DC UNIVERSE Month 55, Part 2

MULTIVERSITY: TEEN JUSTICE #3 by Ivan Cohen, Danny Lore and Luciano Vecchio. The team continues to get to the bottom of the mystery and find the missing Troy. But Troy has been captured by the Green Lantern Core, who are going to use him as bait.

NAOMI: SEASON TWO #6 by Brian Michael Bendis and David Walker. Naomi continues to battle against the villains from her home planet. Even though she is losing, she hears the voice of Akira, who implores her to use her vast powers to fight back. She defeats the villains just as the Justice League arrives. In the end, she makes the decision to leave her family and friends and join Akira on her home planet and try to make that world better.

THE NEW CHAMPION OF SHAZAM! #1 by Josie Campbell and Evan "Doc" Shaner. Mary Bromfield moves into Vassar College, adopting the name Marina. She discovers that her roommate’s per rabbit, Hoppy, has been enchanted by Billy Batson and tells her she has been chosen to be the new champion of Shazam!. Later, she is forced to use her powers to fight Disaster Master  When she returns to campus, the police inform her that her foster parents have gone missing.

NIGHTWING #95 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. Nightwing saves his sister but not before he gets into a confrontation with Blackbuster. Elsewhere, former Commissioner is being interrogated by the police when he is executed by them. Later, Nightwing arrives with Batwoman, which does not sit well with her former lover Maggie Sawyer. The remainder of the Bat Family and some of the Teen Titans arrive to help stop the four crimes that Blockbuster and Maroni have planned. They accomplish those goals but Nightwing ends up at Haven, which has been blown up by Blockbuster. Blockbuster defeats Nightwing, who loses his mask and the villain realizes that Nightwing is really just Dick Grayson.

NUBIA: QUEEN OF THE AMAZONS #3 by Stephanie Williams and Alitha Martinez. Nubs finds that the person she is fighting against is Zillah, who she knew in her previous life. The pair battle as Zillah explains how Azariah killed Nubia’s parents. Later, Nubia meets with the other Amazons as she reveals that she needs to get where Zillah is heading and Hawkgirl offers her assistance.

OLYMPUS: REBRTH #1 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad and Caitlin Yarsky. Hippolyta has made her way to Olympus, where she is expected to be welcome to her place as one of the gods. But she finds that may not be the case, as each f them have their own ideas about her being here. She decides something is wrong in Olympus and also sees a vision of her daughter being killed. This leads her to make her way to the Graveyard of the Gods, where she meets with the Keeper of the Grounds, who presents her with a choice: free Chaos, Antiope or Atalanta. She convinces him to either go to Olympus with her or free all three. He agrees t free all, but Antiope and Atalanta decide to stay and stand guard at Doom’s Door. Later, she kills Hera, only to find out it was an illusion from Hecate. But that is enough to make her question her motives as a God.

POISON IVY #3 by G. Wilow Wilson and Marcio Takara. Ivy continues her journey, spending most of her time building a beautiful garden at the motel she is staying at. After she fights a creature of the Green, which turns out to be just yard waste, she leaves, attempting to take a job in a new town where she is told the interviewer is “a monster”.

ROBIN  #17 by Joshua Williamson and Roger Cruz Damian and company land back on Lazarus Island to find that Lord Death Man has escaped. He is with Mother Soul and presents her with The Demon’s Heart.  She repays him by giving him some of her magic powers, leading to him battling Damian and his team. Damian defeats him by ripping out his heart, stopping him until the next time he resurrects. After a day at the beach, Flatline leaves him…for now. So does Connor, who is going to go find his father. In the end, Robin is ready to deal with Devil Nezha. Continued in BATMAN VS. ROBIN #1.

SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL #14 by Tom Taylor and Cian Tormey. Lois is broadcasting for The Truth, where she reveals Bendix’ entire plot of kidnapping people for his own ends. Elsewhere, The Revolutionaries have joined up with Jon and Jay to take down Bendix. Jon outfits Jay in a suit from the future and gives him a Legion Flight ring, as Jay is going to make his way inside the shielded nation of Gamorra. Jay makes his way inside and convinces the workers there to lower the shield, giving the heroes a chance to get inside. Jay calls for help, as he discovers that Prisoner One is his mother, ho has been transformed into a horrific creature.

