DC UNIVERSE Month 11, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE #10 by Scott Snyder and Francis Manapul. DROWNED EARTH PRELUDE. Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Firestrom venture to the Arctic Circle in an effort to find Poseidon. At the same time, Superman, Adam Strange and The Flash are on Veracity Island where they are battling the Volcano Men, discovering a beacon was fire into space. Aquaman’s team encounters a giant Karken and Aquaman gets transported away, where he meets the Triumvirate of Sea Gods, who have decided to drown the Earth with poison, which turns everyone who touches water into violent seas creatures. Just like that, they flood New York City and the whole Earth.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #11 by Scott Snyder and Francis Manapul. DROWNED EARTH PART TWO. Superman, who is now sorting an eyepatch, and The Flash flee from the infected Justice League members, where they are joined by Mera, who takes them to the Tomb of Arion. Once inside, they find Black Manta, who has stolen the Tear of Extinction. Elsewhere, Aquaman is pushed into the Charybdo Vortex, only to be saved by Wonder Woman. The pair head off to the Graveyard of the Gods to find Poseidon, who explains that he can’t help them and then runs Aquaman through with his trident. Superman and Jarro see a breech of the Hall of Justice and he prepares to take the Totality way as he evacuates, but the Legion of Doom have arrived to stop him.

JUSTICE LEAGUE/AQUAMAN DROWNED EARTH #1 by James Tynion IV and Howard Porter. DROWNED EARTH PART ONE. While the Triumvirate of Sea Gods unleashes the horrendous floods on the Earth, the Justice League tries to save as many people as possible from the toxic waters. In the process, Flash saves Superman, but becomes infected by the toxic waters, as many of the League has. Aquaman is in the Blood Reef and discovers that Black Manta is responsible for calling the Sea Gods to Earth and has his powers stolen and given to Manta. Mera frees Orm and they head off to the hidden tomb of Arion to get the Tear of Extinction. Elsewhere, Wonder Woman enters the fight.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #4 by James Tynion Iv and Alvaro Martinez Bueno. THE WITCHING HOUR Part 3. Mantou has trashed Nanda Parbat, leading to the spirits of the priests to try and gain control of her, with disastrous results. Rama arrives and, despite Deadman’s warnings, decides to take on Hecate. Wonder Woman arrives to battle Hecate while Black Orchid, also witchmarked, plots to take down the Parliament of Trees, With Bobo wielding the dimensional sword, most of the team escapes and just in time: Diana has been filled with the power of Hecate.. The Parliament of Trees is dead, having been replace by the Parliament of Flowers.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK AND WONDER WOMAN: THE WITCHING HOUR #1 by James Tynion IV, James Merino, Fernando Blanco and Miguel Mendonca. THE WITCHING HOUR CONCLUSION. Black Orchid and Manitou Dawn are finally free of Hecate’s control. Wonder Woman is still controlled by Hecate and unleashes a beast which turns Nanda Parbat into Necropolis. In the Collective Unconscious, a seemingly dead Diana leaves Witchfire and breaks through a barrier, which leads her to Hecate, who explains that she was once the Goddess of Magic who was betrayed by Hades and merged with Dark Magic to become The Crone. The possessed Diana proceeds to destroy an abandoned Olympus, but is confronted by a united Justice League Dark, who has been sent to kill her by Circe. Diana fights for control and pushes Hecate out, telling Zatanna to open the portal which sends Hecate to be consumed by The Otherkind. In the end, the witching Hour ends and Circe becomes the new Goddess of Magic, just as she had planned.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #2 by Joshua Williamson and Stjepan Sejic. In the Ghost Sector, Darkseid meets with the Odyssey team and shows them that this deserted planet, the result of a massacre, has a statue of Starfire. Darkseid leaves and the rest of the team meets with the last survivor of the planet, who explains they were a peaceful planet until Brainiac captured them, causing the civilization to be thrown into disarray. They prayed to Starfire and then “angels” came and destroyed everything. The priest is dying and Starfire eases him into death. But he had a darkness within him and now it is taking control of Kori.

NEW CHALLENGERS #6 by Aaron Gillespie, Scott Snyder and V. Ken Marion. The New Challengers battle the giant skeleton creature while Moses joins forces with Evil Prof and his team of Challengers. Eventually, Moses uses his power to free the possessed Challengers and they defeat Evil Prof and the skeleton creature. In the end, the Challengers ass the torch to the new team.

NIGHTWING #50 by Benjamin Percy and Travis Moore. Coming out of the events of BATMAN # 55, Dick Grayson is eating in a restaurant when he breaks up an attempted robbery. He is sporting a new look, recovering from brain surgery which has left him with memory loss from the traumatic brain injury.  As he tries to put his life and memories back together, he takes a job driving a taxi. Later he meets with Barbara Gordon, who he claims he no longer remembers. She reports to the Batman Family and explains what is going on with him. In the end, he goes to Nightwing’s underground Headquarters and burns it down.

NIGHTWING #51 by Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza and Travis Moore. Detective Sapienza is examining Nightwing’s burned out bunker. Dick, now known as Ric, wakes up in the Prodigal Bar and discovers that Alfred has arrived and is paying his bar. Elsewhere, Doctor Crane has come to Bludhaven. Ric is out driving his cab when he has a run-in with a robber, which leads to his muscle memory taking over and he beats the guy up. In the end, he figures his way to fight crime is with a gun.

PLASTIC MAN #5 by Gail Simone and Adriana Melo. While the Cabal plans the future, Plastic Man goes to meet with Kirk Langstrom, looking for a cure. He becomes dejected when he is old that he can’t be helped. Later, Eel is out with the kid when Child Services shows up and takes the kid away, because of Eel’s phone call to them. Obscura shows up and explains the Cabal is real and that’s when a Durlan monster arrives and attacks. In the end, Sammy and his girlfriend show up at a club and the club owner turns other down, forcing her to kill him. She is becoming a monster because of what Sammy did to her and now she wants Eel.

RED HOOD OUTLAW #27 by Scott Lobdell and Pete Woods. Jason is still on his road trip to find himself when he gets into a fight in a diner. Bruce arrives and tells him that Roy is dead, as seen in HEROES IN CRISIS #1. He ends up in Appleton, which seems like the perfect, quiet country town. Unbeknownst to him, he is being watched.

RAVEN DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS #9 by Marv Wolfman and Pop Mhan. In Uruguay, Black Alice is attacked by a Shadow Rider. At Wintersgate Manor, Skye knows where the Riders are, which leads to Raven transporting to save Black Alice, who steals her transportation powers and leaves Raven to face the Rider alone. Baron Winters. Later, Skye explains that the Shadow Riders were created to save humans from the Arcane. Black Alice arrives and kidnaps Skye, while the Riders attack Wintersgate Manor. Elsewhere, it’s revealed Raven has been skipping school, which upsets her family.  

SIDEWAYS #9 by Dan DiDio and Max Raynor. Derek deals with being imprisoned by Perrus the Benevolent. In the end, he cracks open the cocoon, freeing…Superman?

THE SILENCER #10 by Dan Abnett and Patrick Zircher. Wishbone’s monster thrall continues to attack and destroy Action Land, including killing Mr. Supers. Silencer arrives, still in Quietus’ body and attacks the creature, after talking with her husband and son. With technical help from Quietus, she stuns the monster, but it continues to attack. Raze visits Wishbone and she gathers enough energy to swap Silencer and Quietus’ bodies, but not before Quietus is torn part by the monster. Wishbone turns her acolyte back, and he becomes Michael again. The remains of Quietus and the captured Michael team up to go after Wishbone, who is greeting a resurrected Talia. In the end, Hope’s family learns that their hotel was destroyed and there were no survivors, leading them to believe that Hope is dead.

SUICIDE SQUAD #47 by Rob Williams and Philippe Briones. Captain Boomerang is sent to stop an arms dealer with a cache of nukes from blowing up Australia. That leads him to Tasmania where he infiltrates an arms convention. That leads him to a meeting with Owen Mercer, who has his hands on the nukes and has teamed up with Para Dice, who Boomerang thought was his partner in all of this. Owen reveals this is all about Digger, who he reveals is actually his father. When Owen and Para attempt to leave, Boomerang uses one of his boomerangs to stop them and, just before the bombs on Owen’s piece of land explodes, Digger gets sentimental and saves them both.

SUPERGIRL #23 by Marc Andreyko and Kevin Maguire. Supergirl meets with the image of Appa, who explains that the members of the Circle were responsible for the destruction of Krypton. When the Guardian fades, the Lanterns are there to take her into custody, but she and Krypto break free. The Lanterns catch up with her and attack, but Mogo protects and frees her, allowing her to get to her ship and escape. In the end, the librarian reports to his master, explaining that Supergirl did not get to access any files regarding Zaar, This pleases his master, who reveals he is part of the Circle.

SUPERMAN #4 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. With the Earth stuck in the Phantom Zone, Superman battles Rogol Zaar and his minions. While he battles, he recalls a conversation with his son about trying to make the world a better place. Meanwhile, Flash and Ray use the Phantom Zone projector to shrink the Earth and get it out of there. They succeed, but Superman is left trapped in the Phantom Zone with Zaar. In the end, Adam Strange is looking for the missing Earth.

