DC UNIVERSE Month 6, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE: NO JUSTICE #1 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson and Francis Manapul. Brainiac has come to Earth and that leads the heroes into battle. But the Trinity reveals that he is actually their ally against a bigger problem. Apparently, the Omega Titans are coming and are after the cosmic energies of Wisdom, Entropy, Mystery and Wonder. Meanwhile, Waller gets the members of Task Force XI to mentally hack into Brainiac. Unfortunately, their hack fries Brainiac, who is the only person that can tell our heroes how to defeat the Omega Titans.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: NO JUSTICE #2 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson and Francis Manapul. The teams are suck on Colu now that Brainiac has been destroyed, so they have to figure out on their own how to work with the four cosmic energies needed to save the planet. Meanwhile, Waller gets involved again with the whole idea of her team saving the world.  In the end, Waller realizes she messed this up by killing Brainiac and the heroes meet Vril Dox, Brainiac 2.0, on Colu.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: NO JUSTICE #3 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson and Riley Rossmo. Brainiac 2.0 reveals his father’s plan, which was to finally find a way to conquer Colu. As the teams continue to work at maintaining the cosmic balance of energies, Starro sacrifices himself for the good of the mission. But that seems to have been a useless sacrifice as the Omega Titans have now arrived on Earth and are preparing to conquer the universe.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: NO JUSTICE #4 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson and Francis Manapul. As the Titans are ready to destroy the Earth, the hero teams deal with the destruction of Colu, which was part of the plan all along. Braniac 2.0 proceeds to Earth to execute his plan to destroy the universe, leading the heroes to chase him. They convince Waller NOT to nuke the cities that has the four trees in them, which gives the heroes time to gather the seeds from those trees, so they can use them to attract the Omega Titans away from Earth. Defeated, Brainiac leaves, but with a promise to continue the fight later. Luthor tells Martian Manhunter that Earth is tipped towards entropy and everyone should be ready for it, which leads into Luthor putting together his own Legion of Doom. Manhunter gives Green Arrow the box which contains all the ways to stop the League, if ever that happens. In the end, the multiverse is saved, and three teams are formed: Justice League, Justice League Odyssey and Justice League Dark

MAN OF STEEL #1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Ivan Reis and Jay Fabok. Many ears ago, Rogol Zaar tells a bunch of alien races that he will be responsible for killing all Kryptonians. But a meeting with one of the Guardians means they believe Krypton will fall on its’ on and dismisses him. In the present day, Superman fights crime and saves people. In the process, he meets the new deputy fire chief, Melody Moore, who just can here from Coast City. Later, the Kent family are greeted by a flash of light and then…nothing.

MERA QUEEN OF ATLANTIS #4 by Dan Abnett and Lan Medina. Orm and Mera fight an Octodon so they be able to get an audience in Xebel. Upon defeating the creature, they go to Xebel, where Mera explains all that his happened with Corum Rth and Aquaman, including how she is now the Queen of Atlantis. She meets with Lammia, explaining what is happening and her grandmother says she is proud of who she has become. In Amnesty Bay, Tula decides to go lend a hand in Xebel, but is kidnaped before that can happen. In the end, Lammia meets with King Nerus and reveals, when this is over, she plans to punish Mera.

MOTHER PANIC GOTHAM A.D. #3 by Jody Houser, Ibrahim Moustafa and Paulina Ganucheau. Inside Arkham, Mother Panic frees Dr. Harleen Quinzel and also Violet’s mother. As they make their escape, they get attacked, only to be saved by Fennec Fox, who helps them escape. Meanwhile, Joker is captured by a street gang of Jokers and is beaten to death with a crowbar, as Jason Todd watches. In the back-up, a tale of the love between Ivy and Harley.

NEW CHALLENGERS #1 by Scott Snyder, Aaron Gillespie and Andy Kubert. We begin with a pilot having his plane taken over high above the Himalayas, resulting in him getting tossed out of the plane, which is then piloted into a mountain opening. In the present, people start being transported into a base in Colorado. In a flashback, one of the people, Trina, is seen dying during a battle in the Narrows. Back in the present, Prof tells them they are all dead but alive and are part of a long-standing tradition called the Challengers of the Unknown. They are told that if they leave, they are on borrowed time and Robert decides to test the threat, which results in him melting away and being replaced by another. They are quickly sent off on their first mission, where they face a giant crab monster while Prof watches on a monitor.

