DC UNIVERSE, Month 47 Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1038 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Shawn Aldridge, Miguel Mendonca and Adriana Melo. Superman has been defeated by Mongul and his Authority team has been decimated, resulting in Lia’s death. Surviving members have been made into slaves and potential gladiators, except for Midnighter who finds a captive Superman and calls him a fool for deciding he needs to free the other slaves. In the backup, the investigation into Katharsis Aureus while Martian Manhunter has to deal with the Human Flame. In the end, he meets Zook, who claims that it was kids that broke into the museum and possibly stole the idol.

AQUAMAN: THE BECOMING #4 by Brandon Thomas and Scott Koblish. Jackson, his mother and sister head to Xebel, where he learns the truth: the massacre at Hallas Hall was not a terrorist attack. In fact, it was an armed insurrection led by his mother where she actively executed people.

AQUAMAN/GREEN ARROW-DEEP TARGET #3  by Brandon Thomas and Ronan Cliquet. Ollie and Arthur have been captured by the transformed General Anderton, where they are being interrogated. It turns out they both ended up in a facility where time experiments were going on and, with a malfunction in the time platform, the heroes swapped bodies. They break free and try to escape…but it looks like they are not even on Earth anymore.

ARKHAM CITY: THE ORDER OF THE WORLD #3 by Dan Watters and Dani. Dr. Joy speaks with the injured detective, who wants to know how she knew where to find Double X. He also tells her someone with a red hood was there at the scene. Upon leaving, she encounters the Ten Eyed Man who convinces her to go back to a portion of the destroyed Arkham Asylum. There they find Solomon Grundy. The Ten Eyed Man translates his sing-song ramblings, which reveals the origins of Gotham in the guise of a Dutch holy man who was eventually killed by the townspeople. Arkham was built on the grounds of where the holy man died. The Ten Eyed Man convinces Dr. Joy to dig up the skull of the holy man, to be used in a ritual to purge the ghost of Amadeus Arkham. Azrael arrives and so does the “ghost of Amadeus Arkham”, who may actually be Dr. Phosphorous.

BATGIRLS #1 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad and Jorge Corona. Seer is still on the loose and Barbara, Steph, and Cassie move into a loft apartment to set up an unhackable network for Barbara to create a new base. While loading into their new home, Steph and Cassie get mugged, allowing the crooks to take their stuff to not raise suspicion. Later, Cassie goes back and gets her robe back. The pair go out on patrol, which leads them to the rest of the muggers and also construction workers who have seemingly been mind-controlled. In the end, they meet up with The Saints: a group still believing in the ideals of The Magistrate.

BATMAN #118 by Joshua Williamson, Jorge Molina and Mikel Janin. Gotham has survived Fear State and is looking to celebrate in style. At the same time, there is a Villains of Gotham costume party at the Billionaires Club, which Batman sees as a source for a possible heist. Batman shows up and, with the help of Killer Croc, takes don the bad guys, even though the appearance of a little girl dressed as Punchline freaks him out a bit. Later he gets word that Batman Inc. has been arrested and that takes him to Badhnisia where he meets with Detective Cayha. He investigates the crime scene and deduces that Batman Inc. as indeed responsible for killing the villain known as Abyss. The former Club of Heroes was rebranded as Batman Inc. by the most recent benefactor: Lex Luthor.

BATMAN/CATWOMAN #9 by Tom King and Liam Sharp. In the past, The Joker sings Christmas songs and talks about a dream he had where he killed Batman.  Meanwhile, Bruce tells Alfred he thinks he is falling in love with Selina. In the present, The Joker is trying to kill Phantasm while he reveals that her dead son was just a child that she kidnapped fourteen years ago. In the process, he sets off a bomb which may be killing everyone. In the future, Catwoman has escaped police custody for the murder of the Joker and meets with Penguin, finally convincing him to get her safe passage out of Gotham. Unfortunately, her daughter arrives, and that plan may be going south very quickly.

