DC UNIVERSE Month 48, Part 2

NIGHTWING #88 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. Dick Grayson is still being hunted, but still plans on breaking ground at the Alfred Pennyworth Foundation, despite the fact that Blockbuster has sent Gunbunny and Gunhawk to assassinate him. Luckily the Titans show up to see that doesn’t happen. In the end, Heartless alone wants Grayson’s heart

NUBIA & THE AMAZONS #4 by Stephani Williams, Vita Ayala, Alitha Martinez and Darryl Banks. In a flashback, Nubia is in Chicago where, after saving a field trip from a mythological lion, she becomes involved in a relationship with Tina Knight. In the present, after much debate, including the questioning of how qualified Nubia is to lead, Nubia goes after Andromeda in the hopes that Medusa will release her grip on her.

ONE-STAR SQUADRON #2 by Mark Russell and Steve Lieber. Minute Man is a drug-addict desperately who attempts to make some cash to fuel his Miraclo pill habit. Things go bad and he eventually gets arrested while making an appearance at a comic convention, where he gets to meet Mark Russell, who writes this book. With the company in seeming disarray, Power Girl makes a power play and informs Red Tornado that the Board of Directors have voted him out.

ROBIN #10 by Joshua Williamson and Roger Cruz. Robin has been put into a deep trance and travels through space and time. He meets Ra's Al Ghul’s mother and learns how Ra's spent centuries trying to create the Lazarus Pits so he could bring his mother back. While he succeeded, she informed him that a demon lives in the pit. This leads to a battle between her army and his, resulting in her forces being banished to the island. Robin fights through the memories and comes out of his trance. He tells the other fighters that Mother Soul is Ra's Al Ghul’s mother. This is when Ra's, Talia and his followers arrive to correct his ancient mistake.

ROBIN & BATMAN #3 by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen. Croc arrives at Dick’s school and threatens the headmaster. Dick confronts him and so does Batman, who is captured by Croc. This leads Dick back to what remains of Haley’s Circus, where he realizes that Croc was one of the exhibits there when he was part of the Flying Graysons. He rescues Batman, defeats Croc and, in the end, actually makes friends at his school.

ROBINS #3 by Tim Seeley and Baldemar Rivas. The Robins battle the Junior Super criminals in an effort to save their captives. They defeat the bad guys, but Tim does not want to save the captives and is willing to fight the team to stop them, leading to Red Hood knocking Tim out. Spoiler visits the Neophyte of the Anarkies in prison while Dick argues with Bruce. In the end, Tim is held captive, and it appears Jenny Wren may have been masquerading as him.

STATIC: SEASON ONE #5 by Vita Ayala and Nikolas Draper-Ivey. Thanks to the glucose tablets Sharon gave Static, he is able to face off and defeat Hotstreak. Elsewhere, Darius comes across some prisoners, including Daisy. Static catches up with Darius and uses his power to fry the power inhibitors that was put on the prisoners. Unfortunately, Agent Jones offered them money and they stand in the way of Static’s plans to take down the server.

SUICIDE SQUAD #11 by Robbie Thompson, Dennis Hopeless, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira and Dexter Soy. Rick Flag meets with Peacemaker and is trying to convince Bloodsport to join his side. Bloodsport reveals he cannot join up as Waller has captured every Bloodsport from every Earth. Meanwhile, Waller sends her team to Earth-8 to break into a vault. This brings them into conflict with The Retaliators, who are quickly defeated by Waller’s team. But they aren’t out of the woods yet as The Lightning Strikes team arrives. In the end, Flag’s team arrives at Waller’s compound…and Bloodsport is with them.

SUICIDE SQUAD: KING SHARK #5 by Tim Seeley and Scott Kolins. It all comes down to the final battle between King Shark and Man King. Shawn betrays King Shark, by telling him their friendship is not real. Man King displays his true self when he admits to using Shawn, who inspires King Shark to fight back. It appears he has won the day, but Man King had partnered with bugs and they have invaded everyone.

SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW #7 by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. Supergirl battles space pirates while leaving Ruthye and Comet alone with Krem. Krem taunts Ruthye as he tries to get her to kill him, thus never revealing how to save Krypto. Supergirl gets captured and silently calls out for Comet, who flies off to save her. This leaves a vengeful Ruthye alone with Krem. Will she take her revenge?

