DC Solicitation Sneaks: December 2020
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Legends of the DC Universe: Doug Mahnke HC
I’ve always thought of Mahnke as an underrated artist within DC. Even though he’s done quality work on lots of titles over the years, his most high-profile work was on the latter half of Geoff Johns’ “Green Lantern” run about a decade ago. Since then, he’s contributed quality art to lots of other series like “Superman” and “Justice League,” but no major runs on titles. This “Legends of the DC Universe” volume should go a long way to showcasing Mahnke’s versatility as an artist and why he warrants the title. This volume spotlights work from the length of his career at DC, from early work on “Superman: The Man of Steel” #87, to seminal work like “Action Comics #775” with Joe Kelly, and the mind-bending “The Multiversity: Ultra Comics” with Grant Morrison.
While it’s great to see Mahnke getting a spotlight volume, this $50, 416-page collection would still be worth reading for two specific reasons: One is “The Man Who Laughs” Ed Brubaker and Mahnke’s better-than-it-has-a-right-to-be sequel to “The Killing Joke.” The other is “Hitman/Lobo,” Garth Ennis’ most entertaining piss-take of a DC character, made all the more fun by Manke’s detailed art. Points off, though, for a couple of omissions: Relevance to “Final Crisis” aside, the Morrison-written “Superman: Beyond” two-parter was a wildly imaginative epic that took the Man of Steel from his universe to the end of time. I would’ve also liked to have seen “Stormwatch: Post-Human Division” #’s 7-8, where writer Christos Gage and Mahnke have the team using their wits to wrest back control of their station from the Daemonites. A thoroughly entertaining example of that series which, like its artist, was very underrated.
Batman/Catwoman #1 (of 12): Tom King brings his “Batman” run to something resembling a conclusion with one of his favorite artists, Clay Mann. It doesn’t look like this will be a direct continuation from where the writer left off with “City of Bane” either. Instead, this maxiseries looks to be weirder and more ambitious as it takes place across three different time periods: The past — when the Bat and the Cat were getting to know each other, the present — when a former love of Bruce Wayne’s threatens their relationship, and the future — after Bruce has passed away and Selina has to face life without him. Whatever faults King’s run had, and there were a few, you couldn’t fault him for wanting to try new things over the course of it and this looks to be no exception. If nothing else, the fact that he’s bringing Andrea Beaumont, a.k.a. The Phantasm, into the main continuity for the first time is both an example of this, and something I’m surprised that it took so long for it to happen in the first place.
Batman Black and White #1 (of 6): This will wind up being the fifth volume of the storied anthology. Which, after the four previous volumes, should cement its reputation as one of the most consistently good comics anthologies. Period. There’s something about creating out-of-continuity Batman stories in a black-and-white format that just brings out the best in the creative teams involved. This first issue is chock-full of great talent too. From creators who have a history with the character (Paul Dini, Andy Kubert, James Tynion IV, J.H. Williams III) to fresh ones (G. Willow Wilson, Tradd Moore, Emma Rios, Greg Smallwood), this looks like a worthy addition to the series right from the start.
Justice League: Endless Winter #1: Kicking off a mini event that sees the world facing an extinction level event in the form of a snowstorm spawned by a supervillain calling himself the Frost King. It’s being brought to you by co-writers Andy Lanning and Ron Marz, who have a long history with DC stretching back to the 90’s. They’ve done good work for the company — Lanning’s work with Dan Abnett on “The Legion,” Marz in giving us Kyle Rayner — but if this strikes you as a very 90’s setup for a crossover (see also “Underworld Unleashed,” “The Final Night,” et. al.) then now you know why.
It’s a little odd that DC would be trying to run another event at this time. “Death Metal” is still ongoing, and you know how I can tell…
Dark Nights: Death Metal — The Secret Origin, The Last Stories of the DC Universe, The Last Stories of the DC Universe: These are coming out in addition to the last two issues of “Death Metal” proper, and the “Generations Shattered” one-shot which claims to be tying into the event as well. In short, DC has released a metric ton of one-shots relating to “Death Metal” and I’m really curious to see how many paperbacks it’ll take to collect them all. Or, for that matter, will DC deem any of them to be relevant enough to the plot of the main series that they’ll wind up in the inevitable “Death Metal” hardcover? That would be nice, and a welcome change after DC pulled the complete DICK MOVE by including certain “Metal” one-shots in the PAPERBACK edition of the original event series. Not cool DC. Not cool at all.
Action Comics #1028 & Superman #28: Despite saying a few months ago that he was going to be on “Superman” titles for a looooooooong time, these are Bendis last issues on these series. So, what happened? One theory I’ve seen is that DC is looking to scale back the kind of high-dollar deals that brought the writer into their fold in the first place. Cost-cutting was said to be the main impetus behind last month’s “bloodbath” after all. While he’s still the writer on “Legion of Super-Heroes,” there’s been no word on what the writer is planning to do next for the company. If he is a free agent now, maybe we’ll see him go back to Image and actually start tending to his creator-owned work on a regular basis again. At least, that’s what I’d like to see happen.
Batman: The Caped Crusader vol. 5: Collecting stories written by Alan Grant, Chuck Dixon, and Peter Milligan from the early 90’s. Expect to see Batman take on the Ghost Dragon gang, head to Rio de Janeiro to catch a serial killer, and enter a crazy place known as the Idiot Zone! No points for guessing which of these stories was written by Milligan.
Batman: The Joker War HC: Much like the collection of the issues that preceded this event, I’ll be waiting for the softcover edition before I think about picking up a collected version of this story.
DC Comics: The Art of Lee Bermejo: The artist has done a lot of quality work for DC, so this volume is well-deserved. It also looks to be art-centric rather than story-centric as Mahnke’s collection was, with the solicitation text mentioning a focus on Bermejo’s covers and behind-the-scenes work, with accompanying essays from fellow comic book professionals. This volume also doesn’t have any kind of parental advisory on it. I mention this in case anyone was wondering if the uncensored Batpenis pages from “Batman: Damned” were going to find their way into this collection. Just putting that out there as a public service for anyone who was interested.
Manhunter by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson Deluxe HC: Collecting the backup stories that ran in “Detective Comics” during the early 70’s. Paul Kirk was a globe-trotting adventurer, always on the run from the mysterious Council, his former trainers. The original series was a cult success and a fondly remembered work by fans of the two creators. I haven’t read this, but there is a reason I’m bringing it up here. That’s because if you’re like me, made it to the big reveal in “Event Leviathan,” and went “Who the hell is that?” Well, here’s your answer.