DC UNIVERSE Month 85, Part 2

GREEN LANTERN #20 by Jeremy Adams and Fernando Pasarin, The chaos that has been affecting the Emotional Spectrum continues as Hal gets a message about an Rage flare-up on Alteon-X. he finds a blacksmith named Erastus affected by Rage Lantern powers and is taking revenge on those who have tormented him. Even as Hal tries to help, the energy causes Erastus to explode. Meanwhile, Kyle, Connor Kent and Odyssey arrive at the Source Wall, searching for the components that Sorrow Lantern needs to make a Central Power Battery. They find it after a wild adventure, but Starbreaker and Sorrow Lantern have arrived to take it.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1 by Jeremy Adams, Morgan Hampton, and Fernado Pasarin. Kanjar Ro attacks a space ship, looking to steal their goods and sell the passengers into slavery. But that never happens as John Stewart and a team of Lanterns arrest him. Back on OA, John gets advised of a large spike of Fear Energy on Tamaran and he takes he team with him, including Sinestro. They discover Queen Blackfire battling a yellow construct of X’Hal.John and the team contain the construct while Sinestro searches for the person responsible. He finds Vexar’u and shows her own to control her fear, resulting her being given a Green Lantern ring. In the end, John is sent to help refugees from Thanagar and is ordered to work with his former lover, Shayera Hol.

HARLEY QUINN #48 by Elliot Kalan and Mindy Lee. Harley and Ivy are spending quiet time in the swamp, with Harley troubled by the voices in her head. That is when Professor Pyg’s Dollotrons show up and the girls get drugged. Harley wakes to find Pyg preparing to make Ivy into a Dollotron and then professes his love for her. Harley wriggles free and beats on him as Ivy awakens, telling her that she was fine, as her body filters out chemicals and such. Seeing her love is fine, she trashes Pyg and tosses him into the swamp. In the end, true love reigns supreme. .

JSA #4 by Jeff Lemire and Joey Vazquez. Dr. Mid-Nite wakes in the Injustice Society’s underground base and, thanks to some tricks she was taught by Mister Miracle, she escapes from Solomon Grundy. Making her way to their meeting room, she overhears how they need the Helm of Fate and the Spear of Destiny to enact their ultimate plan. But the only person who knows where the Spear is would be Hawkman who has managed to escape. Elsewhere, Obsidian awakes in a hospital room and is told he was in a car accident and is quickly sedated. Eventually, he gains strength from a shadow in the room and escapes. He finds Jakeem and frees him. But, when he tries to summon Thunderbolt, nothing happens. In the end, Dr. Mid-Nite finds an unconscious Obsidian hooked up to a machine but, before she can free him, she is attacked by Scandal.

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #4 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. Mr. Terrific engages a reluctant Tefe Holland to come with him and use her powers to help the team stop the infrno raging through the rainforest. Meanwhile, Batman travels to Egypt and finds Martian Manhunter there, with Batman revealing that he knows J’onn had lost his telepathic powers. He manages to convince him that he is not a danger to the team and eventually convinces him to come back. With Tefe’s help, she summons the powers of The Green and, with Swamp thing’s powers augmented bby the magic users, defeat Inferno. In the end, he goes back to his masters and tells them he failed. They tell him not to worry as they have a man on the inside…Air Wave.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE ATOM PROJECT #2 by Ryan Parrott, John Ridley, and Mike Perkins. In the past, the Atoms figure a way to track where Captain Atom’s powers went only to find that his powers are now in a grizzly bear. After a fight with the beast, Captain Atom arrives and undergoes the transference, which restores his powers. In the present, the Atoms investigate the train Captain Atom had been seen on. Finding some Speed Force there, they summon Wally West. The military makes plans to destroy Atom if he is found. In the end, Captain Atom reaches out to someone involved in his origin and asks to help destroy his powers.

METAMORPHO THE ELEMENT MAN #3 by Al Ewing and Steve Leiber. Having had enough of the Stagg’s shenanigans, Metamorpho backs his bags and leaves. Later, Lady Metamorpho meets with him and tells her he is done with S.H.A.D.E. shenanigans, as she tells him she has found Mad mod in Santa Prisca. But she isn’t looking for his help-she is planning on taking Java with her. The three of them go to Santa Prisca where they find a pyramid that has been built with the image of Vandal Savage on it.. java accidentally finds the entrance and stumbles inside, only to find Mad Mod ties up with an apple in his mouth, as Savage is through with him. While Metamorpho and Lady Metamorpho go through an endless maze, Savage tries to convince Java to join him. Eventually, the trio meet up, with Java discovering Savage is a robot. They burst out in a rocket ship construct and head home, where trouble is brewing as Stagg’s latest idea has turned his building into a giant robot!

