DC UNIVERSE Month 33, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #27 by Ram V and Amancay Nahuelpan. The team continues to battle against the Upside-Down Man. Diana calls on Circe to help and she lends the power of Hecate to Wonder Woman. Dr. Fate lends his power and magically binds The Upside-Down Man. Man-Bat uses the vial to help Swamp Thing grow some plants in this world, resulting in Swamp Thing sacrifices himself. Kent takes the mantle back from Khalid and enters the fight. Even he can’t defeat The Upside-Down Man, so Zatanna casts a spell which merges her and The Upside-Down Man.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #25 by Dan Abnett and Cliff Richards. Darkseid is heading for Epoch's time manipulator and he faces off against past versions of deceased team members, including an extra Jessica Cruz and Cyborg. Hax, Dex-Starr, and Gamma Knife are at the time manipulator and, with Hax now betraying Darkseid, they start to destroy the machine. Gamma Knife is a ghost and she fades away to save the universe. With the time manipulator gone, Darkseid tells present-day Jessica Cruz that she's won and uses the Boom Tube to head to New Apokolips. New Gods Cyborg says he can use a Boom Tube to get them out of trouble, but he will have to stay behind. A dying past Jessica Cruz offers to stay, using her ring to give him more power. The rest of the team escapes because of their sacrifice. Jessica goes to Oa to warn the Corps about Darkseid, Orion, Dex-Starr, Azrael, and Hax go to Thanagar and Cyborg and Starfire go to warn the Justice League on Earth. But Earth is reeling from the events in Death Metal. Continued in JUSTICE LEAGUE #54.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #10 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook. Jon and Imra go on a date and share intimate moments in their minds. Commissioner Sevenbergen interrupts and tells them that Mordu has gone missing. Dr. Fate helps them narrow their search by revealing the search needs to take them to Xanthu. General Craz is put on trial before the Elders of Oa to face their “Eternal Justice”, while The Gold Lantern and Brainiac 5 ask the Elders about their knowledge of the Great Darkness. On Xanthu, Mordu meet with Rogol Zaar.

METAL MEN #11 by Dan Didio and Shane Davis. The team has travelled to the Dark Multiverse where they battle the cosmically infused Plutonium Man. Magnus instructs frees the Nth Metal Man and all of the Metal Men combine to form Alloy. But even their best effort is not enough, as the Plutonium Man defeats them and is ready to come to Earth.

NIGHTWING #75 by Dan Jurgens and Ronan Cliquet. Dick Grayson is back and he relives some good times with Donna and Garth. Elsewhere, KGBeast is not happy that Nightwing in action because it makes him look like a failed assassin Nightwing, in his old blue and red costume, teams up with Batgirl to clean up splinter groups left over from the Joker War. Later, he meets with the Nightwing Squad, telling them he is back and they need to stand on the sidelines. He then meets with Bea and promises to start over with her. That’s when KGBeast arrives and plans to kill Bea.

RED HOOD OUTLAW #50 by Scott Lobdell and Paolo Pantalena. Jason has struck up a relationship with Artemis, Bizarro is the King of Trigon's dimension The Joker’s Daughter is on the mend. That leads Jason to Ma Gunn’s where Monsieur Mallah is training Generation Outlaw and Duela Dent is recuperating. Later, she goes out and hangs out with Pup-Pup Das later, as this new team battles some well-dressed corporate thieves, Duela has a breakthrough and decides she doesn’t want to do this anymore. A week later, she goes to her childhood home with Pup-Pup, Artemis breaks up with Jason and he heads to Gotham.

SUICIDE SQUAD #10 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. Deadshot is Dead and Ted Kord is not to blame. Black Mask has been masquerading as Ted Kord. Fin verifies that Kord is Kord, leading to Wink and Aerie heading off to stop Black Mask. He masquerades as Wink but Aerie does not buy it and he is captured. After defeating Black Mask's army, the team head to Badhnisia to warn the president that Black Mask has set Lola to explode and potentially blow up the island. Zebra-Man tries to contain Osita as she reaches meltdown, but he can’t and it looks like everyone is dead.

SUPERMAN #26 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. Yesterday, Superman has some quiet time with Lois before heading to the Fortress of Solitude to discover that there’s something coming to Earth. He heads to the Daily Planet, but ends up leaving to face off against Synmar. Their battle leads them into the Phantom Zone where things don’t look good for our hero.

TEEN TITANS #46 by Robbie Thompson and Jesus Merino. Superboy joins the team to help take down Mammoth and his sister. He braks into the vault where it’s believed that there are captives of human traffickers. What he finds is a note from Damian addressed to him. He reveals that the note says the Titans will never find Damian. Later, the team relaxes, and Emiko and Kid Flash get taken over by Joystick.

WONDER WOMAN #764 by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh. Maxwell Lord and Wonder Woman head to Miami where people seem to think Maxwell is actually Darren Hindor from the Miami Bust television show. They meet up with a client about exchanging some stolen Lord Industries tech, but he initiates a double-cross that uses cell phones to create cyborgs. Wonder Woman calls on a giant shark to take out the cyborgs. Later, Diana muses on what has happened while Maxwell uses some mind control to find out how he might be able to use this tech for himself.

WONDER WOMAN #765 by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh. Diana and Maxwell are off to Zandia to put a stop to more of his tech. They end up in a casino and Maxwell ends up facing a bounty hunter who is working for Count Vertigo, but gets saved by Diana. They head to Vlatava, but the invisible jet gets taken down and Diana goes blind!

YOUNG JUSTICE #19 by Brian Michael Bendis, David Walker and Scott Godlewski. Cassie Sandmark has had a falling out with Zeus over her life decisions. She teams up with Young Justice and they fight Poseidon. After Zeus deems her worthy of joining the Pantheon, she turns him down and opts to stay with her friends.

DC UNIVERSE Month 33, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1026 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. Superman and the House of Kent fight the Parasite from another dimension, with Brainiac 5 blasting him and shrinking him to miniature. Superman flies off to battle Red Cloud, with Red Cloud choking hi out. Meanwhile, at the Daily Planet, Leone claims she is a victim of the evil alternate universe Lois Lane, raising questions by asking how did Sam Lane die. With that, after she fires Perry White, Lois is arrested.

AQUAMAN #64 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Miguel Mendonca. Orm’s interrupted the wedding and his Daigon forces have breached and invaded Atlantis. While the battle rages, Vulko frees Mother Cetea. Orm declares himself the ruler of Atlantis and that leads to a one-on-one battle between Arthur and Orm. Arthur gets distracted and Orm defeats him, daring him to call some fish, which looks like that is exactly what Aquaman will do.

BATGIRL #50 by Cecil Castellucci, Aneke, Emanuela Lupacchino and Marguerite Sauvage. We begin with James’ funeral, before Barbara and her father go to a diner, where her father badmouths Batgirl, leading to Barbara storming out. She meets up with Jason, who is trying to convince a young girl named Ryan Wilder (who will be the new Batwoman on the CW television show of the same name) to go to a homeless shelter. Later, Jason says he accepts full responsibility in framing her dad and wants to show Barbara he has changed. She gets a call and heads to the Batcave, where Batman tells Batgirl, Nightwing, and Tim Drake that he has lost much of his money and is no longer in control of Wayne Enterprise. After convincing Batman to give money to a homeless shelter, Batgirl tells Nightwing that things can’t just go back to normal and he will have to earn her friendship back. Days later, Batgirl apologizes to Jason and later Barbara tells him she wants to move forward with their relationship between them. While she is meeting with Congresswoman Alejo, protesters throw a rock through one of the office windows, Alejo, Barbara, and Jason then join the protestors in marching through the city. Jim Gordon is also there and she convinces him to join in the protest.

