DC Solicitation Sneaks: January 2024
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Batman: The Adventures Continue vol. 3
“Batman: The Animated Series” did end after 109 episodes, but it didn’t really have a proper ending. Writers Paul Dini and Alan Burnett look to rectify that here with this final volume of “The Adventures Continue.” While it’s safe to say that this conclusion isn’t going to involve the Dark Knight protecting the Muscle from retribution, or dealing with the return of an old flame who is also Harley Quinn’s college roommate, there’s one bit in the solicitation text that hints at what it might. Which is the return to Ra’s Al Ghul and his daughter Talia with a proposition for Bruce Wayne regarding his future. The episodes involving Ra’s were always a highlight of “The Animated Series” so I’m hopeful Dini and Burnett have found a clever way to wrap things up involving the character. Even so, vol. 1 was a lot of fun, vol. 2 wasn’t as good, but was still fun, and that’s enough for me to want to check out how the writers, and artists Ty Templeton, Jordan Gibson, Jacob Edgar, and Kevin Altieri (also returning from “The Animated Series”), finish things off.
Action Comics #1061: Jason Aaron drops in with artist John Timms for the first part of a three-part story about Bizarro. All we know is that the character discovers a secret about himself and unleashes the most dangerous version of him that we’ve ever seen. Sounds fine to me and Bizarro seems like he’d mix well with the writer’s “extra” sensibilities. Aaron isn’t sticking around on this title for the long haul, though. He’s just the first in a rotating series of creators that will see “Action Comics” adopt the “Legends of the Dark Knight” format for the foreseeable future.
John Constantine: Hellblazer – Dead in America #1 (of 8): I was SO HYPED to see writer Simon Spurrier and artist Aaron Campbell take on this series. Not only were they a quality creative team (especially the writer), but it had been far too long since DC had published a proper Mature Readers “Hellblazer” series. The end result was good, but not quite on the level I was expecting. (If you ever want to see how dark a “Hellblazer” story has to get before it goes off the rails, go read vol. 2 “The Best Version of You.”) It ended on a definite “To Be Continued” note as Spurrier was fully expecting the series to continue on after issue #12. Disappointing, but it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve followed a series that had to awkwardly wrap things up at the end due to cancellation.
Flash forward a couple years and Spurrier’s profile at DC is much higher than it was when he wrote “Hellblazer” as he’s currently the ongoing writer on “The Flash.” I don’t know what kind of quid pro quo the writer had to engage in to get this miniseries (unless writing “The Flash” was it), but we’re now getting a proper follow-up to his and Campbell’s aborted run. Better still is that each issue is going to contain 28 pages of story. Which will hopefully justify the $5 cover price for each issue. Though I’m now going into this with the fear that Spurrier-written “Hellblazer” could go off the rails, I’m still glad to see more of it and to see what the writer had in mind following his initial run.
The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country – The Glass House HC: The Corinthian follows the Smiling Man to Silicon Valley. Hilarity and bloodshed ensue. Vol. 1 had a unique release strategy in that the softcover and hardcover editions were released at the same time (through certain channels). I got the softcover edition and liked it well enough, even if it felt like the story didn’t really get going until its fifth issue. That’s enough to make me wait for the softcover edition of this collection. Assuming it comes. DC has been canceling certain paperback editions of hardcover comics recently and even those with “Batman” on the title aren’t safe. So there’s a distinct possibility I might have to bite the bullet and pick up this hardcover edition at some point.
The Penguin #6: Wherein Tom King, and guest artist Stevan Subic, chronicle the title character’s first encounter with the Batman. Nothing more is said about it here aside from the fact that it was “brutal.” I bring this up here because it’s not the only Bat-related first encounter King is responsible for in these solicitations…
Batman: The Brave and the Bold vol. 1 – The Winning Card: Wherein Tom King and frequent collaborator Mitch Gerads chronicle the Dark Knight’s first encounter with the Clown Prince of Crime. I know it’s kind of obvious, but this is the King-written first encounter that I’m more interested in reading here. While his “Batman” work speaks for itself, the writer also writes a very funny and very scary Joker as well. He may have stopped… er, been forced off “Batman” a while ago, but I’m glad that he hasn’t decided to stop writing about his adventures ever since.
Justice Society of America vol. 1: The New Golden Age HC: The first volume of Geoff Johns and Mikel Janin’s relaunch of the classic superteam arrives in hardcover. My misgivings about the format aside, I feel I should be more excited about this than I am. I’ve read enough of the writer’s “JSA” comics to have an appreciation of the team and their history. Yet I can’t really get myself hyped up for an adventure about a villain who has inserted itself into the team’s history. Still, it’s a hefty paperback, clocking in at $25 for 232 pages. Which is a better value than AT LEAST ONE OTHER comic I could mention from this round of solicitations.
WildC.A.T.S. vol. 2: Bloodshed for a Better Tomorrow: Boy, that Wildstorm revival last year sure didn’t amount to much. Twelve issues of this title and a “Waller vs. Wildstorm” miniseries that I’m not sure if it’s finished yet. I’d still like to read this since I like writer Matthew Rosenberg’s work and Stephen Segovia is a solid choice of artist for this kind of stuff. Naturally, I’m still waiting for the first volume to arrive in paperback, but I’d take a hardcover collection of both if that’s in the offing.