MILESTONE UNIVERSE: THE SHADOW CABINET #4 by Joseph Illidge, Daryl Banks, and Atagun Ilhan. Edward Riva has transformed and now he is fighting the combined forces of Rocket and Icon. Statis arrives on the scene and engages him, soon followed by the Blood Syndicate. Rocket uses the Nanotech technology in her suit to infect Alva and, getting sent back in time, he encounters Hardware and he is defeated. In the end, Angela Riva sees a plan for something called Brainiac II, Curtis goes on trial, and Statis and Rocket appear to be the new superhero team in town.

THE NEW GODS #3 by Ram V,  Evan Cagle and Ricard Federici. In a flashback to the distant past, the story of the old gods, Parzunem, Arbor Struta and Nyctar, is told. Arbor Struta led his people to start anew after the war. Nyctar sent his people to outer space and was known as the god of wanderers. Parzurem became the god of invention. Nyctar was consumed by a great darkness and killed and consumed his sister Arbor Struta, making him powerful enough to get Parzurem to build war machines for him. he refused and sent the fractures of the mind-the Moder and the Paeter away to find freedom. Moder ended up on what would become New Genesis while Paeter came to Earth. Paeter took the shape of a human, eventually learning death. Over time, he created a weapon that would come to life if darkness came to Earth; the weapon being the child Scott is trying to protect.. Scott and Barda seek out Oberon to help find the child

NIGHTWING #123 by Dan Watters and Dexter Soy. With Bosogni looking to replace the current Mayor, Mayor Grayson-Lin tries to step up her anti-gang operation with the help of Olivia Pearse. After Nightwing visits the Teddies to reassure them he is trying to stop all the violence, he hears from Oracle about a distress call from the Flyboiz, which leads him to an underground bunker where he finds many Flyboiz mutated, possibly from chemicals buried here after the Chemo attack. Nightwing makes a promise to help the last Flyboiz while the Mayor makes a deal with Pearse.

POISON IVY #30 by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara. Janet from HR goes out searching of Ivy, only to cross paths with a representative for the Parliament of Trees. He gives her an acorn and tells her to whisper Ivy’s words to it when she hears Ivy speak of them and it will grant her her heart’s desires. At the same time, Ivy is greeted by a representative of the Grey, telling her they need an ambassador. Eventually, both Ivy and janet meet up with each other.

POWER GIRL #18 by Leah Williams and David Baldeon. Power Girl, Omen and Steel find themselves trapped inside the barrier around the Star Building, leaving Mariposa to have to handle the guests for the party. Outside the bubble, the siblings wake their brother and now make up the Void Three and tells Bruin to level the building and everyone in it.

THE QUESTION: ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER #4 by Alex Segura and Cian Tormey. Cyborg Superman unleashes his team on the Justice League members, taking them down one by one ending with The Question. His plan is to engage the self-destruct system on the Watchtower. He asks about Blue beetle and Nightshade reluctantly tells him thet Jaime is dead. Batwoman and The Question wake inside containment tubes in a sub-basement they were not aware existed and they see Animal Man controlling the area. Renee puts on her mask and plays to Buddy’s emotions, finally get him to snap out of it by mentioning his son. Together, they head off to take the Watchtower back. The Question gets Nightshade to snap out of her trance, but Cyborg Superman has corrupted all of her allies and now Renee is in the worst trouble of her life. 

SHAZAM #20 by Josie Campbell and Dan McDaid. In a tale from before the current storyline, Jonn Kent arrives seeking The Captain’s help, as something has happened and he has regressed to a younger version of himself. Eventually, after meeting with many of those people in his life, he says the magic word SHAZAM and that transforms him back into his normal self. In the end, Jon gets to spend some quality  time with his boyfriend.

SUPERMAN #23 by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora. Superwoman and Time Trapper, in the midst of time being frozen, have a conversation where he tells her he wants her to help him achieve godhood. Unfreezing time, Radiant fights Superman and Doomsday, with a blast getting deflected and hits Jimmy. Luthor has deduced a plan and shoots a ray gun which miniaturizes Radiant and Doomsday and they are put into a Kandorian sized jar, where time has been slowed. Jimmy gets taken to a hospital where he is in a coma, which leads to Silver Banshee blaming Superwoman for what happened to him. In the end, Zod decides to come to Earth and Time Trapper gets a visit at the end of time from Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl, who are part of Darkseid’s Legion.

