DC UNIVERSE Month 3, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #24 by Steve Orlando and Neil Edwards. Vixen is in the Red and states how she is prepared to save the world for all the "Wishers" trapped here. While Promethea battles the Queen, Vixen arrives with her army of Wishers and they take down the Queen’s tower. Frost gets her curse back and uses her powers to kill Tsaritsa. Promethea eaves, promising she can come back if needed. Ray returns to the team and so does Batman, who is ready to take them to the next hot spot in the world.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #25 by Steve Orlando, Miguel Mendonca and Mikyu Jung. Batman has arrived and, while criticizing the team for the damage that occurred, The Ray introduces Aztek to the team.  While Batman continues to complain and explain the reasons why he started the team in the first place, he decides the team needs one last mission-to Angor. As it turns out, the mission is just Batman, Black Canary and Dreamslayer. Arriving to see the homeworld devastated, Dreamslayer says that someone or something is keeping him from rebuilding his world. The Adjudicator arrives, claiming responsibility. In the end, Havok arrives to hopefully help rebuild.

MERA QUEEN OF ATLANTIS #1 by Dan Abnett and Lan Medina. Orm, the former Ocean Master, is living a happy life with his wife and son, when he hears on television about everything going on with his brother and wife and the recent events in Atlantis. Meanwhile, Mera finds herself battling a villain known as The Eel. After defeating him, she contacts the Justice League, to inform them that she is currently a Queen in exile. She also discovers that Rath paid the Eel to attack Mera. She later meets with the State Department regarding her status and Orm may be getting ready to resort to his old life.

MOTHER PANIC/BATMAN SPECIAL #1 by Jody Houser and Ty Templeton. MILK WARS Part 2. Gather House has returned and now it is being run by someone named Father Bruce, who happens to dress as a bat. She heads off to Gather House and discovers that milk is the reason for the return. She encounters his children sidekicks who call themselves the Holy Sidekick Choir of Merciful Justice. Father Bruce reveals how, after his parent’s death, Alfred came through his window with milk and his life was changed. Mother Panic battles Father Bruce and his sidekicks and eventually frees him by destroying the source of the milk. He follows Mother Panic back to her mother’s house and learns a bit about her powers. Joined by Fennec Fox, the trio heads off to meet Cave Carson. In the back-up, we get another “vintage” tale about Formless Girl.

NEW SUPER-MAN AND THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF CHINA #20 by Gene Luen Yang and Brent Peeples. While Keenan and Avery share some quiet conversation, the rest of the League battles an energy drining beast clled The Sleez. Keenan and Avery arrive to help, but so does the Green Lantern Corps of China, who are looking to sprehend our heroes. The team manages to get aay and Keenan and Avery share a kiss. Meanwhile, in North Korea, Ahn Kwang is questioned by the state police, because he has been watching THE SIMPSONS on television. The police beat him up, but they get theirs when two giant spider crabs crawl out of his sweat and proceed to move him across the border into China.

NIGHTWING #38 by Sam Humphries and Bernard Chang. We find that Svaboda shot Nightwing because of the influence of The Judge’s golden poker chip. Nightwing goes to visit Guppy who has killed his father because of The Judge’s influence. He heads to the Justice Tree to discover it has ben poisoned and he heads off to the casino to have a confrontation with The Judge. In the end, Nightwing gets beaten down and The Judge reveals that he is blind.

NIGHTWING #39 by Sam Humphries, Phil Jimenez, and Jamal Campbell. Dick is held captive by The Judge who reminds him of the second time they met, when Dick was in college. The Judge then goes on to explain that he was the First Judge of Bludhaven. After letting a guilty man go free, he was thrown in the ocean, but survived and was changed. Over time, he ended up at St. Jude's Monastery, where he sewed his eyes shut. With the water rising, he leaves Nightwing tied to a chair where it appears he will drown.

RAGMAN #5 by Ray Fawkes and Inaki Miranda.  Ragman fights to save Frank’s possessed son, while battling demons in the process. But he stops when he realizes that these demons are actualy possessed townspeople. The Shining Knight arrives and tells Rory that Etrigan is actually using him. To save everyone, Rory agrees to give the cloak he wears to Z’Dargall: give up the magic hell cloak, despite it resulting in the loss of his own life. With that, the demon kills Rory.

RAVEN DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS #2 by Marv Wolfman and Pop Mhan. Raven is facing off against Azure, who soon departs and Raven heads home, troubled by images of

Trigon the Terrible.  Soon, she heads off to the hospital, as her friend Teri’s Grandmother is dying and there is nothing Raven can do. Later, she helps decorate the family Christmas tree, although she doesn’t understand why. Azure observes this and then leaves in a van, while Raven follows. Attack helicopters arrive, destroying the van and killing Azure in the process. Baron Winters observes this and Raven observes him, leading to her transporting to a place where she gets attacked by a tentacled monster.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #19 by Scott Lobdell and Marcio Takara. Jason and Artemis go out on a date and end up in the Batcave, where they can have a conversation without Bizarro being able to listen in. Meanwhile, Bizarro meets with Solitary, who may be the person responsible for the Outlaws coming together in the first place. With Bizarro becoming more and more dependent on Kryptonite to keep him super smart, he ends up being found by Jason and Artemis passed out in a Gotham bar. With that, they bring him back home, aware that they realy need to keep an eye on him.

SIDEWAYS #1 by Kenneth Rocafort, Dan DiDio and Justin Jordan. Derek was a regular high school kid until Challengers Mountain dropped into Gotham City and this teenager ended up with powers which allow him to open a doorway in space and transport a ywhere in the world. While trying to navigate high school life and be an Internet sensation as a hero, he hears a strange voice in his head. He creates a rift and transports right into the face of the voice: a massive creature who has judge our hero to be a problem for the space-time continuum and is sentenced to death.

SHADE THE CHANGING GIRL/WONDER WOMAN SPECIAL #1 by Cecil Castellucci and Mirka Andolfo. MILK WARS Part 3. Shade is trapped in a world where Wonder Woman has come to believe that she is a 1950’s mom named Wonder Wife. With the help of Cave Carson’s Cybernetic Eye, Shade and Loma are able to finally crack open the walls of sanity and convince Diana that she is really Wonder Woman. Using the eye, they travel off to their next stop in order to stop Retconn. In the back-up by Magadalene Visaggio and Sonny Liew, ALHPA 13 is rebooted as CHRYSALIS THE ETERNITY GIRL.

THE SILENCER #2 by John Romita Jr and Dan Abnett. Honor Guest continues to fight Underlife assassins Breacher and Bloodvessel, eventually taking them down. This leads to her calling The Switchboard, who sends out a cleanup crew to dispose of the bodies and make everything right again. She goes home, after cutting what’s left of her disheveled hair, which leads to her and her husband having some “quality time”. The next day, she contacts Remedy and arranges a meeting, where he wants her to do some house cleaning for him. When she refuses, he brings out the heavy artillery, which she says she can take down in a matter of seconds.

SUICIDE SQUAD #35 by Rob Williams and Eduardo Pansica. The government has their own new Black-Ops Super Soldier in the form a The Wall. While Killer Croc is trying to regain his humanity and King Faraday is profiling the team for Waller, who leaves to witness the birth of her grandchild, the team is off fighting, and losing to, Damage. In the end, all of Belle Reve’s system are comprised by someone looking for revenge: Hack.

SUICIDE SQUAD #36 by Rob Williams and Eduardo Pansica. The team arrives back in Belle Reve to find that everyone has been released and Hack is in control of everything, demanding to know who her killer was. Hack has her hands-on Waller’s secret documents and wile Killer Croc eats most of the other prisoners, Waller decides to do what she must to save her secrets. That means blowing up Belle Reve!

