DC UNIVERSE Month 5, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #28 by Steve Orlando and Hugo Petrus. Chronos has captured Ahl, the God of Superheroes, and is bragging about it. The leads to Ryan distracting Chronos, so Ray can steal Ahl away from him. Aztek declares that they are actually at what will someday become Mount Justice, so the team rallies to protect it. That’s when Chronos and his army break out Chemo. With the team defeated, Ahl confronts Chronos, who promptly kills him.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #29 by Steve Orlando and Hugo Petrus. Ahl is dead and the team is defeated by Chronos. But Frost uses her powers to heal Ryan and that allows him to sneak past Chronos and take his Hourglass. Defeating Chronos, the team now spends weeks and multiple tests to get the Hourglass to bring Ahl back to life.  With that accomplished, the team returns back to present time, where they decide to break up the team. Chronos ends up in a bar with Lobo, who will surely kick his butt. In the end, a new team is announced, called the Justice Foundation, which is led by Vixen and features members of the team, along with supporting cast members from SUPERGIRL and MIDNIGHTER.

MERA QUEEN OF ATLANTIS #3 by Dan Abnett and Lan Medina. After a flashback involving Mera's first battle in Xebel, we move to the present where Orm is fighting Mera, who gets saved by the appearance of Orm’s girlfriend and son. After a long discussion, Orm agrees to team up with Mera to take on Corum Rath. En route to Xebel, they encounter some guards and finally King Nereus, who happens to be Mera’s first husband.

MOTHER PANIC GOTHAM A.D. #2 by Jody Houser, Ibrahim Moustafa and Paulina Gamucheau. Our hero goes to Robinson Park, which has been transformed by Poison Ivy, where she meets with an older Selina Kyle, asking for help to get into Arkham to find her mother. GCPD is using deadly force to stop criminals, Madam Gala is using her powers to continue her experiments and Fennec Fox, despite orders, tags along as Mother Panic makes her way into Arkham. She meets with a new Catwoman, who shows her the way in. With the Joker getting busted for using balloon weapons, Gala meets with her connection inside Arkham: Dr. Harleen Quinzel. In the backup, Joker seeks advice on what to do no that the center of his affection, Batman, is no longer around.

NEW SUPER-MAN AND THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF CHINA #22 by Gene Luen Yang and Brent Peeples. The Justice League of China battles with Dragonson, where Baixi gets captured by Anathema. Just before it looks like he’s going to be killed, he gets saved by his sister Alpaca. Kenan has been captured by the Green Lantern Corps of China but discovers he has a new ability which turns him all white and allows him to unleash light as a power. This leads to him heading to a final face-off with Dragonson.

NIGHTWING #42 by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Jorge Corona. Nightwing finds himself in Tokyo, as Damian has been kidnapped by the Crimson Kabuki, Dick then has to fight through various levels of villains to save his friend, eventually making his way to the top level and biggest bad guy. There, with help of Damian and the bad guy’s dragon, they defeat the enemies.

NIGHTWING #43 by Michael Moreci and Minkyu Jung. Dick is looking forward to spending the night watching Netflix when he hears from both Roy and Damian, which leads him to Gotham to help deal with the League of Assassins. Cheshire shows up and the trio team up to take her and the League down. In the end, Dick apologizes for not spending time with his friends and the payback is for him to have them all go back to Bludhaven, so he can eat popcorn while his friends fight the bad guys.

RAVEN DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS #4 by Marv Wolfman and Pop Mhan. While the strange creature who has been pursuing Raven through the first three issues breaks her fellow aliens out of 2MorrowTek, Raven is at Teri's Grandmother's funeral, where she has a reunion with her mother, who wants to take her home. Later, the whole family gets attacked by the strange creatures, causing Angela and Raven to flee, which leaves the rest of the family escaping because of what they believe is a “gas leak”. Angela reveals that she was a young rebel who ended up with several men before finally meeting Trigon. They get attacked again by the team from 2MorrowTek, get captured and, while flying off, the helicopter they are in crashes. But Angela and Raven survive. Meanwhile, Baron Winters observes it all.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #21 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. Bizarro asks Artemis for help, as he has found that he is regressing, and he fears it. After an almost uncomfortable kiss between the two, he destroys most of his Kryptonite supply. Meanwhile, Jason goes undercover at the Iceberg Casino, but is discovered. He still defeats the Penguin. In the end, Ma Gunn's granddaughter appears, as she searches for Jason to present Ma’s letters to him.

SIDEWAYS #3 by Kenneth Rocafort, Dan DiDio, and Justin Jordan. Derek confronts Killspeed at the hospital, before opening a series of rifts which takes them to Gotham. There, she reveals that she is one of the speedsters affected by the Speed Force Storm and that she is also dying of Leukemia. Using her powers just makes the disease spread faster. The police arrive to arrest her, but she attacks Derek, who creates a rift and takes her bloody arm with him hen he teleports. Unfortunately for him, someone is watching and have nefarious plans for Derek.

THE SILENCER #4 by Viktor Bogdanovic and Dan Abnett. a flashback, Honor is working for Talia and is told she can get out of Leviathan if she completes one last mission. She is sent to kill an accountant working for Leviathan who could leave and take secrets with him. She completes the task, even though her target has a family. This also leads to a confrontation with his hired protector Deathstroke. In the present, after dealing with issues involving her family duties, she In gets attacked by Deathstroke, who has finally decided it’s time for payback for that last hit.

SUICIDE SQUAD #39 by Rob Williams and Neil Edwards. Waller sends the Squad in to take care of The Wall and everyone in Washington he has managed to control. In the process, he escapes, but not before Enchantress is dragged to Hell, leaving Croc devastated. It turns out that this as all a ruse, as The Wall heads off to kill Waller’s daughter and her newborn.

SUICIDE SQUAD #40 by Rob Williams and Jack Herbert. The Wall is prepared to kill Amanda’s daughter and newborn grandchild, when her sons arrive to stop him. One gets critically injured before the Squad shows up to take him down. The Wall is being influenced by Hack, who is dedicated to ruining Waller’s life and gives her a choice: she will save her family and release Waller’s secrets to the world. Waller agrees, but Hack dies before it can get to the waiting world. When all is said and done, everyone is safe, except for June who died last issue. But it seems her soul may live on within Katana’s sword.

SUPERGIRL #20 by Steve Orlando, Jody Houser and Robson Rocha. Bones and Mokkari are heading off to the Blade when they get attacked by Turid Goldenaxe, leading to Supergirl intervening and saving them, even as Mokkari throws Bones under the proverbial bus. Shay Veritas is strapped to a machine which will wipe her memory if someone doesn’t save her. That turns out to be Cameron Chase. After a kiss and an embrace, they publish the story saying that Bones was corrupt and all his plans go to hell really quick. In the end, Supergirl is once again loved by all.

SUPERMAN #44 by Patrick Gleason, Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke. Superman and Bizarro duke it out while Superboy, Beacon, Nobody, Boyzarro and the Super Foes take on the Legion of Fun. In the end, the good guys win but Bizarro has had enough, tells Boyzarro he is not a good father and blasts off into space in his home-made rocket, just before the planet explodes. Luckily, the heroes save everybody and get them back to their world before they are killed.

SUPERMAN #45 by Patrick Gleason and Peter J. Tomasi. The farmhouse in Hamilton County has been sold and the Kents are packing everything up and moving to Metropolis, with the help of The Flash. They eventually go to the Hamilton County fair, where Kathy and Maya are trying to get the Bizarro Boys to help them, with comical results. There is a statue dedicated in Superman’s honor, after the events of Black Dawn, but Superman can’t stay as the Justice League needs him. In the end, Lois finds her men passed out on the couch and covers them with a blanket.