NEW SUPER-MAN AND THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF CHINA #23 by Gene Luen Yang and Brent Peeples. Aery convinces Dragonson not to submerge North Korea, but then Kenan arrives and starts to fight with him. Avery convinces Kenan to back off, but then the Green Lantern Corps of China arrive, capturing Kenan and that leads to the flood waters to come racing I again. Kenna absorbs the essence of the I-Ching, turns all black and busts out of captivity, allowing Dragonson to once again stop the flood. In the end, Dragonson agrees to join the League while Kenan talks with the I-Ching brothers. Elsewhere, Alpaca busts her brother out of his prison.

NIGHTWING #44 by Ben Percy and Chris Mooneyham. After some crime fighting involving saving a train full of people, Dick gets a message from a guy with a mechanical hand who wants to get in shape. Later, he ends up at a crime scene that involves something called a Phantasm, that attaches itself to a person and makes them see a different surrounding. Later, Dick examines the Phantasm box and it takes control of him.

RAVEN DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS #5 by Marv Wolfman and Pop Mhan. While Baron Winters watches, we find that Raven and her mom have been captured by 2MorrowTek. 2MorrowTek is panning on experimenting on her to find what makes her so different from their other experiments to breed an army of Trigon's children. Meanwhile, the strange alien girls, as there are more than one, watch and plan. With Raven and her mom hooked up to some machines, Trigon gets summoned and many of the alien girls get killed, with one of them merging with Raven. Meanwhile, Teri loses a court hearing and is going to be sent to live with her cousin in San Diego.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #22 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. Jason battles Tim while Artemis visits Luthor and Bizarro continued to try to live his life as his mind is reverting back. Later, Tim tries to find more out of what the letter from Ma Gunn has to say, before meeting with a Bizarro who is scared for his future.

SIDEWAYS #4 by Kenneth Rocafort, Dan DiDio, and Justin Jordan. Sideways continues to fight with Replicant, who can duplicate Sideways powers. Sideways defeats Replicant, who explodes after overloading on Sideways’ powers. Meanwhile, Derek’s mom meets with Ms. Dominus, who is anxious to meet with Derek regarding his potential interview, which he doesn’t make because he is battling Replicant. Later he sees his mom’s texts and realizes he blew his interview. Not to worry: Dominus is ready for him when he finally gets there.

THE SILENCER #5 by Viktor Bogdanovic and Dan Abnett. Silencer talks with Deathstroke, who tells her she is being used by Talia. Later, she gets a call from Talia looking for a time to meet. Even later, Honor takes her son for ice cream and Talia arrives, followed by a sanction team, meaning gunfire erupts.

SUICIDE SQUAD #41 by Rob Williams and Eduardo Pansica. Deadshot’s daughter has been kidnapped by Kobra, but Waller won’t let Floyd out of Belle Reve to go save her. So Batman breaks into Belle Reve and breaks Deadshot out. Meanwhile, Waller, down Enchantress, Croc and now Deadshot, adds to the team by bringing in Captain Cold.

SUICIDE SQUAD #42 by Rob Williams and Jose Luis. Batman and Deadshot continue their assault on Kobra members, seeking the location of Floyd’s daughter. His daughter is being held captive and a cultist named Keenum tells her he is angry because HE should be the person who gets to absorb the soul of the original Kobra Jeffrey Franklin. Before the heroes arrive, they are attacked by a cultist who transforms into a giant half human snake. Meanwhile, the new Suicide Squad faces cultists of their own as they travel to catch up with the team of Batman and Deadshot.

