DC UNIVERSE Month 39, Part 2

MAN-BAT #3 by Dave Wielgosz and Sumit Kumar. Harley Quinn is trying to psychoanalyze Kirk Langstrom before letting him go, with a promise that if he broke Francine’s heart again, she would kill him. Francine gets kidnapped by The Scarecrow and Kirk visits his sister, who he has been doing his research to restore her hearing. He bonds with her and develops what he thinks is the right serum. That’s when Scarecrow shows up and the next thing you know, Kirk is with Francine in his lab. But that’s just an illusion planted by his kidnapper-The Scarecrow.

THE NEXT BATMAN: SECOND SON #1 by John Ridley, Tony Akins and Travel Foreman. Tim Fox is in Vietnam on a covert mission. After completing the mission, he is met by Grifter, who tells him tat his father wants him home. Tim, who goes by the name of Jace, returns home and it’s obvious there is tension among the family, especially with his brother, who is secretly Batwing. Elsewhere, Mayor Nakano promotes Renee Montoya to Police Commissioner In the end, during an argument between Luke and Jace, Tamara collapses and an ambulance needs to be called.

NIGHTWING #79 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. While Dick and Barbara eat pizza, he decides to use his newfound wealth to help feed and house the homeless. He sets up a father and son with a hotel stay, but the father doesn’t live long enough to enjoy it as a shadowy villain literally steals the man’s heart. Dick’s wallet gets stolen and he observes the Maroni Crime Family meeting with Melinda Zucco. He tracks down the kids who stole his wallet and that leads to him finding a tent city filled with homeless kids. In the end, Dick decides to use the money to be a safety net for Bludhaven.

ROBIN #1 by Joshua Williamson and Gleb Melnikov. While the Bat family try to find Robin, he is in a cage fight against King Snake-the father of Bane. Robin wins the fight and this eventually buys him a marker that gains him access to the League of Lazarus tournament. Robin finds himself on a boat with other contestants, including Respawn and Ravager, on their way to Lazarus Island. After meeting Mother Soul, Robin decides he wants to fight starting now and battles Flatline, who pulls Robin’s heart out of his chest, seemingly killing him.

SUICIDE SQUAD #2 by Robbie Thompson and Eduardo Pansica. Peacemaker is fighting to get William Cobb out of Arkham Asylum. Connor Kent Superboy arrives with a new team made up of Nocturna, Mindwarp, Culebra, and Exit. Batman arrives and finds Cobb’s cell empty. Things go bad when Mindwarp’s mask cracks and he dies from Joker gas. The team escapes and Batman saves the remaining Arkham survivors. Back at Task Force X headquarters, Culebra saves Superboy from his Kryptonite exposure by injecting him with an antidote. Peacemaker and Superboy butt heads about the way things are and Peacemaker knocks him out. In the end, Amanda Waller decides she needs speed and that means getting the Teen Titans Academy student Bolt on her team.

SUPERMAN  #30 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Sean Lewis, Scott Godlewski and Sami Basri. Lois, Clark and Jon are playing miniature golf when Superman gets a distress signal which sends he and Jon to Thakkram, where they eventually meet with Clark’s old friend Faldr Poornym. Superman says he got a distress call from Qarath O Daanim. But that can’t be because Qarath is dead. Superman and Jon go looking for the body and find one of Superman’s old communicators. Unbeknownst to him, Qarath’s killer now inhabits Faldr. In the backup, Ambush Bug becomes a detective to take on Projectress.

THE SWAMP THING #2 by Ram V and Mike Perkins. Levi Kamei continues waking up nightly in the desert inside the Swamp Thing body, where he continues to be defeated by the Pale Wanderer. The nightmare is different each night as the Pale Wanderer kills somebody new each time. News reports reveal that this is not just a recurring dream. Levi shows the reports to Jennifer to prove why he's returning home early in the morning. Meanwhile, the sheriff of Aztec Town goes off to confront the Pale Wanderer as Levi arrives and prevents the sheriff's death. The Pale Wanderer tears the Swamp Thing’s heart out, but the green retaliates, killing the Pale Wanderer and forms a huge green tree in the middle of the desert. In the end, as the government prepares to take over the investigation of the giant tree, a mysterious figure receives a folder labeled the Holland Phenomenon.

