DC UNIVERSE Month 49, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1040 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Shawn Aldridge, Riccardo Federici and Adriana Melo. Superman continues to fight in the arena when Mongul enters. Two children, Otho-Ra and Osul-Ra also enter, telling Mongul they want to be Warzoon, but he calls them little grubs, causing Superman to attack him to save them. Elsewhere, one of Mongul’s servants threatens O.M.A.C., telling O.M.A.C.  to relinquish power to bring Lia back. That night, after learning that Midnighter is plotting to shut down the Star Forges, which would cause life support to be effected, he gets broken out of his prison. He finds a tomb underground and discovers a stone with veins of Genesis in it. Meanwhile, Mongul’s followers visit Otho-Ra and Osul-Ra with plans to kill them. In the backup, Dr. Trapp attacks Martian Manhunter, who refers to him as the Bronze Wraith from his time in Justice Experience. Elsewhere, Certa and Ostrander continue their investigation but appear to be taken down by…Owls?

AQUAMAN: THE BECOMING #6 by Brandon Thomas, Serg Acuña and Diego Olortegui. Meek a's rebels have attacked the Unity conference and taken Mera hostage, leading to Jackson and his newly formed team fighting against them. Lucia is critically wounded in the process, causing him to violently fight. Aquaman arrives, but too late to stop the carnage Jackson has unleashed on his enemy. With the insurrection ended, Mera finishes her speech at a conference. Jackson goes to visit his comatose mother and pushes Delilah away in the process. Later, Arthur Curry meets with Jackson and they agree that they are now both Aquaman. In the end, Arthur meets with Black Manta.

AQUAMAN/GREEN ARROW-DEEP TARGET #5 by Brandon Thomas and Ronan Cliquet. Aquaman and Green Arrow find themselves in a world where dinosaurs rule and are forced to team up with Anderton. He reveals Sorpio’s plan was to change history by inserting themselves in time, but that went awry and those time soldiers found themselves grafted to creatures of the time they land in. Inside Anderton’s volcano lair, they meet Emmett who was responsible for what happened during Tabula Rasa so he could remember Anderton. The trio travel through time and finally end up in the present where they face off with those claiming the time machine.

AQUAMEN #1 by Chuck Brown, Brandon Thomas and Sami Basri. Ocean Master shows up the United Nations Headquarters with a sea serpent, leading Arthur and Jackson to intervene. At the same time, people across the world begin speaking a strange language, including one who dies mysteriously during a dust up with Manta. Jackson tracks that body to Manta and prepares for a fight, but Arthur arrives and informs him that Manta is working with them.

ARKHAM CITY: THE ORDER OF THE WORLD #5 by Dan Watters and Dani. Dr. Joy learns that someone known as Dr. No-Face, who can morph their appearance, is responsible for masquerading as Amadeus Arkham. Azrael arrives and battles with Dr. Phosporous, before he is defeated. Meanwhile, “Amadeus Arkham” breaks the other escapees out of the hospital, with Ten Eyed Man stealing a nurse’ eyes in the process. Everyone meets up and they travel to the place where the real person behind it all is creating his own asylum. That person is Professor Pyg.

BATGIRLS #3 by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad and Jorge Corona. The Batgirls fight to deal with effects of Tudor’s gas, which we learn is a mixture of Fear Toxin and Laughing Gas. That coupled with his use of modern art id designed to hypnotize the citizens of Gotham. Barbara goes to an art exhibit to investigate while Cass and Stephanie unsuccessfully take on Tudor. Later, Barbara gets a phone call from Dick, who insults her, and she realizes it’s just Seer messing with her.

BATMAN #120 by Joshua Williamson, Karl Kerschl, Jorge Molina and Mikel Janin, Officier Cayha sneaks a blind Batman out of the Badhnisia police building by pretending he is actually Abyss' body. Meanwhile, Lex is waiting for Abyss' body to arrive, but he gets a living Abyss, forcing him to suit up in a specially design Batsuit. At the same time, Batman tries to bust Batman Inc. out of prison, but they are not thrilled with continuing their journey with him. Luthor arrives, having barely escaped from Abyss, who arrives to lead Batman Inc. and implore Batman to help them kill Luthor. In the backup, Maos continues to work with Batman who discovers some ancient creatures known as Kappa. He also discovers the body of a woman named Emily and, together, it seems that Lindsay is also here and may have a definite connection to the Kappa.

