DC UNIVERSE Month 54, Part 2

THE JOKER #15 by James Tynion IV, Sam Johns, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Sweeney Boo. Gordon is back in Gotham and tells Batman that he doesn’t know where the Joker is. He reveals the highlights of what has happened for the last 14 issues. We see what happened on the plane where Cass was fighting Talon, who turned out to be a reanimated James Gordon  Jr. Barbara breaks the planes window and the cold deactivates Talon. With Vengeance in hot pursuit, the group lock themselves in a chamber that contains the remaining members of the Sawyer family, who are quickly detained by Jim and Cressida. That leads to a face-off between Jim and Joker and Joker insisting someone has to die, kills Cressida. In the backup, Bluebird battles Punchline and she has one of the Roya Flush Gang film it and release it to the web, meaning she has found a way to reenergize her followers.

JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #4 by Brian Michael Bendis and Scott Godlewski. The teams are still split into different time periods. In the future, but the League’s past,  Brainiac, Mon-El and Naomi are with Kamandi where they investigate an old Leviathan compound. In the Thirties, Gold Lantern meets Green Lantern Alan Scott. At Oaxam, Batman, Black Canary and the other Legion members meet with President Brande. In 1962, Colossal Boy, Dawnstar and Wonder Woman receive a message from Computo, as do the other groups, that they should all hold hands and they will be tethered back to the future. It works, but brings them back to the 21st Century, where the sky has gone completely dark..

MONKEY PRINCE #6 by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang. Shifu Pigsy, realizing that Marcus has a dread fear of water, tries to teach him how to overcome his fear. Marcus's parents help Black Manta infuse a hermit crab with a silver-horned demon, turning it into a bio-weapon that attacks the city. Marcus becomes the Monkey Prince and defeats the creature. He also learns he can breathe underwater and thus loses his fear. Elsewhere, the monsters of the Trench are preparing to attack Atlantis, even as we see that there is a section of Atlantis populated with Chinese dragons. In the end, we learn that the Monkey King is trapped in the Phantom Zone 

MULTIVERSITY: TEEN JUSTICE #2 by Danny Lore, Ivan Cohen and Marco Failla. Gigi continues her journey with the church while Raven and Troy go undercover. The rest of the team continues to train on Amnesty Island before heading to Zandia, where they find that so many of the residents have had their life energy drained. Later, team members discover that the heads of the Church are dead with their life drained and Raven reveals that his soul self, Troy and everyone else are gone.

NAOMI: SEASON TWO #5 by Brian Michael Bendis, David F. Walker and Jamal Campbell. Naomi, now imbued with new powers including “second sight”, fights the invaders from her home planet. In the end, Brustus and Zumbado are down for the count, as it Naomi and the invaders awaited the Justice League.

NIGHTWING #94 by Tom Taylor and Geraldo Borges. Mayor Zucco calls Commissioner McLean and tells him that the feds are coming for him, making him head out with the Blockbuster files. Then she calls Oracle and tells her that McLean took the bait. Nightwing jumps into action and takes down McLean and secures the files. Later, Maggie Sawyer is announced as the new Commissioner and she has brought Dan Turpin with her.to help clean up Bludhaven. Blockbuster calls the Mayor and informs her that he is at her mother’s house. He takes her to his hideout, where he reveals that Lester was the rat in his house. The Mayor calls her brother Nightwing and she learns that Lester is just a plant, revealing her as the rat. Lester blasts her and Blockbuster tells Nightwing that his sister can’t come to the phone right now.

NUBIA: QUEEN OF THE AMAZONS #2 by Stephanie Williams and Alitha Martinez. While recovering in the hospital, Nubia recalls her past life in ancient Madagascar. She discovers her issues are from the distant past and involve the goddess Sekhmet. And the amulet Nubia wears The hospital she is in is attacked by mercenaries, it's up to the Amazons and Hawkgirl to stop them. In the end, Zillah arrives and demands the amulet..

POISON IVY #2 by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara. Pam is still on the move to fins herself and initiate her plans for taking over the planet. She goes to a diner and meets an artist named Jenny, who has drawn an image of the Ancestor Tree that she wants to get a tattoo of. Pam recalls seeing it in the realm of the Green Man. The police sow up to arrest Jenny and Pam does her thing and kills the police. On the way out of town, she sees someone has painted the symbol of the Ancestor Tree on a wall and wonders if she is being followed to her next destination.

