DC UNIVERSE Month 18, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1011 by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve Epting. Kate Spencer has been framed by Talia concerning the attack on DEO and Director Bones and now Manhunter is hunted. Meanwhile, Superman searches for Lois, who is off with Tiger, who reveals that he knows she is Lois Lane and not a Spyral agent. He gives her everything he has on Spyral and she calls the Planet, to get the story out there. She goes off with Superman and Tiger gets eliminated by Leviathan. Lois and Clark meet with The Huntress, who questions thow smart it was to have Amanda Waller in the Fortress. They go there and find that Jimmy was knocked out and Amanda escaped, seemingly shocked when Jimmy accused her of being Leviathan. In the end, the Guardian gets a hospital visit from someone trying to make him part of Leviathan’s team.

ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS #10 by Peter J. Tomasi and Carlo Barberi. An older Jon is telling his and Damian’s grandkids the story of their battle with the Injustice Gang. The team is going in to stop Rex and his army from invading Earth. Meanwhile, Jonah shoots Al-X, which kickstarts the security measures put in place by the Guardians and allows him to have access to a fully functioning ring. Then Rex kills Robo-Hex, which is when Kid Joker shows up with General Tommy Tomorrow and the rest of his Planeteers: grown up versions of Damian and Jon.

AQUAMAN #48 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Viktor Bogdanovic. The younger gods give Aquaman a special potion which allows him to go on a vision quest with Mother Shark and sees his past, allowing him to restore a lot of his memory. In the process, he sees the person who killed him: Mera.

BATGIRL #35 by Mairghread Scott and Paul Pelletier. Batgirl has been captured by the Terrible Trio and it looks like she is going to be killed by them. But she uses her Bat Prachute to blast out of captivity and take down Shark. Meanwhile, Alysia meets with Remige Investments and finds out that they have information that Barbara has been working with Poison Ivy. They demand that Alysia fires Barbara and that THIS is a hostile takeover of Gotham Clean Energy.

BATMAN #70 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Batman finally breaks out of his Knightmares, which leads to him making his way through Arkham and beating up prisoners there including Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow, Solomon Grundy, Amygdala and Two Face. He leaves Arkham, after making a promise to come back with and army to take on Bane.

BATMAN #71 by Tom King, Mikel Janin and Jorge Fornes. In a flashback, Batman is confronted by Commissioner Gordon, who tells him that he has gone over the line and is no longer welcome in Gotham anymore. Batman turns on the Bat Signal and a red-light shines into the sky, alerting the Bat Family. He meets with them and tells them they need to take back Arkham and reclaim Gotham from Bane. In the present, Batman confronts Bane at Wayne Manor, where Alfred tells Batman that Bane has broken him.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #1 by Bryan Hill and Dexter Soy. Sofia and her father Gabriel get attacked by a villain who drains the life from her father before throwing her off a bridge and into a fuel truck, which burns her but seemingly doesn’t kill her. Next we see Black Lightning and the team taking on a villain called Saint John. Later, Batman reveals that Gabriel was connected to something called the Ark Program and that Sofi is different because she was genetically engineered to be. He aalso knows that she is being targeted by whoever killed her father. Batman instructs the team to find Sofia, who is on the run. But she runs into a bi guy with a gun who tells her that she will be responsible for a new age of humanity.

BATMAN BEYOND #32 by Dan Jurgens and Rick Leonardi. Batman is trapped and it looks like he might die. Matt desperately tries to find a way to save him and Bruce Wayne calls it a lost cause and eaves the mansion. Matt figures it out and Terry comes back to the Cave. After refusing help from the former villain Ten, Terry goes out to find Splitt, which leads to another battle. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne goes to a casino and does some gambling. But the REAL Bruce Wayne is still in Arkham, where the inmates believe he is False Face.

THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS #5 by Scott Snyder and Jock. While trapped by the officers who thinks he is the Batman Who Laughs, Batman uses his knowledge of the officers’ private lives to convince them, through threats, that he is the REAL Batman. Meanwhile, Jim Gordon is being chased by the Grim Knight's Crows, who are twisted versions of James Gordon Jr. Luckily the real Jim Gordon Jr. arrives to save his father. Elsewhere, the Batman Who Laughs stumbles onto the lair of the Court of Owls and unleashes his own twisted version of Talons, along with a Dark Multiverse Bruce Wayne who leads his own version of the Court of Owls. In the end, Gordon and Batman reunite and decide the only option is to unleash the Last Laugh protocol.

