DC Solicitation Sneaks: September 2024
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Scalped Omnibus vol. 1
Dashiell “Dash” Bad Horse left his reservation years ago to escape the dead-end life he thought it represented. Now he’s back to show everyone there what he’s learned in the intervening years. There’s more to his story as he reconnects with old friends, enemies, exes and throws in with Red Crow, the crimelord that’s running the reservation’s casino, but if you’ve forgotten any of that from my reviews of the series and the podcast I did on it, then consider this your chance to reacquaint yourself with them. This was the series that put writer Jason Aaron on the map for me, and he, regular artist R.M. Guera, and the host of guest artists who pitched in over its run did consistently great work from beginning to end. Particularly in the way that it made seeing just how bad things would get for Dash more fun than despairing – always a hard thing to do. This omnibus collects issues #1-29 of the 60-issue series, so if you haven’t read it before now…
Batman: The Long Halloween – The Last Halloween #’s 0 & 1 (of 10): Tim Sale, the immensely talented artist best known for illustrating the classic “Batman: The Long Halloween,” its follow-up “Dark Victory” and spinoff “Catwoman: When In Rome” was supposed to reunite with writer Jeph Loeb for a new chapter in this saga before his death in 2022. A prologue to the story was completed and that’s what’s being reprinted in #0. As for who will be illustrating the rest of the miniseries, the answer is “whom” as each issue of this ten-issue miniseries will be illustrated by someone different. Eduardo Risso is doing issue #1 and if he’s representative of the level of talent they’re looking to get for this miniseries, it’ll be in good hands – artistically speaking.
As for the writing, well, Loeb is returning to write this and there’s no denying that “The Long Halloween” is the best thing he’s done in comics, and the follow-ups were pretty good too. However, his track record, especially at Marvel, has been REALLY spotty since then, to the point where one wonders if this is going to be any good at all. Not helping things is the fact that “Dark Victory” didn’t leave things open for any kind of sequel, and the fear is that this will wind up diminishing “The Long Halloween’s” reputation rather than burnish it. I could be wrong, but we’ll see what happens when this miniseries wraps next year.
Batman the Barbarian #1 (of 6): Writer/artist Greg Smallwood gives us “Batman” by way of “Conan the Barbarian,” which should tell you everything you need to know about this miniseries. Smallwood is a hell of an artist, as his work on the recent “The Human Target” maxi-series has reaffirmed. So seeing him reinterpret the Bat-mythos for a pulpy swords-and-sworcery setting should be fun. Even if the solicitation text doesn’t really give us an idea of what we’ll be getting beyond that.
Poison Ivy #25: Be honest: When this ongoing series was announced, did you think it would make it to issue #25 while having its third year promoted in the accompanying solicitation text? Sometimes the unexpected can happen and to celebrate, the G. Willow Wilson-written and Marcio Takara-illustrated series is doing an oversized anthology issue. In addition to the regular creative team, other creators are pitching in to give us stories about two cousins who loved mushrooms a little too much, a very hungry crocodile, and an orphan who likes to dress up like a bat (who I’m sure is very different from DC’s other orphan who does the same). I’ll likely have more to say about all this once I finally get through the first volume that’s currently in my “To Read” pile.
Lobo Cancellation Special #1: Because if there’s one DC hero that’s been begging to be canceled after all these years, there’s The Main Man… and everyone else. As for what Lobo’s going to do in order to reach that hallowed status here, your guess is as good as mine. That said, I have no doubt that this issue promises to be the Bad Taste Spectacular of 2024 as it’s coming from writer Kyle Starks (who knows a thing or two about it) and artist Kyle Hotz (who knows a thing or two about drawing it). My only concern is whether or not I’ll have to pick this up when it comes out, or if it’ll be collected alongside some other, equally disreputable comics at a later date.
Plastic Man No More #1 (of 4): This is a story where Plastic Man realizes he’s dying and wants to make amends with his son before he goes. So far, so standard. What sets this Black Label miniseries apart is that it’s coming from writer Christopher Cantwell, comics reigning king of quirk. He’s the kind of guy whose mind goes to David Cronenberg-esque body horror when it comes to thinking about the stuff that Plastic Man can get up to, and what will happen to his body in the process of “dying.” Sounds perfectly disturbing, enough to put a horrific spin on the standard plot and give artists Alex Lins and Jacob Edgar some crazy stuff to draw for this miniseries.
WildC.A.T.s Compendium One: Collecting issues #0-13, and 15-20 of the title’s original run, plus a host of miniseries as well. While this was easily the best-selling run of “WildC.A.T.s” comics ever published, that’s because they came at the height of the Image boom and were mostly illustrated by Jim Lee. As to how they read all these years later… well, I’m sure the 90’s as hell art has likely held up a lot better. Anyone looking to experience a version of this series that reads halfway decently is advised to hold out for “Compendium Two” as it’ll pick up at the start of Alan Moore’s run on the title. Which, while certainly not “V for Vendetta,” shows that the writer really can make any title he works on be perfectly readable.
Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent: The final Tom Taylor-written arc of Jon’s adventures finally hits paperback. For this final go-round he winds up going on a multiversal adventure to find out who’s been murdering Kal-Els up and down it. The last time Jon went into the multiverse, he wound up having a particularly bad (and lengthy) time on Earth-2. That means there’s no worse place for him to go, right? Until you consider that Taylor also wrote a good portion of the “Injustice” comics based on the fighting game series that featured a Superman who went bad after the Joker killed Lois Lane and he killed him in response. And that the writer has decided that now is the perfect time to revisit that particular universe. Good luck with that, Jon! Hope you survive the experience!