BATMAN: URBAN LEGENDS #10 by Meghan Fitzmartin, Sam Johns, Dan Watters, Tini Howard, Alberto Alburquerque Jimenez, Karl Mostert, Nikola Cizmesija and Christian Duce. In the first story, Tim teams up with Nightwing against Tusk and airs his concerns abut Bruce’ mental well-being. Later, he teams with Batman, explains how he has deep feelings for Bernard and seeks acceptance. In the second tale, Tweedledum tries to get medical care for Tweedledee at a hospital by using a bag of stolen money. Unfortunately, that goes badly and March Hare steals the bag. Batman arrives and takes the pair to the Batcave where he reveals they are both suffering from cerebral degradation due to Mad Hatter’s mind-altering technology. He gives Tweedledum two options, and the pair end up in Belle Reve. In the third story, Azrael and the Poor Fellow talk about the Knights Templar and their crusade against the Lazarus Pits, ending with Azrael returning to visit Stefanos. In the final story, Nightwing fights followers of the Scarecrow, which results in him being taken over by Fear Gas. This leads to him seeing visions by Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future before he gets saved by Cassandra.

BLACK MANTA #4 by Chuck Brown and Matthew Dow Smith. Manta and Gallous meet with the mysterious woman who Gallous calls Torrid. Manta reveals how the Orichalcum is killing them, so they should team up. Meanwhile, Aquaman deals with the aftermath of Devil Ray’s attack. Devil Ray is trying his best to make a weapon that will rival the trident of Atlan, but the Orichalcum kills his assistants. Manta, Gallous and Torrid head to Ethiopia where they confront Doctor Mist, who looks to eventually reveal all…but on his terms.

CATWOMAN #38 by Ram V and Caspar Wijngaard. Selina has turned herself into the police and ends up being interrogated by two officers. During the interrogation, her lawyer steps out of the room. She reveals that it was Ghostmaker fighting Wight Witch, who he recognizes and calls her Rhea. Soon, an officer arrives and gets Officer Kollak out of the room. She reveals that she has turned over her fortress to the Strays, with Shoes possibly being influenced by Chershire. Kollak reenters, knocks out his partner and kidnaps Selina. But this is all a ruse, as the lawyer, the officer who gets ollak out of the room and the Kollak who kidnaps Selina were all Clayface, meaning she is free to go about her exploits in Gotham.

CRUSH & LOBO #7 by Mariko Tamaki and Amancay Nahuelpan. Lobo is living it up in Space Vegas before Crush finally catches up with him. They briefly team-up before they end up battling each other again. Crush finally captures her father and takes him back to prison in the nick of time. But it all goes bad when Crush learns she has become a test subject.

DEATHSTROKE INC. #4 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. Dinah gets attacked by Slade, even as she explains that Juliette is Libra, which he knows because Cheetah told him. Dinah explains she is not part of T.R.U.S.T. but was sent here by Oracle to infiltrate the organization. They agree to work together and meet with Juliette when the Legion of Doom arrive. But that is just an illusion created by Dr. Destiny who, along with Prometheus, have joined T.R.U.S.T. Dr. Destiny sends our heroes to the Crooked House in the Ghost Zone where we discover Slade is dead.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1046 by Mariko Tamaki, Stephanie Phillips, David Lapham and Dan Mora. Ana Vulsion, a once convicted murderer, is taking out mobsters and blows up a condo in the process. She crosses paths with Batman and Spoiler and is gravely injured in the process, meaning she is getting shipped to the new Arkham Tower. Meanwhile, Nakano meets with Dr, Meridan, who explains he is putting her in charge…apparently because of Batman’s insistence. Elsewhere, Deb Donovan meets with Batwoman and gives out two names of doctors to watch out for. Batman meets with Meridan and tells her he needs her eyes and ears on the inside. In the backup, Batman and Harley team up to prevent the escaped Arkham prisoner from destroying the new Arkham Tower.

THE FLASH #777 by Jeremy Adams and Fernando Pasarin. The Flash teams up with the Justice League Dark and Amethyst in an attempt to take down Eclipso. They end up finding Dark Opal and team up with him. But things may have taken a turn early as it looks like everyone but Wally have been corrupted by Eclipso. Meanwhile, Irey has become friends with Maxine Baker, Animal Man's daughter and this friendship may get them both in a world of trouble.

