DC Solicitation Sneaks: February 2022
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Suicide Squad: Blaze #1 (of 3)
It’s not the second year of “Hellblazer” that the team were planning on doing, but writer Simon Spurrier and artist Aaron Campbell are teaming up again for this Black Label miniseries. The solicitation makes it seem like the concept for this series is pretty straightforward: Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Peacemaker, and King Shark have to deal with a metahuman that has none of Superman’s morals powers, but all of his powers (as well as an appetite for human flesh). I’m pretty sure Spurrier and Campbell could get three extra-sized issues of story out of that setup, and I have to admit that I’m anxious to see how Spurrier is going to write inveterate coward Captain Boomerang.
Except that’s only part of the story for this miniseries. The subtitle refers to a new procedure that grants ordinary people incredible power for six months. It’s an ideal procedure to use on prisoners to create all new members for the Squad. Oh, and when one recipient of the Blaze procedure dies, the others get stronger. Which is something that former criminal Michael Van Zandt, described as a lovesick idiot, is likely to use to his advantage as he tries to reunite with his former lover after she ditched him following their crime spree. Given Spurrier’s refusal to take the obvious tact in his superhero storytelling and his love of subtext in such stories, I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot more to like here than the simple pleasures of seeing him write DC’s nastiest superhero team.
I Am Batman #6: In which Jace Fox relocates to New York City in the aftermath of the “Fear State” event. I’ve been wondering how DC was going to manage having two Batmen hanging around its universe, and this appears to be the short-term fix to things. Still, it’s interesting to see Jace relocate to the city that served as the inspiration to Gotham since we tend to forget that NYC actually exists in the DCU because of that. Ken Lashley illustrates this issue and it’s nice to see that this series still warrants name artists that I recognize to illustrate it.
Monkey Prince #1: Gene Luen Yang, writer of “American Born Chinese,” “Superman Smashes the Klan,” “New Super-Man,” and many other DC and non-DC titles, and Bernard Chang dive into Chinese mythology to give us this new series. Marcus Sun is a kid whose family has moved around a lot over the years, and their latest one has them winding up in Gotham City. The good news for Marcus is that the solicitation text doesn’t indicate that his parents are going to die (in this issue, at least). Better news is that an encounter at Gotham High has him finding out that he’s the hero of legend known as the Monkey Prince. I’m honestly surprised to see DC going forward with this as an ongoing series instead of an OGN. Especially since their YA OGN line looks to be doing well for them and after “Smashes the Klan” was a hit. This sounds like it could be fun, as well as a series that will likely find greater success once it’s collected into a trade paperback and can properly appeal to that aforementioned audience.
Weird Love Tales #1: These are the solicitations for February, so… Expect to see stories like Harley Quinn finding love with a T-Rex on Dinosaur Island and Peacemaker’s bromance with his eagle sidekick Eagly. If nothing else, it’s nice to see DC going “Weird” with these anthologies. You’ll have to really love DC if you want to read these stories, however, as buying this 80-page anthology will set you back $10.
Death: The Deluxe Edition: In which the title character’s two miniseries, “The High Cost of Living” and “The Time of Your Life” are once again reissued in a new format. As they’re both written by Neil Gaiman, and illustrated by Chris Bachalo and Mark Buckingham, they belong in any self-respecting “Sandman” fan’s library. Adding value to this edition is the fact that the solicitation text indicates that this will also collect Death’s other key appearances throughout the “Sandman Universe,” no indication is given as to what that will entail. Her first appearance in “Sandman #8” seems like a given, but the field is kind of wide open after that since she tended to show up in cameo appearances after that.
Gotham Central Omnibus: One of these days I’m going to sell my existing paperback copies of “Gotham Central,” which skipped over certain issues, and pick up an omnibus like this, which collects the entire series. Or I’ll just track down the missing issues on ComiXology. For everyone else, this Greg Rucka/Ed Brubaker, and then Rucka-only written series about Gotham’s Major Crimes Unit is absolutely worth picking up in this all-in-one edition. It’s a great ground-level look at a city that is plagued by super-crime and widespread corruption amongst the rank-and-file cops.