DC UNIVERSE Month 73, Part 2

HARLEY QUINN # 37 by Tini Howard, Erica Henderson, Logan Faeber, Sweeney Boo, Kelly Jones, Elena G. Bansh, Stefano Raefaele, Mindy Lee, and Marguerite Sauvage. With the help of her students, Harley slips into the Dark Multiverse, where she experiences different lives in a bunch of different settings. In some she is a hero and others a villain and she has to deal with A.I. Harley in all of them.  Back on Earth, she surrenders and goes to Quark, where they find that there is nothing inside her that made her a figure of Multiversal power other than her will to be herself. Ivy arrives and they go home, In the backup, she has a Blair Witch inspired dream filled with almost every version of The Joker in existence, from his earliest appearance through to today.

JAY GARRICK: THE FLASH #5 by Jeremy Adams and Diego Olortegui. The robot from last issue, which contains the voice and attitude of Hughes, kills Slate and then explodes but not before Jay and Judy save everyone but Slate. Jay and Judy, looking to take the fight to Doctor Elemental,  go to Brazil to meet with Pieter Cross, who is actually Dr. Mid-Nite, and visit his lab, where they discover that Ro-Bear is back. And is here. Jay and Mid-Nite battle Ro-Bear as Doctor Elemental kidnaps her, telling her it is time to fulfill her destiny. Ro-Bear is defeated and, now powerless, is told that he needs to reveal where Judy is…or else.

JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. GODZILLA VS. KONG #5 by Brian Buccellato and Christian Duce. With Superman still in a comatose state, Lois reaches out to Mercy Graves, who tells her that the Dreamstone is responsible for the monsters. Meanwhile, Aquaman, Mera, Flash and Wonder Woman try to stop the undersea battle with the monsters, which manages to crack the undersea dome. The Green Lanterns arrive to seal the dome, but so does Godzilla who attacks the Kraken. Aquaman uses a giant lock and chain made of Nth Metal to secure Godzilla. Elsewhere, Oliie is forced to flee the boat where he has discovered the monster skull. Supergirl heads to Kong Island looking for Ollie and finds Grodd and the gorillas of Gorilla City meeting with the ape. Grodd uses his powers to get Kara to knock Kong out. Shazam, bothered by the guilt that he may have been responsible for Superman’s injury, invades the Legion of Doom headquarters but is stopped by Giganta. In the end, Lex brings Mechagodzilla online.

KNEEL BEFORE ZOD #2 by Joe Casey and Dan McDaid. Zod tortures a Khund prisoner looking for information but all he gets is that they knew he was planning something nefarious. Zod reveals to his wife that he is preparing for a war but she strokes him, seeing him as becoming weak and more concerned with building himself a throne before anything else. She berates him, even as he prepares his people for war. His wife, in the end, says that when they are victorious, Zof will kneel before her.

NIGHTWING #111 by Tom Taylor, Michael W. Conrad, Francesco Francavilla,  and Sam Basri. In Gotham, a man dies suddenly, leaving his young son Iko without a father. The death at first appears to be the work of Heartless, but further investigation seems to represent a copycat. Dick begins to bond with Iko, until he is released to his uncle. In the end, the uncle, upset that superheroes are involved with his plan, takes Iko away. In the backup, set in the 14^th Century, a young man attempts to avenge his family, meeting with the leader of those attackers: someone who bears a striking resemblance to The Joker. The young man? He is the son of Gray.

OUTSIDERS #4 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Robert Carey. Many years ago, a girl named Jennifer Cressi was born. Her powers, as was soon discovered, were connected to her emotions. When she was happy, things in the world were good. When she was depressed, things went wrong. Two days ago, she met a girl and fell in love. But that was not meant to be and that has unleashed death and destruction across the world. The Outsiders track her down and she and Drummer have a long conversation. She refers to herself as Jenny Crisis, even as she is told she needs to find a way to control her emotions. She is invited to join The Outsiders, which she turns down.

THE PENGUIN #7 by Tom King and Stevan Subic. The Penguin now runs the Iceberg Lounge but is still acting as a snitch to Batman. He kills one of his men but then blames it on the Bertinellis, hinting at the start of a gang war. After killing another of his men, he tells Batman this is all happening because of his relationship with The Dark Knight. Later, he bathes with Lisa St.Claire who convinces him to upgrade his image, convincing him to embrace what became his trademark look, complete with monocle and cigarette in an opera holder. Again meeting with Batman, he convinces him to beat him up to convince people that he is not working with Batman. In the end, The help hands Oswald a note with a name on it: Bruce Wayne.