TEEN TITANS #23 by Adam Glass, Bernard Chang and Scott Hanna. Jim Gordon is shot, as was predicted by Red Hood in the last issue. Meanwhile, Wally meets with Roundhouse, who reveals his phone was destroyed after he ended up on the other side of the planet. Wally and Roundhouse race to the scene of Gordon’s shooting, where it is revealed that it’s really Djinn. The team come together and track down the shooter, battling with her before losing her. They eventually track her down again and find her killed by The Other, who has planted a bomb which blows up the building, with everyone in it.

THE TERRIFICS #9 by Jeff Lemire and José Luís. Plastic Man and his team are trapped in Funnyland with no way to escape when Dhalua Strong arrives in a T-Sphefe and gets them out. Over in the Aztech Empire, a similar situation has occurred, with Dhalua arriving to save them. Over in Slaughter Swamp, Tom and Mr. Terrific are dealing with Swamp Thing, who reveals he was visited by Doctor Dread, who left one of Mr. Terrific;s key cards behind. The pair travel to Terrific’s lab, where they are attacked by Dread, who is actually a robot. After dispatching it, they are attacked by more, until Dhalua and company arrive to lend a hand. Terrific reveals he knows who Dread really is. Back in Stagg Mansion, Sapphire goes into the basement and discovers that Java is Doctor Dread.

THE TERRIFICS ANNUAL #1 by Gene Luen Yang, Mark Russell, Jmes Asmus, Joe Bennett, Doc Shaner and Jose Luis. Simon Stagg’s experiment involving Bio-Facsimilie goes horribly wrong and that leads to The Terrifics having to fight evil clones, including one of Plastic Man’s son, and disable them. In the second story, Java’s orgin is retold and his machinations are revealed. In the third tale, Tom Strong battles to save his universe, which results in Phantom Girl ending up trapped in the Dark Multiverse.

TITANS #27 by Dan Abnett and Brent Peeples. The team is dealing ith recent events. Donna is at Roy’s grave and Miss Martian tells about Dick being shot. The remaining team, trying to keep their minds off these events, do their best to save the life of Tyler Baines, is dying in a hospital bed and they have to do something to save him. Gar is clearly very invested in this case as he has to excuse himself for a moment to control himself. After much debate, they agree to use a machine to try and save Tyler, but the experiment doesn’t work and Tyler dies. In the end, the team admits it’s the worst day ever and it appears that Tempest is on his way to the team.

TITANS #28 by Dan Abnett and Clayton Henry. A DROWNED EARTH Prelude. Garth arrives to get help from what is left of the Titans against rejection of the idea. he incoming invaders, despite Miss Martian’s objections. The team heads off and defeats them, but their leader arrives. Garth uses his magic abilities to give the team time to flee, but he gets thrown through the ship and plummets to Earth. The team gets to the Boom Room to get away but have no idea where they are being transported to.

THE UNEXPECTED #5 by Steve Orlando and Ronan Cliquet. Neon and Firebrand meet with Hawkman, leading to a battle after the isotope Neon carries reacts with Hawkman’s mace. Neon uses his staff to absorbs the anger and returns it with feelings of hope. Hawkman reveals he knows who Sin-Eater is and directs them to the lab in Castle Frankenstein. Sin-Eater arrives and steals Firebrand’s soul, which Neon decides he wants to take back.

WONDER WOMAN #56 by James Tynion IV and Emanuela Lupacchino. THE WITCHING HOUR Part 2. Justice League Dark kidnaps a unicorn to get to Circe, who transforms the team into animals. Diana reveals the witchmark, causing Circe to reverse her stance. Meanwhile, Manitou Dawn’s witchmark activates and she heads to Nanda Parbat, where she begins to destroy it. Deadman contacts the team and they head to Nanda Parbat.

WONDER WOMAN #57 by James Tynion IV and Emanuela Lupacchino. THE WITCHING HOUR Part 4. Diana finds that her soul self has been transported to an alternate dimension, where she finds the soul selves of Black Orchid and Manitou Dawn, along with the deceased Witchfire who explains they are on The Witch’s Moon. Over in Nanda Parbat, Constantine explains that, since everyone in the Oblivion Bar died, he no longer has a connection the Demon’s Blood and his cancer is back. At the Parliament of Trees, Black Orchid is going about trying to destroy the place, even as Swamp Thing tries to stop her. Zatanna and Constantine, with the help of the souls of the Sisterhood of the Sleight Hand, manage to get he spirit of Hecate from her body and that of Manitou and Black Orchid. That’s the good news. The bad? Witchfire reveals to Diana that she believes she has died.

DC UNIVERSE Month 11, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1004 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook.  At the Daily Planet, Trish shows up and shows an image of Lois Lane meeting with Lex Luthor. That leads to a flashback with Clark seeking out Lois, which leads to a much-anticipated reunion between the two. Lois explains that Jon needed to be with his grandfather and that her family doesn’t need her and she needs to write the story. Superman hears shots and races to the Planet, where he stops Copperhead from menacing the staff. In the end, the happy couple make amends and Clark reveals that he wants to read her book.

ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS #3 by Peter J. Tomasi and Carlo Barberi. Thanks to Red Kryptonite, Superboy has been split into two beings who are fighting over how to handle things against Rex and his super team of villains. Joker Jr. has been jettisoned into space and there is a huge hole in the space ship that the Superboy pair and Robin must deal with. The ship crash lands and things look bad…until Space Cabbie shows up with Joker Jr., imploring them to hitch a ride.

AQUAMAN #41 by Dan Abnett and Lan Medina. DROWNED EARTH PRELUDE. The Triumvirate of Sea Gods has launched an attack on Earth, turning the water into a poison that transform anyone exposed to it into horrible sea creatures. The people of Atlantis get transformed, all except Mera. With no other hope, she seeks out help from the one person, besides her, that hasn’t been changed: Ocean Master.

BATGIRL #28 by Mairghread Scott and Paul Pelletier. The police are here and Batgirl professes her innocence about the killing of Phillipe Rianne-AKA Grotesque. Amidst gunfire, Batgirl flees leaving Detective Douglas and his officers behind. Douglas is being controlled by Wyrm, even as he tries to fight it. Barbara gets caught coming in late by her dad, who is concerned that she is overexerting herself. Later she examines the info she got off of Evan’s computer and discovers that Wyrm’s signature is all over it and that Grotesque is planning an attack at the museum. But everything is fine because Detective Douglas s there-and he is the new Grotesque.

BATMAN #56 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel. Batman travels across the globe to track down the former KGB Beast: a path that takes him to battles and a meetings with Kanto. Meanwhile, the former KGB Best meets with his father, ultimately killing him as Batman makes his way closer to him.

BATMAN #57 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel. With a wraparound fairy tale about a group of trapped animals, being read to a young Bruce Wayne by his father, Batman battles the former KGB Beast. In the end, Batman breaks his neck and leaves him to freeze to death in the snow.

BATMAN BEYOND #25 by Dan Jurgens and Cully Hamner. Dick Grayson, currently the Mayor of Bludhaven, returns to Neo-Gotham, along with his daughter, to help open the Wayne Family Center of Tomorrow. Also on hand is Matt and Terry and, of course, Bruce Wayne, who has a terse reunion with Dick. Meanwhile, Barbara Gordon is investigating a series of murders which have left members of the Jokerz dead. In the end, Bruce turns the deed of the Center to the Mayor of Neo-Gotham. Inside is a note saying “the joke’s on you Bruce”. A runaway train comes into play and Batman and Robin get involved, but the train ends up exploding and causing great damage. And who is responsible? Well, “Babs” meets with the original Joker.

CATWOMAN #4 by Joelle Jones and Fernando Blanco. Selina meets with her sister Maggie, whose mind has been shattered because of the brutal murder of her husband by Black Mask. Her horrible past is revealed throughout the story, including inferences that she had been forced to eat art of her husband’s dead body. In the end, Doctor Finick is looking to give Maggie a shot and it seems he has evil thoughts in his mind.

THE CURSE OF BRIMSTONE #7 by Justin Jordan and Eduardo Pansica. Joe and his sister continue to battle the possessed on their road trip, which brings them to a town that seems a perfect example of rural America. What they discover is a tractor trailer filled with kidnapped people and learn that all of these mutilated townspeople are being inspired by a mysterious woman who looks to be a disciple of The Salesman.

DAMAGE #10 by Robert Venditti and Aaron Lopresti. Damage travels to and busts into the lab that created him, where he discovers the failed experiments in giant tubes. He destroys the facility and everything in it, putting an end to the Damage Program. But that also brings about the Justice League, who are ready to fight it out with Ethan.

DEATHSTROKE #36 by Cristopher Priest, Ed Benes and Fernando Pasarin. Deathstroke finds himself troubled by violent dreams while he is locked up in Arkham Asylum. Part of his therapy is group therapy with a host of classic villains. Meanwhile, Rose is still dealing living a double life, believing she has been possessed by with what she believes is the spirit of Willow. Later, Deathstroke, along with his mental illusion of Wintergreen, tries an escape and runs into Dev, who claims that he is from space and can travel through space and time. As the pair gets outside, they find themselves being picked up by…a spaceship?

