DC UNIVERSE Month 91, Part 1

ABSOLUTE BATMAN #11 by Scott Snyder and Clay Mann. In a past conversation with Bruce, Alfred regrets not telling him everything about Bane. Many years ago, on Santa Prisca, a young Bane’s father is part of a group looking to overthrow the government and is told a quetzal would fly free when peace is achieved. The revolution is achieved but foreign troops defeat them and Bane and his father are thrown in Pena Duro prison. After eleven years, Bane orchestrates a prison break. His father gives him a mask cut from their flag. A man in white, possibly The Joker, arrives and makes Bane an offer, leading to Bane killing his father and starting him on his violent journey. His Venom that he uses not only makes him strong but sharpens his mind. Alfred says Bane is coming and means to break Batman.

ABSOLUTE FLASH #6 by Jeff Lemire and Nick Robles. Six months ago, Digger Harkness is greeted by his former commanding officer Rudy West. After a mission went wrong in Syria, the team members were dishonorably discharged. West tells him he can expunge their records if they agree to go on a dangerous secret mission. The next day, the pair visit Leonard and Lisa Snart. She lost her legs on the Syria mission and has becoming a bitter drug dependent individual ever since. West offers the Snarts the same offer he offered Harkness. That night, Jesse James arrives, declaring how she had placed trackers on her fellow team members. West takes the Rogues to Fort Fox and says they are here because the mission is to investigate strange creatures in South America. There, they meet Barry Allen and Elenore Thawne who calls this Project Olympus and shows the Rogues the special gear they have made for them. In a flashback to 1994, a male scientist named Thawne and his assistant Jay Garrick working on an experiment similar to the one that would later give Wally his powers. When the machine is ready to explode, Thawne refuses to let Garrick shut it down, throws him into the reactor and Garrick’s body is destroyed, even though his voice can still be heard. Back in the present, Rudy finds an alien spacecraft and alien bodies. Rudy calls Wally who picks up and Rudy asks where he is. But a black bag is pulled over Rudy’s head by guards and Thawne smashes his phone.

ABSOLUTE GREEN LANTERN #5 by Al Ewing and Jahnoy Lindsay. An injured man is removed from rubble of his café by a rescue team led by Hector Hammond. The man blames the death and destruction on Abin Sur. He explains that Hal confronted Sur about what it did to Jo, with Sur saying she will be sought and hunted and, when Hal shoots at him, he grabs Hal’s hand, crushes the gun and gives Hal the Black Hand.  The dying Sur tells Hal to fear the Black Hand and the Black Star. Meanwhile, Jo is facing off against Black Hand, that believes she is an anomaly and that she needs to take off the ring. During the fight, they end up back in Evergreen and enter the giant Green Lantern, where they find John Stewart floating in a black void and glowing with yellow light. John tells them to be without fear and that this is the voice they have been hearing,

ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER #6 by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez. John/Martian Manhunter are being attacked by the Anti-Life force while John’s wife and son are being attacked by an intruder who says he learned that everything is an empty space and learned it from ‘Bob’: the White Martian. When Bridget blows his head off, the White Martian comes out and he continues to terrorize them. John arrives at his house while the Gren Martian defeats the White Martian across the city because John has opened up his mind to his wife. In the end, it appears Tyler could be the person involved in whatever happens next.

ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #10 by Jason Aaron and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Years before Krypton exploded, Jor-El leads a rescue team and they are forced to battle attacking Magmoles. In the present, the Lazarus Corps Research Facility in Greenland is under attack by an unseen force, revealed to be Superman and the Omega Men. According to a news report, a terrorist named TIMMY Olsen is being held there. Superman succeeds in destroying the facility and beats down a modified Peacemaker Smith. Ra’s Al Ghul arrives and prepares to execute Smith but is stopped by Superman, who finds himself stabbed by Primus, who is revealed to be Talia Al Ghul.

ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #11 by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman. Diana finds her spells do not work and calls on Athena for help. Diana is carried out of the pit and dreams of an incident when she was young and learned the importance of crafting a bargain. When she wakes, she meets Io, who recognizes her as the daughter of Hippolyta. Diana soon sees that there is a small city down here and that Io, who has a map of the labyrinth tattooed upon her body, has stayed all of this time so the others here would not be abandoned. Diana has managed to connect with an entity that may be Clea’s siren while in the pit and makes a deal with it. Diana bursts out and frees Ferdinand, while also confronting Clea. Diana battles with Clea and is stabbed by her, as she demands her siren. Diana pulls the spear out of her body and tosses it into the pit, followed by the entity arising and flying into Diana’s hand and morphing into the shape of that spear. Meanwhile, in the Heiron, Steve tries to revive Petra, who comes out of the water as a fish creature.

