ACTION COMICS #1039 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Shawn
Aldridge, Riccardo Federici and Adriana Melo. Superman is a prisoner, along
with most of the remains of The Authority, and is forced to fight in the arena.
Post-match, Superman talks with Kryl-Ux: one of the last of the Phaelosians.
They are taken to help in the death of the Old Crow: the last survivor of the
planet that was here before becoming Warworld. In the process, Superman sees
writings similar to those on the Genesis fragment, which he realizes the priest
cannot read and is just saying whatever he wants. Natasha convinces her slaver
to let her work as an armorer and she crafts a chest piece based on his S
design. Superman asks Kryl-Ux to teach him how to fight using a weapon.
Elsewhere, Midnighter leads a small rebellion, where they discover a captured
Apollo. In the backup, Martian Manhunter continues to follow clues, leading to the
reveal of the villain: the Crime Cartel and VULTURE.
AQUAMAN: THE BECOMING #5 by Brandon Thomas, Paul Pelletier and Diego Olortegui.
Jackson meets with his sister at a Xebel diner when they see guards chasing a
ship with members of the resistance. They work together to keep citizens from
being harmed. Later, Jackson meets with Ha’wea. Meanwhile, Lucia downloads
information to a jump drive and heads to meet with her kids, where she reveals
that Meeka lied and faked the footage of her killing the guardsmen. They
discover that Meeka’s master plot is to kill Mera and take hostages. Jackson
says that Aquaman, meaning himself, can stop this.
AQUAMAN/GREEN ARROW-DEEP TARGET #4 by Brandon Thomas and Ronan Cliquet. Aquaman and Green
Arrow are stuck on the moon and looking to get back home. In the process,
Anderton initiates a Tabula Rasa protocol which will mind-wipe everyone. Arthur
and Oliver steal a rocket and head back to Earth, crashing in the Atantic and
having to fight their way past a sea monster to get back to the surface. But
they find the world completely changed, with them being pursued y lizards
people and they are getting defended by…Anderton?
ARKHAM CITY: THE ORDER OF THE WORLD #4 by Dan Watters and Dani. Dr. Jacosta Joy's the ghost of Amadeus Arkham while Azrael battles the Ten-Eyed Man. Ten-Eyed
Man gives her the skull of what he tells her is Amadeus Arkham and tells her to
run, but not before he loses the use of one of his hands. Elsewhere people are
getting deathly ill, probably because Dr. Phosphorous and Nocturna are their
neighbors. Dr. Joy arrives and is told that the skull is only 10 yeas old and
obviously not Arkham’s skull. The Ten-Eyed Man ends up in the hospital where he
tells the detective that Joy has been helping him. In the end, the person
masquerading as the ghost of Amadeus Arkham goes to visit her boss…Professor
Pyg.
BATGIRLS #2 by Becky
Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad and Jorge Corona.The
Batgirls encounter the Saints: Tarsus Valentine and Assisi. They are a rebel
gang that believes Simon Saint is still alive. Realizing they are outnumbered
and outmatched, they flee back to Barbara. Later, they find the local gang of
robbers and see that they are somehow connected to the GCPD. The Saints get a
message from Simon Saint, but Barbara deduces that this is probably just Seer.
Later, after observing their creepy neighbor apparently baking a human head,
the save Mr. Dhaliwal from a mugging by one of the road orkers from last issue.
In the end, the come across a rally imploring people to rise up…and Stephanie
may have been compromised by the message…like the road workers were.
BATMAN #119 by Joshua Williamson, Karl Kerschl,
Jorge Molina, Adriano Di Benedetto and Mikel Janin. Batman meets with Lex, who
explains he is bankrolling Batman Inc. Batman is also being hunted by the
authorities, as are all the Bat Family. He escapes the authorities and later,
as Bruce, meets with Luthor, who tells him that with his money, he can be the
best Batman. He also reveals that Abyss body is in the morgue and he will be
taking control of it. Batman breaks into the morgue and determines that this
body is not Abyss, something he truly realizes when Abyss attacks, gravely
inuring him. He is also now blind, with his eyes turned jet blank. In the
backup, Maps, last seen in GOTHAM ACADEMY, teams up with Batman to try
to find clues about the disappearance of a friend, whether the Dark Knight
likes it or not.
