DC Previews Picks: October 2015
Well, the new trailer for “Batman vs. Superman” at least did a better job of putting the title conflict into perspective. Still not completely sold on Zack Snyder’s ultra-serious approach to the DC Universe. I’m more optimistic about the new “Batman” film coming from Ben Affleck, and supposedly co-written by him and Geoff Johns. Now there’s a writer who knows his way around the DCU, though I’ve been more partial to his take on the Man of Steel as opposed to the Caped Crusader. The “Suicide Squad” teaser did a good job of making the film seem like it’d be true to the source material and a good action movie. Not completely sold on Jared Leto’s Joker, but I only have to go on the ten seconds or so that we actually saw of him. A friend did tell me about a crazy fan theory involving the Joker writing on the Robin costume in the “BvS” trailer that has this iteration of the character actually having an origin that borrows a lot from “Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.”
Not a bad showing overall from Warner Bros./DC on the film side of things from Comic-Con. As for the comics? Well, the announcements from that will be trickling through these solicitations over the next few months. (I will say that I am not onboard with the idea of a new “Lucifer” series without the involvement of Mike Carey.)
Batman & Robin Eternal #’s 1-4: I always figured the question to, “What would be better than a 52-issue ‘Batman’ mega-series?” would be “A 53-issue ‘Batman’ mega-series!” Instead, the answer is “A 26-issue mega-series that also focuses on his sidekicks, past and present.” A human trafficking case from five years ago turns out to have major repercussions for Dick Grayson and the Bat-family in the present. That’s the jumping-off point for this series with Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV acting as “showrunners.” This is after Snyder filled that position solo for the original “Eternal.” The second volume of that series arrived for me last week, and I’m expecting to be just as entertained by it as I was by the first. With “Batman & Robin Eternal” it sounds like the creators, which also involve Tim Seely and Steve Orlando co-scripting these issues along with Tynion, aren’t trying to “go bigger” right off the.. start. That’s smart of them and bodes well for the title’s future.
Justice League #45: Never let it be said that Geoff Johns doesn’t have solid twists built into his big event storylines. The “Darkside War’s” second act, “Gods & Men,” kicks off by having the League gain the powers of the New Gods. Complete with a host of one-shots to show how they’re all acclimating to their new powers and responsibilities. This series didn’t get off to the best of starts in the New 52, but there’s been plenty of interesting things happening in it ever since that I keep meaning to give it another shot. It’ll eventually happen, one of these days.
Doctor Fate #5: I just want to say that’s a really cool cover. The way artist Sonny Liew sets it up really draws you in and gets you to wonder about the character and his actions in these panels. I’ve never given this series a thought before, former DC publisher Paul Levitz’s work hasn’t done anything for me in the past, but now I’m interested. In the art. Maybe I can get a print of this cover somewhere online…
Prez #5: I’m bringing this up because it was originally planned to be a twelve-issue maxi-series. Now, it’ll only be a six-issue miniseries. No explanation has been given for this, but I think we can all assume that this decision was down to sales of the first couple of issues more than anything else. A series about the first female teen president, who was elected by Twitter, without any ties to the DCU was always going to be a really tough sell. The fact that its length was cut in half just indicates that DC editorial either didn’t understand just how tough it would be, or they failed to sell it as well as they could’ve, or a mix of both these things. Now the questions are will we see any more oddball projects like this in the future, or will this even get a collected edition?
Batman Eternal vol. 3: So, the first volume came out back in December, vol. 2 a couple of weeks ago, and this concluding volume in three months. I’d argue for a more even series of release dates for this series, but in three months it’ll all be moot. Also, SYNERGY with “Batman & Robin Eternal!”
Superman Adventures vol. 1: Collecting the first ten issues of the series spun off from the animated show from the 90’s. Why is this a big deal? Well, the “Batman Adventures” stories from the time have reportedly held up pretty well. Also, the issues collected here were written by Scott McCloud and Paul Dini, who are still kind of a big deal these days. It’s also worth noting that Mark Millar went on to write later issues of this title and I’ve heard that they represent his best actual comics work. Imagine a writer known for his cynicism and shock value ditching both to give us an ideal version of Superman — that’s what I’ve heard Millar’s work is like here. So if we’re going to want to see those collected, then we should start by buying the ones collected in this volume — which should still be really good too.
The Twilight Children #1 (of 4): Something else that came out of Comic-Con was the announcement that Vertigo will be launching TWELVE new series and miniseries through October, November, and December. We’re getting the above-mentioned new “Lucifer” series as part of this initiative. Some big names in comics are attached to these launches as well: Gilbert Hernandez of “Love and Rockets” is writing this while Darwyn Cooke illustrates. It has an odd, possibly overstuffed, premise involving an orb that washes up on the shore near a Latin American village and blinds some kids who poke at it, a woman who may be an alien, and a quirky pair of CIA agents. Whether or not this winds up being any good is secondary to Cooke’s involvement. Mainly due to the fact that as a result of his involvement in this, we likely won’t be seeing his next “Parker” adaptation in 2015 as originally promised at the end of “Slayground.”
Art Ops #1: Also arriving from this initiative is this series with the high concept of a special team that retrieves the characters who have escaped from the best-known pieces of modern art. The fact that it’s being illustrated by the amazing Mike Allred is one reason to be very excited about this. Unfortunately it’s being written by Shaun Simon, who didn’t impress me with his work on “The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.” Simon’s involvement makes me believe that we’re going to see the least imaginative version of this idea manifest in the book itself. However, Allred has shown in the past that he can elevate just about any story — witness “iZombie” — with his art. I may give the first volume of this a shot to see if he can do just that.