DETECTIVE COMICS #990 by James Robinson and Stephen Segovia. Batman faces off with Two-Face and his men, managing to get away before he is killed. Back home, Duke tells Bruce that he has noticed an influx of new tourists in Gotham going by the name of Kobra. At GCPD, Kobra attacks and a gunfight ensues, killing many. Luckily Two-Face arrives and helps the GCPD. Later, Batman goes to Two-Face’ lair and suggests they have a chat.

DETECTIVE COMICS #991 by James Robinson and Carmine DiGiandmenico. Batman, Gordon and Two-Face meet, with Two-Face saying that Harvey was responsible for the murder of Karl Twist, because he was Harvey’s last case before he became Two-Face. Later, at GCPD, the Kobra agent reveals very little under interrogation before the implant neural bomb kills him. Two-Face reveals Twist’s map of targets and that means this unlikely trio are off to take down Kobra.

THE FLASH #56 by Joshua Williamson and Scott Kolins. Heat Wave has been transformed, has destroyed Iron Heights and is now loose in Central City. But, how is that possible when Heat Wave is lying in a hospital bed? Well, he WAS in a hospital bed, as Iris meets with Commander Cold, who has the bodies of Heat Wave, Barry and Detective Burns. The Sage Force has put Burns and Flash inside Heat Wave’s mind and, if Rory has another flare up like he had in the prison, Central City will be destroyed.

THE FLASH #57 by Joshua Williamson and Scott Kolins. Flash and Detective Burns continue to fight the monster Heat Wave inside of his mind, which is causing trouble for Iris and Commander Cold, who are trying to keep Heat Wave from exploding. Iris gets a momentary flash of her life before Flashpoint and she tells Cold that she knows how to fix this. Cold enters Heat Wave’s mind, dressed as Captain Cold and they team up to defeat the fire demon raging in his mind. They all wake in Barry’s apartment, except for Heat Wave who ends up back in Iron Heights and no longer is covered in scars. Cold continues to figure how to live in this time while Iris and Barry head off together on the Force Quest. In the end, the Flash of Earth-18 is killed by Hunter Zolomon.

GREEN ARROW #45 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Javier Fernandez. Roy Harper has died at Sanctuary and friends meet at his funeral. Ollie shares the grief and blames himself for not being the best partner to Roy and he vows to not disappoint Roy ever again.

GREEN LANTERNS #56 by Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins. The Lanterns do their best to battle Cyborg Superman, Eon and their crew, which is difficult because Henshaw has the Phantom Ring and controls any Lantern ring recently recharged. Hal and Killowog have clean rings and pretty much handle the fight. Meanwhile, Simon releases John from his healing chamber, fills him in on what has happened, and the pair go off with guns blazing, taking the fight to Eon. With Eon down, the stasis field is dropped and the full force of Lanterns attack, causing Henshaw to flee. Unfortunately, he flees to Coast City, where he plans on finishing the job he once started.

GREEN LANTERNS #57 by Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins. Henshaw starts his attack on Coast City, but Hal and some other Lanterns arrive and take the fight to him. Together, they force Henshaw to flee, saving Coast City. In the end, the Guardians reveal they are leaving Mogo, as they have been at work restoring Oa. And Jessica decides she needs to find herself and breaks up her partnership with Simon to do so.

HARLEY QUINN #51 by Sam Humphries and Sami Basri. Captain Triumph is here and he is fighting bad guys. Jonni DC contacts Harley to let her know that she needs to set things right for this time displace hero. Harley meets with him and they send the day together but, when he learns that Harley is responsible for his being here, he attacks her.

HARLEY QUINN #52 by Sam Humphries and Sami Basri. Captain Triumph reveals how the loss of his brother led to him meeting with The Three Witches, who give him his power and how he joined a team of heroes to fight the Axis during World War II.  Back to their fight, Triumph battles Harley before he comes to his senses and realizes he cannot kill her. Later, after a meeting with Jonni DC, Harley tracks Triumph down, which leads them back to the airfield where his brother died and he got his powers. The ghosts of his past arrive and, because he has come back to his origin site, he is allowed to go back home. In the end, Minor Disaster has arrived in town and is planning to destroy Harley Quinn.

HAWKMAN #5 by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch. Hawkman and The Atom are reunited in the Microverse, where Atom takes Carter to his lab. They examine the artifact hat Hawkman has and determine that the disk allowed travel between the Macro and Microverse. It also means that Carter once had been reincarnated in the Microverse. Finding out that the disk is connected to the Nth Metal, they head off to Moz-Ga to find it. Moz-Ga is a sentient being that attacks them. But here, Ray can expand to giant size and together, he and Carter fight back.

HEROES IN CRISIS #2 by Tom King and Clay Mann. After the events at Sanctuary, Harley finds herself on the run and hides out at Penguin’s place. The Trinity examines Steel’s body and finds that the killer had shoved mechanical joke teeth down his throat. Booster, fearing he is the killer, reconnects with Skeets before meeting with The Flash, who discovers that Wally is dead. The Trinity tracks down Harley, who is playing cards with one of Penguin’s penguins. She manages to get free of the heroes by using the Krytonite hidden in Batman’s belt to subdue Superman. Later, she goes to a bridge and drops a red rose in the water, leading us to believe that Poison Ivy is also dead. Later, Lois Lane finds that someone sent a note to the Planet tip line nd it as sign by The Puddlers.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #9 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez. With Batman in a body cast, recovering from recent injuries, and the rest of the team trying to get acclimated to their new rooms in the Hall of Justice, Superman attempts to rebuild the moon. Superman is being attacked by a parasite called the Coronavore, which drains solar energy and he reveals that Batman called them to attack, because he sees that the world needs to change/ Elsewhere, Hawkgirl confronts Martian Manhunter about the recent revelations that she was connected to The Totality. They decide to go to Thanagar Prime to find the answers.

DC UNIVERSE Month 10, Part 2

NEW CHALLENGERS #5 by Aaron Gillespie, Scott Snyder and V Ken Marrion. The two versions of Prof battle each other on the top of the giant Skeleton. A distorted Bethany has her head shot off by our Bethany, while good Prof explains what happened to the Challengers while stuck in the Dark Multiverse. Prof was injured but used the Dark Energies to heal himself. The bad Prof tries to explain how this Prof is just using them to achieve his on goals. The last artifact piece gets put in place, we see the original Challengers are captive inside the skeleton and it looks like the Multiverse may come apart.

NIGHTWING #48 by Benjamin Percy and Amancay Nahuelpan. Nightwing finds himself on the Isle of Harm, where he needs to win their deadly motorcycle race, in order to save the lives of Vicki Vale and Willem Cloke. After a bar fight that results in someone being shot and killed, the race begins. It’s a deadly that includes a number of villains including Pyg and his Dollotrons. As the race continues, the Silencer makes her appearance alongside Nightwing.

NIGHTWING #49 by Benjamin Percy and Amancay Nahuelpan. Nightwing and Silencer team up to continue the race, after she reveals that she killed the villain in the previous issue. At the end of the race, which Dick wins with Silencer’s help, he meets with Cimialcinnus, who is the Celtic God of Paths. Nightwing gives Cimialcinnus the access icon to the Dark Web and the issue ends in a flash of light, with Cimialcinnus saying the race is not over yet.

PLASTIC MAN #4 by Gail Simone and Adriana Melo. Sammy Mizzola has tried to recreate the condition that has affected Eel O’Brien on his girlfriend Janet, with disastrous results. Meanwhile, Plastic Man is trying his best to be a surrogate father to

Pado Saskatoon. Members of the Secret Six arrive, trying to take Plastic Man in regarding the murder. He discovers that Obscura has been behind the Cabal all along may actually be behind it all.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #26 by Scott Lobdell and Pete Woods. The Red Hood, on the run for attacking The Penguin, crosses paths with an FBI agent who is hunting him. He saves her from a gang of bikers who are connected to Underlife and that leads him into a confrontation with an Underlife boss and a corrupt cop. In the end, he visits the FBI agent in the hospital and heads off, in his new costume, to dish out his own brand of justice to villains.

RAVEN DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS #8 by Marv Wolfman and Pop Mhan, In China, Shing Jie battles a Shadow Rider and gets help from red Devil, who fails and gets Jie killed in the process. Baron Winters dismisses him from the Night Force team and brings in a new recruit: Klarion the Witch Boy. Together with Raven and Klarion go to Manhattan and help Zach Zatara save. a young man named Robert who is there with his husband Luis. Back at the mansion, we learn that Robert has powers and Luis has been with him to keep an eye on him. When the Shadow Riders arrive, Skye gets involved and Robert uses his powers to drive them back. But it isn’t over yet as the young boy who has spent his life in a coma looks to be prepped for the ultimate evil to use him as their pawn.

SIDEWAYS #8 by Max Raynor, Trevor Scott, and Dan DiDio. Sideways and the remainder pf the Seven Soldiers head off to the Dark Multiverse to find the missing Guardian, who is being held in Sheeda Lair. They are attacked by giant spiders and Zatanna decides that this is not Sideway’s place and transports hi away. He ends up in the Kingdom of the Benevolence where he meets with Perrus the Benevolent, who claims to be his protector and will protect him until his dying day.