FUTURE STATE: GOTHAM #8 by Dennis Culver and Nikola Cizmesija. Grifter and The Operator, whose identity has been revealed to the world, are on the run. Meanwhile, Hush holds a virtual meeting with the Terrible Trio: Tobias Whale, The Owl and Wild Dog where Hush decides everyone needs to die, including his followers if needed. Grifter and The Operator go into hiding when Talon shows up with a group of Hush; goons. But the new, monstrous Joker shows up, slaughtering Talon and the goons and giving chase to Grifter and The Operator.

GREEN LANTERN #9 by Geoffrey Thorne, Tom Raney, Marco Santucci and Maria Lavra Sanapo. John come face to face with Esak: the New God behind the Lightbringer God. John and Lonar team up but John’s use of his power creates a Godstorm which could destroy the universe. Meanwhile, Jo discovers that Yridian, Koyos and possibly Nemosyni all schemed together to destroy the Central Power Battery, She also learns Koyos is alive and he has come back, telling the surviving Lanterns that their time is done.

HARLEY QUINN #10 by Stephanie Phillips and Laura Braga. Harley and Ivy try to rekindle their relationship following the events of FEAR STATE by going on a double date with Kevin and Sam. They end up at a museum exhibit, where Ivy tries to convince Harley into stealing a rare diamond. Ivy attacks the guards, Harley gets injured by one of Ivy's vines and this leads to the girls splitting up.

HUMAN TARGET #3 by Tom King and Greg Smallwood. Christopher Chance and Ice team up to start interviewing potential suspects who tried to kill Luthor. But a jealous Guy Gardner gets involved, hampering things. In the end, Guy confronts Chance, but an arrival by Hal Jordan calms Guy down. Chance knocks Guy out and it’s revealed Hal is really Luigi is disguise.

I AM BATMAN #4 by John Ridley and Stephen Segovia. Jace meets with a virtual Seer, who explains that The Magistrate was just the beginning. A Revenge Squad of Peacekeepers arrive forcing this Batman to take them down. He heads off to confront the corrections officer who killed Tyler Arkadine, but the CO kills himself before Jace can get much out of him. At GCPD, Detective Chubb is given the option of a disciplinary hearing or a transferal to New York and she takes the transfer. Simon Saint gets out of jail after his bail gets paid and he meets with his benefactor, Victor Noonan. Noonan wants him to bring him the new Batman, which occurs. Jace finds Saint has been killed but gets attacked by a new type of Peacekeeper called Talos, much to the satisfaction of Noonan and Lucius Fox. In the end, Tam wakes up from her coma.

THE JOKER #10 by Matthew Rosenberg, James Tynion IV, Sam Johns, Francesco Francavilla and Belen Ortega. In a story set shortly after the Joker shot Barbara Gordon and tried to make Commissioner Gordon go insane in THE KILLING JOKE, the family struggles with those events. Gordon is still on a mandated leave and things only get worse when his ex-wife shows up and dumps a troubled James Gordon Jr. on him. Young James goes digging through case files and his father insists he needs to stop. Later, James is apparently abducted and Jim’s gun disappears, leading to Gordon joining up with a young Montoya to try and save him. He confronts the kidnapper, but Batman steps in to save the day from the Joker wannabe. James is wearing face paint like The Joker and Batman explains the makeup is probably Barbara’s, furthering the idea that James is very troubled. In the backup, Kelly explains to the District Attorney why she is afraid of Punchline. And Cullen learns that his boyfriend, who has connections with the Royal Flush Gang may not be as bad as he once thought as it appears the Royal Flush Gang may actually be helping people.

THE JOKER PRESENTS: A PUZZLEBOX #5 by Matthew Rosenberg, Jesus Merino, Chris Mooneyham and Freddie E. Williams II. The mystery continues with three different perspectives on what happened on the night The Riddler died. The villains all met up and assembled the Master Engine. But, depending on who you believe, either the Master Engine disappeared, ended up with The Penguin or ended up with Batman. Meanwhile, Catwoman makes her way to the morgue where she clicks something in the nose of the dead Riddler. In the end, officer Bachman injects something into a box of donuts, most of which are eaten by Killer Croc.