TITANS #20 by John Layman and Pete Woods. There’s trouble in paradise as Donna and Roy kiss during an argument, with both agreeing to tell no one about it. Meanwhile, Gar and Raven are out on a date with her about to tell him that she loves him when he is hit by a errant basketball and they get tormented by a group of punks. Raven struggles to stay calm, but Gar transforms into a giant gorilla until Raven can calm him down and he transforms into a cute Quokka. Raven finally gets to tell him she loves him and they kiss. The rest of the Titans arrive and find that everyone in the street is kissing and they get Raven to distract them all. They later meet with Bumblebee who is going to use experimental technology on Raven’s brain to try and control her emotions. But that may go badly as the machine is being monitored by…Psycho Pirate.

TWO-FACE #3 by Christian Ward and Fabio Veras. While the mental battle inside of Harvey’s head continues, Harvey and Lila go to meet with someone in search of Scarface only to find that Baby-Doll has Wesker’s animated dummy. They track Baby-Doll down and, when she dispatches her assistant to take Harvey and Lila, Harvey shoots her. That’s when a mystery man, part of the Shadow Hand, is revealed. Harvey demands to know who the leader of Shadow Hand is and he is told it is actually himself, as he has been orchestrating everything they have done. It seems Two-Face has been winning all along.

WONDER WOMAN #18 by Tom King and Daniel Sampere. With The Sovereign, the President and Grail holed up in the White House, Diana walks through the gates amongst gunfire. She deflects that and then is confronted by Sgt. Steel, who says she needs to stop as he has Amazons in ten locations at gunpoint. He is told the League has already rescued them and rips off his new robotic hand. She is then confronted by General Glory, who she knocks out with one punch. Grail comes out to meet her, but Cheetah attacks her, allowing Diana to walk into the White House.

ZATANNA #2 by Jamal Campbell. During rehearsals for her upcoming show, Zatanna has a trick with Adam, who accidentally runs her trhough with a sword.. Luckily, it does no damage as it is all part of the illusion. While touring the gallery of portraits at the theater, the Lady White comes to life and captures Adam. But he is not the only one as Andre is taken to the Astral Plane, forcing Zatanna to come in to save him and the rest of the crew. But when she goes to save Adam, she is confronted by Lady White and finds herself run through with a magic sword.

DC UNIVERSE Month 85, Part 1

ABSOLUTE BATMAN #5 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta. In the past, Bruce’s circle of family and friends try to console him after his father’s death. Leslie Thompkins tends to him after he was attacked by bats at the zoo and Commissioner Gordon tells Bruce he is going to have the zoo torn down, but Bruce tells him he wants it to remain as a symbol. In the present, Batman meets with Black Mask who has wire him money to keep Batman out of his affairs. Batman turns on a Bat-Signal made from the memorial spotlight at the zoo, with Black Mask’s money representing a bat, which burns from the heat of the spotlight. Party Animals attack and Black Mask has his men attack and beat Batman, who falls to the street below but escapes down a sewer thanks to help from Officer Barbara Gordon. Batman feels he has made progress because he transmitted the beating but Black Mask spins it, offering membership in the Party Animals to all the disaffected citizens.

ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #4 by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval. Agent Lane arrests Peacekeeper Smith for the incident at the end of the last issue. During a mandated therapy session with Brainiac A.I., Smith gets convinced that he harmed no one, is given a gun and sent back into the field. Later, Lois gets a call from her father telling her to take out Superman and beware of the terrorists known as Omega Men. Lane goes to Brazil where she is confronted by a junior member of the Omega Men, Jimmy Olsen. He tries to convince her that the Omega Men are not terrorists but she doesn’t believe him and subdues him until Primus arrives and fights her. Superman arrives and Primus tries to convince him to join them, which he refuses. Lois tries to talk to Superman but more Peacekeepers arrive to take Superman into custody. He freezes them and flees. In the end, Smith blacks out and when he comes to, he realizes he has slaughtered again.

ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #5 by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman. In the past, while in Hell, Diana is gifted her magic lasso, called Sacrifice, by Circe. This lasso has the power to transform whatever it touches. In the present, the Tetracide heals itself and Dinah, after fending off stray missiles, uses the lasso to transform herself into Medusa and turns the creature to stone. With it destroyed, Steve goes to Medusa and, at great risk, gets Diana to transform back to her normal self. With everything seeming restored, the ground opens up and a hand from Hell grabs her and drags her down.