THE SILENCER #9 by Dan Abnett and Patch Zircher. Hope and Quietus have switched bodies, but that means they continue to fight with each other. Mr. Gunn gets into the fray, even as Wishbone, who is pulling the strings, sends one of her followers, now turned into a giant lizard, to the scene, leading to Gunn getting eaten in the process. But ow the creature moves on…to Action Land.

SUICIDE SQUAD #46 by Rob Williams, Dan Abnett, and José Luís. SINK ATLANTIS Part Three. Aquaman and Dolphin head into the Lower Trides to recruit King Shark and his followers to help stop the Suicide Squad in their efforts to attack the risen Atlantis. They head off to the Silent School which Master Jailer has found a way to break into the Silent School, despite some protests from Harley and Deadshot Urcell, who is behind much of this, tries to convince Satanis that they can rule together, and he kills her. Aquaman and King Shark arrive and Dolphin goes off alone to take on Satanis. In the end, Mera and the U.S. Ambassador meet while a tidal wave looks to be taking aim on Atlantis.

SUPERGIRL #22 by Marc Andreyko and Kevin Maguire. Supergirl and Krypto head to Mogo, when their ship is destroyed, resulting in them being saved by Jon Stewart and Kyle Rayner. On Mogo, she meets with C’zal, who makes note of the axe she carries with her. That night, she sneaks into the archives, her axe grows and that leads to a guard arriving. The Lanterns arrive and, thinking she is a threat, try to subdue her. Krypto arrives and the axe transports her away, where she meets with the holographic image of Appa Ali Apsa, who is a Guardian who claims he was part of the Cabal that was responsible for Zaar. He wants her to hunt down The Circle: the remaining members of that Cabal.

SUPERMAN #3 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. Superman and Livewire meet up in S.T.A.R. Labs, which, like the rest of Earth, is trapped in the Phantom Zone. Superman reveals he has no idea how to get them all home. Meanwhile, Rogol Zaar meets with Jaz-Ur, who unleashes his minions upon him, to disastrous results for them. Zaar convinces Ur that they need each other, leading to them teaming up to take on the heroes of Earth. War is on the horizon.

TEEN TITANS #22 by Adam Glass and Bernard Chang. The team is still dealing with the death of Roundhouse and that means they go into intense training sessions. Meanwhile, Robin visits with Black Mask, who admits that The Other is real. Later, the team takes on Golden Glider and Swerve, with Glider leaving Swerve to fight alone. After the fight, Robin meets with Red Hood, who reveals the next target of The Other is Commissioner Gordon. Kid Flash goes to meet with Roundhouse; family, only to find that Roundhouse is alive and at home.

THE TERRIFICS #8 by Jeff Lemire and Dale Eaglesham. The team, along with Tom Strong, breaks free of the giant tree holding them and learn that they are no longer connected to each other. Splitting into multiple teams, they head off to arious dimensions. Phanton Girl and Rex Mason end up at the Aztech Empiure, where they discover Tesla Strong. Pneuman and Plastic Man go to Funnyland, where they battle with Duckter Dread and save Solomon, with the help of Warren Strong. Mr. Terrific and Tom end up in Slaughter Swamp, where they cross paths with Swamp Thing.

TITANS #25 by Dan Abnett, Brandom Peterson, and Guillem March. The team battles a giant robot before Nightwing and Ms. Martian end up at an old woman’s house and get sucked into her television. This leads to a series of channel changing moments payed out on the woman’s television while Donna Troy battles the Blood Cult, which to destroy the machine which is causing the disruptions. Upon defeating the Cult, she meets with Ben Rubel, formerly from SUPERGIRL, whose is the person who can stop all of this. Together, they destroy the machine, the robot is destroyed and Martian and Nightwing are freed. Despite all of this, the Cult still exists, as the followers bow to “Mother”.

TITANS #26 by Dan Abnett and Brent Peeples. Most of the Titans are in Norway, where they discover and entire town of nearly 1,000 are dead. They get attacked by some monsters and, after defeating them with the help of Ben Rubel in the Boom Room, they learn the monsters are the murdered people. What that means is the Blood Cult is involved. In the end, Rubel promises Miss Martian that he won’t reveal her secret.

THE UNEXPECTED #4 by Steve Orlando, Yvel Guichet, Cary Nord and Scott Hanna. Huntress and The Signal cross paths with Neon and Firebrand, leading to a fight between Huntress and Firebrand. Neon breaks up the fight, telling them that the Isotope was nearing the point of exploding. As they try to work together, Synn and his army arrive to attack. During the fight, Neon is able to use his powers to transport the villains away. With the team at Caste Frankenstein, they are visited by Hawkman.

WONDER WOMAN #54 by Steve Orlando and Raul Allen. Diana, Artemis, and Atalanta fly to Qurac to drop Atalanta back with the people of Bana-Mighdall.  When they arrive, they note that the people of Bana-Mighdall have gathered. When they meet with Queen Faruka II, they see that her advisor is Rustam. The Queen shoots Atalanta, wounding her and throw Diana outside the castle. Diana breaks back in and frees Atalanta. Meeting with the queen, it is revealed that Rustam and Atemis have taken the war party out and that the queen plans to kill Rustam once she is done with him. Diana races out to confront the army and finds herself siding with them in their fight with the Quarci military.

WONDER WOMAN #55 by Steve Orlando and Raul Allen. Diana tries to convince Artemis to side with her and uses her lasso to convince her to jump back to her side. They team up to fight Rustam, with Diana eventually using the lasso on him, where he reveals he lied to the queen to convince her to start this war. Diana and Artemis break into the castle to free Atalanta, with Din having to restrain Artemis from killing the queen. In the end, Atalanta becomes the ruler and Diana gives Artemis the Golden Prefect.

DC UNIVERSE Month 10, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1003 by Brian Michael Bendis and Yanick Paquette. Goode meets with a woman known as Candy, who provides her with a small piece of Kryptonite. Later, t the Daily Planet, Clark falls gravely ill, discovering that Goode is in the room with the Kryptonite in her purse. When she leaves the room, he recovers. Shortly, Batman chases down Goode and takes the Kryptonite from her. Goode meets with Candy and explains what happened and it looks like Candy is going to kill her. Suddenly a red cloud envelops Cady and kills her, just as Superman arrives. In the end, Lois gets a visitor at the hotel she is holed up in. It’s Lex Luthor.

ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS #2 by Peter J. Tomasi and Carlo Barberi. Superboy and Robin continue to battle Rex and his team of kid super villains. With the threat of Robin’s death hanging over his head, and a mental push from Puppeteer, Superboy is forced to go to the Arctic to retrieve the Hypercube. Upon returning to the villains, Rex turns his gun on Puppeteer, which leads to Superboy saving his life. Joker Jr. takes him to a cell, revealing he is actually trying to stop the villains. He gives the heroes a box containing synthetic Kryptonite and they flee. The villains gave chase and the Kryptonite actually splits Superboy into two beings. 

AQUAMAN #40 by Dan Abnett, Rob Williams and Joe Bennett. SINK ATLANTIS Part Four. Satanis and Master Jailer enter the Silent School, but so does Aquaman, Dolphin and King Shark, leading to a battle between them. Croc ends up with the bomb, which is set to go off, and Harley convinces him to not set it off. Master Jailer turns hero and sacrifices himself to save Atlantis and everyone else. Later, Harley delivers, a microchip to Mera, which reveals that this was orchestrated by Admiral Meddinghouse, leading to his arrest on charges of Treason. In the end, Mera meets with Waller, revealing that she knew that Waller wanted her to get that microchip.

BATGIRL #27 by Mairghread Scott and Paul Pelletier. Barbara wakes up in the hospital and is told that her implants are failing and she needs to have an operation.  She goes back to her apartment and continues to investigate Grotesque. Later, as Batgirl, she investigates several buildings connected to Phillipe Brionne, eventually finding his dead body stuffed in a refrigerator. Grotesque arrives, leading to a fight between the two. She takes Grotesque down but then her implants fail again. When she wakes, GCPD is there, looking to arrest her for Phillipe’s murder.

BATMAN #54 by Tom King and Matt Wagner. A tale of Bruce and Dick, set throughout different times in their lives, as Dick tries to adjust to life without his parents.

BATMAN #55 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel. Nightwing and Batman battle Phantom Pharaoh and his army. Once done, the pair proceed to test their skills on each other. Meanwhile, the former KGB Beast arrives in Gotham and, after buying a rifle, he kills am apartment resident and sets himself up to compete his mission. Nightwing and Batman visit Commissioner Gordon, who tells about how a napkin was discovered that had a question mark on it and the phrase “who’s afraid of The Joker” on it. Batman notes it is the anniversary of the war between the Riddler and The Joker as a shot rings out and hits Nightwing in the head.