BATWOMAN/CATWOMAN SPECIAL #1 by Tom
King, John Paul Leon, Bernard Chang and Mitch Gerards.Baby Selina Kyle is found
in a trash bin and taken to an orphanage, where she learns about hard
discipline. As she grows, she eventually becomes Catwoman, working with
villains and tussling with Batman. Eventually, the two become romantically
involved. Together, they have a child named Helena. Even though they get older,
Selina and Bruce continue fighting crime, with Helena joining the crime
fighting family. Bruce eventually passes away and Selina takes ownership of the
orphanage. In the end, she is confronted by a mugger and killed.
BATMAN: THE KNIGHT #1 by Chip Zdarsky and Carmine Di
Giandomenico. Hugo Strange is Bruce Wayne’s therapist and trying to help him
work through his anger issues, which goes back to his days in school. We learn
that Bruce’ way of getting back at bullies is to make their lives miserable.
Along the way, he makes friends with a girl named Dana, who wonders about his
state of mind. He also begins training and also gets involved in an underground
fight club. In the end, he fires Strange, who he accuses of using hypnosis to
strip Dana’s bank account. With the sounds of police sirens in the background,
he tells Strange that Bruce is going away.
BATMAN: URBAN LEGENDS #11 by Vita Ayala, Ram V, Mohale
Mashigo, Mark Russell, Nikola Cizmesija, Anand Radhakrishan, Arist Deyn and Karl
Mostert. In the first story Batman and Zatanna team-up to solve a continuing
problem from their youth, where they apparently conjured up something that
continues to decimate the area. When they try to cast a spell to correct it, it
seems to make things worse. In the second story, we see a back story for Wight
Witch: a mercenary for hire who is working for Simon Saint. The biggest
revelation: her original training led to training with Ghostmaker and Bruce
Wayne. In the third tale, Eternity uses his powers to try and help solve a
murder. But he should be looking in his own apartment building, where one of
his neighbors gets murdered. In the last story, Batman adopts a dog he names
Ace and makes him his partner. When they try to stop a hostage taking, Hugo
Strange blows himself up, Batman gets captured by the “hostages” and Ace is
going to go through reeducation to turn him back into a killing machine.
BLACK MANTA #5 by
Chuck Brown and Valentine de Landro. Devil Ray reveals he was once one of Black
Manta’s disposable henchmen until he discovered the Orichalcum.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mist cures Manta and Torrid and his mission is to cure everyone
impacted by the effects of Orichalcum. Manta has his own agenda and wants out,
until Devil Ray shows up and mortally wounds Gallous. He is ready to let
her die unless Manta comes with him. Manta agrees and Mist does his best to
save Gallous. In the end, Manta and Devil Ray work together to get Devil Ray
the trident he has always wanted. His grand plan: kill all the Atlanteans and
rise Atlantis to the surface and declare himself king.
BLUE & GOLD #5 by Dan Jurgens and Ryan Sook. It’s 1962
and Rip Hunter is in the Cavern Club checking out the Beatles. He realizes his
son is in trouble and heads to present day where Ted and Booster, while dealing
with an overflow of clients, are battling Omnizon. Omnizon hypnotizes Rip and
takes Ted and Booster away. When Rip snaps out of it, he reunites with Trixi,
who goes by the name of Terri now. Meanwhile, our heroes are taken to
Beh’imoor, where they are told to surrender to save the people of Earth. When
Booster refuses, they are ordered to fight to the death.
CATWOMAN #39 by Tini Howard and Nico Leon. Selina
has relocated to Gotham where she looks to take down the crime bosses of
Gotham. She masquerades as a stripper and injects herself in a meeting with Eiko
Hasigawa, last seen when Selina was
revealed as the daughter of Rex Calabrese
and took control of the Calabrese crime family, and the other bosses. During the
fight, Black Mask shows up and tries to kill Selina and the other dancers. They
escape but Selina wonders what Mask’s connection is here. She also gets a
present in the form of a cat from someone who wants her to join his gang of
thieves.
CRUSH & LOBO #8 by Mariko
Tamaki and Amancay Nahuelpan. With Lobo and Crush both captured, it is revealed
that the bomb was only a tracker and the whole experiment was to create a
non-fiction book called TERRIBLE TOO. Crush breaks loose and beats on
the administrator while Lobo takes out his robot therapist. Along the way, they
defeat everyone, leading to a face-off between father and daughter. He briefly
suggests teaming up to collect bounties, before they agree to go their separate
ways. Crush considers going to visit her girlfriend but changes her mind. She
gets a call from the prison, asking her to freelance for them, which she agrees
to. She goes off on a new mission but may find a certain space barista waiting
for her.