POISON IVY #19 by G. Willow Wilson and Mariko Takara. Gravely injured, Ivy recalls how she was a promising student who fell for Jason Woodrue. Woodrue gets Ivy and Linda Holland to work with him on a special experiment. As time goes on, their romance becomes more intense and he eventually shows her his secret lab, but also asks her to steal some supplies to continue his experiment. She breaks into the university but is discovered and finds herself on the run as the issue ends.

POWER GIRL #65 by Leah Williams and Maugerite Sauvage. Supergirl, Power Girl, and Omen team up to investigate a new strain of drug called Avalon that have been causing students to take it and then disappear. Supergirl and Power Girl track down the dealers, who disappear in the middle of a chase. Using the drug to paint an image, the girls find themselves in Ferimbia. They are told by one of the students that they can never leave and discover they have no powers here, which Madame Avice finds interesting. Outside of her castle, students toil endlessly.

RED HOOD: THE HILL #1 by Shawn Martinbrough and Sanford Greene. Some time ago, on the eve of the Joker War, men in joker’s masks burst into a diner, threatening Marcus Samuelson, Dana Harlowe and an old woman referred to as ‘Chief Justice’. The old woman kills the Jokers and then tells Dana and Marcus she will teach them balance. Now, Red Hood and a group of masked vigilantes burst  into a ,meeting where masked criminals are threatening a priest. During the fight, one of the men unleash a strobe E.M.P. and flee, revealing Marcus as one of the men. Dana’s sister Denise is an journalist with her own television show who has a valuable information source, which she is hesitant to reveal. Later, it is revealed that Dana is the masked vigilante Strike and meets with a police officer, who is killed during the meeting by Marcus and his men.

SHAZAM #8 by Mark Waid and Gordon Sudzuka. Billy’s family home is destroyed in his fight with Black Adam, who is now wracked with guilt and leaves. Billy tells the dinosaurs that their Auditor needs to stay and the dinosaurs leave but then engage in a leaflet drop asking people if they have seen the Auditor. Billy tells his family what happened and they are devastated. Seeing the leaflets, he convinces Darla to go with him to meet with the dinosaurs, with her endless answering questions with “why”, finally agree to let the Auditor stay. The Captain visits Zeus and asks for a favor to help him rebuild the home. Black Adam arrives and says he agrees with The Captain. Upon returning home, The Captain finds the house rebuilt. He goes to meet with Adam and says he owes him. In the end, Tawny goes to get something from a kitchen cabinet and, unseen by him, is being observed by three strange eyes.

SINISTER SONS #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and David Lafuente. Sinson, the son of Sinestro, is out on his own and has assembled a group of young followers he calls the Sinson Corps. Elsewhere, Lor-Zod has also left his family and, in his spaceship, approaches the planet of Xela, where Sinson and his friends are hunting for creds. Lor-Zod lands on the planet, claiming he is in command.. But he ends up face to face with Sinson when Sinestro’s son steals Lor-Zod’s ship.

SPEED FORCE #4 by Jarrett Williams and Daniele Di Nicuolo. Superboy has gone crazy because of the app and it takes Wallace, along with help from Avery, to defeat him. Also, the full story on the app is revealed and its’ success is due to a mysterious benefactor.

SUPERMAN #11 by Joshua Williamson and David Baldeon. Lena meets with the A.I. version of Lex, who explains that she was given by Lex to Brainiac 13 and raised as his avatar. With Superman missing, Lena decides she must go help him but Supercorp is attacked by an armored individual working for Pharm and Graft. The armored individual reveals herself as Lex’ mother, who complains that she is doing this because Lex stole her company. Superman, who was in the Old West, returns and runs into Lena, but is so taken down the  Revenge Squad, where he is given the choice to join them or Lena dies.. Graft exposes Superman to Red Kryptonite which sends him on a rage, instructing him to kill Lex. He takes out the revenge Squad instead, but then turns his rage towards Lex. Lex injects Superman with Green Kryptonite, which counters the Red K. Graft reveals how the ultimate weapon has been released: a Kryptonite gas that will eventually affect all humans. Lex reveals this was not Pharm and Graft’s plan-it was his, created with them many years ago.