SUPERMAN SPECIAL #1 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Mark Russell, Ian Flynn, Scott Godlewski, Bryan Hitch, and Kaare Andrews. Remembering a promise, Jon convinces his father to travel back to Dinosaur Island and save Captain Storm. The team return home and, after Storm gives Jon his dog tag, Storm goes abut returning the dog tags of the rest of the Losers to their rightful family members. In the first backup, Superman saves a man from a building damaged in an attack by an Atlantean Sea-Bug. But the man insists that he needs his photos. So Superman goes back, but decides to save a trapped dog instead. In the third back-up, the Atomic Skull tries to decide if he truly can be a hero.

SUPER SONS #16 by Peter J. Tomasi, Carlos Barberi and Brent Peeples. In a tale read by a grandfather to his grandkids, Jon and the Justice League are being held captive by Kid Amazo as Robin and Cyborg race to help them. Robin uses one of Batman’s contingency plans to stop Cyborg, if ever needed, to short circuit Cyborg and thus stop Kid Amazo. In the end, Batman and Superman promise to help rebuild the boys headquarters and the grandfather promises that there will be me stories of the Super Sons to come.

SUPER SONS/DYNOMUTT SPECIAL #1 by Peter J Tomasi and Fernando Pasarin. As a young genius, Radley turns his dying dog into a robot version of his former self, known as Dynomutt. While attending a funeral for a colleague, Robin shows up and gets Jon’s help to save Dynomutt and Blue Falcon from the clutches of the Red Vulture. During the fight, Blue Falcon sacrifices himself to save Dynomutt. In the end, Dynomutt digs up Falcon’s body and resurrects him.

THE TERRIFICS #4 by Jeff Lemire and Doc Shaner. As Phantom Girl relates I her diary, The Terrifics got some directional help from Hal Jordan and now are off to Bgtzl so she can see her parents again. They end up inside a giant space ship, fighting aliens and a giant squid, before finally making it to Bgtzl. Once there, they find Phantom Girl’s mother, who is now very old, and learn that her father died seven years ago. What she thought was 10 years was actually 32. Either way, there is a tearful reunion between mother and daughter.

WONDER WOMAN #46 by James Robinson and Stephen Segovia. Veronica Cal has been holding Cheetah captive for some time and now she escapes. This leads to Diana intervening to stop her from killing Cale. But, following a long fight, Cheetah gets away. Meanwhile, Jason meets with and frees his father and they head off together. In the end, Diana is told of people all over the world saying the Dark Gods are coming and that leads her into a direct confrontation with Supergirl.

WONDER WOMAN #47 by James Robinson and Stephen Segovia. Diana battles and defeats Supergirl. Meanwhile, Jason meets with the Three Fates who tell him of the coming of the Dark Gods and how he is the rightful owner of the armor, even though it was meant for Diana. In the end, brother and sister team up to meet the Dark Gods, but Diana is transported away, leaving Jason to fight on his own.

DC UNIVERSE Month 6, Part 1

ACTION COMICS SPECIAL #1 by Dan Jurgens, Mark Russell, Max Landis, Will Conrad, Jill Thompson, and Francis Manapul. A villain is out to kill of Superman’s family, starting with Lois. Superman saves the dy and then discovers that the villain in Lex Luthor. But, it’s a time-travelling aged future Lex who is seeking revenge after so many years. While our Lex is saving Lois, aged Lex has a heart attack and is Luthor suit explodes, killing him. When our Lex asks who the bad guy was, Superman tells him it doesn’t matter. In the second story, Clark and Lois go to the White House correspondent’s Dinner, where Clark tells bad jokes and Lex finds himself the butt of some jokes. In flashbacks, we see this is sort of the way his younger life had been too. In the third tale, Superman stops a robber after he crashed into Lois’ beloved car, destroying it. In the end, Superman straps her into the car’s seat and takes her flying in it.

AQUAMAN #36 by Dan Abnett and Riccardo Federici. Aquaman and Murk take on Corum Rath and his minions, resulting in Murk getting fatally injured. Meanwhile, Dolphin reveals a secret to Vulko that might help win the war. And Elder Null arrives, just in time to lend more support.

