DC Universe, Month 76, Part 2

HARLEY QUINN #40 by Tini Howard, Natacha Bustos, and Grace Ellis. Harley is tasked to train a couple of Mr. Freeze’s recruits. As they prepare for their first mission, Harley meets with Zeus, who tells her of his wife’s death, convincing him to help her to convince them that crime is not the answer. When the mission goes down, it goes badly as the police arrive and apprehends them all, or attempts to as Harley escapes, realizing that this mission was just a distraction from the real theft: an isotope of frozen water. Harley turns herself in to save the others while Freeze places the isotope into the hands of his dead wife and it turns the skyscraper Freeze has as a headquarters into his ice-scraper. In the backup, Harley finds herself in school with Ivy as a professor and her failing her exam involving a mustache assignment. Once again, it is all a dream. But apparently she can create a mustache quite well in real life.

JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. GODZILLA VS. KONG #7 by Brian Buccellato and Christian Duce. Lois contacts the JLA and wants to know where Clark is. He arrives and asks her to marry him, which she agrees to. Deathstroke and Cheetah find what is left of Toyman, who has been crushed by Godzilla. As Kong and the heroes fight the monsters and Luthor’s mech, Gar transforms into a giant gorilla and teams up with Kong. Hal, mourning Guy’s death, creates a giant construct that also joins the fight. Meanwhile, Superman tracks down Godzilla and enrages him, forcing him to follow and join the fight. Along with Kong, who now wears Guy’s ring, Godzilla takes down the monster while the JLA takes down Luthor. Superman uses the Dreamstone to send Godzilla and Kong back home.

KNEEL BEFORE ZOD #5 by Joe Casey and Dan McDaid. A highly injured Zod finds himself on the spaceship and breaks free, killing all of the crew. He proceeds to free all of the ship’s inmates and tells them they are now to follow him, as the Legion of Zod.

NIGHTWING #114 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. Because of events that happened two weeks ago, Nightwing and his dog are currently in a snow covered place. At a benefit for the Pennyworth Foundation, Heartless is preparing to make his move that will change Dick’s world.

OUTSIDERS #7 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Robert Carey. In another time and place, there is a meeting of the Planetary directors, consisting of Ambrose Chase, Elijah Stone, The Drummer, and Jakita Wagner who gets appointed to the role of Fourth Man, replacing Stone. Immediately after, the world shifts and their entire reality shifts. Jakita finds herself in Metropolis, where she sees the Justice League fighting Darkseid and his Parademons. Racing through the city, she gathers stacks of books chronicling stories from the DC Universe, including 52, Rebirth, and Convergence. She settles into her life in this reality, starting a new life and relationship until reality slips again and she finds herself in multiple realities, eventually ending up with the Final Knight. She tells this story to her current companions, saying she is merely a refugee. Later, she taps her drumstick on the Book of Planetary and someone holding the book of the Outsiders, flips towards the end.

THE PENGUIN #10 by Tom King and Rafael De Latorre. The pieces continue to shift as the Cobblepot children make plans, including killing off their rivals and confidants. Addison meets with her father and, after the meeting, sends her brother and their men to murder their father. But The Penguin is one step ahead and his team takes out the hired hands, giving Penguin a chance to violently beat his son with his umbrella. In the end, Batman meets with Addison.

POISON IVY #22 by G. Willow Wilson and Haining.  While Grundy and Croc fend off the creatures and saves Janet from HR, Ivy battle Woodrue, transforming into a creature of the Green in the process. She takes control and orders the creatures to kill her and Woodrue to save the world.

POWER GIRL #9 by Leah Williams and Eduardo Pansica. A HOUSE OF BRAINIAC tie-in. The Holliday Girls and Crush team up with Power Girl in the fight against the Czrarnians. But they capture the Hollidays and that forces Power Girl and Crush to retreat. Elsewhere, someone from Power Girl’s recent past has returned with plans to finish what we started.

