DC UNIVERSE, Month 20, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1013 by Brian  Michael Bendis and Syzmon Kudrankski. Leone gets visited by Lex Luthor with an offer, leading to her engaging in a full house protocol, resulting in her house disappearing. Meanwhile, Goode tells Perry White the story of how Rose met with Leviathan and refused their offer. Superman arrives and confronts the Leviathan minion, who realizes that he is wired to explode, and does so transporting Superman to India. While relating the story, Goode begins to change into her alter ego. In the end, Luthor arrives to meet with Red Cloud and has an offer for her.

ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS #12 by Peter J. Tomasi and Carlos Barberi. Rex has his ultimate weapon and Jon and Damian are trapped inside of it. They meet with the being inhabiting it, known as The Place, who reveals it was influenced by heroes and villains of the Multiverse. Puppeteer arrives inside and together, with the help of The Pace, they break free and attack Luthor. Using their connection and energy, they turn the cube on Luthor and defeat him. They make their way back home, only to find out this adventure ahs lasted all throughout their summer. In the end, and in the future, the older heroes proceed to tell another tale of their past.

AQUAMAN #50 by Kelly Sue DaConnick and Robson Rocha. Aquaman returns to Amnesty Bay with the refugee gods. Wonder Woman also arrives, as the whole town is delighted to see him return. She asks what is going on with Mera and child, leading Aquaman to explain how their relationship is complicated. Deciding it’s not a good idea to have the gods remain in Amnesty Bay, the thought is to have them move to an old lighthouse, where a legendary catain lived, wrote and went mad. Aquaman gets a call from someone he doesn’t know who has been arrested-Jackson Hyde. In Atlantis, Vulko explains that Aquaman has returned to Amnesty Bay and asks if she plans on seeing him. Vulko explains that the citizens and Council is concerned about her pregnancy and the only way to settle the line of succession is through marriage or war. Mera reveals that her plan is to marry…Vulko. In the end, Luthor finds Black Manta and makes him an offer.

BATGIRL #36 by Mairghread Scott and Paul Pelletier. Batgirl continues to battle the Terrible Trio as the building burns around them. Fox turns on his partners, knocking out one and leaving a gravely injured Shark behind as he flees. Batgirl tries to help Shark, who sacrifices himself to save her. Barbara finally gets to meet with Alysia, who explains to her that her company has been subject to a hostile takeover. Jason shows up and offers to help her pack her personal belongings, but she goes it alone and moves to her new apartment in The Narrows.

BATGIRL #37 by Cecil Castelucci and Carmine DiGiandomenico. The reformed Terrible Trio, with a new guy playing Shark, make their way into an apparent laboratory/stronghold in the Blue Ridge Mountains where they encounter a being seeking a password. After numerus attempts, the Trio flees, leading to Luthor arriving and offering the being a name. That name is Oracle. Elsewhere, Izzy takes Bard to a concert where they run into her friend Bea(from NIGHTWING). Meanwhile, Batgirl fights with Killer Moth

BATMAN #74 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Batman and Flashpoint Batman continue their desert trek, Finally arriving at a Lazarus Pit. The pair begin to brawl and Batman reveals that he buried his mother in the desert while Flashpoint Batman slept. Batman is defeated and left in the pit, while his “father” leaves. In the end, we see a single had emerging from the pit.

BATMAN #75 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel. Om a time described as “later”, Joker and The Riddler are investigating a murder, working for Commissioner Strange. Batman arrives on the scene and we learn it’s the Flashpoint Batman, who has taken over the Batcave and is now served by his butler, The Ventriloquist. At a secret hideout where Two Face is holed up, Batman arrives with Gotham Girl, where they take down the villains and Batman throws a batarang into Harvey’s right eye. He explains to Strange that he hasn’t killed Two-Face, just destroyed the Harvey side of him. Two Face is taken into captivity and is greeted by the Psycho Pirate, who apparently has managed to change this future with is powers. Elsewhere, Bruce makes his way to the mountain where he was trained, only to find that most of the monks are dead. He is beaten and left in the snow, which leads to a reunion with Catwoman. In the end, Luthor’s plan continues, as an offer is made to Bane.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #3 by Bryan Hill and Dexter Soy. Sofia is trapped inside a “dragon” by Ra’s Al Ghul, who tells her she must fight and kill Ishmael if she wants to become the person she needs to be. Elsewhere, the rest of the Outsiders battle a mysterious figure who turns out to be Batman in disguise, testing them and, more specifically, testing Black Lightning. In the end, we see that Luthor have previously shower up, met with Ra’s and gave him an offer.