SUPER SONS #15 by Peter J. Tomasi and Carlo Barberi. After seeing some trouble at Lexcorp, we learn that this trouble leads to an attack on the Super Sons headquarters by

Kid Amazo. The heroes end up being dragged into the ocean, with Damian being saved by Cyborg. Jon has been captured by Kid Amazo, who reveals he has killed Reggie and is ready to siphon powers from the Justice League.

TEEN TITANS #19 by Benjamin Percy and Scot Eaton. Beast Boy is still under control of Joran and that means he is attacking his teammates, while they try to subdue the others under her control without killing them. After getting a kiss from Raven, Wally races around and removes the device that is controlling everyone. Meanwhile, Joran explains how she handled her abusive father and that as when she created her imaginary world. Her pirate ship arrives, and she gets in. But this is all because Robin hacked into her VR program and she is actually on the Titan’s ship and is taken to prison. In the end, Brainiac arrives and leads our team into NO JUSTICE.

THE TERRIFICS #3 by Jeff Lemire  and Joe Bennett. The tea, is still bound together by whatever happened to them in the Dark Multiverse. Mr. Terrific goes off to figure it all out, while Phantom Girl follows him, begging him to find a way for her to find the planet she once lived on. Stagg Industries gets attacked by War Wheel, which leads the team to take on and destroy it, much to Stagg’s dismay as this as a weapon he had developed for the government. When it’s over, Holt goes back to trying to find a way to contact Tom Strong. Meanwhile, in the not too distant future, ordinary folks are being turned into Metamorpho.

TITANS #22 by Dan Abnett and Paul Pelletier. The Brain is now at 60% and his drive to world conquest continues. Donna Troy is still being held on the Watchtower, but the Brain takes over the station and she escapes in time to save Roy from Cheshire. But that means they now have to go off and fight Brain and Mallah.

TITANS ANNUAL #2 by Dan Abnett, Tom Grummett and Tom Derenick. The Brain has almost gotten to 100% control of the world and it looks like he is going to leave Mallah behind hen he elevates to the next level of Godhood. Although Mallah goes off to fight the team, his heart isn’t really in it and he eventually gives in nd reveals both Brain’s plan and his location. While Mallah gives a tearful goodbye to his lover, Wally hits Brain with an arrow which shuts him down, returning the world to normal. In the end, the Titans together are ready for NO JUSTICE.

TRINITY #21 by James Robinson and Patch Zircher. After a flashback on Skartaris, we see the Trinity fighting a possessed Steve Trevor. They eventually gas him and the other monsters, before we go back to Skartaris and get a look at Warlord’s arsenal of weapons. In the present, the team breaks into the Blue Strike base where they find that it’s really a magical relic research facility.  While they get lucky enough to find a portal to Skartaris, Deimos arrives and captures them.

TRINITY #22 by James Robinson and Patch Zircher. It seems that Deimos’, posing as a businessman, has made a deal with Blue Strike Security so he can use their weaponry to defeat Skartaris. Bit the Trinity must defeat a possessed Steve Trevor and Deimos’ army, so they can breach the barrier and save Skartaris. Wonder Woman uses her lasso, which convinces Deimos that he defeats everyone and rules the world. In actuality, the lasso, under the influence of Deimos spell which reverses their powers, becomes the lasso of lies and he loses his mind. In the end, everyone is saved, Steve is restored, and the TRINITY title rides off into the sunset.

WONDER WOMAN #44 by James Robinson and Emanuela Lupacchino. Steve and his team take on the Female Furies and the Parademons, Jason battles Grail busy and Wonder Woman goes up against Darkseid.  But Darkseid’s minions have put the relics in place and opened a portal to Themyscira, where the Amazons are being turned into Parademons.  

WONDER WOMAN #45 by James Robinson and Emanuela Lupacchino. With Diana fighting Darkseid, Jason breaches the portal so he can save the Amazons. While Grail and her influence gets defeated and Jason has a reunion with his mother, Diana uses her love energy to draw the dead gods out of Darkseid. He disappears, only to turn up as a human on an island in the end. Steve and Diana debate closing the portal, but ait until Jason reappears. A.R.G.U.S is going to try and find a way to turn the Amazons back to normal and Grail ends up in prison with Ares as her captor.

DC UNIVERSE, Month 5, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1000 by Dan Jurgans, Peter J. Tomasi, Marv Wolfman, Paul Levitz, Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, Scott Snyder, Tom King, Louise Simonson, Paul Dini, Brad Meltzer, Brian Michael Bendis, Dan Jurgens, Patrick Gleason, Curt Swan, Olivier Coipel, Rafael Albuquerque, Clay Mann, Jerry Ordway, Jim Lee and John Cassaday. A handful of stories and pin-ups celebrate this milestone. The biggest piece is the final story by Bendis Lee. In it, Rogol Zaar arrives to kill Superman and eliminate the Kryptonians, as Jor-El had once told him to do. This leads directly into Bendis’ THE MAN OF STEEL #1.

AQUAMAN #35 by Dan Abnett and Robson Rocha. King Shark and the Ninth Tride are attacking Corum Rath’s followers when what is left of Kadaver shows up. Aquaman arrives in time to take the fight to them. But that also leads to Murk arriving and fighting with the man he formerly served. After explaining that he didn’t really kill Aquaman, just made it look that way, and that he doesn’t hate Aquaman, just didn’t want him as king, they form a truce and lead the attack on Corum Rath. Meanwhile, Corum Rath asks for the powers of the wizards to make him better and that means he gets mutated into a horrible sea beast.

BATGIRL #22 by Hope Larson and Minkyu Jung. While trying to stop a guy from killing his wife and children with a space gun, she gets shot with the gun. Surviving the blast, he gets turned over to the police. Then she runs into her former boyfriend Kai, along with May Hao, who has moved to Burnside to start a MMA gym. While sparring with May, who has been given an enhancing drug, she gets knocked out. That is when she discovers, by way of a visit from Fruit Bat, that she has been put into stasis and all of this AFTER the shooting is in her head. She needs to find a way out or she will die.

BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #21 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and

Roge Antonio. The gang is trying to track down Calculator and figure out that there is going to be an attack at Helena’s apartment. Green Arrow and Black Canary arrive just in time to see the apartment blow up. Seems Huntress rigged her apartment to blow. This leads the team to meet with Calculator, where Canary uses her cry to destroy Burnrate. Unfotunatly, she hurts the team in the process. We end with Blackbird controlling Huntress, so she will tell who Oracle really is.

BATMAN #44 by Tom King, Mikel Janin and Joelle Jones. Selina sneaks out of Bruce’ bed, where she seems to be going off to her thieving ways. After drinking some champagne and possibly stealing a dress for the wedding, she comes back home and climbs back into his bed.

BATMAN #45 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel. Booster Gold watches as Hal Jordan uses his ring to kill himself. It seems that Hal has been Jokered and the world as we know it has changed. In Gotham, Dick Grayson is a gun-toting Batman, Jason Todd is selling special anti-Joker tires and Duane has been lobotomized. It appears that Booster has altered time to show Bruce, as a wedding gift, what his world would be like if he wasn’t Batman and his parents hadn’t died. That leads to a meeting with Bruce, where he is dancing with his mother. That also leads to a confrontation with Booster, where Bruce destroys Skeets and that means time cannot be changed back.

BATMAN AND THE SIGNAL #3 by Scott Snyder, Tony Patrick and Cully Hamner. Everyone has been turned into Metas by Gnoman and it takes the combined effort of Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, Robin, Riko and Izzy to take them out of the game. Duke figures out that all of this influence is due to Gnoman making use of the 8^th Metal inside of the needle. Gnoman has a confrontation with Duke, where he reveals that Duke’s mother may have powers and that he may actually be Duke’s father. Teaming up with Detective Aisi, Duke stops the threat, although Gnoman escapes in the end.

