DC Previews Picks: September 2014
DC’s big move to Burbank will be happening through April and May of next year. As a result, all of their monthly titles will be going on hiatus to be replaced by something Rich Johnston is calling the “DC Band-Aid.” This is how the project will continue to be called until the company itself formally announces it, most likely at Comic-Con. As for what it’s going to involve, we’ve got nothing but speculation to go on for that. It has been pointed out that the move will coincide with the 30th Anniversary of “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” Maybe we’ll be getting a host of tribute comics regarding it. There’s also the issue of people wanting to see the “pre-52” incarnations of DC’s characters back again. It could be that we’ll get two months of fanservice on that idea. Whatever it is, the creators involved are going to have to work very hard to deliver something that overcomes the need for “two months of filler” this project seems to be born out of.
Superman Unchained #9: Another long-delayed DC project reaches its conclusion. I remember that a little while after the series launched last year, Jim Lee mentioned that this was going to be a nine-issue arc. People wondered if that meant he was only going to be around for that long or if the series was going to be a miniseries after all. Lee said no… but, I guess things change after going so far off schedule.
Teen Titans: Earth One vol. 1: I’ve never been much into DC’s premiere teen team. That’s likely because I came into comics long after their peak and the cancellation of their title. Yet they’re getting the “Earth One” treatment (which is still not as catchy as the “Ultimate” treatment) courtesy of writer Jeff Lemire and artist Terry Dodson. I’ve always liked Dodson’s style, so his presence is a big plus for me here. I’m not as sold on Lemire as his “Animal Man” work has had some real issues that have kept me from fully enjoying it over the past year. However, I finally got around to reading vol. 3 of “Sweet Tooth” this week and was surprised at how well he managed to get me involved in a very conventional story. The more I think about it, the more I’m inclined to consider picking this up. (Though I’ll face no such qualms about Grant Morrison and Yannick Paquette’s “Wonder Woman: Earth One,” when it arrives… eventually.)
The New 52: Future’s End: So I was wondering why I wasn’t seeing any of the regular DC titles in CBR’s monthly solicitation roundup. Then I noticed that there was still a lot of the article left when I got to the collectibles section. It wasn’t until I scrolled down past them that I was reminded that these are September’s solicitations, so it’s time for the company’s annual celebration of the latest reboot of their superhero universe.
All of this month’s titles will be tying into the “Future’s End” weekly series which spotlights the DCU in a much darker and more dangerous light. That’s the angle they’re taking, but I’m not all that interested in a month of tie-ins to a weekly series that I’m not planning on reading. At least, the way it is right now. If it starts exhibiting an upward trend in quality, I’ll likely reconsider.
Still, I will admit that there are some interesting things to note in these solicitations. The animated cover .gifs meant to replicate what the lenticular 3D covers these issues will look like are… helpful. There also seems to be story threads running through the “Batman” and “Justice League” titles this month. I have to admit that it’s kinda cool of them to try and tell their own story in the margins of this event. I’m also a little amazed at the sight of Batgirl’s breasts on her cover as she appears to have assimilated some of Bane’s DNA in the past five years.
As far as anniversary stunts go, this one sounds the least impressive of them so far. At least the “Zero Issue” and “Villains Month” issues told stories that still managed to advance the titles they were being spun out from (well, some of them did). If any of the creators on these titles are planning for their issues to have any significance beyond this month, that fact is certainly being well hid in these solicitations.
The Names #1: Peter Milligan looks to be making another bid to add a noteworthy creator-owned series to his name at the moment. He’s launching “Terminal Hero” with Piotr Kowalski through Dynamite, and this new miniseries with Leandro Fernandez at his longtime haunt of Vertigo. It’s about the efforts of a financier’s wife to find out why her successful husband killed himself after a mysterious man walked into his office and told him to. The key bit in the solicitation text is that the wife, Katya Walker, is described as being deadly herself. This leads to the high-concept pitch for this series being “The Wolf of Wall Street” meets “Kill Bill.” It’s an odd combination, and one whose quirkiness sounds right up Milligan’s alley. Given that this is only going to be eight issues, I’m hoping that it’ll keep the writer focused enough to keep from going off the rails.
100 Bullets Book 1: In case you were waiting for the hardcover omnibi of this series to be released in softcover before picking it up, your wait is over! So get to it!
Fables #144: Yes Bill, I can at least tell you that I read all of these solicitations when they’re published online. I’m also a little disappointed now that the whole issue won’t be in rhyme. That seems like something which would be right up this series’ alley, too. Also, thanks for the heads up on Bigby’s resurrection. I knew it had to happen before the title’s conclusion, and it’s good to know that there will be complications rather than just bringing the character back wholesale.
Hellblazer vol. 9: Critical Mass: It would appear that DC is serious about bringing the entirety of this title back into print. How can I tell? Well, the fact that this volume is bringing us issues which have NEVER been collected before is a good sign. Not only do we get Eddie Campbell’s four-issue arc which has John Constantine following the ghost of Hellfire Club founder Sir Francis Dashwood down to Australia, but we also get the start of Paul Jenkins’ run on the title. Not only was Jenkins’ run the most underrated in the title’s history, the majority of the art for it was provided by none other than Sean Phillips. Phillips does most of the art here, and for my money he was the best artist this title ever had. Effortlessly able to move between grounded human interaction and supernatural mystique, Phillips owned the book like no other artist had before or would do since. If you’re a “Hellblazer” fan who has never read these issues, then this needs to be in your collection as soon as it comes out.
The Wake HC: Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy’s tale of underwater arctic horror gets the hardcover treatment for its initial collection. Given how silly their “American Vampire” story wound up being, I’m hoping that this comes off as a better showcase for their talents. I have heard that the whole underwater, Arctic, horror concept the series was pitched on isn’t the whole story here. That it winds up taking some crazy twists at around the halfway point. We shall see if they are actually crazy good or just plain cray-cray in September.
The Unwritten vol. 10: War Stories: Collecting the first half of the miniseries-title-finale “Apocalypse.” Tom Taylor has found himself stuck in the beginning of creation and lost in the unwritten scenes of all the world’s stories. That’s all well and good, though I’d like to say that DC’s publishing schedule with this title’s collected editions is more than a little puzzling. While the trades have lagged far behind the single issues for a while now, we’re getting this latest volume solicited before vol. 9 has arrived. (Amazon has it arriving at the end of July.) How did this happen? Who knows. Maybe we’ll get an answer in one of the unwritten scenes this volume mentions…