DC UNIVERSE Month 12, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1005 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook. Gummy, who works for Red Cloud, is in the process of buying what she believes is the real Dial H for Hero disk from a known associate when The Question arrives to break up the buy. Meanwhile, Clark meets with Melody Moore, who explains that the Mayor has decided not to allow the fire department to continue pursuing the investigation about the rash of fires. Superman goes to meet with the Mayor, who he finds incapacitated. This leads to an encounter with Red Cloud, who manages to chase him off by using her powers. In the end, it is revealed that Red Cloud is Miss Goode.

AQUAMAN #42 by Dan Abnett and Lan Medina. A DROWNED EARTH TIE-IN. Aquaman has been stabbed by Poseidon and that leads Arthur to a symbolic journey through his mind. Young Arthur and his father sail on a blood-filled sea and battle against Orm, before transforming into Aquaman to fight against Corum Rath, the Scavenger’s men and Black Manta. In the end, Mera arrives and gives him Poseidon's trident to use to defeat Manta. Back in the real world, a healed Aquaman takes down Poseidon and prepares to take on the invaders.

AQUAMAN/JUSTICE LEAGUE: DROWNED EARTH #1 by Scott Snyder, Francis Manapul and Howard Porter. While Mera, Flash and Superman fight against the Sea Gods, Aquaman and Wonder Woman show up to help, with Aquaman carrying Poseidon’s trident. Arthur explains that the Sea Gods had been betrayed by Poseidon and therefore they are not really the enemy. He and Mera argue and he decides he needs to talk to them. But that may be too late as they have unleashed the Death Kraken. Cheetah arrives and attacks Wonder Woman but Batman, in one of Luthor’s old battlesuits, arrives and the tide begins to turn. Luthor calls the villains home, as they have secured the Totality. But Manta has thoughts of his own and, just as the Sea Gods realize that maybe they should cease their actions, Manta betrays them and kills two of them, declaring himself the new Sea God. Unfortunately, he can’t control the Death Kraken and begs for Luthor’s help, which he refuses to give. To save the world, Arthur drags Manta inside the Kraken and blows it up, apparently with both dying in the process. In the end, Mera and Tyyde form an alliance, a memorial is built to Aquaman and the League decides to let Mera be a League member in her husband’s place. But it appears Aquaman has survived.

BATGIRL #29 by Mairghread Scott and Paul Pelletier. Barbara shows up at the art museum, meeting with her father and Detective Douglas, who is the new Grotesque. She turns off the lights and changes into Batgirl, where she encounters Douglas, who admits that he is not being controlled by Wyrm but is acting on his own. The pair battle as the sleeper agents hold everyone hostage. She eventually gets through to Douglas, who turns on the sleepers, defeating Wyrm but losing his life in the process. In the end, Barbara gets her operation to fix her issues and Jim Gordon is questioned by the FBI.

BATMAN #58 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. The Penguin gets released from prison, but not until after he has a heart to heart conversation with Bane. Upon release, his crew starts a crime spree while, at the same time, Batman is investigating a series of other crimes, including the murder of another woman in Gotham. Batman goes out to take down Penguin’s thugs, leading to a meeting between the two. Meanwhile, it looks like someone is prepared to kill Alfred.

BATMAN #59 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Batman interrogates The Penguin, who admits to killing three women but is giving up Bane because he was responsible for the death of Penguin’s wife Penny. Batman breaks into Arkham and beats up a mentally incapacitated Bane. Jim Gordon arrives and demands Batman stops, leading to The Dark Knight punching Gordon. Gordon orders Batman to leave, allowing Arkham’s doctors to treat Bane, who, while critically injured, smiles slyly.

BATMAN BEYOND #26 by Dan Jurgens and Brett Booth. The Joker is back and causing havoc, which causes Batman and Robin to save the day, saving Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and others in the process. In the end, the Joker revisits an old friend in the form of the crowbar that killed Jason Todd. And he plans on using it on the new Robin.

CATWOMAN #5 by Joelle Jones. Mrs. Creel has killed her husband, which she passes off as a suicide. Meanwhile, Catwoman gets captured while visiting her sister and is brought to meet with Mrs. Creel, whether she wants to or not.

THE CURSE OF BRIMSTONE #8 by Justin Jordan and Eduardo Pansica. Salesman’s agent continues to resurrect the Drowned Dead and turns the townspeople against Annie. To save his sister, Joe runs into Brimstone and kills everyone in the town, leading to his sister driving away from her brother.