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BATMAN BEYOND #19 by Dan Jurgens and Phil Hester. Matt McGinnis puts on Robin’s mask and heads off to help his brother in his battle against Stanton, who is out to avenge his son. Although Terry is livid that Bruce would do this, they worked together and take Stanton down. Still mad at Bruce, Terry goes off to visit Shaka and his people, providing them with much needed food and the possibility of giving Shaka has legs back.

BATWOMAN #14 by Marguerite Bennett and Fernando Blanco. The twins of the Many Arms of Death are in a bad way as Alice has made them drink a liquid that causes them to bleed from their eyes and mouths before exploding. Kate arrives in Gotham and, after telling Julia that Knife is behind everything, she engages with Knife. A giant hologram of Alice reveals that she was behind this and that she was responsible for everything that went down with The Scarecrow. Alice used him to infect bats with dozens of diseases and they are attacking Gotham.

BLACK LIGHTNING: COLD DEAD HANDS #6 by Tony Isabella and Clayton Henry. Tobias is ready to take out Black Lightning, bit this is all a ruse on Jefferson’s part. He has set up Tobias so police and the League can take down Tobias’ warehouses and get the alien guns of the streets. With the help of “Sparky”, he takes down Tobias while his loyal assistant runs away. In the end, life goes back to normal and Black Lightning is back in the hero game.

THE CURSE OF BRIMSTONE #1 by Philip Tan and Justin Jordan. Joe Chamberlin is stuck in a small town and makes a deal with some sort of evil person who turns him into the fiery Brimstone.

CYBORG #21 by Marv Wolfman and Tom Derenick. Cyborg is in Hawaii here he is fighting mechs that want to capture him for his tech. In the end, the mechs capture him.

DAMAGE #4 by Robert Venditti and Cary Nord. Poison Ivy has a thing against farmers working the land and violently attacks them. Meanwhile, Ethan ends up getting a job working with the farmers and, when Ivy shows up, he has no choice but to change into Damage. Elsewhere, Col. Jonas and her team of hired hands, named Misha, Paparazzi and Handyman, prepare to hunt Ethan down.

DEATHSTROKE #30 by Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan. After a scene where we see that Alfred and Wintergreen have history together, Batman and Gordon are investigating a crime scene, where Batman discovers evidence that leads him to believe that Damian may not be his son. That leads him to meeting and fighting with Deathstroke and Batman reveals that he has DNA evidence that shows Slade to be Damian’s father. That leads to Batman threatening to shut down Slade’s actions.

THE DEMON HELL IS EARTH #6 by Andrew Constant and Brad Walker. The planet is screwed as Belial has taken over Earth. Luckily, Merlin’s dying energy makes Etrigan super powerful and allows him to battle his dad. Madame Xanadu is able to use some of that power to help take down Belial, restoring our planet to the way it once was. In the end, Merlin’s essence is gone, but he may come back. And Etrigan: he’s now the ruler of Hell.

DETECTIVE COMICS #978 by James Tynion IV and Javier Fernandez. Batman goes off to meet with Batwoman and her father while the rest of the team faces off against Colony soldiers. It is revealed that Ulysses, now with a new haircut and calling himself The General, has poisoned folks with Nanotech and is transforming them into his own One Man Army Corps. That is also affecting Tim, who begins his transformation.

DETECTIVE COMICS #979 by James Tynion IV and Philippe Briones. Tim Drake has been corrupted by Ulysses and become part of his One Man Army Corps. Ulysses continues to try to convince Tim to give in, as he shows him what will happen in the future if he doesn’t, including causing Cassandra’s death. While Luke and Azrael fight against the OMACs, Tim is fully converted and becomes a Batman inspired OMAC. Batman and Cassandra seek out the assistance of Stephanie while Tim and the OMACs attack what is left of the Belfry.

THE FLASH #44 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Anticipating that his battle with Grodd will result in his death, Barry writes a letter to Iris, where he tells her everything, including the existence of another Wally West. With Barry getting beat up by Grodd, soldiers from Gorilla City show up and arrest Grodd. The speedsters show up and join together to help Barry stop the Negative Speed Force that is destroying Central City. The team saves the day, with August disappearing in the process. Barry goes off to see Iris and, in the future, Hunter Zolomon prepares for the Flash War.

THE FLASH #45 by Joshua Williamson and Christian Duce. With the Speedsters rebuilding Central City, they take a break to go to Iron Heights to meet with Meena, here she tells Barry that he isn’t the best man for the job of Flash. Later, Barry meets with Kristen to discuss Godspeed’s escape. Godspeed has a conversation with a mysterious vice, that may be Hunter Zolomon. In the end, Barry meets with Iris and tells her all about things. They kiss and tell each other they love each other. Wally West shows up, triggering long buried memories. And those memories overwhelm Wally.

GREEN ARROW #39 by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Marcio Takara. Ollie is in

Rhapastan, that was ravaged by Deathstroke in DEATHSTROKE ANNUAL #2. But his mission costs him his pilot and it is revealed he is not wanted here. The villain, a guy named Nothing, turns out to be a child leading an army of children, leading to Ollie putting down his weapons and being alone in Rhapastan.

GREEN LANTERNS #44 by Tim Seeley and Ronan Cliquet. Jessica visits her therapist, where she is still dealing with not being able to save her friends that were killed years ago on a camping trip. Simon interrupts the session to tell her that Singularity Jain is on the loose. While Simon battles a robot who is upset that he has lost custody of his kid, Jessica fins Jain and is tempted to take an offer which would revel the killer of her friends. All Jain wants in return is the ability to feed off of her suffering and pain. Jessica turns her down and Jain gets locked up. In the end, Jessica’s sister is concerned because there is a giant Black Hole in Jessica’s apartment and no Jessica to be found.

GREEN LANTERNS #45 by Tim Seeley and Ronan Cliquet. The Justice League has arrived to set up a perimeter around the Black Hole in Jessica’s apartment. Simon has brought Singularity Jain to the scene, so the League can question her about all of this. The final solution is to bring in John Constantine to help with this mystical thing. Finds all the previous owners of the power ring. He also finds Earth- 3’s Harold Jordan, who reveals that Volthoom is no more and this world is Jessica’s own creation.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #42 by Robert Vendetti and Ethan Van Sciver. The Controllers are in the process of making their Darkstars, by getting people to jump into their armor, much like the Green Lantern rings seek out people worthy to be Lanterns. Meanwhile, Tomar-Tu reveals that he feels guilty for disgracing his family but not for killing Romat-Ru and would do it again if possible. A Darkstar suits arrives and Tomar-Te joins in and becomes part of the Darkstar army.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #43 by Robert Vendetti and Rafa Sandoval. The Darkstars are going out and unleashing their brand of justice on all that they deem need to be eliminated. That leads the Corps to go after them but, during the confrontation, all are transported back to Mogo. Except for Hal Jordan, who confronts former Corps member Tomar-Tu, who is now the spokesperson for the Darkstars. He explains that the Controllers now serve the Darkstars and they will continue to do what they do because they have the numbers and they can. Despite the dissension among the Corps, John Stewart realizes they are outnumbered and have no choice.

HARLEY QUINN #41 by Frank Tieri, Inaki Miranda and Moritat. Many of Harley’s friends have been hypnotized into wanting to kill the Gang of Harleys, thanks to a plot by The Penguin. That’s when Harley and Killer Croc show up to free them. And also to defeat the giant penguins running through town. In the end, the Penguin and his crew gets defeated and the gang celebrates by having dinner. Unfortunately, the Riddler shows up late and gets a beat down for his troubles.

HARLEY QUINN #42 by Frank Tieri and Mauricet. It’s the future in the Jersey Wastelands and we find Harley strapped to Red Tool’s car. Along the way, they encounter Goatboy’s inbred offspring and Big Tony, no older and piloting his on giant robot. I. A computerized Coach is again put in charge and Red Tool and Harley head out together to cruise the wastelands.