BATMAN/CATWOMAN #10 by Tom King and Clay Mann. In the past, Catwoman battles The Joker. In the present, Catwoman battles The Joker. In the future, Huntress chases and confronts her mother.

BATMAN: THE KNIGHT #2 by Chip Zdarsky and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Bruce is in Paris where, as he tries to ply his hand as some sort of vigilante, he crosses paths with a legendary woman known as the Gray Shadow. She decides to teach Bruce the importance of missions and how to be stealthy. During a mission, Bruce gets wounded and ends up back at her apartment. In the end, an armed man comes in, possibly Henri Ducard, and takes her at gunpoint, telling them both they are in a world of trouble.

BATMAN: URBAN LEGENDS #12 by Vita Ayala, Ram V, Mohale Mashigo, Mark Russell, Nikola Cizmesija, AnandRK, Arist Deyn and Karl Mostert. Batman and Zatanna find to close the mystical gate and do so, but Eos made have been born from all of this. That leads Constantine to get involved and lend some assistance. In the Wight Witch backup, it seems that Simon Saint keep repeatedly killing her, with fragments of her memory coming back with each death. In the Eternity backup, Chris uses his powers in an effort to figure out who killed Hannah and her ghost may provide the answer. In the Ace and the Superpets backup, Ace rallies a group of tortured and modified animals, that arrange a breakout and head off in search of a captured Batman.

BLACK MANTA #6 by Chuck Brown and Matthew Dow Smith. Dr. Mist and Belphegor heal Gallous while defeating Gentleman Ghost in the process. Meanwhile, Manta briefly teams up with Devil Ray as he powers his trident. Later, Manta battles Devil Ray and tries to convince him to not follow a villainous path. In the end, Devil Ray is allowed to leave, Gallous heads off with Torrid and Manta deletes an email he was going to send to Jackson. Aquaman gets a message giving him a heads up regarding the bobs Devil Ray had planted-the inference being that Manta gave Arthur the intel.

BLUE & GOLD #6 by Dan Jurgens and Ryan Sook. Rip Hunter reveals that Omnizon is correct that her people did claim this planet tens of thousands of years ago. This leads he and Terri back in time, where they discover the moment this planet was claimed. Meanwhile, Booster is mentally corrupted and forced to fight Beetle in a battle to the death. Rip arrives, telling the aliens they are wrong and their “flag” is nowhere near Earth. He arranges for everyone to go home. How is this possible? The time machine was actually a construct, so Terri could take the “flag” and plant it on another planet. She also reveals to Rip that she knows that Booster is Rip’s father. In the end, the other Blue Beetle gets attacked by his own armor.

CATWOMAN #40 by Tini Howard and Nico Leon. Selina finds out that Kristi, the stripper who kicked Black Mask in the face last issue, is dead, and she wants revenge. This leads her into conflict with the Tomasso Crime Family, where the Don wants to not promote his son, Dario, but Dario’s best friend Noah. She informs Dario, who helps her out. She also learns that Dario and Noah are in love. She confronts Noah, but gets shot in the process. In the end, she is cared for by Valmont, who reveals two body bags and states that Kristi has been avenged. So who is in the bags?

DEATHSTROKE INC. #6 by Joshua Williamson and Paolo Pantalena. Black Canary fights back against Deathstroke and the H.I.V.E., later meeting solo with Deathstroke, as he implores her to join him, which she refuses. Dinah shows up at the Justice League and together they go to the H.I.V.E. castle to find it empty. In Zandia, Deathstroke takes the followers of Libra and Calculator and tells them they need to join his Deathstroke Inc. This is observed by Ravager and Respawn, who look to be willing to take matters into their own hands.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1051 by Mariko Tamaki, Matthew Rosenberg, Max Raynor and Fernando Blanco. Several months ago, Psycho-Pirate stowed away on a plane to get to Gotham. Apparently, he and Dr. Wear are long-time friends. On Day 18, Mayor Nakano is preparing to tour Arkham Tower and Psycho-Pirate uses his powers to make the inmates appear happy. The following day, Psycho-Pirate passes out and loses control, resulting in a riot that brings Dick into conflict with Ana and Nero XIX confronting Chase Meridian until Helena stops him. Wear manages to wake Psycho-Pirate, who makes everyone go to sleep and erase their memories.  In the backup, the boy gets "adopted" by Penguin and now works for him.. 

