DC Solicitation Sneaks: July 2024
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Titans: Beast World
It’s billed as the first “Titans”-centric DC event, which sounds overdue after the team has been in circulation for over 40 years now. That’s not what’s drawing me to this event, as it’ll be the first time I’ve started following the team which formerly had “Teen” in front of their name. No, it’s because this will be the first event from Tom Taylor, a writer I like who has never done one of these before and I’m curious to see what he does with it. The premise involves something called the Necrostar descending on Earth and turning everyone it encounters into a rampaging beast. Which means that the only one who can save us is… Garfield “Beast Boy” Logan? Even if Gar is up to the task, the Titans are also going to have to deal with people like Amanda Waller who are looking to use the chaos to their advantage. It sounds solid enough, and that’s before you consider the idea that Taylor likely has some tricks up his sleeve when it comes to how all this is going to play out.
Absolute Power: Ground Zero #1 & Absolute Power #1 (of 4): DC’s latest event kicks off at the same time its previous one is collected. Remember what I said about Amanda Waller using the chaos of “Beast World” to her own advantage? Well, this is the endgame for that and it involves stealing the powers of all the superhumans on Earth and putting them into individual Amazo robots under her control (which is the premise of the Absolute Power: Task Force VII tie-in miniseries solicited here as well). How is she able to do this? With help from the likes of Failsafe, now being run by Batman’s backup Zur-En-Arrh personality, and the Brainiac Queen. One of which may be playing her more than she knows, however.
This event series comes to us courtesy of writer Mark Waid and artist Dan Mora, who have shown that they can tell thrilling superhero stories together in the pages of “World’s Finest.” It’s also great seeing someone like Waid helming an event series like this after over 30 years in the business. You’d have thought he’d be past his sell-by date when it comes to writing superheroes after all this time, but his current work show’s that he’s still got it.
The Nice House by the Sea #1 (of 12): While its name implies a connection to “The Nice House on the Lake,” it’s not the follow-up to that series. Rather, it’s a new story set in the same universe as a mysterious woman named Max invites twelve people to come to her house, be saved from the end of the world, and carry on the spirit of humanity. Sounds like a nice deal, huh? Well, it’s a setup that screams BUT WAIT, THERE’S GOING TO BE A TWIST as loud as it can, and I respect writer James Tynion IV for not trying to replicate the mystery of the previous series’ setup. It looks like he and artist Alvaro Martinez Bueno are trying to build on it and I’m at least curious to see what they’re going to do here. I am a little concerned/disappointed that we don’t appear to be getting any direct follow-up to the previous series, particularly when it ended on such an open-ended note. I don’t doubt we’ll get it at some point, but I’ll also settle for having this new series not collapse in its back half like the last one did.
Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #1 (of 6): It’s a follow-up to the miniseries which asked the question, “What if the Justice League, but in medieval times?” Original writer Tom Taylor co-writes with Jay Kristoff with Tierso Cons and Riccardo Federici providing the art for this story about Deathstroke stalking a frozen wasteland before being forced into the role of reluctant guardian. It sounds fine and the first volume of “Dark Knights of Steel” is in my backpack still waiting to be read after WonderCon. I should probably take it, and the rest of the comics inside, out of it so I’ll remember to read and/or review them at some point.
The Penguin #12: Was this solo series for Oswald Cobblepot canceled, or was it actually just a stealth maxiseries from its writer (the master of such) Tom King. We may never know. What is clear is that you’ll be able to buy the whole thing in two softcover volumes rather than one, as is the state of the market these days. As for the contents of this issue, the solicitation text describes Oswald sinking to a watery grave inside the Batmobile with an unconscious Batman. …eh. I’m sure they’ll both be fine.
Birds of Prey vol. 1: Megadeath: Black Canary’s little sister has been kidnapped by the Amazons and she needs help getting the kid back. So it’s time for her to form an all-new version of the team made up of Cassandra Cain, Big Barda, Zealot, and Harley Quinn. Their plan is to perform a quick, bloodless extraction, but how can they when killing is their business… and business is good.. Or is it because peace sells… but who’s buying? Will they take the train of consequences to get to Paradise Island, or will they just rust in peace? Maybe they’ll see some cryptic writings indicating that the system has failed along the way? Maybe I should just quit while I’m behind here and say that I’m very much looking forward to seeing what writer Kelly Thompson and artist Leonardo Romero have in store for these characters even though I’ve never followed a “Birds of Prey” comic before.
All-Star Batman by Scott Snyder: The Deluxe Edition HC: Collecting Snyder’s 14-issue victory lap for his “Batman” run. The stories he told here with artists like John Romita Jr., Rafael Albuquerque, and more were fun, but not exceptional stories involving the character. It’s clear that he was trying to enjoy himself more with these stories rather than put out an event story with every as he did on “Batman.” I hope he did, but that’s likely the reason why his work on that series stands out more than what he did here.
The Joker by James Tynion IV Compendium: Wake me when Matthew Rosenberg’s run on the character gets the same treatment. And on that note…
WildC.A.T.s: The Complete Series: Boy, that WildStorm revival from late 2022 sure came and went anyone noticing, didn’t it? I’d like to say that putting out the two volumes of this “WildC.A.T.s” revival from Rosenberg and artist Stephen Segovia in hardcover first sure didn’t help things, but that’s just me. Still, I’m glad I held out because that means I can pick up this all-in-one softcover collection at a far more reasonable price of $30 for 320 pages. Even though I’ve only been partial to the Casey/Phillips run of the team, Rosenberg’s irreverence strikes me as being a good fit for what sounds like a darkly comedic take on the team. Better still is that they’ve got an artist in Segovia who’s very good with that kind of approach, as we saw in his work on “Hellions.” That this only lasted twelve issues without anyone really noticing is kind of a red flag, but I’ll push past that to see if it lives up to the potential I think it has.