DC UNIVERSE Month 80, Part 2

HARLEY QUINN #43 by Tini Howard, Alexis Quasarano, Sweeney Boo, and Riccardo Federici. With Robin captured, Harley fights alone against Mr. Freeze. When he realizes he is defeated, he encases himself and Nora in a block of ice and allows himself to be captured. Later, Harley disguises herself as Pulaski to visit her daughter, convincing her to call her mother in an effort to seek justice. Pulaski is the chief prosecution witness against Maxie Zeus but Harley brings in a witness of her own in Bella Pulanski and her testimony crushes her mother’s credibility, resulting in the case against Zeus being dismissed. In the end, Harley suggests a road trip for her and Ivy. In the backup, Harley the Barbarian and her crew battle the Kraken.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA # 11 by Geoff Johns and Marco Santucci. Because of the situation involving a young Mordru, the Justice Society of America are forced to face-off against the Legion of Super-Heroes. Dr. fate arrives along with the Legion of Substitute-Heroes, declaring there is a traitor in their midst, that turns out to be Yolanda, who turns out to be influenced by Eclipso. And he begins to influence many of the heroes. Mordru gets Huntress to fire a crossbow arrow at him, causing him to dissolve and freeing everyone again. Mordru takes the Black Diamond, which now holds Eclipso, and declares he will bring it to Gemworld. In the end, Huntress puts together a new JSA in the 31^st Century.

OUTSIDERS #11 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly and Robert Carey. In the void, the carrier holds back the wave of destruction that the Drummer released. Telling Jakita that they are the only two stories in existence. As the Carrier’s mind begins to dissolve, she shows Jakita a different timeline. In it, Batwoman and the Final Knight kill each other six months from now. Lucius Fox dies alone in a hospital eight years from now. In Neo-Gotham, Luke Fox is killed by the Challengers of the Unknown thirty-seven years in the future. Just before their deaths, the carrier pulls them out of this timeline and tells them they are the authors of the story and need to write a better one. Lucius, Luke, Batwoman and Jakita end up in the Multiversal Library where Lucius tells Jakita the Carrier is dead; dying to stop Jakita’s plan. They fight Jakita who overpowers them with Lucius challenging her to write a better story than the one she had been given. Jakita takes out the Planetary Guide, scrapes the Planetary logo off the cover and writes ‘OUTSIDERS’ on it instead. Placing the book back on the shelf, the Outsiders fade away. The spirit of the carrier appears and tells her she is doing the right thing. The Outsiders wake on the Carrier, realizing that Jakita has manage to restore reality. Two months later, Luke meets with Batwoman, telling her he has quit The Outsiders, that Jenny Crisis has joined them and wants to recruit other Century babies. He is again a vigilante in Gotham and hints that he wants to build a new version of The Authority. Meanwhile, Jakita finishes the Outsiders book and puts it back on the shelf. She finds another book called PLANETARY and finds a comic book inside that tells of her adventures with The Planetary.

THE PENGUIN #12 by Tom King and Rafael De Latorre. The Penguin, who has killed his son, finds himself at the end of a gun held by Spider when Batman arrives and saves him. Moving to a moment from the very beginning of this mini-series, Batman and The Penguin are in a sinking Batmobile when they get rescued by The Help. When Bruce awakes, he is being cared for by The Help. Oswald meets with his daughter and they appear to mend fences until she is shot in the head and killed by Spider, as revenge for his lover’s death. Spider strikes a deal with Copplepot, saluting the Penguin of Gotham. Later, Oswald meets with Lisa and others, using his guile to continue to elevate himself to power. In the end, he just prefers to feed the birds and watch the city.

PLASTIC MAN NO MORE #1 by Christopher Cantwell, Alex Lims, and Jacob Edgar. Many years ago, Eel O’Brien was a petty criminal who was in and out of jail until he got transformed into Plastic Man. Always considered a joke by the rest of the Justice League, After many years of absorbing death rays, Plastic Man soon discovers that his body is slowly depolymerizing and decides he needs to get his life in order in his final days, the first of which is to reconnect with his son, which does not go well. In the end, he decides to try and build a bomb big enough to recreate the effects of his original exposure to nuclear radiation. By the way, the hand that oozed off his body appears to have new life.