BATMAN BEYOND #24 by Dan Jurgens and Will Conrad. Melanie Walker sees Robin attacking Batman and how everyone thinks he is a demon, leading to her putting on her costume and saving him. To stop Robin’s attacks, Terry unmasks, revealing himself to a surprised Melanie., which breaks the control Scarecrow has on Robin. Meanwhile, Jack Ryder is with Scarecrow, who is threatening to kill him. Batman, Robin and Ten arrive, and Jack stands with her, claiming that her whole life was ruined because Batman physically beat her father in front of her. Later, Terry and Matt explain how they trust Melanie and how she is trying to be a better person. In Arkham, Scarecrow is dealing with the life she has made, but the person in the next cell promises that they will go after Batman once they get free.

CATWOMAN #3 by Joelle Jones and Fernando Blanco. Selina meets with the younger Creel, who tries to hire her, forcing her to beat up his entourage and flee with her landing several floors down on top of a car. Meanwhile, the Governor’s wife reveals her dismay about her husband’s resigning and tells how she dealt with her childhood. She was taken in by a family whose children died, leading to the arrest of her step-mother. She later married her step-father, who allegedly killed himself. In actuality, she murdered him. She then proceeds to murder the Governor. In the end, Selina heads out as Catwoman and goes to visit her wheelchair bound sister.

THE CURSE OF BRIMSTONE #6 by Justin Jordan and Denys Cowan. While dealing with the possessed children, Jack turns out to be the real villain of the piece and begins killing the children. Joe turns into Brimstone and battles the child possessed by Slackjaw, eventually freeing him from the possession.

DAMAGE #9 by Robert Venditti and Aaron Lopresti. Damage battles and defeats Jonas’ team. Jonas tries to convince him to feed into his own anger and be her weapon once again. But Ethan’s voice in his head convinces him not to kill her. In the end, the Unknown Soldier gives Ethan some clothes and money and Ethan goes on a road rip to take him back to where it all began.

DEATHSTROKE #35 by Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan. And injured Batman and an equally injured Deathstroke make their way out of the cave, while the FBI continues to comb Wayne Manor. Jericho arrives and, with the help of Alfred and Wintergreen, a “court order” is produced causing the FBI to leave. Robin and Nightwing find Deathstroke and Batman, allowing Deathstroke to leave so the sons of the Bat can care for their “father”. In the end, Slade meets with Talia, who set up the false DNA results and set everything into motion. Bruce, while recovering, burns the actual results, which reveal that Damian is truly Bruce Wayne’s biological son.

DETECTIVE COMICS #988 by James Robinson and Stephen Segovia. Batman investigates the murder of Harold Frank, leading him to end up in a confrontation with two Fireflies. This results in Batman having to save the residents of Frank’s apartment building and allows the Fireflies to flee. In the end, it seems that Kobra may be behind it all.

DETECTIVE COMICS #989 by James Robinson and Stephen Segovia. Batman and Alfred are in the Batcave, looking at evidence and finding out that Harold Frank is not Harold Frank. He is actually a terrorist named Karl Twist. At their hideout, the Fireflies continue to work on their skills when Batman arrives and they fight. Bridgit finally tells Batman who gave them their job, which leads him to seek out TweedleDee and TweedleDum. He has figured out, with all the twos involved, that Two-Face is the mastermind. In the end, Batman meets with Harvey Dent.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK #7 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. In 1940, it is revealed that Alan Scott died in a train wreck and never got to be the Green Lantern. In the preset, Johnny Thunder currently has that lantern and, along with Veidt, Saturn Girl and Rorschach, head off in the Owl Ship to find Dr. Manhattan. Meanwhile, Marionette, Mime and Joker torture The Comedian. Batman arrives and battles with the villains, but so does Veidt and, eventually, Dr. Manhattan. Manhattan transports them to a different pace, here he reveals that he altered Alan Scott’s life, that Rorschach’s mother and father died alone and that Veidt does not have Cancer. He also reveals that he was responsible for taking Marionette’s baby, but that she is pregnant again. In the end, Manhattan reveals he can’t see the future after a month from now and he is preparing to meet with Superman.

THE FLASH #54 by Joshua Williamson and Christian Duce. The transformed Flash and Trickster team up to save themselves from Commander Cold. Trickster escapes and menaces Warden Wolfe, leading to Flash battling him. This leads to his draining of the Strength Force, but Trickster is still transformed, which is a good thing as he finds himself holding up the wreckage of the prison. He holds it long enough to allow everyone else to escape, sacrificing himself in the process. The next day, Cold heads off, Barry meets with Iris, who is still having memory flashes, and we learn that Axel isn’t dead. In fact, he’s now in the clutches of Jesse James-the Trickster.

THE FLASH #55 by Joshua Williamson and Scott Kolins. It’s Halloween in Central City and Barry’s friends are meeting for drinks. But he is teamed up with Justice League Dark to battle a transformed Solomon Grundy. When he finally gets to his friends, he finds out that Commander Cold is the bartender. He thinks he sees something and excuses himself to the bathroom, where he has a vision of a Wally as a disfigured zombie. Over in Iron Heights, Heat Wave bursts into flames in his cell. This leads Barry his partner to go investigate Iron Heights, where he learns that Heat Wave is alive but in critical condition. Giant flaming skeletons appear and causes Iron Heights to be destroyed with almost everyone burned beyond recognition. Iris tells Cold to go and help while Flash saves Detective Burns from the fire. Heat Wave shows up, distorted by the Sage Force.

GREEN ARROW #44 by Julie Benson, Shawna Benson and Javier Fernandez. Ollie finds himself on the run because of the recent actions by Citizen, who continues his reign of terror. He later reveals to Canary that he was once responsible for a hit and run that killed a woman, which his father arranged to bury. Citizen kidnaps another victim, leading to Arrow showing up and trying to save the day, which he does. Later, Superman shows up, demanding to talk to Ollie.

GREEN LANTERNS #54 by Dan Jurgens and Marco Santucci. Simon is still possessed and that means he will do anything to free the Cyborg Superman, ho he believes is the real Superman. After taking down Superman’s security, he frees Cyborg Superman, who discovers the Phantom Lantern ring and takes it, making him even stronger. After defeating Simon, he heads off. When Simon awakes, he heads back into the Fortress and arms himself with guns based on Kryptonian tech.

GREEN LANTERNS #55 by Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins. Henshaw flies to space and meets with his followers: Lord Eon and his team. The Lanterns meets with the Guardians, who explain that the Phantom Ring is gone, and Simon had it. While the Lanterns go in search of Simon, Henshaw and his armada show up, leading to a battle. Soon, they lose their powers as Henshaw has hijacked the main Power Battery and now possesses all the powers of all the various spectrums of the Lanterns.

HARLEY QUINN #49 by Sam Humphries and Alisson Borges. Lord Death Man is at Harley’s apartment, proving that he has not been assassinated by her. Harley smashes his head off, but he disappears. Harley later continues to fight to get enough money to save her home before midnight. Harley sets up a fake party and Dead Man goes to it, where Harley believes she has killed him. Although it is revealed that he is still alive and in love with Harley, Harley gets her money and saves her building. But a strange HARLEY QUINN comic has appeared and there are changes in continuity, leading Jonni DC, Continuity Cop, to get back on the job to save the universe.

HARLEY QUINN #50 by Sam Humphries, John Timms, Whilce Portacio, Agnes Garbowska, John McCrea, Kelley Jones, Jon Davis-Hunt, Brett Booth, Norm Rapamund, Scott Kolins, Dan Jurgens, Guillem March, Mirka Andolfo, Babs Tarr, Tom Grummett and Cam Smith. The strange comic book that Harley has causes Harley’s mom to disappear from reality. Jonni DC shows up and explains that continuity is broken and Harley needs to fix it. In a variety of episodes, Batman has a changed origin, Harley ends up at a Goth girl in high school, Swamp Thing ends up as a monster pirate, Adam Strange experiences a strange battle and more. They go searching for M. Clatterbuck, who is the creator of the comic and discover she is Meredith Clatterbuck,: a young girl who is Harley’s biggest fan and who created the comic. The Anti-Monitor shows up and the universe ends. But Harley draws her own comic, which results in her mom and continuity being restored. In the end, evil is about, and Captain Triumph arrives to stop it.

HAWKMAN #4 by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch. Hawkman finds himself on Thanagar, here he battles his own self in Katar Hol. After battling, Hawkman convinces Katar that they are one and the same person. Hawkman explains he is looking for a hawk symbol, which leads to him finding it on the statue of Kalmoran. He ends up in Indonesia with the icon, before being transported to the Microverse, where he meets with Ray Palmer.

HEROES IN CRISIS #1 by Tom King and Clay Mann. Booster Gold and Harley Quinn meet at a diner, leading to a massive fight between the pair. The Trinity go to Sanctuary, a place set up by Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to treat heroes suffering from PTSD. When they arrive, they discover a massacre. Most of the robot therapists are dead along with heroes Blue Jay, Hot Spot, Citizen Steel and numerous more. Once inside, they find the dead bodies of Arsenal and Wally West Flash. The question is who did all of this. Harley says she has an answer: Booster Gold.