DEATHSTROKE INC. #5 by Joshua Williamson and Paolo Pantalena. Black Canary and
Deathstroke head into a haunted house in the Ghost Zone, which Slade mentions
having been at before when he worked for Prometheus. They take two different
paths, with Slade reuniting with Grant and Dinah with her mother. It turns out
to all be an illusion and the pair find themselves in the T.R.U.S.T. Castle.
They are introduced to the T.R.U.S.T. Council, consisting of Libra, Hiro, Count
Vertigo, Monocle, Phobia, Dr. Moon, Dr. Destiny, The Calculator, Deadline,
Prometheus, Tattooed Man, Shrapnel and the Body Doubles. They explain that a
combination of heroes and villains is the ultimate Super Society. Sade has
heard enough and shoots The Calculator in the head and Libra in the chest,
declaring himself the King of the Super Villains.
DETECTIVE COMICS #1047 by Mariko
Tamaki and Ivan Reis. Arkham Tower is open and there is much fanfare. At a
press conference, Dr. Wear trots out a reformed Nero XIX, much to the shock and
dismay of Mayor Nakano, who he tried to kill. Later, Deb Donovan meets with
Batwoman, who has concerns, especially about Wear’s seemingly non-existent
medical license. Batwoman is concerned about the increase in
pharmaceutical drugs hitting the streets and they the Party Crashers have
returned, leading her to believe they are the source of these drugs. Later, during an arts and crafts session, we Ana Vulsion,
who was taken down by Batman and Spoiler in DETECTIVE COMICS #1046. Flashing forward to Day 24, fires burn in Arkham
Tower, and GCPD find themselves negotiating with an unknown assailant who has a
list of demands. Oracle tries to reach the Bat-Family inside the Tower, but
there is no answer from Spoiler or Nightwing. Ana Vulsion walks the halls with
bloody scissors in her hands. Batwoman arrives just as Nero XIX, Ana and others throw Tobias
Wear from the building, killing him. Of note, one of his fingers is missing,
possibly cut off by Ana. Batwoman meets up with Cass, as they try to figure a
way into the building. Nightwing checks in, saying he doesn’t know where
Spoiler or Huntress are, although the latter is wounded and hiding in an
elevator shaft. In the backup, set in the past, a young boy is traumatized
after seeing his parents killed by The Joker. When police arrive, he tells the
they were killed by The Joker and Batman. With no place to bring him, he gets
put int Arkham Asylum.
DETECTIVE COMICS #1048 by Mariko Tamaki and Ivan Reis. In a flashback to many years
ago, Tobias Wear is taken to Gotham Children Services following his mother
conducting a violent attack. Coming forward to Day Twelve at Arkham Tower,
Batwoman goes undercover and gets a tour of Arkham Tower, where she sees many villains
such as Freeze and Ana Vulsion. After Batwoman leaves, Dr. Meridian meets with
Wear and expresses some concerns. Batwoman goes back to Oracle and reveals what
she has found while also telling Dick that she has seen a certain woman he asks
about. In a final flashback, Tobias breaks out of Children Service custody and
eats pizza with a friend while declaring disdain for his mother and apparently
everyone who is criminally insane. In the backup, the young boy meets Clayface
while Bruce Wayne arrives and meets with the staff, including Harleen Quinn.
Feeing the boy isn’t safe in Arkham, Bruce arranges for him to be moved to the
Martha Wayne Orphanage.
DETECTIVE COMICS #1049 by Mariko Tamaki and Ivan Reis. It’s
Day 14 at Arkham Tower and Batwoman has gone undercover. Along the way, she sees
that Siphon, a villain who traumatized her years ago, is an inmate here. She
also tracks down and finds the woman Dick was asking about in the last issue:
Helena, who is still suffering effects from her encounter with Vile. She
refuses to leave, which is a concern for the Bat Family. Meanwhie, Cassandra is
keeping an eye on Party Crasher who has
been called to the Tower to handle a Party Crasher who has been inappropriate
to some of the inmates, specifically Ana Vulsion. She takes her revenge on him
before the issue ends, which is “seen” and heard by Helena. In the backup, the
boy tries to deal with being bullied and, with the help of Dr. Crane, he
finally tales some control. But Crane shows up at night as The Scarecrow and
takes a group of the boys to go off and kill Bruce Wayne.
