DC UNIVERSE Month 61, Part 2

THE HUMAN TARGET #12 by Tom King and Greg Smallwood. Christopher Chance is dead and Ice needs to deal with the consequences. Martian Manhunter meets with her and threatens an investigation but she tells him that he will reveal his affair with Fire, so that means she wants to run her own investigation into Chance’s death. A month after Chance’ death and Ice is planning to dispose of his ashes when Guy shows up. She ends up hitting him with the bottle containing the ashes, which are now spread over him. Before he died, Chance asked for one last favor. In the end, she meets with Lex Luthor and it appears she may have finally been able to poison him.

I AM BATMAN #18 by John Ridley and Christian Duce. Batman, with the help of is sister and Nobody, who is actually Hadiyah, succeed in saving Jace’s birth mom. He meets with her after and she promises to try and be his mother. Jace decides to leave to figure out his life and his sister comes with him.

ICON VS. HARDWARE #1 by Reginald Hudlin, Leon Chills, Denys Cowan and Yasin Florez Montanez. Icon has sent Rocket to school in Switzerland, where she finds it difficult to fit in, especially when a group of girls may have caused one student to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Hardware becomes suspicious of Icon and begins to investigate him. But he also travels into the past to find out why his father left his family when he was a child. He meets with his younger self years later and convinces him to steal Alva’s gas, but that results in Alva being killed in the process. A year later, Hardware runs Alva industries and there is a super-powered war going on, even though the Big Bang never happened. That leads to a visit by Icon.

THE JOKER: THE MAN WHO STOPPED LAUGHING #5 by Matthew Rosenberg, Francisco Francavilla, and Carmine Di Giandomenico. A group of boys break into the house that once belonged to The Joker, only to find Jervis Tetch there. That’s when The Imposter Joker arrives, dressed as Batman, saving the boys. Tetch reveals the real Joker is back in Gotham and he’s not happy about an imposter running around. Later, a Joker traps the Imposter, who gets acid thrown in his face and shot in the face for his troubles. The Joker who did the shooting is seemingly run over by a train. In the end, the Joker who was shot, revealed to be Clayface, calls the real Joker in Malibu, who decides he needs to do this himself.

LAZARUS PLANET: DARK FATE #1 by Tim Seeley, Dennis Culver, A.L. Kaplan. Alyssa Wong, Baloemar Rivas, Chris Burnham, A.L. Kaplan, Haining. IN the first story, Huntress must stop a riot at Arkham begun by a newly powered Killer Moth. In the second tale, the Doom Patrol, Elasti-Woman, Robotman, Negative Man and The Chief (currently Crazy Jane), are sent to take down an Army general who has developed strange powers due to the Lazarus Rain. To be continued in UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL #1. In the third story, actor Jules Jordain gets new energy powers and adopts the name of Circuit Breaker. To be continued in DC PRIDE 2023.  In the final tale, the hero Envoy must stop an attack from the spirit world and gets help from Cassandra Cain and John Constantine. To be continued in SPIRIT WORLD #1.

LAZARUS PLANET: LEGENDS REBORN #1 by Alex Segura, Alex Parknadel, Greg Pak, Dennis Culver, Clayton Henry, Christopher Mitten, Mikyu Junk and Jesus Merino. In the first tale, Renee Montoya dons The Question’s mask to investigate a monster that is on a killing spree after being transformed by Lazarus Rain. In the second story, Raven and Gar, actually Trigon, face off against Trigon’s sons. The third tale features City Boy: a new hero who tows the line between hero and crook. In the final tale, Firestorm gets reborn in the merging of Ronnie Raymond and Dr. Ramirez after the apparent death of Professor Stein.

LAZARUS PLANET: NEXT EVOLUTION #1 by Ram V, Brandon T. Snider, Chuck Brown, Delilah S. Dawson, Lalit Sharma, Laura Braga, Alitha Martinez, Ted Brandt and Ro Stein. Red Hood faces off against a new team called The Vigil: Arclight, Saya and Dodge. In the second tale, Flatline battles Ubu, only to find Ra’s al Ghul at the end of her journey. In the third story, Deadeye meets with Amanda Waller on the Astral Plane before facing off against the Amalgam Man. In the final tale, Red Canary teams up with Sideways to stop some of those folks changed by the Lazarus Rain.

LAZARUS PLANET: OMEGA #1 by Mark Waid, Gene Luen Yang, Riccardo Federici, Mike Perkins and Billy Tan. The heroes face off against King Fire Bull. Elsewhere, Black Alice sacrifices herself to free the magic users, most powerful of which is The Spectre. With King Fire Bull dispatched, the world goes back to normal, except the magic users powers have been restored in new and different ways, with many of the heroes powers temporarily scrambled.  Batman is restored, mostly, and that will lead into BATMAN VS. ROBIN #5. In the backup, Shifu tells the Monkey Prince how King ire Bull came to be.  The Red Boy, after the death of King Bull Demon and Princess Iron Fan, he trains with Nezha. When the pair go after Darkseid, Darkseid reveals that what happened was because of Nezha’s own thirst for power. When Red Boy turns on Nezha, he is defeated and later is reborn as King Fire Bull, with an appetite for vengeance against Nezha.

MONKEY PRINCE #11 by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang. Winston and Gerard install the Phantom Crystal, opening a portal to the Phantom Zone. But since half of this is made from Earth materials, they need to get the other half of the Phantom Zone Projector from the Hall of Justice. When Marcus returns to the Hall, he finds it in ruins as Winston and the Ultra-Humanite reassemble the Phantom Zone Projector. Winston accidentally activates the Projector, causing Marcus to jump into the Phantom Zone where the Monkey King awaits. After a confrontation, it is revealed that Winston and Laura had kidnapped Marcus from his father. Sun Wukong says he cannot leave to help fight against King Fire Bull, but he teaches him how to create perfect clones to find him. When he arrives home, Gerard injects him with nanites, saying he will torture him if he disobeys Gerard.

NIGHTWING #101 by Tom Taylor, C.S. Pascat, Travis Moore and Eduardo Pansica. Blockbuster’s daughter, Olivia Desmond, is in the care of the Titans. But Lord Neron has a plan to have a shapeshifting demon called the Grinning Man get into Raven’s safe space and capture her soul. In the backup, set after the events in NIGHTWING 2022 ANNUAL, Nightwing and Jon Kent team up to investigate accidents at a circus, which results in a bomb going off under the big top.

POISON IVY #9 by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara. Harley comes to visit Ivy and Janet and their relationship is rekindled. Harley also says she has been tracking Ivy all this time and shows her how a garden has sprung up in Montana, proving Ivy can change the world. Harley heads back to Gotham and Ivy decides to follow her and take Janet with her.

PUNCHLINE: THE GOTHAM GAME #5 by Tini Howard, Blake Howard and Glen Melnikov. The battle at Port Royal between Black Mask and his team and the Royal Flush Gang continues, even as the ‘Aces High’ initiative has been activated, unleashing Ace Android. Nightwing and Bluebird arrive to free Cullen and they get attacked by the Ace Android, that splits into two. Bluebird initiates an anti-nanobot field that causes them to dissipate. Punchline decides it’s time to retreat but not before she is shot by Black Mask, resulting in the surviving gang members to leave her behind. She ends up wounded in a dumpster and gets found by a homeless person…who turns out to be The Joker.

STARGIRL: THE LOST CHILDREN #4 by Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck. Corky Baxter explains that, because of FLASHPOINT and DOOMSDAY CLOCK, Rip and his team ended up in the Divine Continuum. And, because of Batman’s events in FLASHPOINT BEYOND, the timeline was screwed up and the Childminder took advantage of it, capturing the children. They gather together and make an assault on the castle. At the castle, Childminder sets Judy Garrick on the treadmill in order to bring her mentor and buyer here. When the buyer arrives, it is revealed to be Hourman.

STATIC: SHADOWS OF DAKOTA  #1 by Nikolas Draper-Ivey and Vita Ayala. A new group, led by someone or something, is targeting Bang Babies and now Static gets involved to solve the mystery and save those individuals.

SUPERMAN #1 by Joshua Williamson and Jamal Campbell. Clark Kent is bck in Metropolis, doing what he does best: stopping crime and working as a reporter, under interim Editor in Chief Lois Lane Kent. Lex is in prison and is whispering warnings to the Man of Steel about a massive threat on the horizon. Mercy Graves has rebranded Lexcor as Supercorp and wants him to work there, with some of the best scientists in the world. He heads off to confront Luthor but is caught in a battle with Parasite that overwhelms him. In the end, Superman is being held captive and being experimented on my two unknown enemies.

TIM DRAKE #6 by Meghan Fitzmartin and Riley Rossmo. Tim is forced to face his fears and Moriarty to save the life of Bernard. Moriarty transforms himself into Batman, meaning Robin must battle “Batman”. He defeats the Clayface-like villain and he and his friends find the bombs, saving the boats and Bernard.

WILDC.A.T.S #4 by Matthew Rosenberg and Stephen Segovia. Grifter finds himself battling in the middle of an ethnic cleansing civil war and is losing,  He crosses paths with Angel Breaker and eventually ends up back at headquarters, where the team shows that Cash has died. Elsewhere, the Seven Soldiers are becoming the public face of HALO and Majestic reveals he is a son of Krypton too.