RED HOOD: THE HILL #4 by Shawn Martinbrough and Sanford Greene. Batman has arrived and now teams up with Jason and Dana to save her friends from Krekk’s monsters. Batman reveals he was responsible for relocating Krekk to The Hill, angering Jason. Demetrius meets with his father, telling the older man that he plans on taking The Hill and then Gotham. Denise meets with Omar, who sends his men after her as he says Dana represents chaos. She is saved by Jason. But who will save Dana, now that she comes home to find Demetrius waiting for her.

SHAZAM #11 by Mark Waid and Emanuela Lupacchino. As part of a dream, Billy recalls issues he had with being deserted by his mother. Later, Darla is still wondering what was going on with The Captain burning the letter to Billy.  As part of the plan to adopt the kids, an adoption worker arrives to interview all of the children, but there are creatures about at the house, leading to the children to continually distract the woman. Billy also speaks to The Captain, who apparently now takes over his body when he transforms. In the end, the adoption is upheld as it is being contested by a family member, who is revealed to be Billy’s mother. 

SINISTER SONS #4 by Peter J. Tomasi and Vasco Georgiev. Sinestro heads to New Korugar only to find the power battery destroyed. Meanwhile, the trio inside of the space whale fight the space pirates. But just when things are looking up, Sinestro arrives and wants to know what they are doing in his sector of space.

SUICIDE SQUAD: DREAM TEAM #3 by Nicole Maines and Eddy Barrows. Deadeye, Bizarro, Harley, Clock King, and Black Alice go to parthas, where they find a group of citizens unconscious and asleep. They also observe one citizen being sucked into the trees and then realize dreams are being used to surround them all. They try to capture Dreamer, who tells them she is not trying to defeat Waller but outwit her. When she discovers it is 11:49 PM, she comments that it has already started and then disappears. She ends up at Parthas Elementary, where she sees a group trying to burn it down.  The rest of the team shows up and Dreamer tells them this is all part of Waller’s plan, to poison the masses against Metas and heroes. Black Alice puts Dreamer to sleep and they tell Waller that they have secured Dreamer.

SUPERMAN #1413 by Joshua Williamson and Rafa Sandoval. HOUSE OF BRAINIAC Part 4. Superman and Lobo brawl with Lobo taking sides with General .Chacal. Meanwhile, Brainiac tells Lena she is his greatest weapon. Supergirl and Lex end up in the bottled city of Colu, where Lex reveals that he knows there are holes in Brainiac’s psyche and he is building a family. As Brainiac’s “family” arrives, Vril Dox and Luthor’s mother arrive to save the day, telling them he is here to kill his father. Superman has been captured and now Brainiac uses the Super Family’s powers to create his greatest creation, who then kills all the Czarnians but still needs more power. To be continued in ACTION COMICS #1066.

SUPERMAN: HOUSE OF BRAINIAC SPECIAL #1 by Joshua Williamson, Mark Russell, Edwin Galmon,  Steve Pugh, and Fico Ossio. HOUSE OF BRAINIAC PART 2.5. In the past, on Czarnia, General Chacal and his pirate band was raging their own chaos on the citizens. General Tribb, wanting to eliminate this problem, meets with Brainiac, making a deal with him: take the city and the inhabitants away and she will give Brainiac immortality.. he took away the chaotic city and then betrayed Tribb. He left the world behind and centuries later, sees that it is a desolate wasteland. In the second story, Perry White’s campaign for Mayor is not going as well as he hoped. Garon Blake is his opponent and he embraces getting rid of all aliens, which is embraced by his followers. During a debate, a member of the crowd sees an alien child and the crowd turns on her, with Bibbo getting involved and allowing her to escape to safety. In the end, someone who was at the debate tells Bibbo that what happened to the girl was not right. In the final story, Waller meets with the Council of Light, revealed to be all the different versions of Brainiac. Feeling used, she terminates the conversation and possibly their relationship. In the end, the Brainiacs are building their ultimate weapon. To be continued in ACTION COMICS #1065 and ABSOLUTE POWER: GROUND ZERO..