THE HELLBLAZER #21 by Tim Seeley and Davide Fabbri. Joey has been captured and now Lucas is bringing him to his brother, who is still possessing and tormenting the body of Inspector Margaret Ames. She is a conduit to bring the legions from Hell and Constantine and Huntress, at last free from the street gang, is on a hunt to find her before it’s too late.

THE IMMORTAL MEN #1 by Jim Lee, Ryan Benjamin, and James Tynion IV. Caden Park is a young who is troubled by some continuous dreams here he finds himself running from death. But he gets to escape every now and then by going to a safe place called The Campus, where a mysterious set of eyes tells him he will soon have a mission of higher purpose. The Campus is actually located under the city of Philadelphia and the person in charge is the oldest woman in the world, the Infinite Woman. The Batman Who Laughs arrives and brags to the Immortal Woman and her servant Hunt. This leads them, along with Ghost Fist, Timber, Stray and Reload, to reveal they will go after Caden Park, who is destined to thwart their plans. In the end, Caden and his friends get attacked by The Immortal Men.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #42 by Christopher Priest and Pete Woods. While Superman is trying to get an injured Wonder Woman, Flash interrupts and says he can do it faster.  That leads to Flash getting Kid Flash to get Raven, so she could save Diana with magic. Meanwhile, Red Lion has sent the warring people to the remains of the Watchtower, so the media will focus on that and now on the fact that he’s getting ready to invade the country next door. Cyborg manages to get around the programming that Lion infected him with and repairs himself, even despite the knife that had plunged into him. Along with Batman and Aquaman, they capture the Lion and, along with the previously captured Fan, rendezvous with the rest of the League. That is when Deathstroke arrives and shoots The Fan in the head, promising to do in this country what the League couldn’t.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #43 by Christopher Priest and Pete Woods. Deathstroke battles the League while Raven tries to heal Wonder Woman. Once she is somewhat stable, she decides that she must go back and help her teammates. But it gets revealed that this was a plan all along by the League and Deathstroke to fight so they could scare the refugees from the Watchtower crash site. In the end, the idea that Batman brought the Fan to Africa to die pisses off Cyborg. And then the team is off to handle the upcoming events in NO JUSTICE.

Another batch of first comic issues

AVENGERS SHARDS OF INFINITY #1 by Ralph Macchio and Andrea DiVito. Well, I was excited about this, believing it to be a tie-in to the INFINITY COUNTDOWN. Boy-talk about disappointing! It has NOTHING to do with that story and feels like it was sitting in a drawer from the Nineties and someone dug it up and decided to put it out. The shards in question is part of the Cosmic Cube and that leads to the team in a search for it. DiVito’s art is great but the story is a long, rambling excuse for spending $4.

THE BEEF #1 by Richard Starkings, Tyler Sahinline and Shaky Kane. Chuck works at the slaughterhouse, just like his dad before him did. But something has happened to Chuck, who has been eating modified beef all of his life. And now, he looks like the Incredible Hulk, minus his skin. This is one weird title with some even weirder art. It’s equally Underground Comic gross and Hernandez Brothers surreal. Truly, one of the weirdest reads this year…and I love it!

CAVE CARSON HAS AN INTERSTELLAR EYE #1 by Jon Rivera and Michael Avon Oeming. Cave Carson and his crew are back, this time on a mission to visit and, hopefully save Cave’s old friend Adam. This picks up from both the last series and from events n MILK WARS. Rivera writes a fun story and Oeming, whose work on POWERS caught my attention back in the day, creates a visual masterpiece. This is a bunch of fun with a character that Young Animal has managed to make relevant for today.

DOMINO #1 by Gail Simone and David Baldeon. Domino is back and is bringing her cast of characters with her. It’s back story and action and a whole lot of fun, wth Simone totally on point with this title. Readers will obviously make comparisons to Harley Quinn, but this is the quirky female anti-hero done right. Baldeon’s art shines and hey: a killer Greg and cover that would make a great poster(hint, hint, Marvel!). With a great cliff hanger ending, this is a fun read. Well done!

DRY COUNTY #1 by Rich Tommaso. I became a big fan of Tommaso’s work on DARK CORRIDOR, which led me back to SHE WOLF and THE COTTEN-STEEL PHOENIX. It’s Miami in the 1980’s, so it looks and feels like a twisted version of MIAMI VICE. His characterizations are great, his art is quirky and the mystery for Lou Rossi begins here. Again, Tommaso’s art is very quirky, but it grows on you. And the colors so make you think Crockett and Tubbs are going to show up. It’s loud and bold and a ton of fun!

ETERNTY GIRL #1 by Magdalene Visaggio and Sonny Liew. DC’s Young Animal 2.0 begins and this book is just what you would expect. Having been introduced in the back-ups of the MILK WARS mini-series, Caroline Sharp as a superhero working for Alpha 13 when she ended up getting strange powers while battling Madame Atom. Now she has to deal with all of that. A true psychological drama that hits on so may cylinders. Liew’s artwork is straight out of his work on DOCTOR FATE and Visaggio knows how to write a clever tale. Not for everyone, but the closest “Mainstream” comparison to Vertigo titles.

THE HUNT FOR WOLVERINE #1 by Charles Soule, David Marquez and Paulo Siquiera. Logan has managed to come back from the dead and now the X-teams are going looking for him. There is a lot of back story here as Pierce and his Reavers want that giant statue of Wolverine to sell the Adamantium. Surprise: he ain’t there. The teams fight and, in the end, the call goes out for the various heroes of the MCU to find him. This is a fairly long, unsatisfying set-up for the multitude of mini-series where the heroes search for Logan.

INFIDEL #1 by Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbel. Basically, our heroine is a Muslim woman living in a haunted house. Or is it all in her mind? This is a great psychological horror story for our times with killer art from Campbel that feels like an old Warren horror title. The first issue brings you down a dark rod and leaves you there. I can so see this as a film and I wouldn’t be surprised if that eventually happens. Great characters spouting cool dialogue. It’s grimy, dark and very disturbing.

INFINITY COUNTDOWN #1 by Gerry Duggan and Aaron Kuder. And so, after months of prequels, it finally begins. The Infinity Stones have been scattered across the universe, leading the Nova Corps and the Guardians of the Galaxy to find them before they end up in the wrong hands. It’s a big fight book that results in Groot being reborn as he once as, but with full speech capabilities. Oh yeah: Black Widow is back too, which kind of screws up the final reveal in the yet to be completed TALES OF SUSPENSE mini-series. Kuder’s art is amazing while Duggan’s story is just okay. I’m hoping it picks up in intensity before the end.

MAD MAGAZINE #1 by the Usual Gang of Idiots. I guess this is the era of reboot and this legendary magazine is no exception. At $6, and still being billed at CHEAP, the mag has gone to full color of slick stock, moving from its’ long run as black and white on newsprint. It’s filled with the usual features we have grown to love: parodies, takes on current events, fake ads, the ever-popular Fold-In, SPY VS SPY and lots of bits and pieces by Sergio Aragones. Much more adult than purely sophomoric (can we use the words vagina and dildo in a kid’s book?), it is chock full of work by some true legends in the comics world including Peter Kuper, Peter Bagge and Brian Posehn. Highlights include a killer LAST JEDI spoof and an amazingly spot-on ARCHIE take, where the classic character Starchie, done by Tom Richmond in a scary Will Elder style, gets brought to the present RIVERDULL. Okay…I’m hooked!

OBLIVION SONG #1 by Robert Kirkman and Lorenzio DeFelici. With INVINCIBLE finished, Kirkman looks for the next big thing. It’s a quest book where our hero jumps between worlds to find people missing by a catastrophic event in the past. At the moment, I’m not a huge fan, as the set-up is long, and this feels like another monster epic (THE WALKING DEAD has over 175 issues and INVINCIBLE was around 150 issues). I’m hoping things will be clearer and it doesn’t just become a long TWD style book with a million characters who come and go after 10 or 12 issues.

