DC UNIVERSE, Month 5, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1000 by Dan Jurgans, Peter J. Tomasi, Marv Wolfman, Paul Levitz, Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, Scott Snyder, Tom King, Louise Simonson, Paul Dini, Brad Meltzer, Brian Michael Bendis, Dan Jurgens, Patrick Gleason, Curt Swan, Olivier Coipel, Rafael Albuquerque, Clay Mann, Jerry Ordway, Jim Lee and John Cassaday. A handful of stories and pin-ups celebrate this milestone. The biggest piece is the final story by Bendis Lee. In it, Rogol Zaar arrives to kill Superman and eliminate the Kryptonians, as Jor-El had once told him to do. This leads directly into Bendis’ THE MAN OF STEEL #1.

AQUAMAN #35 by Dan Abnett and Robson Rocha. King Shark and the Ninth Tride are attacking Corum Rath’s followers when what is left of Kadaver shows up. Aquaman arrives in time to take the fight to them. But that also leads to Murk arriving and fighting with the man he formerly served. After explaining that he didn’t really kill Aquaman, just made it look that way, and that he doesn’t hate Aquaman, just didn’t want him as king, they form a truce and lead the attack on Corum Rath. Meanwhile, Corum Rath asks for the powers of the wizards to make him better and that means he gets mutated into a horrible sea beast.

BATGIRL #22 by Hope Larson and Minkyu Jung. While trying to stop a guy from killing his wife and children with a space gun, she gets shot with the gun. Surviving the blast, he gets turned over to the police. Then she runs into her former boyfriend Kai, along with May Hao, who has moved to Burnside to start a MMA gym. While sparring with May, who has been given an enhancing drug, she gets knocked out. That is when she discovers, by way of a visit from Fruit Bat, that she has been put into stasis and all of this AFTER the shooting is in her head. She needs to find a way out or she will die.

BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #21 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and

Roge Antonio. The gang is trying to track down Calculator and figure out that there is going to be an attack at Helena’s apartment. Green Arrow and Black Canary arrive just in time to see the apartment blow up. Seems Huntress rigged her apartment to blow. This leads the team to meet with Calculator, where Canary uses her cry to destroy Burnrate. Unfotunatly, she hurts the team in the process. We end with Blackbird controlling Huntress, so she will tell who Oracle really is.

BATMAN #44 by Tom King, Mikel Janin and Joelle Jones. Selina sneaks out of Bruce’ bed, where she seems to be going off to her thieving ways. After drinking some champagne and possibly stealing a dress for the wedding, she comes back home and climbs back into his bed.

BATMAN #45 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel. Booster Gold watches as Hal Jordan uses his ring to kill himself. It seems that Hal has been Jokered and the world as we know it has changed. In Gotham, Dick Grayson is a gun-toting Batman, Jason Todd is selling special anti-Joker tires and Duane has been lobotomized. It appears that Booster has altered time to show Bruce, as a wedding gift, what his world would be like if he wasn’t Batman and his parents hadn’t died. That leads to a meeting with Bruce, where he is dancing with his mother. That also leads to a confrontation with Booster, where Bruce destroys Skeets and that means time cannot be changed back.

BATMAN AND THE SIGNAL #3 by Scott Snyder, Tony Patrick and Cully Hamner. Everyone has been turned into Metas by Gnoman and it takes the combined effort of Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, Robin, Riko and Izzy to take them out of the game. Duke figures out that all of this influence is due to Gnoman making use of the 8^th Metal inside of the needle. Gnoman has a confrontation with Duke, where he reveals that Duke’s mother may have powers and that he may actually be Duke’s father. Teaming up with Detective Aisi, Duke stops the threat, although Gnoman escapes in the end.

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BATMAN BEYOND #19 by Dan Jurgens and Phil Hester. Matt McGinnis puts on Robin’s mask and heads off to help his brother in his battle against Stanton, who is out to avenge his son. Although Terry is livid that Bruce would do this, they worked together and take Stanton down. Still mad at Bruce, Terry goes off to visit Shaka and his people, providing them with much needed food and the possibility of giving Shaka has legs back.

BATWOMAN #14 by Marguerite Bennett and Fernando Blanco. The twins of the Many Arms of Death are in a bad way as Alice has made them drink a liquid that causes them to bleed from their eyes and mouths before exploding. Kate arrives in Gotham and, after telling Julia that Knife is behind everything, she engages with Knife. A giant hologram of Alice reveals that she was behind this and that she was responsible for everything that went down with The Scarecrow. Alice used him to infect bats with dozens of diseases and they are attacking Gotham.

