DC UNIVERSE Month 8, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1001 by Brian Michel Bendis and Patrick Gleason. With Lois and Jon still out of the picture, Superman continues to try and discover who is behind the arson attacks in Metropolis. A kid has pointed the finger at Superman, but he finds out the kid was paid money by a mysterious stranger to plant the false story. It seems a new villain named Red Cloud and her team are behind the arson attacks and are out to take out the Man of Steel. In the end, it looks like Lois may be back and preparing to write about her marriage to Superman. But…is that really Lois?

AQUAMAN #38 by Dan Abnett and Riccardo Federici. Aquaman, Dolphin and company battle the possessed Corum Rath. With his trident shattered, things look grim until Mera and her team arrive, allowing Aquaman to stab Rath, driving the true enemy out of him. Defeated, and no powerless, Rath is left to survive in the sea while the Drift are restored to human form. In the end, Mera is accepted as the Queen of Atlantis and Arthur, by way of his wish during METAL, cases Atlantis to rise to the surface.

BATMAN #50 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. It’s the big day and everyone has the pre-wedding jitters. And no one more so than Selina, who decides that if she marries Bruce, he will be less effective as a hero. So she leaves him stranded at the altar and moves on with her life.

BATMAN #51 by Tom King and Lee Weeks. Still angry at what happened with his wedding, Batman has ben taking it out on the criminals of Gotham. Specifically,  his anger has allowed him to take down and beat up Mr. Freeze. Now Freeze is on trial and Bruce is one of the jurors. In open court, Freeze admits to confessing to killing three women, but says he did so to save his life because he believed that Batman was going to kill him. The jury goes off to deliberate and they are all in agreement to convict Freeze…except for Bruce Wayne who thinks that maybe Freeze should get off.

BATMAN BEYOND #22 by Dan Jurgens and Will Conrad. Everyone in Neo-Gotham has turned against Batman, thinking he is truly a bat creature. Bruce has designed a new suit for Matt and Robin swings into action to help his brother. Jack Ryder goes to visit Bruce, in an effort to find his friend Adalyn Stern. What he finds is that Stern watched her father, who was a crook, get crippled by Batman. Back in the fight, a new Scarecrow has arrived and it looks like this could very well be…Adalyn Stern.

BATWOMAN #17 by Marguerite Bennett and Fernando Blanco. Kate is trying to readjust to her life, with her sister getting treatment and her search for Safiyah over. She goes off to fight a robot with a clock face that is menacing the city and Renee specifically.  She learns of a drug called Kairos, which lets the user to see, only for  a second, into the future. In a flashback, we see Kate meeting with Safiyah and discovers that Fatima is her daughter. She figures put the Clock King is the man behind the robot and that leads to her going to a party to try and catch him. But he has seen the future and he is prepared for her.

CATWOMAN #1 by Joelle Jones. It’s several weeks after Selina left Bruce at the altar and Catwoman is back to her old ways. At the same time, we see that Catwoman is involved in an incident here she shoots two police officers, killing one. But this Catwoman isn’t Selina. She is someone hired by Raina, the wife of Governor Creel. Raina looks perfect on camera, but off screen, it is revealed she is old and disfigured. A confrontation occurs between the two Catwomen and, as Selina gives chase, she ends up in a building filled with copycat Catwomen.

THE CURSE OF BRIMSTONE #4 by Eduardo Pansica, Justin Jordan and Eduardo Pansica. A giant slime monster is attacks someone in Atich, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, Joe and Annie  meet Enoch, who is hunting the salesman. He warns Joe that every time he uses his power, he lets a little more of the power from the Dark Multiverse into our world. Enoch cuts his hand open and bleeds on the ledger that Annie carries, which shows them where to go. The monster is ready to attack a family when Brimstone arrives and battles the creature. With the help of Enoch, Brimstone destroys the creature. Worried that Brimstone would be out of control, he attempts to take his powers, but Annie stops him and Joe and Annie find themselves alone again.

