DC Previews Picks: March 2020
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Batman: Last Knight on Earth HC
It’s the future, and do you know where your Batman is? Bruce Wayne doesn’t. He’s just woken up in Arkham Asylum without a sign that he’s ever been Batman. The world outside Arkham appears to be all the worse off for it as the Earth of the DC Universe looks like it’s last legs. So what’s someone who’s never been the Caped Crusader to do? Pick up the bottle with the Joker’s severed and still-living head in it and head out into the wasteland to find some way to put the world right.
Billed as “the last Batman story” from team supreme Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, I think that’s kind of a misnomer. It’s only the last “Batman” story from this team until their next one. Even if their “Metal” wasn’t as good as its hype, Snyder showed that with “The Batman Who Laughs” (review forthcoming) that he does better work with a singular focus on the character. So I’m expecting the quality of this collection to be on the level of their regular “Batman” work and for Capullo’s art to look fantastic in the oversized “Black Label” format.
Robin 80th Anniversary 100-page Super Spectacular: Do we need to stage an intervention with DC regarding these oversized anniversary issues? First it was “Action Comics” and “Detective Comics” with their 1000th issues, then “Wonder Woman” and “Flash” got one for their 750th. Now it’s Robin’s turn, not for any anniversary issue milestone, but the 80th anniversary of the character? Okay. Fine. Sure. Still, DC did manage another impressive assemblage of talent for this issue like they did all the others. Writers include Marv Wolfman, Chuck Dixon, Devin Grayson, Tom King and James Tynion IV, while some of the artists contributing to this are Tom Grummett, Mikel Janin, Kenneth Rocafort, Nicola Scott Dustin Nguyen, and… Frank Miller? Uh… it’s been a LONG time since Miller’s art was a selling point. Having him just provide the art only makes sense if he’s secretly one of the “and more” writers listed in the solicitation.
Strange Adventures #1 (of 12): Between “The Sheriff of Babylon,” “The Omega Men,” “Mister Miracle,” and the forthcoming “Batman & Catwoman,” Tom King is effectively king of the maxiseries these days. After “B&C” wound up being delayed so that artist Clay Mann could provide art for the entire series, “Adam Strange” wound up becoming his next opus. Frequent collaborator Mitch Gerads provides the art along with Evan “Doc” Shaner. Were I a betting man, my money would be on Gerads illustrating the present-day sequences where everything is awful, while Shaner draws the flashbacks to the days when everything was so full of hope.
I realize that’s a cynical and reductive description, especially when “Mister Miracle” managed the impressive trick of escaping from its miserable=mature setup over the course of its run. It’s possible that “Strange Adventures” could do the same as it looks at the character of Adam Strange who has just led his other home planet of Rann to victory in a galactic war. King is a writer who’s well aware of the awful stuff that can do down during wartime and the solicitation text seems to imply that this series won’t be entirely about Adam Strange. No, it’s going to be about the “surprise DC hero” who found out what he did during the war and now has a big choice to make. Given that King has managed to wring a surprising amount of pathos from Kite Man (of all people) in the course of his “Batman” run it’s anyone’s guess as to who this hero will be.
John Constantine: Hellblazer #5: From the solicitation text, “John Constantine has just been named the One True Magelord of All England. Please pray for England.” Yeah, no. Either this is an evil plot by the people who named him such and will be found out and punished for it, or John will abdicate once he’s had his fun. He’s NEVER been one to sit in any kind of position of power, given how much he values his freedom and chafes at the very thought of responsibility. In short, don’t expect to read about this storyline in next month’s solicitations.
Superman Smashes the Klan: Believe it or not, the title of this collection refers to a thing that actually happened. When the people behind the immensely popular Superman radio show in the 40’s had the Man of Steel take on an organization that was suspiciously similar to the KKK, membership in the organization plummeted overnight. Writer Gene Luen Yang and artist Gurihiru use that real-world starting point to craft a story about the Lee family who moved from Metropolis’ Chinatown district to Downtown in 1946. It’s a big change for the family, but siblings Roberta and Tommy are mainly excited just to be closer to their hero, Superman. There’s more to the story, and it’s basically given away in the solicitations. I don’t know who wrote the text for this entry, but it reads like a detailed outline of the whole story rather than something to tantalize readers and retailers.
Batman vol. 12: City of Bane Part One HC: Really, DC? I mean REALLY? I can’t blame you for wanting to split up Tom King’s final storyline into two volumes, but now you’re going to put the entire storyline in two HARDCOVER volumes? When the rest of King’s run has always been issued in paperback first? Not only does $25 feel grossly overpriced for this thing, but a hardcover is going to look out of place on my bookshelf next to the other volumes in this run. I realize that waiting for the softcover edition will mean that I won’t be able to read the whole story until next Fall at the earliest, but I can deal with that. I’m a patient man, after all.
Batman/Superman vol. 1: Who Are the Secret Six? HC: No, we’re not talking about the latest revival of Gail Simone’s beloved villain-centric series. This “Secret Six” are six heroes who have been secretly infected by the Batman Who Laughs to become Dark Multiverse versions of themselves. Naturally it’s down to Batman and Superman to figure out who’s been infected and how they should be stopped. It’s a decent enough hook and if the DC Universe has anything resembling an overall narrative these days, this storyline is definitely a part of it. While I wasn’t planning on following such a thing, the final pages of “The Batman Who Laughs” are apparently a direct line to this story. Doing that didn’t serve the miniseries well at all, so I’m not completely excited about reading this. Still, it’s got art from David Marquez making his DCU debut, so it has that in its favor at least.
Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds: Did you like Gerard Way’s “Doom Patrol?” Then you’re going to want to pick this up because it’s the closest thing you’ll get to a third volume. Way only contributes to the overall story here, with co-writers like his brother Mikey, Jeremy Lambert, Becky Cloonan, Mike Conrad, and Steve Orlando picking up the slack for the actual scripting of issues. Regardless of how the story turns out, this miniseries has some killer artists involved including Cloonan herself, Evan Shaner, Nick Pitarra, Omar Francia, and Way’s original “Doom Patrol” collaborator Nick Derington. I’m going into this expecting a mess, but a beautiful, imaginative one nonetheless.
Superman: Up In the Sky HC: Tom King really loves doing stories in twelve parts, doesn’t he. In addition to the maxiseries I mentioned above, this story was originally published in twelve parts in the pages of the 100-page “Superman Giant” issues that were originally sold directly through Wal-Mart. That act may have ruffled a lot of retailers’ feathers, but DC said that they’d eventually get a collected edition of this story to sell. Said story involves a young girl getting kidnapped from Metropolis by aliens. Naturally, the Man of Steel heads out into space to bring the girl back. That he’ll face many challenges along the way should go without saying. With King at the helm, the expectation is that these challenges will involve thornier moral dilemmas than usual. Andy Kubert provides the art and his involvement makes picking up this hardcover an enticing prospect. Due to its potential quality and the fact that I won’t have to worry about how it’ll look on my shelf next to other volumes in a particular run. Still looking in your direction “City of Bane” hardcover!