DC UNIVERSE Month 46, Part 2

THE JOKER #9 by James Tynion IV, Sam Johns, Stephano Raffaele and Rosi Kampe. While Oracle and Julia search for a connection between Joker’s past and the present, Jim and Vengeance head to The Joker’s hideout. After arriving and finding a massacre, they find The Joker and Dr. Frederich Baum: a scientist and a part of The Network. Among the work he shows off is his body duplication project and how he has been using his work to creature a body farm where his work ends up on the tables of many five-star restaurants. One of his genetic creations turns out to be Vengeance. That is when the Sawyer family arrives, kills Baum, wounds Gordon and absconds with The Joker. In the backup, Kelly reveals that she and Punchline were high school friends. But things changed and many students turned up dead. Meanwhile, Punchline plots her revenge against Orca for turning against the villainess.

THE JOKER 2021 ANNUAL #1 by Matthew Rosenberg, James Tynion IV and Francesco Francavilla. In a throwback tale from early in Jim Gordon’s career as Commissioner, Gordon tries to weed out corrupt cops in the GCPD, leaving the force undermanned. During al of this, The Joker stages a heist at a candy factory. Gordon arrests Falcone’s capo and tries to get him to talk. In the end, the crooked cops get what is coming to them and GCPD find a warehouse filed with giant pinatas containing dead bodies…including the capo. It’s all a gift from The Joker to Gordon.

THE JOKER PRESENTS: A PUZZLEBOX #4 by Matthew Rosenberg, Jesus Merino, Vanesa Del Rey and Ricardo Lopez Ortiz. The multiple stories in the search for answers in the death of The Riddler continues. In the jungle of Tropidor, Bane, Penguin and Ivy struggle for possession of the box, with Ivy pulling a switch. Later, the tale of Pyg and Scarecrow at the Gotham Museum sees the unity of the villains cracking. In present day, Mad Hatter finds he cannot control people like he thought. And Pyg tries to stage an escape, but Batman intervenes.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #69 by Brian Michael Bendis, Ram V, Phil Hester and Sumit Kumar. The team battles the teams of Deathstrokes. They discover that this is all a part of a plan for world domination by the Royal Flush Gang. But before they can fully plan a wake to take them down, there is a problem. The Fortress of Solitude has been stolen. In the backup, Constantine and Ragman confront Zatanna, who has started to unleash the Upside-Down Man within her. Meanwhile, the rest of the team has to deal with Merlin who has managed to resurrect Arion and made him his servant.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK 2021 ANNUAL #1 by Ram V, Dan Waters and Christopher Mitten. Justice League Dark has defended Atlantis, in events in JUSTICE LEAGUE #70 and #71(not shipping until late December) and Wonder Woman tells of a vision from the Goddess of Time and Space, Hauhet. Hauhet explains there is a dangerous gd unleashed because of Merlin. Randhir Singh, who Elnara and Batman had saved from Merlin, arrives and further explains there is a great darkness coming and Merlin will try to destroy the Tower of Fate. Mr. E show up and reveals that Merlin has been possessed by Yuga Khan- the father of Darkseid. In the end, Mr. E cuts a deal with Zatanna which could give him the power to kill magicians.

JUSTICE LEAGUE INCARNATE #1 by Joshua Williamson and Dennis Culver, Brandon Peterson, Andrei Berssan and Tom Derenick. On Earth-8, Tartarus invades, and the Retaliators fight back. Meanwhile, Flashpoint Batman and Earth-23 Superman draft Avery Ho to join the Justice League Incarnate to their team, so they can save Barry Allen and stop Darkseid. They head to Earth-8 and find Tartarus has decimated the team. Darkseid arrives and battles Tartarus, killing him. This gives Doctor Multiverse the distraction she needs, teaming with  Avery to send the Multiversal tear to another Earth. At the Hall of Heroes, Orion of New Genesis arrives and warms them that Darkseid’s army is here.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: LAST RIDE #7 by Chip Zdarsky and Miguel Mendonca. A reborn Martian Manhunter teams up with Jon Stewart to take on Darkseid. Meanwhile, Batman battles Cyborg Superman and gets stabbed with a Kryptonite knife. Hal Jordan shows up and the combined efforts of the Lanterns saves Batman. Diana beheads Lobo and Darkseid is defeated and flees, leading Hal to kill him. In the end, Lobo stands trial and the team declares the they shall now be the Justice League Universal.

LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #7 by Brandon Easton and Karl Mostert. Batman travels to Italy in search of Ras al Ghul, who is searching for the vessel of St. Januarius, which he can use to enhance his Lazarus pits. But that leads him into a confrontation with Azrael, who is not about to let Batman take the artifact. Ras shows up and the two heroes need to team up to stop him. In the end, Azrael blows up the location, seemingly killing he and Ras. In actuality, Azrael lives on, returning the artifact to its’ rightful place.

MISTER MIRACLE: THE SOURCE OF FREEDOM #6 by Mister Miracle continues his fight with N’vir, who has created Worldkiller to eliminate Shilo and conquer her world. Oberon tracks down Shilo’s long missing parents and their energy help Shilo to defeat N’vir. They reveal time is fluid and they had stepped into the time stream to fight against N’vir. Oberon fires up a Boom Tube, sending Shilo back to the 21st Century. In the end, Shio reveals his identity to the world.

NIGHTWING #86 by Tom Taylor and Robbi Rodriguez. The Clock Tower has blown up and there is a desperate search for the Batgirls. The Batgirls get found and it’s revealed that the Magistrate wasn’t responsible, but Seer was. That leads them to lead an assault on Skybase-01. They progress through the ship and find Simon Saint. But Seer is one step ahead and brings down the ship, leading to a mass evacuation. Although Skybase-01 is destroyed, Seer escapes and is ready to hide in sight.

NIGHTWING 2021 ANNUAL #1 by Tom Taylor, Daniel HDR and Cian Tormey.  Oracle shows Dick Grayson footage of Jason killing FBI agents and an informer. This leads to a flashback of Dick mentoring a young Jason. Back in the present, Dick confronts Jason, who declares his innocence. After some detective work, they discover the fake Red Hood is actually Clayface, who reveals he was hired by a drug kingpin who actually was responsible for drugs Jason’s mom had taken. When he tries to flee, Jason uses the Batmobile to crash the kingpin’s jet.

NUBIA & THE AMAZONS #2 by Stephanie Williams, Vita Ayala and Alitha Martinez.to invade the bodies of multiple Amazons. Is this related to the dreams Penelope keeps having about the destruction of Themyscira?

ROBIN & BATMAN #1 by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen. In the earliest days of Robin in training, he constantly breaks Batman’s rules of crime fighting. During the day, Dick dreams of being Robin and that night, he creates a costume and goes out after Killer Croc. Things go badly and Batman has to save him. In the end, Batman presents Dick with a costume he designed, angering Dick, as he knows Bruce has read his journal. Meanwhile, Croc is still on the loose.

ROBIN #8 by Joshua Williamson, Gleb Melnikov and Max Dunbar. Damian fights Connor Hawke in the finals of the tournament and dies for a second time in the process. Resurrected, Damian is ready to continue the fight, but the pit on the island has been opened and the demon within kills Connor.

ROBIN 2021 ANNUAL #1 by Joshua Williamson and Roger Cruz. Taking place before issue number 6 of ROBIN, Damian hacks into the Bat Computer to gleam information about the tournament competitors. At her grandfather’s deathbed, Flatline’s powers activate, which allows her to see her grandfather was a serial killer. This leads to her becoming a protégé of Lord Deathman and eventually entering the tournament. He continues to dig into the history of other competitors before heading off to the tournament. In the end, a meditative Ras al Ghul is attacked…leading to a meeting with his daughter.

ROBINS #1 by Tim Seeley and Baldemar Rivas. The team, made up of former Robins, takes down the Disciples of Anarky, with Jason accidentally blowing up the one person they need to shut off the bomb the disciples planted, leading to the team using their detective skills to crack the password. Later, they are visited by a man named Declaine who informs them that crooks from the individual team member’s first cases are being targeted. During the revelations, he gets assassinated by a mysterious woman who claims to be the first Robin.

STATIC: SEASON ONE #4 by Vita Ayala and Chriscross. The A.T.F. and Francis show up at the Hawkins home looking for Virgil. Later, Virgil opens the package from Metcalf’s storage unit, revealing kinetic metal sand which, when coupled with his powers, enhances his ability. He throws on his costume and goes out to meet up with his team. The team gets attacked and Francis arrives, but Static’s powers fail on him as Francis lights him up. 