TEEN TITANS ACADEMY #2 by Tim Sheridan and Rafa Sandoval. The issue begins with Bolt facing off against Red X. In flashback, Nightwing is having relationship issues with Starfire, after he reveals he needs to see Barbara. Later, he discovers Red X downloading Titan files, but eventually gets away. He calls a meeting of the students, where Bolt is deleting a contact from her phone. Back where things began, Bolt asks Red X if he is going to kill her and he responds he won’t, but maybe the others present will…The Suicide Squad.

WONDER WOMAN #771 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Jordie Bellaire,Travis Moore and Paulina Ganucheau. Wonder Woman questions Thor about why he is more concerned with wine and women and not his fellow warriors. Later, she goes off with Ratatosk to save everyone, but encounters the Murk Elves. During the battle, she is haunted by the voices from beyond trying to remind her of what she truly is. She defeats the Murk Elves and meets Dr. Psycho, who sends her off to meet Níðhöggr: the serpent who eats the roots of Yggdrasil. She wants the key to the Valkyries, but Níðhöggr wants an eagle egg from the top of the tree. Along the way, she meets Odin. She gets an egg and then hides inside the shell, believing she can slay Níðhöggr from inside. In the backup, another tale of young Diana, where Helene is poised to stop the young princess’ mission.

DC UNIVERSE Month 39, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1030 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Daniel Sampere and Michael Avon Oeming. On Warworld, we learn that the current Mongol is following in his father’s footsteps. A mysterious stranger arrives and presents the decapitated heads of Mongol’s sons, who he saw as a threat to him. He is also told the key to mastering the many secrets of Warworld is Superman. On Earth, Batman is running Superman through his paces, revealing he is slowly dying from radiation poisoning. While Jon confesses his fears about having to become Superman to Damian, Superman and Lois spend some quality time in Kandor, until Kelex pulls them out, making hi aware of an alien invasion. He and Jon respond and, in the process, discover one of the ships is inhabited by warriors speaking a dead Kryptonian language. In the backup, Midnighter continues his internal fight with Andrej Trojan. His solution: if I kill him in the present, will that keep him from turning society into “bloodthirsty Roombas”.

BATMAN #107 by James Tynion IV, Jorge Jimenez and Ricardo Lopes Ortiz. We begin with Batman continuing to be tortured by Scarecrow. In flashback, Batman is investigating the scarecrow that was placed inside of the mayor’s home. He discovers it is just a scarecrow with no trace of fear toxin. Renee Montoya, who has replaced Jim Gordon as commissioner, show up and demand Batman leave or be arrested. He drops a flash bang and escapes. Elsewhere, Harley takes down an escaped patient from Arkham, before police show up and she gets rescued by Ghost-Maker. At the Clock Tower, Batman meets up with Oracle and reveals that the body of Jonathan Crane at Arkham was actually a body double.  The conversation changes to the Unsanity Collective and he decides to go undercover. At Saint Industries, the CEO is contacted by Scarecrow, who tells him they have to increase the speed of their plan. In the end, Batman meets with the Unsanity Collective dressed as Matches Malone. In the backup, Ghost-Maker heads to Devil Skull Island to confront Madame Midas and her team. Midas has a bone to pick with him because his activities is costing her huge amounts of money.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN #17 by Gene Luen Yang and Ivan Reis. Batman and Superman are continuing to fight against Auteur.Io and his Archivists. Back in the filmstrip world, Batman and Robin have captured Lois, who they believe is the Spider Lady. Superman arrives to rescue her, eventually getting a ride to the Batcave where they find they are from two different worlds. In Batman’s universe, the Daily Planet was destroyed, killing everyone except Lois, who became the criminal Spider Lady. When they confront the Spider Lady, she reveals the Planet was going to run an expose on Dr. Atom when the Planet was destroyed. Superman discovers a gateway as Luthor arrives, wearing a Kryptonite bracelet from a “benefactor”. Spider Lady pushes the foursome through the film burn hole and that takes us back to Auteur.Io, who has stolen the ring from the film and now has plans to create the greatest world ever.