SUPERMAN: WARWORLD APOCALYPSE #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Brandon Peterson, Will Conrad, Max Raynor and Miguel Mendonca. Superman, now possessing the power of the Fire of Olgrum, faces off against the Mongul Who Is. But Kryl-Ux has seemingly betrayed the cause and teamed up with Mongul, who has captured Otho and Osul. Mongul stabs Osul, apparently mortally wounding him, which angers Superman into battle. Superman uses the Fire of Olgrum to save Osul, meaning he has lost the power advantage. At the Star-Forge of Engine City One, Orphan and Mother are reunited and Leonath makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the planet. Meanwhile, the rest of the team fights against their former allies in an attempt to save Apollo. The Justice League arrives, thanks to an illusion from Manchester Black, and that snaps Apollo back to reality. It also frees Mack, who admits he was only siding with Mongul to save Lia. Thanks to Leonath’s sacrifice, Superman has his powers back again and, with the help of Kryl-Ux, slays Mongul. Lia heads to Nat’s reactor, but Mack goes after her and they enter the reactor together, sacrificing himself as the Back Racer looks on. In the end, things go back to a semblance of normal. But, weeks later, Kryl-Ux makes his presence felt, promising to one day make the United Planets beg for mercy. Clark returns home and reunites with Lois.

THE SWAMP THING #16 by Ram V and Mike Perkins. The final face-off between The Pale Wanderer, Swamp Thing and Trinity leads to Swamp Thing battling The Pale Wanderer and defeating him, turning him back into the Green. Trinity converts the mechanical green into a beautiful city and Levi goes back to a somewhat normal life. In the end, he meets with Woodrue, who tells him that he will one day realize that he is truly a monster.

SWORD OF AZRAEL #1 by Dan Watters and Nikola Cizmesija On Ioudas Island, Jean Paul Valley is trying to live his life away from Azrael when he sees a woman being abused by a sailor. He takes matters into his own hands and gets eaten in the process. The woman takes refuge on the island, while Valley deals with his efforts to divide himself from Azrael. The woman claims people are trying to kill her because she has been hearing the voice of God and she is looking for Valley. Later, Vengeance arrives, looking for the woman, claiming that she is not looking to kill her, but bring her to civilization so she can rebuild the Knights of the Templar. The woman reveals herself as the Angel Sariel and she is here to kill all sinners.

SWORD OF AZRAEL: DARK KNIGHT OF THE SOUL #1 by Dan Watters and Nikola Cizmesija. Azrael seeks out a doctor who is synthesizing the Lazarus Pits and experimenting with resurrecting the recent dead. That brings him into direct conflict with a woman who is also looking to kill those responsible.

TALES FROM THE HUMAN TARGET #1 by Tom King, Tafael Albuqerque, Kevin Maguire, Mikel Janin and Greg Smallwood. Fire, Guy Gardner and Booster Gold all relate their tales of trying to solve a series of murders. In the end, it seems that all of the victims/potential victims are all being played by Christopher Chance and their involvement has hampered his investigation.

TASK FORCE Z #11 by Matthew Rosenberg and Eddy Barrows. A few months ago, Harvey Dent was trying to convince Jason that he needed to be the leader  Yesterday, Jason is fighting with Dent over being misled to thinking he was working with Bane when it was actually a resurrected Gotham. Now, Gotham Girl breaks into Powers International to find her brother while Jason does the same, encountering his former partners in the process. Meanwhile, Geraldine finds out that Bloom has been doing illegal experiments and leaves. Harvey and his hastily assembled team enter the tunnels and encounter a  Bloom in a powered-up suit. Most of the team is killed or incapacitated and both Dent and Jason are captured. In the end, Mr. Marsh, dressed as Red Hood, pushes a button he should not have and everything explodes.

WONDER GIRL 2022 ANNUAL #1 by Joëlle Jones, Douglas Marques, Emi Lenox, Adriana Melo, Sweeney Boo and Ben Dewey. Yara Flor attends a festival and  bumps into her old flame, João, who is there with his new flame. That is when she realizes she has stumbled upon a plot to destroy Akahim and the new flame is a monster named Cuca. She battles the creature in the real world while her sisters do the same in Akahim. Yara wins the fight and reunites from Joao.

WONDER WOMAN #790 by Michael W, Conrad, Becky Cloonan, Jordaire Bellaire, Emanuela Lupacchino, Jose Luis, Eduardo Pansica and Paulina Gancheau. Etta has been captured by Professor Calculus, but breaks free and destroys his machine just as Diana arrives, demanding to know where Cizko is. Etta heads to Dr. Poison’s and frees Steve and Siggy, while Diana confronts Cizko. During the battle, Sweetheart sacrifices herself and is killed, but Cizko is captured. In the end, mysterious forces are still at work at the milk plant while Diana prepares for her next mission…as Diana Prince. In the backup, Antiope continues to influence Diana, forcing Hippolyta to make the decision to leave.