SUICIDE SQUAD #9 by Robbie Thompson, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira and Dexter Soy. Rick Flag has broken into many black-site prisons and freed Mirror Master, Cheetah, Lor-Zod and Ghkeyy’t, with this new team looking to recruit the Fisherman. Waller meets with Rodriguez and plots her escape while sending the team off on another mission. While enroute, Culebra chats with Talon, who reveals he is not crazy and is working with Rodriguez to take down Waller. The team lands on Oa, where they cross paths with Jo Mullein. They find a mysterious alien, which is who Waller sent them for, the Thangarians attack and their ship explodes.

SUICIDE SQUAD: KING SHARK #3 by Tim Seeley and Scott Kolins. The tournament continues even as Defacer plots with Vik to make Nanue lose. As the next round begins, Etrigan Gentleman Ghost, Bison and Pigeon Person, calling themselves the Limbo Legion, show up to disrupt the event. Vik transports Defacer to where Queen Tiger is, with Defacer promising to reveal the secret to defeat Nanue.That backfires and Nanue wins. He and Defacer get transported to their next place: a world filled with cockroaches.

SUPERGIRL; WOMAN OF TOMORROW #5 by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. Ruthye and Kara end up on a planet where there is a Kryptonite sun and monsters. This forces Ruthie to act as Kara’s defender until the sun eventually sets. Once it does, Supergirl gets her strength back and they continue on their search for Krem.

SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL #5 by Tom Taylor and John Timms. Jon has had his powers super-charged by Henry Bendix's solar beam and he struggles to save people all over the world while fighting the sensory overload. Aerie takes him to Jay so he can get some rest. After a nine-hour sleep, Jon is off again…but not before he can kiss Jay goodbye.

THE SWAMP THING #9 by Ram V and Mike Perkins. Jennifer Reece is brought to the Prescot Corporation, where she learns the history of The Green. It was first discovered in the 18th Century and is revealed that the Green contains all the memories of the world. Allegedly, all medical technology is the result of research gleamed from their experiments with The Green. It is also revealed that the Corporation has the corpse of the previous Swamp Thing, but they want a living conduit. Jacob arrives and launches an attack the Prescott, with the idea to destroy it all. Levi arrives and orders everyone to run, while he and Jacob battle. The goal of the fleeing Corporation members: send the facility, along with Levi and Jacob, into a deep freeze.

TASK FORCE Z #2 by Mathew Rosenberg and Eddy Barrows. Bane and Man-Bat are dead again, Bloom has left and Jason has been frozen and is about to be eaten by the Arkham Knight. Bloom takes down Freeze, returning with a supply of Lazarus Resin, which distracts Arkham Knight. Later, Jason learns that Bane and Man-Bat have been brought back to life with a limited amount of the resin. The team is sent out again, to meet with a potential new member, with Hobart in tow. The meeting place has been taken over by the reformed Cult of Kobra, forcing them into a fight, With the lights out, Hobart transform into a demon and dispatches the cult. In the end, they find the potential new member, who shoots Jason. The new member? Deadshot.

TEEN TITANS ACADEMY #7 by Tim Sheridan and Rafa Sandoval. Gorilla Gregg has turned against his friends and joined up with Gorilla Grodd, taking the townspeople and the Titans kids under their control. But Gregg isn’t totally with Grodd as he uses his powers to block Summer Zahid from being controlled. Grodd finds out about the betrayal leading to a fight between the Titans and Gregg. But it’s a staged fight, as Gregg has used his powers to block the mind control. Grodd is defeated, but he may not be imprisoned for long.

TEEN TITANS ACADEMY #8 by Tim Sheridan and Mike Norton. It’s potential student day at the Academy when Wally West shows up, freaking out parents and students alike who know him as a murderer. The students notice a change in Dane since returning and Raven has a vision of him being evil. Red X shows up to prove that Wally is the bad guy here and will result in the end of the Titans. Meanwhile, a group of students steal the H Dial in an effort to communicate with the dead Roy Harper. Miguel stops them, but a living Roy shows up, wondering why there is a statue of him out front of the building.

TITANS UNITED #3 by Cavan Scott and Jose Luis. Connor has been taken captive by Blackfire where she tortures him and tests his powers. Elsewhere, the other Titans face off against Lady Vic and her bodyguards, who have Beast Boy’s powers. Lady Vic flees in her jet and Jason hitches a ride by lassoing himself to the plane, forcing Donna and Raven to lend an assist. Vic teleports away but not before it appears that an alien invasion is impending.