TITANS #11 by Tom Taylor and Lucas Meyer. In the past, Morrow tries to turn a girl named Vanessa into the perfect example of his Post-Human Project. But she dies and he has now used her brain to build his newest creation, that he calls Vanadia. He convinces her that the Titans have been replaced by demonic robots, which pleases Waller. At the Tower, Dick uses a special code word to enter his own mind and learns that Raven might have been compromised by the dark winged queen. Vanadia attacks, during which Rachel heads back to her father’s world.

WONDER WOMAN #9 by Tom King, Daniel Sampere, and Belen Ortega. Diana is still a prisoner and she uses the power of her mind to communicate with an imagined Steve Trevor in a variety of situations, in order to keep her sanity. When her captor comes to check on here, Diana is sitting with her only companion: a rat. Still with her sanity, she asks him what is next. In the backup, trinity visits Zatanna in search of a way to turn Damian and Jon back to their normal selves, instead of being a dog and a cat. She spends an undetermined amount of time trying to train them, to the point of her exhaustion, until they finally revert back to their original selves..

DC Universe, Month 76, Part 1

ABSOLUTE POWER #1(FCBD EDITION) by Mark Waid and Mikel Janin. by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Robert Carey.and Clock King meet with a captured Meta with electrical based abilities. Clock King tells him of Amanda Waller’s early life, while the Meta observes members of the Squad, along with Green Arrow, who Clock King tells him is part of the team now. He is brought into a room to measure the full extent of his powers. But the robot he is training his powers on creates a feedback loop that kills him, just as it had three other Metas. Waller meets with dreamer and demands she tell Waller her future. Dreamer insists she cannot see it, even though she actually sees the Justice League members in manacles and defeated. Failsafe enters and says that an extraterrestrial vehicle has entered the atmosphere and that it may have what they require.

ACTION COMICS #1065 by Joshua Williamson and Rafa Sandoval. HOUSE OF BRAINIAC PART 3. Superman and Lobo take the fight to General Chacal and his men before leaving the fight to even the playing the field. They end up at Hardcore Station where they meet with Space Cabbie, who tells them that Brainiac has been sending the Czarnian army down to any planet with powers. Chacal and his men show up, with Chacal saying he wants Lobo to succeed his rule and convinces Lobo to join him and take out Superman. Meanwhile, inside Brainiac’s ship, Supergirl and Kon are free of their prison, but have been reduced in size. The miniaturized superheroes free Livewire and Parasite and, after going to the ship’s armory, they battle with the Brainiacs, until Supergirl is captured by Brainiac Prime. He takes her to Luthor and she observes a miniaturized city which Luthor enlarges, revealing a city Brainiac had saved from the destruction of Colu. Supergirl breaks free and, kidnapping Luthor, flees. In the backup, Brainiac’s son meets with his father. Brainiac has his men take his son to the reborn Colu, where the young man sees his mother. To be continued in SUPERMAN #14.

ALAN SCOTT: THE GREEN LANTERN #6 by Tim Sheridan and Cian Tormey. The JSA along with Alan and Red Lantern fight against the Russian team, with Red Lantern being killed in the process. But he is resurrected and kills the Russians with his power, angering Alan. Red Lantern, now without his ring, is jailed but somehow still has access to the Crimson Flame. In the present, Alan speaks with his son before a final epilogue explaining how he was able to deal with mastering time travel, just to go back and write a letter to his future self.