SUPERGIRL #18 by Steve Orlando, Jody Houser and Carmen Carnero. What to do? If Kara changes into Supergirl, she saves all of her friends, but will reveal her secret identity. Agent Ocampo shows up, allowing Kara to head into the photo booth and change into Supergirl. She Mr. Bones are up to when Mokkari arrives, intent on shutting her down permanently.

SUPERMAN #40 by James Robinson and Doug Mahnke. Superman and son plan on celebrating the anniversary of the destruction of Krypton by watching it via a holographic projection.  They witness a planet which is about to suffer the same fate and the two head off to save it. Only, the people don’t want to be saved, as they believe their destruction is God’s will. Not wanting his interference, they use the magic of prayer to null his powers. Luckily they are saved by a scientist, who while believes that their religion is a joke and he convinces them that they must find a way to save the people.

SUPERMAN #41 by James Robinson and Ed Benes. Superman and son, alon with rogue scientist Klain, are trying to get off of Galymane before it explodes. In tow, is an egg containing Klain’s children. Despite Superman wanting to save the citizens of the planet, the populace arrives, killing Klain in the process. While Superman doesn’t agree with their decision, he respects it. Superboy heads off to find a new world for the children as Superman stays with the citizens until the planet explodes. Eventually he reunites with his son and they head back to Earth for apple pie and ice cream.

SUPER SONS #13 by Peter J. Tomasi and Carlo Barberi. Damian is still trying to fit in at his new school, but is aggravating more classmates than he is making friends with. Things get worse when Talia shows up, trying to convince her son that he has a higher calling and delivers his League of Assassins outfit to him. This leads the boys to take down Ezar, an assassin that Damian trained, who reveals that Talia is in town because of the whole thing going on in SILENCER. Not only that, she has someone on her hit list…and her name is Lois Lane.

SWAMP THING WINTER SPECIAL #1 by Tom King, Jason Fabok, Kelley Jones and Len Wein. Swamp Thing finds himself stuck in an endless loop of never-ending Winter , trying to protect a young boy. After what seems like years, he realizes that, to save the Green, he must kill the boy, which he does. The second story has no words, because Len Wein died before the lettering could be finished. It features Jones’ artwork and features Batman, Solomon Grundy and Matthew Cable.

TEEN TITANS #17 by Benjamin Percy and Scot Eaton. Because Titans Tower-West is still a mess following the Super Sons of Tomorrow story, the team is forced to move out. Beast Boy goes to a baseball game and is mistakenly called Yeast Boy, which just shows how far his stock has dropped. He gets met by a fan who take him to her clubhouse for “lost boys” called Nevrland. They introduce him to a VR implant that allows the user to live in many worlds at once. Gar gets injected with it and he feels a change. Meanwhile, the rest of the team saves a school bus filled with kids that are in peril because one of the kids freaked out. Of course, that kid appears to have been under the same influence of the VR tech.

THE TERRIFICS #1 by Jeff Lemire and Ivan Reis. Simon Stagg is trying to access the Dark Multiverse by tapping into Metamorpho’s Nth Metal, which is not a good thing.  Mr. Terrific shows up with Plastic Man and they all get transported into the Dark Multiverse, where they find themselves standing on a giant corpse. They also run into

Linnya, who most of us know as Phantom Girl. The signal that brought them there. That signal was sent by… Tom Strong!

TITANS #20 by Dan Abnett and Paul Pelletier. Roy is beating up Intergang bad guys when Cheshire arrives and helps him. The two go off together and try to patch up things in their lives. Meanwhile, Donna Troy is dealing with the loneliness of being held on the Watchtower until the Justice League can figure out if she is a danger to the world. Back on earth, Arsenal and Chershire find the pure sample of Bliss, which leads them back to his apartment to celebrate. When he wakes in the morning, she is gone and so is the sample. It turns out she is really working for The Brain and Monsieur Mallah.

TRINITY #18 by James Robinson and Patch Zircher. The Trinity continues to tell their tale from being on Skartaris. They learn that The Warlord is really just an apparition, because he is battling Deimos. They go off to find his daughter Jennifer and make their perilous journey on unicorns. After defeating several of Deimos’ horde, they get to Shamballah where they meet Jennifer and find that Travis Morgan is dead. They also discover that they are all aging rapidly, just like the corpses of the pilots they found along the way.

WONDER WOMAN #40 by James Robinson and Emanuela Lupacchino. Jason and Diana have survived their perilous fall, and both are healing rapidly. They go to Garrett Memorial Hospital, where they find that Silver Swan has killed everyone and destroyed all her research. Jason heads home and Silver Swan goes to attack him, but Diana arrives and defeats her. She is taken into custody and, maybe someday, there will be a cure for her. Jason decides he is hampering his sister and decides to leave. But a mysterious energy field takes him away before Diana can say goodbye to him. Meanwhile, Steve and company continue to fight the Furies.

WONDER WOMAN #41 by James Robinson and Stephen Segovia. Darkseid is pissed off that Steve Trevor and his team defeated them, meaning he can’t get the relic he wanted. He’s also upset because Earth means nothing to him now that Themyscira is out of his reach. Diana informs Steve that she has had to battle a number of individuals with power and that she thinks Veronica Cale may be responsible. In the end, Jason comes back, now wearing armor.

DC UNIVERSE Month 3, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #997 by Dan Jurgens and Brett Booth. Superman and Booster Gold are trapped in an alternate timeline where they find themselves battling Zod, along with his wife and son, along with the Eradicator. Our heroes get captured and are about to be executed by Zod and company. To make matters worse, Zod destroys Skeets. Meanwhile, Lois finds herself in Logamba, where she is trying to free her father. Just as it looks as if she is going to be shot, she discovers she has a Guardian Angel with her in the form of her son, Jon. Arriving at where her father is held, there is a first time reunion between child and grandfather. Freeing General Lane, they ll make their escape, only to be trapped by Logamban troops who apparently kill the General and his daughter.

ACTION COMICS #998 by Dan Jurgens and Will Conrad. As Zod and his family are bout to burn Superman and Booster Gold to death with his heat vision, we find out that Skeets has been able to make his way into one of the Eradicator and saves them. They make their escape through the Time Sphere and head back to the past, to make sure this future never happens. Along the way, Superman convinces Booster to let him go to the destruction of Krypton, to prove that Mr. Oz is really his father. He sees the rocket carrying himself jet off the planet, watches his mother die and sees Jor-El be taken by the blue light. Back in the present, Superman goes off to find Lois and Jon, when Booster finds out that Lois and her father have been killed in Logamba. Booster alters time, which is totally against the rules, to save their lives before they are killed.

AQUAMAN #33 by Dan Abnett, Rick Leonardi  and Riccardo Federici. Aquaman and Undercurrent make their way into the palace in an effort to destroy the Crown of Thorns. King Shark joins the fray and helps the group succeed. Meanwhile, Sister Cetea makes Mera the Queen of Atlantis, followed by Aquaman bring her to the surface before she drowns.. With Tula caring for her, he heads back to the sea to take care of Corum Rath once and for all.

BANE CONQUEST #9 by Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan. Bane continues to recruit members for his new team, in an effort to recapture the future Kobra leader from the villains. After building his team, by any means necessary, they head to Jakarta, where they capture one of Kobra’s members, who gives up the information the team needs.