BATMAN #100 by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez. Batgirl is back in the Clock Tower, where she takes back her Oracle persona, using the emergency channel to contact the Bat-Family and the police. Bullock decides to do the right thing, throws down his badge and orders his men to join him. Batman is dealing with the Joker, who has reanimated Alfred’s corpse. With his new Bat costume, Joker gets the advantage, until Batman kills the lights and fights back, although he gets stabbed by The Joker. Meanwhile, Punchline is pissed that the explosion at ACE Chemical happened sooner than planned and the Underbroker quits. That’s when Nightwing and the Bat-Family arrive. Back at the Batman/Joer fight, things look bad for our hero until Harley Quin shows up and shoots Mr. J. in the eye. She cuffs Joker and attaches the bombs to Joker and herself, making Batman choose who to save. Batman decides to save her and leaves Joker with the reanimated Alfred. The bomb explodes and we cut to a week later, as we learn Joker apparently escaped and Batman, now broke, must start over. In a series of epilogues, we meet the next villain, Ghostmaker. Batman tracks down Bao Pham, who is Clownhunter. He says he used to believe in Batman, but not anymore. In the end, two men are sitting in a coffee shop and one shows the other video of Punchline appealing to the public for leniency. Then he kills the other man with Joker toxin.

BATMAN #101 by James Tynion IV and Guillem March. While Bruce muses about the past, he and Selina also talk about the future and how things are going to change significantly. Flashback to a week ago where Batman is fighting with Grifter, until Lucius Fox stops them. Lucius has hired Grifter as his personal bodyguard, while he still deals with the effects of the Joker Toxin. The city is in the process of electing a new mayor and the Joker is still at large. With Selina having given Lucius the Wayne fortune, Bruce realizes he has had his ability to support his Batman persona cut dramatically. As Batman leaves, he meets Grifter and tells him he knows who he really works work and has a message for them. Back in the present, he tells Selina he needs to move into the city and they can’t tea up while she is still a wanted criminal. So they agree to meet back up in a year and make the needed decisions.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #17 by Bryan Edward Hill and Marcio Takara. It’s the end of the road for the Outsiders. Bruce has set up a horse farm for Sofia, and the team decides what to do next. Bruce has tea with Shiva, who knocks him out with iocane powder. Hen he wakes, the only person there is Shiva, who explains that Jefferson, Tatsu, Duke have all headed off to Gotham and Cassandra is going to meet with Stephanie Brown. She also reveals that Sofia is going off with her, leaving behind a very upset Bruce.

BATMAN BEYOND #48 by Dan Jurgens and Paul Pelletier. Matt and Terry meet with Bruce, who suddenly attacks them, claiming they are here to kill him. Booster Gold shows up and pulls Terry out of the attack, explaining that they need to go back in time, because some villain had implanted a seed in Bruce’s brain long ago and today as the day it went off. He also tells Terry that Matt is dead and there’s nothing they can do. They head back to 2020, here they save a family whose house has caught fire during the heroes confrontation with the villain Blanque. One of the people is a young Warren McGinnis, who happens to be Terry’s father. That’s when Batman shows up and tell him to release the boy.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN #13 by Joshua Williamson and Max Raynor. Batwoman and Steel head to the moon, where they are forced to fight an army of robots. A rogue computer program hacked it's way into the Batcomputer and now Batman and Superman are being tested, mentally and physically, to defeat their robot copies of their Rogue’s Gallery. Batman puts a virus in the system, causing a Joker robot to come to their aid. Batwoman and Steel come to the rescue, but things aren’t done yet as the program has created a Batman/Superman mash-up.

BATMAN: THREE JOKERS #3 by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. Batman, Batgirl Jason try to figure out who The Joker really is, although it seems Batman knows. He finds out that Joe Chill has been kidnapped and that he also ha written lots o letters, undelivered, to Bruce Wayne. They track The Joker to the Monarch Theatre, where he plans to drop Chill into a vat, turning him into the new Clown Prince of Crime. After a battle, Batman saves Joe Chill’s life and The Criminal Joker is killed by the Comedian Joker. In the end, Chill dies and Batman reads the letters, Jason writes a love letter to Barbara which she never gets to see and Batman reveals he has always known ho the Joker is, but he can never tell the world because of what it will do to his family.

CATWOMAN #26 by Ram V and Fernando Blanco. The Penguin is not happy about being played by Selina, so he hires a hitman named Father Valley. In the bad part of Alleytown, Selina meets with Pit and cuts a deal. In the end, Father Valley spies on Selina and Maggie.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL #4 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Batman and Superman are in tough shape as they are dealing with alternate versions of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS and FINAL CRISIS. Wonder Woman is dealing with the alternate INFINITE CRISIS, where Superboy Prime tells her that he promised The Batman Who Laughs Wonder Woman so he could be the hero of the one world left. Elsewhere, Harley, Swamp Thing, and Jarro face Robin King, who finishes off the disembodied Jonah Hex. Wonder Woman convinces Superboy Prime join the heroes and he destroys the antenna, which frees Batman and Superman and resets everything. Or not, as the world is still devastated and Wally, sitting in Metron’s chair, is no longer in the blue suit.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL: ROBIN KING #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Riley Rossmo. Robin King gloats at his apparent victory and thinks back to how he came to be. Following his parents death, young Bruce Wayne decided to take down the heroes of his Earth. His actions bring attention to the Batman Who Laughs who convinces him to join him and doses him with a pill while he pits him in the Robin Pit, finalizing his transformation. In the back-up, the Signal and his team take down a Batman/Chemo mash-up to free Gotham Narrows.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL: RISE OF THE NEW GOD #1 by James Tynion IV and Jesus Merino. The Chronicler moves through time and space, meeting with various characters and observing the cosmic battle between Darkest Knight and Perpetua. With him is the Codex Omniversa: a book which contains worlds he has witnessed rise and fall. In the end, he decides this world is worth saving. In the back-up, John Stewart and a handful of Lanterns make their way through the Bleed to meet with the surviving heroes from the other worlds of the Multiverse.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1028 by Peter J. Tomasi and Nicola Scott. Batman investigates a series of murders perpetrated as revenge by the son of a former policeman. In the end, the vigilante son is arrested and Christopher Nakano announces his candidacy for Mayor, claiming he wants to get rid of the “masked and dangerous”.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1029 by Peter J. Tomasi and Kenneth Rocafort. The Mirror is introduced, and his plan is to start a revolution where he and his followers can unmask and eliminate the Bats and his various teammates. Meanwhile, Bruce is boxing up the belongings the Wayne Manor as he prepares to move out and into the city. Later, he helps stop an apparent attack during a Nakano for Mayor gala. In the end, he goes to examine the Black Casebook, only to find it blank. It seems Damian has stolen the book.

THE FLASH #763 by Kevin Shinick and Clayton Henry. Barry and Iris are at the Central City Farmer’s Market when he realizes that his ring that holds his costume is missing. This eventually leads him to Trickster’s arcade and his ring is being offered as a prize. After a series of tests, Trickster has a final test: tell him why the ring is special. Barry tells him the ring has special powers. Trickster decides to use the ring himself, the costume comes out into his face, knocking him out, allowing Flash to regain the ring. In the end, Dr. Alchemy is in Iron Heights and has a plan.

THE FLASH #764 by Kevin Shinick and Will Conrad. The news reports that Dr. Alchemy is breaking out of Iron Heights and Barry races off. During the battle, Alchemy blasts him and Flash’ mask turn to Mercury. The CCPD shows up and shoots at Alchemy, who turns the bullets into gas that will kill the men. Flash uses his speed to disperse the gas. Alchemy is using the philosopher’s stone to achieve his tasks and that leads to Barry researching the stone. He heads to the museum to check out a Metal Men exhibit and hopefully talk to Will Magnus. There he confronts Alchemy, who has used his powers to drain the Speed Force from Flash’s body. He tells him that he could kill everyone in the building, but he would rather show the people there that The Flash can’t stop him.

GREEN LANTERN: SEASON TWO #8 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. In a tale this plays in reverse, the war in the Anti-World is coming and somehow Sinestro is now involved.

HAWKMAN #28 by Robert Venditti and Fernando Pasarin. Hawkman and Hawkgirl are in 1940 and Carter is remembering his death from Hath-Set. He is also having issues with the thought of actually dying and staying dead. The Nth Metal dagger has been stolen and is being used by Anton Hastor, the current version of Hath-Set, to find Hawkman. Hawkman uses his mace to psychically link to the dagger, which leads them to a train, where Anton has used the power of Anubis to make everyone on the train a zombie, that our heroes have to fight and kill. In the end, Hastor uses the dagger to stab and possibly kill Hawkman.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #54 by Joshua Williamson and Xermanico. Continued from JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #25, Cyborg and Starfire join the team of Nightwing, Hawkgirl, Bobo and Luthor. They have to make their way across the wastelands through a field filled with giant Starros. The giant stars are placing false memories in the heads of the team and it takes Luthor to snap them out of it to face off with Starro.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #55 by Joshua Williamson and Robson Rocha. The team continues to fifth with the Starros, which have not combined to become a giant Starro. They board Luthor’s pirate ship, which he has named Lana, and head across Brimstone Bay to free the Legion of Doom. Hawkgirl senses Martian Manhunter and heads off to free him. That results in the team being attacked by the Omega Knight, as J’onn has been compromised.