POISON IVY #25 by G. Willow Wilson, Joanne Starer, Grace Ellis, Gretchen Felker-Martin, Dan Watters, Marcio Takara, Haining, Brian Level, Atagun Ilhan, and Dani. With their last battle against Woodrue over, Poison and her friends try to adjust to their life. Along the way, we see various moments in Ivy’s life in the past and the repercussions regarding the mushrooms and those who became her followers.

POWER GIRL #13 by Leah Williams and Adriana Melo. Omen goes to a party in downtown Metropolis where she meets up with Natasha Irons, who had asked her attend to make sure nothing bad happens. When Perry White comes onstage, Omen uses her telepathic powers to scan the crowd, hearing the thoughts of one man who is aware of her presence and even knows her name. The catwalk she is sitting on suddenly breaks and she finds herself attacked by Ejectra, saying she is just trying to protect the people in the building, although some have been injured or killed by it. She invites Omen to read her mind and she is shocked by what she finds, allowing Ejectra to attack her before leaving and telling her how Omen’s actions killed people. Omen leaves and goes to another party to spend time with Paige. The pair dance but Omen eventually collapses in Paige’s arms.

SHAZAM #15 by Josie Campbell and Emanuela Lupacchino. Mary and Uncle Dudley fight against the Submen while elsewhere Billy and the child flee from one of them. It turns out the child is actually a young version of Zeus, who convinces Billy to make amends with the Captain, unleashing him into the fight. All of the Submen are defeated except for their leader, who calls himself the right hand of Chronos. That is when the emissary is hit by lightning as a transformed Freddy Freeman has arrived.

SUPERMAN #18 by Joshua Williamson and Jamal Campbell. An ABSOLUTE POWER tie-in. To gain the Map of Mordru, Neron asks what each of the heroes is willing to give to acquire it. He ultimately asks Superman to lie to him and Superman agrees. He gives Zatanna the map and whispers to Superman that he knows his secret. They take the map and head to the Dark Roads. They head to the House of Heroes to recruit help from the Multiverse. The Map is draining Zatanna of her powers and her life force, admitting she will do anything to get her powers back. The House of Heroes has been destroyed and only Doctor Light is there, explaining that Waller has blocked access to the Multiverse with the help of someone she had laying wait in The Bleed. It turns out that Waller’s agent was an Earth 3 version of a fused together Batman and Superman called Konfusion, who creates a construct of Ultraman. As the House begins to collapse, Superman helps Zatanna to open a shadow portal to escape, leaving Konfusion behind as the House collapse. Elsewhere, Marcy, Lois, Lex and Siobhan go to the Fortress of Solitude and find it destroyed. Mercy and Lois send the others back to Metropolis as they wait for another attack, but it turns out to be Superman, Doctor Light and Zatanna. Superman, Zatanna and Doctor Light seek out Batman and Wonder Woman while the others are sent to Metropolis to fight Waller’s disinformation campaign. In Hell, Doomsday breaks through the gate holding him and heads back to Earth. To be concluded in ABSOLUTE POWER #4.

TITANS #15 by Tom Taylor and Lucas Meyer. The team, with help from other heroes, fight against Trigon with poor results. Gar goes to speak with the Dark Winged Queen and that manages to free the real raven from her captivity. Gar convinces the pair to join together again and raven is reborn in a new white outfit, helping to resurrect Nightwing, who died during the attack. She battles Trigon and stabs him, explaining that she couldn’t kill him because demons do not die. Later, they meet with Waller, accusing her of making a deal with the devil and saying the world is protected by the Titans. This led into ABSOLUTE POWER.

WONDER WOMAN #13 by Tom King, Tony S. Daniel, and Khary Randolph. Wonder Woman has now reunited with Steve. While the pair kiss, Damian tells them they have bigger things to worry about. and they set about making their way into the facility. Steve goes to shut the prison’s locking system down and Wonder Woman and Damian prepare to hold off the Bureau’s troops. Wonder Woman is injured during it all but Damian manages to free their friends from their cells. Together, they use Zatanna’s portal to take them through the Dark Roads. In the backup, Damián tells Trinity the story of how Wonder Woman and he became so close and managed to inspire Diana, which neither Jon or Trinity believe. Jon says she should use the Lasso of Truth on him but she wants to use the Lasso of Death so she doesn’t have to listen to any more of his stories, leading Damian to say he will never tell this story again.