WONDER WOMAN #796 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Amancay Nahuelpan and Paulina Ganucheau. The Olympian Gods continue their invasion of Earth, resulting in all of humanity being compromised by Eros's love spell and a Titan destroying all it sees. Yara battles her former lover Eros while Siggy and Steve go after the Titan. Both teams win their battles, but Diana warns this is only the beginning. On Olympus, Zeus is slain by his wife, who becomes the Queen of Olympus…with the great Wizard Shazam by her side. In the backup, Young Diana has a final meeting with Persephone, who reveals she can never leave the caves of Themyscira.

DC UNIVERSE Month 61, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1052 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Dan Jurgens, Leah Williams, Rafa Sandoval, Lee Weeks and Marguerite Sauvage. The Superman Family continues to battle with Metallo who, despite being launched into deep space by Superman, discovers that he needs an upgrade. After talking with his “sister”, who insists he kills the whole Superman Family, he goes recruiting his own family of super-powered beings…or they will be when he is done. In the second tale, Jon makes friends with the mysterius alien girl, but that get interrupted by Killamex, who is here to capture her. When the attack happens, Jon calls for his father and then Lois is surprised by a visit from…Doombreaker. In the final tale, Power Girl and Omen have a new client and she is Supergirl. A trip into the Mindscape takes the girls to Argo City, as they try to solve her physical and emotional issues.

BATGIRLS #15 by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad and Neil Googe. Cass goes searching for Steph while Steph’s father tortures her. Cluemaster reveals that he did in fact die but was brought back to life after having his dead body kidnapped and then getting dosed with Lazarus Resin. Cass finds Steph and, during a battle where Cluemaster sets off a bomb that lights his cabin on fire, he accidentally shoots his own daughter. Steph gives her a tiny bit of Lazarus and then saves Steph. In the end, Grace O’Halloran receives a gift: a severed head wrapped with a bow and a note saying ‘READ ME’.

BATMAN #132 by Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne and Miguel Mendonca. Bruce continues to find his way in an alternate Gotham where Bruce died and there never was a Batman. Jewel has saved him and now, the skeletal Jim Gordan suggest she be named Panic Attack. Bruce, in disguise, goes a a gala fundraiser where he dances with Selina Kyle, who recognizes him and is surprised, considering he is supposed to be dead. He sees someone he believes is The Joker and a battle ensues between Selina, Bruce and Punchline, resulting in Bruce getting shot and getting away at the same time. He resolves to become…a bat. Also, Red Mask visits The Judge, Harvey Dent, and gives him an ultimatum. In the backup, Tim, with the help of Mr. Terrific, uses Failsafe’s gun to venture into the Multiverse in search of Batman. But where he ends up brings him face to face with Toyman.

BATMAN INCORPORATED #4 by Ed Brisson and John Timms. While Ghost-Maker heads back to base, the rest of the team is having their own issues with the castoffs from Luthor’s failed Batman experiment. Phantom-One and Black Mist make their move, taking down Ghost-Maker. Black Mist who was trying to be the Batman of Dublin, was critically injured by Tommy Tivane, and eventually faked her own death to rebuild herself. When she saw Ghost-Maker abandon Phantom-One, she saved him. Now, with Batman Inc. in disarray, they have tasked Clownhunter to finish off his mentor.

BATMAN INCORPORATED #5 by Ed Brisson and John Timms. The team has been captured and Ghost-Maker is facing death at the hands of his protégé. He explains that he had to make a choice in the past: save Phantom-One or ten people in danger of dying. Clownhunter reveals he cannot do this, leading to a fight between Ghost-Maker and Phantom-One, with Phantom-One gaining the advantage. Ghost-Maker turns the tabeles and allows the critically injured Phantom-One to be taken away by the Black Mist, The Fallen, Fissure, Hollow, and Onyx; all of whom have the reasons for having eliminated those connected to Ghost-Maker. In the end, Jiro returns to Japan, only to find that Dr. Wu had visitors…and not good ones.

BATMAN: LEGENDS OF GOTHAM  #1 by Andy Diggle and Karl Mostert, Red Hood teams up with Katana and Black Lightning to make his way into a special auction where the hero secrets that Leviathan stole are up for grabs. That leads them to an Orbital Crypto Bank where Red Hood secures the data chip, which he later destroys. In actuality, he didn’t get to destroy the real chip, which now appears to be in Talia’s hands.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #12 by Mark Waid and Emanuela Lupacchino. Back in the day, Dick Grayson and Supergirl go out for the worst date ever, including some craziness resulting from an escaped monkey.

BATMAN VS. ROBIN #5 by Mark Waid and Mahmud Asrar. Demon Nezha has transferred his soul into Batman's body and now Robin must try to save him with the help of the Bat Family and Monkey Prince, who is able to create clones of Damian. The arrival of Zatanna, Enchantress and Pigsy helps, as they remove Nezha from Batman’s body, but at the cost of Batman’s life. Damian calls upon all of Gotham and anyone that can hear him to use their positive energy, which brings Batman back to life. In the end, everyone is evacuated from Lazarus Island and there is no longer any Lazarus Resin on Earth…maybe.

BLACK ADAM #8 by Christopher Priest, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira and Montos. Jasmin and Kenisha are trying to get Malik’s ring back, but war has destroyed the store. Luckily, he’s nice enough to give the girls the ring. Later, Anu and Ishtar arrive, wondering what War’s game plan is. Black Adam tries to make up for destroying a plane by saving another one. With Malik in a coma, Adam tells how he once became ruler of Egypt. In the end, it seems that the people are not fans of Black Adam.

BLUE BEETLE: GRADUATION DAY #4 by Josh Trujillo and Adrian Gutierrez. Brenda and Paco think it’s a great idea for them to team up with Fadeaway, who confesses that his grandfather was the original Fadeaway Man. He is asking for Jamie’s help in recovering his grandfather’s artifacts and Jamie agrees to help.  That leads them to Kord Industries, where Jamie finds Xiomara, who continues to warn him about his scarab. Jamie finds the missing stuff Fadeaway is looking for, but accidentally kills the power at the lab, allowing Xiomara to get free. Fadeaway also splits, leaving Jamie holding the blame when Victoria and Ted arrive. All of this will lead to a direct confrontation with Batman and the Justice League.

CATWOMAN #52 by Tini Howard and Sami Basri. With Selina still in prison, Eiko and Dario work together to try to take down Black Mask’s organization from the inside, which also allows Dario to gain some revenge on his ex. In prison, Selina turns down help from a lawyer and decides to train the criminals she is in with, including Hopps, Lisa Foss, Marquise, Lady Clayface, Fright, and Scorpiana, how to be really effective criminals.

DANGER STREET #3  by Tom King and Jorge Fornés. Lady Cop continues to search for the ‘Blue Man’. Metron reveals to Highfather and Darkseid that he is aware that Atlas is dead but there is someone on Earth who can still keep the sky from falling, leading to Orion being contacted. Starman and Warlord meet with Cecil Sunbeam on his movie set.  Manhunter tries to murder Commodore Murphy, which is stopped by Codename: Assassin. The surviving Dingbats decide they need a gun and, after Non-Fat ends up in Lady Cop’s office, he sees a picture of Starman and now he knows who they should be searching for.

DETECTIVE COMICS  #1069 by Ram V, Simon Spurrier, Caspar Wijngaard, Dexter Soy, Stefano Raffaele, Miguel Mendonća. With the help of the Ten-Eyed Man, Harvey helps Batman fight back against the Azmer infection. Barbara has discovered that there is some kind of power source on top of some ley lines in Gotham. Beneath the city, many folks are being held captive but Shoes manages to escape. When guards go after her, they run into Solomon Grundy. In the backup, psychiatrist Annabel Mead has been captured by Mr. Freeze and becomes part of his experiments, leading to her meeting Earworm.

THE FLASH: ONE-MINUTE WAR SPECIAL #1 by Jeremy Adams, Fernando Pasarin, Serg Acuna, Lisandro Estherren and George Kambadais. On the Fraction’s home world, they figure out how to tap into the Speed Force. They can now colonize the entire star system, but doing so destroyed their own world environment. The Fraction's Empress orders the captain of her guard, Vel Anthro to find new worlds with resources they need, which leads him to Earth where they find “organic conduits”. In the second part of the story, Dark Wu drains Avery’s soul into a gem, so he can use the sun’s powers to destroy the world and make him a god. When the Fraction arrive, they kidnap Wu and Avery must keep them from activating the gem. She is able to shoot the gem and free her soul as the Fraction flies off. In the final part, set in the future, the as-yet unborn third child of Wally and Linda has been kidnapped by the Fraction and it’s up to Jai, now known as the adult hero Surge, and Irey, currently the adult Flash, to try to find him. They reach out to Impulse who arranges for Gold Beetle to help. Jai recalls her as being a girl he once fell in love with and she kisses him, reminding him that this was the first thing she would do when they met up again.  Together, they go off to rescue Jai’s brother. To be continued in THE FLASH #792

THE FLASH #792 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz. Barry, still reeling from Iris’ death, joins the Flash Family to stop the Fraction. Bart and Wallace try to get into the Fraction’s vehicle to develop a way to reverse what they have done and unfreeze the world while the rest of the Flash Family break into Mister Terrific’s lab to set up a base. Bart and Wallace get inside one of the tanks, but Miss Murder has tracked them down and follows. Once inside, they steal a battery that disrupts the ship they are in. The battery gets cracked open and they find a person inside. Miss Murder arrives and the three escape from her in a tank, where they find the frozen forms of Grodd, Captain Atom and Superman inside.

