DC UNIVERSE Month 11, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1004 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook.  At the Daily Planet, Trish shows up and shows an image of Lois Lane meeting with Lex Luthor. That leads to a flashback with Clark seeking out Lois, which leads to a much-anticipated reunion between the two. Lois explains that Jon needed to be with his grandfather and that her family doesn’t need her and she needs to write the story. Superman hears shots and races to the Planet, where he stops Copperhead from menacing the staff. In the end, the happy couple make amends and Clark reveals that he wants to read her book.

ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS #3 by Peter J. Tomasi and Carlo Barberi. Thanks to Red Kryptonite, Superboy has been split into two beings who are fighting over how to handle things against Rex and his super team of villains. Joker Jr. has been jettisoned into space and there is a huge hole in the space ship that the Superboy pair and Robin must deal with. The ship crash lands and things look bad…until Space Cabbie shows up with Joker Jr., imploring them to hitch a ride.

AQUAMAN #41 by Dan Abnett and Lan Medina. DROWNED EARTH PRELUDE. The Triumvirate of Sea Gods has launched an attack on Earth, turning the water into a poison that transform anyone exposed to it into horrible sea creatures. The people of Atlantis get transformed, all except Mera. With no other hope, she seeks out help from the one person, besides her, that hasn’t been changed: Ocean Master.

BATGIRL #28 by Mairghread Scott and Paul Pelletier. The police are here and Batgirl professes her innocence about the killing of Phillipe Rianne-AKA Grotesque. Amidst gunfire, Batgirl flees leaving Detective Douglas and his officers behind. Douglas is being controlled by Wyrm, even as he tries to fight it. Barbara gets caught coming in late by her dad, who is concerned that she is overexerting herself. Later she examines the info she got off of Evan’s computer and discovers that Wyrm’s signature is all over it and that Grotesque is planning an attack at the museum. But everything is fine because Detective Douglas s there-and he is the new Grotesque.

BATMAN #56 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel. Batman travels across the globe to track down the former KGB Beast: a path that takes him to battles and a meetings with Kanto. Meanwhile, the former KGB Best meets with his father, ultimately killing him as Batman makes his way closer to him.

BATMAN #57 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel. With a wraparound fairy tale about a group of trapped animals, being read to a young Bruce Wayne by his father, Batman battles the former KGB Beast. In the end, Batman breaks his neck and leaves him to freeze to death in the snow.

BATMAN BEYOND #25 by Dan Jurgens and Cully Hamner. Dick Grayson, currently the Mayor of Bludhaven, returns to Neo-Gotham, along with his daughter, to help open the Wayne Family Center of Tomorrow. Also on hand is Matt and Terry and, of course, Bruce Wayne, who has a terse reunion with Dick. Meanwhile, Barbara Gordon is investigating a series of murders which have left members of the Jokerz dead. In the end, Bruce turns the deed of the Center to the Mayor of Neo-Gotham. Inside is a note saying “the joke’s on you Bruce”. A runaway train comes into play and Batman and Robin get involved, but the train ends up exploding and causing great damage. And who is responsible? Well, “Babs” meets with the original Joker.

CATWOMAN #4 by Joelle Jones and Fernando Blanco. Selina meets with her sister Maggie, whose mind has been shattered because of the brutal murder of her husband by Black Mask. Her horrible past is revealed throughout the story, including inferences that she had been forced to eat art of her husband’s dead body. In the end, Doctor Finick is looking to give Maggie a shot and it seems he has evil thoughts in his mind.

THE CURSE OF BRIMSTONE #7 by Justin Jordan and Eduardo Pansica. Joe and his sister continue to battle the possessed on their road trip, which brings them to a town that seems a perfect example of rural America. What they discover is a tractor trailer filled with kidnapped people and learn that all of these mutilated townspeople are being inspired by a mysterious woman who looks to be a disciple of The Salesman.

DAMAGE #10 by Robert Venditti and Aaron Lopresti. Damage travels to and busts into the lab that created him, where he discovers the failed experiments in giant tubes. He destroys the facility and everything in it, putting an end to the Damage Program. But that also brings about the Justice League, who are ready to fight it out with Ethan.

DEATHSTROKE #36 by Cristopher Priest, Ed Benes and Fernando Pasarin. Deathstroke finds himself troubled by violent dreams while he is locked up in Arkham Asylum. Part of his therapy is group therapy with a host of classic villains. Meanwhile, Rose is still dealing living a double life, believing she has been possessed by with what she believes is the spirit of Willow. Later, Deathstroke, along with his mental illusion of Wintergreen, tries an escape and runs into Dev, who claims that he is from space and can travel through space and time. As the pair gets outside, they find themselves being picked up by…a spaceship?

DETECTIVE COMICS #990 by James Robinson and Stephen Segovia. Batman faces off with Two-Face and his men, managing to get away before he is killed. Back home, Duke tells Bruce that he has noticed an influx of new tourists in Gotham going by the name of Kobra. At GCPD, Kobra attacks and a gunfight ensues, killing many. Luckily Two-Face arrives and helps the GCPD. Later, Batman goes to Two-Face’ lair and suggests they have a chat.