DC UNIVERSE Month 32, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE #52 by Jeff Loveness and Robson Rocha. Batman is controlled by Black Mercy and that causes him to see his dead mother, trying to convince him to stop being Batman. Wonder Woman breaks free and sets him free, allowing the team to get back to Earth and reflect on their mission and what the Black Mercy Planet made them realize.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #53 by Joshua Williamson and Xermanico. In the Dark Nights: Death Metal world, Nightwing, Hawkgirl, and Detective Chimp make their way to what is left of the Hal of Justice, where they find a cloaked and scarred Lex Luthor. He them that the mission is to get to Perpetua's throne and retrieve the Legion of Doom. That job has apparently fallen on Martian Manhunter, who realizes that The Omega Knight is the guardian and the Mindhunter is the warden.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ANNUAL #2 by Robert Venditti and Aaron Lopresti. There is a man dead deep in a sub-basement of the Hall of Justice. But they soon are attacked by the protocols designed to stop the various villains of the team. It turns out the mastermind of this is the disembodied head of The Eradicator. The team ends up working together to stop the assault and, in the end, Batman locks The Eradicator’s head in a vault.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #26 by Ram V and Amancay Nahuelpan. Detective Chimp has found Constantine, who has been captured by Madame Xanadu. They ask how to defeat the Upside-Down Man and she draws tarot cards, basically telling them they need to believe in magic. What she doesn’t reveal is that John’s tarot card is Death. Bobo and John recruit Kirk and Dr. Fate and head off to the fight. They all team up and use their combined belief that their magic is stronger than that of the Upside-Down Man and defeat him, but not before he seemingly kills John.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #24 by Dan Abnett and Cliff Richards. Hax has revealed that she serves Darkseid, who is now the Lord of Time and convinces Gamma Knife to help Darkseid. The rest of the team figures they need to use one of Epoch’s time crystals to fix things. They hook Cyborg up to Epoch's time technology and bring back Starfire, Cyborg, Jess and Azrael from before they were controlled by Darkseid, meaning there are now two Jess's and two Cyborgs. So, the team is that much bigger as they attack Darkseid for a final battle.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #9 by Brian Michael Bendis, Jenny Frison, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Klaus Janson, Arthur Adams, Joe Quinones, John Romita Jr., Nicola Scott, Jim Cheung, Emanuela Lupacchino, David Marquez, Gary Frank, Kevin Nowlan, James Harren, Mike Grell, Gene Luen Yang, Nick Derington, Tula Lotay, Michel Fiffe, Mitch Gerads, Ryan Sook, Wade Von Grawbadger and Jordie Bellaire. The origins of the Legion heroes continues. Crav shows with his son in chains, saying it was he who betrayed the United Planets. Dream Girl arrives and she stands with Ultra Boy, saying she has seen the future. Then she announces that the Great Darkness is coming. Dr. Fate is summoned and he declaes that Dream Girl is correct. The White Witch is revealed as Modru’s daughter and claims Crav was seeking parts of Aquaman’s trident, because he knows the Great Darkness is coming. Gold Lantern contains Crav and sends him back to Rimbor. The trial is ended, the Legion lives on and Saturn Girl and Superboy kiss.

METAL MEN #10 by Dan Didio and Shane Davis. Jenet Klyburn reveals that Nth Metal Man has been manipulating Will Magnus and the Metal Men this whole time and that Will forgot to turn on their responsometers. In the Dark Multiverse, had built her own Doc Magnus, where this team fought the Dark Multiverse Metal Men and won, killing the living Doc Magnus. Platinum captured Plutonium, strapped him to a rocket and blew it up, sending the Metal Doc Magnus into space. There, he was picked up by the Thanagarians, who infused him with the Nth Metal. When he returned to his world, he found it destroyed and then created the Dark Multiverse Metal Men, who are currently led by a reborn Plutonium. Doc and the Metal Men head to the Dark Multiverse to face off against the Dark Multiverse Metal Men and save Tina.

NIGHTWING #74 by Dan Jurgens and Ryan Benjamin. Bea is searching for Ric, Red Hood and Tim face off against some of Joker’s followers. That’s when Ric, now Dicky-Boy, reveals his true self and battles the former Robins. Barbara manages to grab the memory crystal from the Joker and Bea shows up and tries to convince him to be Dick again. He finally snaps out of it, becomes Dick Grayson again and destroys the crystal. Batman shows up, Tim defuses the bomb at the Children's Hospital and Bea walks away, saving Dick but losing the man she loves.

RED HOOD OUTLAW #49 by Scott Lobdell and Paolo Pantalena. The team along with the time displaced Red Hood, Starfire and Arsenal, struggle to close the door to Trigon's domain. Bizarro has slain Trigon and now he’s been declared the king of the region. As the team is set to close the door, Bizarro appears and tells his teammates that he is going to stay in the domain. After a tearful goodbye, the doors to Trigon's domain and the Chamber of All, sending Red Hood, Starfire and Arsenal back to their own time.

SHAZAM #14 by Geoff Johns, Dale Eaglesham and Scott Kolins. Billy Batson takes on Mr. Mind and Superboy-Prime shows up to throw his support to the Monster Society of Evil. Billy defeats Mr. Mind, which also takes out the magically enhanced foes in the process. In the process, Superboy-Prime gains magic power and uses it to draw the power out of Billy's family. Black Adam arrives and he and Billy take Superboy-Prime out. Billy’s father no longer remembers Billy, leaving him and leaving Billy back with his foster parents. In the end, the Wizard reveals that Billy's greatest achievement will be redeeming the seventh champion: Black Adam.

SHAZAM #15 by Jeff Loveness and Brandon Peterson. Billy does what he does as Shazam, even though Billy the student is getting in trouble with his teacher for not finishing a report on Civil War reconstruction. Later he saves his teacher, whose building burns down. He saves her and then takes her out fr sa burger and encouraging conversation. In the end, Billy apologizes for how he treated her in class, but he still hasn’t done his report.

SUICIDE SQUAD #9 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. Thylacine and Chaos Kitty kidnap a Senator, who later gets interrogated by Fin until he reveals the location of Ted Kord. After Zoe works on her shooting ability, the team goes off to Kord Defense, where they see Superman is already there and has captured Kord. Deadshot asks for some time alone and it’s revealed that Superman is really Black Mask in disguise, who shoot s Floyd between the eyes, sending he and Kord out the window towards the street below.

SUPERMAN #25 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. While Lana Lang interviews Clark about the past, present and future, now that he has revealed his identity to the world, Synmar learns his people may have been killed because of Superman. This sets up Clark’s next adversary.

TEEN TITANS #45 by Robbie Thompson and Javier Fernandez. The team is forced to come back together to fight Gizmo. Along the way Red Hood shows up and tells them that Damian throwing distractions at them so he can get away from their hunt for him. In the end, they take down Gizmo and Superboy arrives, looking for Damian.

THE TERRIFICS #30 by Gene Luen Yang and Sergio Davila. Although the team has defeated Parasite, they have discovered he was working with someone else. The team discovers Sebastian Stagg was responsible and has put together his own team, the Stagg Circle, made up of Staggatron, Lobo, and Silas Stone. Staggatron breaks Parasite out of captivity and Stagg shoves a molecular destabilizer into him. He explodes, resulting in  Parasite drones that begin changing the people it hits into monsters. Stagg says that he has a device that can fix this, but only if he gets millions in ransom. The Terrifics arrive, defeat the creatures and find a way to change them all back.

WONDER WOMAN #762 by Mariko Tamaki and Carlo Barberi. Diana forms an uneasy alliance with Maxwell Lord as she tries to stop all the mind control shenanigans going on. In the end, it’s revealed that Liar Liar is causing all the trouble in town. And Liar Liar turns out to be Maxwell's daughter.

