DC UNIVERSE Month 62, Part 2

THE JOKER: THE MAN WHO STOPPED LAUGHING #6 by Matthew Rosenberg, Ryan Cady, Will Robson, and Carmine Di Giandomenico. The Joker visits a comedy club and kills a comedian he does not like. Later he causes havoc and finds out that Los Angeles will be locked down, meaning he cannot take his flight to Gotham. Along the way, he runs into a Batman cosplayer and has to take pictures with him before he kills this Batman and then gets attacked by…is that Manhunter? In Gotham, Red Hood gets released because the mayhem n L.A. roves he dd not kill The Joker, who is very much alive. Under Gotham, Solomon Grundy is caring for the other Joker. In the backup, we get a retooled origin for The Joker, involving Haly’s Circus and his dead twin brother Edward.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #3 by Geoff Johns, Mikel Janín, and Jerry Ordway. N 1944 the Unknown Soldier tasks Sgt. Rock and Easy Company with apprehending Per Degaton, who uses his machine to escape into 1947. He eventually comes bac to 1945, at the moment of Rock’s death before realizing something about Helena’s talisman. After explaining her situation to Deadman and Dr. Fate, Huntress helps the current JSA fight Angle Man. A little later, Degaton shows up and explains he is here to kill the JSA.

LAZARUS PLANET: REVENGE OF THE GODS #1 by G. Willow Wilson, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Cian Tormey, and  Alitha Martinez. Wonder Woman and her confederates  have to deal with gods' from all cultures as they attempt to exert control over all of Earth. Dana visits Hera and pleads for peace. But peace can only be attained by being transformed to save Earth. Continued in WONDER WOMAN #797. In the backup, a YouTube influencer decides to film himself exploring Themyscira. Both the influencers are killed and a mysterious stranger arrives, telling them they will need him as an ally for what is coming.

LAZARUS PLANET: REVENGE OF THE GODS #2 by G. Willow Wilson, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Cian Tormey, Emanuela Lupacchino, and  Alitha Martinez. While Yara Flor fights monsters, Billy Batson has a encounter with the mysterious stranger, leading to he and Yara heading to Mt. Olympus. Shazam finds out that Hera has a collaborator in the form of the Wizard, who takes away Shazam’s powers. In the backup, the Amazons fight against the forces of Hades.

MILESTONE 30^TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 by Evan Narcisse, Atagun lhan, Chriscross, Nikolas Draper-vey, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Geoffrey Thorne, and Sean Damien Hill. Daktoa heroes from Earth-93 meet with current Dakota heroes to save both their worlds. In the second tale, Batman Beyond meets an older, wiser Static. n the third tale, set in the 1993 Dakota, Raquel Ervin takes up the mantle of con. In the final tale, the Blood Syndicate try to deal with life after Holocaust. But Dharma has plans, looking to make the heroes of Dakota into his new Shadow Cabinet.

MONKEY PRINCE #12 by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang. Ing Fire Bull is released from his prison and launches another attack. In the process he learns that Monkey king actually breathed Monkey Prince into existence as a clone and, when he went into the Phantom Zone, the clones went with hm. The Ultra-Humanite accessed the Phantom Zone and his “parents” found him there taking him bac to Earth and raising him. With his origin revealed, he and Supergirl work together to imprison King Fire Bull once more.

MUTLIVERSITY: HARLEY SCREWS UP THE DCU #1 by Frank Tieri and Logan Faerber. Harley opens an “old-timey Porta-Portty” that is labeled as The Way Back Booth. She ends up on a world where all of her friends are controlled by Starro. She fights them off and learns from a stranger that her interference eliminated all the heroes. Even more surprising is that the stranger is Harley herself.

NIGHTWING #102 by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, C.S. Pacat, and Eduardo Pansica. Nightwing continues to try and protect Olivia from the Grinning Man, even after he disguises himself as Nightwing. They defeat him with the help of the Titans and, with Donna Tory’s lasso, he reveals he is working for Neron, leading them to decide to go to the Nether Realm. In the backup, Nightwing continues to investigate the doings at the circus and accuses the woman who runs it of sabotaging things.