WONDER GIRL #5 by Joëlle Jones and Adriana Melo. Yara Flor finds herself on Mount Olympus where she is being goaded into drinking the Elixir of Life to become Hera's champion forever. She refuses to be in service forever, leading to her fighting the armies of Hephaestus before calling for Jerry and flying off. In the process, Jerry is killed. Hephaestus destroys Yara’s sword and Hera arrives, leading to Yara possibly having to submit to Hera. Meanwhile, Cassie learns from Hermes what is transpiring with Yara. She goes off to talk to Potira. She apologizes for Artemis running off and Potira takes her to Aahim: the home of the Esquecida. Once there, Potira reveals that once Yara is captured, she will be used to lead the Esquecida in an attack on Themyscira. But they already have a secret weapon…Donna Troy.

WONDER WOMAN #781 by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Vita Ayala, Marcio Takara and Skylar Patridge. Diana has lunch with Etta and debates seeing Steve Trevor, now that she is back. She sees Doctor Cizko on tele vision hyping his new book, so she goes to see him and figure out his motives. After keeping a man from committing suicide, she meets with Deadman, who tells her where they need to go to sing Siggy’s body. Cizko meets with a strange man who gives him a guitar case. Steve gets a visit from Diana, but it is not her. Later, Diana and Deadman are flying off to find Siggy when she notices an army of Wonder Woman outside of the plane. In the backup, the new arrivals try to adjust to their new life, even as the kingdom is being attacked.

WONDER WOMAN 2021 ANNUAL #1 by Michael W. Conrad, Becky Cloonan and Andy MacDonald. A strange man named Altuum chats up Etta while Diana stops a hostage situation. Later, Diana tours a museum exhibit on Themyscira and meets Altuum, who claims he has been to Themyscira. He explains he is a part of a race that was thrown out of Themyscira and they are waiting for the coming war where the Amazons will eradicate themselves. The two battle to a standstill before Altuum sets off a bomb in the building and flees. To be continued in THE TRIAL OF THE AMAZONS #1.

WONDER WOMAN: EVOLUTION #1 by Stephanie Phillips and Mike Hawthorne. Silver Swan takes hostages at the Museum of Natural History, leading to a fight between her and Diana. Silver Swan takes a child hostage forcing Diana to save the child and allows Vanessa to flee. Later, Diana meets with Superman, where they race. He has to leave to stop a tsunami and Diana finds herself transported away to a tournament of some sort.

DC UNIVERSE Month 46, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1036 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Sean Lewis, Daniel Sampere and Sami Basri. Superman and the Authority head to Warworld to confront Mongul. When they arrive, they discover a path leading them to the seat of power that is littered with the bodies of the Phaelosians. Once the arrive, they encounter Chaytil and are forced to battle their way to the Mongul-Who-Is, who promises to kill Superman. In the backup, Guardian summons a digital demon and ends up fighting it in a Dark Web world to save the missing children.

ACTION COMICS #1037 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Shawn Aldridge, Miguel Mendonca and Adriana Melo. As Superman and The Authority prepare to take on Mongul on Warworld, the ruling council of the United Federation of Planets decides to not send the United Order to help. The team battles Mongul and his minions with disastrous results as June and Apollo quickly fall. Manchester Black discovers the minion who is controlling the other creatures and beats him to death with a stick. Lia takes on another of the creatures and dies in Superman’s arms. Distracted, Superman is stabbed through the chest by a Kryptonite spear wielded by Mongul. In the end, the United Federation of Planets decides to do nothing. In the backup, Martian Manhunter investigates a recent theft of an artifact in the Metropolis Museum. And that’s when the Human Flame shows up.

AQUAMAN/GREEN ARROW: DEEP TARGET #2 by Brandon Thomas and Ronan Cliquet. Arthur and Oliver, still with broken memories and in each others’ roles as Aquaman and Green Arrow, are attacked in their jet by a team of mercenaries. They bail out with the co-pilot, who reveals that its’ possible the pilot set them up. Landing on a deserted island, a mysterious enemy kills the co-pilot and attacks the pair.

