and goes off. He gets into a battle with Tusk and discovers a card revealing that The Joker may be behind it. Elsewhere, Sap has been beaten and is going into surgery. Before he apparently dies, he says one word: Joker.

Ric takes out Tusk and heads back to Bea, where Joker is waiting. He threatens Bea and Ric and then uses The Memory Crystal to mess with Ric’s memory, trying to tell him that The Joker was his mentor.

NIGHTWING ANNUAL #3 by Dan Jurgens and Inaki Miranda. The issue begins in the past with Ric as the Gray Son Talon Ric attacking Condor Red.  In the distant past, Nightwing is being attacked by the Blood Knights when Condor Red arrives to help. Nightwing gets poisoned and is taken to the Condor home base in Montana, where they nvince him to put on a Condor power suit for a test run. They go back after the chief villain, Blockbuster, and work as a team to defeat him. Nightwing turns down their offer to join them. In the end, they deduce that Nightwing was certainly Talon. And they may not be done with him yet.

RED HOOD OUTLAW #45 by Scott Lobdell and Paolo Pantalena. Bizarro, Red Hood and General Glory continue their fight against the infected people of Qurac. General Glory is infected by The Untitled and their energy calls up the Dark Obelisks, which allows the Untitled to travel anywhere in time and space. Meanwhile, Artemis taking on Essence, who is possessing Jason's ex-girlfriend Isabel and gets assistance from her Mistress. In the end, it looks like Monsieur Mallah and the Brain are going to be the new teachers for Generation Outlaw.

RED HOOD OUTLAW #46 by Scott Lobdell and Paolo Pantalena. While Bizarro and Jason find themselves in a deep labyrinth to fight the All-Caste, Artemis and the human version of her Mistress talk with Essence. Jason uses the All-Blade to kill the Unspoken, which frees General Glory. Artemis, Mistress and Essence transports to Jason and Bizarro with S’Aru, who is revealed to be the “traitor” behind the betrayal of the All-Caste, leading to Essence apologizing for doubting Jason. She also reveals that the bad guy behind all of this…is Trigon. Bizarro. S’Aru opens a door and Bizarro passes through it to battle Trigon.

SHAZAM #12 by Jeff Loveness and Brandon Peterson. Set before the events in SHAZAM #1, Shazam is fighting crime with his buddy Freddy Freeman by his side. Later, Freddie kids with him, saying that he doesn’t have a big Rogue’s Gallery like Batman does. This leads Shazam to Gotham, where he saves some kidnapped people and takes on The Scarecrow, with less than spectacular results. Scarecrow gets into Shazam’s head and makes him fear himself. Batman arrives and gets Billy to conquer his fear and the pair take down Scarecrow. In the end, Billy beams, as he believes that he has been in his first team-up with the Dark Knight.

SUICIDE SQUAD #5 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. Jog is injured during the battle to capture Captain Boomerang, but Osita is there and she wants to kill Digger. Deadshot helps cooler heads to prevail and the team takes Digger back to Belle Reve. Lok orders Deadshot to kill Digger, but he refuses and, in turn, blows Lok’s head off. The team ends up in a battle with Lok’s people and one of them triggers the brain bomb that kills Jog. They capture one of the soldiers and find out that the person behind Lok and the new team is…Ted Kord. Now on the run, the team is going after Kord.

SUICIDE SQUAD #6 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. The team is in Gotham, where an escapee from Arkham has removed the brain bombs from the team. The escapee tries to poison them and is quickly dispatched. They also discover that Deadshot and Harley had been given pardons. Either way, there is a bounty on the team’s heads and that leads to them being attacked by assassins looking to collect. When the team decides to attack, they discover they have been taken out by Batman. Batman learns that Amanda Waller is no longer in control and the team, minus Deadshot who stays to explain things to Batman, has stolen the Batmobile.

SUPERGIRL #41 by Jody Houser and Rachael Stott. Coming off of her possession by The Batman Who Laughs, Supergirl reunites with Krypto but continues to have

Hallucinations dealing with the destruction of Krypton. As she moves through Smallville, she realizes that most people are gone, as a series of storms are bearing down on Smallville. In the end, a woman from the US Government, who thinks Supergirl herself is responsible for the storms, shows up, dressed in some sort of power suit, and tells her to surrender.

SUPERMAN #22 by Brian Michael Bendis and Kevin Maguire. While Cameron Chase is interrogating Lois regarding Superman’s "King of Earth" comment, Superman is in space fighting Mongul. Chase reveals that the government has retroactively given Superman “sanctioned intergalactic representational authority”. In space, Superman defeats Mongul and tries to get the United Federation of Planets back in business.

SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #10 by Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber. Jimmy and his wife use bananas to defeat a space alien. Later, we discover that Jimmy crashing into the Monarch of Metropolis upset Julian Olsen-even more so hen Julian discovers he is broke and only Jimmy has money left from the family trust. This sets in motion a series of events where Porcadillo attends a meeting led by a mysterious Mister X, who wants Jimmy killed. Porcadillo goes to Detective Corrigan and tells him he believes that Mister X is Julian Olsen. In the end, Jimmy hits the road while Julian gets a visit from an old “lady friend” who is not happy to see him.

SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #11 by Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber. Jimmy meets with The Scrubb and asks for help in battling the space alien. The Scrubb and Jimmy come back to Earth and, with Metamorpho as a suit for Jimmy, they battle the alien and defeat him. Jimmy presents his wife with annulment papers, meaning she is now his ex-wife. Meanwhile, Detective Corrigan has Porcadillo tell what he knows to other detectives and one of them, who is in Luthor’s pocket, calls his boss to let him know that Porcadillo has told them about Julian Olsen’s murder attempt on his brother. In the end, the rogue detective runs…literally…into Superman, who demands he be told everything that is going on.

TEEN TITANS #41 by Adam Glass, Robbie Thompson and Eduardo Pansica. The Titans appear to be dead and are trapped in Djinn’s dimension while Jakeem tries to bring them back. He calls for his Thunderbolt and the energy developed brings everyone back, including Djinn. Reunited, they head to Heaven’s Gate to find that Elias has killed or maimed many angels. They all attack and Elias spears Djinn, seemingly killing her. He captures the team but his stabbed himself by Djinn, who had created the illusion of Djinn that Elias killed. Djinn then frees all the other genies before trapping Elias in her ring. Djinn returns his staff back to Jakeem, which frees Thunderbolt. The team transports home and show their displeasure of Damian’s prison plan and everyone leaves, technically ending the team.

TEEN TITANS #42 by Robbie Thompson and Javier Fernandez. The Djinn War is over and the Titans are in disarray. Crush goes to see Roundhouse and are eventually joined by Kid Flash and Red Arrow. They learn that a body has been found and someone has killed Brother Blood. Damian arrives and suggest they work together to discover who killed Brother Blood. They go to his hideout and discover vats of a poison that were designed to kill millions. They get attacked by some of Blood’s followers, who are quickly dispatched. Later, they agree to work together to find the answer, even as it seems Batman may get involved.

THE TERRIFICS #27 by Gene Luen Yang and Sergio Davila. Beneath Gateway City, The Terrifics have teamed up with the T-Council to try and find the holo-transit passengers who have been turned into monsters, including Plastic Man’s son.  Meanwhile, Sapphire is trying to find her father while Staggatron tells her her father is dead and he needs to find a rightful heir. Down below, the teams follow the transformed Luke, which leads them to Sleroku, the King of the Monsters. It seems Simon, who is now controlled by the creature, made a deal to attempt to live forever. The team beats the creature, allowing the passengers to return to normal, but it still manages to run a tentacle through Stagg, killing him.

WONDER WOMAN #755 by Steve Orlando and Jesus Merino. Donna Troy gets attacked by Devastation and Armageddon, who are trying to make her the Fourth Horsewomen. Elsewhere, Diana gets teleported to Paula Von Gunther in Norway.  Von Gunther tells Diana she has learned the truth and the Valkyries were slain by the Amazons, who were not just defending themselves. Diana has to make a choice: help Donna in Boston or stop Genocide who is about to breal through the barrier and invade Themyscira. 

WONDER WOMAN #756 by Steve Orlando and Jesus Merino. Donna continues to battle Devastation and Armageddon, while Diana battles Paula. Von Gunther gets the upper hand and travels to Themyscira to join Genocide in the attack. Donna wins her fight and travels to Norway, finding Diana and heading off together to Themyscira.

WONDER WOMAN #757 by Steve Orlando and Jesus Merino. In the past, we see that Gudra and her Valkyries did indeed attack the Amazons. In the present, Paula Von Gunther is fighting Hippolyta, while Wonder Woman, Donna Troy, and Maggie battle Genocide.  Diana is able to put the lasso around Paula so she can finally see her truth. This causes Genocide to stop fighting and she is taken down. Diana agrees to help Paula heal, but the Phantom Stranger arrives ad turns Paula to stone. He transports Diana and Paula to the Gates of Heaven, where Wonder Woman will have to confront the higher power for the fate of Von Gunther.

YOUNG JUSTICE #15 by Brian Michael Bendis, David Walker and John Timms. Yung Justice arrives to help Conner in his fight with Dr. Glory. Impulse reveals he has seen how things have happened in the Multiverse. Glory had kidnapped Conner and sent him to Gemworld and, while he was gone, the universe was altered and the team’s memories were erased and altered. The FBI arrives and arrests Glory. Tim decides that they need this new team to be a thing and declares they are the Young Justice League. They all leave except for Impulse and Conner, who wants to know what Bart has seen and what he is not telling.