TITANS #8 by Tom Taylor and Stephen Segovia. Following the recent events, raven, whose body is now controlled by her evil side, meets with her father Trigon. Because of what happened, the world still mistrusts the Titans, especially Gar. They receive notification that there is a tropical storm heading towards Florida and the team, in their new T-Jet, head there to assist. Gar attempts to save a young boy, but finds himself attacked by the boy’s father, forcing him to let Raven save the child and his father. When Raven later tells her father she is trying to play the good Raven to fool the rest of the Titans, Trigon leads her to what he calls will be her destiny.

WESLEY DODDS: THE SANDMAN #5 by Robert Venditti and Riley Rossimo. After being grilled by the police about the dead assailant on the street below, Wesley breaks into Fort Hamilton where he kidnaps Colonel Brekinridge, eventually getting him to confess to his crimes, which Wesley records. In the end, Wheeler Vanderlyle knocks out Dodds’ butler, claiming he is a casualty of war.

WONDER WOMAN #6 by Tom King, Daniel Sampere, and Belen Ortega. Wonder Woman is meeting with Steve Trevor when the villains attack. She defeats all of those who are sent after her, leading to her having to battle Grail, who she eventually defeats before passing out. In the backup, Damian and Jon do their best to try to put Lizzie Prince to sleep, with exasperating results.

DC UNIVERSE Month 73, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1062 by Jason Aaron and John Timms. In metropolis, everyone in the city, including Superman and Lois, has been turned into Bizarros and the city is in chaos. Superman continues to fight to get Bizarro out of his head and temporarily succeeds, but is unable to break the hold Bizarro has on the citizens. Batman arrives, telling Superman that Doctor fate has been turned and Zatanna and Xanadu are keeping him subdued. Constantine and Blue Devil are trying to find a way to use magic top counteract this. In the end, Superman turns to the only person he thinks can help him make sense of this…The Joker..

AMAZONS ATTACK #5 by Josie Campbell and Vasco Georgiev. Peacemaker and his team has captured Nubia and he observes Faruka reaching behind her back. Thinking it is a weapon, he has her men search her and they discover it is a bag of carrots. They toss the bag away and it gets eaten by Hoppy who begins transporting the Amazons, and Peacemaker, across the country. In Santa Fe, a young boy, fearing his sister is in danger from the Amazons, shoots Nubia. Hoppy transports the Amazons away and Faruka patches up her queen. While Nubia talks about  the journey she went on after emerging from the Well of Souls, Faruka attacks her and knocks her out. When she wakes, she sees that Mary Marvel has also been captured and Faruka and most of the other Amazons are possessed and responsible, welcoming them to Asylum.

BATMAN #142 by Chip Zdarsky, Giuseppe Camuncoli, and Andrea Sorrentino. The Joker Year One Part 1. In the past, The Joker, not long after he transitions into the villain, visits Sally, telling her he looks like he does because of what he did for her. Six months later, a broke Joker puts on makeup and goes out in public where, after winning a bar fight, he meets with Red Hood gang member 22. Another former member calls Number 2, who is revealed to be crooked cop Manny Gabria. The Joker sees Batman patrolling Gotham and has a mental break until he is met by someone who trained batman and promises to train him too. In the present, The Joker strikes again and has turned everyone in Gotham into Jokers.

BATMAN #143 by Chip Zdarsky, Giuseppe Camuncoli, and Andrea Sorrentino. The Joker Year One Part 2. In the past, Batman experiments on a dead body, injecting the corpse with chemicals found at the crime scene. The chemicals turn the body white, just like The Joker. Officer Blair, now in custody, refuses to answer questions but Manny Gabria meets with him and Blair gets free, leading the Gabria killing him. Jim Gordon strikes Gabria, leading to Commissioner McLeod to suspend Gordon. The Joker meets with the man who trained Bruce, as revealed in BATMAN: THE KNIGHT, who is convinced he can gain his revenge by telling The Joker everything he needs to defeat the Dark Knight. After long training sessions, The Joker refers to him as being the father to both himself and The Batman and kills him. In the present, Batman meets with The Joker and then meets with Selina, who has covered her ears to keep from being infected by The Joker’s attack. She has secured the rest of the Bat Family, who are all infected. But The Joker shows up and removes her hearing protection, infecting her..