AQUAMAN: THE BECOMING #3 by Brandon Thomas and Scott Koblish.Mera is interrogated by Atlantean intelligence while Jackson is on the run from Atlantean security. After healing at Happy Island, he makes several short transporter jumps before ending up near Titans Tower West. Once there, he is attacked once again, but his mother arrives and helps out. In the end, he discovers his attacker is Delilah-Jackson’s sister.

ARKHAM CITY: THE ORDER OF THE WORLD #2 by Dan Watters and Dani. A street thug searching for a high gets one from escaped Arkham resident Double X. Meanwhile, Dr. Joy meets with the Ten Eyed Man, who is troubled by the ghost of Amadeus Arkham, and he produces a map of Gotham which supposedly shows where the escaped Arkham prisoners are. Azrael goes on a hunt for the escapees, which leads him to where Double X is held. There is a battle between the pair as the ghost also appears. In the end, Double X is captured, the ghost is still on the loose and Azrael’s next target is Dr. Joy.

BATMAN #116 by James Tynion IV, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Jorge Jimenez and Jorge Corona. Peacekeepers have invaded Eden to capture or kill Queen Ivy, but Ghostmaker is there to battle them. Ivy’s wrath is unleashed and, because her vines are wrapped in Gotham’s bedrock, it triggers a small earthquake. Miracle Molly and Batman track down Scarecrow, who tries to unleash his control on Molly. Peacekeeper-01 shoots Scarecrow, which stops his attack on Molly. Peacekeeper-01 claims he is better than Batman and the pair brawl, while Molly tries to stop Crane’s machine. In the end, Queen Ivy is becoming unhinged. But maybe the surprise appearance of Harley, the Gardener and the other Ivy will stop her. In the backup, the Batgirls come under attack by the Peacekeepers, but survive the demolition of Oracle’s headquarters.

BATMAN #117 by James Tynion IV, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Jorge Jimenez and Jorge Corona. Simon Saint is desperately trying to keep things together when the Bat Family, wearing Peacekeeper armor, arrive to shut the Magistrate down. Elsewhere, Batman and Peacekeeper-01 battle each other while Molly tries to shut down Scarecrow’s device. But she is having second thoughts and doesn’t immediately disarm it. Batman takes down Peacekeeper-01 and then desperately convinces Molly that Fear State is ending and she needs to shut the device down. At the same time, Harley reunites the two Ivy’s, who uses her powers to generate pheromones to mellow out the fear that Gothamites are feeling. The pair reunite with a long-awaited kiss as Fear State comes to an end. To be concluded in BATMAN: FEAR STATE OMEGA #1. In the backup, the Batgirls continue to hide from Seer who, even though Fear State has ended, continues to be a menace.

BATMAN FEAR STATE: OMEGA #1 by James Tynion IV, Ryan Benjamin, Christian Duce, Riccardo Federici, Guillem March and Trevor Hairsine. A month after the end of FEAR STATE and Scarecrow is finally being transferred to the newly constructed Arkham Tower. He tries to break out and is apprehended by Batman, who personally delivers him. Miracle Molly testifies about how Simon Saint used the Unsanity Collective to support his need for the Magistrate. She is sent to Blackgate, where she will serve time for her crimes, while the other Unsanity Collective leaders are allowed to remain free. While Nightwing and the Batgirls succeeded in taking down Skybase-01, the ship is still in Gotham Harbor and still needs to be cleaned up. Simon Saint is under arrest but may be released under house arrest and looks like he may end up working for Amanda Waller. Poison Ivy has had her two halves restored, but she lets The Gardener know she is not happy that she was responsible for messing with her mind and will use her powers to save the world. Peacekeeper-01 has broken free and is on the loose. Batman meets with Clownhunter, who refuses to join Batman’s team, as he blames Batman for everything that has happened in the last year. But Ghostmaker arrives and tells Clownhunter he will train him.

BATMAN 2021 ANNUAL #1 by James Tynion IV and Ricardo Lopez Ortiz. As Batman and Ghostmaker they take down Firefly, Ghostmaker tells Batman about his most outstanding feat, where he battled his way through an army of enemies to take down Madame Midas. It turns out that, when Ghostmaker was a child, Madame Midas brutally forced Ghostmaker’s father to sell his company to Midas’.