AQUAMAN/JABBERJAW SPECIAL #1 by Dan Abnett, Paul Pelletier, Jeff Parker and Scott Kolins. After a series of shark attacks in Amnesty Bay, Aquaman meets the talking shark Jabberjaw who has traveled here from 2076. After confronting the angry sharks, the pair end up in Los Aquales in 2076 where they explore the deserted Sealab 2020 and meet up with Jabberjaw’s band The Neptunes. They get attacled by some mechanical sharks and that leads them to come face to face with the new Ocean Master. They all work together to defeat Ocean Master and restore peace to Aqualand. Aquaman takes in a Neptunes concert before heading back to present day. In the back-up, Spectre and the wizard Shazam observe Captain Caveman as he adjusts to life in the 21^st Century.

BATGIRL #23 by Hope Larson and Minkyu Jung. Trapped in a never-ending dream state that could kill her, Batgirl fights an MMA fight, meets Martina Falcone, reveals her identity to Kai and kisses him, which breaks the drug induced spell. She defeats the robbers who put her in this state in the first place and relishes in her role as Batgirl.

BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #22 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Roge Antonio. Because of her hynos, Blackbird is unable to control Huntress. So Calculator has another idea, which may mentally cripple her while revealing the Oracle information. The team shows up and takes down his computer, freeing Fenice from his conrol. Canary faces off with Blackbird while Batgirl battles Calculator, who uses Burnrate’s severed head to kill Fenice. Batgirl reveals she is Oracle, as do all the other team members, before taking the bad guys down. As the team recovers and Huntress buries her mom, Batgirl discovers that Gus had a secret place which has all the team’s memorabilia in it. Now they have a new sanctuary, if they choose to use it.

BATMAN #46 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel. It’s a year after the last issue and Booster breaks Selina out of Arkham, convincing her that only she can save Bruce. Booster fashions a Catwoman suit and he plans to take her to Bruce, until a gun toting Batman arrives. Meanwhile, Bruce and Thomas Wayne discuss the future of Gotham, during which time Thomas has a heart attack, which he survives. Back at Wayne Manor, Thomas is recovering when Booster and Catwoman arrives. She promptly slices open Alfred’s throat with her claws.  Batman arrive with guns blazing, killing Thomas and Booster. He is about to kill Selina when she slices off his fingers. Using his other hand, he attempts to kill her again, but he kills Martha by mistake, leading Bruce to kill Batman.

BATMAN #47 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel. It’s a year later and Booster has been a captive of Bruce Wayne’s all this time. He convinces Bruce to let him use a repaired Skeets to time-travel, taking him to the moment when Bruce’s parents are killed. With Bruce witnessing this, it snaps everything back to reality, except the events devastate Booster.

BATMAN PRELUDE TO THE WEDDING: ROBIN VS. RA’S AL GHUL #1 by Tim Seeley and Brad Walker. Damian and Selena are out fitting him for his clothes for the upcoming wedding, where he tells her he won’t call her “mom”. That night he sneaks out to go play Cheese Viking where he ends up battling a future version of himself. In actuality, he is fighting alone and has been drugged by his grandfather. He ends up back at the mansion where he and Selena come to an agreement. In the epilogue, Ra’s discovers that a great number of his assassins have been killed by what appears to be The Joker.

BATMAN BEYOND #20 by Dan Jurgens and Marco Castiello. Terry, with his brother Matt in tow as the new Robin, takes on a Jokerz gang member who has gone crazy and is troubled by a giant bat creature. Although Robin gets in trouble, the heroes come out in the end and Robin is promptly fired by his brother. In the end, a giant monster version of Batman meets Mellissa Stern, much to her horror.

BATWOMAN #15 by Marguerite Bennett and Fernando Blanco. After seeing Beth’s story told as if it was a storybook adventure, Kate tries to figure how to break into Beth’s ship. Finding no success, she turns her attention to stopping the bat plague coming to Gotham and uses her jet to emit ultrasonic sound waves to draw the bats away from Gotham. She leads them to Sarifah’s ship and, trapping them inside, blows up the ship, eliminating another piece of her memory of her former lover. At an impasse, she calls in help from Batman.