THE FLASH #793 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz. The speedster that Bart and Wallace have freed tells the Flash Family how the Fraction uses the Speed Force in search of “organic conduits” like themselves. They deduce that they need to destroy the spire to unfreeze the other heroes. They install the battery in a car, believing they can use it to get inside and use one of the Fraction’s engines to destroy the spire. The team attacks the spire, while Irey is left behind to watch over the frozen heroes. Once inside, Wally gets blasted by a Fraction cannon and seemingly destroyed. Meanwhile, Miss Murder is chasing after Irey.

GCPD: THE BLUE WALL #5  by John Ridley and Stefano Raffaele. Danny Ortega has gone off the deep end and killed Benny Montoya and Sondra Wright, and his manifesto is directly aimed at Renee and GCPD, who let the racial harassment go unnoticed. Later, police end jp in an ambush, with Danny killing them, including Lieutenant Caruso. After crossing paths with Eric, he runs off, leaving Eric to call info intel on Danny’s vehicle. In the end, Renee breaks her vow and has one last drink after Two Face offers to find and kill Danny for her, to apologize for everything he had done to her.

GOTHAM CITY: YEAR ONE #5 by Tom King and Phil Hester. Queenie reveals how she ended up having an affair with Richard Wayne, and how Johnny blackmailed her and ended up being shot by Richard Wayne. The plan was for Wayne to kidnap his own daughter, get the ransom money and then meet Queenie two months later in Central City. But that’s not how it happened as the girl ended up being murdered and was buried in Queenie’s uncle’s back yard. After a visit to his mother, who plays Tarot cards to reveal her fortune, Slam goes after Loder, who he believed murdered the girl. He says he did not kill her and reveals that Richard Wayne has no money and that he works for Mrs. Wayne. So, did Mrs. Wayne kill her own daughter?

HARLEY QUINN #27 by Stephanie Phillips, Matteo Lolli and David Baldeón. The Harley Who Laughs is threatening to kill Ivy if our Harley didn't hand over the rest of the Harleys. Harley explains that every universe needs an Ivy so who is the Harley Who Laughs Ivy? Harley and Old Lady Harley go to the Harley Who Laughs's universe, where they beat up The Joker of the universe’ followers and rescue the Ivy Who Laughs.

DC UNIVERSE Month 60, Part 2

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #2 by Geoff Johns, Mikel Janin, Jerry Ordway and Scott Kolins. 256 years from now, Catwoman battles against Per Degaton, who has killed the current JSA and also kills Selina. But she has saved her daughter by throwing the time bomb known as the snow globe. The Huntress wakes up in 1940 and finds herself with the original Justice Society of America. He uses his magic to make sense of this time traveler and ends up in Slaughter Swamp in 1941 with his protégé Salem the Witch Girl, who he does not know because he is coming forward in time. Grundy shows up and dumps Thaddeus Brown, the original Mister Miracle, at their feet, before Fate gets called back to 1940. The Huntress gets shot through time again, passing from 1940, to 1941 and comes forward in time, resting at the feet of members of Justice League Dark.

LAZARUS PLANET: ALPHA #1 by Mark Waid, Gene Luen Yang, Billy Tan, and Riccardo Federici. The  mountain in the center of Lazarus Island has exploded and is now spewing Lazarus Resin throughout the atmosphere. With the Justice League disbanded, it's up to Damian Wayne to gather heroes, including Zatanna, Blue Beetle, Blue Devil, Supergirl, Power Girl, Monkey Prince, Mary Marvel, and Cyborg to form a team and stop the damage all across the planet. Mary Marvel uses her powers to destroy the Tower of Fate, where the magic users have gathered to now join the fight. Nezha is taken down, but it appears the dark magic has taken hold of Batman. In the backup, a cloned Pigsy tells the origin of how King Fire Bull became Nezha's "adopted" son.

LAZARUS PLANET: ASSAULT ON KRYPTON #1 by Nicole Maines, C.S. Pacat, Frank Barbiere, Leah Williams, Skylar Patridge, Scott Godlewski, Sami Basri and Marguerite Sauvage. Four tales set against the mystery and results of the Lazarus Storm. In the first, Dreamer needs to find Khalid and the Helmet of Fate. She ends up in his dream and that takes her to a place in the dream that she cannot get free from. In the second tale, a boy named Ash gets powers and, although he’s a bit of a crook, helps Jon Kent, before stealing his cape. In the third tale, Lex’ personal assistant Mercy Graves gets powers and becomes a bit of a superhero, even if Lex is not happy about it. In the last tale, Power Girl learns she has psychic powers now and meets Omen, who will soon become her mentor and therapist.

LAZARUS PLANET: WE WERE ONCE GODS #1 by Francis Manapul, Dan Watters, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Josie Campbell, Caitlin Yarsky, Max Dunbar and Jack Herbert. A quartet of tales set during the Lazarus Storm. In the first, a family encounters a strange, violent man who turns out to be one of many people coming from The Trench. In the second, Martian Manhunter meets a young man who is somehow an empath and infected with Doomsday powers and sacrifices himself to save the word. In the third tale, Wonder Woman teams up with her sisters to battle Theseus. In the final tale, Mary Marvel teams up with Malik to free Billy Batson from the Rock of Eternity. They somewhat succeed, although Billy is still tied to the Rock of Eternity but no longer trapped by it, which really pisses up the original wizard.

MONKEY PRINCE #10 by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang. Supergirl and Monkey Prince battle the Ultra-Humanite, temporarily defeating him until Supergirl has to head ack to Metropolis as the entire planet is being affected by the Lazarus Rain. Back to normal, the Ultra-Humanite believes he can recreate the Phantom Zone kens and bring the ancient Monkey God to Earth. Monkey Prince goes to Metropolis and helps Supergirl. In the end, a team of young heroes including Mary Marvel and others arrive to lend a hand.

THE NEW CHAMPION OF SHAZAM! #4 by Josie Campbell and Evan ‘Doc’ Shaner. Mary goes looking for the missing people, including Uncle Dudley and her parents. After fighting her way through people corrupted by their phones, she finds the missing folks and Dr. G, who reveals herself to be Dr. Georgia Sivana: daughter of Dr. Sivana. She reveals she created the Circle of Endings and has been using people as guinea pigs for her experiments. Mary uses her power to take don Georgia, with the help of Darla and Hoppy. In the end, she is visited by a vision of a chained up Billy and she heads off to save him. Continued in LAZARUS PLANET: WE ONCE WERE GODS #1.

NIGHTWING #100 by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Scott McDaniel, Rick Leonardi, Eddy Barrows, Javier Fernandez, and Mikel Janín. Heartless stages a prison break  and Nightwing defeats them by talking them out of what they are doing. The Titans arrive to help take down some of the hardcore criminals and Nightwing gets help from the converted prisoners to defeat KGBeast, although heartless escapes. In the end, Dick has a moment with Bruce, calling him Dad and telling him that he loves him. He also announces that Bludhaven will have new guardians in the form of The Titans and we see a new Titan Tower being constructed.

POISON IVY #8 by G. Willow Wilson and Atagun Ilhan. Ivy is being poisoned and she convinces Janet from HR to help her. Although she gets caught by Crawley, she has given Ivy enough time to recover and Ivy gives chase, catching Crawley and turning her into a living part of The Green. Janet reveals she was doing this in the promise of saving her life, as she has a growth on her liver and can’t pay for it. Ivy tells her she has some doctors that owe her a favor and she gets her the surgery, promising to stay with her as long as she needs.

PUNCHLINE: THE GOTHAM GAME #4 by Tini Howard, Blake Howard and Max Raynor. Cullen has been captured by Punchline’s team and his sister enlists the help of Nightwing to try and find and free him. Elsewhere, Black Mask has assembled various crime bosses in a bid to take over the drug trade in town. Punchline and her team arrive and challenges his plan. But he has already executed a new plan and has his men going out and attacking her stronghold. Just when it looks like Black Mask’s plan has gone off flawlessly, one of Punchline’s dying henchmen utters a password called ‘Aces High’, which seems to mean the stuff is about to get real!

STARGIRL: THE LOST CHILDREN #3 by Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck. On Orphan Island, Stargirl has found the missing sidekicks while Emiko has been captured by The Childminder. The sidekicks and Stargirl get chased after the the giant eggs, leading them to head to their hideout, where Stargirl meets the other lost children including The Newsboy Legion, The Blue Boys, Tick-Tock, John Henry Irons, Molly Pitcher, Betsy Ross, Ladybug, Salem, and Quiz Kid. Corky Baxter, Rip Hunter’s protégé, telling them they need to find Jay Garrick’s daughter to set everything right again. But Jay’s daughter is being held in The Childminder’s castle…right next door to Emiko.