BATGIRL #20 by Hope Larson and Sam Basri.  Barbara uses her eidetic memory to make her way to Qadir, who has been beaten up and someone has stolen his Trust Ray, which allows people to be compromised to think what the user wants them to. Looking at a recording, she finds out that it’s Ethan Cobblepot, who stole the machine to help The Penguin in his run for Congress. She tracks the villain down, defeating him and destroying The Penguin’s stolen device. In the end, she decides she needs a change, because she is not a kid anymore.

BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #19 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Roge Antonio. The Birds continue their war against Gotham’s criminal element, eventually crossing paths with a robot named Burnrate, that is bent on finding out who Oracle is for his master. Fleeing the villain, they end up at Gus’ house, only to find that Burnrate has beaten him to near death because he won’t reveal Oracle’s secret. They defeat the robot, but at the cost of Gus’ life. Barbara decides to give up her career as Oracle while The Calculator, the master behind Burnrate, observes Huntress as she goes to prison and visits her mother.

BATMAN #40 by Tom King and Joelle Jones. Catwoman demands that The Gentle Man brings back Wonder Woman and Batman, which he agrees to do, but not until he has had a chance to visit his wife. At truce and Diana have spent decades fighting the enemy on The Gentle Man’s world. The Gentle Man gets to have a tearful reunion with his wife, before opening the gate and changing places again. But she reminds him that the next time this happens, it will be Catwoman and Batman making the trip.

BATMAN #41 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Bruce wakes from a dream about

Poison Ivy and it seems Selina is having the same dream. He knocks out Alfred, who is infected, and heads to the Batcave, where he inoculates himself and Selina. They both ass out and, when they wake, they’re in bed, in their costumes and are told by a possessed Alfred, that she has taken over the world by tapping into the Green. In the end, she tells them that she knows everything about everything and Batman and Catwoman are the last defense for the planet.

BATMAN AND THE SIGNAL #2 by Scott Snyder, Tony Patrick and Cully Hamner. Duke is getting beat-up at Arkham Juvenile Center until Detective Aisi arrves, aong with a silent signal sent to the teens by the mysterious person in charge of them. Duke does a vanishing act and ends up at The Hatch, where Riko quits. This is all observedby the mysterious person, who is disappointed that he is siding with Batman instead of himself, since he has set everything in motion. Detective Aisi tells Duke that they found a piece of Nth Metal in one of the Afkham teens , which sends Duke to visit Batman. It seems the Bruce Wayne housing project has a bunch of sdolsr panels and the powers of the sun is activating powers in everyone in the Narrows…and not in a good way.

BATMAN BEYOND #17 by Dan Jurgens and Phil Hester. Terry manages to avoid his unmasking by Striker, while his brother considers donning the Robin costume to go help him. Ten, who is the person that stole the picture of Terry from Wayne Manor, dons her costume and heads off to help Batman. Payback, the villain who hired Stalker in the first place, arrives and is done with Stalker, cutting off his legs in the process. Batman saves Stalker, but Payback launches a bomb at them, while he kidnaps Ten and blows up the skyscraper that Batman and Stalker are in.

BATWOMAN #12 by Marguerite Bennett and Scott Godlewski. Batwoman is on her way to Safiyah’s island of Coryana, to confront her former lover. In flashback, we learn that Safiyah has deduced that Rogue Warloard Maksim is responsible for the sickness that is affecting the creatures on the island. She has him captured and tried, but sends him away. The other warlords are waiting for him and they kill him. Later, Kate learns that she is actually the person who was responsible for bringing the bacteria to the island which was killing the creatures. Kate tries to leave, but Tahani is sent to keep her on the island. The air battle inside the lighthouse, which catches fire and explodes, allowing Kate and the others to escape the conflagration. Back in the present, Kate prepares to meet her former lover.

BLACK LIGHTNING: COLD DEAD HANDS #4 by Tony Isabella and Clayton Henry. Black Lightning continues his fight against White Thunder, while the police are protecting the kids and the entire neighborhood is under siege. Meanwhile, as the town watches what is happening on television, Jefferson’s daughters are experimenting with their newfound powers. Jefferson is captured and arrested, but one of the officers allows him to escape. Tobias has his assistant Miss Pequod use the alien gun to eliminate some loose ends, deciding he is going to take on Lightning by himself.

BLUE BEETLE #18 by Christopher Sebela and Scott Kolins. Jaime’s life has been in the toilet since he and Naomi broke up. But she reaches out to him and gives him one last chance. Before his date that night, Ted Kord invites him to the facility to show him his newest experiment, which goes amok and they end up fighting a A.I. that doesn’t want to be replaced. Jaime manages to come up with a solution which shuts the A.I. down. And he makes it to his date in time. The End.

CAVE CARSON HAS A CYBERNETIC EYE/SWAMP THING SPECIAL #1 by Jon Rivera and Langdon Foss. MILK WARS Part 4. Because of Retconn’s milk, Cave Carson, along with his daughter and Wild Dog, end up working in an office complex filled with endless cubicles. During a break, the milk causes Cave to vomit green gunk everywhere, which turns out to be Swamp Thing. He makes Chloe and Wild Dog do the same and explains that he managed to hide in Cave’s stomach, while Cave’s cybernetic eye went into hiding. The eye reveals that Retconn is changing history, even going as far as to make over the story of Christ. They make their way to the Human Resources department, where they find that humans are being stored and their minds are being harvested by Retconn. As the Retconn folks arrive to capture them, Cave orders Swam Thing to take Jack and Chloe away, leaving himself to surrender. The back-up, by Magdelene Visaggo and Sonny Liew, is a further reboot of ALPHA 13, which features a character who will reappear soon as ETERNITY GIRL.

DAMAGE #2 by Tony S. Daniel and Robert Venditti. We begin by seeing Ethan’s first mission as Damage. When Ethan wakes up, he finds himself in a homeless shelter where he ended up being taken after being found when he transformed back. As Damage, he has laid waste to a town. Ethan leaves to call his parents, but that just leads to him being found by Deadshot and the Suicide Squad. He transforms into Damage and takes the team apart. Luckily Wonder Woman shows up at the end, promising she will take him down.

DARK KNIGHTS RISING: THE WILD HUNT #1 by Scott Snyder, Grant Morrison, James Tynion IV, Joshus Williamson, Howard Porter, Jorge Jimenez, Doug Mahnke and Jamie Mendoza. Detective Chimp began life as a chimp in a circus, who was abused by his captors. Then he was cared for by a man named Fred, who was killed by the men. Chimp ran away and ended up gaining the powers of intelligence and speech. In the present, Chimp is with Will Magnus, the Metal Men, and the conclave of evil geniuses on Blackhawk Island, as they try to figure out how to stop the threat from the Dark Multiverse. Meanwhile, Flash and his team ae journeying through the Multiversal Bleed as they too are trying to stop the evil. The Dark Multiverse villains catch up with the ship and prepare to board it, leading to a battle between the heroes and the villains. Flash manages to use the Speed Force to transform the Dark Flash, who realizes that he is fighting for the wrong side and teams up with Flash. Red Death buys the team time to escape and it costs him his life. The team decides to use their ship to ram the Dark Multiverse vessel and destroy it. Back on Blackhawk Island, T.O. Morrow opens the door and Red Tornado is also awakened, revealing that his awakening means the end of the world. Detective Chimp has a revelation and the ape creatures from another Multiversal world convince him to team up with the heroes and save the world.