BLACK LIGHTNING/HONG KONG PHOOEY SPECIAL #1 by Bryan Hill, Jeff Parker, Denys Cowan and Scott Kolins. Set in 1976, Black Lightning battles against Cheshire, Bronze Tiger and Professor Presto. He goes to visit Hong Kong Phooey, who tells him the villains are after the god fist and he possesses the final part of the formula for that. Cheshire and Bronze Tiger capture Rosemary and trade her for the final part of the formula. ‘Luckily Phooey memorized the entire formula and uses his knowledge to defeat the bad guys. IN the back-up, the ghostly Funky Phantom gets involved in a Second Amendment debate and discovers what that is about, leaving him to teach proper gun handling.

THE CURSE OF BRIMSTONE #2 by Philip Tan and Justin Jordan. After the destruction at the end of last issue, Joe wakes and learns from his sister Annie that he was found naked in the middle of nowhere. It seems that HE is responsible for all this destruction. He tells her about the Salesman and she assumes that this isn’t the first town he has screwed with. They go to the hotel room the Salesman had rented and have an encounter with The Hound. She confronts Annie and this leads to Joe truing into Brimstone to fight her. But Annie has decided this all needs to end and hits Brimstone with her car.

CYBORG #22 by Marv Wolfman and Tom Derenick. A. When they try to hack into his

Mother Box, he reanimates and Dr. Bode Levine fills him in. He explains that they are Starlite Original and they make these giant robots. Claiming to be better than S.T.A.R. Labs, Cyborg convinces them to let him test out a robot in battle. He loses, but is  convinced they are the good guys. That night, Silas Stone does a partial memory wipe on his son, so he doesn’t interfere with his project. Unseen by them, a very old Japanese gentleman, with a robotic arm, and his robotic wife, look on.

DAMAGE #5 by Robert Venditti and Diogenes Neves. Poison Ivy has Damage captured and knocks him out, with Ethan waking up later with his new friend Jose. They decide to escape from Ivy and that leads to her unleashing her powers on Ethan, who turns into Damage again. But now she has back-up in the form of Gorilla Grodd and his ape followers. Meanwhile, the team put together by Col. Jonas continues their search.

DC NATION #0 by Tom King, Brian Michael Bendis, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Clay Mann,  and Jorge Jimenez. Presenting three stories leading into future DC titles. First, Joker beaks into someone’s house and holds them hostage as he waits for his invitation to Bruce and Selina’s wedding. Next, Clark Kent, who’s wife is missing, meets Robinson Goode, a transplanted reporter from Star City who appears to have some ulterior motives. In the third tale, four different Justice League teams have come together to fight a new evil. They are Team Entropy (Batman, Lobo, Deathstroke, Luthor and Beast Boy), Team Mystery (Superman, Martian Manhunter, Starfire, Starro and Sinestro), Team Wonder (Wonder Woman, Raven, Zatanna, Etrigan and Doctor Fate), and Team Wisdom (Cyborg, Robin, Atom, The Flash and Harley Quinn).

DEATHSTROKE #31 by Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan. After Jericho breaks the Fourth Wall and informs the reader about a bit of Slade’s past, we see Slade and Wintergreen on a plane that gets suddenly hit by a missile. Slade dons his Ikon suit and ands in the desert at Batman’s feet. Apparently, someone has stolen a Waynetech prototype chip and Bruce thinks Slade might be involved. The two fight and we learn that this Batman is a fake, leading to him running naked through the desert while Slade goes to search for his sword. Back in Gotham, Bruce and some hired thugs interrogate the guy ho stole the chip, which leads him to Slade’s ex-wife. Back in the desert, Slade fights Talia, who ends their confrontation with a kiss. Meanwhile, Wintergreen contacts Alfred about the plane being shot down. Alfred insists it had nothing to do with Bruce and their mission needs to continue.

DETECTIVE COMICS #980 by James Tynion IV and Scot Eaton. Tim and his Omacs arrive and that leads to a battle with Kate while Ulysses watches. Kate tries to convince Tim that he is wrong, and he needs to stop and he in turn shows her Batman makes his way into Belfry 2.0 with Jacob, Cassandra and Stephanie. While Tim shows Kate her future, Brother Eye shows Cass and Steph their future, where they both would have become Batgirls. All that does is give Stephanie access to her future timeline and that is how she is going to take down Ulysses.