SWORD OF AZRAEL #6 by Dan Watters and Nikola Cizmesija. Azrael battles Brielle before she can unleash the powers within the Angel Box. During the battle, she accidentally destroys the box. As a result, Vengeance has a moment of clear vision and apologizes for all the evil she has done, leaving with Azrael and Father Valley, with Azrael now the Angel of Mercy.

TIM DRAKE #5 by Meghan Fitzmartin and Riley Rossmo. Tim searches for Bernard and finally finds him. But before he can free him, he is knocked out and captured by…Bernard? Figuring out the clues, Tim deduces it is really James who is responsible for all of this. He uses his wit and skills and science to defeat the creatures created and sent at him, even using his ow vomit. In the end James declares he is Moriarty to Tim’s Sherlock and says he must accept an offer from him or Bernard will die..

WILDC.A.T.s #3 by Matthew Rosenberg and Stephen Segovia. Marlowe introduces his new team to the existing one. It’s made up of Threshold, Majestic, Andromache, Maul, Mother One, Agent Wax and Pike. Later, Zealot, Fairchild and Deathblow are sent on a mission to retrieve a special package, which turns out to be a child. They call for backup from the Seven Soldiers, but they are off on a photo op for the grand opening of a Halo store in Dubai. Meanwhile, Grifter pays a visit to Jason Halliday who he accuses as being a part of the Court of Owls. Talon arrives and Grifter gets transported to be the backup for the team. He commandeers a helicopter but that turns bad and they look to get transported out. everyone does…except for Grifter, who doesn’t have a parachute!

WONDER WOMAN #795 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Jordie Bellaire,  Amancay Nahuelpan and Paulina Ganucheau. Diana and Yara Flor battle the avatar of Eros. Meanwhile, Hyperion arrives and Steve, Siggy and Cheetah take on him. Diana and Yara join the fight but Eros and Hera have a bigger plan and it involves corrupting the citizens with love and they attack Diana, telling her how much they love her. In the backup, Young Diana continues her somewhat spiritual journey and encounters Persephone.

 

 

DC UNIVERSE Month 60 Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1051 by  Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Dan Jurgens & Leah Williams, Rafa Sandoval, Lee Weeks and Marguerite Sauvage. The book transitions to three stories a month. In House of Metallo, a new Superman Family is developed, consisting of Clark, Jon, Connor, Kang Kenan, John Henry Irons, Natasha Irons, Otho-Ra and Osul-Ra. Unfortunately Metallo shows up at the introduction of John Henry Iron’s new institute and Jon may become the first to fall. In Home Again, we get a story set back in time, shortly after Suerman’s battle with Dombreaker. One of the bone shard’s from Doomsday is missing and it turns out the Jon has it. Before he can do anything with it, he gets a visit from a strange visitor from another planet. So, who is she? In the final tale, Head Like A Hole, Power Girl spends time with her therapist, Omen, as she tries to deal with her new psychic powers she has received from the Lazarus Storm. Nightwing shows up wih Beast Boy, who has stopped talking and is now just going around as a calf. It’s up to Power Girl to go into his psyche and free him.

BATGIRLS #14 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad and Jonathan Case. Cass investigates the death and disappearance of Steph’s father, leading her into battle with a host of ninjas, who are defeated thanks to an assist from her mother. In the end, she gets a letter from Steph, telling her how she was abducted and that she is probably dead. Cass finds the cabin where she is and…it sure looks like she may be dead!

BATMAN #131 by Chip Zdarsky, Miguel Mendonca and Mike Hawthorne. Batman, presumed killed by Failsafe, wakes up in an Alley and quickly realizes he is on an alternate Earth, where he is quickly accompanied by a Jim Gordon skeleton. Elsewhere Judge Harvey Dent is dishing out his brand of justice when Bruce stops him, saving an old woman in the process. With some help with a teen named Julia, he gets away. Elsewhere, this earth’s version of Selina Kyle gets a call from Red Mask, who wants Selina to capture Bruce as her top priority. Bruce decides that he is here because this Gotham needs a Batman. In the backup, Tim and Dick deal with the consequences of Batman’s “death” and realize that when Toyman killed himself, he may have left some clues.

BATMAN FORTRESS #8 by Gary Whitta and Darick Robertson. Superman is now awake and the aliens from earlier in the series are here, to exact their revenge on the last Kryptonian for what the Kryptonians did to their planet and their people. Lex betrays the heroes and, in doing so, the aliens see he is no better than one of their own who betrayed them and they kill Lex with his own power suit. Superman surrenders and then speaks with the trio of aliens. In the end, after burying Cyborg, we see Clark now living a normal life. Otis becomes President, Lois becomes Editor of the Planet and Batman takes on the role of Superman.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #11 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. Despite severely beating The Joker, he still lives and the team takes a drastic measure by deciding to lock David up in a cell designed to remove his powers. But Superman changes his mind and says they can help him. The creatures kept in the Fortress of Solitude are now loose and they realize The Key is responsible, with his own band of villains. He also manages to trap Superman in the cell designed for David, robbing him of his powers. The Key finds the ship David came in and prepares to take it as David tries to stop him. But The Key activates a hypnotic suggestion that freezes David and is prepared to kill him when Batman intercedes. Somehow, The Key has activated the ship and David climbs in to save everyone, meaning he is gone to any number of alternate Earths. As it turns out, he ends up meeting Gog.

BATMAN: URBAN LEGENDS #23 by Jamal Campbell, Kenny Porter, Dennis Culver, Joey Esposito, Simone Di Meo, Hayden Sherman and Vasco Georgiev. Dick Grayson attends a therapy session as he tries to find out who The Director might be. That leads to a labyrinth where many of the people in the session are trapped by Flamingo. With Batgirl’s help, Flamingo is defeated and one of those trapped people is revealed as The Director, who has had herself modified to become more camera that person. In the end, it seems someone else was pulling her strings. In the second tale, a young Robin teams up with Batman as they go after Firefly. And it’s Robin’s first time behind the wheel. In the third story, Croc has killed Li’l Kitten, meaning the other students must team up to stop him. In the end, Scorn meets with the woman who runs the school, discovering this is a school to train villains…and she is a part of the Court of Owls. In the final story, Batman and company defeat the Owl responsible for all the changes in the timeline. Sadly, he makes time with his parents before using the Time Commander’s device to send them back to their ultimate fate.

BLACK ADAM #7 by Christopher Priest and Jose Luis. With Sargon in his apartment, Malik frantically searched for Teth Adam’s ring. Deciding to continue his search elsewhere, he adopts the superhero name Bolt and Blaustein, who reveals Teth was last in a warehouse. Malik goes there and straps on a Virtual Reality headset, which allows him to meet the young Theo, who explains that his family was killed by Ibac. He also meets the child’s alter ego: the clad in white Mighty Adam. Malik comes out of the virtual world and finds himself in confrontation with Mirror Master. The pair find themselves trapped in the warehouse, so Malik goes back into VR land where he teams up with Mighty Adam. He says the magic word and transforms in front of Mirror Master.

BLUE BEETLE: GRADUATION DAY # 3 by Josh Trujillo and Adrian Gutierrez. Jaime and Starfire team up in an adventure to Palmera City where they encounter a new beetle named Nitida. This is a signal that The Horizon is coming to Earth and some members of that group may be here and may be hidden...although one is hiding in plain sight.

CATWOMAN #51 by Tini Howard and Sami Basri. Selina adjusts to prison, making friends and enemies but also enlisting the new Catwoman and Tomcat to hijack a truck and smuggle in snacks for her and her fellow inmates. In the end, she meets Ventura Fremont: her new legal counsel that she does not want. But she apparently has no choice in the matter.

DANGER STREET #2 by Tom King and Jorge Fornés. The Dingbats bury their friend and vow to kill person responsible while Warlord and Starman check into a seedy hotel and plan their next move, which may involve using the helmet to resurrect Good Looks. Elsewhere, Manhunter blows up a ship with people waiting to meet The Commodore from the Green Team, immediately leading Jack Ryder to go on the air and say this was connected to The Outsiders. Later, The Commodore cleans up loose ends before a bomb at an oil plant seems to be connected to Manhunter. At the same time, Lady Cop is trying to get leads on Good Looks death. High Father informs Darkseid of Atlas’ death, telling him the sky is falling.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1068 by Ram V, Simon Spurrier, Dani and Ivan Reis. Batman tracks down the kidnapped citizens of Gotham; kidnapped by the Orgham family who are to be infected with Azmer. He frees the citizens but must face off against one of the Orgham family. Losing the battle, he is about to be infected when Harvey Dent manages to push his connection to Azmer by attaching it to Two-Face. He defeats the Orgham and saves Batman, taken him to Doctor Joy. Buy Doctor Joy is gone, but the Ten Eyed man is here. In the backup, the young man continues his journey, batman gets involved and a clue, perhaps? What is Project Magpie 1880?