DETECTIVE COMICS #1050
by Mariko Tamaki and Ivan Reis. Years ago, Helena
survived an attack during No Man’s Land. Still suffering from Vile’s effects,
she hears Ana kill Marc the Party Crasher. Dick goes undercover as a
maintenance worker and discovers some blood, which he wants Oracle to analyze.
Later Dr. Wear is threatened by Marc’s brother,
but the Psycho Pirate intervenes. In the backup, Scarecrow and the kids
invade Wayne Manor, but are engaged by Robin. The boy convinves Scarecrow to
not kill Robin and they leave, but not before the boy is gassed by Scarecrow,
leading an arriving Batman to believe he has been poisoned. In the second
backup, Batman, Robin and Superman battle Poison Ivy and Cyborg Superman. Robin
stabs Cyborg Superman which seems to have an effect on Superman. In the
distance, a shadowy figure who looks like Magog watches. To be continued in BATMAN/SUPERMAN:
WORLD’S FINEST #1.
THE FLASH #778 by Jeremy Adams, Fernando Pasarin, Matt Ryan and
Brent Peeples. Irey and Maxine get kidnapped by Mammoth and Shimmer. Jai sees
the abduction and follows, freeing the girls while Shimmer coordinates with The
Calculator. Meanwhile, in Gemworld, Flash has to battle his allies, who have
been corrupted by Eclipso. To save his friends, Wally agrees to go to Castle
Opal, where he is captured. Back on Earth, Jai tells Irey that he knows their
father is in trouble.
FUTURE STATE: GOTHAM #9 by
Dennis Culver, Gabriel Hardman, Corinna Bechko and Giannis Milonogiannis. Peacekeeper
Red gets called to a crime scene, where there are two decapitated bodies…and
one of them is apparently Grifter. Hunter Panic arrives and offers her help.
Later, they all discover a petrified young woman who is revealed to be The
Operator. Meanwhile, Nightwing breaks up a group dealing in Brane: a mind-altering
drug derived from Venom. Talia arrives on the scene and learns that Nightwing
is using the drug and asks him to help her track down her son, Damian. Later,
Jason and Hunter Panic interrogate Punchline, who explains she know why The
Operator is so wanted and is willing to cut a deal for her information.
Meanwhile, Hush meets with Wild Dog, The Owl and The Whale while Jason and
Hunter Panic race to three addresses to find Hush’ trio. But they are too late
as Hush blows up an angry Wild Dog. Whale tries to flee and encounters the Next
Joker. That’s when the new Batman arrives. In the backup, Batman is forced to
save himself and The Joker from a massive flood in Gotham.
GREEN LANTERN #10 by Geoffrey Thorne, ChrisCross, Juan Castro and Marco
Santucci. John Stewart wrestles with the idea of what he may become if he
absorbs the God-Storm, meeting his deceased wife along the way. Ultimately, he
absorbs God-Storm and becomes more like a New God. Meanwhile, things on Oa are
going badly as the team tries to take down Guardian Koyos. Koyos' sister,
Nemosyni joins the fight, but that doesn’t sway the outcome. Luckily, Hal
Jordan and the Justice League arrive to lend a much-needed hand.
HARLEY QUINN #11 by Stephanie Phillips and Riley Rossmo.
After a group therapy session, Harley learns that Kevin has been kidnapped by Keepsake.
He reveals there is a train loaded with explosives heading towards the city.
She has an impossible choice: save Kevin and sacrifice the city or let Kevin
die to save the city. She makes the decision to save the city, but maybe Blane
will show up in time to save Kevin.
HUMAN TARGET #4 by Tom
King and Greg Smallwood. Christopher Chance and Ice meet with Blue Beetle, who
apparently is a silent partner in Booster Gold's latest business venture. After
a full day of watching Ice and Beetle team up on a variety of missions, a drunk
Ted Kord reveals he didn’t give Booster the money…but Martian Manhunter did.
Could he have been the person behind the poisoning?