SUPERMAN & ROBIN SPECIAL #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Viktor Bogdanovic. Damian visits Jon, to tell him that there is a security alert going off in the Fortress of Solitude. Once there they discover damage and also the cube which had once brought Jon and his father to Dinosaur Island. They discover a very pregnant batlike creature and try to figure how to get it home. In the meantime, Nazi soldiers use the temporal gate to enter the Fortress, meaning our heroes need to take them out. The Nazis are defeated, the creature gives birth and heads back through the gate, which Jon seals up permanently.

SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL #6 by Tom Taylor and John Timms. People are being kidnapped in Bludhaven and taken to Gamorra. Jon and Jay head to S.T.A.R. Labs to get information on the Post-Human that had been used as a weapon against the Kent Farm. Once there, Jay encounters Robin and Lois Lane, who reveals the Gamorran ambassador had left on a ship, leading Jon to confront him. He rescues the captives and kidnaps the ambassador, after being attacked by a Post-Human sent by Bendis. Later, the ambassador reveals that Jay’s mom is still alive and Bendis prepares for “the Rising”.

SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL #7 by Tom Taylor and Cian Tormey. Jay takes Jon to meet the members of The Truth, who may have connections to the Revolutionaries, as we see Chaos Kitten and Thylacine. Elsewhere, Bendix learns of a Kaiju coming to Metropolis and he plans on having his Post-Humans save the day. Jon teams up with Aquaman Jackson to calm the creature down, but the Gamorra Corps arrive and escalate the fight, causing the death of one of their own, apparently with Bendix’ blessing.

TASK FORCE Z #4 by Matthew Rosenberg, Eddy Barrows and Kieran McKeown. Red Hood meets with Two-Face, who explains everything they are doing is a test to make them legitimate government organization. Before their next mission, Mr. Bloom reveals his real evil motives and Red Hood encounters Batman, who isn’t happy with Jason’s current role. Waller meets with Dent, insisting she will shut him down. On the team’s mission, things go badly when Jason can’t control his team. But things get worse when another team of villains shows up and is ordered that no one gets out alive.

TEEN TITANS ACADEMY #11 by Tim Sheridan, Rafa Sandoval and Brent Peeples. Two months ago, Red X meets with a mysterious person who wants Dane protected until he can bring about the Apocalypse. In the present, the students team up to try to get to Dane, but he is being protected by Red X. The Tower is in danger of collapsing, but Billy Batson and the rest of the Marvel Family arrive to take down Red X and save the students. With Dane being coached by Billy and Red X in custody, all seems well…until the Tower collapses.

TITANS UNITED #5 by Cavan Scott and Jose Luis. The team faces off against Black Zero, formerly Connor Kent. He defeats the team and they end up captured by Blackfire. All but Starfire, who is unconscious in England with Lady Vic.

WONDER GIRL #7 by Joëlle Jones and Leila Del Duca. Yara battles Eros, defeating him and breaking down the gates of Mt. Olympus, allowing the Amazons to fight inside. Wonder Girl convinces Zeus to let Yara find her destiny, while Eros releases her from her bond before being taken to Hades. To be continued in the TRIAL OF THE AMAZONS.

WONDER WOMAN #783 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Marcio Takara, Vita Ayala and Skylar Patridge. Dr. Cizco has created a new Shining Knight while Wonder Womand and Deadman face off against Image Maker’s Wonder Woman duplicates. After defeating them, she goes to meet with Etta, who is working with Checkmate, which leads to a reuniting with Steve Trevor. The Shining Knight shows up and Deadman fails to learn his identity because of his magical helm. The duplicates come back, leading to the Knight teaming up with Diana. In the end, a duplicate visits Hippolyta, saying they will kill those that stand in their way. In the backup, the lead up to the TRIAL OF THE AMAZONS continues as they have a plan to take back the doorway and gain immortality.

WONDER WOMAN: EVOLUTION #3 by Stephanie Phillips and Mike Hawthorne. Diana finds herself in Nuremburg 1945, before being sent to another trial where she has to fight the Silver Swan. She then is taken to her battle with Major Disaster, when Vanessa was critically injured. She is forced to go back and fight Silver Swan and kills her, making Diana realize this is not a dream…it’s real.

WORLD OF KRYPTON #2 by Robert Venditti and Michael Avon Oeming. Two months ago, Jor-El explores the Phantom Zone, only to discover it is a fate worse than death. In present time, the trial of Kru-El begins and Dru-Zod passes judgement by sending Kru-El to the Phantom Zone, against vehement protests from Jor-El.