DC UNIVERSE Month 80, Part 1

ABSOLUTE POWER #3 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. The Brainiac Queen, along with Jon Kent, are ordered to search the world looking for the heroes in hiding. Dr. Mid-Nite, now blind because the Global Guardian took his ability,  wakes up on the shores of Themyscira. Wally reveals he still has a chunk of Kryptonite on him and many want him to use that to stop Jon, but Nightwing shoots the idea down. Hal Jordan outfits those here with weapons he stole from the Hall of Order. Nightwing order Hal and Wally to go back to the Hall of Order to get intel on the Amazos, while a team led by Aquaman is sent to get the Tim Commander. The team rescues Time Commander, but Red Tornado gets shot in the head by Deadeye. Meanwhile, Failsafe and the Brainiac Queen go to China, declaring that the Bureau of Sovereignty has divorced themselves from the United State and that they have all of China’s classified data. Waller calls Failsafe and explains that Task Force VII is not operating as best they can. He then gets a call from a mysterious voice telling him to get to Gamorra. Back on Themyscira, Mr. Terrific constructs a trap and, when Brainiac Queen and Jon show up, the trap is sprung. The Brainiac Queen glitches and when Waller tries to force her to regain control of Jon, Batman comes in on a Boom Tube and sends her to Pluto. Superman reunites with his son as Nightwing tells the heroes they need to take the fight to Waller now. On Gamorra, Barry finds the Multiversal Bridge and realizes what Waller is doing. That is when he is attacked from behind by her army.

ABSOLUTE POWER ORIGINS #3 by John Ridley and Alitha Martinez. At an undetermined time in the past, Batman invades Task Force X headquarters just so he can intimidate Waller. It turns out that he didn’t break in, but had been here all along, disguised as Matches Malone. After having met with her pregnant daughter, she found herself out of her daughter’s life. Later, with her daughter giving birth to Amanda’s grandchild, she is still told to go away. She meets with her son and promises to find a way to bring them all together again.

ABSOLUTE POWER: SUPER SON #1 by Sina Grace, Nicole Mianes, John Timms, and Travis Mercer  Jon Kent has mostly shaken off the control from the Brainiac Queen, but is still working with the Amazons to completely free himself from her control and the memories she has corrupted him with. His guide along the way in his dreams and memories is Dreamer, who died destroying the Brainiac Queen. Finally free of Brainiac Queen, Jon reconnects with his boyfriend Jay, who is glad Dreamer is dead as she was responsible for his mother being killed.. In the end, the pair make the decision to move to San Francisco and share their lives together.

ABSOLUTE POWER: TASK FORCE VII #6 by Stephanie Williams and Khary Randolph. Waller sends  Paradise Lost to Themyscira to get revenge for what happened to the Brainiac Queen. While the Amazons try their best to fight Paradise Lost, the Amazo makes its’ way to the Well of Souls and absorbs the powers of the dead superheroines there, and then destroys the Well, effectively sealing off Themyscira from the rest of the world. On Gamorra, Steve finds himself on the run from Waller’s task force and, while hiding, crosses paths with Diana and Robin

ABSOLUTE POWER: TASK FORCE VII #7 by San Watters and Fran Galen. Global Guardian, with the New Global Guardians, has been sent to capture superheroes around the world. He attacks Eurocrops and overpowers them but Failsafe reboots Task Force VII and this causes him to freeze and fall to the earth. Belphegor arrives to arrest the New Global Guardians, which leads to an argument between the two sides. Intercorps uses a Boom Tube to send them to their headquarters, saying they must work together to stop Waller. A rebooted Failsafe arrives and depowers these metahumans. Back on Gamorra, Steve Trevor reenters the prison to get any captives out but, while trying to free Frankenstein, he is caught by Bureau soldiers and finds himself pinned down by gunfire. He calls Wonder Woman to let her know that Waller is planning to recruit villains from the Multiverse as part of her army. To be concluded in ABSOLUTE POWER #4.

