DC UNIVERSE Month 68, Part 2

NIGHTWING #106 by Tom Taylor, Michael W. Conrad, Serg Acuna,  and Stephen Byrne. Two years ago, Dick Grayson, having been shot and lost part of his memory, was now Ric Grayson. Someone he was once in the circus with gives him a package, which he leaves with his friend Bea for safe keeping. Two nights later, the Quartermaster arrives, telling Ric he will hold the envelope in The Hold. Today, Heartless arrives at The Hold, killing the Quartermaster in the process. Heartless and Boss Zucco enter the structure and find that The Hold is gone. Nightwing investigates and discovers that the paramedics who responded are not paramedics, causing him to give chase. That leads him to the harbor, where he encounters lot of armed men and Captain Blud…who turns out to be Bea. In the backup, Dick and Cass train before cooking dinner for Stephanie and themselves. But the apartment in being scoped out by a mysterious Mr. Hatch. And who are the Three Bears?  

THE PENGUIN #2 by Tom King and Rafael De Latorre. Oswald Cobblepot visits The Help, trying to get him to come out of retirement and help The Penguin take control of Gotham again. During a hunt the next day, The Help breaks The Penguin’s nose, telling him that he is not interested in joining him. Later, The help’s doctor resets The Penguin’s nose and Oswald kills him, followed by killing all of The Help’s staff. After beating The Help, the master assassin agrees.

POISON IVY #14 by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara. Ivy investigates the dead man and also the deserted building he was found in, which is owned by Undine Holdings. She calls Janet, who tells her Peter Undine was one of the corporate marauders who was looking to redevelop Gotham after NO MAN’S LAND. As Ivy continues to investigate the building, Janet tries to get a job a Undine, but doesn’t do well with the interview and doesn’t get a job there. After leaving, she leaves a message with Ivy, telling her she feels there is definitely some illegal stuff going on. Batman arrives and tells Janet she needs to get out and stop helping a terrorist. She fights back against Batman and flees, being saved by Harley and the two share a kiss. At the house, Ivy runs from something and encounters a man with a flowered head who tells her the building, Ivy and himself are transforming into something else.

POWER GIRL #1 by Leah Williams and Eduardo Pansica. “Paige” and Omen are undercover on a boat moored in Metropolis Harbor. Ppower Girl is now Dr. Paige Stetler and works for Steelworks. Tonight, she is here to help an auction of various artifacts from other galaxies and tomorrows, with proceeds to go to research and development of emergent technologies.  Along the way, she meets Axel Gust, who wants her to come work for him. Before any decision can be made, Amalak and his crew are here to take the items from  the “ignorant homo sapiens”.  The pair battle while Atlanteans arrive to help evacuate the ship. Amalak reveals his world was destroyed by Kryptonians, even as Power Girl says she is from a different Krypton. Amalak and his team flee, leaving behind an explosive that Power Girl buries in the Mariana Trench. Later, Superman meets with Power Girl, telling her there were other ways to deal with that bomb besides making life tougher between the Atlanteans and the surface folks. He also tells her of a virus that apparently is of Kryptonian origin…specifically HER Krypton.

SHAZAM #3 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. Two weeks ago, the gods who gave Billy Batson his powers not only have Freddy Freeman captured but are making him their spy. Billy has decided not to ever use his powers again but an out of control bus makes him change into the Captain. The bus contains delegates from Gorilla City and he transports them there. He learns that the emperor on the moon has developed a secret rocket drive and plans to use it against the plant. The Captain heads to the moon and is captured by Emperor Garguax.

SPIRIT WORLD #5 by Alyssa Wong and Haining. The members of the Jade Court are watching what is happening in the Spirit World, where Batgirl and Constantine are trying to control their bodies and magic. Together, they create a spell that will hopefully allow them to stop this and then break through a door that will lead to the Jade Court. At the same time, Xanthe believes that the Verdant Sorceress may actually be Po Po. While Wan Yujing begins eating the supplicants, the Gilded General arrives to attempt to stop her. The trio manages to break through the door and make their way outside of the Jade Court, where they are forced to face off against the Gilded General…possibly with an assist from Wan Yujing, who has her own agenda.

STATIC: SHADOWS OF DAKOTA #6 by Nikolas Draper-Ivey and Vita Ayala. Static faces off against Ebon, who is on a crusade after the death of his family members. He defeats the person who is Ivan Evans and offers to help save his brother, despite all he has done.

STEELWORKS #4 by Michael Dorn and Sam Basri. Steel tells Lana that he believes the Superman Day attack, the break-ins, the zero point energy reactor and Natasha’s attack are all connected. Meanwhile, Silver Mist breaks in to Steelworks and into the vault containing the zero-point energy reactor. Steel and Lana respond to the break-in and Silver Mist detonates the device, figuring no one could have it. But Steel reveals this was a fake as he hid the real one. While Steel and company celebrate their victory, some men posing as cleaners come in and steal the device, delivering it to Charles Walker II, who has big plans in store for it.

SUPERMAN #6 by Joshua Williamson and Gleb Melnikov. Lex has been injured and he is being raced to the hospital, even as the paramedics say they are losing him. Clark meets with Lana, mentioning Project Chained, which leads him to Supercorp. He meets with a virtual Lex, who explains Project Chained was an early experiment designed to keep the most dangerous people restrained indefinitely. He also explains there is only one prisoner in it. So Superman goes deep below Stryker’s Island and finds the captive. The super powered individual frees himself but chains Superman in the process. With the being loose in Metropolis, Lex wakes up. The good news is Lex is the only person who can free Superman. The bad? The strange being is coming for Lex.

