DC Solicitation Sneaks: September 2022
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Catwoman: Lonely City
It’s been ten years since “Fools Night” in Gotham City. That was the night that claimed the lives of Batman, The Joker, Commissioner Gordon, and Nightwing. Not Catwoman, though, she just got sent to prison. Now she’s finally out and Gotham City is a much safer and less crazy place to live under the watchful eye of Mayor Harvey Dent. Selina Kyle has no intention of living a safer and less crazy life, however. She’s got her eye on one last score: Breaking into the Batcave. Not for money, but to find out what really happened to everyone on that fateful night.
“Lonely City” may take place in its own continuity, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t have a killer setup that makes me want to read it. The miniseries comes to us from creator Cliff Chiang, who’s best known for providing art on titles like “Wonder Woman” with writer Brian Azzarello, and “Paper Girls” with writer Brian K. Vaughan. Chiang has always been able to provide effortlessly stylish art to whatever project he works on, though this will be the first title I’ve read that he’s written as well as illustrated. While there’s always the concern that his writing won’t be on the same level as his art, the reviews I’ve read of this miniseries so far indicate that’s probably not going to be a problem here.
Batman vs. Robin #1 (of 5): This miniseries is spinning out of the Joshua Williamson-written “Shadow War” event, which set up a schism between Bruce and Damien Wayne among other things, and the first arc of Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s “World’s Finest.” While Williamson has yet to impress me as a writer, Waid has always been a better bet and he’s the one who’s writing this miniseries with Mahmud Asrar providing the art. The setup here is that the demon Nezha, the secret power behind the Al Ghul family, has been freed and has possessed Damien while also supercharging magic to a dangerous degree. Naturally, Bruce is out to save his son, but he’s going to have to deal with the return of an unnamed friend first.
In case this wasn’t enough sidekick action from Waid for you this month, World’s Finest #7 begins a new arc in that series which explores the fate of Superman’s short-lived sidekick. Superman having a “short-lived sidekick” isn’t something that has very positive implications, but I imagine it’s being phrased like that by design. Waid wants you to think that there’s something awful going on here, before he reveals that there’s actually a good reason for it. If you’re surprised by this, go read his “Daredevil” run if you haven’t already. You can thank me when you’re done.
Harley Quinn: 30th Anniversary Special: 80th Anniversary Specials? Those are old news. Harley Quinn is setting a new standard with her 30th anniversary special and if DC wants me to take this development with any seriousness, they put out a “Hitman: 30th Anniversary Special” next year. Anyhow, this 96-page, $10 one-shot is another anthology from a variety of creators. Most of which have worked on Harley’s adventures before: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Stephanie Phillips, Sam Humphries, Rob Williams, Terry and Rachel Dodson, Chad Hardin, Guillem March, and more. “More” includes her creator Paul Dini and “Harleen” creator Stjepan Sejic, two creators who have done such great work with the character that this one-shot will likely be worth picking up just to see what they do regardless of how the rest of these stories pan out.
The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1 (of 3): This is a three-part prequel to the upcoming film from writer Kenny Porter and artist Ricardo Lopez Ortiz. In all fairness to the creators, this probably seemed like a really cool thing to do before Ezra Miller’s career-destroying-and-potentially-criminal actions have rendered the upcoming “Flash” movie radioactive. Oh, and that variant cover from director Andy Muschetti: Let’s give him a shot at another character, ANY CHARACTER, so that we can put this one out of our minds as soon as possible.
DC Horror Presents: Sgt. Rock vs. The Army of the Dead #1 (of 6): It’s Sgt. Rock vs. Nazi Zombies. What more do you need to know? How about the fact that this is being written by living legend Bruce Campbell with art from Eduardo Risso. Normally that would be enough to sell me on the whole thing, but I’ve actually got some questions about what kind of tone this miniseries is expected to have. The concept and Campbell’s involvement leads me to expect that this is going to be a zany, gory horror-comedy along the lines of the actor’s “Evil Dead” work. Risso doesn’t really do comedy, and his involvement has me thinking that the creators are planning on playing it straight. Which is of less interest to me. I guess I’ll just have to wait until the series actually comes out to see what kind of story we’ll be getting.
Refrigerator Full of Heads: Joe Hill and Leomacs’ “Basketful of Heads” was something that I wanted to like more than I actually did. The story of a college girl menaced by some escaped convicts with only a magical ax to defend herself was cleverly written and darkly funny in parts, but was hampered by pacing that was far too slow. We didn’t even get to the first severed head until the second issue, if you’re looking for an example. Hill and Leomacs aren’t involved with this sequel as it’s written by Rio Youers and illustrated by Tom Fowler and takes place a while after the events of the first volume. This time a vacationing couple finds themselves on the wrong side of some of the bad people who are now living on Brody Island, but their beachcombing might have turned up something that will help them even the odds.
The Joker vol. 1: The first volume of the series by James Tynion IV and Guillem March arrives in softcover. While I’ve said before that Tynion’s superhero work has generally been too predictable, his work involving supervillains has generally been more interesting (particularly in the pages of “Justice League”). So a series about the Crown Prince of Crime should be right up his (crime) alley. Except that this isn’t a series about the title character. It’s about James Gordon pursuing the Joker to the ends of the Earth for murdering a whole bunch of inmates in Arkham. Except, get this, the Joker may actually be innocent of this crime. Shocking, I know. It honestly feels like Tynion has found a way with this setup to write around all the potentially interesting things you could do in a “Joker” title. When’s the next volume of “The Department of Truth” coming out, again?