ACTION COMICS #1089 by Mark Waid and Skylar Partridge. At the Kent home, Clark’s history teacher reveals he knows Clark’s superhero identity and then reveals that he has his own secret identity as Captain Comet and has been watching Clark. He tells the tales of other heroes who turned against their people and that Clark needs to prove he is a responsible person. The next day, Clark gets into a scuffle with Braverman, pushing him into a locker harder than he should have. As Clark flees the scene, he runs into Captain Comet who challenges him to save the day without making a mess of it. He is tasked to redirect a swarm of locusts away from Smallville which, after some serious thoughts and some failures, he does. In the end, it is revealed that Captain Comet is working for General Lane.

AQUAMAN #8 by Jeremy Adams and Michael Shelfer. In the past, young Arthur talks to his father about how he could not save an entire family during a hurricane. His father’s advice if to always be the best he can be. In the present, Aquaman and ‘Justice League Blue’ fight against Dagon: a huge tentacled creature, with Aquaman being impaled by one of the tentacles. He is not killed but transformed by The Blue into their avatar. In the end, he is ready to stand with the team and face-off in final conflict with Dagon.

BATGIRL #10 by Tate Brombal and Takeshi Miyazawa. Norbu the Untested is here and prepares to battle Batgirl but her brother Tenji decides to do battle instead, leading to his father having to come to his defense and defeat the villain. While his father heals him, Batgirl and Ben engage in some combat training. Once awake, the trio agree to work together because that is what family does. Norbu bursts in, claiming they are his final test. Cass and Tenji team up to seemingly take Norbu down but he calls upon his inner power and is covered in blue light. That does not last long as he is suddenly beheaded by Wu Bing of The Blood. She tells Batgirl she has an offer for her and if she refuses, she will die.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #24 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Juni Ba, and Miguel Mendonca. Robin and the Gotham Irregulars make their way through the tunnels before Damian still suffering the effects of the Gravedigger’s poppy, hears a voice telling him to go save the “Royal family”. Meanwhile, Batman and Lautrec remain captured by someone they believed was Professor Blye but turns out to be Daniels. Back when Blye had his final confrontation with Memento, it was Daniels who stayed behind and was corrupted by Memento. Under Memento’s influence, Blye was drugged with Gravedigger’s Poppy and set up with planted evidence. Just before he can kill Batman, Robin arrives and batman frees himself. Then memento is shot by Blye and attacked by the ghosts of everyone Memento has killed, dragging memento into a deep, dark hole. Later, Batman thanks Lautrec for helping in getting his son back. In the end, Damian decides to stay and be Robin and tells the tale in his own, distinctive comic book.

BATMAN AND ROBIN: JASON TODD #3 by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen. Robin is now running with Wraith, who is beating up thugs to find out who is dealing a drug called Reaper Red. Meanwhile, batman investigates someone who has been missing for some time by the name of Kevin Gilroy while Oracle finds that Hollis Janson is backed by Intergang and the probable maker of the drug. Wraith and Robin track down Janson, as does Batman. While Robin holds Janson at bay, Wraith is prepared to execute Batman until Robin intervenes. Later, Robin meets with Gilroy, telling the villain that he is not broken, although Gilroy tells him he just doesn’t know it yet.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #42 by Mark Waid and Adrian Gutierrez. As Bizarro World deals with the growing infection to the Bizarros, it is revealed that Brainzarro is attacking the planet, causing Batman, Superman, and Robin to team up with the Bizarros. Batman, Bizarro Batman and Robin meet with Bizarro Lex Luthor in search of answers while Superman and his Bizarro counterpart battles Brainzarro. After defeating him, they go into a spaceship and read from the journal of Krylak III. The dead alien saw that a crisis was coming and created the virus to make the Bizarros have rational thought. But it happens too late as Krylak III is himself infected and commits suicide. The heroes deduce that Bizarro World is about to implode and they have no way to save it.

BIRDS OF PREY #24 by Kelly Thompson and Sami Basri. The Birds try to subdue and free Barda from her possession and eventually do so with the help of a Constantine spell and by returning her power rod to her. Megaera becomes unhinged and it forces the rest of the villains to flee, with Megaera taking back the power rod that was stolen during the confusion. After tearing the place apart and Oracle digging into the hacking tech, the Birds enjoy a relaxing dinner…until Barda senses Inque hiding among them and reacts.