THE FLASH #790 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz. There is an alien invasion by a group called The Faction that stops time for everyone except for speedsters.. In the aftermath of their deploying a devise to “begin the culling”, Iris may have been killed.

THE FLASH #791 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz. Wally, Linda and Irey regain consciousness and discover that everyone else, including Jai, have been frozen by The Fraction. In actuality, they are moving at maximum speed and cannot slow down. The entire neighborhood is destroyed except their home, thanks to Jai. Elsewhere, Wallace , Jay Garrick and Bart investigate the alien ship and get attacked, but is saved by Jesse Quick, who reveals she and Max Mercury saw this on one of the parallel worlds during DARK CRISIS. Wally finds Barry who is holding Iris’ dead body. In the end, The Faction releases Miss Murder, a creature from a dark world, to capture the owners of the Speed Force.

GCPD: THE BLUE WALL #4 by John Ridley and Stefano Raffaele. Officer Ortega gets reassigned to desk duty after the shooting and then gets invited by one of the racist cops to go to a party. When he arrives with his father, he finds the place is empty but filled with racist graffiti directed at him. Elsewhere, Montoya, besides wrestling with her alcohol problem, gets gifted a dog by her friends, to replace the fish she accidentally killed. Later, she meets an attractive woman who suggests a possible playdate in the future. Wells is terminated and Officer Park sees first hand how some officers treat death on the streets. In the end, Montoya’s friends are shot and presumably killed by Ortega, looking for revenge on Montoya.

GOTHAM CITY: YEAR ONE #4 by Tom King and Phil Hester. Helen Wayne is dead and Slam Bradley becomes the chief suspect, resulting in him being beaten by the police and Wayne’s security detail, as the Wayne family blame him for withholding information on the case. Well, most of them as he ends up in bed with Mrs. Wayne. Later he is confronted by Queenie who admits that she did not kill Helen Wayne, leading Slam to realize this was all Mr. Wayne’s fault.

HARLEY QUINN #26 by Stephanie Phillips, David Baldeon, and Matteo Lolli. The Harley Quinn’s from the Multiverse are loose and it’s up to Harley, old lady Harley, batwoman and Kevin to find a way to capture them all AND find the Harley Who Laughs. She enlists a team of including Grundy, Zsaz and some of her followers, to do the job. With them captured, this brings out Harley Who Laughs, who has brought her own captured present: Ivy.

THE HUMAN TARGET #10 by Tom King and Greg Smallwood. Chance sedates Ice and then gets G'Nort to help him get into the OA archives to find the truth about Guy Gardner's death. This leads them to a bar where Guy is playing pool. A fist fight develops and Guy’s peanut allergy leads him to confess the plan to Chance before he is given a shot from an EpiPen. Back at his place, Chance tells Ice that he knows the plan: that he used his ring powers to fake his death because Ice asked him to and he did it in hopes of being able to date her again.

THE HUMAN TARGET #11 by Tom King and Greg Smallwood. It is the last day on earth for Christopher Chance and he spends it on the beach with the person responsible for killing him, Ice. The plan was simple, Lex, through Overmaster, killed Ice, who got brought back to life. The idea was to kill Lex for that but Chance drank the poison. Rather than accept his fate, he dug deep and was made to think he killed Guy. But that was all a ruse. Her plan was then to wait until he was dead, Guy could come back and they could concoct a new plan to kill Lex. In the end, she admits she was responsible, Chance puts a gun to her head and…

I AM BATMAN #17 by John Ridley and Christian Duce. Lucius admits that he once had an affair with Elena Aoki, who is Jace’ birth mother. Despite the threats, Lucius refuses to pay the ransom. Tiffany meets with Vol, revealing that Jace is not coming and she gathers intel on Ezekiel King. She meets with Chubb and says she wants to handle this by herself, to which Chubb tells her she has five minutes. Jace arrives and the pair try to fight off a full army of King’s men, resulting in them being captured. When things look the worst, backup arrives, calling herself Nobody. Is it Hadiyah or Montoya?

THE JOKER: THE MAN WHO STOPPED LAUGHING #4 by Matthew Rosenberg, Francisco Francavilla, and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Red Hood is fighting with the police, leading The Joker to head back inside the hospital, where he entertains a group of dying children. Red Hood eludes police and gets inside, only to find The Joker has one of the cops hostage, forcing Jason to give up his gun. He announces he has a plan and then masquerades as an officer, visiting a dying woman who thinks he is her long lost husband; bringing her peace before she dies. In the backup, The Joker hits on Zatanna with no success. In fact, she casts a spell to make him pregnant! Later, he meets with her again, and introduces his son!

More first issues reviewed

AIRBOY #52 by Chuck Dixon and Stipe Kalajzic. After way too many years, the classic hero is back with a story picking up where it left of…something like 20 years ago. Young Airboy is working on living up to his father’s legacy. Dixon was the man behind the original book so he knows his characters. Kalajzic’s artwork is a little rough but passable. And I get that It’s Alive will not sell a ton of copies but $8!!! Give me a break!

ANCIENT ENEMIES #1 by Dan DiDio and Danilo Beyruth. The third release from Frank Miller’s newest line of books is the weakest of the three. It’s kind of a superhero tale with a whole bunch of the tropes that DiDio was known to write. The dialogue is stilted and cliched and the art is just okay. Nothing earth shattering here: just your average superhero romp.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE ALPHA #1 by Jason Aaron and Bryan Hitch. If you have been reading all of the multitude of Avengers titles as of late, you know there has been some weird stuff going on. Well, this is the beginning of a multi-part crossover between AVENGERS and AVENGERS FOREVER where the Avengers of the Multiverse come together to battle a bunch of super villains, also from the Multiverse. When this whole crossover ends, heroes will die, heroes will rise, villains will fall and the core AVENGERS title will be rebooted with a NEW CREATIVE TEAM and, obviously, a new Number One!

BATMAN/SPAWN #1 by Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo. One of the most anticipated books of 2022 is this reteaming of the two darkest knights. With the hero and the anti-hero teaming up against the Clown, The Joker and the Court of the Owls, you would think it would be amazing. And, to be honest, Capullo’s art IS amazing. Todd’s story? Not as much. The concept that maybe Martha Wayne and Wanda Simmons can be saved is a bit of a push and not totally resolved. Shame too, as it could have been something amazing!

DAMN THEM ALL #1 by Simon Spurrier and Charles Adlard. From a context standpoint, what if Dr. Strange and John Constantine had a baby? You’d get this book and our heroine Ellie Hawthorne. Part magician, part sorceress and art demon hunter. A fun read and Adlard’s art, as always looks great. Just be aware: there’s a LOT of reading here!.

GANGSTER ASS BARISTA #1 by Pat Shand and Renzo Rodriguez. When I saw the solicitation for this I thought it was a joke. When I saw it on the stands of my LCS I needed to look.  A former crook is now a barista and then there is a briefcase with some money and the bad guys want it back. There is some funny lines and the art is really good. Yeah…I’m hooked.

HAPPY HORROR DAYS #1 by Frank Tieri, Joanne Starer, Joe Corallo, Joe Eisma, Butch Mapa and Patrick Piazzalunga. A trio of fun, holiday themed horror stories in some dark corner of the Archie Universe. It’s exactly what you would expect: fun, grisly stuff!

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1 by Gerry Duggan and Juan Frigeri. Tony Stark is not having the best life right now. He is no longer as wealthy and powerful as he once was and he is living in a brownstone somewhere in New York City. Things get worse when something causes the arc reactor he has in his lab to explode, badly injuring him and killing one of his neighbors. He visits Jen Walters and arranges for her to pay off all the lawsuits, meaning he is really in financial straits now! And it just gets worse from there. Duggan is looking to remake Tony with his own image of a fallen hero whose life is just getting worse by the moment. Great stuff as Tony really needed some lifeblood punched into the character that has gotten a bit stale over the years.

JOE FIXIT #1 by Peter David and Yildiray Cinar. Travel back in time to a period when The Hulk was gray and a smart dressing high roller who ran Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the Kingpin wants that territory. For fans who grew up with that legendary Peter David run, this is a fun call back. Everyone else will be confused.

LOVESICK #1 by Luanna Vecchio. Yep…the whole underground porn/torture titles are all the rage and here, following in the tradition of RED ROOM, is another. It’s all about torture porn. As the saying goes: your mileage may vary.

MASKERADE #1 by Kevin Smith and Andy McElfresh. A medical procedure allows people to change their appearance, meaning the titular character can be almost anyone she wants to be. But what are the side effects that may be killing this celebrity? It’s all here. The dialogue is a little clunky at times and the art is processed nicely. Not a bad read, especially if it ends up as a mini-series and not a full length run.

MILES MORALES SPIDER-MAN #1 by Cody Ziglar and Federico Vicentini. Welcome to Marvel’s Marketing Plan. Change a creative team, end a title and reboot it with the new team. Same plotlines, but a new team. And Marvel has done it yet again. Nothing new here except we have a new villain…and a new creative team.

