DC Previews Picks: June 2014
What’s the best way to get me to pick up a title in single issue form? Don’t collect the issues in a trade paperback. That way I’ll have no alternative but to buy the title in its first-run form. Unless the title was mediocre, that is. Such is the fate that awaits DC’s “The Green Team: Teen Trillionaires” as this eight-issue title about ultra-rich kids who decide to buy their way into the superhero business had its (only) collection cancelled due to low orders. That’s not surprising when you consider that the last few issues of its eight-issue run failed to crack Diamond’s “Top 300” for the months that they shipped. It’ll make this the first of the “New 52” not to be collected as a trade paperback, which has generated more interest in the title than it ever had while it was being serialized. In fact, a last-page twist in the final issue which revealed the team to be buying the “Teen Titans” may have also been responsible for a recent spike in prices for the issues on Ebay.
This would all be even more fascinating if I had heard any word about this title being any good. When it was launched, I said that it would be hard to imagine this title lasting a year in the current market and it looks like I was right. The title never got any decent buzz until the end and I have yet to hear any outcry over its demise. It took years for well-liked cancelled titles like “Wildcats 3.0” and “Deadenders” to get collected editions for their full runs. One can only imagine how long it’ll be before “The Green Team” finally gets collected in paperback form. At least the soon-to-be-cancelled title launching this month will be certain to get a collected edition — it’s written by one of DC’s publishers!
Infinity Man and the Forever People #1: Keith Giffen and Dan Didio team up to give us another relaunch of an old Jack Kirby concept. Even though Didio is one of DC’s co-publishers, I’m surprised that he was able to get the company to greenlight this in the wake of how his previous relaunch of an old Jack Kirby concept with Giffen did. For the record, “O.M.A.C.” was cancelled after eight issues, but you can still buy it in collected form. To its credit, I did hear some good things about that title’s craziness which means that it’s something I’d likely pick up if I ever found it in a bargain bin. Of course, there’s nothing to indicate that this title will be due for a longer run. If that happens, expect Didio to put forth another of these titles in a couple years from now.
Superman #32: The John Romita Jr./Geoff Johns run on the title begins here with part one of “The Man of Tomorrow” as a new character named Ulysses is introduced into Superman’s life. He’s described as also being rocketed to Earth from a planet with no future. Given that having him bond with Superman over shared life experiences seems unlikely given the way most superhero comics work, I’m betting that there will be fighting and he’ll turn out to be some kind of EVIL SUPERMAN who was raised as badly as Clark Kent was raised right. There’s actually some potential in that idea and with Romita Jr. and Johns doing the storytelling, we could see it realized. I’ll be keeping an eye on this to see how it develops.
Batman ‘66 Meets Green Hornet #1: Uh… I really don’t have any affinity for this particular take on Batman or the Hornet in general. It’s co-written by Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman. Though I’ve liked Smith’s movies, his comic book writing of late hasn’t impressed. Also, the only Ralph Garman I’ve ever heard of used to do movie reviews on KROQ back in the 90’s. Having these guys team up does not inspire confidence in me as a reader. At least the art is from Ty Templeton who has a great animation-friendly style. However, if I want to see some of that I can just open up my copy of is great “Bigg Time” graphic novel from Vertigo. That was a great, caustic read about one man’s struggle to achieve fame with the help of his dickish guardian angel. Yeah, I think I’ll go read that again instead of paying any more attention to this.
Batman: A Celebration of 75 Years: I’m not so much interested in this collection as I am with seeing what Chris Sims will say about this in the wake of his review of the similarly-themed “Superman” volume from last year. That was an ice burn of a review and one can only hope that the volume is good enough to spare the company his thoughts on how to fix it. Ditto for the “Joker” volume also shipping this month as well.
Cinder & Ashe: This miniseries from writer Gerry Conway and artist Jose Luis Garcia Lopez is about a team of private investigators. One is a Vietnam veteran and the other is a daughter of a U.S. soldier and a Vietnamese woman. The story involves their efforts to find a kidnapped girl, and we learn about their own personal histories while they’re on the case. According to Wikipedia, this series was originally published back in 1988 and I have NO CLUE as to why it’s getting a collected edition now. This actually makes me more interested in picking it up, if only to see if what was almost certainly a more progressive book for the company at the time (read: it featured ordinary people as its main characters and no superheroes) has held up at all in the 25 years since it was originally published.
Animal Man vol. 6: Flesh and Blood: After years of reprints, we finally come to the Jamie Delano run. Delano is best known for being the first writer on “Hellblazer” and while he wasn’t the best, the man did an excellent job of fleshing out the character’s backstory and establishing characters and events that were used by all of the writers who followed him. If I recall, he was responsible for the longest run on this title after it was relaunched by Grant Morrison, and this volume collects its first thirteen issues. All we’re told about is the title story which involves Buddy Baker dying in a car crash and having to climb the evolutionary ladder back to humanity in order to save his kidnapped son. Given what I’ve been reading of Jeff Lemire’s run, I can say that the thought of reading an “Animal Man” story where somebody dies and comes back within its course sounds downright refreshing at this point.
Swamp Thing by Brian K. Vaughan vol. 2: As I said in my review, I hope the quality of the final issue of the first volume is maintained here. At least Guiseppe Camuncoli, in what I believe was his first American comics work, comes onboard early on here to provide the art. That should mean things are due for a visual upgrade if nothing else.
The Unwritten vol. 9: The Unwritten Fables: I’ve already written about this storyline before, but the solicitation text is worth mentioning here. According to it, we’re told that a terrible foe has seized the Fables homeland and our world and that the witches of the 13th Floor have summoned the greatest mage the world has ever seen. As anyone who has been reading “The Unwritten” is likely to think, “So they got Tom Taylor instead.” I was already expecting this crossover to be fun, and now I’m even more encouraged.