DC Previews Picks: July 2012
This month we’ve got a couple high-profile releases with specific religious themes, Scott Snyder going toe-to-toe with Alan Moore’s legacy, the final volume of “Hitman” and as always MOAR BATMAN.
The Judas Coin HC: This OGN from Walt Simonson has a “Wait? What!?” premise that sounds perversely intriguing in the context of a major superhero universe. In short, we get to see the effect that one of the silver coins that Judas was paid to betray Jesus has had on the DCU over the centuries. It’ll involve lesser-known character such as the Golden Gladiator, Viking Prince, Captain Fear, and Bat Lash before we come to Batman in the present day, and Manhunter 2070 in the future. DC has generally tried to stay clear of specific religious references over the years, as fans with long memories will recall that Rick Veitch quit “Swamp Thing” after they killed his “meets Jesus” story, but Grant Morrison had the JLA fight a renegade host of (non-denominational) angels. So either time has mellowed editorial, or Simonson has found a way to do this without trivializing it or offending anyone. Given the man’s talent, I’m also willing to bet that he’s even found a way to tell a good story around it too.
Swamp Thing vol. 1: Raise Them Bones: Paul O’Brien once said, quite memorably, that trying to write “Swamp Thing” if you’re not Alan Moore is the comic book industry equivalent of going around with a “Kick Me” sign taped to your back. Though the series ran for about a hundred issues after he left, every attempt to start a new series after that has ended in failure (even one from a pre-fame Brian K. Vaughan). However, further cementing his industry “golden boy” status, the buzz around Scott Snyder’s latest take is that it’s actually quite good and doing some interesting things with the character. An easy buy, for sure.
O.M.A.C. vol. 1: OMACTIVATE: Call it morbid curiosity since I’ve never bought a comic written by Keith Giffen or Dan Didio because they were listed as the writers. I do remember hearing that this title tried to pack in a lot of crazy ideas and operated with a demented energy, so that gets my interest at least. That said, I don’t know why they’re listing this and “Hawk and Dove” as “vol. 1” since these volumes collect the full runs of each cancelled title. I doubt that they’re planning on re-launching them anytime soon, so all indications point towards someone not paying attention when they typed this up.
Absolute Final Crisis: While it’s nice that they’re including the Morrison-written tie-in issues from “Batman” I doubt that the promised seven new story pages from the writer and artist Doug Mahnke will affect the quality of the story in any meaningful way. I liked this well enough, but it felt like Morrison needed A LOT more space in order to properly articulate all the ideas he had for it. This should’ve been a 12-issue maxiseries (or more, I wouldn’t have minded) in order to account for all of the critical plot points in the tie-in material. It’s a common complaint with any crossover that a lot of the tie-ins don’t really matter, but it was the opposite case here where if you didn’t read “Superman: Beyond” or “Final Crisis: Submit” then key parts of the plot of the main series wouldn’t have made any sense. Morrison is one of the greatest writers working in comics today, but this shows that even he needs strong editorial guidance every once in a while.
Hitman vol. 7: Closing Time: I thought that I already had every “Hitman” story from this volume, until I saw that it’s also collecting a short from a “Superman 80-page Giant.” Superman plays a key role in “Hitman/JLA,” which served as a fitting epilogue to the character of Tommy Monaghan, so is this an epilogue to an epilogue? Until I can find this volume at a deep enough discount, it’ll have to remain a mystery to me.
Batman: Streets of Gotham — House of Hush: This reminds me, I need to go pick up the previous volume in this series, “Leviathan.” Anyway, Paul Dini’s tenure in writing Batman in the DCU proper wraps up here and while he told some good stories, nothing here proved to be as memorable as what he did on “Batman: The Animated Series.” Still, he turned Hush into a workable villain and that’s an achievement in itself.
World of Warcraft: Pearl of Pandara HC: HEY! THERE’S A NEW EXPANSION FOR THE MASSIVELY POPULAR MMORPG AND THIS TIES INTO IT! YOU LOVE THE GAME SO WHY DON’T YOU BUY THIS TOO!
… I’m sorry, I don’t know where that came from. Surely that can’t be the only reason this exists. Right?
Punk Rock Jesus #1: Sean Murphy, the great artist of “Joe the Barbarian,” “Hellblazer: City of Demons” and “American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest,” writes his first mini-series. It’s about a clone of Jesus who grows up into an angry teenager and the former IRA soldier who is hired to protect him. The premise sounds fascinatingly outlandish, and there’s no doubt that it won’t look great with Murphy drawing it as well. Of course, it is his first outing as a writer so I’m hoping that like a pre-millenial Frank Miller, he writes as good as he draws.