THE PRISONER #1 by Peter Milligan and Colin Lorimer. There’s a new Number Six in town in this 21^st Century reboot of the classic series. Just like the series, it’s weird and wild and twisting in weird ways. Typical Milligan story with great art by Lorimer. Look for the Jack Kirby variant cover from the aborted adaptation from back in the day…that makes this long strange trip worth it.

SECRET WEAPONS OWEN’S STORY #0 by Eric Heisserer and Raul Allen. Another Valiant one-shot that ties into the SECRET WEAPONS mini-series from a few months back. This time, it’s Owen’s version of how he came to be part of the group. It’s a lot of fun if you read the mini-series, but means nothing if you didn’t Seek out the collection and slide this in with it.

SHADE THE CHANGING WOMAN #1 by Cecil Castellucci and Marley Zarcone. Shade is back from Young Animal and now she’s grown up. Like it’s predecessor, it’s got some trippy dialogue, spaced-out art and takes a couple of reads to get the vibe. Not a book for everyone, as it just drifts between teenage angst and philosophical meanderings.

SHADOWMAN #1 by Andy Diggle and Stephen Segovia. Valiant’s newest title brings back Jack Boniface-the Shadowman. Having been trapped for five years, the hero is back and dealing with some dark stuff going on in the Bayou. Along the way, he has to deal with Baron Samedi and his voodoo powers. I was a big fan of the original series and the reboot that Valiant crafted in their current universe. I could use a bit more back story to all of this and can see how this is going to tie into the forthcoming HARBINGER WARS 2. It’s a great jumping off point if you don’t know the character and a nice present for existing fans.

TAARNA #1 by Alex DeCampi, Esau Escorza and Isaac Escorza. A long time ago, there was this amazing little film called HEAVY METAL: adapted from the book of the same name. The centerpiece, and longest piece in the film, was an animation masterpiece called TAARNA. She was a silent barbarian hero with a taste for vengeance against her enemy. Well, she has been brought to comic book life by Alex De Campi and the Escorzas. As in the film, she never speaks but her actions speak volumes. It’s a good introduction and a great jumping on point. It looks amazing and De Campi’s writing is as sharp as ever. If you loved the movie, you will love this. Btw: she’s naked throughout some of it, so keep that in mind when you’re reading it at home with the kiddies around!

THANOS ANNUAL #1 by Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Chris Hastings, Flaviano, Kieron Gillen, Andre Araujo, Katie Cook, Heather Breckle, Ryan North, Will Robson, Al Ewing and Frazier Irving. In a issue filled with six tales of Thanos, this brings the run on this title to an end. It also leads into Cates’ COSMIC GHOST RIDER mini-series. The stories are all strung together by the once dead Frank Castle who tells of some funny and also some despicable moments in the life of the Mad God. Fun, heartbreaking and definitely a nice coda to a great Cates run. Oh yeah: guest appearance by Odin!

VAMPERONICA #1 by Greg Smallwood and Meg Smallwood. Archie Comics dips back into the well for another horror take on classic characters. This time, Veronica Lodge is bitten by a vampire and must control her urges while battling the undead. Greg Smallwood’s art is beautiful, but the whole story just seems like a retread. We’ve had Jughead as a werewolf, Sabrina as a tormented itch and the hole gang fighting a killer plague…will we EVER see the end of that tale. C’mon Archie: this just doesn’t have the fun kick that AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE had. How about bringing that back and stop with these other series.

VENOMIZED #1 by Cullen Bunn and Iban Coello. Spinning out of the recent POISON-X crossover nd features the bad guys from the VENOMVERSE series, Eddie Brock as Venom fights to free Earth’s heroes who are being turned into Symbiotes. It’s a five issue weekly event that wraps up those storylines and acts as another mini-event designed to sell comics. Only for die-hard fans.

WEAPON H #1 by Greg Pak, Cory Smith and Marcus To. Springing out of WEAPONS OF MUTANT DESTRUCTION, we have Weapon H-a former military man who has been infused with the DNA of Wolverine AND the Hulk. You know that can’t be a good thing! He ends p in Canada where a bunch of crazy scientists are recreating a Wendigo. That means a bunch of blood and guts and some story thrown in. Fun character to work with and we even get a guest appearance from Doctor Strange. In the back-up, a little story involving Weapon H’s family and trying to figure out hat is really going on.

XERES #1 by Frank Miller. A long time ago, Frank Miller wrote and illustrated the amazing 300, which wowed fans and ater led to a pretty cool movie. This sequel of sorts tells the tale of the fall of the House of Darius and the rise of Alexander. It’s short on dialogue, long on Miller’s art, some of which is beautiful but most of which is very sketchy at best. This is truly for die-hard fans only. Personally, I would recommend the originals over this.

DC UNIVERSE Month 4, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #26 by Steve Orlando and Miguel Mendonca. With Angor a total mess, and the Adjudicator watching it unfold, Dreamslayer attacks Havok. Batman offers himself up as a sacrifice to the Adjudicator and it seems like he will be the person to save the world. Havok decides to make the sacrifice and Dreamslayer joins him, restoring the planet but sacrificing themselves in the process. In the end, the team finds that Happy Harbor is being rebuilt and Lobo decides he is done and leaves the team. In the epilogue, set 20 years from now, Micron is being beaten badly by Chronos, who has a plan to change the past.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #27 by Steve Orlando and Hugo Petrus. Beginning with Ray Palmer confronting Chronos in the Microverse, we shift gears and see the League continuing to rebuild Happy Harbor. Workers find some fossilized 4-D energy under Sanctuary, which leads to everyone trying to figure out what and why. Chronos arrives and battles the heroes, using his time powers to stop them. Ryan is the only one unaffected and Chronos reveals he needs to get the Imprint so he can keep Ahl from starting hat became a world full of superheroes. Chronos escapes and the team follows him to the Time Promordial, where it appears they have arrived too late.

MERA QUEEN OF ATLANTIS #2 by Dan Abnett and Lan Medina. Orm has left his family to deal with personal matters, which means he has gone off to Amnesty Bay to see Mera. After a long conversation, he attacks her and discovers that she is powerless and can’t breathe water anymore. Just when he is ready to kill her, his family shows up.

MOTHER PANIC GOTHAM A.D. #1 by Jody Houser and Ibrahim Moustafa. We begin ten years after the ending of the last story. As a result of the MILK WARS, Violet is in the future, along with Fennec Fox, looking for her mother and trying to adjust to the new normal. Batman is gone, and a group known as The Collective has taken over Gotham, which is run by Gala. with The Collective making their own superheroes, Violet seeks out The Joker, who tells her where to find her. Meanwhile, it seems Martin Paige is connected to The Collective, who resides in Arkham Institute. And it also seems they have Violet’s mother too. In the back-up, we get a glimpse of how The Collective wants to create a television commercial that will bring Gotham to their way of thinking.

NEW SUPER-MAN AND THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF CHINA #21  by Gene Luen Yang and Brent Peeples. The Justice League of China takes on the giant crab. In the process, Deilan talks to the giant crustacean and Ahn Kwang-Jo gets freed. Injured in the process, something that bothers Avery, he ends up in the hospital. Later, Deilan takes him out to the streets, where he sees that conditions in China are far better than they are in North Korea, which allows him to realize that the crustaceans to get him out of his country was justified. That night, a bunch of sea creatures create his true father: a water dragon named King Munmu. He announces himself as Dragonson-the new champion of North Korea.

NIGHTWING #40 by Sam Humphries and  Bernard Chang. Dick is still moments away from drowning when he head-butts a giant squid to anger the creature enough to free himself. He heads over to visit Baby Ruthless, where he finds out she set him up because of the Judge’ poker chip. With the Judge ready to make his deal to get the Casino from Holderman, Nightwing arrives, taking out the bad guys but letting the Judge get away. Unfortunately, Holderman is holding a teddy bear with a bomb in it and, of course, the bomb explodes.