ROBIN #16 by Joshua Williamson and Roger Cruz.Connor and Damian interrogate a captured Lord Death Man, who explains that Flatline tried to kill him, as she has changed following the Death Tournament. After observing how things have changed on the island, Damian tells Mara that he and Connor are going off on a mission that takes them to Tokyo. A meeting with Hiro leads to investigating one of Lord Death Man’s hideouts, but that leads Damian into a confrontation with Flatline. When she asks where Lord Death Man is, Damian tells her that he is still on the island. On the island, Lord Death Man slips his bonds and meets with Mother Soul, who he shares a long kiss with.

SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL #13 by Nicole Maines, Tom Taylor and Clayton Henry. The “Truth” is out about Jay, so Jon takes him to the Fortress of Solitude, where he discovers Nia Nal, also known as Dreamer, inside the Fortress. Days later, the Bat Family discovers that the Joker has been killed and Batman is searching for the killer. Bendix drops a giant Joker Gas creature on Gotham and that leads to a call out for the heroes to help evacuate the area. They do their best but The Rising arrives and battles them. Wonder Woman calls out for Superman and Jon comes to help. But it’s already too late as he is affected by Kryptonite particles in the gas and he is forced to watch Bendis assassinate Batman. It turns out this is the future from a week from now, thanks to the vision presented by Dreamer. Armed with this knowledge, Jon is ready to make the League aware. In the end, Bendix has captured Jay’s mother and is preparing to use her as a bargaining tool.

THE SWAMP THING #15 by Ram V and Mike Perkins. Swamp Thing, now powered by Green Lantern, meets with his brother Jacob, who is the current Avatar of the Green. Levi calls for a truce between the two and Jacob restores Levi’s connection to The Green. The Pale Wanderer arrives and tries to convince Levi that his efforts are useless. Trinity arrives and the pair start to work together to destroy the machine.

TASK FORCE Z #10 by Matthew Rosenberg and Eddy Barrows. Langston tries his best to resurrect Bane but finds this may be more difficult than thought; much to the dismay of Bloom. Bloom pays Jason a visit at the new headquarters of Task Force Z to gain hat is referred to as the “missing piece.” He uses a form of memory replacement to gain control of most of the team before leaving with a kidnapped Delia. In flashback to several months ago, Waller introduces The Thinker to Dent and company with the plan being to have him put Bane’s memories inside of a corpse there. In the end, they succeed in bringing “Bane” back to life. But this is not Bane, it is a resurrected Hank Clover Jr.-Gotham-with Bane’s memories.

WONDER WOMAN #789 by Michael W. Conrad, Becky Cloonan, Jordie Belaire, Emanuela Lapacchino, Eduardo Pansico and Paulina Canucheau. A giant version of Dr. Cizko, actually an illusion, is loose and his milk followers are with him, causing Diana to believe that the Duke of Deception is the newest member of Villainy Inc. She ends up battling Dolos. Sweetheart arrives with the crystal lens but it gets too hot and she drops it, meaning Dolos goes back to fighting Diana and loosing. Siggy and Steve get involved and Siggy has to subdue them as safely as possible. Doctor Poison arrives and subdues the heroes. At Checkmate Headquarters, Etta gets a visit from Professor Calculus, who subdues her and feveals that Dr. Poison has a cure for Steve and Siggy. Meanwhile, Cizko reaches out to “management”. In the backup, Diana has listened to Antiope’s messages and has decided to follow her on path. But what is Hippolyta going to say about it when she hears?

WONDER WOMAN: EVOLUTION #8 by Stephanie Philips and Mike Hawthorne. Wonder Woman battles Silver Swan and discovers that she had been infused with Diana’s DNA in an effort to create a new human race. To save her friend, Diana agrees, Diana agrees to a blood transfusion which moves the nanites into Diana’s system. In the end, Diana looks to the future with the nanites still in her system.