BATMAN: THE DETECTIVE #1 by Tom Taylor and Andy Kubert. In the future, a Wayne Airlines passenger jet is sabotaged by a bomb from terrorists. Knight tries to stop the terrorists as they parachute off the plane wearing white Batman cowls, but fails. All on board are killed. Bruce heads to investigate and with Squire’s help and a transformed Gentleman Ghost shows up to feed off the fear of the dead. Batman dispatches Gentleman Ghost with a pair of magic gloves he got from Constantine. Batman visits Knight in the hospital while his computer confirms all the passengers had been saved by Batman at one time or the another, including Knight. Terrorists arrive, with Batman dispatching them and capturing one.

BATMAN: URBAN LEGENDS #2 by Cecil Castellucci, Matthew Rosenberg, Brandon Thomas, Chip Zdarsky, Eddy Barrows, Marguerite Sauvage, Max Dunbar and Ryan Benjamin. Jason tells Barbara that he screwed up. He goes back to Tyler and Batman shows up. The two fight with Batman taking him down. Tyler goes to Jason and tells Batman that Jason is a hero. In the second story, Batgirl, as Oracle go up against Vi Ross. In the third tale, Black Lightning and Metamorpho team up to rescue Katana, who is facing off with her mother-in-law and her followers. In the fourth story, Lucius Fox visits an injured Grifter, who is informed that his bother died during the Team 6 ambush. In the present, Grifter is in a firefight and trying to save Lucius’ life. Later, he meets with Toyman, before getting into a fight with Red Hood. They both end up unconscious. When Red Hood wakes, he finds a note, allegedly from Superman and Toyman is dead.

CATWOMAN #30 by Ram V and Fernando Blanco. Selina is checking in on the Riddle, who was shot by Father Valley in the last issue. He explains how he was using the drug, an amphetamine, becoming addicted. When they cut off his supply, he went about tracking it down and found a location and that they were using Poison Ivy as part of their chemical agent. Elsewhere, Father Valley meets with the Penguin, dispatches his goons and warns him to stay out of his way. Selina and company go after Ivy, only to find she has been moved. A mysterious stranger tells her where Ivy is-transported to the home of Siddhart Roy.He is having an invite only party to show her off and luckily the stranger gives her an invite, leading to her arriving at the end.

CHALLENGE OF THE SUPER SONS #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Max Raynor. In the far future, an elderly Damian and Jon argue over a video game while their grand-kids sneak in to read a volume of their grandparents adventures. In the past, after the events in ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS, Damian and Jon are trying to figure out a cheating scandal.  The boys go on patrol in Metropolis, where they encounter a woman who sends them to find The Doom Scroll.  They attain the scroll, which sends them to Central City, where they save The Flash. Their next stop-save Wonder Woman.