CATWOMAN #11 by Joelle Jones, Fernando Blanco and Hugo Petrus. The armored car which Carlos is trapped in is on the loose and Catwoman is in hot pursuit, especially because it is headed directly for a red carpet event. She saves the day, Carlos and survives some cops shooting at her. Meanwhile, Detective Yilmaz is assisting “Mother” and visits a pawn shop, with evil intentions.

CATWOMAN ANNUAL #1 by Joelle Jones, Elena Casagrande, Hugo Petrus and Scott Godlewski. Set in her early days in Villa Hermosa, Selina has been framed for a triple murder and must find out who is responsible. It turns out to be the Immortal Man, who she battles and defeat. In the end, she takes her revenge on the girl who framed her.

DEATHSTROKE #43 by Christopher Priest, Adam Glass, Carlo Pagulayan, Sergio Davila and Pop Mhan. In the finale of THE TERMINUS AGENDA, the villains Damian has had held in his homemade prison are loose and it’s up to the Teen Titans to stop them from completing their escape. We also learn that Robin, who has one of his eyes injured during the previous part of this crossover, had managed to put poison in each of his prisoners, just in case they did make their way outside. In the end, Robin and Deathstroke confront each other and Robin aims a gun at Deathstroke, who dares hi to kill him. That’s when an arrow pierces his eyepatch-an arrow from Emiko.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1003 by Peter J. Tomasi and Brad Walker. Batman searches for Robin, who has been captured by the Arkham Knight and he Knights of the Sun. Arkham Knight reveals herself to Robin, who releases Robin as a good faith gesture. He uses his Robin badge to make a Robin Signal, which Batman finds, with Robin explaining he wanted to make certain that Knight hadn’t put a tracker on him. Back at the Batcave, Batman explains he already had deduced that Knight is a woman and they head into Arkham to confront her. Once there, they find none of the Knights of the Sun, but they do find her father, who reveals she is Astrid Arkham.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1004 by Peter J. Tomasi and Brad Walker. Dr. Jeremiah Arkham tells the Arkham Knight’s origin. His wife was working at Arkham and had developed a good relationship with the prisoners. The night she was to deliver Astrid, Batman attacked some of the prisoners. While the villains helped her deliver he daughter, a stray Batarang thrown by a new transfer patient kills her mother. Astrid grew up in Arkham, believing her mother as alive and just left the country. But one day she finds a digital file that shows the event, and thus her hatred for Batman fueled her training to become the Arkham Knight. Batman and Robin figure out she has gone to the observatory to make that her new base. Indeed, that is where she is and has crafted new Day Bombs with Dr. Phosphorus’ help. That’s when the Dynamic Duo arrive.

DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL #2 by Peter J. Tomasi and Travis Moore. The Reaper has returned and is killing criminals in Europe, leading Batman to find out how a dead villain has come back. He digs through the Black Casebook to find out. The Reaper Judson Caspian-a crime fighter who killed criminals when Bruce was just a boy. He died during a fight with a young Batman. Bruce and Alfred travel to Crete and meet with Sophia Zervas. Later, Alfred and Bruce set things up to attract the Reaper, leading to a confrontation where Reaper escapes. Batman goes to an old book store and finds the Reapers hideout. It turns out that the Reapers are a whole organization. The leader is Judson's son, Julian. Julian unleashes a giant version of Reaper, who Batman defeats as the building they are in explodes. Julian escapes, meaning he’s around for future stories.

DIAL H FOR HERO #3 by Sam Humphries and Joe Quinones. We begin with a flashback to the original Dial owner, Robby Reed. Meanwhile, Miguel tries to get The Flash’ attention by pulling some stunts with Summer’s help, but to no avail. Corrine, the police officer from last issue, talks to the Operator and dials up The Blue Bird of Happiness. Miguel and Summer confront The Blue Bird of Happiness, with Summer, who suffered a traumatizing childhood, using the dial to become Lo Lo Kick You. She defeats Blue Bird and the pair travel to Detroit. In the end, The Operator is revealed to be…Robby Reed.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK #10 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. On November 2, 1985, Dr. Manhattan leaves his world to come to our Earth…on April 18^th, 1938, where he encounters Carver Colman-the star of the Nathaniel Dusk films. They become friends and, over the years, Jon tells Carver about what will happen next, thus directing his career and his life. April 18 is also the day Superman first appears. Over the years, more heroes appear and the Justice Society is formed. But Superman’s origin is changed and he never appears. Over the years, Superman’s origin changes, as he appears in 1956 and 1986, due to Dr. Manhattan’s interference. Superboy even makes his way to the future, where he meets the Legion of Superheroes. But Dr. Manhattan changes things again, by allowing Alan Scott to die and thus the Justice Society never is formed. Five years ago, he changes the Multiverse again, creating the New 52 timeline. Eventually, the heroes, specifically Wally West, discovers Manhattan.

