DC UNIVERSE Month 50, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE INCARNATE #5 by Joshus Williamson, Dennis Culver, Andrei Bressan and Jess Marino. Darkseid battles against the Empty Hand, while Justice League Incarnate battles their teammates who have fallen under the Great Darkness’ control. Doctor Multiverse deduces that she and Avery can use their speed vibrations to separate the heroes from the Great Darkness  The Empty Hand creates a portal through which he and Darkseid enter, transporting them into pure darkness. The portal continues to grow and Orion is declared the successor to Darkseid by Grail. Avery, President Superman, Doctor Multiverse and Captain Carrot head into the portal to find Barry Allen. They end up on Earth-Flash.1 where Barry is living happily and reluctant to leave. Pariah arrives, telling the team he can make each of them as happy as Barry is. The team leaves, meeting back up with the rest of the group, minus Orion, on Harbinger as they try to outrun the Great Darkness. In the end, Darkseid has become one with The Dark. To be continued in JUSTICE LEAGUE #75: THE DEATH OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE.

JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #2 by Brian Michael Bendis and Scott Godlewski. A year before the formation of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Kala Lour is visited by Gdon, who presents him a gold Lantern ring. In the present, Gold Lantern is at the Hall of Justice, where the League has disappeared. He also sees a great darkness in the sky. The League finds themselves in the 31st Centuries, where they meet the Legion of Super-Heroes. Computo warns everyone about a powerful darkness in the skies of New Earth: the same darkness Kala Lour sees in the 21^st Century. While it is uncertain how the two events are connected,  Brainiac-5 sees it as the end of everything.

MONKEY PRINCE #2 by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang. Batman and Robin battle a headless Money Prince. Shifu Pigsy arrives, reattaches Marcus’ head and they depart. He renounces the magic circlet and goes back to his regular life, convinced this was all a dream. Later, he learns he can control the magic burbs and meets with Mr. Zhu, where he learns that he cannot be rid of the magic circlet. He also earns he has the power to fly. Elsewhere, Penguin has been turned into a golden horned monster hungry for Qi, killing people in the process. In the end, servants of the Great Ruler of Flame Planet meet with the transformed Penguin. The ruler arrives and instructs Penguin to consume the Qi of the city’s hero-Batman.

NAOMI: SEASON TWO #1 by Brian Michael Bendis, David F. Walker and Jamal Campbell. Naomi tries to adjust to her new life and powers after her confrontation with Black Adam. She reconnects with Dee and later, hen she goes to visit him, she finds he is gone, possibly kidnapped and her father is there, causing her to ask what he has done.

NIGHTWING #90 by Tom Taylor and Geraldo Borges. Dick Grayson is still being hunted to the point that his apartment complex is blown up by assassins. When Wally West sees this on the news, he heads to Bludhaven to help out. Eventually, he convinces Dick to move in with him and Linda for the time being’ Later, Barbara is kidnapped by KGBeat’s men, but she gets a message out to Dick. When they open the van, they find Nightwing and The Flash instead.

NUBIA & THE AMAZONS #6 by Stephanie Williams, Vita Ayala and Alitha Martinez. TRIAL OF THE AMAZONS PART 2. Hippolyta has been murdered and the tribes of Themyscira, Esquecida, and Bana-Mighdall have gathered to mourn her loss. After her funeral, there is a debate on whether the Trials should continue or not and it is decided the Trial should go on. Wonder Girl offers to continue her own investigation into the murder. At Doom's Doorway, there is a sense that something isn't right. In the end, Diana intervenes and says she will use her Lasso of Truth to get the answer. To be continued in WONDER WOMAN #785.

ONE-STAR SQUADRON #4 by Mark Russell and Steve Lieber. Red Tornado has to fire half the HEROZ4U staff to cut costs. Power Girl calls the Board of Directors and discovers her scheme has backfired and she is on the chopping block. Tornado decides he can’t to the firing and meets with the Board of Directors, who tell him not to worry about it as they have found a buyer for the company. When he leaves, he heads to the office…only to find it is burning to the ground.

ROBIN #12 by Joshua Williamson and Roger Cruz. The Lazarus Tournament is over and so is the Demon threat, so Damian hijacks his mother’s jet and flies away, preparing to get Lazarus fluid to Alfred’s corpse. Arriving in Gotham, Damian discovers that he is still suffering from the effects of Mother Soul's magic and is forced to fight an evil version of himself. During the battle, Damian goes through a moral decision and destroys the sample. Talia arrives and convinces him to join with her as her son and not as her heir. In Tokyo, Flatline delivers Lazarus fluid  and a heart to a mysterious man with a skull head. In the end, Ra’s talks with his mother, who tells him he is dying. To be continued in SHADOW WAR ALPHA #1.

ROBINS #5 by Tim Seeley and Baldemar Rivas.  The team battles through a massive game in an effort to find Tim. Batman continues to investigate, looking for clues. In the end, Tim is still being held captive and tis may all be the work of…The Escape Artist.

