DC Solicitation Sneaks: November 2021
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Batman: One Dark Knight #1 (of 3)
Hey, it’s another “Batman” title in this spot! Surprising, I know. The thing is that there’s a lack of promising new titles in these solicitations and the collected editions I’m interested in are debuting hardcover-first, so a new miniseries featuring the Caped Crusader gets this month’s top spot again. Which isn’t to say that this project looks underwhelming in any way. It’s being written and illustrated by Jock, who previously tackled the character with Scott Snyder in “The Dark Mirror” and “The Batman Who Laughs.” He’s also done some great work with writer Andy Diggle on “The Losers,” “Green Arrow: Year One,” and “Snapshot.” You’ve also got his three issue “Savage Wolverine” arc that he also wrote which saw the character stranded on a strange planet with a mysterious kid. That one turned out pretty well.
So I’m genuinely interested in this new miniseries from the creator, which has a punny title that’s actually relevant to the main story. It involves Batman assisting with the transfer of a dangerous supervillain named E.M.P. to Blackgate Prison. If you can guess what E.M.P.’s powers entail, then it probably won’t surprise you to learn that soon all the lights are out in Gotham and Batman is having to drag the villain to Blackgate in a Gotham that has descended into chaos. It’s a solid, easily graspable setup that also looks to be well-suited to the creator’s shadowy art style. Yes, it may be one more “Batman” miniseries in a publishing schedule that’s full of them, but it also sounds like it’ll be a cut above the rest.
Batman #116 & 117, Secret Files: The Gardener, Batman: Fear State — Omega, Batman Annual 2021, The Joker #9, The Joker Annual 2021: That is A LOT of “Batman” and “Bat”-related comics that are being written by one man, James Tynion IV. (Though “The Joker Annual” is co-written by Matthew Rosenberg, but you see my point.) The surprising thing is that, unless some deal has been worked out with regards to his commitment to “The Joker,” that number will drop to zero next month. Why? Because Tynion got A LOT of money to continue his creator-owned efforts at Substack. Oh, and the publisher is also letting him keep all the rights to whatever he creates there. It should not surprise anyone that the last bit was the deciding factor for the writer. I wish him the best of luck there as I’m sure the “Bat”-titles will get along fine without him (in fact, Joshua Williamson and Jorge Molina have been announced as the new “Batman” creative team following Tynion and Jorge Jimenez). All this being said, I still haven’t made it around to reading any of his current work on “Batman” as I think the majority of his superhero writing is too straightforward for my taste. I’m not too big on his breakout hit “Something is Killing the Children” either, but the first volume of “The Department of Truth” was great. Any publishing opportunity that allows him to deliver something like that again can’t be all bad.
Robins #1 (of 6) & Robin & Batman #1 (of 3): Choose your poison: In one corner you’ve got Tim Seely and Baldemar Rivas doing a six-issue miniseries featuring all of the characters who have been Robin at one point in their lives. In the other, you’ve got Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen doing a story about Dick Grayson’s early days as Robin. If I had to choose, then I’d go with Seely and Rivas as they’re giving us a novel setup to explore the nature of the role as an unknown assailant comes at them with a vengeance. “Robin and Batman” has one of the great Bat-artists drawing it in Nguyen, but I’ve since learned not to expect anything surprising from Lemire. Which is exactly what a story like the one he’s telling would need.
Dark Knights of Steel #’s 1&2 (of 12): Tom Taylor is back again with another high-concept take on established superheroes. This time it’s all about how the world was changed when a spaceship crash-lands on a distant planet. Only the planet in question is of the middle-ages, high-fantasy variety. It’s the Knights of the Round Table done via the DCU! After Taylor’s previous work, I’m onboard to see where he and artist Yasmin Putri decide to take this idea. Ideally, it’ll be somewhere I wasn’t expecting it to go.
Justice League Incarnate #1 (of 5): Much as it warms my heart to see other creators run with the concepts established by Grant Morrison for the DCU, Joshua Williamson’s work for the publisher just hasn’t interested me at all. So when I see that he’s co-writing this follow-up to “Infinite Frontier,” with unfamiliar co-writer Dennis Culver, I can’t get too excited about this. At least this series about multiversal heroes fighting to stave off the multiverse’s collapse has some quality artists (for its first issue) in Andrei Bressan and Brandon Petersen.
Batman/Superman: Authority Special #1: This is unrelated to the “Superman and the Authority” miniseries from Grant Morrison and Mikel Janin. Where that tale takes place in an alternate universe, this one takes place in the current DCU from current “Action Comics” writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson, with Trevor Hairsine and Ben Templesmith providing the art. The story hook here is that after his life has been turned upside down, Superman decides that it’s a good idea to reform the infamously violent and over-the-top superteam to help him liberate Warworld. This does seem somewhat out of character for the Man of Steel, so maybe Batman will be able to talk some sense into him? Except that he has his own request for the team as well. Though it’s nice to see that DC hasn’t forgotten about the once-groundbreaking team, I’m not holding my breath at the thought of this special recapturing the magic. Even if the people from editorial who ran the series back into the ground during its initial run aren’t at DC anymore.
Rorschach HC: Yeah, still not touching this…
Strange Adventures HC: This, on the other hand, is far less radioactive and even interesting on its own terms. “Mr. Maxiseries” Tom King, along with artist Mitch Gerads and Evan “Doc” Shaner, are behind this series about Adam Strange, who is enjoying the good life with his family on Earth after having led his adopted home of Rann to victory in a galactic conflict. The thing is that while Adam may have helped win the war, there are still a lot of questions about the means by which he did it. Questions which Mr. Terrific is looking to find answers to. In short: This is a story about the decisions made under the fog of war told through the trappings of a superhero comic. The thing is that King went down a similar path with “The Omega Men” and I didn’t think he had anything new or interesting to say with that series. On the other, he did a great job subverting my expectations with “Mister Miracle.” That said, do you know what both series had in common? They both arrived in paperback first. While I’m definitely interested in reading this, I think I can wait until it gets a deep enough discount, or hits paperback.
Nightwing vol. 1: Leaping Into the Fight HC: I’ve never followed Nightwing’s solo adventures on a regular basis before. I was prepared to start after I heard that Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo, the team that gave us “Suicide Squad: Bad Blood,” would be taking over the character’s series. Then I see that DC is going hardcover-first with this, and I’m a little less enthused about checking this series out. At least, not until it hits paperback…