DC Solicitation Sneaks: June 2025
[No podcast this week due to unavoidable logistics issues. That said, I will be able to promise you Dick this time next week.]
Above-the-Board Recommendation(s):
Absolute Batman vol. 1: The Zoo
Absolute Superman vol. 1: Last Dust of Krypton
Absolute Wonder Woman vol. 1: The Last Amazon
As if it could be anything else this month.
Even if these are being advance-solicited for August.
It took DC a while, but they finally went and did their own take on Marvel’s “Ultimate Universe.” After Marvel went and did it twice. Kidding aside, the “Absolute” line has been off to a hell of a start with each title dominating sales, surprising reinventions of familiar characters, and no obvious misfires so far. I’m looking forward to reading all three of these titles to see if they’re as good as their hype – and to see if Scott Snyder can still write Batman as well as he used to, now that it’s evident his work with that character has been consistently better than his creator-owned titles. I’ve got no such reservations about seeing Jason Aaron tackle Superman and Kelly Thompson on Wonder Woman, though.
Also of note is that these titles represent another trend in DC that’s been cropping up in these solicitations: Simultaneous hardcover and softcover releases! Which saves me the trouble of having to wonder if I was going to have to bite the bullet and read these first in hardcover.
Batman #161: “Hush 2” continues… into a setup that has me going What The Hell. As the solicitation text puts it, “Batman’s battle with Hush takes a dark turn when Damian (Robin) and Bane team up!” If you’ll recall, Bane killed Alfred before Damien’s eyes for his defiance during the “City of Bane” arc. Either this is misdirection on Loeb’s part (i.e., it’s not Bane, but Clayface) or he’s just steamrolling over the previous story for the sake of shock value. I want to believe it’s the former, but my gut tells me it’s the latter.
Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 #1 (of 6?): Last time, writer Brian Buccellato and artist Christian Duce (and friends) managed to do something incredible: Make this kind of superhero/kaiju free-for-all feel boring. Now they’re back for another go-round as Amanda Waller seeks to create a new version of Task Force X filled with controllable hybrid titans. Fool me once, and I think I’ll be sitting this second crossover out.
Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #1 (of 6): Arguably the biggest addition to the “Wonder Woman” mythos writer Tom King has made during his run is the revelation that she’ll have a daughter named Trinity in the future. But who’s her father? We don’t know yet and Trinity is going to enter the timestream to find out, and to not cause any kind of chaos in the process. Like creating a Crisis of Infinite Corgis. Which is what the solicitation says is going to happen. So expect something very silly, yet likely as entertaining, from the writer and artist Belen Ortega.
New History of the DC Universe #1 (of 4): Brought to you by Mark Waid, who is ideally suited for this because of his status as a DC superfan, and the fact that he already did this for the Marvel Universe. He’s joined by Jerry Ordway and Todd Nauck, both accomplished artists who will be more than able to draw anything he’ll throw at them. Which will be A LOT, since anyone can tell you that, with its multiple reboots and restarts over the years, DC continuity is kind of a mess in the best of circumstances. I don’t think Waid would’ve taken this assignment if he didn’t think he could do it, but I still wish him the best at pulling this off.
Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton #1: Normally a miniseries about the early days of Krypto on Earth would definitely be Not For Me, being the cat person that I am. However, this is coming to us from writer Ryan North who still has a really good track record around here. So I’ll bite, and hope that he tackles Streaky the Super-Cat after this.
Death of Superman: Absolute Edition HC: Just so we’re clear, this collects the seminal storyline in the absolute hardcover format. It’d be rad if they called this the “Absolute Death of Superman,” but it would surprise me if Aaron didn’t already have plans for that storyline.
Justice League Unlimited vol. 1: After kicking ass on “Batman/Superman” and kicking less ass on “Absolute Power,” Mark Waid and Dan Mora get to relaunch the Justice League. Which should kick even more ass. While these creators re-teaming is enough to get me excited, this first arc has the new League tackling a new threat known as Inferno. Only now the League is able to mobilize multiple teams to tackle any superhuman threat. Which should be enough for whatever this Inferno has in store for them. Right?
DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos: Brought together by an unstable scientist, the Creature Unit is an amalgamation of cursed outcasts here to tackle the darkest problems of the DCU. It doesn’t look like they’re following the setup of the animated series from MAX, but no matter. This is being written by “Count Crowley’s” David Dastmalchian, so it’s likely going to be appreciably weird in its own way with Jesus Hervas illustrating as well.
Swamp Thing by Rick Veitch Book Two: Synchronicity: Oddly, this collects more issues of “Hellblazer” than it does “Swamp Thing.” There’s a reason for that, though, as both titles were pursuing a shared storyline that eventually led to the birth of Swamp Thing and Abby’s daughter, Tefe. This volume promises the restoration of the interweaving narrative between these titles, which is definitely a good thing. Also, this is billed as book two of three, so we’ll see if they restore the most infamous cut storyline from Rick Veitch’s run next time: The meeting of Swamp Thing and Jesus!