ACTION COMICS #1069 by Gail Simone, Rainbow Rowell, Eddy Barrows, and Cian Tormey. Superman is beaten up and exhausted but still offers Grunhar one last chance to surrender, which he declines. Goor looks for seconds for Superman, as Lois and Jimmy have snuck away and gone into the ship. To Goor’s surprise, all the spectators volunteer, but he selects a Thangarian named Tamar Nal and a Khund named Koma as Superman’s seconds as the Man of Steel prepares to face a powerful Daxamite named Hux-Ur. In this final battle, the loser is the first person to leave the ring. The pair battle with Hux-Ur possessing a piece of Kryptonite that weakens Superman. Hux-Ur throws the piece away and Superman ends up winning, revealing that Grunhar cheated, voiding all the results. With the combined force of all the Kandorians, that Jimmy and Lois freed from Kandor, Grunhar is forced to withdraw. Back on Earth, Superman arrests the developer who was trying to shut down the developer who was trying to shut down the Siegel Youth Centre. In the backup, Lois and Clark meet to resolve the issue with his new assignment, which he agrees to continue doing as it has given him new perspective.

BATMAN #152 by Chip Zdarsky and Mike Hawthorne. Batman faces off against the Suicide Squad, allowing Catwoman to get away and retrieve the Boom Box. She gets attacked by Black Alice and the timer on the Boom Box goes off and the crypt begins to disappear. Batman tells Deadeye that the crypt contains his mother’s coffin, causing Deadeye to head back towards the crypt. Batman modifies the force field around the crypt and, after tricking Bizarro, in a move the cuts of Bizarro’s arm. With the Suicide Squad being attacked by the flying scorpions, they flee through the Boom Tube back to Earth, leaving Gunsmith, Batman, and Catwoman stranded. He realizes what is happening, the scorpions drop and an energy blast disintegrates Gunsmith. Batman and Catwoman leap through the Boom Tube as Darkseid arrives. Our heroes end up on a tropical island and walk together.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #13 by Joshua Williamson and Juan Ferreyra. Damian has been transformed and is determined to kill Bane, but Batman gets him to stand down, with bane breaking Vengeance’s gun, telling her enough is enough. He then tells Batman he will help he and Damian and then Batman can take him back to Gotham. They team up to fight Kobra, even as Maya shows up and injects Damian with anti-venom. Kobra is defeated, Vengeance flees, and the heroes take Bane back to prison. In the end, Damian begins to go back to his artistic work before he and his father go out crimefighting.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #31 by Mark Waid and Adrian Gutierrez. Some time ago, on the Justice League satellite when Green Lantern, Black Canary and Green Arrow find themselves possessed by Eclipso. When Eclipso make presence known, he defeats the League, but Red Tornado escapes, landing in Civic City where the Justice Society is ready to join the fight.

BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #17 by Michael W. Conrad, Zipporah Smith, Alex Segura, Troy Peteri, G. Willow Wilson, Miguel Mendonca, Christopher Mitten, Mike Norton, Andy MacDonald, David Baldeon, and Jason Shawn Alexander. A hostage situation caused by the Calendar Man forces officers Brooks and Bullock to attempt the impossible to rescue them. In the second tale, Constantine teams up with Streaky the cat do deal with events surrounding a talisman with a missing stone and the mystical events resulting from it. In the third story, Montoya continues to deal with the after effects of having her hero alter ego outed while discovering that Zero is really Jordan Rich. To be continued in THE QUESTION: ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER. In the fourth story, Billy Batson, seeking advice, meets with Oliver Queen when they are forced to deal with Clayface.

BIRDS OF PREY #13 by Kelly Thompson and Gavin Guidry. In the Pocket Dimension, the team faces off against Maia, with some assistance from her sisters, who have been brought here from the Spirit World. In the end, Cela sends her sister back through the portal and the team, along with Cela, come back to their world.