WONDER WOMAN #763 by Mariko Tamaki and Carlo Barberi. Liar Liar tells Wonder Woman and Maxwell Lord about the day her mother died. And it turns out that, by using her psychic powers, she was responsible for the car crash that killed her mother. She tries to use her powers on Diana, but Max uses his power to silence his daughter. Diana takes her down and she is captured. In the end, Max remembers that Diana snapped his neck during Infinite Crisis, but still agrees to be a team player.

YOUNG JUSTICE #18 by Brian Michael Bendis, David Walker, Scott Godlewski and Michael Avon Oeming. Tim Drake teams up with Stephanie Brown so that they can take down her father Cluemaster. In the end, Drake changes his name back to Robin and the New 52 version of Cassie arrives, saying she needs the help of Young Justice.

DC UNIVERSE Month 32, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1025 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. Years Ago, Leone has a clandestine meeting with Dr. Glory. In the present, the House of Kent team break into Leone's headquarters while Red Cloud and Dr. Glory find a version of The Parasite from a multiverse where he killed his Superman. The Super team confronts the Parasite and he may have killed Connor. In other news, the FBI continues to search the Planet,   Jimmy hints that he will buy the paper and Leone shows up, claiming that our Lois is a Lois from another universe.

AQUAMAN #63 by Jordan Clark and Marco Santucci. Jackson and his Grandpa A.I. infused ship find themselves in the Trench where the Xebelians are in a fight with the Trench people. Jackson meets up with Ha'wea and they team up to help in the fight, with Aqualad's aquakinesis saving the day. In the end, Jackson makes amends with his father before heading off with the Grandpa A.I. infused ship.

BATGIRL #49 by Cecil Castellucci and Robbi Rodriguez. Batgirl investigates the series of “cosplay murders”, only to discover that James Jr. has been responsible all along. James is schizophrenic and decides to get rid of the other voice in his head by jumping to his apparent death. Commissioner Gordon arrives and tries to arrest Batgirl for manslaughter, but she flees and renounces her Batgirl persona.

BATMAN #98 by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez. With Scarecrow and Riddler playing chess, Penguin and Selina discuss what’s happening in Gotham. Meanwhile, Harley is taking care of Batman, who continues to have hallucinations with Alfred, when Punchline shows up with a flamethrower. The two fight and, luckily, Batman breaks from his hallucinations and takes Punchline out, telling Harley he needs everyone’s help. In the end, Selina tells Penguin that she is leaving and offers to make him a billionaire.

BATMAN #99 by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez. Joker picks up a package and makes his way towards ACE Chemical. He gets a call from Punchline, explaining the battle with Batman and Harley. Batman meets with the Bat-Family, with he and Harley heading to ACE Chemical. He enters ACE Chemical and is met with the reanimated corpse of Alfred, followed by Joker in the diamond suit that Alfred had made for Bruce. Meanwhile, Catwoman has teamed up with Penguin and Riddler as they go after the Underbroker and steal back the Wayne fortune.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #16 by Bryan Edward Hill and Dexter Soy. The team faces off against Ra's al-Ghul and his team. Working together, they defeat them, with Jefferson using his amped-up powers to defeat Ras and his alien weapon powers. In the end, Batman says he has a plan for the future and will explain all when they get back to Gotham.

BATMAN BEYOND #47 by Dan Jurgens and Sean Chen. Batman and the team face off against Mr. Zero and the League of Assassins. Damian gains revenge and traps Mr. Zero in his destroyed spaceship. In the end, the world has been saved and Booster Gold shows up to change the future and keep Batman from not existing.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN #12 by Joshua Williamson and Max Raynor. Steel and Batwoman investigate the destruction within the Batcave. Through a taped message, Batman reveals that the Batcomputer had been hacked by Brainiac, leading to a battle with Chemo. The message is damaged at the end, leading Batwoman and Steel to the moon. But the message was for them NOT to go to the moon, as Superman and Batman have been captured.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN ANNUAL #1 by Joshua Williamson, Dale Eaglesham, Clayton Henry and Gleb Melnikov. Two kids are playing with Batman and Superman action figures to see who would win in a fight between the two heroes. It turns out that this is taking place in the Fifth Dimension and Bat-mite and Mxyzptlk are here to step in and throw their thoughts into the debate. Bat-mite tells a tale where Superman's existence is ripping apart the Multiverse, with Batman turning the sun red, resulting in both heroes dying. Mxyzptlk tells his story and helps Superman win by cheating. In the end, the real heroes wake believing they have been toys and Krypto and Ace fight over Bat-mite and Mxyzptlk action figures.

BATMAN: THE JOKER WAR ZONE #1 by James Tynion IV, John Ridley, Joshua Williamson, Sam Johns, James Tynion IV, Guillem March, Oliver Coipel, David Lafuente, Laura Braga and James Stokoe. A collection of five tales spinning out of the JOKER WAR and setting up future stories in the Batman books. In the first, Joker goes to Arkham Asylum and visits Bane. His biggest gripe is that Bane killed Alfred in front of Robin instead a Batman and vows to pay him back for this. In the second, the Fox family deals with the ramifications of both Lucius encounter with Punchline and having access to the accounts that were given to them by Catwoman. The Joker Gang shows up and Luke suits up as Batwing. In the third tale, Hench Master is training the folks that make up the various villains armies. The leads to Spoiler and Orphan going into action and eventually retrieving the broken Bat Signal. The penultimate story features Poison Ivy, who takes revenge on Joker Gang members who have started a fire in her home, leading to her deciding her plant side need to take over her human side. In the final tale, Clownhunter, with a baseball bat weaponized with a batarang, takes his aggression out on a small group of Joker Gang members, to the cheers of the residents.

BATMAN: THREE JOKERS #2 by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. With only two Jokers left, Jason continues his hunt while Batman and Batgirl investigate the murder of Judge Walls. This leads them to Arkham, where it is revealed that Joe Chill has been moved and is dying of Cancer. Jason ends up at the Gotham City Athletic Association, where he discovers a pool filled with toxin and Jokers. A Joker shows up, captures him and beats him. Later, Batman and Batgirl arrive and fight off the Jokers before finding and rescuing Jason. In the end, Jason and Barbara share a kiss and The Joker interrogates Joe Chill, anting to now why he really killed The Waynes.

CATWOMAN #25 by Ram V, Fernando Blanco, John Paul Leon and Juan E. Ferreyra. In the first tale, Selina, Riddler, and Penguin are stealing Bruce's money back from the Underbroker. Things go off but not without a hitch, which leads to Selina getting injured and saved by Detective Hadley. Later, she meets with Luke Fox, where she tells him the Wayne money has been deposited in Lucius account in the Cayman Islands. In the second story Selina heads back to Alleytown, where she takes in and works with a new generation of strays. In the last story, Selina meets up with a new cat that’s very much like her.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL: MULTIVERSE’S END  #1 by James Tynion IV and Juan Gedeon. On Earth-3, Owlman is interrogating John Stewart while survivors of the Multiverse battle. Bat-Baby and the Rainbow Batman Corps show up to the battle and it looks like the Crime Syndicate may join Justice Incarnate to fight against Perpetua, especially when Harbinger informs Owlman that he has died multiple times. But this just proves to Owlman that he has survived, no matter which version of the Multiverse exists. He betrays his Crime Syndicate teammates, but sacrifices himself by destroying Bat-Baby and the Rainbow Batman Corps. In the end, Stewart and his team head home, now that Perpetua’s towers have been taken down.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL: SPEED METAL #1 by Joshua Williamson and Eddy Barrows. With the world turned upside down, Barry, Wally, Jay and Wallace try to outrun the Darkest Knight, who wants to take the Creation Energy from Wally. The Darkest Knight throws everything at the team and Barry gives Wally his energy to allow him to reach the Mobius Chair, reuniting him with the whole Flash family, including Linda and his kids. Next step: get the chair to Wonder Woman. Continued in DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL #4.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL: TRINITY CRISIS #1 by Scott Snyder and Francis Manapul. The Trinity, along with Swamp Thing, Jarro, Jonah Hex and Harley Quinn head to Castle Bat so that they can access a portal to the Dark Multiverse. It seems three worlds are continually going through Final Crisis, Infinite Crisis and the Crisis on Infinite Earths. After battling the defenders of the Castle, they discover a chained up Barbatos. When they find the portral, the Robin King emerges and he kills Hex. The Trinity ends up at the three crisis points, with Batman and Superman being defeated. Even Disana is felled, when she is greeted by Superboy Prime who says that on these three worlds, the heroes lost.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1027 by Brian Michael Bendis, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Matt Fraction, Dan Jurgens, Tom King, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Scott Snyder, Mariko Tamaki, Peter J. Tomasi, James Tynion IV, Marv Wolfman, Lee Bermejo, Chris Burnham, Jamal Campbell, Jim Cheung, Olivier Coipel, Jos L. Garca Lpez, Dan Jurgens, Emanuela Lupacchino, David Marquez, Dan Mora, Ivan Reis, Eduardo Risso, John Romita Jr., Riley Rossmo, Walt Simonson, Brad Walker and Chip Zdarsky. This 144 page anniversary issues features twelve stories. The most revealing, and important to Batman continuity, is battling Calendar Man. During the fight, the museum catches fire and, as he sees a portrait of his parents stating the gallery was dedicated to them in 1985, there is a blinding white light. Everything becomes fractured and many versions of Batman are seen. Our hero is now dressed in his DETECTIVE #27 costume and the portrait now says the gallery was dedicated to them in 1915. Kamandi appears, telling Batman that Booster says time is broken. Together, they leave to “get the team together”. To be continued in GENERATIONS FUTURE STATE #1.

