DC Solicitation Sneaks: August 2026
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
End of Life vol. 1: What’s Wrongdog?
When it was announced that DC would be reviving its Vertigo imprint with an eye towards new, creator-owned titles from teams that had worked together in the past, it wasn’t quite the match made in heaven I was expecting it to be. I’m all for creator-owned work from writers and artists that have done good work in the past, but not from the guys who gave us the misbegotten “20th Century Men.” Fortunately there were projects coming from creators who had done work I’ve enjoyed. Like writer Kyle Starks and artist Steve Pugh, who gave us the enjoyable “Peacemaker Tries Hard!” miniseries, whose biggest sin was in re-treading ground already covered quite well by the first season of the streaming series.
Now these two are back with the story of professional hitman Eddie Stallion who is apparently quite good at his job, even if he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. To wit: He managed to rob the assassin’s guild known as the Menagerie, only he did so accidentally because he also works for them. Eddie’s decided to lay low in the one place he thinks they’ll never look for him, in his hometown of Pluto with his bitter old former assassin dad George. No points for guessing whether the Menagerie will find him here, or for whether or not this will likely be an entertainingly dark comedy from a writer who has shown he’s very capable of delivering on those in the past.
Batman: Bad Seeds #1: Kicking off the latest Bat-crossover and while these things aren’t new, one of the titles they’re crossing over with is: “Poison Ivy.” That’s right, after years of doing its own thing G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara (and friends’) title has found itself in the thick of the superhero action as Mayor Ivy finds herself abandoned by her personal, political, and arcane allies, and ready to make one last play for power. Which also makes her a target for Police Commissioner Vandal Savage as he plans to use the opportunity to solve the problem she represents, as well as Gotham’s ongoing vigilante problem. Were I a betting man, I’d say that both Ivy and Savage will be out of their jobs by the end of this event but that’s to be expected. Here’s to Wilson and co-writer Matt Fraction making the journey there interesting.
Black Tower: The Raven Conspiracy #1 (of 6): Another new Vertigo launch from the recent “Swamp Thing” team of writer Ram V and artist Mike Perkins. It’s about a young, rookie intelligence agent from Pennsylvania sent to train with Division Nine. Ostensibly a forgotten apparatus of British Intelligence, it’s actually the division that handles all things paranormal. Which, sure, sounds fine to me. Honestly, this is the kind of premise that the younger me would’ve eaten up and the me today thinks is very standard issue. Maybe V and Perkins will be able to liven it up, and while I’ve liked the latter’s photorealistic style in the past, the former has been too inconsistent in what I’ve read from him for me to really get excited about this.
Next Level: One Shot #1: DC has been using the “Next Level” branding on a number of new titles that emphasized new takes on familiar characters – “Absoluting” characters in the DCU, if you will. While titles like “Lobo,” “Batwoman,” and “Deathstroke” have been operating independently of one another, it appears that may not be the case for much longer. This Gerry Duggan-written and Fernando Blanco-illustrated one off sees Deadshot investigating a job gone wrong and finding a greater conspiracy waiting for him. I wouldn’t worry too much about him surviving the experience as he did die on the job in Tom Taylor’s “Suicide Squad” run and came back from that all right.
Batman & Robin: Year One – Dynamic Duos #1 (of 12): Huh. When is a maxiseries actually an ongoing series in disguise? This is a sequel to the previous “Batman & Robin: Year One” title from the same creative team of Mark Waid and Chris Samnee. I liked it well enough, with it only being let down by the inclusion of a weak new villain. This time around the two are investigating a gang of street kids causing chaos in Gotham, but you can bet that there’s a greater threat behind that one. The only question is if it’s from another new villain or an old Bat-foe up to some new tricks in an old era.
Supergirl #16: Kicking off the “Kingdom of Zod” crossover that’s also running through “Action Comics,” “Superman Unlimited,” and “Superman” this month. As the title implies, Zod has returned and he’s looking to reassert his dominance in the wake of the events of “Kneel Before Zod.” His first step towards doing that is by securing his own kingdom on Earth. Fortunately there’s one here that’s perfect for his purposes: The Kryptonite Kingdom of El Caldero. You’d think that Kryptonite would be deadly to Zod as well, but I guess that’ll be explained. Given that I’m currently reading two titles in this crossover, I’ll be picking it up when it’s collected. Should be interesting if for no other reason than to see how the other Super-titles deal with the newfound abundance of Kryptonite introduced in “Superman Unlimited.”
Absolute Wonder Woman vol. 3: Season of the Witch: I was hyped for this volume after vol. 2 let us know that the Absolute Suicide Squad was coming. That’s not the only reason to be excited about vol. 3 as it’ll feature the first team-up in the Absolute Universe as Diana heads to Gotham after the Mark of Hecate shows up at the scenes of multiple crimes in that city. I’m sure she and Batman will get along just fine and there won’t be any unnecessary fighting at all. If there is, however, I’m sure regular artist Hayden Sherman will be able to draw the hell out of it.
The Demon: Hell’s Hitman: A new edition of the collection of the first half of Garth Ennis and John McCrea’s run on this title. If you didn’t buy the first edition when it came out, now you can get it for $10 more. Which I’d say is still worth it as Ennis and McCrea did some really solid work here and it’s not hard to see why DC decided to let them do “Hitman” – who makes his debut in this volume – after they were done here.
Nothing Butt Nightwing vol. 1: Just wanted to point out that yes, there is a DC comic with this title. Originally published for DC GO!, the company’s Webtoon-aping vertical comic line, it sees Dick posing as an international model to take on some villains terrorizing the fashion industry. Which I’m sure is going to be the sole focus of this title and the only reason people would want to read it. Right?
JLA by Mark Waid Omnibus HC: I saw this and thought that we’d be getting a collection of Waid’s run on the title that followed Grant Morrison’s. That’s here, along with so much more. We’re also getting the six additional issues he wrote during Morrison’s run, the lead-in to “JLA,” “A Midsummer’s Nightmare,” the “Heaven’s Ladder” graphic album he did with Bryan Hitch, the “JLA: Year One” miniseries he co-wrote with Brian Augustyn, and “Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold” whose connection to “JLA” I’m not sure about, but I won’t say no to more from the writer. I actually own most of what’s here – “Midsummer’s Nightmare” and “Brave and the Bold” are the exceptions – but for anyone missing out on the majority of what’s collected here, I can say that the stuff I have read is some of the best superhero action to come out of DC during its time.