NIGHTWING #41 by Sam Humphries and Bernard Chang. Guppy is in prison for killing his dad and he talks with Nightwing. We then flashback to see that Nightwing and the casino owner escaped the explosion at the last possible second. Dick goes after the Judge and manages to stop him, with the Judge begging to be let back in the sea.  The detective shows up and takes a shot at him, leading to Dick fishing him out of the sea and locking him up. In the end, Dick reopens his training center and looks forward to reliving his dream life.

RAGMAN #6 by Ray Fawkes and Inaki Miranda. Rory might be dead, which explains why he is talking with his dead fellow soldiers. While Sir Justin and Etrigan battle the demon, Rory’s Marines convince him to fight back, which he does. In the process, Rory comes back to life and defeats the bad guys, at the cost of his fellow Marines. In the end, Rory vows to watch Frank’s son and keep up the good fight.

RAVEN DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS #3 by Marv Wolfman and Pop Mhan. Raven is battling Ash, who has the power to use tentacles to kill. Raven drains the energy from the dead soldiers to keep Ash at bay, then transports way and ends up in Baron Winters’ house.  He is surprised to see her here and she is then transported to Sn Francisco on the day of the Great San Francisco earthquake. She is helpless to assist and can only give comfort to the injured.  She returns again to Winters’ house, before going back to her own home. Later, we learn that Ash is connected to Raven’s father, Trigon the Terrible. In the end, she goes to Teri’s grandmother’s funeral and Raven’s mom shows up!

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #20 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. While Jason threatens a criminal who has tis to the Penguin, Artemis and Bizarro hve a chat about his motives. Jason arrives and Bizarro leaves, going off to try and kill a gang of henchmen and reduce the criinal element.  Red Hood observes and comments that he is glad Bizarro didn’t kill them. Later, Artemis goes down into Bizarro’s lab and sees how he has been making synthetic Kryptonite. That’s when Bizarro shows up ad menaces her with her axe.

SIDEWAYS #2 by Kenneth Rocafort, Dan DiDio, and Justin Jordan. Derek frees himself from the clutches of Tempus Fuginaut, arriving at Ernie’s house after a rather nasty fall from the heavens. She takes him to a hospital where he finally gets reunited with is mom, who is pretty stressed out about him being missing. Just when it looks like his secret is going to get revealed, Killspeed shows up and that means Sideways is back in action again.

THE SILENCER #3 by John Romita Jr and Dan Abnett. Remedy and his robot assassins are prepared to kill Honor, but she uses her silencing power to defeat them. All the while, Remedy’s boss, Quiteus, is egging him on to finish her and ultimately a bomb is set off killing everyone but Honor. In the end, Deathstroke gets involved and wants to know what the deal is with The Silencer.

SUICIDE SQUAD #37 by Rob Williams and José Luis. Waller has blown up her data computer and the Squad is now in the digital world with a vengeful Hack. She goes through the process of finding out who killed her, with Captain Boomerang finally confessing that he did this at Harcourt’s bidding. Before her power fades and everyone is eliminated, Hack sends most of the team back into the real world. Just then, The Wall shows up and takes down Hack and the Squad.

SUICIDE SQUAD #38 by Rob Williams and Tom Derenick. With Belle Reve destroyed, the operation gets shut down and the team are sent to other prisons, much to the dismay of The Enchantress who ants to be with Croc. Meanwhile, The Wall goes rogue and begins taking out Rick Flag and his team of soldiers, eventually ending up in Washington, where he uses his powers to control all electronic devices and taking over the minds of everyone in the city. That leads to the Squad being called in to one last mission and take down everyone in Washington.

SUPERGIRL #19 by Steve Orlando, Vita Ayala and Jamal Campbell. After seeing Chase have a verbal confrontation with Director Bones, who she informs that he is being played by Mokkari, we see Ben interviews someone who actually likes Supergirl. Lee is a non-binary, who was saved and befriended by Supergirl. Lee, who is bullied at school, eventually comes out to Lee's Parents, but things are still bad at school until Supergirl shows up, giving Lee the strength to stand up to the bullies. Ben posts his article on Catco, which may be able to change National City’s view of Supergirl. In the end, Supergirl shows up to speak with Ben.

SUPERMAN #42 by Patrick Gleason and Peter J. Tomasi. Welcome to Bizarro World, where we see their version of Superman, Lois and Superboy. After a fight, Superboy leaves in a huff. Meanwhile, Jon and Kathy have used a device of Kathy’s creation to pierce the Multiverse and land here, where they encounter the Bizarro version of Superboy. They come back home and Jon races to Metropolis, here his parents hassle him about having been to Hamilton County and neglecting his chores. That night, while lying in bed, Bizarro Superboy arrives!

SUPERMAN #43 by Patrick Gleason and Peter J. Tomasi. While Nobody talks with Kathy, as she has been assigned by Superman to watch Jon, Boyzarro is here and refuses to go back to his world, as his father mistreats him. Superman discovers the boy and that leads to he and Jon taking Boyzarro home, where Superman battles Bizarro while Bizarro Lois Lane swoons over him. In the end, we see the Legion of Fun plotting to finish off Bizarro and his family.

SUPER SONS #14 by Peter J. Tomasi and Carlo Barberi. Lois is on assignment in Gotham, which is where Superboy is, hoping to protect his mom from Talia. Dmian joins the fray and fights with his mom while Jon has a run in with his own mother. In the end, Talia, who feels Batman has ruined her son, understands why Damian wants to be good, although she doesn’t agree with his decision. She abandons her mission and the two Super Sons walk away, renewing their friendship.

TEEN TITANS #18 by Benjamin Percy and Scot Eaton. Gar is still under the effects of Pixie and enjoying hanging with Joran, ho is going to use Pixie on an entire theater filled ith kids . The Titans figure out that Pixie is actually being used on these kids to control them and decide to bust into the big Nevrlander launch. They get surprised to see Gar there and try to take him away, but he changes into a monster, against his will. Unfortunately, they can’t defeat everyone as the entire audience is now under control of Pixie and poised to attack them.

THE TERRIFICS #2 by Ivan Reis, Jeff Lemire and José Luís. The team is facing the image of Tom Strong and, when they try to remove the antenna from the distress beacon, they wake the giant monster Unicron that they are standing on. They quickly flee the Dark Multiverse, coming back to Stagg’s lab.  As Mr. terrific leaves to figure out the deal with Tom Strong, Linnya reveals how she was sent by her parents away from their destroying world but they ended up safe and she grew up in the Dark Multiverse. Then the team is transported away and end up with Mr. Terrific. It seems what happened in the Dark Multiverse has affected them so they can never be far apart from each other.

TITANS #21 by Dan Abnett and Paul Pelletier. Donna is still locked up on the Watchtower and that means Roy gets to apologize by phone. Meanwhile, The Brain and Mallah keep working on their master plot. It seems that every person who uses the drug allows Brain to get smarter and get him closer to world domination. But he has also created a damper that allows him to mask his plan from the world, so the Justice League think Roy is crazy. This leads to him having a knockdown, drag out fight with Nightwing and Wally. In the end, Roy tangles with Cheshire.

TRINITY #19 by James Robinson and Jack Herbert. The interrogation continues, and it’s revealed that Steve Trevor is asking the questions. This takes us back to Skartaris, where Diana gets her sight back and Superman gets some of his powers back.  They head off into battle against Deimos’ army and Warlord, still alive, arrives with his army. Defeating the bad guys, our heroes are sent home, here it is revealed that Trevor is really Deimos, who disappears. That means the heroes need to find Steve.