BATMAN BEYOND #34 by Dan Jurgens and Rick Leonardi.  Bruce Wayne is finally free of False face’ clutches and Batman is back fighting crime, but with a harder edge. Later, Batman returns to the cave and tells Bruce he will fight crime his way. He goes after Splitt, but then offers them a deal: join together and rule. That’s when Bruce and the others realize that Batman is really False Face. Elsewhere, Terry wakes up after a violent robbery at a restaurant, holding a gun. And he wonders who he actually is.

THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS #7 by Scott Snyder and Jock. Batman and the Batman Who Laughs face off, with Batman slowly becoming poisoned and Batman Who Laughs revealing that he plans to kill himself so his protégé can take over for him. But Batman has tinkered with Batman Who Laughs tech and this leads to a violent confrontation with Batman gaining the upper hand, but not alone, as the Joker arrives to put the final touches on the victory. Meanwhile, the Grim Knight continues to taunt James Gordon, encouraging to kill his father while he remains helpless to protect the water supply. Gordon is left with two choices: kill his son or drink from the contaminated water. But James ends up being the hero in the end and saves his father, although it seems that the Gordon may have been infected by the water.

CATWOMAN #13 by Joelle Jones and Fernando Blanco. Carlos gets beat up by Detective Yilmaz and ends up in the clutches of the Creels, where his nosebleed drips onto the artifact and activates it, momentarily producing a world map that quickly disappears. Catwoman arrives and beats everyone up, freeing Carlos and his mother, but it struck down by a knife wound caused by Creel’s reanimated son. Later, Raymond Creel visits his mother, who slicks his throat open so she can use him as a blood sacrifice and again gain control of the map. In the end, Luthor shows up at Catwoman’s apartment with an offer.

DEATHSTROKE #45 by Christopher priest and Fernando Pasarin. Rose is trying to complete her father’s final contract, but it seems Shado has the same idea. During their battle, Rose learns that Shado’s daughter was responsible for Slade’s death. Joe shows up and claims that he actually was responsible for Slade’s death, leading to a fight between the pair. Rose takes Joe out and then heads off to take out Red Arrow. In the end, Luthor shows up with an offer for Joe

DETECTIVE COMICS #1007 by Peter J. Tomasi and Kyle Hotz. The Cult of the Divine Hand has taken Jim Corrigan and they are preparing to sacrifice him. In the Batcave, Bruce is trying to put his skills to use regarding the crime scene while The Spectre gives him his backstory. Bruce agrees to let Spectre help in finding Corrigan provided he doesn’t kill anyone. They find the criminal Bruce beat up previousy and, after being terrorized by The Spectre, they get the intel they need, finding Corrigan in a church and ork together to free him, at the cost of the church and some cultist lives.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1008 by Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke. The Joker is loose and is inviting Gothamites to a local amusement park to have fun and die together. Everyone at the park has been equipped with a clown-faced device around their necks that will releases chemicals Jokerize them. When Batman shows up, Joker takes him on a tour of the park, including riding a bunch of rides together. Batman deduces the control for the gas devices is in a fortune telling machine and he breaks it, but allows the Joker to get away in the process. In the end, Luthor visits Victor Fries and makes him an offer to restore his wife.

DIAL H FOR HERO #5 by Sam Humphries and Joe Quinones. Miguel has ben captured by Mister Thunderbolt who leads him on a chase through the Heroverse until The Operator shows up to save him. The Operator shows him of his origin as Robby Reed and how he decided to use his life to visit other Multiverse locations, eventually taking him to The Bleed and the Speed Force wall. He eventually ended up at the Pantheon of the Gods and, after a series of trials, was granted access to the Heroverse. He gets Miguel to tell his origin, how his parents died in a pane crash that Superman couldn’t get to in time to stop from happening. Mister Thunderbolt, now with the power of the dial, manages to broadcast to everyone with a phone and convinces them to Dial H for Hero. Elsewhere, Summer uses a Supermobile to crash land in Metropolis just as everyone dials H.

EVENT LEVIATHAN #2 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. Red Hood is in Seattle investigating the attacks on Batgirl and Green Arrow when Batman arrives. He tells how a Levathan operative showed up to take out Sam Lane, but The Question was there keeping watch. Lane shoots the operative and then shoots at The Question, forcing him to leave. The Question took the body of the operative, who it is revealed was a former A.R.G.U.S. agent. Plastic Man makes his way into the morgue to investigate the operative when Leviathan shows up and makes an offer, before taking the body away with him. With that, Batman and his team head off to further the investigation.