CATWOMAN #78 Torunn Gronbekk and Danilo Beyruth. Selina and Shota finish their plan, with the duplicate keys being given to Mitya and the originals being sent to Budapest. She contacts Mitya and tells him to meet her in Budapest and to call off the hit on her. Mitya calls his mother and orders the hit called off. Shota informs Selina that the girl everyone thought was Evie was an escort named Lise Abel. Mitya meets with his mother and reveals he knows his birth father is really Anthony Fournier and not Thoedore Belov. Meawhile, Selina digs through the files in the Belov home and finds files on her, Shota, Carmine Falcone, Louisa Falcone and Roman Sionis. Selina begins to torch the house and fights with Mitya, who apparently was responsible for Lise’ death. Katarina kills Miya and apparently dies in the fire.

CHEETAH & CHESHIRE ROB THE JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott. While Cheetah is dealing with the incredible hunger she has because of Urzkartaga while Cheshire continues doing research work on a new way to kill. Later, she takes out a bunch of would-be assassins on a mission and finds Cheetah there ahead of her. Cheshire scratches a guard and he explodes from the poison on her fingernails. Later, Cheshire unveils her plan to steal the Power Bank containing all the heroes powers on the Watchtower. It’s a difficult task and now they need to put a crew together.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1100 by Tom Taylor, Mariko Tamaki, Greg Rucka, Dan Watters, Mikel Janin, Amancay Nahuelpan,  Alvaro Martinez Bueno, and Bill Sienkiewicz. In the first tales, Batman searches for a lost dog for a deaf dog; making his way through the language barrier and eventually finding and returning the dog. In the second tale, Bruce Wayne attends a ceremonial dinner. But he has already defeated The Joker and saved the life of a philanthropist who receives an award at this dinner. In the third story, a pair of doctors talk about the number of injured criminals caused by Batman’s battles with them. It turns out one of the doctor later reminds our hero that he is making a difference as she repairs his wounds. In the final tale, Batman gives chase for a serial killer who would rather die by jumping to his death than be apprehended. Batman pursues him but it is unknown if he saves him or decides otherwise.

FIRE AND ICE: WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER #5 by Joanne Starer and Stephen Byrne. While everyone in town is still in different bodies, our heroes are still trapped in Hell with Tora having to make the choice where she would betray her best friend in order to free her mother. Bea, made aware of this from Etrigan, makes her way to her friend, encountering horrific visions along the way and being seemingly reunited with her father, who tells her that she belongs in Hell with him. Tora makes the choice to not free her mother as she knows this person is not really her. But Bea has made a different choice: to save her best friend and Tora’s mother, she agrees to stay in Hell with her ‘father’.

THE FLASH #24 by Simon Spurrier and Vasco Georgiev. Wally and Jai talk with Eclipso where Jai  tries to convince the villain that Eclipso feels disrespected by Darkseid and he just wants to be accepted. Eclipso decides to think about that and tells them to go home to those they love. On the moon, Irey discussing things with her father, who reveals that he is not the “one true Flash” and all the other Flashes are all parts of ‘Flash Prime’. Jai and the other Flash visit the Linear Men. Wade tells them that, based on the conversation Wally and Jai had with Eclipso, his plans changed and he changed Earth into a monument to Darkseid and the end has already begun. Wade goes to the moon and visits with the other Wally and Irey and tells them the same. Eclipso arrives, seeking to parley, and telling them all that the war is over and he has won.

GREEN ARROW #27 by Chris Condon and Montos. Roy has made his way out of the hospital bed and Lian is desperate to find him. She does, as he is on the roof of the hospital and he tells her his story of being a drug addict and now he is again because of what the Crimson Sand has done to him. Ollie is tracking down the Crimson Archer and sees crimson colored smoke and confronts him as he is about to shoot a drug dealer. During their battle, the Crimson Archer stabs the drug dealer and gives Ollie a choice: chase after the villain or save the drug dealer. Of course, Ollie choses to save the drug dealer, allowing the villain to escape.

GREEN LANTERN #26 by Jeremy Adams and V. Ken Marion. Beyond the Source Wall, the Emotional Entities are looking to get free and are trying to convince the heroes to let them “become one” with them. But Hal cuts a deal with them, saying if they help the Lanterns fight the Sun-Eaters the Entities. The Entities admit t are parasites and simply want to feed on the Lanterns. Hal drags them out of the Source Wall and battle the Sun-Eaters, gaining an advantage after the cut off their hands and separating them from their rings. Meanwhile, Keli, possessed by an entity, attacks Simon.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #7 by Jeremy Adams, Morgan Hampton, and Fernando Pasarin. The Starbreaker Supremacy has taken full control of the planet of Farengale and the inhabitants have no emotions about their imminent destruction. On OA, John’s mother manifests itself from his ring and John could care less, saying it is just a ring. Meanwhile, Aya and Jadestone reveal they are immune to this emotional wave because they are not organic life forms and can be the only ones to help the universe during this crisis. Their solution: visit the Source Wall and free the creatures that represent the Emotional Spectrum.