TRINITY #20 by James Robinson and Jack Herbert. Steve has been captured by Deimos and is being transformed. The trinity goes off to find him, facing a bunch of creations sent out by Blue Strike Security. In the end, they find Steve, but he is now a rampaging monster set to attack them.

WONDER WOMAN #42 by James Robinson and Jesus Merino. Jason is back and is in the dark about what happened to him and how he got his armor. Grail has been spotted in Germany and that means Jason and Diana fly off to engage her. In the process, Jason explains how he met Grail and she had saved him during a battle with the Deep Six. Arriving in Germany, Jason goes off to fight Parademons while Diana fights Grail. Diana defeats her and gets her in the lasso, where she reveals how Darkseid wants to build an army to open a doorway to Themyscira. This gives her time to recover and head back to Darkseid, who is ready to put his plan into motion.

WONDER WOMAN #43 by James Robinson and Marco Santucci. Jason is now at ARGUS and Steve is testing out his skills. Steve admits that he will work with Jason, although he doesn’t trust him. Meanwhile, Diana is interrogating and fighting with the captured Furies to find out Darkseid’s plan. Darkseid creates a Boom Tube that sucks ARGUS to him in he Amazon Jungle, leading to a final face-off between Wonder Woman and Darkseid.

DC UNIVERSE Month 4, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #999 by Dan Jurgens and Will Conrad. General Lane pays a visit to Lois and Jon, but that starts out badly as he immediately begins an argument about whether Superman should be trusted. Meanwhile, Superman saves the Earth by destroying an asteroid threatening the planet and finds a rare crystal in the process. Upon returning to Earth, he decides that the Phantom Zone is a cruel place to keep the Cyborg Superman. So he creates a cell to house him in out of the crystal. Releasing Henshaw, he convinces him to go into the cell, so he can live with the memories of his family and friends. Superman heads home and, as Clark Kent, gets General Lane and Lois to bury the hatchet.

AQUAMAN #34  by Dan Abnett and Kelley Jones. Corum Rath is bummed out because Aquaman has joined up with the Ninth Tride to take down the Silent School. He joins up with his longtime friend Kadaver and they go to the source of Atlantean magic where they confront the Old Gods. The Gods give Rath the opportunity to use the power ti defeat Aquaman, but they touch Kadaver, who is transformed by it.

BANE CONQUEST #10 by Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan. Bane has made his team and now they are off to get Kobra. But first, they trick a Korean General into giving up the codes that will allow them into the country to kill the Naja-Naja.  

BATGIRL #21 by Hope Larson and Scott Godlewski. Batgirl gets involved on a case involved several women who have been put into comas after using a face cream called Bio Glass. The results in Batgirl and Jim Gordan teaming up to get to the solution. It seems that Bio Glass is made from an alien organism that is trying to put itself back together by following the tubes of cream and sucking its’ arts from the victims. They confront the creature and manages to destroy it by hardening it with bleach.

BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #20 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Roge Antonio. It seems like the Birds are falling apart, as Gus is dead, Batgirl has been playing Oracle again and Huntress has been visiting her mom in prison. Fenice is up for release from prison, but the judge has been payed off and that sends her off to Arkham. Huntress scopes out the judge’s house, learning that Calculator is responsible for the payoff. She also runs into Burnrate in the process. They tangle and Huntress gets away. Later, Claculator and Burnrate break Blackbird and Fenice out of Arkham. Next stop: the Birds.

BATMAN #42 by Tom King and Mikel Janin. Ivy has taken over most the entire word, except for Batman, Catwoman and a boy who is allergic to vegetables. She is so upset by this, she has Superman beat Batman to death. But she brings him back from the dead. Bruce finds himself in a hospital where is nurse is Harley Quinn.

BATMAN #43 by Tom King, Mikel Janin and Hugo Petris. Batman talks to Ivy through Harley while Catwoman talks to Ivy directly. Ivy’s biggest problem is that she has been scarred by killing mobsters during The War of Jokes and Riddles. Bruce has Selena distract Ivy and knock her out, giving him time to free her from controlling Harley. Reunited with Harley, Ivy releases control on the world and agrees to seek treatment. Also, Bruce explains that Ivy DIDN’T kill the mobsters; that was really The Riddler’s doing.

BATMAN BEYOND #18 by Dan Jurgens and Phil Hester. Ten is battling Payback while 

Terry is saving his own life and that of Stalker. Stalker actually saves Terry, calling it payback for Batman saving him from Payback. Payback teleports Batman to him, where he is tortured. Bruce figures out that Payback is actually NOT Kenny, but Kenny’s father seeking revenge for his son’s death. Since Bruce can’t do it, Matt is off to save the day…as Robin.

BATWOMAN #13 by Marguerite Bennett and Fernando Blanco. Kate goes to visit Beth in the Sanatorium, only to find that she has gone out on a camping trip. Julia is on her way to meet with Kate in Brussels, where Kate is going after Safiyah. This leads her to her family home, which she hasn’t been to in 15 years. Safiyah is there and the pair begins to fight, with Safiyah insisting she had nothing to do with the attack on Coryana. She reveals that she is being set up  Knife is with the twins who run the Kali Corporation.  Just as she is about to slit the throat of the male twin, a mysterious voice convinces her not to. When she goes to the front of the plane they are in, we see Beth is now Alice.

BLACK LIGHTNING: COLD DEAD HANDS #5 by Tony Isabella and Clayton Henry. Cleveland is a war zone, cops are dead, Lightning is on the run and the police are interrogating the alien known as Sssears, who was responsible for the gunfight that left Cleveland a mess. Meanwhile, Black Lightning gets a tip and goes after Tobias Whale . He finds him in a warehouse, along with Miss Pequod. Using special gloves that shuts down Lightning’s electrical powers, Whale beats up our hero. Usagi shows up and turns off the juice, but he gets killed by Whale, meaning the gloves are off and Whale can kill Lightning.

DAMAGE #3 by Tony S. Daniel and Robert Venditti. After a flashback from Damage’s first mission, we go back to Damage battling Wonder Woman confronts Damage. The pair beat on each other before Damage runs out of time. Diana gets the lasso around him and they both see what he has had to deal with. Damage takes her out in his last few seconds and gets away. In the end, Wonder Woman meets with Batman while Colonel Jonas gets another team together to take out Damage.

DARK NIGHTS METAL #6 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Greg Capullo and Mikel Janin. With the Earth fallen to the Dark, Wonder Woman and Kendra continue to fight their way towards Batman and Superman. As Wonder Woman tries to free the rest of the trinity, the heroes of Earth 53 arrive to continue the fight with the other heroes. The Trinity roars back into action, wearing armor made of the 10^th Metal, which they use to create armor for Aquaman and Green Lantern. Carter Hall remembers that he is NOT the Dragon, which leads him into battle against his former captor. The Batman Who Laughs has the Over Monitor captive and that leads to a battle between The Batman Who Laughs and Batman, with an assist from The Joker. Kendra defeats Barbatos and the heroes join together to use the power of Element X to restore the world. In the end, Bruce hosts a dinner party, where he explains that the Source Wall has been broken open, which means it is time for a new age of heroes to join the future fight. Batman has a pan and that includes a Hall of Justice for the heroes, which will lead directly into JUSTICE LEAGUE: NO JUSTICE.

DEATHSTROKE #29 by Christopher Priest and Diogenes Neves. Deathstroke kills Claire, but not really, as it’s a fake bullet with a red gel capsule. Tara attacks him for what he had done to her in the past and that’s when New Super-man arrives to engage in combat, as does his son, who just discovered that Willow killed Etienne, and his super powered ex-lover Isherwood. Together, they take down Slade, who has discovered that “Billy” is not an implant, but just his imagination. Slade is taken into custody and finds himself in Arkham Asylum. Meanwhile, Rose and Kiâu Jiao-Long settle their differences and Hosun finds out where he stands.