THE FLASH #761 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. In the 853^rd century, the newest Kid Flash is being taught the “most important moment in our history.” It turns out that moment is the battle against the Legion of Zoom. Max puts out a call and speedsters from all across time arrive to help in the fight. Thawne tells Barry that he used his knowledge of the past to change things to benefit him. He also used the Negative Speed Force to manipulate events, so he can gain revenge on Barry. Wally’s voice interrupts their fight, telling Barry to find him. Barry and Thawne head into the Speed Force for, what we are told, is their last race.

THE FLASH #762 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. Barry is chasing Eobard, who wants to go back to the 25^th century, insisting Flash kills him. But Barry turns the tables, telling Eobard that he forgives him. Barry reveals that he brought the Speed Force inside of him and causes Eobard to disappear. Eobard is now in the 25^th Century and is a curator in the Flash Museum.  Reverse-Flash is still recognized as a villain, but his identity has never been known. Barry shows up to check on Eobard and then goes through the timeline to fix everything that Reverse-Flash altered. Barry eventually goes back to the murder scene he had been investigating before all of this happened, only to find the woman is now alive. It turns out she is the ancestor of Eobard Thawne. In the end, Barry and the Flash Family have a barbeque.

GREEN LANTERN: SEASON TWO #7 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. Hal is dead and finds himself in the afterlife and facing judgment from the Young Guardians. They explain there is a coming war and they’ll need the help of the Death Lantern. Hal fights the come back from the dead, but he forgets everything he was told about the upcoming war. Now he and his team need to fight the battle against the Anti-World.

HAWKMAN #27 by Robert Venditti and Fernando Pasarin. The Hawks have just one life left to live and they are doing it with the JSA in the 1940s. They team up to defeat the Injustice Society. In the end, Carter confesses that he is afraid to die while Hath-Set is making preparations to end their lives.

 

Even more first issues

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: SINS RISING PRELUDE #1 by Nick Spencer and Guillermo Sanna. The next big event for Spider-Man starts with this. Sin-Eater, the masked vigilante who killed Jean DeWolfe, has come back from the dead and is ready to continue his work. This sets up his resurrection and fills in readers on the history of Sin-Eater. The artwork is hit or miss, with some nice callbacks to the original story back in the days of the black costume. It is a decent lead-in to a major Spidey story.
 
ASTERIX FREE COMIC BOOK DAY by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. The legendary Asterix gets a great treatment designed to introduce the gem to a broader audience. Asterix set the bar for such works as GROO and it’s evident here. Rush to your comics shop and get this.
 
BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE #1 by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini and Ty Templeton. This digital first series tries to reignite the feel of the classic series of comics and the television show. All the classic characters are here, with a surprise appearance in the end, and even an appearance by Lex Luthor, which ties the SUPERMAN ADVENTURES to this. The writing is fun, Templeton’s art is cartoony and it’s a nice callback to the past.
 
BIRDS OF PREY #1 by Brian Azzarello and Emanuela Lupacchino. This huge Black Label one shot is a rambling tale of revenge and retribution. The characters aren’t so much a team as they are a loose amalgamation that puts the three main characters into each other’s orbit. It’s a typical Azzarello script that is heavy and crime and biting dialogue. Lupacchino’s art is in the usual amazing style and hey: just remember this is not in continuity. If you get through that, it’s a fun read.
 
BLACK WIDOW #1 by Kelly Thompson and Elena Casagrande. The Widow is back and she’s in trouble again. After completing a mission she gets dumped out of her apartment…literally. Three months later and she is in San Francisco, designing blueprints for a building. And she has a new love in her life and Arcade plotting her death. I love the twists in this and want to see where this goes next.
 
BOMB QUEEN: TRUMP CARD #1 by Jimmie Robinson. I have been a huge fan of Jimmie Robinson’s work going back to CYBERZONE, AMANDA & GUNN and CODE BLUE. This book is the latest his long running series of mini-series featuring the titular villainess. This time, it’s 2024 and she’s coerced into running for President against President Trump. It’s a fun ride of a future where superheroes are banned and Trump is the chief bad guy.
 
DAREDEVIL ANNUAL #1 by Chip Zdarsky and Manuel Garcia. Daredevil gets his IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE moment in this Annual. Matt Murdock takes a backseat to Mike Murdock, who is not the happy go lucky fictional creation of Matt Murdock. He’s a separate flesh and blood entity that has turned to the dark side because of his path in his young life. Not an imaginary story…this actually ties into current continuity. It’s a little confusing if you haven’t been reading the series, but all makes sense if you have,
 
DCEASED: DEAD PLANET #1 by Tom Taylor and Trevor Hairsine. Taylor has mined the concept of heroes and zombies in the DCEASED series as was done with INJUSTICE. The world has come to an end and the remaining superheroes, those who haven’t become zombies in the previous series of series, try to find a cure and restore the world to something resembling normalcy. This is just dumb fun in the way MARVEL ZOMBIES is. It’s not an in-continuity series that would be an ELSEWORLDS tale back in the day.
 
EMPYRE: AVENGERS #0 by Al Ewing and Pepe Larraz. Marvel’s next big event, which will encompass over 50 issues, counting tie-ins and spin-offs. It’s time for a new Kree-Skrull War and Hulking is the front and center. The Avengers journey to the Blue Area of the moon to find it has turned green. That’s because the Cotati have been here and so is the long dead, but reanimated Swordsman. There are a ton of callbacks to Marvel history and that’s great for long time fans. Will this series truly reset the Marvel Universe’s place in space? Well, it will lead to a number of new series after this ends, including a new She Hulk series.
 
EMPYRE: FANTASTIC FOUR #0 by Dan Slott and R. B. Silva. Marvel’s next big event continues in this second lead-in to the EMPYRE event. The FF head into space and end up in the middle of arena battles where the usual main event is Kree versus Skrulls. Of course, that means The Thing ends up as their gladiator and they end up adding a young Kree warrior and an equally young Skrull warrior to their team…sort of. All this leads right into EMPYRE #1.
 
EMPYRE #1 by Al Ewing, Dan Slott and Valerio Schiti. The Kree and the Skrulls have finally found a way to exist in peace and have formed an alliance under the rule of The Hulkling, which has brought the Fantastic Four into the mix. The Coatiti are almost extinct and, under the lead of the former Swordsman and his son the Celestiah Messiah, they have reached out to The Avengers. That means that these two forces are going to end up bumping heads along the way. But who is the right side of history here. This leads to a rambling story which, before it is done, will result in many mini-series and crossovers including LORDS OF EMPYRE EMPEROR HULKLING,  LORDS OF EMPYRE CELESTIAL MESSIAH, LORDS OF EMPYRE SWORDSMAN, EMPYRE AVENGERS, EMPYRE CAPTAIN AMERICA, EMPYRE SAVAGE AVENGERS, and EMPYRE X-MEN, EMPYRE THE IMMORTAL HULK, plus crossovers into issues of CAPTAIN MARVEL, FANTASTIC FOUR, STRIKEFORCE and X-MEN. It should be noted that a number of one-shots and mini-series, first announced as part of this, got pulled including EMPYRE THOR, EMPYRE STORMRANGER, EMPYRE THE INVASION OF WAKANDA, EMPYRE GHOST RIDER, EMPYRE SPIDER-MAN, EMPYRE SQUADRON SUPREME, and THE UNION.
 