DETECTIVE COMICS #981 by James Tynion IV and Eddy Barrows. While Tim continues his battle with Kate, Stephanie reveals that Ulysses hasn’t revealed the hole truth about Batwoman killing Batman. It seems that Bruce was dying and had Kate kill him out of mercy. Cass joins with Batman as a Bat and sends the video of the real events to Tim and Kate, which snaps Tim out of his conflicted state, allowing Steph to take down Ulysses once his programming is broken. In the end, all the team members go their separate ways, with Tim and Steph heading off together.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK #5 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. As Hawk and Dove find themselves arrested in Russia for interfering in a police action, Ozymandias frees himself from his hospital bed and teams up with Batman. Rorschach and Saturn Girl hunt through a thrift store, where she finds her Legion flight ring, before heading off to find Johnny Thunder. Johnny has left his nursing home and ends up in Pittsburgh, where he discovers Alan Scott’s Green Lantern. As Lois meets with Luthor, Black Adam saves Jack Ryder and offers his country as a place for asylum to all metahumans. In the end, The Joker makes an appearance and may team up with two escapees from the Watchman universe. And where is Dr. Manhattan?

THE FLASH #46 by Joshua Williamson and Scott Kolins. Hunter Zoloman is sitting in jail and explains how he wanted to make things right and that just led to he and Flash fighting. Eobard Thawne shows up and offers Hunter a deal. Meanwhile, Barry has brought in Zatanna, Martian Manhunter, Jessica Cruz and Cyborg to help Wally with his flashback issues. Tired of being tested, Wally runs off to be by himself. Barry heads to the Batcave to ask Bruce to help, but the Batman is off with Booster Gold. Back in the future, Hunter tries to convince Eobard to stick to his on plan, but Thawne isn’t going with it and heads back to the 21^st Century to enact his revenge. Barrry finds Wally at the Flash Museum, which doesn’t even exist in this timeline. In the end, Thawne is ready to start a war.

THE FLASH #47 by Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter. While Wally tries to figure out what is going on with his memory flashes, the Renegades show up to arrest Iris for the murder of Eobard Thawne. After a lengthy fight between all the parties involved, Barry convinces them all to go back to the 25^th Century and the Temporal Court. But Wally is missing, due to a temporal anomaly. He ends up seeing images of Linda, their children and Impulse and that’s when Hunter tells him that he is going to help save those children.

THE FLASH/SPEED BUGGY SPECIAL #1 by Scott Lobdell and Norm Rapmund. Wally West finds himself being chased by a giant robot named Kilg%re. Suddenly a dun buggy burst through the creature and the driver takes them into the Speed Force, where he defeats the robot. The driver, Dr. M. Blanc, needs Wally’s help to test his speed buggy. Despite issuing warnings about the Speed force, the doc and Wally race through the Speed Force, which results in them ending up in the future and the doc being merged with the car. Savitar arrives with Speed Demon Buggy and Reverse Speed Buggy, trapping our heroes. Savitar sends Reverse Speed Buggy back in time to destroy the Doc’s lab, but our heroes get free. Wally battles Savitar while Speed Buggy goes back in time to stop Reverse Speed Buggy, causing the bad guys to be erased from time. In the end, six months have passed and Wally and Buggy race for charity.

GREEN ARROW #40 by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing and Marcio Takara. Ollie, critically injured last issue, wakes to find himself with the Last Free Kids in Rhapastan, who see themselves as a version of the Justice League. They apparently saved him by dunking him into a Lazarus Pit. They fight Ollie to show him they are a competent team and then head off to take on Nothing. In the end, Nothing is defeated and Ollie convinces them not to kill him.

GREEN ARROW ANNUAL #2 by Julia Benson, Shawna Benson and Carmen Carnero. In a tie-in to NO JUSTICE, Ollie is caught in the middle of a fight with Brainiac’s ship, where he discovers that all of Queen Industries satellites have been destroyed. After talking with Batgirl, he heads to Happy Harbor to find Ray, Canary and some of the other Justice League of America heroes in stasis. This leads to a fight with a bunch of robots that have taken the League’s powers. After defeating them, he ends up at the Fortress of Solitude, where he discovers that Amanda Waller was responsible for the satellite destruction. This leads into NO JUSTICE. In the end, he has been entrusted with a special weapon and he and Dinah head off on a road trip.