DETECTIVE COMICS #991 by James Robinson and Carmine DiGiandmenico. Batman, Gordon and Two-Face meet, with Two-Face saying that Harvey was responsible for the murder of Karl Twist, because he was Harvey’s last case before he became Two-Face. Later, at GCPD, the Kobra agent reveals very little under interrogation before the implant neural bomb kills him. Two-Face reveals Twist’s map of targets and that means this unlikely trio are off to take down Kobra.

THE FLASH #56 by Joshua Williamson and Scott Kolins. Heat Wave has been transformed, has destroyed Iron Heights and is now loose in Central City. But, how is that possible when Heat Wave is lying in a hospital bed? Well, he WAS in a hospital bed, as Iris meets with Commander Cold, who has the bodies of Heat Wave, Barry and Detective Burns. The Sage Force has put Burns and Flash inside Heat Wave’s mind and, if Rory has another flare up like he had in the prison, Central City will be destroyed.

THE FLASH #57 by Joshua Williamson and Scott Kolins. Flash and Detective Burns continue to fight the monster Heat Wave inside of his mind, which is causing trouble for Iris and Commander Cold, who are trying to keep Heat Wave from exploding. Iris gets a momentary flash of her life before Flashpoint and she tells Cold that she knows how to fix this. Cold enters Heat Wave’s mind, dressed as Captain Cold and they team up to defeat the fire demon raging in his mind. They all wake in Barry’s apartment, except for Heat Wave who ends up back in Iron Heights and no longer is covered in scars. Cold continues to figure how to live in this time while Iris and Barry head off together on the Force Quest. In the end, the Flash of Earth-18 is killed by Hunter Zolomon.

GREEN ARROW #45 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Javier Fernandez. Roy Harper has died at Sanctuary and friends meet at his funeral. Ollie shares the grief and blames himself for not being the best partner to Roy and he vows to not disappoint Roy ever again.

GREEN LANTERNS #56 by Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins. The Lanterns do their best to battle Cyborg Superman, Eon and their crew, which is difficult because Henshaw has the Phantom Ring and controls any Lantern ring recently recharged. Hal and Killowog have clean rings and pretty much handle the fight. Meanwhile, Simon releases John from his healing chamber, fills him in on what has happened, and the pair go off with guns blazing, taking the fight to Eon. With Eon down, the stasis field is dropped and the full force of Lanterns attack, causing Henshaw to flee. Unfortunately, he flees to Coast City, where he plans on finishing the job he once started.

GREEN LANTERNS #57 by Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins. Henshaw starts his attack on Coast City, but Hal and some other Lanterns arrive and take the fight to him. Together, they force Henshaw to flee, saving Coast City. In the end, the Guardians reveal they are leaving Mogo, as they have been at work restoring Oa. And Jessica decides she needs to find herself and breaks up her partnership with Simon to do so.

HARLEY QUINN #51 by Sam Humphries and Sami Basri. Captain Triumph is here and he is fighting bad guys. Jonni DC contacts Harley to let her know that she needs to set things right for this time displace hero. Harley meets with him and they send the day together but, when he learns that Harley is responsible for his being here, he attacks her.

HARLEY QUINN #52 by Sam Humphries and Sami Basri. Captain Triumph reveals how the loss of his brother led to him meeting with The Three Witches, who give him his power and how he joined a team of heroes to fight the Axis during World War II.  Back to their fight, Triumph battles Harley before he comes to his senses and realizes he cannot kill her. Later, after a meeting with Jonni DC, Harley tracks Triumph down, which leads them back to the airfield where his brother died and he got his powers. The ghosts of his past arrive and, because he has come back to his origin site, he is allowed to go back home. In the end, Minor Disaster has arrived in town and is planning to destroy Harley Quinn.

HAWKMAN #5 by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch. Hawkman and The Atom are reunited in the Microverse, where Atom takes Carter to his lab. They examine the artifact hat Hawkman has and determine that the disk allowed travel between the Macro and Microverse. It also means that Carter once had been reincarnated in the Microverse. Finding out that the disk is connected to the Nth Metal, they head off to Moz-Ga to find it. Moz-Ga is a sentient being that attacks them. But here, Ray can expand to giant size and together, he and Carter fight back.

HEROES IN CRISIS #2 by Tom King and Clay Mann. After the events at Sanctuary, Harley finds herself on the run and hides out at Penguin’s place. The Trinity examines Steel’s body and finds that the killer had shoved mechanical joke teeth down his throat. Booster, fearing he is the killer, reconnects with Skeets before meeting with The Flash, who discovers that Wally is dead. The Trinity tracks down Harley, who is playing cards with one of Penguin’s penguins. She manages to get free of the heroes by using the Krytonite hidden in Batman’s belt to subdue Superman. Later, she goes to a bridge and drops a red rose in the water, leading us to believe that Poison Ivy is also dead. Later, Lois Lane finds that someone sent a note to the Planet tip line nd it as sign by The Puddlers.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #9 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez. With Batman in a body cast, recovering from recent injuries, and the rest of the team trying to get acclimated to their new rooms in the Hall of Justice, Superman attempts to rebuild the moon. Superman is being attacked by a parasite called the Coronavore, which drains solar energy and he reveals that Batman called them to attack, because he sees that the world needs to change/ Elsewhere, Hawkgirl confronts Martian Manhunter about the recent revelations that she was connected to The Totality. They decide to go to Thanagar Prime to find the answers.