BATMAN #144 by Chip Zdarsky, Giuseppe Camuncoli, and Andrea Sorrentino. The Joker Year One Part 3. In the past, the red Hood Gang is still causing havoc and Jim Gordon lets Batman know about corrupt cop Manny Gabria. Manny unleashes his plan at GCPD, but a clown from a kid’s party reveals himself to be The Joker. While Gordon battles Manny, the Red Hood Gang take their spoils and flee. But there is a Joker bomb in their heist, turning them all into Jokers and killing them. Manny is apprehended but is later killed by The Joker. In the present, the Batman family has been corrupted and turned into Jokers. The Joker confronts Batman and gives him a laughing bag with high pitched sonics that brings bats to the battle. The sonic cry of the bats cures the victims. Later, the police find former police commissioner McLeod, who was once the leader of the Red Hood Gang, and it is revealed that he was Patient Zero.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #6 by Joshua Williamson and Nikola Cizmesija. Zach, wearing a homemade costume, attempts to break Zsasz out of his prison transport. Zsasz takes Zach hostage, allowing Robin to get the drop on him. Zach tries to intervene, telling Robin to leave his father alone. Zsasz laughs, claiming Zach is not his son. And this allows Batman to knock the villain out. Robin notes that Zach was obviously trained by someone and he thinks he knows who that is. With Zach out of the school, Damian now becomes part of the soccer team, telling the coach, who he believes is Shush, that he will be watching her. Later that night, the Dynamic Duo show up for a meeting of followers who think Man-Bat is their hero. Someone shows up to help Batman and Robin and that turns out to be Flatline.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #24 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. Darkseid has arrived and the heroes of Earth-22 attack him, but are defeated, with many of them killed. David kills Gog, which defeats Darkseid’s plan and he leaves. But Superman and Batman tell David he is not the hero here and has crossed a line. David heads away and The Spectre arrives, revealing David’s future, which is the story of KINGDOM COME. In a time beyond that, Superman visits a grieving David, convincing him to put together a new superhero team.

BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #10 by Karl Kerschl, Delilah S. Dawson, Matt Harding, Torunn Gronbekk, Dan Watters, Serg Acuna, George Kambadais, Mike Henderson, Tom Derenick, and Ricardo Lopez Ortix. Batman delivers a girl named Olive to Gotham Academy and then begins dating Professor Isla McPherson. While on a date, a woman named Anastasia is assaulted, leaving bite holes in her neck. Batman meets with Professor Langstrom, who tells him of a student named Tristan who is in full transformation. Batman enlists the aid of Mia Mizoguchi, because Tristen is a classmate and a friend. Dressed as Robin, Mia meets with Tristan, who begs for her to leave before he attacks her. In the second story, Artemis deals with guilt after allowing her queen to be murdered. During her soul searching, she is bitten by a snake and realizes that Amazons are not invulnerable to poison. In the third tale, one of Joker’s men is dying because of his repeated exposure to Joker Gas, so he goes on a crime spree, eventually fighting The Signal. Using a variety of weapons stolen from other villains, he declares himself the Nameless and sets his venomized dog of The Signal. The Signal saves the dog and defeats nameless, who bites down on a capsule of Joker gas and kills himself. In the fourth tale, Lois investigates the death of an old school friend who was part of a treasure hunt group that accidentally exposed a Congressman’s improprieties. In the final story, Batman, sticking to the healthiest of diets, encounters Clayface at a burger restaurant. In the end, Batman breaks training and enjoys a cheeseburger.

BIRDS OF PREY #6 .by Kelly Thompson and Leonardo Romero. Sin has been corrupted by Megaera and Zealot, seeing the problem, stabs Sin forcing Megaera to flee. Sin threatens to kill herself to keep Megaera from getting loose on the world. The Birds crack open the urn and that sucks in Megaera’s tendrils, but not Sin, after Megaera agrees to let Sin stay in control. Megaera tells the Birds that she does not want to conquer the world, just live in it. Sin agrees to stay on the island for everyone’s safety and the rest of the Birds return home. Later, Maps meets with Dinah and shows her that, no matter how many times they would have tried another way, Barbara and Sin would have died. Cass later visits and Dinah decides it is time to put a new team together.

BLUE BEETLE #6 5 by Josh Trujillo and Adrian Gutierrez. Jaime and his friends face off against Kha-Ef-Re and his followers. After a lengthy fight, Jaime must face his friend Javier alone, with Javier finally telling Jaime to kill him, which Khaji  does when Jaime’s body is taken over by the scarab. As Jaime mourns what has happened, tachyon interference is detected and Jaime disappears, leaving his friends confused.

CATWOMAN #62 by Tini Howard and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Long ago, Catwoman is involved in a heist that brings her directly into contact with Amanda Waller. To save her own life, she agrees to do just one mission for Waller to wipe the slate clean. Today, Selina is in Cairo with a new version of the Suicide Squad, where they are tasked to steal the Beard of Hatshepsut from under Black Adam’s nose. In the process, Selina has a vision where she meets with Bastet, who tells her to say the magic word and the ethereal cats will come. They secure the Beard and Jeanette uses her magic powers to get the team out of trouble. Later, Selina meets with Waller who betrays her and goes to activate the bomb inside Selina’s head. Selina uses the magic word SHAZAM and leaves..

