DC Previews Picks: May 2019
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Batman: Last Knight on Earth
You know how it is. One day you’re Batman, Dark Knight protector of Gotham City, key member of the superhero community, with lots of friends and supporters to help you fight your war on crime. Then one day you wake up in an asylum to find out that the world has been devastated and the only company you’ve got now is the preserved severed head of your arch-nemesis. While this may sound like a typical Friday for Batman — you know, the big challenge he has to overcome before he can properly enjoy the weekend — “Last Knight on Earth” is being billed as the final word on the character from creators Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. I’ve gone on about how great their “New 52 Batman” series was and the fact that they’re reuniting for this “last” story is enough to get me excited.
The funny thing is that while this looks to be one of those “last” Batman stories, it might wind up being the last title to come out under DC’s Black Label imprint. It turns out the consequences of “Batman: Damned’s” Batpenis-gate from last year were so wide and far-reaching that everything at DC — especially mature content — has been put under the microscope. So while a number of Black Label titles have been announced, it remains to be seen when or if any of them will reach store shelves.
The Year of the Villain #1: This is DC’s branding for the year which sounds like the perfect setup to follow it up with “The Year of the Hero” in 2020. Before the good guys can come and save the day, the bad ones have to start winning first. That’s what I’m expecting to see here as this 25-cent one-shot spotlights the spy organization known as Leviathan, Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom, and the Batman Who Laughs and their efforts to bring evil to the DCU. This is being brought to us by Bendis, Snyder, and James Tynion (who I’m betting are responsible for the Leviathan, Batman Who Laughs, and Luthor stories, respectively) along with Jim Cheung, Alex Maleev, and Francis Manapul on art.
DCeased #1 (of 6): While Marvel fanboys were *ahem* affectionately known as “Marvel Zombies” for a while, DC’s fans have lacked a clever sobriquet to allow the company to spin off into its own zombie-centric series. They’re still lacking one, but Tom Taylor has come up with an award-worthy pun title in “DCeased” to give us what sounds like the Distinguished Competition’s answer to “Marvel Zombies.” It may be over a decade late, but DC Heroes vs. Zombies sounds like it could be a lot of fun especially if this series winds up divorced from regular continuity in the way that Taylor’s “Injustice” adaptations were. Trevor Hairsine and Stefano Gaudiano are listed as providing the art in the solicitation text, but the catalog solicitation also lists James Harren as a contributor. After his work on “B.P.R.D.,” “Rumble,” and “Thor,” I’m really excited to see what he’ll be doing with this!
Heroes in Crisis #9 (of 9): Not really looking forward to the end of this Tom King-written event series. What I’m actually looking forward to are further stories about how Wally West was supposed to be the killer, but was actually changed due to pressure from on high. Or something along those lines…
Superman: Leviathan Rising Special #1: While “The Year of the Villain” gets a bargain-priced one-shot to herald its arrival, Bendis’ big “Superman” event gets a $10, 80-page one shot for itself. Well, mostly. While the one-shot’s purpose is to set up the event, the solicitation text tells us that it’ll also be leading into ongoing “Jimmy Olsen” and “Lois Lane” ongoing series from Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber, and Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins, respectively. While I’m generally down for anything Rucka writes, it’ll be interesting to see if he intends for it to be the journalistic-centric answer to the much-loved “Gotham Central” series he (mostly) co-wrote with Ed Brubaker. I’d also be willing to give Fraction’s “Jimmy Olsen” a shot because while I find him to be a deeply uneven writer, he tends to do his best work when he’s working on a B-or-C-list character and can do whatever he wants with them. You know, like “Hawkeye.”
The Terrifics #16: In which the team enters cyberspace and gets in a fight against God. Okay, sure. Here’s some free advice for them: If God asks you for a starship, just log out.
Batman: Damned HC: Advance-solicited for September. Probably to make extra-sure the pages featuring the Batpenis don’t somehow make it into this edition. Who’s joking? I’m being serious here. As for the series itself, it’s a supernatural murder mystery where Batman has to team up with John Constantine to find out who murdered the Joker. While seeing John rub shoulders with DCU heroes is never something that’s going to feel completely right with me, the fact that this is a mature-readers series from Brian Azzarello means that this is probably the closest I’m going to get to having Vertigo-era “Hellblazer” back in my life. After all, Azzarello did write arguably the best run on that series — go ahead and fight me on that.
The Dreaming vol. 1: Pathways and Emanations: I believe in you Simon Spurrier. Please don’t let me down.
The Man of Steel by Brian Michael Bendis: I have to admit that waiting for the paperback collection of Bendis inaugural Superman story has turned out to be the right move. This is because I’ve been hearing good things about his follow-up runs on “Superman” and “Action Comics.” Like, “Bendis has his groove back” things. Which is exactly what I wanted/hoped to hear after his move to DC. On that note…
The United States vs. Murder, Inc. vol. 1: Yeah, I’m still a little shocked that after years of neglecting his creator-owned titles while working at Marvel, Bendis has not only managed to put out new volumes of “Scarlet” and this title, but new ones like “Pearl” and “Cover.” “United States of Murder, Inc.” started as a promising alternate-history story where organized crime became so organized that it forced the United States to give up a portion of itself for their control. Now the U.S. is looking to get that part back and war is brewing between the government and the five families, with newly minted made man Valentine Gallo and hitwoman Jagger Rose caught in the middle. It’s been over four years since the previous volume was released, so it’ll be interesting to see if this new volume can get some momentum going again for this series.