DEATHSTROKE #28 by Christopher Priest and Diogenes Neves. After a future vignette concerning the Hmong sword, we see Deathstroke back in the present-back in his familiar garb. Devestated by Tanya's apparent suicide, he has gone back to his old ways. Jericho is still trying to figure out who killed Etienne while Wintergreen confronts Slade and announces that he is trough with all this and promptly quits. Willow, who is in the company of a transformed Isherwood, learns that she is really Rose and then discovers that she is the person who killed Etienne-or at least her Willow personality did. After getting in to it with Kong Kenan, Slade apologizes to Tara for taking advantage of her as a teen. It’s a good thing that got patched up, as now they have to deal with The Forgotten.

THE DEMON HELL IS EARTH #4 by Andrew Constant and Brad Walker. The team continues their journey through the Hellscape. Etrigan eats a giant snake while Madame Xanadu and Jason talk about the relationship that went source during DEMON KNIGHTS. It’s also revealed that the split-up Jason/Etrigan can only be less than 100 feet apart from each other. Hey finally reach the center of the demon invasion and things look really bad for planet Earth.

DETECTIVE COMICS #974 by James Tynion IV and Philippe Briones. Clayface is dead and Batwoman is to blame. Batman, Robin and Orphan confront her and batman removes her symbol off her chest and fires her, which may result in Azrael and Batwing joining her in her departure. Three days later, Glory Griffin is administered the cure which transforms her from being Mudface back to her old self. This was Basil’s parting gift. Back at Ronin’s Nest, Stephanie breaks up with Tim. Meanwhile, Kate recuperates at her father’s place and he has decided it is time for her to fight on her own and alongside him. In the end, it looks like Ulysses Armstrong’s plan to cause havoc and make sure the future timeline falls into place is proceeding right along.

DETECTIVE COMICS #975  by James Tynion and Alvaro Martinez. After a flashback shows a young Kate and Bruce at her mother’s funeral, we move to the present where Batman has brought most of the family together to discuss what to do about Batwoman. Batgirl arrives, accusing Batman of starting the program to keep Kate from going don the wrong path and be more like him. Meanwhile, Kate is taking down Gorilla Boss with the help of Luke. Kate later visits her mother’s grave and says she killed Clayface to save Cassandra, who she deeply cares for. Her father arrives and she decides to join his team.

DOOM PATROL/JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA SPECIAL #1  by Steve Orlando, Gerard Way, Dale Eaglesham, and Nick Derington. MILK WARS Part Five. Milkman Man is torturing Cave Carson until the Justice League, along with the Doom Patrol, arrive to combat him. Because of all this, the Retconn deal goes bad and one of the powers that be decides to eradicate the universe. In the process, Casey consoles her son, Milkman Man and Rita Farr breaks free of her prison. In he end, the universe is restored, Rita is back with Doom Patrol and Cliff Steele becomes human again.

THE FLASH #40 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Grodd is dying and he wants the Speed Force to be drained from Barry to save his life. Raijin attacks and Barry orders Kid Flash and Avery away. Grodd tells Barry that he is nothing without being The Flash and it turns out that Meena ends up being the one to rip the Speed Force from our hero. Our Wally arrives to rescue a now powerless Flash, who turns over the job of the Scarlet Speedster to him.

THE FLASH #41 by Joshua Williamson and Carlos D'Anda. As Lord Grodd looks over the kingdom he has built for himself in Central City, Barry tries to figure out how to deal with being powerless. He looks at Grodd's Lightning Rod as a way back, but also tells the Flash team that they must evacuate everyone in Central City or they will all die. While Wally works on the evacuation, Kid Flash and Avery go off to save Meena. Wally sees a frozen Iris but, before he can act, is attacked by Raijin and Multiplex. He realizes he must go an protect Barry, but Barry has gone to Iron Heights to free Godspeed.

GREEN ARROW #37 by Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra. Emi has been mortally wounded and Ollie and company prepare to face of against the remains of the Ninth Circle. Emi fights for her life as her mother faces off against Ollie’s mom, ending with them falling into a flaming pit together. Just as Merlyn is about to kill Dinah, Diggle arrives to save the day. With Emi recuperating, and Diggle back as part of Team Arrow, Ollie prepares for trial. Meanwhile, Detective Ros is prepared to kill Ramsey, but her lawyer arrives and eliminates the threat by sinking a knife in the Detective’s head.

GREEN LANTERNS #40 by Tim Seeley and Barnaby Bagenda. Jess and Simon help Firestorm, Blue Beetle and Ms. Bulleteer save folks from a hurricane. Ms. Bulleteer mentions that she is concerned about Night Pilot, who is missing. This leads our heroes to the Watchtower, where they learn that may heroes have gone missing after using a dating app. Called Caper. Along the way, they meet up with one of the Omega Men and we learn that all of these missing heroes have been placed into a massive space dungeon.

GREEN LANTERNS #41 by Tim Seeley, Barnaby Bagenda, and Tom Derenick. While Jessica bemoans the fact that she is matched up to Simon on the Caper dating app, they, along with Scrapps, head to Garnet to meet with Scrapp’s tech buyer. Even though the Lanterns are in disguise, that soon goes awry, and the Lanterns end up in a fight. They catch up with the tech dealers, who agree to change information for pictures of them with the Lanterns beat up, so they can post and boast on their social media. In the end, the information leads the Lanterns to the Order of the Steed, where they are trying to convert Night Pilot to their way of thinking.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #38 by Robert Vendetti and Ethan Van Sciver. Hal and Kyle have been imprisoned by Zod and company, leaving The Eradicator to try and crack the secret of the rings. Hal discovers that his ring, which he created is still connected to him, and he calls it to him, which rips through the Eradicator’s head in the process. The Lanterns fly off to free Zod’s slaves, only to discover they are actually followers of Zod. Hal give Kyle his power ring and sends him off to get the rest of the Corps.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #39 by Robert Vendetti and Rafa Sandoval. Zod still has Hal Jordan tied up while Kyle, juiced up do the Hal’s ring and despite having life threatening injuries. Meanwhile, the Guardians tell John Stewart that they will let him know when they can go save Hal. John is pretty pissed off and the Lanterns go to Jekku anyway.

HARLEY QUINN #37 by Frank Tieri and Mirka Andolfo. Harey has gone to Hell’s Kitchen where she plans on being a hero for hire. Her intentions are good but her execution tends to leave a bit to be desired, as she leaves destruction in her wake. Meanwhile, The Penguin continues to gather his army of villains to take Harley out of the game permanently.

HARLEY QUINN #38 by Frank Tieri and Mirka Andolfo. Penguin’s gang of villains attack Coney Island, leading the Gang of Harley’s to defend the place. Villains include Condiment King, Mr. Freeze, King Tut, Film Freak, Ratcatcher, Johnny Karaoke, Zebra Man, and Egghead. Meanwhile, Killer Moth has a run-in with Killer Croc, who declares that all of Coney belongs to him now. Harley faces of with the Gorilla Gang and helps save Hell’s Kitchen. Spoondale sends her off on a new mission, which means she doesn’t get the message from Coach requesting help at Coney Island.

THE HELLBLAZER #19 by Tim Seeley and Davide Fabbri. John is back in London and he’s looking Margaret Ames. When he comes to her flat, he finds out that it has been turned into a portal to Hell. This is because a priest, who is part of a crime organization, has performed an exorcism and swapped her soul with that of his brother. IN the end, it seems the Day brothers have someone else to worry about: The Huntress.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #38 by Christopher Priest and Marco Santucci. While the team tries to figure out how to deal with the problem regarding the Fan, Flash saves an astronaut, almost at the cost of both their lives. Batman makes a decision to leave the team. After a tearful kiss from Jessica, Bruce Wayne leaves the team and puts Cyborg in charge.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #39 by Christopher Priest and Ian Churchill. After a flashback where Aquaman is in the desert and meets w is taking the stand. He is represented by his lawyer, Regina Cole. There is also a quick visit from J’onn J’onzz. Meanwhile, Batman and the JLA are working at a train derailment. J’onn visits the Watchtower and that means the Justice League is off to help the JLA.  While the two teams solve the train problem, social media is exploding with comments of how the Justice League is only about helping the rich. Cyborg transports to the scene and that’s when it’s revealed that Cole is really The Fan in disguise.