CRIME SYNDICATE #2 by Andy Schmidt, Kieran McKeown and Bryan Hitch. Starro the Conqueror has made his way to Earth-3, taking control of Ultraman, Johnny Quick and some other villains. It is part of his plan to take over as many super folks as possible to build an army. Ambassador Troy, better known as Superwoman, battles Ultraman, who is attacking the White House and President Oliver Queen. Power Ring John Stewart arrives and runs a sword construct through Starro, freeing Quick and Atomica. But other controlled villains arrive. Luckiy, Owlman does too, claiming he’s the man with the plan. In the backup, set in 2012, Owlman menaces Harvey Bullock, who he claims murdered the Waynes. Bullock tells him that his parents killed James Gordon Jr. in an effort to take over Boss Gordon’s territory. In response, Owlman becomes villain and drops Bullock to his death.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1035 by Mariko Tamaki and Dan Mora. On the trail of Sarah Worth, Batman finds her dead in the tunnels beneath Gotham. GCPD arrives and finds Batman with Sarah’s body, leading to him being branded the killer, especially after a bullet ricochet's and hits one of the officers. During Sarah's funeral, her partner, Sam Tern, runs off crying. Later, Batman finds him drugged out, threatening to shoot Batman. He is disarmed and left for the police. Elsewhere, one of Nakano's staff seems drugged. In the end, it is revealed that that the part of the sewer where Sarah's body was found is being filled in with concrete. Bruce sees a strange figure across the street from his apartment and it appears to be a zombifed Sarah Worth. In the backup, Huntress makes friends with a young woman, who she warns to stay off the streets because they’re dangerous. Unfortunately, the woman gets murdered, and Huntress adopts the cat and promises vengeance.

THE FLASH #769 by Jeremy Adams, David Lafuente and Brandon Peterson. Wally is trapped in the body of Impulse and he and Gold Beetle face off against a giant-sized Dominator. Luckily, The Flash, Green Arrow and Mr. Terrific are able to communicate with them, so they are able to get the device Inertia used on Barry and hide it in a stature at the Flash Museum. Wally and Gold Beetle get the device from the museum and use it to shrink and stop the Dominator. This closes a leak in the Speed Force and Wally’s energy sends him off. Unfortunately, it sends him into the body of the original Flash, who has been captured by Nazis, as Hitler proclaims he has the Spear of Destiny.

GREEN LANTERN #1 by Geoffrey Thorne, Dexter Soy and Marco Santucci. The United Federation of Planets have gathered on Oa to decide if the Guardians. While the members are voting, a magic race of people connected to Gemworld arrive and try to free the Starheart by unleashing Atmatentrym. The Lanterns defeat this ultimate weapon when they figure out the only way to defeat it is not to fight it. In the end, Oa is accepted in the UFP and Koyos is killed by someone who insists the Starheart needs to be free.

HARLEY QUINN #2 by Stephanie Phillips and Riley Rossmo. Mayor Nakano creates Gotham's Secure and Fearless Engagement program (S.A.F.E.) to rehabilitate wayward clowns and puts Hugo Strange in charge. Harley Quinn sees the news TV and becomes upset, claiming she's the psychologist Gotham needs to fix the clowns. Kevin meets with her, bringing her lots of coffee to thank her for saving from Batman. Kevin has flashbacks to a building he torched, which ultimately led to his arrest. At S.A.F.E. headquarters, Strange has started abusing his power by experimenting on people suspected of being clowns. He is told Harley has been spotted in Gotham, leading to two of his men trying to capture she and Kevin. She dispatches them and steals their van. Unfortunately, it appears it has a tracking device installed.

THE JOKER #2 by James Tynion IV, Sam Johns and Guillem March. Jim Gordon is weighing the decision on whether to take up Cressida’s offer and kill The Joker. Batman meets with Jim and, during the conversation, Oracle chimes in. During the conversation, Jim reveals he knows Barbara is Oracle. Later, he meets with Barbara, who gives him a satellite phone and some files he needs to read before he makes the decision. Meanwhile, The Joker has set up digs in the home of the family he killed and someone in Teas has a bone to pick with Mr. J. because his brother died on A-Day. In Santa Prisica, Bane’s daughter takes on a new identity-Vengeance. In the end, Cressida reveals she is part of the Court of Owls. In the backup, Punchline tangles with the Royal Flush Gang while Blue Bird tries to figure out who Punchline was when she was still Alexis Kaye.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #60 by Brian Michael Bendis, Ram V, David Marquez and Xermanico. Naomi reveals that she things the aliens from last issue came from her homeworld, which apparently is not a part of the DC Multiverse. To fight him, Superman decides to add Black Adam to the team. Batman remarks how Brutus is back and they head to Central City, where they find Hippolyta, who battled Brutus after he landed on Themyscira. When she finds out Black Adam is on the team, she leaves. The Flash rebuilds a version of the Cosmic Treadmill, so they can head to Naomi’s planet, but something goes wrong and she arrives alone. In the  Justice League Dark backup, Etrigan tells the Justice League that Merlin is back. Merlin gathers an ancient tome and reads from it. Among other things, Ragman is here to join the fight.