BATMAN #147 by Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Jimenez, and Miguel Mendonca. Failsafe saves Vandal Savage, who has been appointed Police Commissioner, from an assassination attempt. Meanwhile, Bruce heads to Happy Harbor: the former headquarters of the Justice League. Tim arrives and offers his help, with Bruce saying he cannot do this alone and needs his family. Elsewhere, Waller sends her assault team to Wayne Manor and take out Failsafe, but they only find Damian, as Failsafe is in her headquarters and she tries to bring him to her side. Later, Damian observes Failsafe building an army of Amazos that he has uploaded with variations of Batman from across the Multiverse. Damian realizes Failsafe is not his father and has been collecting Zue-En-Arrhs, He captures Damian and reveals he has made his own version of Robin. In the backup, Riddler and Two-Face have been captured by The Warden. After being beat down by some of The Warden’s men, The Warden offers to have Riddler be better and allow him to make him that way.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #9 by Joshua Williamson and Nikola Cizmesija. Batman has been captured by Man-bat, who declares he created these followers and that he is now more popular than Batman himself. Meanwhile, Damian tells Nika that he is sure Principal Stone is his former trainer Mistress Harsh. Ater initiating a food fight, Damian and Nika get called to Stone’s office where she sets Shea on Damian, who is quickly dispatched. Stone admits who she is an appears to prepare to kill Shea when Ms. Hall saves Shea, leading Damian to call her out as Shush. She reveals how Tommy Elliot was her mentor and she would cover for him when he would leave the hospital to engage as Hush, which caused her to be stripped of her medical license. She discovered the Man-Bat cult and convinced him to join with her and take down Batman. She explains she was wrong and they can work together to stop Man-Bat. She has also been injured by Man-Bat and Damian leaves Nika to care for her. Damian tracks down Man-Bat, who leaves the area with his followers and a captured Batman in tow.

BATMAN DYLAN DOG #3 by Roberto Recchioni, Gigi Cavenago, and Werther Dell’Edera. The Joker has returned to Gotham along with a resurrected Killex, who now returns to his murderous ways. Killex is conflicted and he leaves The Joker behind. Meanwhile, Dylan has come to Gotham and meets with Gordon, telling him that these murders are not like Killex’s previous ones, meaning he is still learning. Batman captures The Joker, who reveals that Killex is an empty shell and he wants Dylan to find him. Dylan sets himself up as bait to capture Killex, which Batman does. Through magical means, Killex is sent to a version of heaven, which is hell for him and for all time.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #27 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. With Batman and Superman turned into two-dimensional figures, it is up to the Justice League to fight the invaders and their Earth counterparts. Meanwhile, Bat-Mite ventures into the 2-D world to free them but accidentally takes them to the Sixth Dimension. Mxyzptlk gives Jimmy Olsen powers, tapping into his history as Turtle Boy and others. The master villain behind it all has decided that Jimmy is Earth’s mightiest hero and now must prepare to die.

BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #13 by Tim Seeley, Mark Russell, Delilah S. Dawson, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Jason Shawn Alexander, Kelley Jones, Jon Mikel, Serg Acuna, Lisandro Estherren, and Rodney Barnes. Nightwing observes a woman commit suicide but when he tries to stop her he ends up falling and now can’t find the woman. This leads to a team-up with Deadman, which leads them to…The Unfallen. In the second tale, Booster Gold screws things up and lands in a time where the Jurassic League are the heroes. Because of his interference, he ends up in 2471 C.E. where he finds the world has changed and the Jurassic League is in charge. In the third tale, the mission to take out Artemis ends, with her escaping back to Themyscira. In the fourth tale, Batman and guy Gardner team up in a search for gray aliens who may have been here since Roswell. In the final story, The Joker is murdered by someone who only wants to help Batman get rid of his arch enemy.

BIRDS OF PREY #9  by Kelly Thompson and Javier Pina. The Birds have ended up somewhere and are now actively looking for Barbara.  They find her and follow her until they realize it is not their friend but a twisted Bat creature. Dinah subdues it and they flee, leaving Barbara behind, wherever she may be. Meanwhile, Meridian ends up visiting Zealot in Star City and the pair head to Gotham, where they find the portal that had been opened.