DC UNIVERSE Month 2, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #22 by Steve Orlando and Neil Edwards. Frost has been cured because she made a wish and Tsaritsa, the Queen of Fables, answers it. Frost passes out, and that frees Tsarita, allowing her to run wild. Frost is at a cross-roads, knowing if she helps the JLA defeat Tsarita, she will end up with her powers again. They all fight, during which Sanctuary is destroyed and it appears Mari is killed. Meanwhile, in Vanity, Ray continues his fight with the Three Devils.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #23 by Steve Orlando and Neil Edwards. Tsaritsa was once the Queen of Fables, until she was turned into a story by use of a spell. This caused her sister Freya to starve herself and that meant Tsarita wants revenge. She sees Frost as the incarnation of her sister and tries to convince her to rule the world together. While Tsaritsa plans to create Immateria, Ray heads to help while Mari regenerates herself thanks to the Red. They all battle Tsarita’s followers, who is then confronted by someone who tells her she must pass through fire first. That person is Promethea.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA/DOOM PATROL SPECIAL #1 by Steve Orlando, Gerard Way, Hugo Petrus and Aco. Part One of MILK WARS. Retconn fires off a missile that turns everyone in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, including the JLA, into 1950’s characters. This is maintained by a character known as Milkman, who is really a transformed Superman, who provides the residents with mind controlling milk. The Doom Patrol arrives and get into a fight with the JLA, now known as the Community League of Rhode Island, we have some good and weird high-flying action. Retconn explains that superheroes descend from the god of superheroics, Ahl and Superman is a direct descendant. Crazy Jane whips up some art and shows everyone that they are all subjects of comic books. This changes all of the JLA back, except for Siperman, who is revealed to be the child of Casey Brinke and Terry None. Cave Carson arrives and tells the heroes they need to meet with him and Swamp Thing, which will continue the story in CAVE CARSON/SWAMP THING SPECIAL #1. The back-up features the origin of Formless Girl, which feels a lot like the origin of Elastic Girl Rita Farr.

NEW SUPER-MAN #19 by Mariko Tamaki and Brent Peeples. Taking place around issue #7 of this series, it focuses on Laney Lan as she tries to get information from Kenan and Baixi regarding what is going on at the Ministry of Defense, while also dealing with her confusing family life.

NIGHTWING #36 by Sam Humphries and Bernard Chang. Nightwing continues his desperate search for The Judge, who continues to affect the lives of those in Bludhaven with his powers. Meanwhile, The Judge pays a visit to the Mayor, who commits suicide, leaving behind a whole series of revelations regarding corruption and the casinos.

NIGHTWING #37 by Sam Humphries, Klaus Janson, and Jamal Campbell. While Lucy Weatherton deals with the dramas about the casinos in Bludhaven being shut down, we get a flashback to the first days of The Judge. Dick was still Robin and Lucy was a vigilante known as Baby Ruthless. In the present, Guppy is still dealing with his father’s illness and, thanks to The Judge’s casino coin, he may soon eliminate dad…permanently!

RAGMAN #4 by Ray Fawkes and Inaki Miranda. While Etrigan trains Rory to use his powers, Fanshawe and his minions are targeting Frank’s house, where his wife and child are. That leads Ragman to the house where he battles, and slays, some of Fanshawe’s minions. He finds Frank’s wife and asks about his son. It seems that Frank Jr. has been possessed.

RAVEN DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS #1 by Marv Wolfman and Pop Mhan. Raven is hanging with her friends at a bonfire and she reveals some parts of her past: how she was part of a cult with no TV or Internet. Meanwhile, Baron Winters predict that Raven must die, because that’s how it is written. She dreams of a meeting with Trigon and then ends up trying to help a girl known as Azure, who is being hunted. She saves the girl and, after believing the girl is really Trigon, discovers the girl is really someone with a huge head and big eyes. What is the connection between this character, Azar and Trigon?

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #18 by Scott Lobdell and Sergio Sandoval. Red Hood is taking on the H.I.V.E. Queen and gets some help from Artiemis and Bizarro, even if they are above the whole incident. Bizarro is losing his intelligence and needs more Kryptonite to maintain it, something he is being told by his imaginary Superman creature named Pup-Pup. Jason goes to visit Ma Gunn, who is mysteriously off on family business. It appears that she has been shrunk down by Bizarro and he is now keeping her in a house inside a bottle. In the end, The Creeper shows up and he is looking to settle a score with Artemis.

THE SILENCER #1 by Dan Abnett and John Romita Jr. Honor Guest is a retired assassin trying to live her normal life as a wife and mother. But she gets attacked by someone and that leads to her forming a bubble that silences everyting happening in it, allowing her to dispatch the killer in silence. She goes home and gets a visit from Talia Al Ghul, who tells her that there are peple coming to kill them. Before they get a chance to figure things out, the killers ambush Honor and Talia. This leads to Talis giving Honor a device to allow her to suit up in her old gear and fight back.

SUICIDE SQUAD #33 by Si Spurrier and Fernando Pasarin. New recruits, including Juan Soria, head off on a mission to an amusement park called Dozey Land. During the mission, the new recruits are all slaughtered by alien monsters, except for Jose, who loses a hand during the battle and may next lose his life.

SUICIDE SQUAD #34 by Si Spurrier and Fernando Pasarin. Most of the new recruits on this mission have been killed. Juan is about to be killed by an alien, but Croc saves him, basically because he wants to eat him later. After a time, he volunteers to go meet with the queen alien and is prepared to sacrifice himself, but manages to kill the creature because of his negative attitude. In the end, it is revealed that Waller set them all up to be able to use him to defeat this creature. He gets a reduced sentence, new cybernetic hands to replace the ones Katana cut off, and a new cell mate-Killer Croc.

SUPERGIRL #17 by Steve Orlando, Jody Houser, Robson Rocha, and Julio Ferreira. Deceilia Starshame was banished from her planet as a young child and has a bone to pick with Supergirl and the whole human race. While they decide if the people of Earth are worth the fight, Starshame slices the cruise ship they are fighting on in half, leading Supergirl to give up the fight to save the passengers. Kara breaks Starshame out of her mind-controlled state just as the DEO arrive, meaning Supergirl must melt their weapons to save herself. Elsewhere, Veritas is talking to Cameron Chase, who promises that Bones’ days are numbered. That night, there is a school dance and a big, bad villain arrives, threatening to kill everyone is Supergirl does not reveal herself.

SUPERMAN #38 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Sergio Davila. Part Four of Super Sons of Tomorrow. Aqualad, Starfire and Kid Flash go to Robin and Superboy’s Fortress and that leads to a battle between the five of them. Once they settle down, Jon convinces them all to go to the Fortress of Solitude, where he frees his father from the Red K. With the help of Future Tim’s severed hand, the Titans of Tomorrow exit Hypertime and arrive at the Fortress. They all can’t control Future Tim, but he absorbs Superboy’s out of control powers to save them all, sending himself back into Hypertime.