THE IMMORTAL MEN #6 by James Tynion Iv and Tyler Kirkham. The Infinite Woman calls a council meeting with the other four Immortal Clans, where she reveals the Immortal Man is dead. Elsewhere, Roderick Clay is being interrogated by Amanda Waller, where he reveals that the Immortal Men are real. Caden and his team end up in the Immortal Woman’s headquarters and battle them all. Timber manages to take down the magic tower that hides them all from our world, showing them fighting in the middle of New York. The bad guys flee and so do the heroes. But now the word knows the Immortal Men exist.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #7 by Scott Snyder and Jim Cheung.  The Justice League continues to battle with the Legion of Doom while Flash tries to access the Still Force and shut down Umbrax and stop the Legion from controlling The Totality. With Hawkgirl’s help and Jon Stewart controlling the UltraViolet Spectrum, the heroes stop the Legion. In the end, Starman arrives at the Hall of Justice while a dejected Luthor meets with The Batman who Laughs.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #8 by James Tynion IV and Mikel Janin. Back in 1988, there is an attempt to harness the power of the Totality, which leads to Will Payton becoming Starman. It also leads to Lex Luthor showing up. This is all part of Starman’s memories and that is here those memories end. Luthor meets with the Batman Who Laughs, seeking answers. He learns that the person responsible for everything is a woman named Perpetua. Meanwhile, Cheetah and Black Manta track down and kill Proteus. Batman and Martian Manhunter meet and a strange visitor appears at the Hall of Justice.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #3 by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno. Wonder Woman and Zatanna confront the mysterious Upside-Down Man, before Detective Chimp and Man-Bat join the fray. Bobo is turned into a puddle of goo, leading Swamp Thing to grow to giant size and take on the villain, who is quickly turned into rotting wood. Constantine uses a special sigil to attack Upside-Down Man and is tortured for his actions. Diana discovers a new power and the light from this, along with a spell Zatanna teaches her, vanishes the Upside-Down Man. That restores our heroes to where they once were. Zatanna muses that the most powerful sorcerer in the world sold them out and this is obviously just the beginning.

JUSTICE LEAGUE ODYSSEY #1 by Joshua Williamson and Stjepan Sejic. In the Ghost Sector of space, a Lantern named Topal searches for her ring and is killed by an unseen evil. Several days later, Jessica Cruz is patrolling the area hen she sees Brainiac’s ship, which is being piloted by Cyborg and Starfire, along with stowaway Azrael. Jessica meets the ship, leading to a confrontation with Starfire. Once inside, she discovers that the team is on a covert mission which the Justice League is unaware of. When they get attacked by the same creature which killed Topal, Starfire powers up Cyborg, which allows their ship to escape, but causes it to crash on a planet in the Ghost Sector. There they are met by Darkseid, who tells them that Cyborg , Starfire and Azrael are the old gods and are here to bring about a new age for the Multiverse,

DC UNIVERSE Month 9, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #2 by Jmes Tynion Iv and Alvaro Martinez Bueno. The team confronts the Otherkind, which they manage to defeat. They head off to Salem to meet with Kirk Nelson-Dr. Fate, while Swamp Thing goes to meet with Constantine, who believes the swamp creature is more concerned with protecting the Tree of Wonder than helping restore magic. While the team meets with Fate and demands to speak to Nabu, Kirk and Bobo wander off and accidentally knocks over a vase with a boy on it. The boy comes to life and reveals that he is Khalid Nassour, the most recent Dr. Fate, and that Nabu is bringing the Otherkind to the world. Before he ends up back on the vase. Fate, possessed by Nabu, flees and leaves Zatanna and Diana at the mercy of The Otherkind.

MOTHER PANIC GOTHAM A.D. #6 by Jody Houser and Ibraham Moustafa. Violet and Fenex Fox go up against Red Hood and his minions. Violet’s mom arrives and convinces Jason that Batman is gone and she can be the light in his life that he needs. Violet discovers that she is actually a clone created from herself, that is in stasis. Her other form has been here for 20 years, ever since the fire at the Collective’s School that almost killed her. She breaks her out and the original Violet dies. Her brother arrives and Violet puts him in stasis as punishment. Now it is time for all parties to adjust to their new lives.

NEW CHALLENGERS #4 by Scott Snyder, Aaron Gillespie and V. Ken Marion. The new team is on Skartaris, fighting dinosaurs and barbarians. In the process, Bathany gets injured and recalls her past, as a soldier who eventually died after her boyfriend as killed-an innocent bystander during a fight between Green Arrow and some armed thugs. The killer Prof ends his mummies to attack the team, leading to them taking the shard away from Moses. Defeated, the team heads back to the mountain to recharge their hourglass tattoos, They find the mountain in flames, realize it didn’t restore their hourglasses and they get visited by…another Bethany.

NIGHTWING #47 by Benjamin Percy and Chris Mooneyham. Nightwing is still battling against the techno virus that has taken over the city. Batgirl gets involved and, along with Nightwing, they find Willem, who is responsible for all this plus the murder of the men who pushed hi in front of a train when he was young. But Wyrm gets involved and draws Willem away inside of a cell phone. Dick admits that Bludhaven was the first strike and that means that Gotham is probably next.

NIGHTWING ANNUAL #1 by Benjamin Percy and Otto Schmidt. Nightwing goes up against Vire, who is taking over all types of media and corrupting it. What he learns is that Vire has managed to send Vicki Vale into the same cell phone nethersphere that Willem is in. And it looks like he won’t be able to stop any of it.

PLASTIC MAN #3 by Gail Simone and Adriana Melo. Plastic Man teams up with Man Bat to free and save themselves and the child, who isn’t sure yet if he is a boy or a girl. He eventually drops the kid off with his gang of female friends, as he goes out looking for the likely culprit in all of this. Meanwhile, Sammy takes Janet for a ride and may just have to kill her to turn her into…Plastic Woman?

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #25 by Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy. The police are after Red Hood for the murder of The Penguin, but their ship is crashing and Bizarro has lost his intelligence and can’t stop it. so is Batman. Red Hood tries to make his way onto the invisible ship, but Batman stops him and beats him badly. Bizarro shows up to stop Batman by driving him through the roof of the building Hood and Batman are fighting on. Back in the ship, Bizarro grabs a cable and drags the ship through the Quantum doorway. With a kiss, Artemis bids goodbye to Red Hood and goes into the doorway with the ship. Batman arrives again and Roy saves Jason. In the backup, Ma Henkle reads a story of The Outsiders. She is then visited by Willis and she reveals that she knows that Jason is her grandson.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS ANNUAL #2 by Scott Lobdell, Clayton Henry and Neil Googe. Fresh from escaping from Batman, Jason tries recuperating, with Roy’s help, on a remote island where it is revealed that the crashed Tamaranean cruiser from the earlier run involving these characters is here and still somewhat functional. Jason gets to talk to a virtual Starfire while Roy checks in with Killer Croc, who is her sponsor in rehab. Once healed, the pair go searching for the person responsible for some of the drug trade, only to find Suzie Su hospitalized. But the Sisters of Suzie Su are more than ready to defend and ick up the slack, leading to a massive battle. But you can’t keep Suzie down and she reveals that the drug shipment thing was a setup, meaning Jason has something to look for while his have ended up in an alternate timeline where Earth has been destroyed and the Hall of Justice has become the Hall of Punishment.

RAVEN DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS #7 by Marv Wolfman and Pop Mhan. Paula Faust enters our realm but is immediately attacked by the Shadow Riders. After a tiring day in school, Raven comes home to find that Violet is dying and she immediately brings her to a hospital to help save her. Baron Winters contacts her and she learns of the history of the Shadow Riders. Later, he brings Traci Thirteen and Skye into the fold of his ner Night Force. Meanwhile, a young boy is possessed by an unknown entity that may have a connection to everything.

SIDEWAYS #7 by Dan DiDio and Kenneth Rocafort. While six of the Seven Soldiers of victory discuss how Derek will fit into their plans and flesh out their team, Mr. Flynn goes to the morgue to identify his wife’s body and Derek also makes a trip, to say his final goodbye. After being tormented at school about his mother’s death, Derek freaks out and uses his powers on some of his classmates. Luckily, the remaining Seven Soldiers, Klarion, The Shining Knight, Shilo Norman, The Bulleteer, Zatanna and Frankenstein, arrive to ask him to help them with the upcoming Harrowing.

THE SILENCER #8 by Dan Abnett and Jon Bogdanovic. Honor and her family are off on a faux vacation, so she can learn more about Leviathan and Talia. She visits Iverson, who fills her in on how far reaching Leviathan has become. Meanwhile, Quietus arrives to find he has been betrayed by his inner circle. Later, he goes head to head with The Silencer. But there is a witch woman in the works and she manages to force Quietus and Silencer to switch bodies, whether they like it or not.

THE SILENCER ANNUAL #1 by Dan Abnett and Jack Herbert. Set eight years in the past, Honor meets her future husband for the first time while on a mission in Gotham for Talia. Her mission: find Batman. What she later learns, after a tussle with and then a team up with The Dark Knight, is that her mission as to help him and keep him safe against The Reaper.