DAMAGE #7 by Robert Venditti, Diogenes Neves and Tom Derenick. The issue begins with Col. Jonas in Columbia, Missouri, visiting with her comatose husband Tom. Meanwhile, Damage is off battling Jonas’ team she has sent to capture him. He takes them down, they flee, inform Jonas of their failure and Damage, reverting back to his normal self, gets rescued with the other passengers on the ship he was fighting on.

DEATHSTROKE #33 by Christopher Priest and Ed Benes. Deathsrtroke and Robin team up on a mission to retrieve a key that belonged to Dr. Mann. In the process they encounter Nightshade and, after scrambling Robin’s mind, she tells him that their contract is to keep Mann safe and not the key. Deathstroke allows her to take the key. Deathstroke says he finally figured it out and heads off for a confrontation with Batman.

DETECTIVE COMICS #984 by Bryan Hill and Miguel Mendonca. We begin with Cassandra battling Karma, who has a vendetta against Batman, who it is believed is weakened by his allies. Meanwhile, Jefferson Pierce arrives in Gotham and, after being told to suit up by Batman, heads off to help Cassandra in the fight. After beating up our heroes, including Batman, Karma flees, but not before leaving a knife behind for Batman to ponder over. Later, Batman puts a new team together made up of Cassandra, Jefferson and Barbara Gordon.

DETECTIVE COMICS #985 by Bryan Hill and Philippe Briones. Despite Alfred pleading with Batman to make use of the Batman Family to help him stop Karma, Batman protests. After a drive, he recalls here he had seen the knife before: many years ago after defeating a bad guy in Markovia. Meanwhile, the family debates what to do and Karma kidnaps a bus filled with kids, along with a newscaster. Later, Karma goes on television and, forces the newscaster to make a speech condemning Batman and telling him to give up the Family in exchange for the hostages. Then he kills the newscaster, which inspires Batman to fight back.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK #6 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. In Marionette’s back story, we learn that her family was having to pay money to some corrupt cops. She makes friend with a new boy named Marcos next door, who turns out to become Mime. After one encounter, her father hangs himself so she won’t have to be a part of this anymore, which leads them to take revenge on the cops. They eventually fall in love and have a child together, before they end up in jail. In the present, Marionette, Mine and The Joker, with a captured Batman, go to a meeting of super villains, including Typhoon and Moonbow. Typhoon is killed by The Comedian, who also manages to kill someone from the Court of Owls and wound Riddler and Mr. Freeze. Fleeing the carnage, the pair go to a motel room and make love, only to be interrupted by The Comedian. But, before he can act, Joker takes him down with a joy buzzer. They suggest that maybe The Comedian knows how to find Dr. Manhattan, which make The Joker happy because he needs a good dentist.

THE FLASH #50 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. Zoom has defeated both Wally and Barry and explains that breaking the Force Barrier has resulted in him getting his hands on two new forces: the Strength and Sage Forces. Hunter heads off into Hypertime, so he can collect the Still Force, with our heroes in pursuit. Wally discovers that his seizures causes pain to Zoom and uses those to defat him. Back in the present day, with Iris, Kid Flash and Commander Cold, Kid Flash realizes that he is the speedster that doesn’t count as true family to Barry and leaves. In the end, it is revealed that time travel is now impossible which means Wally can’t get to his family and runs off to try and find them anyway. A surprise return in the form of Impulse greets us and, back in the 25^th Century, someone is breaking out of Iron Heights and promises revenge on the Flashes and the Multiverse.

THE FLASH #51 by Joshua Williamson and Scott Kolins. Beginning two days after the conclusion of Flash War, we find that Wally is still running around the world searching for Zoom and his children. At the same time, Iris is beginning to remember things from before Flashpoint. Speaking of Flashpoint, Kid Flash is upset that he is not truly part of Barry’s “family” and only exists because of Flashpoint. He leaves to join the Teen Titans, which allows Barry a chance to give his apartment to the time-0displaced Commander Cold. When Wally finally stops searching, Superman and Wonder Woman take him off for treatment at the Sanctuary.