DC UNIVERSE Month 38, Part 2

HARLEY QUINN #1 by Stephanie Phillips and Riley Rossmo. Harley returns to Gotham to turn over a new leaf, by not only fighting crime but trying to make amends for everyone she's harmed in the past.  Batman visits her and then receives a message from Oracle about trouble at Amusement Mile, where he finds people wanting to attack a former Clown Gang member named Kevin. Batman subdues the mob while Kevin hides in the Hall of Mirrors. Before Batman can arrest him, Harley arrives and convinces Batman to give him a second chance. In the end, people from Saint Industries have decided they need help to cler out the remains of the clowns and enlist Hugo Strange.

INFINITE FRONTIER #0 by Brian Michael Bendis, James Tynion IV, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Joelle Jones, Tim Sheridan, Phillip K. Johnson, Joshua Williamson, Geoff Johns, Geoffrey Thorne, David Marquez, Jorge Jimenez, Alitha Martinez, Stephen Byrne, Rafa Sandoval, Jamal Igle, Alex Maleev, Todd Nauck, Dexter Soy, Howard Porter and John Romita Jr. Coming directly out of Death Metal, Wonder Woman meets with The Quintessence, who sends the Spectre off with her to show what is happening with the heroes of the DC Universe. Superman finds the results of a battle between some unknown villain and Black Adam, who defeated the villain and saved people. The results of what happened at Arkham are revealed, with numerous guards and inmates, including Bane-all of home who have been affected Joker Toxin. Barbara is now Oracle again and runs her team of Batgirls. Grifter tells GCPD about what has happened at Arkham and luckily Batman is on his way. Batman arrives on the scene and is immediately threatened by GCD. And The Scarecrow meets with Simon Saint to help launch his plan. In Themyscira, the Amazonians are dealing with Wonder Woman's ascension and that leads to Nubia heads to Man's World to decides to search for his former JSA members and comes out to his son and daughter. A new team of potential heroes make their way to Titans Tower to attend Teen Titans Academy. Superboy continues on in his father’s tradition. Green Arrow and Black Canary receive a phone call from an old Q-phone and it turns out to be a resurrected Roy trying to reach them. Stargirl and Pat fight crime, with a bigger event on the horizon. A new status quo of Green Lanterns is established with John Stewart, Simon Baz and Teen Lantern, Barry Allen meets with Wally, tells him he will be working with The Totality, turning over The Flash mantle to Wally. Wonder Woman returns to The Quintessence and rejects their offer to join them. In the end, The Quintessence is taken out of the picture…by Darkseid.

THE JOKER #1 by James Tynion IV, Sam Johns, Mirka Andolfo and Guillem March. Jim Gordon is tormented by the results of the Joker War. Later he meets with a woman named Cressida who wants Jim to be part of a plan to solve the Joker roblem once and for all. They need to get to work because The Joker is in Belize. In the backup, Punchline is making her presence fekt in Blackgate while Harper investigates her brother’s belongings to see how far down the rabbit hole he has fallen.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #59 by Brian Michael Bendis, Ram V, David Marquez, and Xermanico. The established team of Superman, Batman, Hawkgirl, Aquaman, The Flash, Green Arrow, and Black Canary team up with Black Adam to battle an alien in Kahndaq. Later, the team considers adding new members and Black Adam meets with Naomi. Will they be the first recruits? In the backup featuring Justice League Dark, Merlin comes back to Earth, claims the sword of Caliburnus and prepares to make the world claim its’ ultimate destiny.