SUICIDE SQUAD #45 by Rob Williams, Dan Abnett and Jose Luis. SINK ATLANTIS Part 1. With Mera ready to be coronated, Waller sends Task Force X to get Atlantis back under the sea. The team heads out with two new members: Lord zsatanis and Master Jailer. They meet with Urcell, who is helping because she doesn’t recognize Mera as rightful ruler. Soon they discover that the device they were given isn’t a bomb to take Atlantis back under the sea…it’s a nuke designed to destroy Atlantis.

SUICIDE SQUAD ANNUAL #1 by Cullen Bunn and Roman Cliquet. A atinet who is found to have male and female bodies joined together, breaks loose and flees Belle Reve. Waller wants the patient back, but her Task Force X is involved in the mission to SINK ATLANTIS. So she calls in the B Team: Scream Queen, Shimmer, Skorpio, Tao Jones, Baby Boom and Rag Doll. The patient ends up in the swamp, here she is protected by Swamp Thing. The B Team arrives and find themselves in a fight with Swamp Thing and the surgically altered ghosts who have some connection to the patient. Almost all of the team dies, except for Merlyn and Scream Queen, fighting the ghosts, who are the haunted spirits of the man this woman was joined to. To save themselves, Merlyn kills the woman. Back at Belle Reve, Scream Queen dares Waller to use the brain bomb and she does, blowing off the illain’s head. Swamp Thing shows up in Waller’s fruit salad and reminds her the ghosts are everywhere.

SUPERGIRL #21 by Marc Andreyko and Kevin Maguire. After the destruction of Kandor by Rogol Zaar, Supergirl decides she needs to take some time away from Earth. She leaves a message for the Danvers, then heads to the remains of the Fortress of solitude to retrieve Zaar’s axe. She asks for Hal Jordan’s help to scan the axe, which leads to an alert 42 star systems away. Back at th Fortress, she dons a solar collecting suit which resembles her classic suit from the 1960’s, but is surprised by Krypto, who has been sent by Superman to accompany her on her journey to Mogo

SUPERMAN #2 by Brian Michael Bendis and Ivan Reis. Many years ago, the Tamarans battled the Thangareans, who are being led by Rogol Zaar. In the present, Earth is in the Phantom Zone and Superman is trying to find a way to figure it out and deal with the disasters affecting the planet. Flash meets with him and passes out, the League is in tough shape and this is going to lead to another confrontation with Zaar.

TEEN TITANS #21 by Adam Glass and Bernard Chang. The team goes up against and takes down a group dealing in illegal weapons. But there is a catch: their leader has a nuclear bomb set to go off in four minutes unless they can find it and stop it. He reveals he is the bomb, forcing Robin to have Djinn go inside his mind to figure how to stop it. Finding there is no way to get it ut of the city in time, Roundhouse takes flight with it. There is a huge explosion in the sky and it looks like Roundhouse is dead.

THE TERRIFICS #7 by Jeff Lemire and Dale Eaglesham. Tom Strong battles and defeats Paul Saveen. Later, he is kidnapped by the mysterious villain known as Dread. Meanwhile, the Terrifics are recovering from their last adventure and that Metamorpho is now human. Either way, they still need to be connected to each other or they will die. Mr. Terrific convinces the team to head off in his T-Sphere to find Strong and that ends u with them being attacked and captured by killer trees. This leads them to Strong who informs them they need to find a way out of this mess or they are all dead.

TITANS #24 by Dan Abnett and Brent Peeples. Raven and Steel come across an old man on a park bench and suddenly they are attacked by the Urkesh. It is revealed that the Urkesh and their leader, Seneschal, are creations from the old man’s literary works. The remainder of the team arrive, and, with the help of Miss Martian, old man Hinton, Martian and Raven are transported to the fictional realm of Unearth, where they remove it from his memory. The world is restored to normal, but Seneschal has managed to get out and is now living with Hinton. Unfortunately, Raven is stuck on Unearth.

THE UNEXPECTED #3 by Steve Orlando and Cary Nord. Neon nd Firebrand meet with June Robbins who explains how Elligh was here since the dawn of time. When she hears of the explosion that killed him and how that isotope will explode again, she sends them on a mission to Monster Valley to find Elligh’s stash and possibly the isotope. They find the place, but Onimar Synn is there first, leading to a battle. The lace gets destroyed, but the isotope remains intact, even as Synn transports away. Neon and Firebrand are transported to…to Gotham, where they come face to face with The Huntress.

WONDER WOMAN #52 by Steve Orlando and Aco. Wonder Woman goes to Gateway City and meets with Nayeli: the current Aztek. Aztek reveals she has had a vision where what turns out to be Diana’s great aunt Atalanta was trapped in a battle in Tezcatlipoca. They meet with Artemis and the trio head to Tezcatlipoca. Once inside the temple there, they run into and battle the Nazgul, defeating it with the help of Atalanta. But there is no time for family reunions, as the armies of Tezcatlipoca are ready to attack.

WONDER WOMAN #53 by Steve Orlando and Aco. Diana, Aztek and Atalanta team up to battle the Shadow God. Using their cunning and combined strength, they defat him and send him back to the Gods of the Thirteen Heavens. Later, they relax and Diana contemplates on what has happened in Themyscria since she eft. If only she knew there was a new queen on the throne…

DC UNIVERSE Month 9, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1002 by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gleason. A petty criminal is dropped to his death, allegedly by Superman and that leads Clark and the Planet crew to investigate. Goode continues to be shady and continues her infiltration of The Planet. The Guardian shows up to deal with the criminal element, but runs into Red Cloud, which puts him in the hospital in critical condition. In the end, Clark finds out that Lois’ book has been published and is surprised to see her back in Metropolis and in disguise.

ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Carlo Barberi. Robin and a newly returned to Earth Superboy battle a giant Superman statue that is being controlled by The Puppeteer. After defeating him, they head off to their recently rebuilt headquarters and then taken on Shaggy Boy. He is a member of The Gang: a team of intergalactic kid villains made up of Ice Princess, Kid Deadshot, Joker Jr., Brainiac 6 and Rex Luthor. Luthor whips out some Gold Kryptonite and proceeds to beat on Superboy.

AQUAMAN #39 by Dan Abnett, Rob Williams and Joe Bennett.  SINK ATLANTIS PART TWO. Atlantis has risen and Task Force X has been tasked to blow it up, leading to dissention in the ranks. Aquaman and Mera discuss options and Arthur decides he needs a Black Ops mission and needs to acquire some help.

BATGIRL #25 by Mairghread Scott, Marguerite Bennett, Paul Dini, Emanuela Lupacchino, Tom Derenick, Dan Panosian, and Paul Pelletier. In a quartet of tales, Batgirl deals with the death of an acquaintance killed in the Joker church rampage, spends quality time with Dick Grayson, goes up against the March Hare and continues to track down Grotesque.

BATGIRL #26 by Mairghread Scott and Paul Pelletier. Batgirl continues her crusade against Grotesque while having problems with having issues with implants. In the end, she goes to Gotham Police, steals some information off a computer and then passes out, foaming at the mouth, in her father’s arms.

BATGIRL ANNUAL #2 by Mairghread Scott and Elena Casagrande. There is a serial killer in Gotham and Batgirl goes to talk to her brother, as it looks like his M.O. She discovers he as been getting letters from female fans and she investigates them. In the end, she finds the killer and it looks like she may have been inspired by her brother, who is well on is way to acquiring his newest follower.

BATMAN #52 by Tom King and Lee Weeks. Bruce and the jury continue to debate on the innocence of Mr. Freeze, with Bruce arguing for his release. In the end, Bruce says he can prove that Batman is not the hero everyone thinks he is.

BATMAN #53 by Tom King and Lee Weeks. Bruce continues to try and convince the jury as to why they should acquit Mr. Freeze. In the end, he does and decides to go back to his original costume to fight crime.

BATMAN BEYOND #23 by Dan Jurgens and Will Conrad. Batman and Robin battle the new Scarecrow and the mindless minions of Gotham that is being controlled by the villain. The heroes gas the controlled and head to the Batcave, where Bruce and Jack Ryder are meeting. They determine that Scarecrow is using something other than gas to control the city, which leads Jack to find Adalyn, who reveals herself as The Scarecrow. Batman and Robin head to find the source of her power, when Gordon takes them down and Robin turns on his brother.

BATWOMAN #18 by Marguerite Bennett and Fernando Blanco. Rene and Kate team up to take down the Clock King, leading to them having a meal together. This could be the start of a renewed relationship.

CATWOMAN #2 by Joelle Jones. Catwoman finds herself in a battle with an army of Catwomen, taking them all out and finding out that it may have been set up through the Governor’s wife. When the Governor’s wife finds out that the mission went south, she has one of her goons break the girl’s hand…for starters. Later, Carlos sets Selina up with some special weapons to put in her arsenal. Governor Creel holds a press conference to announce he is resigning due to hi having Prostrate Cancer. That night, Selina shows up at a Creel fundraiser and Creel’s son, who is doing his mom’s bidding, introduces himself to her.

THE CURSE OF BRIMSTONE #5 by Justin Jordan, Philip and Jose Luis. The siblings end up in Marienbad, West Virginia: a town where the children have all been possessed by a dark evil. They meet Jack Smith, who explains it all and he tries to convince Joe to turn into Brimstone to fight their leader, now named Slackjaw.