POISON IVY #10 by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara. Ivy and Janet head to Gwendolyn Caltrope’s retreat, where Ivy is convinced strange things are happening. While there, Ivy sees the mysterious tree man. Everyone drinks a concoction, get very high and Ivy and Janet sleep together. In the end, they discover that this version of Lamia is growing wild and infected everyone.

PUNCHLINE: THE GOTHAM GAME #6 by Tini Howard, Blake Howard and Glen Melnikov. Punchline wakes to find she is being cared for by The Joker, who seems to have mellowed and not to Punchline’s liking. She runs off to confront Black Mask. That leads to an all out assault including Bluebird and Batman, but also those Royal Flush members still loyal to her. Blac Mask flees and cases of XO are taken by those under its control. Punchline ends up having Bluff electrocuted for his treachery. Blac Mask gets arrested, Punchline and her followers get away and it looks like Selna Kyle will eventually be brought not the mix.

STARGIRL: THE LOST CHILDREN #5 by Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck. The time lost heroes head off to save Emiko and Judy Garrick, but many of them are captured in the process. Emiko convinces Judy to use her powers to vibrate through a wall and free them, but also freeing Secret, Sparky, The Whiz Kid and a youthful version of Dyna-Mite in the process. Childminder has her army attack them just as Stargirl and the freed sidekicks arrive to lend a hand. In the end, Hourman arrives and insists that Emiko must come with the lost children to save them from complete obliteration.

STATIC: SHADOWS OF DAKOTA  #2 by Nikolas Draper-Ivey and Vita Ayala. Virgil meets a new Bang Baby while continuing to befriend Quincy. In the end, a shadow organization is still making plans and that includes Quincy.

SUPERMAN #2 by Joshua Williamson and Jamal Campbell. The Parasite has evolved into multiple Parasites, each one draining Superman’s powers along with every power source they can find. As they feed, they continue to multiply. In the process, Superman rescues Mercy Graves at Super-Corp. He contacts his family and finds that Jon cannot find Lois. As Superman searches, he runs into Marilyn Moonlight, who uses her powers to recharge Superman. He finds Lois but she has been infected and the Parasites are not only multiplying but their disease is airborne. Also, the secret cabal continues to work behind the scenes and experiment on Bizarro.

TIM DRAKE: ROBIN #7 by Meghan Fitzmartin and Serg Acuna. T’s a date night for Tim and Bernard but their date brings them directly not an interaction with Bernard’s parents who are not happy with him with his father telling him he should never been born. Firefly shows up and so does Robin. Firefly is defeated but then Tim realizes that this may be something to do with the villain Phobia. He goes back and is captured, leading to Bernard helping to save the day.

UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL #1 by Dennis Culver and Chris Burnham. Following the events in LAZARUS PLANET: DARK FATE #1, the new Doom Patrol has decided their new mission is to find and rescue any metahumans whose abilities make them freaks. But that mission leads them into a direct confrontation with Batman and Robin. They manage to find the metahuman they were searching for, named Degenerate, and he joins up with the team. Meanwhile, Peacemaker is planning to take down the team. And, if that wasn’t enough, Monsieur Mallah betrays and seemingly kills the Brain at the direction of General Immortus.

WILDC.A.T.S. #5 by Matthew Rosenberg and Stephen Segovia. With Cole apparently dead, the ladies of WildC.A.T.S. investigate his apartment and find a picture of Jason Halliday. In Ohio, Superman meets up with Marlowe’s newest team and meets Majestic, who claims he is Kryptonian, which Superman denies and that leads to a brawl between the two. Later Cray confronts Marlowe and Colt, anting to know how they know Halliday. Colt gets a call and he flies off to help in Ohio, which mean he now gets into the fight with Superman. Cray has a private meeting with Halliday but there is a battle with his bodyguard, Warblade. Voodoo and Ladytron dig up Cole’s grave, where they discover the body is Cole Cash but not THEIR Cole Cash. In the end, Cray and Warblade fight but Pike and Andromache arrive and she cut’s off Cray’s head.