ACTION COMICS #1083 by John Ridley and Inaki Miranda. Clark wakes up in the Batcave, where he is recouping from being attacked in the last issue by someone who apparently used Red Solar Energy. Later, Clark investigates the person killed in Major Disaster’s robbery. As it turns out, Max Boykin was a therapist who helped criminals reform, including Atomic Skull. He visits Atomic Skull and that leads to Superman  revisiting Scorch. She teleports them to a pocket dimension run by Bruno Manheim, who explains he runs a program where criminals donate parts of their DNA for an anti-aging process he sells to the wealthy. Scorch gets orders to kill Superman if he interferes but Scorch gets her to side with him. After taking out Manheim’s mercenaries, the gangster summons another group to enter the fray.

AQUAMAN #2 by Jeremy Adams and John Timms. Aquaman has gone through the Omega shaped portal and finds himself of a distant world filled with shipwrecks and other debris. Arthur gets attacked by a group of creatures riding giant lizards. He uses his new abilities to blind them and takes the lizard, arriving at a castle made of debris, where he meets Jenny Greenteeth: the queen who sent her amphibian men to capture Arthur..She subdues him with stranglewood, where she will collect his blood in order to get the water out of it. With him is a man who has been here for a long time and is revealed to be Arion. Arthur manages to free himself and Arion and removes the parasite from Jenny Greenteeth. In the end, Arion and a rescued woman with an antler growing from her head, kneel in front of Arthur, declaring him as the Dark Tide and the New God.

BATGIRL #4 by Tate Brombal and Takeshi Miyazawa. Batgirl reluctantly joins Lady Shiva and her allies as the Unburied attack. A fierce battle occurs with many casualties. A second attack occurs and Batgirl and Lady Shiva fight valiantly but are defeated. Batgirl wakes along and Jayesh arrives, telling her to join him, which she does and they leave together.

BATMAN #157 by Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Jimenez, and Tony S. Daniel. Batman races to stop Leonid as he is trying to leave the country with the nuclear codes. He makes his way onto the jet and battles with Leonid’s bodyguards. Meanwhile, Nygma and Gordon try to make their way out of Nygma’s skyscraper, which shifts and begins to collapse. At street level, Bullock wants to take action but is threatened with termination. Despite that, he orders his men into action as Commander Star continues to rile up the crowd. Batman battles with Leonid who injures the pilots, forcing the plane to do into a dive. In the process, a ricochet critically injures Leonid. In an amazing effort, Batman gets the plan to crash into the streets and battles KGBeast, beating him badly. In the end, Bruce meets with William, discovering they are not biological siblings.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #18 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Javi Fernandez. Batman and Jason Todd team up, despite Batman having repeated visions of a beaten Jason Todd as Robin. Meanwhile, Robin and Lautrec find Scarecrow’s lab  where they believe the Gravedigger’s Toxin originated. They find a monkey that has the same symptoms as the Arkham victims and Lautrec reveals that Professor Blye died after being convicted of the original Memento murders  At the same time, Batman reveals to Jason that he once saw Blye and Memento together and couldn’t testified to it because he was in London illegally. Robin and Lautrec get attacked and, with some effort, Robin and her escape. Later, Robin returns back to his father and, declaring he is going to capture Memento when Bruce could not and then declares he no longer wants to be Robin.

BATMAN: OFF WORLD #6 by Jason Aaron and Doug Mahnke. In the recent past, Batman revealed his plan to Ione; a plan she does not like. He gives himself to the Blakksuns and they torture him. As Ione and her crew attack, Sister Blakksun leaves and Batman whispers something to Brother Blakksun that causes him great distress. While the battle rages, Batman appears and joins the fight, revealing he told Brother Blakksun “I’m Batman”. With the pair defeated, Batman locks them away, as Brother Blakksun continues to scream endlessly. Returning home after a final kiss to Ione, Batman seeks out the Akkarian and defeats him. Meanwhile, Ione has donned a familiar costume and continues to fight against evil as the Batman of Outer Space.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #36 by Mark Waid and Adrian Gutierrez. Batman and Robin have been captured by the Floronic Man, who created the plague affecting Poseidon and Triton. The pair free themselves and attack the Floronic Man, who escapes. Elsewhere, Superman is trapped and even Lori cannot free him but Batman and Robin arrive and do just that. Meanwhile, the two armies are ready to fight, as Batman calls on Swamp Thing to help stop the fight. Superman arrives to stop the fight between Aquaman and Ronal, but is told to stay out of it. The pair fight but then they see that Superman is kissing…Lori?

