DC Solicitation Sneaks: December 2022
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Tales From Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee
I’m putting this here for the sheer nerve it represents. Next year would have been Stan Lee’s 100th birthday and DC is getting the jump on Marvel in celebrating it. How? The only way they can: Revisiting the “Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating the DC Universe” series of books the legendary comic creator did for the publisher back in the early aughts where he reimagined classic DC characters. Despite Lee’s status and the massive amount of talent that contributed to these books (Jim Lee! John Cassaday! Adam Hughes! Chris Bachalo! A whole lot more!), the whole thing was mostly met with a shrug. “Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating the DC Universe” was a thing that happened and that seems to be the most anyone can say about it.
Outside of a few references, such as in “Multiversity” where the property’s status as Earth-6 was established, the whole project has mostly been forgotten by time. Which is why I can’t see this as anything more than a move to throw a little shade at Marvel. There’s a decent amount of talent attached to it (including Mark Waid, Kevin Maguire, Jerry Ordway, Becky Cloonan, and more) which means that there’s a chance these stories will turn out well. In fact, now that I think about it, I probably will see about picking this and the two volumes that collect all of Stan Lee’s stories. Seeing whether or not they’re actually any good might make for an interesting podcast.
Batman/Spawn #1: This is easily the biggest comic being solicited this month, and it might wind up being the biggest book of the year. That’s down to the resurgent popularity of “Spawn,” the fact that its creator, Todd McFarlane, is writing this, and an artist who has a long history with both characters, Greg Capullo, is illustrating it. Capullo’s involvement means that this is going to look fantastic, but you’ll have to pay me to read something that McFarlane wrote. I’m sure he sees this as a savvy business move on his part, to introduce Spawn to an audience that has either forgotten about or doesn’t even know about him, Business is all this is, though. McFarlane’s writing has never done anything for me and there’s nothing here to suggest that’s going to change.
Catwoman: One Bad Day #1: They just keep lining up killer talent for these one-shots, don’t they. This one comes to us from writer G. Willow Wilson and artist Jamie McKelvie, doing his first extended work at DC after the “Batman Black & White” short over a year ago. The premise is simple: Catwoman finds out that an item from her past is being sold for way more than she thought it was worth. Now she’s going to steal it back. In her way are Batman (of course) and a new character called the Forger. We’re promised that the new guy is going to change Selina’s life forever… but I’ll believe that when I read it. Life-changing promises aside, this should be a solid read coming from Wilson and McKelvie.
Dark Crisis: Big Bang #1: “Dark Crisis”… Excuse me, “Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths” wraps up in these solicitations, but I still can’t be bothered to care about it. From the looks of it, any worthwhile reading I’ll be doing for this event will be in regards to tie-ins like this. The solicitation text tells us that the Infinite Multiverse was restored in the event and now Doctor Multiverse is here to take us on a trip through some of the more notable ones to show us how everything comes together now. From the “Jurassic League,” to “DC Mech,” to “Dark Knights of Steel,” to “Batman ‘89” and beyond, tying all these together into one coherent story seems like a fool’s errand for those involved. Fortunately for DC the writer they’ve picked for this assignment is no fool. That’d be Mark Waid, who knows a thing or two about using continuity to tell a story. He’s joined by Dan Jurgens and others, on art so it’s entirely possible that this slice of fantasy tourism could be worth reading in the end.
The Sandman Universe: Dead Boy Detectives #1 (of 6): The detectives in question are Charles Rowland and Edward Paine who made their debut back in the “Season of Mists” storyline. Only Charles died there as Edward had already been dead for a while. They were later repurposed into being the supernatural detective partnership of the title and that’s where writer Pornsak Pichetshote picks up as they investigate the disappearance of a Thai-American girl from her Los Angeles home. Their investigation will lead them into the heart of Hollywood where they’re going to find some genuine monsters, and maybe even some supernatural ones as well. The very talented Jeff Stokely provides the art for this story which also looks to involve Thessaly the witch looking to avenge an insult to her ego. I’m sure that’ll turn out well for whoever did that when she catches up to them.
Aquaman: Andromeda HC: Point Nemo is the place in the Pacific Ocean where nations of the world have sunk their spacecraft on splashdown. It has the affectionate nickname of the “Spaceship Graveyard” for that reason. Only, it turns out that there’s something down there which wasn’t made by human hands, and it’s waking up. The crew of the submarine Andromeda has been sent to investigate, an action which has landed them on Black Manta’s radar. Which, in turn, has attracted the attention of Aquaman as well. This Black Label miniseries came and went without a lot of fuss, save for the mention that this represents some career-best artwork from Christian Ward. If that’s a selling point for you, then you’ll probably want to give this a look.