 

DC UNIVERSE Month 54, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1045 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Will Conrad and David Lapham. Mongul and his Unmade have attacked the Citadel and freed the Teacher. Now it is up to Superman’s group to fight back by dividing into teams, with Natasha, Leonath and Orphan going to Engine City One to “hot wire” the Star Forge. But they run into unexpected trouble while there in the form of Darling. Superman and Kryl-Ux go to find the Fire of Olgrun, but Byla is determined to stop them. In the backup, Lois and Steel have a plan to be able to connect to Warworld but Conduit arrives and steals the Genesis Fragment. That leans it’s time to call in backup in the form of Jon, Kara, Conner and Kong Kenan-the Superman Family.

AQUAMAN & THE FLASH: VOIDSONG  #2 by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Vasco Georgiev. Aquaman and The Flash continue to fight the alien threat that they learn is consuming the planet’s kinetic energy. They stop the first wave but Aquaman reveals that he may have been responsible for activating Typhon: a cousin of Zeus. Another ship appears and the pair need to work together to stop Voidsong. The Flash agrees and states that, when they finish, he never wants to see Aquaman again.

AQUAMEN #6 by Brandon Thomas, Chuck Brown and Max Raynor. The battle is done and here is the aftermath. Arthur is dealing with discovering that Mera had killed him before he leaves on a League mission. Manta and son agree to continue working together. Tula and Garth rekindle their relationship. The government is looking to to eliminate any possible threat from Atlantis. In the end, everyone learns of the death of the Justice League.

ARTEMIS: WANTED #1 by Vita Ayala and Skylar Patridge. Artemis is on the run after killing Hippolyta and ends up in the town of Hither where she discovers that monstrous creatures arrive every night. The next day, she meets Freya, who left the Amazons many years ag and settled here with her daughter Skylar. One day, Skylar had ventured into one of the town’s old mines and soon the curse overtook everyone in the town every night. As she tries to find a solution, Donna Troy and Wonder Girl arrive, leading to a battle between Troy and Artemis. Before Donna can give a killing strike, Hippolyta appears and explains that she needed Artemis to kill her to stop Chaos and for her to elevate to Olympus. That night, Donna and Artemis take Skylar into the mine and slay the beasts there. In the end, Artemis is welcome back to Themescira.

BATGIRLS #8 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad and Robbi Rodriguez. Babs and Dick have infiltrated the Iceberg Lounge and, with the help of the Batgirls, who take down a sniper before getting into a tussle with a sword swallower, are looking to liberate Seer. Dick and Barbara end up under the Lounge and save Seer, but her computer is destroyed in the process. As they all escape, Seer stabs Tarsus with a gimmick computer mouse in payback for destroying her computer and her life. In the end, the Batgirls end up back in headquarters for a quiet night and Babs and Dick get romantic.

BATMAN #125 by Chip Zdarsky, Belen Ortega and Jorge Jimenez. A new villain is on the horizon and is targeting Gotham's wealthiest. He discovers that Penguin is responsible for hiring the killer and that leads him Tim Drake going to a charity event where he discovers that Clayface is masquerading as Penguin. In the process, Tim is shot through the throat. Bruce gets Tim to a hospital and the seeks out The Penguin, who he finds dying in a hospital bed from Mercury Poisoning. Cobbleot takes a pill that kills him, bringing in his nurse and the police, who believe Batman killed Penguin. With Batman on the run, Failsafe activates in the Batcave. But what is the connection? In the backup, Catwoman discovers that the Iceberg Lounge has been taken over by new owners, including Underbroker and The Executor. Later, The Executor arrives at Selina’s apartment and tasked her with finding Cobblepot’s ten children.

BATMAN BEYOND: NEO-YEAR #4 by Collin Kelly, Jacksom Lanzing and Max Dunbar. Batman faces off against the Sword of Gotham, who stabs him with his sword, disabling his system. Batman throws a kinetic Batarang at him and takes the Sword of Gotham down. What he discovers is that the Sword of Gotham is really an old man hiding behind holographics. Later, he visits Officer Boonma and tells her about the rogue A.I., which transform her into the Sword of Gotham. He again defeats the Sword of Gotham and takes Officer Boonma to a safe place: the remains of Wayne Manor.