GREEN ARROW #42 by Mairghread Scott and Matthew Clark. Ollie continues to battle the parasite until, at one point, he realizes that Parasite has been mistreated in prison and fears going back. The warden shows up, forcing Ollie’s hand. He saves the warden and Parasite is again locked way, leading Ollie to wonder if he did the right thing.

GREEN LANTERNS #50 by Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins. On Mogo, Guardian Kada Sal notices a disturbance. In space, John Stewart finds a derelict starship and is attacked by a space force. Guy and Kilowog are on a planet where they find that L’Call, the slayer of gods, has been mortally injured by Rv Gerz, who is being manipulated by an unknown leader. Simon, Jess and Kyle, out on a night on the town, get the distress call, only to find a badly injured John Stewart. Later, they discover that Guardian Kada Sal has been murdered.

GREEN LANTERNS #51 by Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins. The dead and badly injured re brought to Mogo before Guy, Jess, Simon, Kilowog and Kyle head off into space. They end up back on Mogo, where they attempt to build a dome. But that is not working and everyone may be doomed.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #48 by Robert Venditti and Rafa Sandoval. The Lanterns battle the Darkstars, with less than successful results. Meanwhile, Hal and Hector Hammond go off to the Darkstar stronghold here they discover that the Controllers are the source of the Darkstar’s power battery. That means they are pretty sure that they have a way to defeat the Darkstars.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #49 by Robert Venditti, Rafa Sandoval and Sergio Davila. Hal and the Lanterns, along with their collected allies, take on the Darkstars. Thanks to Hector Hammond’s mental abilities, the Darkstars telepathic link to each other is severed, meaning they can be defeated. Hal goes off after Tomar-Tu by himself, meaning there is a final battle to be had.

HARLEY QUINN #45 by Sam Humphries and John Timms. Harley is enjoying a nice quiet day at the beach when Lashina and Bernadeth of the Female Furies arrives and, after a battle, they take her to Apokolips, where she goes into battle for Granny Goodness. After successfully winning her first fight, she is renamed Hammer Harleen. In the middle of a match, she is given a mission to go capture an escapee named Petite Tina. Only, she finds out that Tina ain’t that petite!

HARLEY QUINN #46 by Sam Humphries and John Timms. Harley and Tina fight to a standstill, when Tina reveals she is a fallen Fury. Harley feels sorry for her for a brief moment and then takes her down. She returns the S[;inter of Destiny back to Granny, where she reveals that she has built the Subjukator as a tribute to Darkseid. After going out and getting food, Harley returns to the Subjukator, where she finds prisoners who will end up being sacrificed to Darkseid. She frees the Lowlies and goes for a beer, only to be brought back to Granny, who locks her up. Now, with Tina also captured, it looks like Bernadeth is going to scramble their minds.

HAWKMAN #2 by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch. Carter and Gertie travel to the museum that contains artifacts from Prince Khufu, where he meets with the curator, so he can give advice and assistance regarding some of the artifacts. Carter becomes Hawkman and travels to the past, here he battles himself. When he awakes, he discovers Khufu’s staff and steals it. Upon examination, he realizes that it is a map for him to follow which will take him to Dinosaur Island.

THE HELLBLAZER #24 by Tim Seeley and Davide Fabbri. Constantine dies, but manages to come back to life and injects the possessed Margaret Ames with vampire blood. He then promises to make a deal with her, which allows Burke to possess The Huntress. But John conjures up Huntress’ dead father, who manages to drive Burke out. Ames is furious that she is now a vampire and John leaves her to meet with an angry Huntress. The two end up in a romantic embrace.

THE IMMORTAL MEN #4 by James Tynion IV and Tyler Kirkham. After learning that the war between The Immortal Man and the Infinite Woman began over their disagreements on how to save the world, we go to the present where the Immortal Man and his team are losing the war with the Infinite Woman and her Bloodless. Caden uses his ability and begins using Kung-Fu on the Bloodless, but that doesn’t stop Infinite Woman from killing the Immortal Man.