BIRDS OF PREY #18 by Kelly Thompson and Sami Basri. Sin is still being hunted and the decision is made for she and Canary to go to a safe house north of Gotham. Meanwhile, Barda and Batgirl head into The Seam to hunt a demon

BLACK CANARY: BEST OF THE BEST #4 by Tom King and Ryan Sook. In the distant past, Dinah meets and trains Oliver Queen, eventually leading to her telling him he is now her boyfriend. In the recent past, Dinah and her mom go out drinking, resulting in a test from Ted Grant and her agreeing to the fight. In the present, Round 4 commences and Dinah comes back and savagely beats her opponent. But, before she can finish her, she allows Shiva to reach the end of the round, meaning the fight will continue.

BLACK LIGHTNING #4 by Brandon Thomas and Fico Ossio. Black Lightning continues to try to reach out to his daughter while she is locked up in the Watchtower. Elsewhere, the Sons of Liberty bring Issac’s mother to see him and convince him to join them. Black Lightning and Lightning investigate, leading them into direct confrontation with members of the paramilitary group.

CATWOMAN #73 by Torunn Gronbekk and Marianna Ignazzi. With Selina, deisguised at Evie, still on the run, she ends up with The Nightmover, looking for weapons. Her search leads her to a grim scene where one of those tracking her has been tortured. When she questions him, he shoots himself in the head. In the end, she knows she is being watched and challenges them to find her.

CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #3 by Christopher Cantwell and Sean Isaaske. Prof and the Atoms head to Dinosaur Island to investigate the DS-Anomoly-C situation and, besides running tinto dinosaurs, encounter Anthro and Embra, who leads them to The Optimum. The Optimum is revealed to be Prof from the future who reveals to Prof that he managed to merge both the Life and Anti-Life Equations and the secret is in the Atom Project, which Prof demands to have access to. They deny him and Prof attacks The Optimum, leading to a fight between all parties. Back on the Watchtower, Mr. terrific revokes Prof’s clearance to the Atom Project, leading to him joining the others in isolation. That leads to Rocky gathering the other Challenger team members, with the goal to shut the Watchtower down.

DC HORROR PRESENTS CREATURE COMMANDOS #5 by David Dastmalchian and Jesus Hervas. The team continues to fight their way into Brainiac’s base, even as Eiling wants them terminated. Dr. West refuses and the team tear apart Eiling’s soldiers. In the end, he exclaims that, if the team doesn’t come out with those soldiers alive, they will be enemies of the United States.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1094 by Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin. Batman summons a remote device to call the Batmobile and injects himself with an antidote to Asema’s poison. Batman gets the grievously injured Spenser to the hospital where Bullock and the GCPD provide a constant guard. This leads to Batman and Damian realizing the trail leads to the Juvenile Detention Center and Damian goes undercover. While there, Damian starts a revolt to protest the inmates treatment. Damian surrenders but is punished by having some of his blood extracted. Bruce offers to invest in the prison and gains an early release for Damian. When they arrive home, they find an envelope from Aesma that allegedly contains everything they need to know.

THE FLASH #18 by Simon Spurrier and Vasco Georgiev. Jai, with Foxy’s help, is able to twist the shadows in time that he sees, observing the figures who once stood on the moon, including Eclipso and The Spectre. Jai constructs an energy ball that he throws through the center of the construct, with both he and Foxy following suit. Meanwhile, in Skartaris, Eclipso explains to The Flash that the Quintessence hire him to keep The Spectre away from Darkseid. When Darkseid found them, he destroyed Eclipso’s body and had him sent into the Atlantean machine on the moon, where he was then jettisoned to Skartaris. At that point, he took control of Warlord and plotted against Darkseid, only to find he was dead. He gets to the point where he has controlled the citizens and finally vents his rage to the surface into the seven-pointed star. He also remembered that Darkseid said there was a new power coming and he thought it was Wally, but now believes otherwise. That leads him to have Y’hil engage with Wally in a fight to the death. On the surface, the other Wally loses control and even Nightwing and Black Canary cannot stop him, leading Nightwing to sed out a Vermillion Protocol alert to the Justice League..

GREEN ARROW #21 by Chris Condon and Montos. Ollie is attacked by someone dressed like the Freshwater Killer. After defeating him, he is revealed to be Ted Shepard, who came here to teach Ollie a lesson for what happened because of Horton Chemical, because Oliver Queen was the president of Horton Chemical. Elsewhere, Detective Beneitz and Hartley head to Freshwater to investigate further.