BATMAN: FORTRESS #3 by Gary Whitta and Darick Robertson. With technology shutdown, Superman missing and an alien invasion looming, Batman reaches out to the Guardians for help. They turn him down. Aliens show up at the Daily Planet and threaten Perry White in their hunt for Clark Kent who they believe to be Superman. Batman visits President Lex Luthor and convinces him to help break into the Fortress of Solitude to find solutions and answers.

BATMAN: KILLING TIME #5 by Tom King and David Marquez. On March 6, The Riddler makes a deal with Agent Espinoza for “the package”. They agree to meet in Moldoff Park. Later, she calls the President, demanding she find a way to get this stone eye. That night, The Penguin meets with various associates and Joker Goons and proceeds to bus them to Moldoff Park. Outside, Gene Andrews sends a text to Batman and pays for it with his life. On March 7, Batman and The Help travel to Moldoff Park while all the other pieces in this puzzle also do the same. Riddler, Catwoman and Espinoza meet in the park. Catwoman knocks out Riddler and double-crosses him. She give Espinoza the option to take the stone and claim it for the government and to give her the money and let her flee. Espinoza double-crosses Catwoman and tells her there is no money. Catwoman tries to flee and Batman saves her from Espinoza while the battle between Joker Goon’s and members of the FBI continues. Espinoza tells Batman she lost the package and tells the helicopters overhead to “drop the bomb”. The stone eye is picked up by the narrator of this story-the Clock King.

BATMAN: THE KNIGHT #7 by Chip Zdarsky and Carmine DiGiandomenico. Bruce Wayne starts training with Zatara while having a close relationship with his daughter Zatanna. Bruce and Zatanna see her father speaking with a lesser demon and Bruce now understands that there are worlds beyond this one and that magic is real. He insists that he now ones to learn magic and Zatara refuses to teach hm. However, Bruce and Zatanna summon demons and that leads to Zatana using his powers to expel the creature. .

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #5 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. Supergirl explains that Nezha can be sealed in his tomb but it needs to be done from the inside. Superman and Elasti-Girl get possessed by Nezha and it take Robotman to break the spell. Superman heads to his Fortress of Solitude and returns with a Phantom Zone projector, temporarily sending Nezha to the Phantom Zone. He breaks free, leading to Superman forcing him into the tomb. While Batman yells at Supergirl for not saving the now lost Robin, Negative Man uses his powers to force open the tomb and the heroes pull Superman out. In the epilogue, Robin finds himself, many years later, at Nezha’s tomb, also non as Lazarus Island. To be continued in BATMAN AND ROBIN #1.

BATMAN: URBAN LEGENDS #17 by Ryan Cady, Joey Esposito, Alex Paknadel, Dan Watters, Gleb Melnikov, Serg Acuna, Amancay Nahuelpan and Riley Rossmo. Batman and the Flash team up to take on and take down Mr. Freeze. In the second story, Aquaman and Batman work together to counteract the effects of Joker Fish. In the third tale, Batman goes to Khandaq, where he is forced to battle Black Adam to save the life of a girl. In the last tale, Batman tries to find The Riddler and his unsuccessful journey leads him through The Penguin and Catwoman.

BLACK ADAM #2 by Christopher Priest and Rafa Sandoval. A month ago, Black Adam meets a young boy with powers and, when he follows him, it leads him into a trap where he battles Darkseid. Today, Adam is in Kahndaq and is dying. He bequeaths his ring and his legacy to Malik White, who becomes the White Adam. He uses his new powers to transport Adam to a hospital in Washington, where Black Adam dies.

BLOOD SYNDICATE: SEASON ONE #3 by Geoffrey Thorne, Tom Raney and ChrisCross. Sara has a vision where the Milestone heroes are fighting some sort of demon. An armored woman declares the Sara is not her Sara and she is out of time and tells her to warn Carlos. She wakes two minutes after the explosion that ended last issue. AquaMaria uses her power to help Sara get away, telling her to find Carlos at their new safehouse. At the safehouse, Silke shows up where Rolando and Carlos are joined by AquaMaria, where they discuss forming a super team to fight Holocaust. At the police station, where Holocaust arrives in an attempt to recruit Bull, just as the team arrives.