MAN-BAT #2 by Dave Wielgosz and Sumit Kumar. The Suicide Squad go after Man-Bat, who is in a race to cure the deaf. In the end, Harley knocks her out and is planning on doing therapy on him. Elsewhere, The Scarecrow gets involved with the crooks who used the sonic cannon in issue #1.

NIGHTWING #78 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. We have a flashback to a young Dick Grayson stopping some school bullies, where he also meets a young Barbara Gordon. In the present, Nightwing beats u some bullies who are beating a stray dog. Meanwhile, the former Blockbuster kills the Mayor, meaning Melina Zucco becomes the Mayor. Later, the stray ends up in Dick’s apartment and Barbara arrives delivering a letter from Alfred and good news: he has left Dick a small fortune.

SUICIDE SQUAD #1 by Robbie Thompson and Eduardo Pansica. Rick Flag confronts Amanda Waller regarding her having Task Force X, made up of Bolt, Film Freak and Peacemaker, breaking into Arkham to get a new recruit-William Cobb. Things go bad quickly as Cobb’s memory is compromised, he mortally wounds Bolt and a Joker gas attack happens, leading to Cobb and Peacemaker leaving the others behind. Also, Waller has plans to replace Flagg as team leader-she has captured Connor Kent.

SUPERMAN #29 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Sean Lewis and Phil Hester. Superman and Jon fight inter-dimensional monsters being released by a breach apparently caused by S.T.A.R. Labs. All the while, Amanda Waller observes. In the backup, Bibbo is targeted by aliens.

THE SWAMP THING #1 by Ram V and Mike Perkins. In a Southwest town, a sheriff and his deputies examine a dead body they found in the desert. The coroner examines the body, while one of the deputies tells him about a local legend called the Pale Wanderer, who was a former Civil War soldier. Legend has it he wandered into the desert and became an immortal creature, who is spotted many years later drinking crude oil from an oil company’s barrels. Later, the Sheriff and a deputy see some unmarked cars that may be a drug meet when the Pale Wanderer shows up and starts killing the men. Elsewhere, Levi Kamei is on a plane from India to New York when suddenly vines erupt from his body, tearing the plane apart. But it turns out to only be a nightmare. Upon landing, Levi’s friend Jennifer pick him up while two mysterious men watch. He falls asleep on her couch, he dreams of becoming the Swamp Thing. In the desert, The Pale Wanderer is ready to kill the Sheriff when the cacti becomes the Swamp Thing, leading to a fight between the two creatures, resulting in the Swamp Thing being torn apart. Back in New York, Levi’s body is spit out of a tree in Central Park.

TEEN TITANS ACADEMY #1 by Tim Sheridan and Rafa Sandoval. A new batch of teens are heading to Titans Tower to join Teen Titans Academy. They are to be taught by the classic New Titans team of Beast Boy, Cyborg, Donna Troy, Starfire, Nightwing and Raven. The new recruits are Summer, Matt, Brick, Alinta, Tooby, Gorilla Gregg, Stitch and Dane. While the new kids are in classes, the current team of Crush, Bunker, Kid Flash, Jakeem and Red Arrow are in Saudi Arabia fighting Clock King and his minions. Later, there is a birthday party for Dick and someone gives him the Red X mask as a present. The Titans refuse to talk about Red X, except that it’s a good thing Red X is dead. In the end, someone has smashed a mirror and is wearing the mask.

WONDER WOMAM #770 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad,Travis Moore, Jordie Bellaire and Paulina Ganucheau. Diana wakes up on a battlefield in Asgard here she teams with Siegfried before apparently dying and then awaking in the halls of Valhalla. She drinks, parties and sleeps with Siegfried. Later, she goes out in the world where she meets a talking squirrel named Ratatosk and comes across Yggdrasil-the Tree of Life, which is dying and having dreams of someone trying to fix her memory. She ends up in battle again and dies again, before going back to Valhalla. But Siegfried isn’t with her. She returns to the battlefield and talks with Ratatosk, who tells her the Valkyries are dying and if Diana will help him, he will help her bring Siegfried back to life. But it may be too late for him as he begins to disappear from Asgard. In the backup, there is a story of Young Diana.