I AM BATMAN #5 by John Ridley, Christian Duce and Juan Ferreyra. Jace
is about to be killed by T.A.L.O.S. but thinks of what happened in Vietnam and
manages to flee. T.A.L.O.S.catches up with him but, when the lower portion of
his mask falls off, Lucius recognize him shuts down T.A.L.O.S. which allows
Batman to be victorious. Later, father and son patch up their relationship, as
Jace reveals he is leaving to be closer to the rest of the family, as Tam will
be undergoing therapy in New York. Lucius also convinces him to lose the face
mask and be himself.
ICON & ROCKET: SEASON ONE #5 by Reginald Hudlin,
Leon Chills and Doug Braithwaite. Icon interrogates Ms. Baker and threatens to
kill her if she doesn’t reveal information about the N.S.A. and the alien.
Later, he meets with Xiomara and they taken on a team of super villains, with
their leader blowing up a bridge and apparently killing the heroes. Elsewhere,
Rocket is having problems in school and meets with a new student. The two
quickly seem to become friends but it turns out he is the alien in disguise.
THE JOKER #11 by James
Tynion IV, Sam Johns,
Giuseppe Camuncoli and Belen Ortega. In a flashback, we
learn that the Sampsons were forced to make one of their own a fall guy in
order to stay out of jail and get rich from the oil on their land. In the
present, Gordon is recovering from his wound under Barbara and Julia’s care. He
contacts Bullock and gets the back story on the Sampsons. Despite his
daughter’s orders, he leaves and charters a private jet. In the end, the
Sampsons have captured the Joker and preparing to roast him on a spit. In the
backup, Cullen is having issues with his friendship with the Royal Flush Gang.
And Harper is trying her best to help Kelly get ready for trial. But that may
not go well as it looks like one of the prosecution’s team is a Royal Flush
Gang member.
THE JOKER PRESENTS: A PUZZLEBOX #6 by
Matthew Rosenberg, Juan Doe, Jesus Merino, Vicente Cifuentes and Shawn Crystal.
Apparently Batman has taken the puzzlebox but, when he meets with The Riddler,
he reveals himself to be Clayface. Mr. Freeze shows up, pits Basil on ice and
takes the box as payment. Back at GCPD, Mr. Freeze attempts a breakout, which
results in the station having it’s water supply shut off. Later, The Joker
examines the body of The Riddler and tells another tale. It seems that Clayface
was masquerading as him. In the end, the station is in lockdown and things
don’t look good. Batman arrives and tells Gordon that someone has activated the
Master Engine, meaning things are going from bad to much, much worse.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #71 by Brian Michael Bendis, Ram V, Phil Hester and Sumit Kumar. An
extradimensional portal has been opened and, luckily for all, have managed to
close it and send the creatures back to where they came from. At last, the Royal
Flush Gang reveals their heist of the Fortress of Solitude was to get a space
rock which could make them rich. Later, the League and Checkmate meets with Daemon
Rose, with Checkmate offering him a job. In the backup, Khalid Nassour muses
about his role now as the new Dr. Fate.
JUSTICE LEAGUE INCARNATE #3 by Dennis Culver, Joshua Williamson,
Ariel Olivetti, Andrei Bressan, Todd Nauck and Nik Virella. On Earth-41, the
Nimrod Squad has arrived but are ordered to stand down by Sore, who informs
everyone that darkness is coming due to the crack in the Multiverse. Elsewhere,
it seems Dino-Cop, Mary Marvel and Thunderer survived the crash on Earth-7. On
Earth-31, Captain Wonder and her Amazons save Avery from pirates. When they
open the treasure chest, they find it contains comics. On Earth-33, Cavin and
Maya meet with an editor from DC Comics where they tell him about their mission
and he believes that through comics, anything is possible. On Earth-7, Thomas
Wayne is adjusting to being in a carton world when Avery arrives and team
members finally begin to come together. They all end up on Earth-33 where it is
revealed that the DC editor is really Darkseid. There is a battle and Doctor
Multiverse declares that they have to let Darkseid win. In the end, Dino-Cop,
Mary Marvel and Thunderer find Aquawoman and Orion, who reveals that Earth-7
IS the Obivion Machine. And the Great
Darkness is coming.
JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Scott
Godlewski. The Legion learns there is a Great Darkness coming and during a
battle between the Legion and a space creature, one of the of Triplicate Girl’s
three personas disappears, only to end up in the present day, where she meets the
Justice League. In the future, Jon brings the Legion to meet the League, where
Triplicate Girl sees that her missing third has aged, meaning they can’t safely
merge. A darkness arrives and everyone disappears except for Gold Lantern.