GIANT-SIZE X-MEN: FANTOMEX by Jonathan Hickman and Rod Reis. Hickman’s series of stand alone one shots continues with this wild tale of the mysterious X-Man. After his “birth”, he spends his life, ten years at a time, going to The World to meet with his clone-each time going with a different army including the Howling Commandos, the Hellfire Club and an assortment of X-Men. It’s a trippy tale with art the is reminiscent of Bill Sienkiwicz.  
 
GIANT-SIZE X-MEN: MAGNETO by Jonathan Hickman and Ramon Perez. In the past, Magneto meets with Emma Frost, who wants an island of her own. That leads to Erik meeting with Namor, who wants a favor before he lets her lease an island. Thus we have an adventure between the two to help Namor to ultimately help the White Queen. The book looks great, but lacks a ton of meaningful plot. Probably the worst and most disappointing release in the GIANT-SIZE line to date.
 
FANTASTIC FOUR: ANTITHESIS #1 by Mark Waid and Neal Adams. I have to say that I knew this book was coming about a year ago in the form of some confidential information from the inside. And I have to say that it was worth the wait! The story is set in the past, as Franklin and Valeria are still very little kids. And you get the Silver Surfer, Annihilus and Galactus too. Waid’s story is fun, while Adams art, with super tight inks from Mark Farmer, harkens back to classic Adams’ style. If you are a fan of the classic FF days, this is a must have.
 
MAESTRO #1 by Peter David, German Peralta and Dale Keown. Peter David comes back to the character he created and promises to give us the true origin of the future Hulk. With an opening/framing sequence by Keown, the art duties get turned over to Peralta with great results. The world has come to an end and Hulk finds himself on a fact finding/self examining road trip with an aged Modok by his side. This was so much fun to read and I can’t wait to see where David takes it.
 
MARVEL SNAPSHOTS CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #1 by Mark Russell and Ramon Perez. Remember Mad Bomb? The legendary Jack Kirby epic that twisted heads and proved Kirby was still The King? This one-shot pays homage and brings it back again with Mad Bomb II. It’s old school adventure, short of the alleged stars of the book and long on the tale of someone looking to make his world better by joining A.I.M. It’s a nice tribute to an age gone by, but with a tale that fits nicely into the contemporary world.
 
MARVEL ZOMBIES RESURRECTION #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Leonard Kirk. Continuing from the story in the last MARVEL ZOMBIES outing, Peter Parker, Forge, Moonstone and the Richards kids try to survive in an infected world where most of the superheroes are dead or undead and looking to feed. The story is a fun non-continuity romp with great art from irk. If you like DCEASED, you’ll love this.
 
NEGAN LIVES #1 by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. He’s back. The super popular baddie from THE WALKING DEAD is here in a stand alone tale where our “hero” mourns about his bat, his wife and his place in the world. It’s uncertain where exactly it falls in THE WALKING DEAD continuity, but Kirkman does reveal it’s somewhere between issues #174 and #193. And it could lead to a sequel, by the way the book ends. It also acts as a nice lead-in to Image’ reprinting of the entire series in color.
 
SACRED SIX #1 by Christopher Priest, Jae Lee and Gabriel Ibarra. Dynamite continues to focus on its’ key assets with another Vampirella themed title. This one, written by VAMPIRELLA  scribe Christopher Priest, teams up Vampirella, Draculina, Pantha, Nyx, Chastity and Lilith in a series which ties into the main series with the addition of Drago and The Six. It’s typical Priest, with false starts, confusing moments and a story which forces the reader to think to get to the endgame.
 
SPIDER-MAN FREE COMIC BOOK DAY EDITION #1 by Jed MacKay, Donny Cates, Patrick Gleason and Ryan Stegman. Better late than never, due to the industry shutdown. The first is a fun team-up between Spidey and Black Cat up against the classic Vulture. But it’s the second tale, a Venom story, that is the real reason to pick this up as it leads directly into VENOM #26.
 
X-FACTOR #1 by Leah Williams and David Baldeson. What do you do when you need a team to investigate missing mutants and deaths and you can’t get the help from? You create X-Factor Investigations and let the do the leg work. Yes, it’s another new X book and another new team comprised of Northstar, Polaris, Daken, Prodigy, Prestige, Eye-Boy, Hope, Egg, Elixir, Proteus and Tempus-most of whom are not household names in the X-Universe. The concept is fun, the dialogue is snappy and the artwork rocks. This could be the unexpected hit of the X books.
 
X-MEN: GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS EXTENDED CUT #1 by Chris Claremont and Brent Eric Anderson. Back in the 1980’s. Marvel launched the first series of graphic novels, many of which, specifically THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, have gained legendary status. It was the early days of the Direct Market, where publishers began to think outside the box. X-MEN: GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS was one of those legendary titles, with a wonderful Eighties political feel. Marvel reprints this book, at last, as a two issue miniseries with added wraparound content, bringing the tale’s perspective into today’s timeline. The storytelling and art hold up nicely after all these years, especially when comics were filling pages with multitudes of panels per page. If you don’t own the original, you need to put this into your collection. It truly is possibly Chris Claremont’s finest work.
 
X-MEN FREE COMIC BOOK DAY EDITION #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard, Tom Taylor, Iban Coello and Pepe Larraz. This is a winner, for folks who want to see what the future of large Marvel events has in store. The first tale makes beautiful use of Tarot imagery to set of the events in the forthcoming X OF SWORDS mega story running trough the X titles. The second tale is the lead-in for the big line-wide DARK AGES story, which actually should have had its’ own stand along book, rather than shoving it into the X book.

DC UNIVERSE Month 31, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #23 by Dan Abnett and Will Conrad. Two different Epochs from different times, the "Presently me" and "currently me" are at work to reset the universe in their image and eliminate Darkseid from the timeline. Meanwhile, Darkseid and his new New Gods are fighting the Eskaton. While it looks like Eskaton will win, Darkseid kill the Eskaton. As he recovers, he sends Cyborg to go kill Epoch. The team attack Cyborg, who defeats them But Jessica reaches into the real Cyborg inside the one controlled by Darkseid and succeeds in bringing the real Cyborg back to life. Hax kills both Epochs and it is revealed she has been working for Darkseid all along.
 
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #8 by Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Allred, Andr Lima Arajo, Bilquis Evely, Sanford Greene, Cully Hamner, Dan Hipp, Joelle Jones, Dan Jurgens, Jeff Lemire, David Mack, Alex Maleev, Fabio Moon, Dustin Nguyen, Michael Avon Oeming, Yanick Paquette, Darick Robertson, Duncan Rouleau, Evan Shaner, Liam Sharp, Ryan Sook, and John Timms. The Legion battles Craz, but that goes against United Planet law and The President orders the team to be arrested and sent to trial.
 
METAL MEN #9 by Dan Didio and Shane Davis. Iron, Lead, Mercury and Tin battle Chemo, defeating him but allowing his hazardous chemicals to run into the sewers. Meanwhile, the Nth Metal Man returns to the Nth Metal pool in an attempt to seal it. But The Phantom Stranger arrives and informs him that Dark Multiverse Metal Man are coming for Nth Metal Man and plan to take him back to his homeworld.
 
NIGHTWING #73 by Dan Jurgens and Ryan Benjamin. Batgirl has been captured and she is forced to face off if a battle to the death with Nightwing, who is now controlled by the Joker. She manages to escape by Nightwing has a plan to take down Batgirl, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake all at once and destroy the Alfred Pennyworth Children's Hospital in the process.
 