CATWOMAN #45 by Tini Howard and Sami Basri..Catwoman and Valmont bust up some doings on the dicks and find the criminals are trafficking women. Later, after being patched up, Catwoman meets with the Batgirls, mirroring a scene in BATGIRLS #8. Later she and Valmont go undercover at Milk, where she runs into Dick Grayson and they gain intel that Ibanescu was getting in a big delivery on the docks-Amygdala.

DARK CRISIS #2 by Joshua Williamson and Daniel Sampere. Amid the ruins of Titans Tower, the surviving heroes try to rescue Nightwing and realize that Chupacabra may be dead. Deathstroke and his Secret Society arrive and drop the badly injured body of Beast Boy at their feet. Nightwing and Deathstroke battle with Nightwing gaining the upper hand. After Deathstroke wants this battle to go to a second round, Dick offers himself as a sacrifice and Deathstroke pulls the trigger, but Jon steps in and stops the barrage. Deathstroke retaliates by bringing Cyborg Superman in to battle Jon. Slade gets a message from “The Darkness” telling him not to kill the heroes. They retreat and Cyborg takes out Cyborg Superman. Black Adam arrives and tells Jon he is not ready to lead a League, but he is. Elsewhere, Kyle Raynor escapes from his captors just as Hal Jordan and Jo Mullein arrive to save him. They tell him that the League is dead and informs Kyle that he will now be part of the Green Lanterns Corps.

DARK CRISIS: YOUNG JUSTICE #2 by Meghan Fitzmartin and Laura Braga. The team, with an assist from a version of Cassie, battles and defeats the Mighty Endowed. Later, Cassie meets with Arrowette and tries to convince her to become a hero again. Elsewhere, Cassie and the team meet with an older version of the Justice League, with Cassie trying to convince the heroes that they will be the replacements for Batman, Superman and The Flash. Tim explains he is dating Bernard but Batman insists he needs to be with Stephanie and she is his destiny. Cassie also fights Red Volcano and gets saved by Arrowette and Red Tornado. In the end, the boys end up facing zombies and run into Deathstroke, Captain Boomerang and Luthor, who have captured Cassie. But which Cassie is it?

DARK CRISIS: WORLDS WITHOUT A JUSTICE LEAGUE by #1 by Tom King, Brandon Thomas, Fico Ossio and Chris Burnham. The Justice League is dead and Pariah has created new worlds. In this one, Jon Kent is his father’s sidekick and dressed like Robin. Over a period of six years, Jon grows up, fighting with nightmares about Dakseid and alongside with his father against Orion. At age sixteen, he gets his own super cycle. At age seventeen, he comes home badly beaten. At age eighteen, he jumps on his Super Cycle and heads out to find himself. In the Aquaman backup, the extended Aquaman family attends daughter Andy’s wedding. Although Aquaman awakes in the end and realizes that he has been dead before and he needs to figure things out.

DEATHSTROKE INC. #11 by Ed Brisson and Dexter Soy. Slade’s origin story continues as  he goes off with Wintergreen to find one of the few remaining men involved in the experiments on men, including Slade. He discovers that the government has been paying people to cover it up. They meet with Isherwood, who presents Slade with his first Deathstroke suit. The team goes off to eliminate the last surviving doctor, but Slade runs into trouble when Green Arrow shows up. Elsewhere, Slade’s wife goes shopping with their son Grant and she may be pregnant.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1062 by Ram V, Simon Spurrier, Rafael Albuquerque and Dani. While out patrolling, Batman encounters Bruno Maroni, who is apparently now some sort of zombie. Batman encounters chest pain and it is Talia who ends up saving him and giving him a warning that “they’re coming”. Later, Batman runs diagnostics to see what could be wrong with him. Even Nightwing is concerned. Bruce examines a strange, antique box he purchased recently. In Coronis, a mysterious woman presents her son Arzen with a deed dealing with Gotham and Edouard Arkham. She sends him to Gotham where Gael is already making his resence felt. In the end, Bruce dreams of the Bat-God and the strange box opens, revealing it is a music box. In the backup, a depressed Jim Gordon investigates the remains of Arkham looking for a junkie named Jonas and discovers a strange, naked individual eating a rat.