MIRACLEMAN #1 by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham. Upon first read, you may think you have been here before and you may be right. This is basically a remastered version of MIRACLEMAN #23 from 1992. For long-time fans, it was worth the wait. For new readers, what took you so long? Young Miracleman is here and gets reunited with Miracleman, who explains what has gone on while he was dead?

MISS MEOW #1 by Murphey, Aaron Sparrow, Victor Serra and Fernando Malek. She’s part superhero, part thief and part assassin. This is one of the hottest books out there and I haven’t figured why. The writing is okay and the art is great, so I find it attractive and fun to read. But I don’t expect a lot from it. There’s a back story involving another character with an axe to grind but that’s only there in pieces. So…?

NIGHT CLUB #1 by Mark Millar and Juanan Ramirez. Danny Garcia decides to be a You Tube star and a stupid stunt puts him in a com. Good thing he gets visited by a vampire police detective who transforms Danny into a vampire. Now he just needs to learn his powers and deal with the future, including fighting crime? Yeah: it’s a weird concept but I like it. C’mon: it’s Millar and we all know what he can do if allowed.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD REVENANCE #1 by S. A. Check, James Kuhoric and Giancarlo Carracuzo. This book has a great concept: what happened to the primary characters from NOTLD BEFORE they ended up all together at that farmhouse. You know: Ben, Tom, Judy, Harry and his family. Again: great concept. Execution? HORRIBLE! Possible the worst drawn comic I have read in ages and the dialogue is clunky and just really bad. My vote for possibly the worst comic of the last 15 years.

NOCTERRA: VAL SPECIAL #1 by Scott Snyder, Tony S. Daniel and Francis Manapul. At long last: Val Riggs origin story. It deals with her meeting the original ferryman and being mentored by him. If you are a fan of this great series, you will love it. The story is really good and Manapul’s art is top notch, as always. This is the perfect lead-in to the story that continues in NOCTERRA #12.

ONCE UPON A TIME AT THE END OF THE WORLD #1 by Jason Aaron, Alexander Tefenkgi and Nick Dragotta. Mezzy has been sailing the seas of a dead Earth for days and ends up at the complex of Maceo. Maceo has never left the comforts of his home and Mezzy is used to travelling the world. She convinces him to leave and go on a journey. Many years later, Maceo, now Mace, is being tortured at the end of the world. Welcome to a post-apocalyptic love story. The story is so quirky and the art fits it. Personally, I love it and can’t wait to see where this goes from here.

PANDORA #1 by Frank Miller and Emma Kubert. All I can say about this is that it is a beautiful fantasy tale about a young girl and her grandfather (who is Joe Kubert’s spitting image!) and her adventures. It’s filled with amazing creatures, good and bad, and just looks like a fairy tale. I really want to see where this goes and am hoping the elevates Kubert to where she should be because she deserves it.

RONIN BOOK II by Frank Miller and Phillip Tan. The original RONIN as legendary and this one is a nice sequel. Part of what makes it work is Tan’s amazing artwork, proving he is one of the best artists out there. Welcome to the new generation as a young one claims the sword. Great stuff!

SARA LONE BOOK ONE by Erik Arnoux and David Morancho. This is my pick for book of the year! It begins with two young lovers fooling around on a beach and finding a decapitated head. That leads to the introduction of Joy Furlong: the deceased’s daughter who is a stripper known as Sara Lone. And it just goes from there. She goes back to her father’s fishing business and things continued to get complicated. Set along the 1960 Presidential election, there are shady characters all over the place. The plot is amazing and will take you far longer to read than your normal ‘comic book’. And the art is just lovely, with beautiful, subdued pastel colors. I cannot rave enough about this book. Go find copies of this series or pray for a collection of the whole series.

SCARLET WITCH #1 by Steve Orlando and Sara Pichelli. Wanda is now working for Darcy at her “magic shop”, where she is available to help people in trouble by using her powers. It looks great and the story is fun and appearances  by her brother and Vision’s daughter sure help. Could be a fun series but we’ll have to see.

TEN THOUSAND BLACK FEATHERS #1 by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino. Fans of Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino truly epic and twisted GIDEON FALLS will love this title! While not as crazy as the precursor was, it is part of the ever expanding Bone Orchards Universe. In typical fashion, Lemire’ story is filled with layers so deep that you don’t know where the story is going to. And I’m okay with that as I learned in the previous title. The journey, as twisted as it is, certainly will be worth it. And what can be said about Andrea Sorrentino’s art that I haven’t raved about before. Just freaking beautiful!

TROJAN #1 by Daniel Kraus and Laci. What happens when the creatures of myths and legends exist in our world? Read this to find out. Also, we have some creepy ‘Red Room’ kind of thing going on too, since that seems to be the new hot button in comics.

YEAR ZERO VOLUME 0 #1 by Daniel Kraus and Goran Sudzuka. Following on the heels of YEAR ZERO, we get to see the beginnings of the zombie outbreak through the eyes of several different characters in different places. A soldier in North Korea. A nurse in Arkansas. A flight attendant flying for Africa. A Russian hitman. All their stories will eventually intersect when the outbreak takes over. I never read the previous volume but, being I have a love for zombie horror, I thought I would give it a shot. Interesting story with great art from the always dependable Sudzuka.

DC UNIVERSE Month 59, Part 2

G.C.P.D.: THE BLUE WALL #3 by John Ridley and Stefano Raffaele. While Montoya wrestles with the potential menace of Two-Face, Officer Ortega thinks about filing a report concerning the racial abuse he has been getting from fellow officer; an act he is talked out of. Later, he is out on assignment and kills a perp, which he does easily. Montoya starts her own investigation into Two-Face, including a face-to-face meeting where he explains he is a different person now. In the end, Montoya comes hoe and, finding her fish has died from being overfed, questions if she has what it take to do the job.

GOTHAM CITY: YEAR ONE #3 by Tom King and Phil Hester. Slam Bradley continues his search for Helen Wayne, who he is dedicated to finding, dead or alive. He gets a visit from Constance Wayne, who is convinced that Helen is dead. She gives him some money to go find her killer. This leads Bradley to a number of places before getting a possible lead from Madame Shirley, who gives him information on Queenie Lydell, who may have been the woman who attacked him previously. He burst in and kills James Lydell, who did not have Helen Wayne, but was trying to protect a child of his own. He looks into the back yard and, finding a shovel, digs up a fresh grave, only to find an object, possibly Helen Wayne, wrapped in a blanket containing the symbol of the Court of Owls.

HARLEY QUINN #25 by Stephanie Phillips and Matteo Lolli. The Harley Who Laughs, who has been travelling through alternate universes to kill all the Harleys, arrives to kill Old Lady Harley. She manages to escape through the Multiverse and lands with the real Earth-0 Harley, resulting in a team-up to stop The Harley Who Laughs. The three of them battle and, just when Harley is ready to take out her revenge on the villain who killed her before, there is a dimensional rift and suddenly we have a host of Multiversal Harleys.

I AM BATMAN #16 by John Ridley and Christian Duce. Tanya’s executive assistant is murdered by someone saying he will pay. Tiff confesses that she has been acting as a masked vigilante. There is another attack at a startup company funded by Foxtech, killing eight. Batman stops the assassin, but he kills himself before Jace can get any truthful information. Later, there is a family meeting where they receive a video from someone saying they want money to free Jace’s mother. When he claims that his mother is right there during the meeting, it is reveals that Tanya is not really Jace’ mother.

JOHN STEWART: THE EMERALD KNIGHT #1 by Geoffrey Thorne and Marco Santucci. Esak and his army is going through the Universe in an attempt to eradicate all species. John and his cadre of Lanterns have to team up to defeat Esak, even to the point here John uses his powers to split himself into two John Stewarts. In the end, Esak is defeated for now, meaning John can go home and visit his wife.

THE JOKER: THE MAN WHO STOPPED LAUGHING #3 by Matthew Rosenberg, Francisco Francavilla, and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Red Hood battles a Joker on Harley’s boat, but the clown escapes by diving into the frigid water. Later, two fisherman find his frozen form and The Joker makes his way into a hospital, holding it hostage until a doctor fixes him up. When he finally leaves, after ‘convincing the doctor’ to give him a brain transplant, he discovers the police outside of the hospital, arresting Red Hood. Over at The Hal of Doom, The Joker and his clowns meets with Lex Luthor and his team, that now includes Punchline. They send him on his way. In the backup, The Joker gets beat up by Big Barda and cuts sliced in half by a train. After a desperate search for a surgeon to put him back together, he ends up reassembled with the legs of a gorilla.

MONKEY PRINCE #9 by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang. Marcus’s family travels to Metropolis where his parents take a job working for Lex Luthor. King Fire Bull arrives to steal a special Lexcorp project and snaps Marcus’s mom’s neck in the process. .He finds that Lexcorp is breeding Bizarro clones and decides to eat them to gain powers of some sort. His father takes him and his crippled mother to meet his Grandpa Gerard, who hopefully can heal his injured daughter. Supergirl investigates what happened at Lexcorp and that leads her to Gerard’s, where she faces off with Monkey Prince. Before too much can happen, Gerard transforms himself into the Ultra-Humanite. Elsewhere, Nezha’s minions kidnap Pigsy.