THE FLASH #70 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. The book opens with a young Barry watching a lightning storm as a young kid. Flashing forward 15 years, Barry meets with August at a crime scene when Iris shows up and August suggest that Barry should ask her out. Later, Barry is trying to figure out his mother’s murder when he is struck by lightning and gains his powers. He finally wakes after months in a coma and discovers he has powers, which he goes out experimenting with. After designing some speed-proof shoes, he discovers himself in the future and that Central City has been taken over by the Turtle King. A much older Barry finds him and explains that this is what happens when you mess around with time travel.

THE FLASH #71 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. While Future Flash tries to explain who he is and calm Barry down, Turtle’s soldiers attack, causing the Flash pair to flee. The soldiers go off to tell Turtle that Flash has returned push their attack. The Barrys are able to get away quickly and the men decide they must inform Turtle that the Flash is back and he uses the Still Force to suck the life out of someone. While teaching Barry how to stop, Future Flash reveals that no one has been able to stop Turtle since he came to power. He decides he must send Barry back to his own past. They manage to find the remains of the Cosmic Treadmill and Future Flash sends Barry back to his proper place in the timeline. Back home, Barry researches how to get rid of his abilities, but gets an alert on his phone reminding him he has a date with Iris. In the process, he sees that the Central City Trust is being robbed by Turtle. Iris is almost hit by a car and Brry uses his power to save her before chasing after Turtle.

THE GREEN LANTERN #7 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. Hal is trapped in his ring with the wizard Myrwhidden, who has constructed a world where constructs have been made to love him. One construct, named Pengowirr, tells him that she moved Hal into to the ring to save his life after Hal defused the U-Bomb. But she is dying because of the loss of power and Hal has to find Myrwhidden to gain enough energy to get free. He does and then gets free and finds the nearest Lantern to recharge and save Pengowirr.

HARLEY QUINN #61 by Sam Humphries and Otto Schmidt. During what should be a quiet game night, Harley ends up in a life size version of Dungeons and Dragons, where the evil Enchantress rules. She controls the Rogue Enforcers and even Tina is affected, and battles against Harley.

HAWKMAN #12 by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch. Hawkman faces off against Idamm while the Hawkmen of past lives battle the Deathbringers. Hawkman prevails, as Idamm admits that Carter is truly the General of the Deathbringers, which brings them all into line. He orders the Deathbringers away and, as a result of all of this, Carter can now remember all of his past lives. In the end, Hawkman meets with Idamm, who explains that his new blood campaign will begin soon.

HEROES IN CRISIS #9 by Tom King and Clay Mann. Wally is five days in the future where he is about to have his neck broken by his younger self. Harley, Batgirl, Booster and Beetle crash land and Harley reunites with Poison Ivy, who has been transformed into an emissary of The Green. Booster explains that Flash doesn’t have to kill Flash-he just needs to bring the already dead body back five days and close the time loop, which he does. Sanctuary is reopened and Wally is imprisoned. In the end, there is a Flash symbol bathed in blue light.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #23 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez. Superman makes a last ditch attempt to get off the rock that the World Forger has stranded him on, while the rest of the team, minus Batman, struggle to free themselves from their prison. They get free, with Shayne’s help, but end up back in the soup, leading to them jumping into a space ship, which is piloted by Darkseid. Batman makes a choice to move the suns away from the planet, which could cost Superman his life.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #24 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez. Superman, mostly powerless because Batman took away the sun, continues to try and free himself. The Legion of Doom teams up with the League, as they understand that the World Forger’s world has issues. With Lois and Jimmy chasing them , the Legion sacrifices themselves, killing Lois and Jimmy and allowing the League to get away. They confront the World Forger, who has a secret weapon: an armored Batman.