SUPERMAN #39 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Barry Kitson. After defeating the Demolition Team, Superman takes a group of kids with cancer into space, so they can meet the Justice League and visit the Watchtower. Eventually, they all end up on the moon, where they write their names on rocks and leave them there as a lasting memory that they were there.

SUPER SONS #12 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Tyler Kirkham. Finale of Super Sons of Tomorrow. With Future Tim racing through Hypertime, and the crisis averted, the Titans of Tomorrow head back to their future. Superman has a chat with Damian and Jon about the future of the Super Sons and they convince him to let them continue. At a Teen Titans meeting, Damian suggests they vote in Jon as a member, and that gets turned down, because of his erratic powers. In the end, Jon thanks Damian for being his friend.

SUPERWOMAN #18 by K. Perkins and Max Raynor. Lana saves Metropolis by allowing Midnight to occupy her brain and feel the emotions Lana feels. After several moments with her friends, Midnight decides that she needs to be free and Lana allows that, even though it costs her the role and powers of Superwoman.

TEEN TITANS #16 by Marv Wolfman and Tom Derenick. After the team defeats Mammoth, Kori takes offense to being left out of a conversation because she is old and storms off. She ends up in a battle with the Psions who have mentally corrupted many people including Raven and Gar. She uses her powers to defeat the Psions and free everyone. In the end, she learns that all Gar was doing earlier was asking Raven for advice regarding his dating profile.

TITANS #19 by Dan Abnett and Paul Pelletier. Roy is off in New York searching for the manufacturers of the drug Bliss, which leads him to involvement by Intergang. The Justice League shows up at Titans Tower and criticizes the Titans for the way they handled the Troia incident, which leads to major infighting between the two teams. In the end, Dick decides to shut down the Titans until the Justice League can figure out  a solution to their ills.

TRINITY #17 by James Robinson and Patrick Zircher. Batman and Superman agree to help Diana find Themyscira. In the process, they come across a ship being sucked into a whirlpool and that sucks them in too. When they wake, they are in a land filled with lizard men and the remnants of an old SR-71 fighter. Because of the magic present, Superman loses his powers and Wonder Woman goes blind. They defeat the lizard men nd Diana declares that they are lost in the land known as Skartoris. At this point they are greeted by Travis Morgan, former U.S. Air Force pilot who now goes by the name of… The Warlord.

WONDER WOMAN #38 by James Robinson and Emanuela Lupacchino. Sometime in the past, Wonder Woman saves young Vanessa Kapatelis during a fight with Major Disaster. She suffers injuries that may keep her from ever walking again, but she saw Diana as a role model and even drew illustrations with her as a flying character known as the Silver Swan. She undergoes a procedure using nanites which allow her to walk again.  But she is also upset that Diana no longer spends a lot of time with her and didn’t visit when Vanessa’s mother died. This angers her and she plots to become a villain instead. In the present, while visiting with Jason, Diana goes off to check in on a family she recently saved. When she arrives, she finds the family dead and Silver Swan standing over them.

WONDER WOMAN #39 by James Robinson, Emanuela Lupacchino, and Carmen Carnero. Wonder Woman battles Silver Swan, who wants to kill her for abandoning her.  Jason sees the battle on the news and comes to his sister’s aid, which only results in his throat being slashed by Swan’s wings.  A huge explosion follows and Diana and Jason seemingly fall to their deaths.  Meanwhile, Darkseid is with Grail in the Amazon Jungle, where he dispatches a team made up of the Female Furies and Deep Six, to retrieve the missing artifacts he needs to fully become Darkseid the ruler of Apokolips again.

DC UNIVERSE Month 2, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #995 by Dan Jurgens and Brett Booth. Booster is arrested, and Skeets gives Superman Booster’s origin. It seems his father was an abuser and Booster did what he did to pay off his father’s gambling debts and save his life.  As fate turns out, Booster gets incarcerated in the same jail cell as his father. Superman arrives and busts Booster out, leading them to the Time Sphere to make their escape back to the past. The Eradicator shows up and breaks the controls, resulting in our heroes ending up on a planet controlled by Zod.

ACTION COMICS #996 by Dan Jurgens and Will Conrad. Lois heads to Logamba to try and save her father, which Jon tagging along, unbeknownst to her. Meanwhile, Superman and Booster are stuck on Jekuul, where it seems that Zod is in charge. After allowing themselves to be captured, they are taken to the planet’s ruler, where they discover it is a grown-up Lor-Zod who is going to be there chief adversary.

AQUAMAN #32 by Dan Abnett, Rick Leonardi, and Riccardo Federici. Aquaman frees Mera from King Shark’s prison and, finding out she can’t breathe underwater, takes her to the Widowhood to be healed. The Widowhood reveals how they want Mera to be the Queen of Atlantis, so she can rule and bring about peace. In the end, Aquaman and the Drift attack Corum Rath’s throne room.

BATGIRL #19 by Hope Larson and Chris Wildgoose. After stopping some would be donut shop robbers, who are actually hired actors meant to threaten but not harm the shop owners, Burnside gets hit with a freak snow storm. Even the Penguin enlists his crew to help with the clean-up. What she discovers is that a group from S.P.U.R. may have been messing with the weather forecasting satellites. Then she realizes it is all a diversion so the real bad guys can rob a secret government lab.

BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #18 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Marcio Takara. Spyral has recruited Huntress to find a black-market tech dealer and that means Barbara and Dinah are going to get involved at a Tech Expo. They manage to get a tracker on the guy before he can steal Hap-E: a power source that is impervious to EMPs and the like. Still, he steals the device and hooks it up to stolen Weather Wizard tech, causing havoc before they can finally capture him and shut the device down.

BATMAN #38 by Tom King and Travis Moore. Following the murders of a man who worked for Wayne Enterprises and his wife, Bruce Wayne takes their young son under his wing.  Batman investigates Victor Zsasz, as the M.O. is his. After some more murders, it appears it might be Two-Face’s doing. Eventually, the boy’s butler confesses to the murders. In the end, Batman discovers the boy is responsible because he wants to be just like Bruce Wayne, complete with carving Thomas and Martha’s names into his own face.

BATMAN #39 by Tom King and Joelle Jones. Wonder Woman meets with Batman, telling him they have an obligation to someone called the Gentle Man. The heroes swap dimensions with him, so they can fight his fight for him. Selina spends time with the Gentle Man while Batman and Wonder Woman fight monsters. In the end, it seems that there is a time difference between dimensions and Wonder Woman and Batman have been in the other dimension for ten years, while only being gone from ours for hours. At the same time, the heroes have formed a bond that may end up in a kiss.

BATMAN AND THE SIGNAL #1 by Scott Snyder, Tony Patrick and Cully Hamner. Gotham has a new place for developing metas and it’s called the Arkham Juvenile Center. Duke, now known as The Signal, battle with a character named Null and realizes he needs to find out more about these new metas. That leads to Detective Alex Aisi making her way into the Juvenile Center to find out the connection between the metas and a mysterious sun dial that seems to be creating these metas.  Duke makes his way in and realizes it’s a trap and he’s now stuck with a bunch of metas who want to kill him.

BATMAN BEYOND #16 by Dan Jurgens and Phil Hester. As it looks like Terry and Dana will fall to their death fighting Stalker, Batman’s wings get fixed and they are safe. The pair fight throughout the issue and, in the end, it looks like Stalker may kill Terry yet.

BATWOMAN #11 by K. Perkins and Scott Godlewski. Julia Pennyworth has been abducted  and Kate is on the hunt to find her. This leads her to Egypt where she discovers that Professor Pyg and his dolls are to blame, as Pyg is using his kidnaped victims to make new dolls. She finds and frees Julia, but Pyg escapes and all of his other victims are dead. Feeling as though she has let everyone down, she decides to meet Julia in Brussels, where everything began with Kate and Safiyah.