BATMAN: THE DETECTIVE #6 by Tom Taylor and Andy Kubert. Batman and his allies race to stop Equilibrium from levelling London by using a cluster of remote-controlled military drones she bought from the United States government. But Nightwing and Barbara have managed to hack the drones, leaving her defeated. Ducard tries to shoot her, but Batman stops him. Defeated, she tries to kill herself, but Batman stops her, promising Ducard he will get her help. In the end, Batman sees the prison release of the woman who torched the building but who also also saved the life of the man who eventually killed Equilibrium’s husband and son.

BATMAN: REPTILIAN #5 by Garth Ennis and Liam Sharp. Batman tells Croc that the creature wants him to impregnate it. The pair escape and Batman uses the Batmobile to try to get Volkov there to take the heat off of them. But things go awry and the creature heads back towards Croc.

BATMAN: REPTILLIAN #6 by Garth Ennis and Liam Sharp. While Volkov gets ejected from the Batmobile, Batman triggers a bomb, apparently killing himself and the creature.  Batman survives, takes down Volkov and tases Croc, taking him into custody. In the end, Batman leaves Croc with the concept that he may actually be a hermaphrodite, and this may happen again.

BATMAN SECRET FILES: THE GARDENER #1 by James Tynion IV and Christian Ward. Batman meets with Dr. Bella Garten, who reveals her origin story. After her parents died in a car crash, she was raised by groundskeepers named Garten. They fostered her interest in botony and eventually ended up working in a scientific program with Jason Woodrue, Alec Holland, Linda Holland and Pamela Isley, who she ended up in a relationship with. When she realized what the program leaders were doing, making monsters out of seeds, she decided to leave and unsuccessfully tried to get Pam to do the same. Pam stayed behind and, through experiments on her, got turned into the villainous Poison Ivy. Eventually Ivy meets Harley and the two become a couple. Recently, Ivy, who has embraced the green, met with Garten, who decided to grow a new Ivy containing her best aspects.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: AUTHORITY SPECIAL #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Trevor Hairsine, Jonathan Clapion, Scott Hanna, Rain Beredo and Ben Templesmith. Batman teams up with Superman and the Authority as they head to the Shadow Earth in the Dark Multiverse to face the Empire of Shadows, controlled by the al Ghuls. Their plan is to invade Earth-Zero and are using the body of the Fuginaut as their conduit. The team transports to Shadow Earth and quickly end up in a fight, with the al Ghuls capturing June, to use her to transport to Earth-Zero. The team defeats the al Ghuls and promises to stop them if they ever try to come to Earth-Zero again. In the end, Shadow Earth’s Bruce Wayne promises to encounter the heroes in the future,

BATMAN: URBAN LEGENDS #9 by Alyssa Wong, Dan Watters, Sam Johns, Brandon Thomas, Vasco Georgiev, Nikola Cizmesija, Karl Mostert and Cian Tormey. Batwoman and Red Alice team up to battle Seer. Despite the pressure put on her, Beth struggles to shut down her Red Alice persona, forcing Seer to flee. Un the end, it appears the Red Alice persona may still be bubbling under Beth’s surface. In the second tale, Tweedle Dee has become seriously ill and Tweddle Dum will do anything to save him, but the health care system stops him at every turn. Story three involves Azrael finding that Bullet-Tooth has been resurrected by a doctor using a version of Lazarus Resin. But the results don’t last long and Bullet-Tooth dies again. The doctor responsible doesn’t get more than explaining the Resin when he is beheaded by…an avenging angel? In the last tale, the Outsiders fight in the past to change their future. They do, somewhat, but the fight in the future will continue.

BLACK MANTA #3 by Chuck Brown and Matthew Dow Smith. Gentleman Ghost send Manta to Ancient Atlantis where he learns that the leaders are planning to go back to the land of the first weapons of the Atlantean masters. In Themyscira, the strange visitor secures transportation to the civilized world, where she attacks Manta. He disables her transport but goes to save her as she wears the Orichalcum. In the end, Devil Ray invades Atlantis.

BLUE & GOLD #4 by Dan Jurgens, Kevin Maguire, Ryan Sook and Norm Rapmund. Booster and Ted are doing their first interview for their new business when Booster starts talking about their Justice League International days. Booster saved Ted’s life, while Ted tells it the other way around. In the end, Guy Gardner shows up to set the record straight: he saved them both. Either way, the interview has helped create a line of folks looking for their service. But that also includes Princess Omnizon, which is probably bad news.