SHADOW WAR: ALPHA #1 by Joshua Williamson and Viktor Bogdanovic. Damian is doing swordplay with his mother while his grandfather watches, The problem is that Ra’s mother has told him that the Lazarus Pits are cursed and Ra’s is dying. Later, Ra’s and Talia turn themselves in to Gotham authorities and, during a speech, Ra’s is assassinated and Talia is injured by Deathstroke. Despite Ra’s being shot in the head, Damian tries to save him and Batman stops him, as Deathstroke has a bomb set to go off. This causes a fight between Damian and his father and Damian leaves to find and kill Deathstroke. Back in Nepal, Talia outs a team together to go out and eradicate Deathstroke and his people. In Zandia, Deathstroke sees the news and swears he did not do this. That is when Talia’s army storms his castle. To be continued in BATMAN #122.

STATIC: SEASON ONE #6 by Vita Ayala and Nikolas Draper-Ivey. Static and his team alternately face off and try to convince the other Bang Babies to join them. He musters all his power to fry the machines and free everyone. In the end, he decides to keep training, with his family’s blessing and gets a new suit. He hijacks the airwaves and gives a message, urging others to speak to power.

SUICIDE SQUAD #13 by Dennis Hopeless, Robbie Thompson, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira and Dexter Soy. WAR FOR EARTH-3 PART 2. Rick and has team fight Waller’s team. Emerald Knight takes out Peacemaker and Ultraman disposes of Rodriguez/Clayface, forcing Rick and what’s eft of his team to flee. Nocturna is prepared to bite Waller, but Match takes Nocturna away and they kiss. But Brainiac 666 sends them to hell. Peacemaker and Ambush Bug transport to a Karaoke Bar before going to Ultraman’s Fortress, where they discover the Phantom Zone Projector. Superwoman arrives, incensed that Owlman is dead and wants the Phantom Zone Projector to kill Ultraman. Johnny Quick arrives and steals the projector, bringing it to Black Siren who uses her power to bring the Fortress down. Elsewhere, Flag, Mirror Master and Bloodsport patch their wounds. In the end, Culebra meets with Talon, who has been tasked with bringing Waller Owlman’s body. Owlman is alive and the goal is to get into his computer system to see how to defeat the Syndicate. But he has no clue and we learn that Johnny Quick had killed Culebra, who knows has a Deadman type ability and enters Owlman’s body. Continued in THE FLASH #780.

SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL #9 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. Nightwing confronts The Rising when Jon shows up to lend a hand. Two of the members flee and the third is captured by Dick and Jon. Before he can reveal any information, Bendix blows him up, emotionally devastating Jon. Later, Jay arrives a Jon’s house, revealing to Dick that he is the editor of The Truth. He also reveals footage of Bendix’ murder of The Rising member and reveals that Gamorra’s spin on it is that Jon killed him. Nightwing tells Jon he is going to work with him on this.

THE SWAMP THING #11 by Ram V and Mike Perkins Jennifer meets with Tefe Holand in an attempt to track down Levi.  Meanwhile, Woodrue is trying his best to save Mr. Pilgrim  and he performs an unusual medical procedure which turns him into some sort of Swamp Thing hybrid. In the end, Jack Hawksmoor arrives at the remnants of the lab and realizes that The Green has called him here for a specific reason.

TASK FORCE Z #6 by Matthew Rosenberg and Jack Herbert. Many months ago, Dr. Albrecht is meeting with his team, including Mr. Bloom and the Resurrection Man, touring his research success. But Bloom purposely blows up the place. When Geri Powers and her team arrive, with an injured Albrecht, they discover that the Resurrection Man is still alive and he promptly quits. Bloom visits Mr. O’onnor and convinces him to work with him. Later, Dent is shown a resurrected fish man, leading him to meet with Waller and show her a resurrected Arkham Knight. In the present, Dent brings his team to meet with a captive Jason, who gets free and Bane quits the team. KGBeast triggers a bomb and Mr. Freeze saves Jason. Dent convinces Jason to once again work with the team, which leads to a confrontation between Jason and Batman. When Dent goes back to his now destroyed lab, he discovers that Bloom is working for Powers International and his men were responsible for this. They discover that fish man’s head has been taken by Bloom, they are out of resin and O’Connor has been killed by Bloom. When they head to Waller’s office, they find her gone…but they see enough of her planning to know it is time to kill Bloom.

TEEN TITANS ACADEMY #13 by Tim Sheridan and Tom Derenick. Part 4 of WAR FOR EARTH-3. Cyborg and Changeling are still comatose but Gregg believes he can save them. Rick Flag and is team make their ay into what now passes for the Academy and, after fighting with the Titans, asks for their help. After he eplains what Waller is doing, they agree and head off to Earth-3, unaware that they have student stowaways. To be concluded in WAR FOR EARTH-3 #2.

TITANS UNITED #7 by Cavan Scott, Jose Luis and Daniel Hor. Blackfire reveals she was only doing all this to protect earth from the invading Citadel. She teams up with the Titans to stop the invasion and turn all the affected sleeper agents back to normal.