BLACK LIGHTNING: COLD DEAD HANDS #3 by Tony Isabella and Clayton Henry. There’s a villain named White Thunder loose, but that takes a backseat to a black man in custody who, along with his wife, gets shot dead by the police. In the panic that ensues, his two kids take off with one of Tobias Whale’s alien space guns. White Thunder has been tasked by Whale to get the gun back, the cops go after the kids, intent on doing to them what they did to their parents. Black Lightning gets to the kids before tragedy can happen, but now he has to face White Thunder.

BLUE BEETLE #17 by Christopher Sebela and Scott Kolins. Jaime is free and going after Stopwatch, while Paco, Brenda and Naomi are being crushed by falling debris. But Jaime stops Stopwatch by pulling out the pieces that make up his time travel device out of the villain’s body. This also allows time to reverse and saves his friends. In the end, Naomi has figured out Jaime is Blue Beetle and apparently will never speak to him again for not revealing his secret to her. And Stopwatch’ followers run into Stopwatch, who is now an alien creature, and still offer to help him.

CYBORG #20 by Kevin Grevioux and Cliff Richards. With all these children dead as a result of the minefield massacre last issue, Vic and Sarah flee into the jungle, where Sarah sprains her ankle. Vic saves her from a zombie attack and uses the horn to make one more wish: that everything was back as it was. The General uses the horn to become a rock monster, but gets turned back and shot by one of the kids. Not dead yet, he grabs a gun and shoots Nailah, killing her. The shaman shows up and says they did good and alls well that ends well.

DAMAGE #1 by Tony S. Daniel and Robert Venditti. Ethan is a military man who turns into, against his will, a creature of mass destruction. This apparently happens for an hour every 24 hours. In the process of his transforming and busting out of the plane he is in, he actually causes the plane to crash, while he begins a rampage in the city. Major Liggett dons special armor and begins his pursuit. Everyone dies in the crash except for Liggert, who got out prior to the crash. After getting his armor shut down, Damage goes in for the kill until Ethan’s voice in his head convinces him otherwise. The next day, Col. Jonas surveys the scene and Amanda Waller and Task Force XI show up.

DARK NIGHTS METAL #5 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. While Batman and Superman have managed to free themselves, the Forge of Worlds is going dark and that means that the Dark Multiverse is going to permanently become part of our Earth. Green Lantern and Mister Terrific are in prison and Terrific reveals that Plastic Man has become a super conductor for the cosmic energies, which is why he is being sought after by the bad guys. That’s when Martian Manhunter shows up, freeing them so they can get Plastic Man back. Wonder Woman finds the Nth Metal mace and battles and defeats Black Adam, which leads to her battling Hawkgirl, finally getting her back to her old self by punching her with the lasso. Aquaman and Deathstroke have  run in with Black Manta, which leads to them meeting up with half of Barbatos’ Dark Multiverse fractured heroes. Lantern, Manhunter and Terrific secure the Plastic Man egg, but it seems the rest of the bad guys have plans for them before they can load the egg into the Phoenix Cannon. In the end, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl face an army of twisted heroes and villains, vowing to fight to the end.

DEATHSTROKE #27 by Christopher Priest and Diogenes Nieves. We see how Terra’s mom died in Markovia, sending her on a permanent path of self-destruction, especially after she ends up in bed with Slade. While Slade talks with the imagined Wintergreen, Willow seeks out the Forgotten and Adeline deals with the Superman of China. Jericho visits his father in prison and helps to free him, but not before Slade controls the device controlling the Ikon suit. Terra tracks down and takes out most of the Forgotten until Willow shows up, leading to her getting tossed out the window and being saved by Jericho’s ex-boyfriend.

DEATHSTORKE ANNUAL #1 by Christopher Priest, Larry Hama and Dennis Cowan. Power Girl is trapped in another dimension, but her presence causes Tanya to question her ability to be on Defiance, especially when she discovers that the death which made her part of the team was set up by Deathstroke. She also reveals that she has problems with Jericho’s lifestyle choices and reveals that she is in love with Kid Flash, actually offering herself to him. Jericho is offended and decides to move out, while Slade continues to try and do his job without killing. Terra and Jericho eventually team up to help Slade finish his mission, but then the team discovers that Tanya has committed suicide. In the end, it is revealed that she is not really dead and has used the machine that everyone thought she used to kill herself to join Power Girl in another dimension. Only problem: Kid Flash has moved her away from her transponder and now she is stuck with Karen.

THE DEMON HELL IS EARTH #3 by Andrew Constant  and Brad Walker . As the demons begin to rise up from Death Valley, we find that Merlin is really inhabiting the corpse of the dead girl. That means that Jason, Merlin, Madame Xanadu, and Etrigan are the front line to try and stop Belial and his demon army, who is trying to usurp Hell from Lucifer.

DETECTIVE COMICS #972 by James Tynion IV and Miguel Mendonca. Clayface confronts Batman, telling him he really is just a villain after all. Batman freezes him, only to discover that he has used his training well and this frozen figure is just a husk, meaning he has escaped and is probably heading for the Belfry. While Batwoman gets a powerful weapon from her father to use, Dr. October reveals she has a cure, but it’s only a temporary fix. Clayface arrives and battles Tim, Kate, and Batman, until Cassandra intervenes long enough for Basil to get back in control. That doesn’t last long and he turns into a giant monster, destroying the Belfry in the process. Meanwhile, it seems the First Victim is only about destroying Batman, something that is seemingly bothering Anarky.

DETECTIVE COMICS #973 by James Tynion IV and Jesus Merino. After a flashback showing how Tim created the mudroom using parts of Clayface’s clay, we jump back into the action. The Belfry is destroyed, Tim has a concussion, and the people of Gotham are becoming more convinced that Batman is truly evil. Anarky revolts, eventually taking down the First Victim. He gives Stephanie a jump drive which may have data on who the First Victim really is. Meanwhile, the battle with Clayface continues until Cassandra delivers the cure, which transforms him back to Basil. That is also the moment when Batwoman uses the gun she got from her father and puts a bullet through his head.

DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL #1 by James Tynon IV and Eddy Barrows. Back when he was young, Basil Karlos talks to his father about his movie make-up techniques, where he discovers a secret chemical that allows him to alter his ability for great makeup. Twenty years later, Basil gets the role of a lifetime, but gets a call saying his father has died and that leads to a car crash which scars Basil for life. Convinced he needs to restore his face, he begins using his father’s Renu chemical to make himself look as he used to. But the chemical has a horrible effect and scars him worse. Desperate, he tries to steal more of the banned chemical and that leads to the police shooting at him during a break-in and he is covered in the chemical, which radically alters his DNA. During one of his early battles with Batman, he ends up covering Glory in his mud, transforming her into the person we currently know as Mudface.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK #3 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. Although he was thrown through a window in WATCHMEN, the Comedian was transported away to the DC Universe before dying by Dr. Manhattan. Now he returns the favor by throwing Ozymandias out of Luthor's office window. While an aged Johnny Thunder watches an old Nathaniel Dusk movie and waits for his great-grandson to visit, Mime and Marionette begin a wrathful search for The Joker. Rorschach gives Batman Walter Kovac's journal before he cleans himself up to reveal he is a young black man. Batman reads the journal and takes Rorschach to Arkham to meet with Dr. Manhattan. In actuality, this is just an excuse for the Dark Knight to lock him away.