WONDER WOMAN #797 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Josie Campbell, Caitlin Yarsky, and Amancay Nahuelpan. Wonder Woman has now become a god, thanks to a deal with Hera. In return, she is hung out on the Promethean Cliffs. She manages to escape, thanks to the mysterious hooded stranger and Ratatosk, and heads back to Themyscira to help her fellow Amazons defend against Hades' army of the dead. But Nubia insists she go back to man’s world to help there. In the backup, Mary Marvel teams up with a group of Amazons to fight Hades’ army, before heading back to man’s world to help there.

 

 

DC UNIVERSE Month 62, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1053 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Dan Jurgens, Leah Wiliams, Rafa Sandoval, Lee Weeks, and Marguerite Sauvage. Metallo brings and his creations attack Superman's family because he believes that Superman has kidnapped his sister. In the process, Supergirl is poisoned by Kryptonite. Superman visits with Lex, who says that Corben hearing voices is not good. Corben, still talking to his “sister”, is having issues with his body mutating and another voice in his head instructs him to kill Superman and his whole family. Jon tries to bond with the Super-Twins but it seems Otho has gone on a deadly rampage. In the second tale  Superman and Lois search for Jon after Doombreaker shows up. The robot captures Princess Glyanna and Jon takes also. Jon tries to engage their escape but he destroys the ship’s controls and the craft is now crashing to earth. In the final tale,  Power Girl, now going by the name of Paige, brings Jon Kent into her mind to lure out a villain who is targeting other heroes. Unfortunately, that draws out Johnny Sorrow.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN: JON KENT #1 by Tom Taylor and Clayton Henry. Ultraman has decided it’s his mission to kill every Kal-El across the Multiverse. This leads to Val-Zod and the female Red Tornado to enlist Jon’s help to fight Ultraman, who was the villain who kept Jon trapped for so many years. , a pair of heroes enlist Jon Kent's help to stop his former tormentor. Red Tornado reveals that she is Lois Lane and she is asking for Jon’s help to stop Ultraman before it’s too late.

BATGIRLS #16 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, and Neil Googes. After reading a letter delivered to Grace last issue, the Batgirls follows White Rabbit clues, which leads them to Mad Hatter and his Bat Family puppets. After defeating the puppets, they give chase but Steph is hit with a gas that turns her into Girl-Bat. Cass brings the beast to her senses and they capture Hatter, who is charged with murder. In the end, the pair fly off together, where we presume an antidote will eventually be given.

BATMAN #133 by Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne, Adriano Di Benedetto. After the events of last issue, Batman dons his costume and plans to bring the legend of Batman to this new universe, with the first person he takes down is this universe’s version of The Riddler. This obviously gets the attention of Red Mask, who wants Selina to bring him Bruce Wayne. Meanwhile, Batman digs up the grave of Bruce Wayne but is caught by Alfred. He explains he S Bruce Wayne from another universe and he is trying to figure who killed this universe’s Bruce Wayne. He investigates the body and discovers there is Multiversal energy present, meaning he could be a Bruce from another universe too. Judge Dent sows up and, after using Venom, the pair fight. After defeating him, Selina arrives and tells Bruce she is willing to help to take down Red Mask and leads him to the caves under Arkham. In the backup, Robin battles Toyman and eventually gets back to our universe. Now he plans to use Toyman to bring Batman back home.

BATMAN INCORPORATED #6 by Ed Brisson and John Timms. The Riddler is being held and tortured by Professor Pyg and his Dollotrons. But The Riddler is not alone as it seems most of Gotham’s villains are also being held here. That beings Batman Incorporated, despite trust issues, into action to find him and stop him.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #13 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. Smon Stagg has been murdered and it’s up to the World’s Finest team to figure it out. Their first logical suspect is Metamorpho but, after finding that to be inconclusive, Clark gets Jimmy to investigate. The results: Bruce Wayne is arrested for the murder.

BLACK ADAM #9 by Christopher Priest and Eddy Barrows. Adam gets his ring delivered back to him while War, Love and Gods investigate the city. Later, Oni Grace arrives, showing him the protests n the streets. She also relates the tale of how Teth Adam was killed by Ibac, but was reborn and eventually cursed to be Blac Adam. N the end, a mysterious visitor comes to the bedside of Malik.