BLACK LIGHTNING: COLD DEAD HANDS #6 by Tony Isabella and Clayton Henry. Tobias is ready to take out Black Lightning, bit this is all a ruse on Jefferson’s part. He has set up Tobias so police and the League can take down Tobias’ warehouses and get the alien guns of the streets. With the help of “Sparky”, he takes down Tobias while his loyal assistant runs away. In the end, life goes back to normal and Black Lightning is back in the hero game.

THE CURSE OF BRIMSTONE #1 by Philip Tan and Justin Jordan. Joe Chamberlin is stuck in a small town and makes a deal with some sort of evil person who turns him into the fiery Brimstone.

CYBORG #21 by Marv Wolfman and Tom Derenick. Cyborg is in Hawaii here he is fighting mechs that want to capture him for his tech. In the end, the mechs capture him.

DAMAGE #4 by Robert Venditti and Cary Nord. Poison Ivy has a thing against farmers working the land and violently attacks them. Meanwhile, Ethan ends up getting a job working with the farmers and, when Ivy shows up, he has no choice but to change into Damage. Elsewhere, Col. Jonas and her team of hired hands, named Misha, Paparazzi and Handyman, prepare to hunt Ethan down.

DEATHSTROKE #30 by Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan. After a scene where we see that Alfred and Wintergreen have history together, Batman and Gordon are investigating a crime scene, where Batman discovers evidence that leads him to believe that Damian may not be his son. That leads him to meeting and fighting with Deathstroke and Batman reveals that he has DNA evidence that shows Slade to be Damian’s father. That leads to Batman threatening to shut down Slade’s actions.

THE DEMON HELL IS EARTH #6 by Andrew Constant and Brad Walker. The planet is screwed as Belial has taken over Earth. Luckily, Merlin’s dying energy makes Etrigan super powerful and allows him to battle his dad. Madame Xanadu is able to use some of that power to help take down Belial, restoring our planet to the way it once was. In the end, Merlin’s essence is gone, but he may come back. And Etrigan: he’s now the ruler of Hell.

DETECTIVE COMICS #978 by James Tynion IV and Javier Fernandez. Batman goes off to meet with Batwoman and her father while the rest of the team faces off against Colony soldiers. It is revealed that Ulysses, now with a new haircut and calling himself The General, has poisoned folks with Nanotech and is transforming them into his own One Man Army Corps. That is also affecting Tim, who begins his transformation.

DETECTIVE COMICS #979 by James Tynion IV and Philippe Briones. Tim Drake has been corrupted by Ulysses and become part of his One Man Army Corps. Ulysses continues to try to convince Tim to give in, as he shows him what will happen in the future if he doesn’t, including causing Cassandra’s death. While Luke and Azrael fight against the OMACs, Tim is fully converted and becomes a Batman inspired OMAC. Batman and Cassandra seek out the assistance of Stephanie while Tim and the OMACs attack what is left of the Belfry.

THE FLASH #44 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Anticipating that his battle with Grodd will result in his death, Barry writes a letter to Iris, where he tells her everything, including the existence of another Wally West. With Barry getting beat up by Grodd, soldiers from Gorilla City show up and arrest Grodd. The speedsters show up and join together to help Barry stop the Negative Speed Force that is destroying Central City. The team saves the day, with August disappearing in the process. Barry goes off to see Iris and, in the future, Hunter Zolomon prepares for the Flash War.

THE FLASH #45 by Joshua Williamson and Christian Duce. With the Speedsters rebuilding Central City, they take a break to go to Iron Heights to meet with Meena, here she tells Barry that he isn’t the best man for the job of Flash. Later, Barry meets with Kristen to discuss Godspeed’s escape. Godspeed has a conversation with a mysterious vice, that may be Hunter Zolomon. In the end, Barry meets with Iris and tells her all about things. They kiss and tell each other they love each other. Wally West shows up, triggering long buried memories. And those memories overwhelm Wally.

GREEN ARROW #39 by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Marcio Takara. Ollie is in

Rhapastan, that was ravaged by Deathstroke in DEATHSTROKE ANNUAL #2. But his mission costs him his pilot and it is revealed he is not wanted here. The villain, a guy named Nothing, turns out to be a child leading an army of children, leading to Ollie putting down his weapons and being alone in Rhapastan.

GREEN LANTERNS #44 by Tim Seeley and Ronan Cliquet. Jessica visits her therapist, where she is still dealing with not being able to save her friends that were killed years ago on a camping trip. Simon interrupts the session to tell her that Singularity Jain is on the loose. While Simon battles a robot who is upset that he has lost custody of his kid, Jessica fins Jain and is tempted to take an offer which would revel the killer of her friends. All Jain wants in return is the ability to feed off of her suffering and pain. Jessica turns her down and Jain gets locked up. In the end, Jessica’s sister is concerned because there is a giant Black Hole in Jessica’s apartment and no Jessica to be found.