DC UNIVERSE Month 38, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1029 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Phil Hester and Michael Avon Oeming. Superman and son continue to battle against the creatures from the breach. But Jon is concerned because his father gets injured and, because of his time in the future, he knows this is supposed to be the day Superman dies. In the end, the creatures are defeated, even with Superman weakened. But Warworld is on the horizon and it appears that Superman may be dying. In the backup, Midnighter battles with the voice in his head, which is the consciousness of Andrej Trojan. To end this, could this be the end of Midnighter as we know him.

BATMAN/CATWOMAN #4 by Tom King and Clay Mann. In the past, Bruce is getting ready for a party when Selena tells him The Joker has placed a bomb at the Gotham Ice Rink. He evacuates the ice rink, breaks the ice and retrieves the bomb, which turns out to be a fake. Batman catches up with Selina on the rooftops and asks her where Joker is. She cusses him out, throws the question back in his face and then leaves. In the present, Selina wakes up in a room, making her way to the bottom of a long stairway, where she finds Phantasm, who tells her that she is holding Selina hostage to set up a prisoner exchange with Batman for the Joker. Selina tells her that they are looking into her son’s murder and are uncertain if it truly was The Joker. In the future, Helena has put on her own Batsuit and visits The Penguin. She easily defeats his hired hands and demands he tells her about The Joker and her mother. She them heads to Arkham, where she talks to Batman’s Rogue’s Gallery to get more information about the close relationship between her mother and The Joker. Later, Selina meets with the Penguin, wanting to know what he told her/ To force his hand, she has her cat kill his pet penguin.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN #16 by Gene Luen Yang and Ivan Reis. Like an old movie, the Superman story and Batman story are told simultaneously on strips of movie film. In the Superman story, it is evident there is a problem with continuity. Lois doesn't know Clark is Superman and he needs to do the “hide and switch identities” as a bald "Unknown Wizard", who turns out to be Lex Luthor, appears at the public unveiling of the Omni Battery, which was built by his arch enemy Martha Wayne. It is revealed that Thomas Wayne was killed by the mugger and Martha and Bruce survived. Lois, Clark and Jimmy visit Wayne Manor and a snooping Lois gets in trouble as she meets a venomized Alfred, causing her to fall through the film strip. In the Batman story, Batman and Dick Grayson Robin go to an Arkham breakout engineered by someone called the Spider Lady. Afterwards, they visit the Warden, who has a Kryptonian spaceship with what is presumed to be a dead baby Kal-El inside. The head to the Arctic Circle and break into a fortress. While there, reality seems to dissolve and Lois drops into their film strip, following the incident from the Superman story. Batman believes she is the Spider Lady. In the end, Superman and Batman encounter a malfunction at a Wayne satellite, that the see is covered with movie film. Then they encounter aliens who accuse them of violating the Archive of Worlds.

BATMAN: URBAN LEGENDS #1 by Chip Zdarsky, Stephanie Phillips, Brandon Thomas, Matthew Rosenberg, Eddy Barrows, Ryan Benjamin, Laura Braga and Max Dunbar. In the first story, set in the days when Red Hood was thought to be dead, he is out fighting street level crime and discovers a young boy whose mother has lapsed into a coma thanks to Joker Toxin. He tracks down the boy’s father, but discovers he is an abusive drug dealer and Jason executes him. Next, Harley reveals how much she misses Ivy and only has the plant Ivy gave her to comfort her. In the third story, Katana and Black Lightning battle bad guys and need to get Metamorpho involved to save her. The final story begins with Grifter apparently being mortally injured in a battle with Mr. Freeze. Mid-way through the tale, he meets with Lucius Fox and later Batman. In the end, Nightwing finds a dead Nora Freeze.