THE FLASH #74 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. Barry, who is on a date with Iris, finds himself face to face with Future Turtle, who has Future Flash chained up. Iris leaves to investigate and Barry changes into The Flash to face off with Turtle. Although Turtle is doing well to hold Barry at bay, he gets free long enough to free Future Flash. Future Flash reveals he is dying. Turtle needs to drain Barry’s Speed Force to construct a shell that will allow him to merge present and future time. With Iris captured by Turtle’s men, Barry completes his Flash ring and goes after Turtle, who has brought this time’s Turtle to him with upgraded tech.

THE FLASH #75 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. Central City’ citizens are chained up by the Still Force and Iris smashes one of Turtle’s computers, freeing them. Future Turtle sends his past self off to handle Iris while he continues his fight with Barry, who is being hampered by the Still Force. He sees how strong Iris is fighting and uses the Speed Force to gain momentum in the fight, taking everyone a few seconds into the future and severing Turtle’s connection and causing Future Turtle and Future Flash to disappear. Iris comforts a defeated Turtle while Barry, in his plain clothes, tells her the whole battle is over.  Later, we find that February 1th is Flash Day when Iris shows up and introduces her two nephews. Barry makes a connection with Wally and, from outside, we see lightning strike. In the present, Barry meets Steadfast, the new avatar of the Still Force. Barry is helping to rebuild the Flash Museum. In the end, Lex Luthor meets with Captain Cold, who accepts Lex’ offer.

THE GREEN LANTERN #9 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. In deep space, Marvel Maid, Logi, Quisto and others are wiped out. Hal goes to Planet Athmoora, where he meets with the citizens and learns of the attack and helps them battle Ah-Bah-Nazzur, who is really Abin Sur from an alternate universe. In the end, alternate versions of Green Lantern, Batman and some strange hippie guy arrive, representing the Guardians of the Universe.

GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #1 by Grant Morrison and Giuseppe Camuncoli. Hal wakes up in a bathtub, having been part of a reunion party the night before. All of the adults are asleep but the kids are fine and they have all been trapped in the house by an alien named Zzyptzz, who live off the energy we use our wi-fi with. His people are mad at humans for using all the Wi-Fi and, despite saying he needs help, he is actually looking to defeat the human race and take back their wi-fi. Hal fights back but his ring quits on him, leading to Air Wave arriving and saving everyone…for now.

HARLEY QUINN #63 by Sam Humphries and Otto Schmidt. Harley’s mom is dying and she is bummed about it. She goes to an old video store, where she is greeted by Comet Witch, ho actually turns out to be Death, who says he will see her soon. Back with her mother, she finds she has slipped into a coma and decides to read to her from a HARLEY QUINN comic, which is a YEAR OF THE VILLAIN issue. In it, Luthor shows up and has an offer for her.

HAWKMAN #14 by Robert Venditti and Pat Olliffe. Carter Hall is having issues with being filled with so many memories. He goes to a quiet spot in Kenya, but gets attacked by Shadow Thief. Who uses his improved powers to steal Hawkman’s shadow. In the end, we discover that Shadow Thief has new powers courtesy of…Lex Luthor.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #27 by James Tynion IV and Javier Fernandez. Martian Manhunter has been captured by a mechanical Lionel Luthor, who is the making of Professor Ivo, who sends Amazo to retrieve Manhunter and put him back in a prison. It turns out that Ivo was approached by Luthor to fix Brainiac and now he is prepared to remove what Luthor called the Apex Predator from J’onn. Hawkgirl shows up and frees him. J’onn destroys all of Ivo’s constructs and then discovers that Luthor’s ship is watching, leading to Luthor making an offer. Meanwhile, Mar Novu has joined the rest of the League and they go off looking for the Anti-Monitor of Qward.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #28 by James Tynion IV and Javi Fernandez. Jonn and Kendra fly to the Midwest to meet up with Luthor. Luthor makes J’onn put Kendra to sleep so they can talk like old friends. Lex explains how he has made a worldwide offer and he wants J’onn to join him. He then proceeds to drain J’onn, giving himself a huge upgrade. Meanwhile, the rest of the Justice League is in the Antimatter Universe looking for the Anti-Monitor, but he is gone, leaving behind a message and a bunch of dead Weaponeers. And Starman sees the end of everything, which concerns Jarro and Shayne.