GREEN LANTERNS #45 by Tim Seeley and Ronan Cliquet. The Justice League has arrived to set up a perimeter around the Black Hole in Jessica’s apartment. Simon has brought Singularity Jain to the scene, so the League can question her about all of this. The final solution is to bring in John Constantine to help with this mystical thing. Finds all the previous owners of the power ring. He also finds Earth- 3’s Harold Jordan, who reveals that Volthoom is no more and this world is Jessica’s own creation.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #42 by Robert Vendetti and Ethan Van Sciver. The Controllers are in the process of making their Darkstars, by getting people to jump into their armor, much like the Green Lantern rings seek out people worthy to be Lanterns. Meanwhile, Tomar-Tu reveals that he feels guilty for disgracing his family but not for killing Romat-Ru and would do it again if possible. A Darkstar suits arrives and Tomar-Te joins in and becomes part of the Darkstar army.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #43 by Robert Vendetti and Rafa Sandoval. The Darkstars are going out and unleashing their brand of justice on all that they deem need to be eliminated. That leads the Corps to go after them but, during the confrontation, all are transported back to Mogo. Except for Hal Jordan, who confronts former Corps member Tomar-Tu, who is now the spokesperson for the Darkstars. He explains that the Controllers now serve the Darkstars and they will continue to do what they do because they have the numbers and they can. Despite the dissension among the Corps, John Stewart realizes they are outnumbered and have no choice.

HARLEY QUINN #41 by Frank Tieri, Inaki Miranda and Moritat. Many of Harley’s friends have been hypnotized into wanting to kill the Gang of Harleys, thanks to a plot by The Penguin. That’s when Harley and Killer Croc show up to free them. And also to defeat the giant penguins running through town. In the end, the Penguin and his crew gets defeated and the gang celebrates by having dinner. Unfortunately, the Riddler shows up late and gets a beat down for his troubles.

HARLEY QUINN #42 by Frank Tieri and Mauricet. It’s the future in the Jersey Wastelands and we find Harley strapped to Red Tool’s car. Along the way, they encounter Goatboy’s inbred offspring and Big Tony, no older and piloting his on giant robot. I. A computerized Coach is again put in charge and Red Tool and Harley head out together to cruise the wastelands.

THE HELLBLAZER #21 by Tim Seeley and Davide Fabbri. Joey has been captured and now Lucas is bringing him to his brother, who is still possessing and tormenting the body of Inspector Margaret Ames. She is a conduit to bring the legions from Hell and Constantine and Huntress, at last free from the street gang, is on a hunt to find her before it’s too late.

THE IMMORTAL MEN #1 by Jim Lee, Ryan Benjamin, and James Tynion IV. Caden Park is a young who is troubled by some continuous dreams here he finds himself running from death. But he gets to escape every now and then by going to a safe place called The Campus, where a mysterious set of eyes tells him he will soon have a mission of higher purpose. The Campus is actually located under the city of Philadelphia and the person in charge is the oldest woman in the world, the Infinite Woman. The Batman Who Laughs arrives and brags to the Immortal Woman and her servant Hunt. This leads them, along with Ghost Fist, Timber, Stray and Reload, to reveal they will go after Caden Park, who is destined to thwart their plans. In the end, Caden and his friends get attacked by The Immortal Men.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #42 by Christopher Priest and Pete Woods. While Superman is trying to get an injured Wonder Woman, Flash interrupts and says he can do it faster.  That leads to Flash getting Kid Flash to get Raven, so she could save Diana with magic. Meanwhile, Red Lion has sent the warring people to the remains of the Watchtower, so the media will focus on that and now on the fact that he’s getting ready to invade the country next door. Cyborg manages to get around the programming that Lion infected him with and repairs himself, even despite the knife that had plunged into him. Along with Batman and Aquaman, they capture the Lion and, along with the previously captured Fan, rendezvous with the rest of the League. That is when Deathstroke arrives and shoots The Fan in the head, promising to do in this country what the League couldn’t.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #43 by Christopher Priest and Pete Woods. Deathstroke battles the League while Raven tries to heal Wonder Woman. Once she is somewhat stable, she decides that she must go back and help her teammates. But it gets revealed that this was a plan all along by the League and Deathstroke to fight so they could scare the refugees from the Watchtower crash site. In the end, the idea that Batman brought the Fan to Africa to die pisses off Cyborg. And then the team is off to handle the upcoming events in NO JUSTICE.