CATWOMAN #68 by Tini Howard and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Selina is dying and it is up to Hush to save her as Flamingo watches. Even though Batman objects, he allows the surgery to go on, as he watches from a distance and uses a radio signal to communicate to her using the fillings in her mouth. In the space between life and death, Selina meets with Valmont and also the god Ptah, in the form of a giant bat. The combined efforts brings her back to life and she angrily takes out both Hush and Flamingo. Together, the Cat Family team up to take down Viceroy, even though the villainess gets away.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1089 by Ram V, Dan Watters, Guillem March, and Christopher Mitten. Batman fights against the Orgham Queen and her followers while getting an assist from the reborn Arzen Orgham and Tali Al Ghul. As the rest of the Bat Family work to break the Orgham spell that has fallen over Gotham, Batman finds Crane and forces him to see Batman and fear him. With Gotham saved, Mr. Freeze realizes it is time to move on. Harvey Dent, suffering from a bullet wound, flips his coin and it appears he is also moving on…to Bludhaven. The Ten Eyed man is also making decisions and appears he is looking for a change. With Gotham finally free of the Orgham grip, Batman meets with Selina and is ready to once again take the mantle of Gotham’s protector.

THE FLASH #13 by Si Spurrier and Ramon Perez. Wally and Barry team-up to cut the Corona Contrarium out but is still having an effect on the Deep Change. Wally enters the Deep Change to help heal it just as the Arc Angles arrive. Barry tries to convince Wally to come back just as Inspector Pilgrim opens a portal and brings Barry back to Earth, instructing him to bring the Corona Contrarium with him. The Arc Angles try ot convince Wally to stop and threaten the lives of Linda and his children if he does not. Wally uses his new abilities to attack the Angles and save his family. The Deep Change awakens and shows Jai how to turn the Arc Angles into The Stillness, with Wally convincing them they are explorers and they need to go as far away as possible. Linda realizes that the Deep Change is about to give birth, which is does and goes back to sleep. Back in the Flash Museum, they find a small dog wearing a collar with a Flash symbol and all admit they seemingly know the dog, referring to it as Foxy. They get a call that Waller is doing something big(ABSOLUTE POWER) and the Flash Family race off, except for Wally who tells Linda he saw a future where there were two Flashes who did not trust each other. Linda asks if that was Wally and Barry and he says they were both named Wally. He leaves to help the others and tells her they will talk soon.

GREEN ARROW #16 by Joshua Williamson and Amancay Nahuelpan. An ABSOLUTE POWER tie-in. Team Arrow fights against Bright, with Ollie and Connor teaming together. Bright reveals he is from Earth 3 and was once the White Lantern until his world’s Oliver Queen, known as Deadeye, betrayed him and left him for dead. Ollie pushes Bright out of the plane and flies the craft back to the Hall of Order, where he hands Team Arrow over to the Bureau. Ollie shows Ivo the plans for Task Force VII, noting that they have Chrono Healing that makes them virtually invulnerable. Later, using Time Commander’s hourglass and Martian Manhunter’s mysterious box, Ollie begins to build a device. Black Canary, Zatanna and Doctor Light, via the Dark Roads, arrive and tells him they are going to Gamorra. He refuses to come and they leave. In the end, Waller calls him and says that the war is coming. To be concluded in ABSOLUTE POWER #4.

GREEN LANTERN #15 by Jeremy Adams, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Montos,  and Fernando Pasarin. An ABSOLUTE POWER Tie-In. Wally and Hal make their way to the Hall, where they break in so Wally can download all of Waller’s data about the Amazos. In the process, they are forced to face off against Major Force. Alan Scott continues to try to humanize Jadestone, who finally gains something akin to free will and defeats Major Force. Jadestone takes Hal to the site of the Power Battery, allowing Hal to get his powers back once more.  Meanwhile, Star Sapphire and Dove face the ire of the citizens of Coast City, who have been changed by Waller. They save many citizens and then Nate arrives, transformed into Sorrow. He is suffering from the heartbreak of losing Carol and she is forced to fight him, then leaves, finding Hal at the Power Battery and they reunite with a kiss. In the backup, an epilogue to GREEN LANTERN WAR JOURNAL, John Stewart adjust to life with his reborn sister and the ‘ghost’ of his mother. Both stories will continue in GREEN LANTERN CIVIL CORPS SPECIAL.