DC Solicitation Sneaks: December 2021
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
One-Star Squadron #1 (of 6)
Mark Russell is a writer who has done a lot of work at DC over the years on titles like “The Flintstones,” “The Snagglepuss Chronicles,” and “The Wonder Twins,” where he takes these old characters and uses them to tell modern satire. He’s since branched out to doing creator-owned work at other publishers with titles like “Second Son” and “Not All Robots,” but I’ve never made it around to actually reading anything that he’s done. Mainly because his work seemed easy to shrug off with critical praise for his work failing to translate into breakthrough success. Still, he’s been doing this kind of thing consistently in the industry for years, which suggests he must be doing something right.
So the time has come to find out what that “something” is with this series. “One-Star Squadron” is a series about B, C, and D-List heroes who find themselves working for a superhero-service app that promises “Superman-Level Service at Bizarro Prices.” Be it an alien invasion, cat rescue, or children’s birthday party, you can count on heroes like the Red Tornado, Power Girl, Gangbuster and Minute Man showing up to help you out. It’s a satirical take on the modern gig economy set in the current DCU. This is a solid premise, but what really convinced me to check this out is that Steve Lieber is providing the art. While I’m curious to see what Russell’s comedic chops are like, there’s no question that he has the best artist to realize them after his work on “Superior Foes of Spider-Man” and “Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen.”
Batman #’s 118 & 119: It’s the first two issues of a whole new Bat-era as new writer Joshua Williamson joins the series along with artist Jorge Molina. In the wake of “Fear State,” Batman is retreating further into the darkness… But not that far, as trouble with Batman, Inc. and a new villain named Abyss are going to cause him to leave Gotham to get to the root of these new issues. While I’ve come to like Molina’s work, Williamson hasn’t really done anything that’s excited me. Which means that this will be the second “Batman” run I’ll be taking a pass on after following the Caped Crusader’s main title for the better part of a decade.
That said, issue #119 features a back-up story about “Maps” Mizoguchi from “Gotham Academy” trying to solve the mystery of a missing classmate. Much as I love the character, it’ll take more than a back-up strip involving her to get me back on this title.
Batgirls #’s 1 & 2: What’s better than one Batgirl? Two, especially when DC figures that the fanbases for Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown are different enough that putting them both in an ongoing series is more commercially viable than given them their own titles. Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad write while Jorge Corona illustrates the duo’s adventures under the eye of Barbara “Oracle” Gordon.
Swamp Thing: Green Hell #1 (of 3): Do you know what sounds completely awesome? Getting Doug Mahnke, who is a great artist, but really excels at drawing monsters, to illustrate a new Black Label miniseries featuring the title character. Do you know what makes this sound considerably less awesome? That Jeff Lemire is writing it. His involvement means that the story is going to be considerably less interesting than it sounds. Said story involves the Parliaments of the Red, Green, and the Rot deciding that it’s time to wipe the slate of Earth clean, and they’ve decided to do that by summoning a horrific monster to do the job. If you’ve guessed that the monster in question is the Swamp Thing, then you’d be right. If you’ve also guessed that the one person who has a chance of stopping it is Alec Holland, then give yourself a gold star. If you’ve guessed that this story is going to end with a last minute save that involves Holland and Swampy reconciling while convincing the Parliaments that Earth needs to live on, regardless, then you’ve probably read something by Lemire before and understand why I’m not enthused by his presence. Still, it might be worth picking this up on the cheap at some point just to see Mahnke’s art…
World of Krypton #1 (of 6): Writer Robert Venditti and artist Michael Avon Oeming take us back to a time before Superman’s home planet blew up. Not too much before that, as the solicitation text tells us that a catastrophic event has convinced Jor-El that Krypton is doomed. So if you’re a fan of the creators, or just really interested in what Jor-El, Zod, and Kara Zor-El were up to in the twilight days of their home planet, then this might be for you. I’m not sure if it’ll be for me, but I like Oeming’s art enough to keep an open mind.
Batman vol. 2: The Joker War: The second volume of James Tynion IV’s “Batman” run hits paperback. I’ve already talked about how most of the writer’s superhero work doesn’t really excite me and how I was particularly let down by his “Detective Comics” work. Still, I’d be willing to give his “Batman” run a shot after all the buzz it has accumulated… after we get a collection of the start of his run and this storyline together. In paperback. For less than $30.
Batman: White Knight Presents — Harley Quinn: The latest chapter in the “White Knight” saga takes the story into the past as well as the future. I don’t want to say too much since my review of this volume is still forthcoming. Suffice to say that it acts as both a continuity patch to Harley and Jack’s relationship while addressing some of the most pressing questions left over from “Curse of the White Knight.” It’s a decent enough stopgap to keep fans of the franchise occupied until the next installment arrives. Which I hear is going to be called “Batman: Beyond the White Knight” which raises a couple fascinating questions…
Nightwing #87: Writer Tom Taylor and artist Bruno Redondo have come up with a heck of a gimmick for this issue. The idea is that if you place each page of this issue next to each other, it’ll form one continuous image. That’ll be something to see, though it’s anybody’s guess how many fans will cut up this issue to see it as the creators intended it to. What’s this issue about? New billionaire Nightwing is after some bad dudes who stole his dog after he pledges his wealth to fixing up Bludhaven. I’m guessing it’ll be the execution that makes this story special and not the other way around.
The Joker #’s 10 & 11: Number of DC Comics written/co-written last month by James Tynion IV: 9. Number of DC Comics written/co-written this month by James Tynion IV: 4. Those would be these two issues of “The Joker,” “DC vs. Vampires,” and “The Nice House on the Lake.” Will we see someone writing that many comics in one month for the publisher again? Anything’s possible, but not for a good long while is what I think.