CATWOMAN #37 by Ram V and Nina Vakueva. The final battle of Alleytown comes to an end as Billy attempts to get Ivy out of town. He ends up being stopped by Penguin and his crew, who capture her, all thanks to Riddler’s double cross. But Selina’s plan included expecting the double cross and it turns out that Ivy is actually Clayface, forcing Riddler to hide from the Magistrate. Resigned to give herself up, she gets an assist from Ghostmaker and lives to fight another day, with her Alleytown friends by her side.

CHECKMATE #6 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. With a blackout at the Hall of Justice, Talia is revealed as the traitor. Checkmate defeats her and she transports away, meaning the mission to gain the Heroes Network is a failure for Leviathan. Meanwhile, Mark Shaw continues to go after the "Snowman's Ticket"-Leo Lane. But Lane shoots Shaw and wounds him, forcing him to flee back to Markovia. Once there, Nakamura tells him he isn’t the one and kills him. Superman meets with The Guardian and retrieves Shaw’s body while Waller meets with Checkmate. Mr. King, the team’s benefactor, is revealed to be Kamandi, who has travelled from the future to hope to prevent what happened to cause The Great Disaster in his time. In the end, Talia returns to Leviathan and takes her followers to the Lazarus Pits.

CRUSH & LOBO #6 by Mariko Tamaki and Amancay Nahuelpan. Crush is in Space Vegas where she masquerades as someone else and gets a date with Q&&7. They end up in a comedy club and, after a comedian heckles Q&&7, Crush trashes the comedian. Q&&7 leaves, realizing this is not her true date. Disappointed again, Crush heads for a final confrontation with Lobo.

DEATHSTROKE INC. #3 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. Deathstroke and Black Canary capture the Queen of Fables and she takes her back to T.R.U.S.T. while Slade continues his journey through this fantasy land to take on Cheetah. After battling through her cat guards, he confronts Cheetah before destroying the fable that allows her to maintain this illusion. Before she is captured, she promises to reveal everything about T.R.U.S.T. if he lets her go. Back at T.R.U.S.T., Canary discovers that the painting of her parents is a fake and Juliette is actually Libra. She reaches out to Oracle, but their communication is spotty. As Oracle tells her to take down Slade, he shows up poised to kill Canary.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1045 by Mariko Tamaki and Dan Mora. Nakano is unconscious and Batman is trying to revive him. Once awake, he is told about the parasites and how Vile is responsible, leading to Nakamo firing back at Batman for not telling him about this before it got out of control. As they flee the sewers, the eggs begin to spread, with the creatures tentacles going after civilians. As the creatures attack, Nakano tries to help by shooting it with a taser. That is when Nightwing flies in with a Magistrate aircraft and destroys the monster, which gives the Magistrate gets credit for saving the city. In the end, Batman and Nakano cut a deal to work together, even though Nakano ants to enhance his target list.

DETECTIVE COMICS 2021 ANNUAL #1 by Mariko Tamaki, Matthew Rosenberg and David Lapham. In the past, Bruce Wayne sees his father save the life of Peter Faust, who had shot two people. In the present, it is revealed that Faust eventually killed himself several weeks before A-Day. Batman and Nightwing investigate the case of The Meager Man, who has been killing people while dressed in a winged suit made of chicken bones. They capture him and discover this is Peter Faust’s son. He breaks free from police and injures two policemen in the process, leading to the duo to capture him again. In the end, Faust is transferred to Arkham Tower where Dick thinks that this will be the start of a new day in Gotham. But The Forgotten, who Faust met while on the run, looms large.

THE FLASH #776 by Jeremy Adams and Fernando Pasarin. Flash and Dr. Fate need to head to a strange two-dimensional causeway to stop Eclipso. But they can’t do it alone and it takes the help of you-the comic reader-to make their way to that causeway. With our help, they do get to Gemworld, only to find out they are too late and Eclipso has won.

FUTURE STATE: GOTHAM #7 by Joshua Williamson, Dennis Culver, Giannis Milonogiannis and Riley Rossmo. Jason battles WarMonger while his mind control forces the Bat Fsamily to battle each other. Jason manages to get the Arkham Knight armor off of WarMonger and breaks his control on the Bat Family. As the team vows to keep fighting for Gotham, Jason goes to meet with his mysterious contact but come up empty. It turns out the mysterious stranger he thinks is Bruce Wayne is really…Hush. In the backup, Batman battles a group that has been kidnapping bats.