THE FLASH #38 by Joshua Williamson and Scott Kolins. Flash is stuck in Iron heights, where he is getting beat up by Captain Cold.  August turns from heel to face and shuts off the absolute zero device that was being used, allowing Flash to finish off the Rogues and head off to save Kid Flash and Copperhead.  Copperhead pleads innocence regarding the hijacked cold guns, but she seems to be in league with someone else. Yea, the bad gal was setup by the Rogues and it's up to Barry to save the day. There is turmoil at Iron Heights about the Rogues running the prison, but Kristen vouches for Wolfe and saves his job, which is really just her gaining his confidence. In the end, Cold gets transferred to Belle Reve and Barry visits his mother’s rave and seeks forgiveness from Iris.

THE FLASH #39 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine De Giandomenico. While Barry tries to patch things up with Iris, including a tour of the Watchtower, Wally gets to meet up with Avery, who has been hanging with the Justice League of China as of late. They investigate a jailbreak that results in Karver's death while time slows and stops for Barry up in space. This leads to him running into Multiplex, Meena, Raijin and the real villain of the piece: Grodd.

THE FLASH ANNUAL #1 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. Set before issue # 39, we begin in the 25^th Century, we see that history has been changed because of events which are happening in the 21^st Century. In the resent day, our Wally West Flash, Wally West Kid Flash and the Barry Allen Flash battle The Top. After they defeat him, Barry insists that our Wally talk to Iris and accidentally it comes out that Iris killed Thawne. This causes Wally to leave and head back to Titans Tower, where he recalls growing up wioth a girl named Frankie. He seeks her out and that eventually leads to her memories coming back, including how she was once a hero named Magenta but then became a villain with the same name. They battle until he finally gets her to recall that she was once good and she now hopes to be good again. Back in the future, a masked Time Judge sends his team of Renegades, fture versions of the Rogues, to retrieve Iris from the 21^st Century. In the end, the Judge reveals that he is Hunter Zoloman-Zoom. This will lead into the Flash War storyline, which will begin in THE FLASH #47.

GREEN ARROW #36 by Ben Percy and Juan Ferreyra. Henery and Dinah save Oliver from his undersea fate even as Shado eliminates Briderick with an arrow through the head. Ollie and Dinah meet up with Red Arrow and they head over to the Ninth Circle to confront Mom and Merlyn. The end result: Merlyn gets killed and Mom shoots an arrow through Emi.

GREEN LANTERNS #38 by Tim Seeley and German Peralta. While Jessica and Regent Anthene interrogate a Red Tide prisoner in their search Kesh Cur, Simon frees Podfather. With Liseth Vok in tow, they find Cur and realize that the Red Tide has been using aliens to create their Surge Engine and make themselves genetically better. In fact, this is just a response to the Regent who previously experimented on Kesh Cur and transformed him into the person he is. As it turns out, Liseth Vok has also been transformed and she plans to use her powers to unite Ungara and kill Lanterns.

GREEN LANTERNS #39 by Tim Seeley and Ronan Cliquet. Liseth Vok tells the people that she is going to help the Ungaran people with her powers and that all the others in the universe are weak. This leads to Simon, Jessica and the Regent into a battle with the transformed girl. Pod father almost sacrifices himself to save the injured Molites, but he gets a save and help from the Ungarans who band together. Simon uses his special light to cause Liseth to transform back to her old self. In the end, the Ungarans and the Molites are joined as one and Liseth has a long recovery ahead. And Night Pilot is forced into slavery in an asteroid belt.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #36 by Robert Vendetti , Jack Herbert and Jose Luis. Kyle, Guy, Hal and John take on the Controllers. Kellic plans on harvesting all of the captured Guardians, but John destroys their machine. The Controllers flee to fight another day and the Guardians, after a quick change into their classic garb, prepare to be a governing council yet again. In the end, Kellic reveals his legion of Darkstars at the ready to continue his fight.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #37 by Robert Vendetti and Rafa Sandoval. With the Guradians back in some sort of control, John Stewart threatens to quit the Corps. Meanwhile, Hal and Kyle travel to Sector 2811, where they find General Zod, his family and the Eradicator. The Lanterns get beat up badly, as Zod declares this word to be his. Hal threatens that the rest of the Corps will arrive and Zod stands ready.

HARLEY QUINN #34 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, John Timms and Chad Hardin. Harley and friends head to Florida, where she gets to reunite with her family and her two beloved hyenas. In the end, she meets with Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, before ending up on a yacht with Ivy.

HARLEY QUINN #35 by Frank Tieri and Inaki Miranda. Harley and company are back home, and she is bumming about Mason’s death. While the rest of the Harleys try to cheer her up, they fail. Meanwhile, Tony gets kidnapped and that leads Harley into combat with Man Bat. It turns out this Man Bat is really a transformed Tony. Thinking that Kirk Langstrom is responsible, the gang investigates but they discover what Harley quickly finds out-it’s really Francine who is doing the attacks and Harley becomes her next victim.

HARLEY QUINN #36 by Frank Tieri and Inaki Miranda.  Harley has been turned into a Man-Bat and she and Francine Langstrom are terrorizing the folks at Coney Island. As the Gang of Harleys try to help her, Francine attacks them, which turns Harley from bad to good and she attacks Francine. Meanwhile,  the rest of the Harley crew find Tony and, with Kirk Langstrom’s help, find the antidote to change him back. Langstrom transforms himself and flees, but the crew go to the pier and administer the antidote to Harley. In the end, she convinces herself that she needs to be left alone and packs her bags, leaving them confused and disappointed. Coach thinks that someone is behind all of this and that person turns out to be The Penguin, who has more villains lined up to make their lives miserable.

HARLEY QUINN BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR SPECIAL EDITION #1 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Chad Hardin, Otto Schmidt, and Ben Caldwell. Reprinted from a Loot Crate release from last year, Harley finds a genie’s bottle and a genie named Jimm Salabim to go with it. She spends the entire issue wishing for things, mostly with bad results. She asks for a bigger chest, which causes her to fall down. She asks for her beaver to come to life, but he dies. She asks the Joker to be nice, but he is TOO NICE! She joins the Justice League and kills Luthor in the process. She even gets to meet Kamandi. In the end, she wishes the genie wasn’t a genie any more, which ends her wishes and leaves them both figuring what to do now besides be a part of her gang of Harleys.

THE HELLBLAZER #18 by Richard Kadrey and Davide Fabbri. John may or may not be dead, but he gets to meet Bardo, who he insults and ultimately sends Constantine back to life. That leads to him meeting back with the coven and panning to stop Ray’s killers. With their gold gun ready, the bad guys head to the hospital, intent on killing Jackie. But John turns the tables on them and Jackie unleashes a spell that eliminates them. With that, John leaves San Francisco and promises never to come back.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #36  by Christopher Priest and Pete Woods. After the incident that resulted in the death of a nun, the League is taking some serious heat. Things will certainly get worse when someone dressed as Batman, kills the Chairwoman of the special committee investigating them. Despite Batman ordering the team to not help a spy sub stranded in Chinese waters, team members do go, only to be chastised by the crew they save. In the end, Simon goes undercover to find the copycat and gets taken down by him in the process.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #37 by Christopher Priest and Philippe Briones. The fake Batman was injured as a child during a superhero battle before eventually becoming a war hero. But now, he has Simon locked up and dresses himself as a Green Lantern. Cyborg figures out their system has been compromised and it turns out this imposter was actually someone who worked on the Watchtower. Simon gets free and the imposter walks into a trap set by the League.  But the joke is on them, as he uses their own technology to transport them away.