BLUE BEETLE: GRADUATION DAY #5 by Josh Trujillo and Adrian Gutierrez. Various members of the Justice League show up to battle Nitida and Dynastes but that leads to Jaime and Starfire battling Cyborg and Black Condor. It’s revealed that The is not the real enemy here, but The Horizon is and they’ve arrived on Earth.

CATWOMAN #53 by Tini Howard and Nico Leon. The new Catwoman is dong her best to stop crime until she runs into the Crazy Eights. Meanwhile, Selina begins training her fellow prisoners in hopes of a potential breakout but those plans change when the Queen of Hearts ends up in the same jail.

DANGER STREET #4 by Tom King and Jorge Fornés. While the surviving Dingbats research who the blue man might be, J.P. Houston gets killed by Manhunter, who tells Assassin that he has three more boys to kill. Starman and Warlord get direction to the graveyard and beginning digging when they are visited by Orion. Later, while Jack Ryder is dealing with his boss at Green Team Headquarters, Assassin kills Grandmaster, who is, in fact, Manhunter’s father.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1070 by Ram V and Stefano Raffaele. Oracle reveals that Batgirl is in the tunnels and thinks that the Orghams have made their way into the tunnels in search of a long lost memory. Batman meets with Talia who tells him that Azren Orgham’s father had sent out his most trusted to save the most precious things in the world. Among those servants was the man who eventually killed him: Ra’s Al Ghul. While searching for answers, Oracle is visited by Arclight of The Vigil, telling her that the situation needs to be fixed or The Vigil will fix it for them. In the backup, Mr. Freeze is still experimenting with little success. Luckily, a certain boy with no name arrives and attempts to free Annabel Mead.

THE FLASH #794 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz. Jay has been captured by The Fraction, Wally is dead and Irey, with the code name of Thunderheart, has to fight Miss Murder by herself. Luckily she gets an assist from Superman. Among the heartbreak of Wally’s death, Barry figures out how to win, by making sure these events never happened in the first place, technically saving Wally and Iris. On the ship, Jay gets free and now has a gun, which means he is ready to fight back.

THE FLASH #795 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz, George Kambadias and Fernando Pasarin. The team launches their attack on The Fraction while Wally awakes to find he is not dead . . . he’s on Planet Flash.

GCPD: THE BLUE WALL #6 by John Ridley and Stefano Raffaele. With Danny terrorizes the town, Montoya decides she is going after him herself, especially after getting information from Eric, which upsets Sam. Danny’s father is brought in and charged with obstruction, which leads Montoya to meet with Sam and get Luis Ortega’s phone back, allowing her to track Danny. She confronts him and gets him to surrender. In the end, life gets back to normal and she had another park date with Aliyah.

GOTHAM CITY: YEAR ONE #6 by Tom King and Phil Hester. After taking out Richard Wayne’s bodyguards, he confronts Wayne and his wife. The pair begin to fight while Mrs. Wayne reveals how she found a cave beneath the Manson filled with clothing from Richard’s various sexual conquests. She has figured out that he arranged the kidnapping of his own daughter and she kills her husband. She then goes on to explain that her daughter drowned in her own vomit, so she took her daughter and buried her. Her story is going to be that her husband took his own life and she will beg for peace in Gotham, making her the hero of the story. With an influx of money, Wayne Chemical gets built and, many years later, becomes Ace Chemical. Year later, she shows up at Slam’s office, asking him to be a mentor to her son Thomas.

HARLEY QUINN #28 by Tini Howard and Sweeney Boo. Harley finds herself bored because Ivy’s out of town so she engages in a war with Two-Face. Kevin calls the police on her and she is sentenced to community service, leading to her teaching at a local community college. Two-Face attacks her at the college but she defeats hm with a giant, smiling fish. This brings Lady Quark not the picture, explaining that Harley s accidentally punching through the walls of the Multiverse, and if this continues Lady Quar will destroy Gotham and Harley and the world.