DETECTIVE COMICS #1052 by Mariko Tamaki, Mathew Rosenberg, Max Raynor and Fernando Blanco. During the Day 19 riot, Chase Meridian calls Dr. Frow/Batwoman to make her aware of the riot. When she wakes, she is convinced it was a gas leak, as Psycho Pirate has wiped everyone’s memories and calls Frow back to tell her she overreacted. Those calls get Dr. Frow/Batwoman fired.  Meridian had mentioned the patients all having visions of movies "about underground cities and killing" which leads the team to take out a underground Headquarters filled with Party Crashers and seize their Numb. In the end, Helena talks with Ana, as they both keep having the feeling  like they are in a movie. But scrawled under Heena’s bed is the message “His hold is breaking”. In the backup, Elliot and the boy are eating at an ice cream parlor when they meet Jason Todd, telling him they work for The Penguin. Later, Elliot convinces the boy to rob The Penguin, but he catches them. Batman arrives and, with the boy’s help, busts Penguin. The boy encounters Robin and is baffled how he is younger than the last Robin. As police take him back to Arkham, he insists that Batman is ceating an army of boys and must be stopped.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1053 by Mariko Tamaki, Matthew Rosenberg, Max Raynor and Fernando Blanco. The Party Crashers are in court claiming they are innocent and banking on Dr. Wear to post their bail.  Wear is meeting with The Penguin, who gives him an ultimatum to pay back the money he owes. After leaving The Penguin, he gets accosted by a Party Crasher, saying they never should have worked with him. He reveals the information that the nurse who filmed the Arkham riot needs to be silenced, leading to her being attacked and Cassandra Cain saving her. Inside Arkham, Nightwing meets with Huntress and discovers the blood message “His hold is breaking”. He goes to Dr. Ocean’s office and encounters Psycho Pirate, who take control of Nightwing’s mind. Elsewhere, Party Crashers start an assault on the Cave, jeopardizing the lives of Barbara, Batwoman and Spoiler. In the backup, the boy ends up out of Arkham following a riot and help from Bane. He ends up on the streets and runs into Elliot, begging him for help to get out of Arkham.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1054 1053 by Mariko Tamaki, Matthew Rosenberg, Max Raynor and Fernando Blanco. The Bat-Family fight off the Party Crashers while trying to reach Nightwing, who is being mentally controlled by the Psycho Pirate. The final walkthrough by Nakano is about to happen and the Party Crashers are also enroute. Wear just needs Psycho Pirate to control everyone for another hour, until he has Nakano’s check. But he fails and chaos breaks out, which may result in Wear finding himself killed by his inmates. In the backup, Elliot tries to escape from the city, but he runs afoul of Robin and Azrael Batman and he ends up critically injured in the process.

THE FLASH #779 by Jeremy Adams, Fernando Pasarin, Matt Ryan and Brent Peeples. With Flash being held captive in Gemworld, Irey has connected Jai back to the Speed Force and, along with Maxine Baker, have travelled to Gemworld. Thanks to Maxine’s powers, they free Flash and head off to fight Eclipso, who is vanquished by Flash and the Glave. Spectre shos up and takes the Glave, telling Wally HE is proud of him. He also tells him to use his boosted Speed Force to save Jai. Back on Earth, Linda discovers she may now have Speed Force powers.

FUTURE STATE: GOTHAM #10 by Dennis Culver, John Arcudi, Giannis Milongiannis and Sean Murphy. Hunter Panic and Peacekeeper Red search for the Terrible Trio but only find the remains of their group. This leads them to where Batman is battling the new Joker, with Tobias Whale in the dangerous mix. During the battle, Whale’s helicopter crashes, killing his pilot. Red arrests Whale, but that won’t last long as Joker rises from the wreckage, revealing himself to be a transformed beast. Cyber Peacekeepers arrive to assist, but Joker has corrupted the network and now has control of them. Elsewhere, Talia is making a deal for Brane, when her assistant Ubu arrives and takes out the sellers, saving her lots of money Ubu is revealed to be Nightwing in disguise.  In the backup, Batman repairs and tunes up the Batmobile after a night of street racing against a new foe.