GREEN LANTERNS #46 by Tim Seeley and V. Ken Marion. While Jessica battles with the memories of hen her friends got murdered, Simon ends up battling his evil self. In the end, Jessica is ready to see the people who murdered her friends.

GREEN LANTERNS #47 by Tim Seeley and V. Ken Marion. Simon continues to ty and reach Jessica while she is actively trying to figure out who it was that murdered her friends. Singularity Jain doses the League with her powers and makes them all experience their worst fears. Inside the power ring, Sion reches Jess and convinces her that she is a hero. With that bolstering of her confidence, she manages to break free and save the League. Then she sends Jain off inside the ring world, so she can experience her own nightmares. In the end, the Guardians are convinced that Jess shouldn’t be a Lantern and it’s up to Hal Jordan t take her ring back from her.

GREEN LANTERNS ANNUAL #1 by Andy Diggle and Mike Perkins. The Lanterns deal with the myth of the Lost Lantern, before ending up at a ceremony celebrating that legend. Jessica has a meltdown while delivering her speech and that leads her to leave the planet. She ends up being captured at the tomb of the Lost Lantern, sending Simon to find her. She finds the Lantern and he reveals that he was forced to enslave his people. They return back to where it all began and he is tried, but forgiven for his crimes.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #44 by Robert Vendetti and Brandon Peterson. Darkstar Tomar-Tu comes to Earth and kills Goldface, who was responsible for murdering his father. Hal shows up afterwards with The Flash. This leads Hal and the rest of the Lanterns to get some back-up in the form of Hector Hammond, Arkillo, Space Cabbie, and Zod. Unfortunately for Hal, Hammond’s jailer is the Atomic Skull.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #45 by Robert Vendetti and Ethan Van Sciver. Lantern Weggett is transporting Star Phraoah to Lantern HQ when they are attacked and killed by Darkstars. Whie John gets Zod to help them and Hal gets Hector Hammond to do the same, after Hammond takes down the Atomic Skull, Guy secures Arkillo as part of the team. That’s when Tomar-Tu arrives and convinces Guy to become a Darkstar.

HARLEY QUINN: HARLEY LOVES JOKER #1 by Paul Dini and Bret Blevins. Cntinuing from the story that as a back-up in several issues of HARLEY QUINN, Harley is still trying to find a way to pay Jenna for renovations that she did. This leads to her getting involved in a caper with Joker that leads her into a confrontation with the Grison. Surprise: Mr. Jay invites Grison to join their gang!

HARLEY QUINN: HARLEY LOVES JOKER #2 by Paul Dini and Bret Blevins. With Grison on the team, Harley has a therapy session with herself, where she reveals she is jealous of the whole situation. The crew plans another caper and Harley calls Alfred to rat out Mr. J. and Grison. But then she realizes that Mr. J. is setting a trap for Grison, who is setting a trap for him. Harley saves Joker, leading to Batman arresting Grison and Harley and Joker getting away. They head back to their hideout but it gets blown up because they haven’t paid the bill for its renovations.

THE HELLBLAZER #22 by Tim Seeley and Davide Fabbri. The demon Nergal continues his plan to invade our world with a whole host of demons who hate Constantine. Meanwhile, John and The Huntress come across a tortured vampire gang member and, to save themselves, Constantine transforms him into a flaming creature who attacks his gang mates. In the end, the second Day brother makes his way to Earth.

THE IMMORTAL MEN #2 by James Tynion IV and Ryan Benjamin. Caden gets saved by the Immortal Men, as they fight against the Bloodless. Caden flees and jumps into a taxi, which is being driven by The Immortal Man. He gets taken to his house, where The Kill has murdered his parents. Reload and Stray show up to save Caden and, while Reload takes on Kill, Stray teleports Caden to safety.

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.