TRIAL OF THE AMAZONS #1 by Stephanie Williams, Vita Ayala, Joëlle Jones, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Laura Braga, Skylar Partridge, Joëlle Jones and Elena Casagrande. The various tribes of Amazons have gathered to engage in a trial where the ultimate champion will earn the right to be the watcher of Doom's Doorway. The Themyscirans and Bana-Mighdall agree to meet and the Esquecidas also arrive, leading to debate between the tribes. In the end, Nubia goes to meet Hippolyta and finds that she has been poisoned by drink and is dead. Who has murdered Wonder Woman’s mother? To be continued in NUBIA & THE AMAZONS #6.

TRIAL OF THE AMAZONS:WONDER GIRL #1 by Joëlle Jones. Continued from WONDER WOMAN # 785. One of the  Esquecidas has a vision about Doom's Doorway and their Queen summons them to go to Themyscira. Along the way, Cassie continues to investigate who killed Hippolyta. In the end, something breaks through Doom’s Doorway and the four champions are chosen: Diana, Philippus, Yara Flor and Donna Troy. To be continued in WONDER WOMAN #786.

WAR FOR EARTH-3 #1 by Robbie Thompson, Dennis Hopeless, Steve Pugh, Dexter Soy and Brent Peeples. Amanda Waller and her team arrive on Earth-3 and, after Etrigan the Brainiac 666 turns Match back into his Bizarro self, she declares herself the ruler of the city. Ultraman sees this, but also sees Owlman in bed with Superwoman, so he sends Power Ring/Emerald Knight to deal with Waller and he goes to deal with Owlman. Emerald Knight seems to have things handled until Black Hand reaches him. Waller challenges Ultraman to come to Metropolis, but he sends Owlman, as he deals with Superwoman. Match takes out Owlman, meaning Ultraman and Superwoman have to go to Metropolis. Match, whose goal is to keep Superwoman occupied, detains her,  Match leaving Ultraman to have to deal with the situation. Ultraman learns that Johnny Quick, presumed to be dead, is with Waller, who tells him that they should team up, eliminating his headaches and distractions. To prove her point, she has Talon breal Owlman’s back. Meanwhile, Rick Flag's Suicide Squad has to deal with Clayface. Rodriguez injects herself and transforms into a Clayface herself, arriving to put Clayface to sleep. Armed with a new ally in the form of Clayface, they transport to Earth-3, where they discover Waller has added Ultraman and Emeralds Knight to her team. To be continued in SUICIDE SQUAD #13.

WAR FOR EARTH-3 #2 by Robbie Thompson, Dennis Hopeless, Kieran McKeown, Dexter Vines, Ariel Olivetti, Julio Ferreira and Brent Peeples. The Titans team up with Rick Flag’s team to fight against Amanda Waller’s Multiversal army, during which Talon has his brain bomb exploded, killing him. Waller captures some of the Academy students and Nightwing cuts a deal allowing them to all head home. Flag convinces Ultraman that Waller is just using him and he heads off to get revenge on her but runs into a battle with Superwoman and Mirror Master. Realizing the Pantom Zone projector is dangerous, Flag smashes it, causing the rest of his team to convince Yorick to fashion a new one. Power Ring defeats him and he is eventually sent to the Phantom Zone. In the end, Waller comes back to Earth Zero with her new team: a mix of Crime Syndictae members and her newest members-Nocturna and Match.

WONDER WOMAN # 785 by Becky Cloonan, Jordie Bellaire, Michael Conrad, Rosi Kämpe and Paulina Ganucheau. TRIAL OF THE AMAZONS PART 3. Diana and Cassie actively try to find her Hippolyta’s killer. Later, the tribes select their chsmpions. The Themyscirans select Philippus. Diana competes for the Amazons. The Esquecidans select Yara Flor. And the Bana-Mighdall choose Donna Troy. In the backup, Young Diana earns how to get a green thumb. To be continued in TRIAL OF THE AMAZONS:WONDER GIRL #1

WONDER WOMAN: EVOLUTION #5 by Stephanie Phillips and Mike Hawthorne. In a lab, Project Titan has been initiated. Meanwhile, Diana has been captured by the Amazons and is now facing a verbal berating from her mother. Later, after a visit from her younger self, she is forced to face Poseidon’s latest abomination, who she tames. She flees from the attacking Amazons and is rescued by Donna Troy, who tells her none of this is real.

WORLD OF KRYPTON #4 by Robert Venditti and Michael Avon Oeming. Zod confronts Jor-El with his idea of decreasing the population to stop the energy use. His plan is to send people to the Phantom Zone. This leads to a fight between the two, until Lara breaks it up and order Zod to leave. Jor-El broadcasts to the citizens that they must start decreasing energy now while Zod enacts his plan by sending all prisoners to the Phantom Zone. Meanwhile, Zor-El plans on going back to the search for a Survival Zone and Lara tells Jor-El they have to talk. Is this to tell him she is with child?