GREEN LANTERN #11 by Geoffrey Thorne, Tom Raney and Marco Santucci. The battle for Oa continues, even as John Stewart has now absorbed the Esok's God-Storm and become more powerful. John makes his way to Oa to help the remaining Lanterns stop Kyos from releasing the Starheart and bringing Chaos Magic back to the universe. During the battle, Hal and Jo’s rings stop working, leaving them helpless.They make their way to where Teen Lantern is being cared for and Jo speaks to her unconscious friend. The Lantern glove opens, and a construct Jo has created joins the battle, resulting in a white explosion and some sort of force bubble, leaving survivors to wonder if they have won.

HARDWARE: SEASON ONE #4 by Brandon Thomas and Denys Cowan. Barraki convinces Tiffany to give a press conference, outing Alva’s evil deeds. As this transpires, Asher tries to convince Curtis to not go in this direction. Asher is playing both sides as he is also still aligned with Alva, whose men are poised to attack. When they do, Curtis is ready for them, having upgraded his equipment and hacked into Asher and Alva’s system. But a bigger missile attack is incoming while Alva’s men go after Barraki and Tiffany.

HARLEY QUINN #12 by Stephanie Phillips and Riley Rossmo. Harley is handcuffed inside a locomotive heading towards the city with a bomb strapped to its undercarriage, and Kevin tied to the tracks. She breaks off a piece of pipe and breaks her handcuffs her foot and smashes her handcuffs off. As the train approaches a bridge, Harley jumps off, with the train exploding, saving the city and Kevin. The Caucus, along with Harley, Kevin and her therapy friends, shows up and defeat Keepsake. In the end, The Verdict shows up and, calling Keepsake a failure, kills him.

THE HUMAN TARGET #5 by Tom King and Greg Smallwood. While dining with Martian Manhunter and Ice, we see glimpses into Chance’s past. It is revealed how he saw his father murdered. It is revealed how Chance received training from Emra of Titan, who controlled Chance and led him to eventually resulted in him assassinating one of Ra’s men, who was working with her. In the end, Chance deduces that Martian Manhunter was having an affair with Fire, asked her for money, and finally got it from Blue Beetle. He also believes Manhunter gave Fire that means to poison Luthor, poisoning chance instead.

I AM BATMAN #6 by John Ridley and Ken Lashley. Jace Fox has moved to New York and is dealing out justice as Batman, causing concerns to the political status quo. The Mayor decides that aligning with the Batman will be a great political step forward for himself and the city. Later he meets with Batman and convinces him to team up. Meanwhile, Chubb decides to keep fighting against Batman. In the end, she gets a call that leads her to a crime scene, where someone has decided to take one of the city’s philanthropists into a gruesome piece of art.

THE JOKER #12 by James Tynion IV, Sam Johns, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Belen Ortega. Vengeance, Barbara Gordon, Cressida Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock are all headed to Texas in separate planes. Vengeance is in hiding in a plane and bails out, ultimately commandeering a vehicle. Talon is flying Cressida’s plane, after securing Julia, and a bandaged man renders Barbara unconscious. Jim reveals an assistant on his plane: Batgirl Cass. They all meet at the airfield, as Jim reveals that he knows who was behind A-Day. A plane leaves with Talon, Barbara, Julia and a hidden Cass, leaving Jim, Cressida and the bandaged man, revealed to be Bane, on the runway. Jim reveals that A-Day was never The Joker’s plan, but Bane’s all along. Meanwhile, The Joker is in a cage, waiting to be carved up. In the backup, Alexis Kaye's trial is set to begin, and Aiden is perched with a sniper rifle. Bluebird stops him but he claims Punchline said to make sure there were no loose ends and he throws himself out the window. Leslie calls and informs her Kelly is gone. Inside the courtroom, Harper’s brother waits to testify for the defense.