THE DEMON HELL IS EARTH #5 by Andrew Constant and Brad Walker. The gang continues to fight lesser demons while Belial continues his plan for world domination. In the end, even though Merlin has a way to defeat Belial, they are too late, and Belial is the ruler of the world.

DETECTIVE COMICS #976 by James Tynion IV and Javier Fernandez. After a flashback where Cass gets saved from the Yakuza by Clayface, we shift to a therapy session between Cass and Leslie Tompkins. Leslie tells Bruce that Cass needs some help. Meanwhile, the Talons are in the process of robbing a barge when Batwoman, Luke, Azrael, and the Colony show up to stop them. Later, they reconvene, and it looks like Batwoman is ready to take the lead position in the Colony. Tim meets with Bruce, who has figured out that Tim is looking to resurrect the Gotham Knights program. That leads to Tim storming out, but he comes face to face with Ulysses, ho has a jump drive with everything off of Future Tim’s computer.

DETECTIVE COMICS #977 by James Tynion IV, Javier Fernandez, Eddy Barrows, and Eber Ferreira. Future Tim Drake is in college and finds out that the Colony has gotten the President to declare Gotham as a No Man’s Land and Batman is now hunted. Batman initiates his Brother Eye protocol and finds himself staring down the barrel of Batwoman’s gun, ending the standoff with her shooting him. Tim, dressed as Robin arrives. This leads us back to the present, where all of this has been shown to present day Tim by Ulysses, who ants Tim to initiate Brother Eye now. After Luke Fox tells his sister that he is leaving Foxtech to join the Colony, Tim meets with Batman, where they team up to take out some bad guys with guns.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK #4 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. The new Rorschach is revealed to be the son of Dr. Malcolm Long, who once spent time trying to work the case of the original Rorschach. Reggie Long’s parents died after the alien invasion and that leads to him ending up in an asylum, where he became friends with an institutionalized Mothman. After a time, Reggie decides to break out of the asylum with Mothman, who eventually changes his mind and goes back. Wearing a Rorschach mask that Mothman had made for him, he goes to Karnak to kill Ozymandias, who reveals he is dying from a brain tumor. Back on our world, we see that all of this was revealed because Saturn Girl was looking inside of his mind. We also see that the hospital psychiatrist who is treating him is really Batman in disguise and that he and Alfred believe he knows too much and they don’t know enough.

THE FLASH #42 by Joshua Williamson and Dan Panosian. While it looks like Grodd is no long for this world, Wally defeats Raijin, but still doesn’t know where Iris has been taken to. Barry is with Godspeed and the hero turned villain turned hero wants to make Barry proud, even if Barry is setting August up for a fall if it all goes bad. Wally and Avery take on Meena and Godspeed saves the day. Barry gets his powers back, but the results are disastrous as all of his friends are now under Grodd’s spell.

THE FLASH #43 by Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico. Grodd has tapped into the Speed Force but Barry, in an attempt to take it back, has allowed Grodd to take control of the “Flash Family”. S Barry is chased by Wally, he mentions Iris, which temporarily break’s Grodd’s control. This doesn’t last long before Wally is beating up his long-time mentor again. Barry ends up at Grodd’s feet, where he reveals he had gathered all of the pieces of the wand and proceeds to tough Grodd with it, curing him of the disease that was killing him. When Grodd tries to turn off the wand, it creates a Negative Speed force that appears to destroy Central City.

GREEN ARROW #38 by Ben Percy and Juan Ferreyra. Oliver Queen is finally on trial and things look grim. He makes his own opening statement, explaining that he has tried his best but is probably not the best person in the world. But he is no murderer. Things look bad until the murdered Wendy Poole arrives in court, allowing Oliver to go free and the Ninth Circle to finally be defeated. In the end, Star City is once again Seattle and Oliver is ready to make some great changes there.

GREEN LANTERNS #42 by Tim Seeley and V. Ken Marion. John Stewart is giving

Simon and Jessica the story of the Order of the Steed. Because the group is protected by their religion, the pair must convert and go under cover and find the kidnapped heroes. Once there, they hear from the High Rider, who has been arranging the kidnapping, so they can convert the heroes into avatars of the religion. In the end, Scrapps heads off on her own to take out the Night Rider, but Night Pilot has been turned and now stands in her way.

GREEN LANTERNS #43 by Tim Seeley and V. Ken Marion. Jessica uses her powers to try to free the captured heroes from control of The Steed, while Simon goes after the Durlan priest and Scrapps takes on the High Rider. In the end, all is restored, everyone is defeated and Simon reveals, after being reunited with Night Pilot, that he was a match for Jessica, who may have issues with her ring falling in love with her.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #40 by Robert Vendetti and Rafa Sandoval. Hal is still imprisoned on Jekku by General Zod, which means, despite the Guardians angry about it, the Green Lantern Corps is invading the planet, led by Kyle, who is boosted from his injuries by Hal’s ring The Corps fights it out with Zod’s family and takes a bit of a beating. That’s when Hal uses his will power to get free and is ready to bring the fight to Zod.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #41 by Robert Vendetti and Brandon Peterson. Hal Jordan is here to beat on Zod, who has gotten the residents on Jekku to worship him like a god. But the Guardians show up and make him back off, taking back Kyle’s ring in the exchange. In the end, Zod has a master plan, which includes having gained knowledge from the ring. That leaves an unaware Corps at odds with each other as what to do next.

HARLEY QUINN #39 by Frank Tieri and Inaki Miranda. The Penguin continues his crusade against Harley, who is continuing her war against the criminals in town. This leads her into a battle against Victor Zsasz, who duels with her in the middle of Yankee Stadium, who she defeats with some help from Red Tool. Meanwhile, Penguin has Signalman captive and his continuing army arrives, including The Ventriloquist. In the end, Coach figures out that the Harley doll ties into all of this. But she can’t reveal this as the doll dealer turns out to be False Face and he is working with Hugo Strange.

HARLEY QUINN #40 by Frank Tieri, John Timms and Moritat. Coach is held captive along with the real Frank, because False Face was the Fake Frank. Harley is in an ambulance and Hugo Strange is there to torment her. Bad idea, as Harley takes him down. Meanwhile, Croc and Mr. Freeze tangle until Harley shows up to take Freeze down. It seems Croc has some feelings resulting from the ay he was treated in the Freak Show back in the day. In the end, Coney Island is in flame and Harley asks Croc to help her put it back together.

THE HELLBLAZER #20 by Tim Seeley and Davide Fabbri. We find Constantine performing a dark ritual to conjure up his ex-girlfriend out of Hell, who will tell him what is going on with his other ex-girlfriend Margaret Ames.  She explains that the Day brothers have escaped from Hell and are possessing Margaret, which a bounty hunter being hired to find her and bring the Days back to Hell. Meanwhile the Days come across a gang of teens and, just about when a fight is looking to start, The Huntress arrives. As she prepares to shoot Ames, Constantine arrives and takes the arrow for his ex. The Days leave, and now John must face the gang alone.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #40 by Christopher Priest and Pete Woods. While part of the

Justice League and the JLA are trying to figure out how they're going to keep the Watchtower from crashing to Earth, the rest of the two teams are still dealing with the repercussions from the chemical spill in Estes Park. After a lot of arguing on the Watchtower, the team pulls together, and Frost uses her ice power to create a heat shield around it. That’s the good news. The bad news: it’s still crashing towards Earth.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #41 by Christopher Priest and Philippe Briones. As Simon and Jessica returns for space, we see that the Watchtower has crashed in Africa and the heroes are trying to stop two warring factions that are trying to salvage the ship. Red Lion shows up with the military to take control of Watchtower, leading to a battle where it looks like he has defeated Cyborg, but not before Wonder Woman is injured from a bullet ricochet. Meanwhile, Batman and Aquaman take down the Fan and try to figure out exactly ho he is.