NIGHTWING #99 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo. Based on testimony from Maroni, numerous arrests are being made in Bludhaven and all seems right in the world. Tony Zucco shows up at the office of his daughter, the Mayor, saying he got out of jail on good behavior and that tomorrow he will be worth millions, inviting her to join him so they can take advantage of the shift in power with the death of Blockbuster and the arrest of Maroni. His plan is to rob a vault deep under a shack near a lighthouse. Nightwing stops the theft and is told by the Fisherman, who was guarding the vault, that there was a safe in there with his name on it. With Zucco back in prison, Melinda tells him that she is not his daughter and that John Grayson is. And she has officially changed her name to Melinda Grayson-Lin.

POISON IVY #7 by G. Willow Wilson and Atagun Ilhan. Ivy starts a new job at a fracking company called FutureGas after she encounters another Woodrue inspired creature who may have been transformed from a human into a creature by whatever FutureGas is making. She investigates the office of Ms. Crawley, who runs the company, only to be captured by Crawley, who informs her she was also working with Woodrue. In the end, Ivy is undergoing a nasty transformation.

PUNCHLINE: THE GOTHAM GAME #3 by Tini Howard, Blake Howard and Max Raynor. Following the events in CATWOMAN #50, Punchline is working with Professor Pyg as she plans her next move. That also means dealing with a dead but very talkative Joker, who she cuts up and then proceeds to dump the body parts. While she is doing the deed, Bluebird intervenes and the pair battle with Punchline getting away. In the end, Harper’s brother gets a text message from Bluff, asking that they meet up. What he discovers is that Bluff is still tied to Punchline and this just manages to get Cullen captured by her and Bluff.

STARGIRL: THE LOST CHILDREN #2 by Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck, Courtney and Emiko head out on one of Oliver Queen’s boats to search for the missing sidekicks. While enroute, Stargirl receives a garbled message of warning from Air Wave and, shortly after, their boat explodes. They end up on an island where the beach is made of Miraclo. They get attacked by giant walking eggs that capture Emiko. Courtney fights off the other robots and is visited by Air Wave, Wing and some of the other sidekicks, telling her that this is Orphan Island and the only way off of it is by dying.

SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL #18 by Tom Taylor and Cian Tormey. The Justice League arrives to help rebuild the Kent house in Smallville, with Batman adding another level of security by covering the house in a special shield. Later, there is a bomb threat against The Daily Planet and it appears that Luis Rosas is responsible. While evacuating Planet staff members, Clark and Jon hear Jimmy’s signal watch and Jon heads out, knowing it’s a trap. He catches up with Rosas, but his powers fail and he is shot in the chest. Luckily he is wearing a special belt designed by Brainiac 5 and also a protective vest given to him by Nightwing. The pair go after Rosas and capture him. In prison, Rosas is visited by a virtual Lex Luthor, who tells him he is proud of him.

SWORD OF AZRAEL #5 by Dan Watters and Nikola Cizmesija. Brielle undergoes a painful transformation that wraps her into her own suit of armor, making her Sariel. She reveals that the Templars now have the Angel Maker. Also, Bane’s daughter Vengeance is somehow connected to them. Meanwhile, Jean Paul confronts Father Valley, who reveals he sent Sariel to him and that it was Jean Paul’s father who named him Father Valley. After the pair fight, with Jean Paul defeated Valley, he finally realizes his mission and asks Father Valley to join him on it.

TIM DRAKE: ROBIN #4 by Meghan Fitzmartin and Riley Rossmo. Tim continues to solve the mystery of the murders. While having dinner with Bernard, Tim figures things out. He decodes the cypher figuring them out from clues to books that are missing from his collection, which brings him down to three potential victims: Carol Donovan, Kathy Horne, and Wallace Supes. With the help of the Batgirls, he narrows it down and they head to Wallace Supes, only to find him already dead. Then they get attacked by a giant virtual shark, eventually finding a mysterious white disk that eliminates the threat. In the end, Tim gets a call from the villain, who has kidnapped Bernard.

WILDC.A.T.s #2 by Matthew Rosenberg and Stephen Segovia. Zealot rescues Grifter and Fairchild from the cultists and the Court of Owls. Later, while recovering, he gets a visit from Maxine, leading him to a meeting with the Halo Corporation where he encounters a bunch of strangers Doctor Amelia Shelly and Delia Shelley (from Task Force Z and Project Halperin), Doctor Ivo, Doctor Morrow, Veronica Cale of Empire Enterprises, Doctor Tyme, and Mrs. Fries (AKA Mrs. Freeze). He also meets a female Deathblow, which is Michael in a new body. That night, he and Voodoo go looking for the Court of Owls. Across town, Marlowe survives an assassination attempt thanks to Zealot and Spartan. In the end, Marlowe unveils his new team: the 7 Soldiers of Victory, including Mister Majestic, Maul, Spartan, Pike, Mother One and two other unidentified individuals.

WONDER WOMAN  #794 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Emanuela Lupacchino, Wade von Grawbadger. With Cizko defeated and the Brazilian Lab shut down, Etta sends Cheetah and Siegfried on a mission to investigate the International Milk Company's primary production facility. The guards quickly find them and a battle occurs, with Phobos and Deimos coming forth from the milk vats. Wonder Woman arrives and defeats the Greek gods. They all head to the Hall of Justice but the temple of Olympus lands on Earth, leading Diana to enter it and meet Eros, who promises Diana that Olympus will be reborn and Hera will sit on the throne once more. But Yara Yar arrives and is there to stop it. In the backup, Antiope finally leaves and Diana thinks about the future while reading ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

DC UNIVERSE Month 59, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1050 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Tom Taylor, Joahua Williamson, Mike Perkins, Clayton Henry and Nick Dragotta. Lex has captured Manchester Black and is attempting to get information on Superman from him. All Black will tell him is that Superman almost never thinks of Lex, which sets Lex off, causing him to throw a switch, killing Black which sends some sort of energy wave across the world. In Smallville, the Kent home has been rebuilt and is now covered in a dome Batman constructed tat will keep everyone safe. Perry White comes to visit but, after Lois refers to Superman as Clark, Perry has a minor stroke. Later, Lex summons Superman to him with an upgraded version of the signal watch. He reveals a special suit that he has built and wants to team up with Superman, who turns down the idea. He also reveals that he used Black’s powers of hypnotic control to cause anyone in the world who knows Clark Kent is Superman to possibly die. If Superman agrees to work with Lex, he’ll shut off the machine. During a battle, Lex admits that he was hurt that Superman revealed his identity to the world and not to the kid who grew up with him. He also reveals he killed Black and that he has Warworld technology now. During the fight with the enraged Superman, Lex transports Superman away to save himself but that doesn’t work and he apprehends Lex. Later, Batman reveals that Martian Manhunter and others have set up psychic defenses against this worldwide telepathic attack, meaning the whole world no longer recognizes Clark or Jon as the Supermen. At Stryker’s Island, someone prepares for something. Elsewhere in the Multiverse, President Superman decides he needs Jon Kent to help protect the Kal-El’s of the Multiverse, as many of them are being murdered. In the end, Lex has given Metallo a new body and a new lease on life, provided he goes after Superman.

BATGIRLS#13 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad and Jonathan Case. Continued from BATGIRLS ANNUAL 2022, Cass and Steph have switched bodies after Steph flipped a magic coin given to her by an old woman whose cat she saved. Steph/Cass has dinner with Lady Shiva, who quickly recognizes this is nor her daughter, leading to a fight. Eventually, a truce is reached, with Shiva saying to tell her daughter she is proud of her. Meanwile, Cass/ Steph has been kidnapped by her no-longer-dead father, Cluemaster, who is trying his best to have a family reunion, as creepy as it may seem. Elsewhere, Bruce calls in Zatanna for help in figuring out the deal with the coin. This leads them to Dame Cami Doza, who is really Madame Zodiac. She explains the rib was all in fun and the effects wear off after 24 hours. The effects do wear off and both end up in the right bodies again. Shiva tries to convince Cass to stay with her as a great and powerful force, but Cass declines, as she needs to go save her friend.

BATMAN #130 by Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez. Batman is lost in orbit following Failsafe's destruction of the Justice League's moon base. He grabs a piece of debris and rides it back to Earth, where he lands near the Fortress of Solitude where Superman is still recovering. Together, they create a plan to stop Failsafe for good. While Superman engages with Failsafe, Batman and Robin attack, with Batman putting a portable drive into Failsafe that confuses it. Still, with compassion part of its’ new programming, it fires on batman and disintegrates him. But it appears that he only transported Batman elsewhere, as it looks like he may be back where it all started: Crime Alley. In the backup, Batman confronts The joker and deals with his demons, eventually defeating The Joker and adopting the bright yellow symbol from Zur-En-Arrh’s costume and adding it to the chest of his uniform.