DAMAGE #8 by Robert Venditti, Diogenes Neves and Tom Derenick. Ethan wakes up in a Veteran’s Hospital in Missouri to find the Unknown Soldier by his side. Jonas sends her newest hires after them, which leads to a massive fight with Ethan and the Soldier getting away. Soldier explains that he was responsible for making sure he got free when he was captured. Ethan transforms and takes down the hired hands, leaving him face to face with Jonas.

DAMAGE ANNUAL #1 by Robert Venditti and Aaron Lopresti. In a tale before current continuity, Damage is sent to Bialya to confront a bunch of failed Damage type creatures. He battles them all, killing most, but when he discovers the last one has turned back into a man, the conscience that is Ethan takes over and spares him. As the man flees for home, Colonel Jonas arrives and has him gunned down, while she commands her team to develop a cover story for the whole incident.

DEATHSTROKE #34 by Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan. Deathstroke ends up in Bruce’s mansion and forces him to go down to the Batcave. There, he explains that he knows Damian Wayne is Robin and Robin is Batman’s son. The two battle fiercely until they both pass out from their wounds. Meanwhile, Federal Agents storm the house and Deathstroke’s ex meets with Jim Gordan.

DETECTIVE COMICS #986 by Bryan Hill and Philippe Briones. Batman goes off to confront Fleet Delmar while Orphan, as the only member of the team still capable of action, goes off to try and save the kidnapped children. Lucky for her, Black Lightning tags along. The kids are wired to an explosive and Lightning, using his powers, is able to contain the blast and save their lives. Batman stabs Delmar with a special Batarang that sends the villain away from the scene and allows him to escape for another day. In the end, Batman believes he needs someone who can truly teach him how to beat Karma. And that person is Katana.

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DETECTIVE COMICS #987 by Bryan Hill and Miguel Mendonca. Karma is still on the loose and that means Batman puts a new team of Outsiders together, made up of Katana, Black Lightning, Orphan and The Signal. The new team goes off to free some hostages thatKarma’s men have taken wile Batman confronts Karma. Using what he was taught by Katana, Batman is able to block Karma’s mind powers until the right moment, when he allows all of his memories to flood into the villain, driving him mad. Batman promises to get him help provided he tells hat he knows about Markovia. In Markovia, Martina flexes his might and reveals it is time to stop playing dead, ordering one of her henchmen to get Roderick.

THE FLASH #52 by Joshua Williamson and Christian Duce. Flash meets with the other Speedsters from the Multiverse at the House of Heroes to explain that there is three new Forces that were released by the destruction of the Source Wall. No one here knows about it but the suggestion is Flash go on a Force Quest. Meanwhile, Trickster is meeting to tell his tale of mistreatment in Iron Heights when he gets kidnapped by Para-Angels. Flash and Commander Cold arrive to lend a hand and Trickster escapes, but is dragged beneath the streets into a fiery pit. With Trickster at large, Barry meets with Iris, who remembers more moments in the past, including their wedding day. Cold texts him and says he’s found Trickster, who has mutated into a monster and takes down Flash and Cold.

THE FLASH #53 by Joshua Williamson and Christian Duce. Flash and Commander Cold team up to stop the genetically altered Trickster. Once contained, they bring him back to Iron Heights, where Flash wants to see how they are going to help him. But thigs go wrong and Flash also becomes a genetic monster, leading old to believe the only way to stop them is to kill them. Meanwhile, Iris memories continue to come back to her and she thinks she may have actually heard of all these various Forces before.

GREEN ARROW #43 by Julie Benson, Shauna Benson and Javier Fernandez. Arsenal and Arrow team up to rescue some people from a tenement that slum lord Jubal Slade is blowing up. Later, a mysterious villain broadcasts that he is about to take down rich criminals and Slade is his first target. Ollie and Canary race to save Slade, but he has been beheaded in a home-made guillotine. The villain then announces his next target…is Oliver Queen.

GREEN LANTERNS #52 by Dan Jurgens and Marco Santucci. While most of the Lanterns are fighting a losing battle around the planet Penelo, the Guardians, still mourning the loss of one of their own, watch as John Stewart hovers near death. Hal, off on a little vacation, received a garbled transmission and heads to join the teams near Penelo. During this, Simon goes off on a mission of his own that his ring has sent him on. Soon Jessica also leaves, meeting with Simon. Both their rings try to convince them that the other is a traitor.

GREEN LANTERNS #53 by Dan Jurgens and Marco Santucci. Sion’s ring is sending him back to Earth to help out on a situation there. Meanwhile, Jessica, Hal and the other Lanterns battle Eon and his followers. Eon orders the command ship blown up, killing some of his men, the flees. This leave the Lanterns to try to save the survivors of Penelo. Simon ends up at Superman’s Fortress of solitude, with Superman saying he is trapped inside. In actuality, the “Superman” inside is the Cyborg Superman.

HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS CORPS #50 by Robert Venditti and Rafa Sandoval. John Stewart and the Lanterns and their accomplices battle the Darkstars while Hal battles Tomar-Re. Hal defeats him, which allows Hammond to arrive and take down the telepathic link on the Controllers. Hal then uses his ring to infuse all of the Darkstars with ill, causing them all to stop fighting. Zod, craving revenge, leaves the Lanterns and heads over to Hal and Tomar, seeking to kill Tomar. Tomar takes matters into his own hands and commits suicide. Later, it’s a new day and John welcomes the newest recruits. Hal takes a much-needed vacation and visits with Carol Ferris which ends with a kiss.

HARLEY QUINN #47 by Sam Humphries and John Timms. Granny’s girl Bernadeth is trying to scramble the brain of Harley Quinn, but to no avail. Harley breaks out of prison with Petite Tina and they end up in Granny’s creepy boudoir. After hearing Tina’s tale of being degraded, the to team up. Granny has fixed her Subjekator and is preparing to do her worst, when Darkseid shows up. Actually, it’s Harley in disguise and she and Tina battle Granny, destroying the Subjukator and freeing the prisoners. Granny demands the Splinter of Destiny, but Harley tosses it into a Boom Tube. Tina defeats Granny and we discover that the Splinter is now in the hands of Lobo. Harley and Tina go back to Earth, where Coach informs Harley that her building is being torn down.

HARLEY QUINN #48 by Sam Humphries and Alisson Borges. Harley’s Secret Headquarters is being torn down, which leads her and Tina into action to stop it. Solution: she needs to get a job. Lots of jobs. That sends her out looking for Lord Dead Man, ho has a huge bounty on his head. She catches up with him, kills him and removes his heart as proof of the deed. She grinds it up and pours it into a glass. But someone is here to drink from the glass. Proof that you just can’t kill Lord Dead Man!

HAWKMAN #3 by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch. Hawkman finds himself on Dinosaur Island where he fights dinosaurs and Hawkmen. Eventually, he connects with the oldest Hawkman, who sends him on a search for an ancient relic. He finds a planetarium with the image of Kalmoan on the walls, which triggers a memory for him. But he doesn’t have time to dwell on it as he is transported to Thanagar, where he is held at gunpoint by Katar Hol of the Thanagarian police force.

THE IMMORTAL MEN #5 by Jmes Tynion IV and Tyler Kirkham. A gentleman goes into a toy store and reveals that it is an A.R.G.U.S. Black Site, which leads to him being captured, all the while insisting he needs to meet with Amanda Waller. Meanwhile, the Immortal Man is dead and the team prepares to bury him. Caden meets with a woman known as Communion and he gets covered in a goo she calls the Bloodmask. When he returns to the team, they see him as the nee Immortal Man and together, they go off to save Reload.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #5 by James Tynion IV and Doug Mahnke. Lex reveals how he ended up knowing how to become the leader of his Legion of Doom. In the recent past, Sinestro learned of the truce and Luthor came to him and told him he had discovered the key to everything. He also met with Grodd. Luthor revealed that, after NO JUSTICE, he re-engineered his Mother Box and used it to travel to one million years in the future. There, he discovered that he was revered as a god, but that people finally had embraced the ideals that he believed in, creating Lexor City. He was also known as The Geat Tragedy because he missed the one thing which could have given him power…something called Doom. He went back to the remains of his father’s destroyed Legionnaire’s Club and discovered the doorknob which would, when all the components were out in place, allo him to unlock the hidden energies of the universe. After unlocking the Ultraviolet Spectrum and finding Turtle, ho gave him access to the Still Force, he made his way into Superman’s brain and now controls him in the fight for Doom.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #6 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez. Just when Lex thinks he has everything he needs to control the Universe, Batman arrives and battles him, having used his Kryptonite ring to keep Supeman’s cells from eating him. So Joker takes over Martian Manhunter and tries to use him to defeat Superman, by sliding his tendril like fingers inside the Man of Steel. Hawkgirl gets free and defeats Joker, allowing J’onn to get free and all of them to transfer back to the Hall of Justice. With Flash still frozen in time, John Stewart pilots Flash’ car and uses the Speed Force to circumnavigate the Earth. The world gets brighter, but that is because it is being lit by a worldwide image like that on Luthor’s doorknob.