RED HOOD OUTLAW #48 by Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth. Red Hood comes to Gotham and gets involved in the Joker War. He finds Punchline, who has captured
The Joker's Daughter. Jason is forced to fight a clown mask wearing Dick Grayson but, after it looks like he has won, he gets knocked out by Punchline. When he wakes, he finds the building he was in burning to the ground and recovers the dead body of The Joker’s Daughter. But that turns out to be the body of a homeless girl, as Punchline, Dick and some of the clowns are actually in an ambulance with the real Duela Dent.

SUICIDE SQUAD #8 by Tom Taylor and Daniel Sampere. The team is in Badhnisia. Aerie reveals how she had been experimented on by The Post Human Project and ended up in captivity, which is where she met Wink. They also met the T.N. Teens, one of whom ended up being separated from her brother Javier. Aerie and Wink eventually break out, taking Javier with them. We also see that Lola and someone else are in captivity and Ted Kord is the evil genius who plans on using her to get Badhnisia.
 
SUPERMAN #24 by Brian Michael Bendis and Kevin Maguire. Dr. Fate and Superman face off against Xanadoth, who has possessed the body of DEO Agent Bissette. With the help of Zatanna and the Justice League Dark, they defeat the Lord of the Lords of Chaos and life goes back to normal. But a recovering Agent Bissette may still have traces of
Xanadoth inside of her.
 
TEEN TITANS #44 by Robbie Thompson and Javier Fernandez. Robin has snapped and lopped off the arm of the KGBeast, leading to him fighting the Titans while Kid Flash brings the KGBeast to Arkham. Elsewhere, the freed villains (Mammoth, Gizmo, Swerve, Joystick and Black Mask) have a plan and that means they’ve hired Deathstroke, who is more than thrilled to take out the Titans. The Titans brawl with Robin…and that’s when Batman shows up. The story continues in TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #2.
 
TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #2 by Robbie Thompson and Eduardo Pansica. Batman is here to confront Damian and split up the Titans. Deathstroke shows up and levels the team with a bazooka, allowing Robin to get away. Robin and Deathstroke face off with each other before the rest of the Titans, including Emiko, who is surprised and relieved that she didn’t kill Deathstroke. Robin uses his sword to take down Deathstroke and injured Emiko in the process. Batman intervenes and Robins beats on him. Batman refuses to fight his son, so Robin tears off the R logo and leaves, leaving the team in disarray.
 
THE TERRIFICS #29 by Gene Luen Yang and Max Raynor. Simon Stagg is dead and Sebastian Stagg has shown up to claim his father's company.  Sapphire and Metamorpho stay with Sebastian while the T-Council and the Terrifics head off to save Gateway City from meteorites which have the Terrifictech logo on them. The Terrifictech Space Station is being torn apart by Lobo, who has been hired by Sebastian. If that wasn’t bad enough for the team, it seems that Silas Stone has joined up with Sebastian, meaning a disheartening betrayal by him.
 
WONDER WOMAN #760 by Mariko Tamaki and Mikel Janin. Diana and Maxwell are facing off in Stryker's Island Penitentiary. Diana leaves and later meets with Etta Candy, who informs Wonder Woman about the widespread hallucinations happening all over the country. The next day, the hallucinations start up again and Diana fights Parademons from Apokolips. But that isn’t real either and now Diana has been affected by the hallucinations.
 
WONDER WOMAN #761 by Mariko Tamaki and Carlo Barberi. The mass hallucinations continues and we learn that a phone app connected to Lord Industries may be responsible. This leads to Diana and Max teaming up. There is a Army man ho has been affected and he has launched a nuclear missile. In the end, it looks like Diana’s neighbor Emma is responsible and that Max Lord may be her father.
 
WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL #4 by Steve Orlando and Jack Herbert.  Diana is been summoned to the Amazons’ floating embassy where she is told about a disturbance in Brazil where a small oceanside city has appeared, surrounded by an energy field that distorts reality around it. Diana heads to investigate and discovers that the Dark Fates are here and they distort reality so they can continue to live in our world. She faces off against the Dark Fates and, with the help of the people in the town, wins the day. It is revealed that this is a hidden city of Amazons, meaning here are three tribes and now they become one.
 
YOUNG JUSTICE #17 by Brian Michael Bendis, David Walker and Scott Godlewsky. The team helps to put the city back together after the battles with the Legion of Doom, Leviathan and Red Cloud. Through it all, a young girl named Yolanda Chan learns that not all heroes wear capes and gets an internship at the Hall of Justice.

DC UNIVERSE Month 31, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1024 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. Cameron Chase and the FBI have raided the Daily Planet and blame Lois for Leone owning it. Meanwhile, Red Cloud confronts the Deputy Chief and kills her, sending Superman into a rage. The rest of the Superman family, with Brainiac 5, track down The Whisperer, leading Leone to say it’s time to counter-punch.
 
AQUAMAN #62 by Jordan Clark and Marco Santucci. Prior to the wedding, Jackson meets with Black Manta and gets possession of the Mecha to travel to Xebel. After getting away from a giant fish attack, he meets with Ha’wea and, after taking a selfie together, Jackson heads to Xebel, where the battle rages.
 
BATGIRL #48 by Cecil Castellucci and Robbi Rodriguez. Barbara awakes from her dealings with The Joker in the apartment of her brother. Luke meets with her and does surgery, putting the implants back in which allows her to walk again. She patrols the city and hears of a murder. When she arrives, she sees the murder victim dressed like Batgirl.
 
BATMAN #96 by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez. In the future, we see an older Batman battling Mr. Freeze and his “sons”. After defeating them, he returns to the Batcave, where he talks with Alfred, whose neck snaps and his face changes to a Joker smile. Batman wakes to find Harley Quinn, who has survived the attack from Punchline. She explains he is fighting through toxin, Joker is using Bruce’s money to outfit his gang with all kinds of weapons and the city is falling apart. Still reeling from the toxin, Batman makes his way to The Monarch Theater, where the Joker has filled the audience with all of his victims. He explains that he has used The Designer’s gas to reanimate them. With that, they attack Batman.
 
BATMAN #97 by James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez. At the Tricorner Yards of Gotham, punchline is awaiting several large shipments, which will go to Ace Chemicals to make Joker Toxin. At the same time, there is a new vigilante named Clownhunter who has been killing Joker’s clowns. Back in the theater, Batman blindfolds himself and uses an EMP to knock out the nanobots in the victims. He collapses in front of Harley Quinn. She takes him to a forest and administers a drink that will cure him of the toxin but cause him to hallucinate for a while. That’s when Alfred arrives for a chat.
 
BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #15 by Bryan Hill and Dexter Soy. Ra's al-Ghul tells his followers how he plans on burning everything don, destroying civilization and starting from scratch. He starts by engaging a hostile takeover of a major media company and broadcasts to the world. But Batman and company have taken down one of Ra’s followers and that leads the team to a final confrontation with Ra’s.
 
BATMAN BEYOND #46 by Dan Jurgens and Sean Chen. Terry, Damian, Goliath, Dick and his daughter, the new Batwoman, head into space to stop the League of Assassins and their satellite that is trying to create a new ice age on Earth.  They make their way through the satellite and take out Zeh’ro’s followers, but he has a surprise for them that may result in their deaths. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne, Barbara Gordon, and Matt McGinnis do their best to survive as the temperature on Earth drops to 52 degrees below zero.
 
BATMAN/SUPERMAN #11 by Joshua Williamson and Clayton Henry. Ultra-Humanite has compromised Batman and implanted a bomb inside of him. Superman arrives and that leads to a battle between him and Batman, with Superman blasting his friend with his heat vision, seemingly killing him. But Batman lives and takes down the Ultra-Humanite, as Superman only used a pinpoint laser blast to destroy the detonator inside Batman. It turns out the Ultra-Humanite as just a drone being controlled by the brain of the creature, which they find in a protective tank. In the end, robot controlled microsurgery fixes Batman and the Atomic Skull, laid to rest with honors, rises from the grave.
 