BATMAN INCORPORATED #3 by Ed Brisson and John Timms. Ghost-Maker takes the gravely injured Skyspider to Dr. Wu to be fixed up, telling his team that Clownhunter has been kidnapped. Phantom-One, Ghost-Maker’s first sidekick, tells Clownhunter how he was the child of Mr. and Mrs. Menace, who Ghost-Spider killed. He adopted him, raised him, and trained him. During one mission, Phantom-One was severely injured and Ghost-Spider left him to die. He explains that Ghost-Maker’s allies have killed thousands and asks Clownhunter to join him while the rest of Batman Incorporated are trying to protect the surviving allies.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #10 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. The Joker, who has captured Boy Thunder, interrogates him in an effort to discover Batman and Suerman’s secret identities, who have teamed up with the Titans to try and find him. The Key learns that David comes from a parallel world and sees him as the key to the universe. When The Joker cannot get information out of David, he beats him with a crowbar as the heroes travel through multiple doors into multiple worlds before finally arriving at the right place. But the ensuing chaos leads to David getting free and he chases The Joker through numerous worlds, before finally catching him and revealing who he actually is and will become: Magog.

BATMAN: URBAN LEGENDS #21 by Jamal Campbell, Yedoye Travis, Dennis Culver, Joey Esposito, Adriano Lucas Lucas Silveira, Hayden Sherman and Vasco Georgiev. Nightwing leads off the book with a new villain who is videotaping everything Nightwing does. Called The Director, Nightwing captures one of The Director’s associates, but he is murdered before he can reveal any information. In the second tale, Batman faces off against Anarky. In the third tale, school is back in session at Arkham Academy. Li’l Kitten torments Croc while in class, believing he is in full restraints with a shock collar. Oops…no shock collar! In the final story, Batman’s parents deal with the consequences of being pulled from out of their timeline and into the current one, even though they now understand that they are fated to die in the original timeline. He deduces that Tim Commander was responsible and the hunt begins. Batman catches Time Commander but he is killed before he can reveal who hired him. In the end, it looks like it has something to do with The Court of Owls.

BATMAN VS. ROBIN #4 by Mark Waid and Mahmud Asrar. Batman, battered and beaten because of his battle with the Gauntlet of Robins, finally confronts Damian in the caves beneath Lazarus Island. Demon Nezha shows up and attempts to put on Dr. fate’s helmet, but Talia arrives and the helmet ends up with Batman. The spell on Damian is broken and even Black Alice and Pigsy lend a hand. Damian and his mother confront Ra’s mother, who Damian calls the Demon of Lazarus Island, which ends with Talia pushing her into a deep pit. Damian saves her, but she releases her grip and falls, presumably to her death. During the battle between Nezha and Batman, the helmet is destroyed and falls into a Lazarus Pit. Nezha tries to kill Damian, but Batman takes the blast and dies while Nezha’s son, King Red Bull, arrives to fight with his father. Alice uses her powers to resurrect Batman and, as they flee, Lazarus Island explodes. To be continued in LAZARUS PLANET #1.

BLUE BEETLE: GRADUATION DAY #2 by Josh Trujillo and Adrian Gutierrez. Blue Beetle ends up in battle with the other person wearing a scarab, who is revealed to be Dynastes. Ted Kord arrives to lend a hand and subdues Dynastes. She reveals her name is Xiomara and she admits she was trying to kill Jaime. Ted offers Jaime a part-time internship and he readily accepts. In the end, Starfire pays him a visit and tells him to get ready for war.

CATWOMAN #50 by Tini Howard, Nico Leon Inaki Miranda, and Juan Ferreyra. Catwoman and her allies are planning their assault on Punchline when Batman arrives and informs her that Eiko has been injured. The team launches their assault onto the Ace Chemical Factory with a new ally:  Dario, who now goes by the hero name of Tomcat. During the battle, Valmont releases Amygdala. When Amygdala attacks Catwoman, Valmont kills him. Batman arrives and Valmont attacks Batman, leading to Selina killing Valmont. During all of this, Punchline escapes as the Ace Chemical Plant is destroyed. The next day, it is revealed that Selina has been arrested and jailed. A meeting with Bruce does not go well, as she confesses that she had feelings for Valmont. After she has to fight other inmates, she gets a visit from her cat Duchess, telling the cat how much she misses Valmont. Meanwhile, Dario gets Eiko out of the hospital and they prepare to work together to fill Selina’s shoes, declaring there will be no alley with a cat.

DANGER STREET #1 by Tom King and Jorge Fornés. In a bar somewhere in the Dc Universe, someone orders a drink and Dr. fate’s helmet begins to tell a fairy tale set on Danger Street. We meet “the princess”, Lady Cop, who is having a friendly encounter, of sorts, with “four strapping young lads”, the Dingbats of Danger Street: a bunch of teenagers joyriding a four-wheeler in the middle of the street. She instructs them to drive the vehicle in the valley, which is where they head to. Meanwhile, “an ogre”, The Creeper, is tracking down small time criminals and giving them savage beating before his alternate persona, Jack Ryder, goes off for an interview at a new cable network run by “monsters”: The Green Team. Elsewhere, the “three glorious princes”, Metamorpho, Warrior, and Starman, devise a scheme to use the  Helm of Fate to summon Darkseid, to demonstrate why they should become part of the Justice League. At the same time, a “great and powerful wizard” dispatches his son Mark, Manhunter, to go after the Dingbats. The “three glorious princes” take the helm out to the same desert the Dingbats are in, but they summon Atlas, who destroys Metamorpho while claiming the sky is falling. Warlord slays Atlas but Starman freaks out and accidentally kills Good Looks. After a call from Non-fat, Lady Cop heads to the desert.

DARK CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7 by Joshua Williamson, Daniel Sampere, Jack Herbert, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Cam Smith. While Dick Grayson battles Deathstroke in his mind, Black Adam uses his powers to free Deathstroke from the darkness, which has now possessed Nightwing. The Flash family combines forces with Dr. Light to stabilize the Multiverse, freeing those who were corrupted by the Darkness. Nightwing stops Deathstroke from killing Black Adam. He claims he decided it was better to burn the entire world down rather than let them feel the pain he has felt. In the end, the JSA is back, Dr. Light explored her new connection to the Multiverse, Jim Corrigan is once again connected to The Spectre, Darkseid is back on Apokolips and Oliver Queen is still among the missing. Slade is being kept alive by machines following how the Darkness ravaged his body. Superman and Jon meet with Black Adam who explains that there will be war if they ever get in his way. Bruce tells Dick that there is no Justice League anymore and it is up to Dick to lead the heroes into the future. In the end, Amanda Waller meets with the Council of Light and puts together a team, featuring Peacemaker, Peacewrecker and others, to eradicate all metahumans.

DARK CRISIS: BIG BANG #1 by Mark Waid and Dan Jurgens. Barry Allen, The Flash, is in the Hall of Heroes with Kid Flash, Wallace West, and decides to trip through the DC Multiverse to find the Anti-Monitor, who killed him during the original CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. Eventually he confronts the Anti-Monitor on Earth-17 and, with the help of many Multiversal heroes, defeats him before he and Wallace head back to help the heroes during Dark Crisis. To be continued in DARK CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7. Most importantly, we get a glimpse at Barry Allen’s comprehensive list of Earths, from Earth-0, his home Earth, to Earth-2020 (home to three generations of Supermen), along with the 71 other Earths in between.

DARK CRISIS: WAR ZONE #1 by Jeremy Adams, Frank Tieri, Stephanie Williams, Matthew Rosenberg, Delilah S, Dawson, Fernando Pasarin, Serg Acuna, Caitlyn Yarsky, George Kabadais and Tom Derenick. In the first tale, Linda West teams up with Iris Allen to save some kids and fight some of the super-villains fighting for Deathstroke. Next, Jim Corrigan helps the DC Universe magic users, eventually freeing The Spectre from Darkness and merging once again with him. In the third story, it’s all about Nubia and the other Amazonian champions fighting the Dark Army. In the fourth story, the Green Lanterns fight the Darkness as it attacks the Hall of Justice. Lastly, Red Canary meets and teams up with Black Canary.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1067 by Ram V, Simon Spurrier, Hayden Sherman and Ivan Reis. Batman, trapped in an ice explosion while fighting Gael, manages to escape because of a flood of water and he ends up with Mr. Freeze, who helps him to recover as the Orghams have managed to disrupt his peaceful life, creating ice sculptures of his dead wife Nora. The Orghams plan to take over Gotham City heats up as they kill many  Narrows residents and begin to burn it down. Meanwhile, their matriarch uses hypnosis to buy out all of the Wayne Enterprise property in the Narrows. In the backup, Harvey continues to wrestle with his Two Face personality, with the evil persona winning, forcing Harvey’s therapist to leave and never come back…or else.

THE FLASH #789 by Jeremy Adams and  Fernando Pasarin. The Flash and Pied Piper team up to escape from The Rogues, no deputized by Mayor Wolfe. After a reunion with Linda and the kids, Flash goes to visit Mayor Wolfe and Blacksmith, where the Mayor reveals he is concerned with order among all the chaos. A fight ensues between The Flash and Blacksmith, along with the Rogues. Captured by The Rogues, although freed by his family, Mayor Wolfe arrives and shows The Flash that he is an avatar of the Lords of Order. The Flash asks him to let Wolfe be free and promises to do better to stop the chaos.