DUO #3 by Greg Pak and Khoi Pham. David meets with his underminer friend Henry and tries to get him to use the nanobots to create a new body that he can place Kelly into. She begins to fade inside of him, so he allows her to take control of his body. She also reveals that she can use the nanobots to create hands in the shape of claws. “David” meets with Marius and his men, leading to a fight between “David” and Morien. Following the fight, he is introduced to the Immutables, who try to convince him that his plan would result in an entire world filled with immortals, leading to an environmental disaster. In the end, a group arrives and tells David he cannot trust the Immutables.

THE FLASH #784 by Jeremy Adams and Amancay Nahuelpan. Max Mercury and Jesse Quick have ended up on a post-apocalyptic Earth where Barry Allen is battling Terramongus. Irey and Jai have ended up on an Earth where they are hunted by Night-Flash and have lost their transporter in the process. Wally and Wallace end up in Barry's dream world where Barry attacks Wally who he believes in Reverse-Flash. Wallace finds Barry’s home and gets a new costume before joining the Flash family for dinner, meaning Pariah has now corrupted his mind too.

FLASHPOINT BEYOND #3 by Geoff Johns, Jeremy Adam, Tim Sheridan, Xermánico and Mikel Janín. Superman faces off with Batman, knocking him out and taking him to Ivy. It is revealed they are in the Oasis and that Jason Woodrue is the Swamp Thing. There, Superman shows them the crystals that were found in Metropolis, revealing a message from Jor-El, explaining that Kal-El must use his powers to disarm the humans so the father and son can conquer Earth and will arrive in five days. Ivy and Superman try to convince Batman to join together and stop the invasion. Batman turns them down, saying he has his own mission to complete. Meanwhile, Gilda Dent is recovering from her wounds and continues o hear voices. Elsewhere, the police find Reverse-Flash: dead and filled with clock parts. In the end, the Time Masters reveal they are aware of Hypertime, the Omniverse and what Thomas Wayne is doing to bring it all to an end.

FUTURE STATE: GOTHAM #15 by Dennis Culver, Guillaume Singelin, Giannis Milonogiannis and Ben Abernathy. Jason meets with Bruce and Talia, but he is convinced that THIS Bruce is Hush in disguise. Talia runs a sword through Jason and then she leaves with Bruce, where they get attacked by Mother Panic. Meanwhile, Damian is with the person he THINKS it is father, but actually Hush, who tells him there were three imposters and now those ghosts have returned. Elsewhere, Dick meets with Babs, who professes her love for him. The rest of the family shows up and try to convince him he is behaving badly because of the Brane, but that leads to them fighting him. Jodi removes the sword from Jason, just as Damian and Hush arrive and prepare to kill him. In the backup Cass battles remnants of the Magistrate and eventually gets help from Batman.

HARLEY QUINN #17 by Stephanie Phillips  and Riley Rossmo. Harley wakes from being shot last issue by Verdict and finds she was saved by Kevin, Leslie Thompkins and Batwoman. She also discovers that she has been evicted from her place and all of her belongings are at Kevin’s. Verdict goes to City hall and holds Mayor Nakano hostage, forcing him to blow up City Hall and kill everyone in it, including Verdict. Harley arrives and Kevin has a heart to heart with Verdict, who discovers that her bombs have been diffused. In the aftermath, Verdict is arrested and Mayor Nakano says he will issue a press release and a pubic apology to Harley. In the end,  a pair of villains break Verdict out, saying their boss wants to meet her.

I AM BATMAN #11 by John Ridley, Christian Duce and Tom Derenick. During the capture of Manray, Detective Chubbs has shot Detective Keenan, which has gotten her in hot water with the rest of the force. Meanwhile, the Mayor is looking to hire Renee Montoya as the new police commissioner. Later, she meets with Chubbs and explains that she is thinking of taking the job, which disappoints Chubbs who left Gotham because of Montoya. That night, Chubbs and Whitaker follow a hot lead, only to learn it’s an ambush. Although they radio their distress, the rest of the cops in the precinct refuse to go help. Batman comes and saves the day and then observes a late night meeting between the Mayor and a shadowy figure who may have been responsible for sending Manray after him. In the end, The Question meets with Batman and wants t know who really killed Anarky. Also, it seems more evident that Tiff Fox may become the next Robin.