CATWOMAN #29 by Ram V and Fernandeo Blanco. There’s a new assassin in town by the name of the Wight Witch. Selina and her sister are relaxing when Detective Hadley shows up, asking about an anonymous drop-off of drugs. He leaves the case file with her and she recognizes a certain symbol within the file. Meanwhile, a scientist is talking to his benefactor on the phone about their ability to reproduce the drug which gives The Wight Witch her abilities. The subject who they are getting their raw material from is Poison Ivy and the benefactor is Simon Saint. Catwoman goes to The Riddler’s apartment and finds packages of drugs with the symbol on them. But The Wight Witch is already there and they fight, which proves a challenge as The Wight Witch has a power that makes her body intangible. Nygma joins and helps them escape. As they flee, Nygma is shot by Father Valley.

CRIME SYNDICATE #1 by Andy Schmidt, Kieran McKeown and Bryan Hitch. On Earth-3, it’s November 22, 1963 and the child who would become Ultraman kills the President of the United States. In present day, Ultraman is not happy about the bad press he is getting from the Daily Planet. In Washington, President Oliver Queen is being menaced by Superwoman. John Stewart, Power Ring, is enacting his own brand of vengeance on crooks and crooked cops. In Central City, Johnny Quick and Atomica are enacting their brand of violence on everyone. Multiple Starros arrive on Earth and one of them burrows into Ultraman, causing him to attack Metropolis. Meanwhile , Owlman is looking to exploit the invasion and take over Gotham. In the backup, a young Clark Kent discovers the spaceship the reveals his true heritage.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1034 by Mariko Tamaki, Joshua Williamson, Gleb Melkinov and Dan Mora. Nakano is holding a fundraiser for his vision of the future of Gotham when a gang left from The Joker War crashes through the glass ceiling. Bruce changes into Batman, beats up the bad guys and leaves in the Batmobile. Apparently, he has spent the last month setting up miniature Batcaves in the sewers of Gotham Later, Bruce is an unwilling guest at a party thrown by his neighbors while Nakano deals with the aftermath of the incident at his fundraiser. In the end, one of the neighbors has been kidnapped and the inference is that one of Nakano’s staff may be to blame. In the backup, Damien meets with his mother, who tells him about a League of Assassins tournament. Damien leaves, apparently to claim his legacy. The League has a secret weapon to give them an advantage in the tournament: Connor Hawke.

THE FLASH #768 by Jeremy Adams and Brandon Peterson. Barry has decided to give up the mantle of The Flash, but Wally has decided he doesn’t want it and wants to spend his life with his wife and kids. So Barry and Wally have one last race, which will end with Wally being disconnected from the Speed Force forever. But something happens and Wally is thrown into the body of a caveman and gets chased by a Speed Force enhanced raptor. Barry, Mr. Terrific and Green Arrow try to concoct a plan to get Wally back, but he gets thrown into the distant future in the body of Impulse. He realizes this as a Dominator attacks and Gold Beetle what’s to know what he is doing!

FUTURE STATE VS. IMPERIOUS LEX #3 by Mark Russell and Steve Pugh. After the events of last issue, Lex needs a fall guy for hat happened and blames his faithful servant X-99, ho he exiles. X-99 finds the remains of the replicants and sets them onto Lexor. Superman arrives to save the day as Lois convinces the residents of Lexor that Lex lied. In the end, ex and X-99 get to send quality time together in prison.

THE GREEN LANTERN SEASON TWO #12 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. Hal Jordan is marooned on Athmoora without his ring. Vespero arrives to give Jordan a hand in defeating his enemies. Soon he finds himself fighting against plastic toy versions of his villains and they are easily defeated. Jordan leads Vespero, Samandra and Fekk to Star-City of the Golden Race to end their invasion of our universe. Hector Hammond is the source of the Golden One's knowledge about Jordan and he has agreed to help them in exchange for the power to destroy Hal. Hal confronts Hammond and uses his power of coercion to get his ring back and makes a deal with the Golden Ones to give them an alternate food supply if they leave Earth alone. In the end, Hal flies off to find himself, setting up the possibility for a new Lantern to police his sector.