DAMAGE #11 by Robert Venditti and Aaron Lopresti. Damage battles member of the Justice League, leading to him defeating Guy Gardener, Vixen, Flash and Green Arrow. But then, Superman arrives.

DEATHSTROKE #37 by Christopher Priest and Fernando Pasarin. Slade is still locked up in Arkham and has not been captured by aliens. Has this all been a dream or not? Meanwhile, Rose and Joey are sent on a mission to kill a prison inmate on Death Row before she is put to death. But things go wrong when she finds that Joey has been murdered and Deathstroke is not who she thought he was and completes the hit on the inmate. Now this fake Deathstroke wants Willow to come out.

DETECTIVE COMICS #992 by James Robinson and Carmine DiGiandomenico. Batman and Two Face take on Kobra while the rest of the Bat Family take on their followers throughout the city. While they take down a lot of the bad guys, Batman reveals to Gordon that Kobra has developed a virus more powerful than Anthrax and they plan on releasing it throughout Gotham.

DETECTIVE COMICS #993 by James Robinson and Carmine DiGiandomenico. Kobra has been defeated and Harvey Dent is dead. How did this happen? Batman and Two-Face went after Kobra and the villain shot the pressure valves on the toxin, leading to an explosion which killed him. In actuality, Harvey survived and had planned a meeting with Leviathan to give them a sample of the toxin. Seeing things go bad, the Fireflies desert Harvey and that leads to a battle between the Dark Knight and his long-time villain.

THE FLASH #58 by Joshua Williamson and Rafa Sandoval. Barry and Iris are in Badhnista in search of the new Forces. After saving some folks and stopping a purse snatcher, they end up crossing paths with a pair of super powered villains called Gemini, destroying a centuries old church in the process. Determined to get answers, Barry and Iris go to Gorilla City, where they find the results of an ape massacre.

THE FLASH #59 by Joshua Williamson and Rafa Sandoval. Barry and Iris are in Gorilla City and witnessing the results of a massacre. They learn, after meeting with a group of gorilla scientists, that Grodd was not responsible for this, but Gemini was. They also learn that the gorillas knew of the fur forces and they were blessed with Sage Force. But the video they are watching has been corrupted, leading Flash to contact Commander Cold and get some technical advice. He finds that there is a huge energy spike in Corto Maltese and that is where Iris and Barry head to. When they leave, Gemini arrives and kills the scientists. In Corto Maltese, Flash encounters Fuerza.

GREEN ARROW #46 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and German Peralta. Citizen is still looking to do in Oliver Queen and has had his followers take hostages at a party which leads to Ollie and Canary having to save he day. Later, Dinah investigates the offices of the late Mr. Slade while Arrow visits Kevin Carlson looking for answers, where he learns that Oliver didn’t kill that girl in a car accident, but Brett did. This leads him to meet with the crooked sheriff which in turn leads him to seek out a dirtier cop named Joe Stanz. He investigates Stanz’ home and learns that Stanz is Citizen. After an explosive confrontation, Ollie goes public and holds a press conference, revealing he is not only innocent but going into police protection. As he leaves, he discovers his driver is really Citizen.

THE GREEN LANTERN #1 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. Green Lantern Maxim Tox, with the help of his partner Floozle Flem battles and defeats a member of the Spider Guild. But the leader gets away and, while responding to a distress call, Tox gets killed. The boss reports to his boss, revealing that he only got away because of his having a Luck Dial. The bad guys, thanks to the Luck Dial, manage to escape their bonds and head towards Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, Hal is enjoying some private time with a young lady before he gets into a fight with some aliens passing themselves off as human. After the fight, he finds the downed spaceship and dying Lantern Chriselon inside, who tells him that alien killers have been released. With his last breath, he implores Hal to use his Lantern to fight them. He takes out the villains before being called to New Oa, where he learns that there is a traitor among the Lanterns. In the end, Controller Mu has the Luck Dial and brings it to The Weaponeer, who looks an awful lot like Hal Jordan.

HARLEY QUINN #53 by Sam Humphries and Lucas Werneck. Harley is still trying to earn enough money to pay off her debts and is doing it through wild stunts and broadcasting them over the Internet. Major Disaster’s daughter Penny decides to take on the family name, but her Disaster Disk doesn’t quite cut the mustard, so she renames herself Minor Disaster and decides to publicly embarrass Harley to make a name for herself. After a number of unsuccessful attempts, she finally succeeds by making Harley release a video where she insults her audience, ruining Harley’s Internet career.