BATMAN: THREE JOKERS #1 by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. There is a crime spree occurring in Gotham and three acts of crime all seem to be enacted by the Joker, but all happen at the same time, meaning there is actually three Jokers: the Criminal, the Clown and the Comedian. The ultimate plan seems to be to create Joker gas and cause move havoc. Batman, Jim Gordon, Batgirl and Red Hood investigate the old Ace Chemical plant, where the Joker got his start. They later go to the Gotham Aquarium where they . find Joker sharks and get attacked by Gaggy and his crew. Things don’t end well for Gaggy, as he gets eaten by the sharks. One of the Jokers shows up and is quickly taken down by the trio. Batman gets a report of a second Joker elsewhere and heads off, leaving this one with Batgirl and Red Hood. He relentlessly taunts Jason who can’t take anymore and shoots the Joker in the head, executing him. Batgirl walks away in disgust and Jason hopes this was the right Joker.
 
CATWOMAN #24 by Sean Murphy, Blake Northcott and Cian Tormey. Selina has been poisoned and is being interrogated by Angelica and the giant panther Kissen.  Selina gets the antidote and heads to Correas Village, where she learns how bad a person Snowflame is. Catwoman and Kissen head to Snowflame’s mansion and decide to take out the villain. He powers up, but it’s not enough to stop Angelica, who stabs him with a poison tipped spear, leaving him for Kissen to take care of. In the end, a quick switch leaves Selina with the diamond, which she leaves for the villagers of Correas to improve their lives.
 
DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL #3 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. The Dark Knights walk into an explosive trap left for them by a dying Jonah Hex. Meanwhile,
Diana, Batman, and their team race to save Superman, who is having his Kryptonian cells destroyed by Darkfather to be replaced by anti-life. Batman gets hit with a blast of anti-life power but survives it because of Bat Blocker while Superman fights off the effects of anti-life thanks to the Black Lantern ring. Superman quickly dispatches Darkfather, allowing them to free the captured heroes. Wonder Woman describes the plan, where the Trinity will enter the Dark and gather the energy needed to restart the Multiverse. Elsewhere, Lobo fights imps on his way to gather the fifth box filled with Death Metal, which he has been tasked to collect for…Lex Luthor.

DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHTS #1 by Marguerite Bennett, Garth Ennis, Daniel Warren Johnson, Scott Snyder, Frank Tieri, Peter J. Tomasi, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Tony Salvador Daniel, Francesco Francavilla, Jamal Igle, Daniel Warren Johnson, Joelle Jones, and Riley Rossmo. This is a collection of stories highlighting some of the Dark Knights. The Batman Who Laughs gets a full retelling of his origin, revealing that he went to another world and manipulated events so Bruce Wayne became Dr. Manhattan, before kidnapping him, which allows him to ultimately become the Darkest Knight. The Robin King is a young Bruce who shows sadistic tendencies and kills his parents, Jim Gordon and Alfred on his way to his transformation. B. Rex breaks out of Arkham in his story. Castle Bat was once Bruce Wayne who, through satanic means, transforms himself into the castle. Batmobeast was Bruce Wayne before his subconscious was implanted into the modified Batmobile. And Baby Batman was a Bruce Wayne whose consciousness gets transported into a baby hose biggest weapon is his cry.
 
DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL GUIDEBOOK #1 by Christopher Priest, Vita Ayala, Becky Cloonan, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Chip Zdarsky, Becky Cloonan, Doug Mahnke, Dan Panosian, Khary Randolph and Eduardo Risso. This series of five stories, being written in a book by a scarred Lex Luthor, details how the world became ruled by members of the Dark Multiverse. The biggest reveal, coming from DEATH METAL #3 is that Lobo has brought Lex the Death Metal and he is preparing to put his Legion of Doom back together to join the fight.
 
DETECTIVE COMICS #1025 by Peter J. Tomasi and Kenneth Rocafort. Batwoman returns to Gotham and gets involved with helping Batman in the Joker War. After helping GCPD dispatch Joker's henchmen, the Dynamic Duo head off and save a Jokerized Lucius Fox by giving him the antitoxin.
 
DETECTIVE COMICS #1026 by Peter J. Tomasi and Kenneth Rocafort. With the Joker War raging, we find that random citizens of Gotham have been abducted and taken into the sewers. It turns out that the Joker blew up a chemical plant and it had flooded the sewers, causing the captured citizens to be transformed. Killer Croc, living here because the Joker blew up the hotel he was living in, moved here and began his own Monstertown by abducting citizens. Batman goes down into the sewer and faces Croc. They make a deal: if Batman wins a fight between them, they all get to go home. If Croc wins, Batman goes home. Batman wins the fight and Croc thanks Batman for using his real name.
 
THE FLASH #759 by Joshua Williamson, Rafa Sandoval and Scott Kolins. While The Flash/Eobard meets with Young Justice, Barry finds himself trapped in his own subconscious with zombified versions of Jesse Quick and Max Mercury. Max decides to teach Barry everything he knows about the Speed Force, allowing him to retake his body and force Eobard out. In Central City, the Rogues are causing havoc and Eobard and Impulse arrive. Trickster throws a bomb but Eobard throws it back, injuring Trickster. Eobard tells Impulse he doesn’t have what it takes to be a hero. Eobard runs off to the Legion of Zoom and yells at them for not following his orders to stay off the grid before instructing them to steal items he needs to keep control of Barry’s body. Eobard heads to Iris, Avery and Wally and Impulse shows up, warning that this isn’t Barry. To bolster the team, Jay Garrick arrives.
 
THE FLASH #760 by Joshua Williamson, Christian Duce and Scott Kolins. In the Speed Force, Max tells Barry he needs to cross The Starting Line and use his mind to once again get hold of his body. which is the Big Bang for the Speed Force. The moment of creation. Barry must use his mind to think at super speed and regain a hold of his body. Before he can break free, he gets attacked by a clone of Bart Allen, Thaddeus Thawne. Eobard is facing Jay Garrick, as Barry continues to try and break free, causing Eobard to flee. He joins up with the Legion, that have been dispatched to the grave of Nora Allen. He claims he needs the temporal energy stored inside of her. But the Legion refuses to dig her body up and the Flash Family arrives, having been led here by Trickster, who has betrayed Eobard. Bart gets a brief moment with his parents, the Tornado Twins, before they head back to their own time. Barry retakes control and drags Max and Jesse back to the real world with him. Zoom begins running and when he returns, he has a much bigger Legion of Zoom.
 
GREEN LANTERN: SEASON TWO #6 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. Hal Jordan is badly injured and the Anti-Matter Lantern is still on the loose. Hal musters all of his strength to join the fight but, in the end, finds himself dead again and wearing the outfit of the Spectre.
 
HARLEY QUINN #75 by Sam Humphries, Sami Basri, Nicola Scott, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy, Ramon Villobos, Ngozi Ukazu, Riley Rossmo and Joe Quinones. It’s Harley’s birthday and she runs through a bunch of adventures in an extended fdream sequence. In the end, she faces a new day with Becca. In a post-script tale, Harley survives her attack from Punchline, stitches her neck back together and plans revenge.
 
HAWKMAN #26 by Robert Venditti and Fernando Pasarin. While Adam Strange and The Atom race to save our heroes, the Lord Beyond the Void is draining the life energies from them in an attempt to open the doorway to our dimension. They decide to give him all of their past lives, unleashing them, destroying him and killing themselves in the process. In the afterlife, they are given a choice and choose to go back to the world of the living, with this life being their last. When they awake, they find themselves in the Golden Age with the Justice Society of America.
 
JUSTICE LEAGUE #50 by Si Spurrier and Aaron Lopresti. The team still struggles with trying to rule an alien race embroiled in the midst of a civil war. Batman seems to be enjoying his role as a ruler more than the rest and that leads to dissension among the team. In the end, it turns out that Siddix created the Civil War, but Wonder Woman used her lasso to break the control she had put on Batman and it is revealed our heroes knew all along and played Siddix. With the true villain revealed, the war ends.
 
JUSTICE LEAGUE #51 by Jeff Loveness and Robson Rocha. The team investigates a ship that has been destroyed and that puts them on the Planet of the Black Mercy. They all get captured by the Black Mercy, which allows them to see their hopes and dreams. But in Bruce’ case, it’s a nightmare as his mother appears to him.
 
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #25 by Ram V and Amancay Nahuelpan. Wonder Woman and Zatanna find themselves trapped in the realm of the Upside Down man. It takes a restored Swamp Thing uses the Green to penetrate the Upside Down and help Wonder Woman and Zatanna. Meanwhile, Bobo goes searching for Constantine and finds him hanging upside don with the tarot card of The Fool in his mouth.