TALES OF THE TITANS #3 by  Steve Orlando, Kath Lobo, and Bob Quinn. Donna Tory, now an outlaw because of the sanctions against the Amazons, finds out about the human rights violations In Markovia, heads to that country, putting her in direct confrontation with baron bedlam and his army. She defeats the Baron and frees those prisoners. In the end, Donna gets a letter from someone who believes he may be her father.

TITANS #3 by Tom Taylor and Nicola Scott. Nightwing and Gar sneak into the Church of Eternity and find that someone is ready to be sacrificed to Trigon, leading the pair into action. At Titans Tower, Wally tries to convince the others to let him come on the mission, even though he knows that he will die within the next 48 hours. He goes with them and they take a Boom Tube into the Church of Eternity, much to the surprise of former Titan Garth. The combined team defeats the monks and Garth frees a captured Brother Eternity. Garth, believing that the world can no longer survive humanity, decides to stay with Brother Eternity, much to his friends’ dismay. Back at Titans Tower, the team investigates a mysterious meteor that Wally found hidden in the Church. Brother Eternity notices it is missing and he tells Garth he will visit his friends…after opening their mouths and a strange creature travels from Eternity into Garth.

THE UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL #6 by Dennis Culver and Chris Burnham.  While Flex Mentallo has the new trainees face-off against the Doom Patrol in a game of Capture the Flag, The Quiz arrives with his own team of villains, resulting in the grisly death of Squonk. During the fight, Kipling arrives, saying there are intruders in the graveyard and they are digging up Dorothy. It seems that General Immortus, Mallah and Houngan have dug up Dorothy’s grave and Immortus is prepared to drink a solution. Cliff, Kipling and Niles arrive as Immortus drinks the solution and begins to melt, falling into the open grave. When he climbs out, he has become The Eternal Flame.

THE VIGIL #5 by Ram V and Sid Kotian and Dev Pramanik. In October of 1943, an experiment was conducted on the USS Eldridge involving cloaking. What was known as the Philadelphia Experiment went awry, resulting in mass casualties for most onboard. But three people, the Doc, Madison Cypris and Hep found themselves reconstituted in dimensional space outside of where they were. They found an unusual transmitter tower they named Atneon and discovered they could turn imagination into reality.  While Doc tried to find a way to get them back to Earth, Hep found a way to make the world into something he desired, creating small advancements in Earth’s technology through his thoughts. Doc and Cypris worked to stop him, with the Doc creating his team out of his own thoughts and dreams, including Mr. Lightless. Cypris stayed while the Doc left. While the rest of the team debates on if they should continue, the youngest member reveals he is a part of Hep’s group, with Hep explaining to Mr. Wall that he believes this revelation will indeed tear the team apart.

WILDC.A.T.S #11 by Matthew Rosenberg, Danny Kim, Tom Derenick, and Stephen Segovia. Halliday holds a press conference to introduce the world to the next step of cybernetic evolution. But the media is more concerned about where Jacob Marlowe is. Marlowe is in hiding with much of his team, many of whom who are visibly upset by the wear that Marlowe used them. Later, Dr. Stone, actually Cray in Maul’s body, even if he has hidden his real form, is confronted by Threshold and Majestic and is taken down. Grifter declares his love for Zealot and they have sex. Caitlin gets a radio, having lost hers earlier. With that radio, she contacts Batman, Roy and Dinah and arranges a late night meeting. Majestic and his team attempt to capture Caitlin but she has back up in the form of Batman and his team. But Caitlin isn’t really Caitlin and “she” contacts Lynch, telling him that Batman’s team are working to take down the Seven Soldiers.  At the same time, Grifter and his team are on top of the HALO Building while the rest of the team find themselves outside the HALO Server Building. It was at this moment that both teams realize they have been set up.

WONDER WOMAN #1 by Tom King and Daniel Sampere. A blonde Amazon goes into Kanigher’s Cues and kills the nineteen men inside. This action leads to anger and mistrust from many citizens. Meanwhile, Sarge Steel meets with two men, who he assassinates with the gun in his metal hand.  Later, Steel and a team visit Cybele, determined to take her and Nyx to a boat and back to their island home. Nyx attacks and is killed, leaving Cybele a widow and their adopted daughter mourning her mother. On the island, Nubia is informed that Diana has left the island and left her sword behind. Some time later, Diana is spotted in a graveyard and a sniper takes a shot at her, in violation of the Amazon Safety Act. Wonder Woman fights back, taking out the armed men and explains she is looking for Emelie: the woman who killed the nineteen men. She then crushes Steel’s metal hand. Later, Diana meets with Steve Trevor, asking him is he has heard of someone called The Sovereign. In the end, we see an old man wearing a crown and holding what is described as the Lasso of Lies.

WORLD’S FINEST: TEEN TITANS #3 by Mark Waid and Emanuela Lupacchino. The Titans, minus Robin, go to Titanscon Metropolis, where they participate in panels, take pictures with fans and meet cosplayers. At one point, someone tries to remove Bumblebee’s mask, causing a panic attack where she tells Wally to promise that she will never be unmasked in public. A strange man named Sherman shows up and causes havoc by turning toys into living things. He captures Bumblebee and claims his desire for her.  Despite Batman’s warning, Robin does go to Titanscon and saves the day by capturing “Toyboy”. In the end, someone breaks ‘Toyboy” out of police custody, telling him he is now part of the Terror Titans.