DETECTIVE COMICS #1082 by Ram V, Dan Watters, Christopher Mitten, Riccardo Federici, and Stefano Raffaele. Following his hanging, Batman battles with his inner demons in a hellish version of Gotham. Talia’s men find someone, possibly Bruce, dying in the desert. But who is the man with the knife watching over them? In the second part of The Question’s story, she comes face to face with Cassandra while she is fighting the Orghams. They capture one of the paramilitary men, who reveals that everything seems to lead back to Shavhod Erhad.. In the backup, many people are invited to Dr. Hurt’s Semi Centennial Masked Macabre. All have been affected by Hurt and most are looking for revenge. James and Selma become the last to alive in what appears to be a mass murder/suicide. As it turns out, Selma is actually Dr. Hurt., whose brain patterns were overwritten by his.

FIRE & ICE: WELCOME TO SMALLVILLE #6 by Joanne Starer and Natacha Bustos. Rocky is possessed and causing havoc in Smallville while Martha is being menaced by Crave. Martha gets free but rave corrupts the child with her. Still, she makes her way to town where l-Ron has been able to almost free Rocky by removing the mask. Crave arrives and Linka manages to use her psychic powers to free everyone from Crave’s influence. In the end, Fire and Ice leave Smallville, with Bea suggesting they build a place called new Kooey where the caves are. She even suggest starting a new League.

THE FLASH #6 by Si Spurrier and Mike Deodato Jr. Wally takes Linda on an “activity date” to London, but the city is being invaded by things from the Blobsphere. Barry joins in to help but The Stillness arrives to, along with the Uncoiled. The Stillness gives Wally the means to stop the Uncoiled. And, after doing that, jai arrives saying he needs help. Back in Central City he finds everyone frozen in stasis, including his daughter, and they are surrounded by ghosts. After The Stillness arrives again, refusing to explain what is happening, Barry and Wally head into the Speed Force, where Barry tells Wally that he is a poor replacement and that all of this is his fault. Then he stabs Wally. In the end, mysterious vices say that Flash will soon be responsible for a virus called the Cornoa Contrarium.-the Crown of Thawnes.

GREEN ARROW #9 by Joshua Williamson and Sean Izaakse. Peacemaker and Peacewrecker are in the process of directing a team .to move everything out of the former Hall of Justice and into a secure location. Of course, that is being supervised by both Amanda Waller and Bones. Peacemaker marvels at all the security in the building and anyone would be foolish to try and break in. That foolish person is Ollie. He gets caught and Waller offers him a deal to get Roy out from under her control: steal Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Connor heads to Corto Maltese and meets with Diggle, offering a chance for him to take down Malcom Merlyn.

GREEN LANTERN #8 by Jeremy Adams, Ron Marz, Amanxay Nahuelpan, and Dale Eaglesham. Hal learns from Razer how the Blue Central Power Battery on Odym was destroyed, along with those on Ysmault and New Korugar. Hal tries numerous times to gain the will power to leave the atmosphere but fails each time. Carol visits, with Hal saying he would stay if she asks him too. She leaves without an answer and Razer and Hal go to visit Madame Xanadu. While she tries to figure out why Hal cannot leave when they are attacked by United Planets Lanterns, who kidnap Razer. Xanadu tells Hal to go find the Green and that takes him to Galacia, where he feels the power. In the backup, Kyle talks with his deceased girlfriend Alex, explaining why he loves being a lantern. Soujourner visits him and tells him she thinks she knows what is going on with the United Planet’s Lantern takeover and he agrees to join up with her to help.

GREEN LANTERN: WAR JOURNAL #6 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Montos. John, Kyle and Shepherd continue to battle Varron, the Radiant Dead, and the Revenant Queen, with Stewart using one of his constructs to defeat Varron. Katanak is grabbed by the Queen and, knowing he will die, cuts off his hand, allowing his ring to find a replacement. Shepherd becomes infected and john gets him to use his will to defeat the infection. The Queen grabs hold of Stewart, after revealing her name is Olgrun of the First World(last seen during the Superman Warworld saga), and tosses him back to Earth. On Earth, although she is a construct, his sister tells her mother that she thinks it will be a while before John comes home.