GOTHAM CITY VILLAINS ANNIVERSARY GIANT #1 by Danny DeVito Wes Craig, G. Willow Wilson, Phillip Kennedy johnson, Nadia Shammas, Joghua Williamson, Stephanie Phillips, Dan Watters, Mairghread Scott, Dan Mora, Emma Rios, Riccardo Federici, Max Raynor, Max Fiumara, Skylar Patridge and Ariela Kristantina. In this collection, we get eight tales of Batman villains. In the first, Penguin and Catwoman fall in love and steal a vaccine that ends a worldwide pandemic. In the second, the Scarecrow introduces an app which furthers of fear plans. In the third, Ivy infiltrates a chemical pant and unleashes a poison which kills everyone except for the one person she decides to save. In the fourth, the villainous Red Hood lets his ego get in the way of business and it costs him his life with his partners. In the fifth, the Mad Hatter schemes in a plot which continues in ARKHAM CITY: THE ORDER OF THE WORLD. In the sixth, Killer Moth tries to change his ways after meeting Harley Quinn. In the seventh, Batman plays a game of chess, figuratively and literally with Ras al Ghul. In the final tale, Talia recounts her origin in preparation for the upcoming Shadow War.

GREEN LANTERN #8 by Geoffrey Thorne, ChrisCross and Marco Santucci. John Stewart continues his journey as he becomes a “new god”. This takes him to Anticitus, where he saves Kilowog and Hannu before entering a portal which takes him to meet those who worship the Lightbringer. Meanwhile, Jo Mullein continues to investigate the death of Guardian Koyos and the explosion of the Central Power Battery. In the end, Peya Fel believes she finds the answer but, before she can reveal it she is struck down by…Guardian Koyos?

HARDWARE: SEASON ONE #3 by Brandon Thomas and Denys Cowan. Hardware is on the run from Alva, but this leads him to Alva’s former partner Asher Sims. Sims gives him free reign of his laboratory but Alva contacts Sims and offers him a deal that may result in Sims betraying Hadware.

HARLEY QUINN #9 by Stephanie Phillips and Riley Rossmo. Harley escorts Ivy to the garden to meet with Queen Ivy. Of course, that means having to get through Keepsake first. Meanwhile, Kevin races into the burning S.A.F.E. Headquarters to save people, including Lockwood. Things go south and Lockwood deserts Kevin, who gets saved by Sam.

HUMAN TARGET #1 by Tom King and Greg Smallwood. Christopher Chance masquerades as Lex Luthor and a would-be assassin tries to kill him, but Chance succeeds in disabling and killing him. Later he meets with Luthor, only to discover he has been poisoned by someone who thought they were poisoning Luthor. Dr. Mid-Nite reveals he only has 12 days to live and discover who in the Justice League is responsible for his upcoming death.

HUMAN TARGET #2 by Tom King and Greg Smallwood. Chance gets a visit from Ice, who had been called in by Doc, leading to them going off and discussing their past and not so much the case. She reveals she was not ever a Norwegian princess, but a Norwegian girl who, after her powers manifested, killed her father and grandfather. During her superhero career, she died fighting the Overmaster before coming back during the reset. She also learned Lex was responsible for the Overmaster coming to Earth and that Fire wanted to kill Lex. In the end, he reveals that he masqueraded as Doc, because he wanted to meet the person he thought might have poisoned him.

I AM BATMAN #3 by John Ridley and Stephen Segovia. The Seer sends out multiple groups of the Moral Authority to the juvenile detention center to break out Morris Caulfield. But that assault leads to Jace Fox showing up as his mother is inside the center. One of the assault team gets inside, forcing Mrs. Fox to kill him. She confrots Batman, but he convinces her to put the gun down. In the end, Simon Saint promises that the Tyler Arkadine won’t say anything to the police and his prediction is correct as Arkadine turns up dead.

ICON & ROCKET: SEASON ONE #4 by Reginuld Hudlin, Leon Chills and Doug Braithwaite. Xiomara and Mrs. Erwin get free from the creature just as Icon and Rocket arrive. He battles the creature, that eventually flees. Later, Icon and Rocket reveal all and Rocket’s mother gives her blessing to allow Icon to continue to train her. In the end, it seems more enemies are coming…