BLUE BEETLE #9 by Josh Trujillo and Adrian Gutierrez. Victoria Kord has her Pinnacle and Jaime is appalled. He goes to visit Brenda, who admits she knew about Pinnacle and how Victoria was filling it with the powers of the scarabs. Later, Victoria destroys Pinnacle and says she would rather be a villain than a victim. Brenda leaves and takes a fragment of Pinnacle with her but soon is attacked by Victoria’s drones, being shot down before Jaime can get to her. Victoria does not know what to do and that is when Ted Kord arrives and they decide they need to fix this. Jaime gets to the remains of Brenda’s ship, but the fragment of Pinnacle is not there, as it has grown again and is now prepared to take out all enemies.

CATWOMAN #65 by Tini Howard and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Selena has died again, but she is given one more chance at life by and wakes in a freezer in a morgue, which she quickly escapes but not before finding the trove of artifacts that belong to Viceroy. Later, she heads to Brazil and meets with Scandal and unveils her plan to hire some of Viceroy’s hired thieves away from her.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1085 by Ram V and Stefano Raffaele. Batman is back in Gotham but he is a changed man and is preparing to take the fight to the Orghams. His first strike is to light up a flaming bat in the city. Later, he meets with Mr. Freeze, telling him he may need Freeze’s “eternal winter” to help defeat the Orghams. In the end, the Orghams have a new partner of sorts: Dr. Jonathan Crane. In the backup, Freeze meets with Magda: a woman who once helped him out in his early days. She asks him to help her find more time in her life and Freeze gives her something. It doesn’t extend her life, it ends it.

THE FLASH #9 by Si Spurrier and Ramon Perez. The Crown of Thawnes, made up of the various consciousness of Multiversal Reverse-Flashes, forces Barry to try and attack Iris, Linda and Wade but Barry resists all attempts. Barry continues to resist the Crown so they call on Abra Kadabra to try to put pressure on him. Meanwhile, at the Linear Bureau, Jai is able to observe the Gallery of Moments, where she sees Wally turning all of the statues away from him, although Nightwing’s keeps looking back at him. Wally teleports to Nightwing who tells him that, no matter what is going on, Wally is the best person he knows. As Barry fights Kadabra, Rathway and Pilgrim arrive and take Wade away for his own safety. Hartley plays his flute and this causes the previously invisible Barry to appear, as the flute has broken Kadabra’s spell, and she punches the villain out. Pilgrim unmasks and Linda allows him to take Wade away. At the Bureau, Pilgrim explains that the Arc Angles wanted him to destroy the speedsters to save the universe but he decided to imprison them instead, revealing himself as future Wade. As Barry tries to get rid of a missile, he realizes that he has been followed by Failsafe.

GREEN ARROW #12 by Joshua Williamson and Sean Izaakse. Ollie fights against the creations from Sanctuary but he does not fight alone as his family joins him, allowing him to fight Merlyn one-on-one. With Merlyn defeated, Diggle arrives and takes custody of the villain, meaning the Arrow Family can all go back home to the island. To enjoy a family vacation.

GREEN LANTERN #11 by Jeremy Adams, Xermanico, and Kevin Maguire. Thaaros destroys the power battery on Zamaron and decrees that it is time to eliminate the Star Sapphires. Back on Earth, Carol tells Nate she wants to get married today and the couple head to Las Vegas. Along the way, she thinks of her youth and some of the trouble she and young Hall got into. Just before the marriage ceremony can be completed, a Star Sapphire rings arrives, seeking out carol. Meanwhile, Hal and the Lantern resistance meet with Thaaros, declaring that he is the problem, which he admits to. He then dispatches members of the council, shape shifting Durlans, to attack them. In the backup, Guy and Lobo team up and end up in a bar. But before the bar fight can begin, Brainiac arrives along with more of Lobo’s people.

GREEN LANTERN: WAR JOURNAL #9 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Montos. As Shepherd tries to decipher the Book of Oa, Stewart and the survivors try to escape from the dark light that will turn them into Fenn. On Earth, Varron continues to threaten John’s mother and has not realized that John’s sister is only a construct.