HARLEY QUINN #54 by Sam Humphries and Lucas Werneck. Harley deals with the fallout from her video being released with her disrespecting her audience. But Minor Disaster’s plan backfires, as Harley’s fans applaud her for speaking out and being honest. Major Disaster shows up and refuses his daughter’s wanting to team-up. This upsets Harley, who feels bad about it. This also upsets Minor Disaster, who decides to use her power to destroy Coney Island. Harley tries to convince Minor Disaster to stop, while Tina, along with lots of Coney Island residents, team up to keep Coney Island from sinking. Minor Disaster creates a volcano in the ocean, which saves Coney Island. In the end, Major Disaster reaches out to his daughter, who says she will make her own legacy. And Harley: she has her own major disaster as her family shows up for Christmas.

HAWKMAN #6 by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch. With Atom fighting the planet Moz-ga in the Microverse, Hawkman digs into the planet to find the source of the Nth Metal. What he finds is his spaceship from another incarnation of himself, where the reactor core is made of Nth Metal. His plan is to use this power to help fight against the Deathbringers.  In the end, Kartar plans on using the Deathbringers to kill Carter Hall.

HEROES IN CRISIS #3 by Tom King, Clay Mann and Lee Weeks. In the days before the massacre at Sanctuary, several heroes find themselves in the Chamber Rooms, where they can work out their problems in a virtual reality setting. Booster Gold has a conversation with himself. Wally West spends time with his wife and kids. Lagoon Boy takes repeated shots from a virtual laser. An alarm is sounded and that brings all the heroes out of their Chambers. Lagoon Boy is killed, falling dead among the bodies of Gunfire, Red Devil and others. Wally finds Roy and then is knocked out, possibly killed, by Harley Quinn.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #12 by James Tynion IV and Frazer Irving. DROWNED EARTH PART THREE. With most of the Earth underwater, Mera, Superman and The Flash are in the Tomb of Arion fighting against Drogue, Manta and their minions. Mera fashions a sword from a piece of the Tear of Extinction and stabs Drogue, which leads to the villains retreating and the flood waters retreating. The Legion of Doom has made their way into the Hall of Justice, with Cheetah and Luthor preparing to grab The Totality, even as Batman confronts them. The pair grab The Totality and teleport away. In the Graveyard of the Gods, Poseidon tells Wonder Woman and Aquaman that Arion wanted to make peace with the Ocean Lords, which didn’t sit well with Poseidon, who had Arion banish them. Poseidon gives Aquaman his trident, so they can fight the Ocean Lords. In the end, Manta meets with the Ocean Lords, who unleashes the Death Kraken. Continued in AQUAMAN/JUSTICE LEAGUE:DROWNED EARTH #1.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #5 by James Tynion IV and Daniel Sampere. We begin with the funeral for The Nightmaster, attended by many magical characters including the Phantom Stranger and Blue Devil, before Bobo goes back to the Oblivion Bar, where he gets drunk while Traci 13 runs the bar. Justice League Dark arrives, and Bobo explains how The Nightmaster gave Bobo a magical sword which allows anyone to go to Myrra. The team wants to go, but Bobo is hesitant as he was talked into casting a spell which filled the realm with dragons and undead warriors. They go, but Blue Devil, who runs Myrra, isn’t happy to see them, saying its time for Bobo to pay up for breaking their pact.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #3 by Joshua Williamson and Philippe Briones. This whole mission began because Starfire and Cyborg stole Brainiac's ship from the Hall of Justice. Starfire wanted to find Tamaran wile Cyborg had the urge to go to the Ghost Sector, both of which were thoughts implanted by Darkseid. After being the in temple, they all decide to hightail it out of there and follow a white noise to another planet, where it seems like Starfire is dying. They meet an alien who explains he was once a medic and can heal Starfire from the plague she is infected with. Jess and Azrael head out to find parts they can scavenge to repair their ship, meeting a creepy alien named Vulg, who is making the last survivors of Colu his slave, leading to a battle.  The team gets reunited with a healed Starfire leading the way.  The freed slaves are thrilled to see Cyborg, saying “all hail the machine.” Vulg contacts Rapture, who believes only Azrael "can lead these worlds to their destiny". But the planet that Rapture is on has a giant statue of Cyborg on it.