DC Solicitation Sneaks: September 2025
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
The Human Target by Tom King & Greg Smallwood: The Deluxe Edition
I won’t lie, putting this here stings a little. That’s because I waited for the two volumes of this maxiseries to be reprinted in softcover from their hardcover-first incarnations. Had I known that DC was eventually going to do an all-in-one edition with extras, I would’ve waited for it. While some of these extras are standard issue – an introduction from King, a “Making Of” section – the real draw here is the one-shot “Tales of the Human Target” from the writer and illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque, Kevin Maguire, and Mikel Janin. That wasn’t reprinted in either collection and I wouldn’t mind reading it myself at some point.
That’s because King and Smallwood told a really entertaining mystery here. Professional target Christopher Chance impersonates Lex Luthor after his life is threatened and winds up with twelve days to live for his trouble. Whodunit? Someone from the classic 80’s Giffen/DeMatteis version of the Justice League. I really liked how King dug into the characters with each issue, and Smallwood matched his ambition with stylish layouts throughout. This story may also have the best use of Batman in the writer’s long history with the character. It’s great stuff and if you haven’t picked up either volume yet, this is the version to get.
Batman #1: New writer Matt Fraction joins old artist Jorge Jimenez for this latest relaunch of the Dark Knight’s flagship title. Or rather, the Lighter Blue and Gray Knight as that’s the character’s new look for this series. As for what to expect from the Fraction/Jimenez era… your guess is as good as mine as the solicitation text only promises that Bruce Wayne will be tested as never before. Sure, fine.
While I don’t expect this to be terrible, it’s hard to get excited about seeing Fraction on another A-list title. He’s a writer who has always done his best work on B-or-C-tier characters like Hawkeye or Jimmy Olsen where he’s free to be as irreverent as he wants. You’ll note that Marvel is reprinting his “Hawkeye” run in a more accessible format as opposed to his “Uncanny X-Men” run. If I had to guess, Fraction’s fellow “Sex Criminal(s)” and former “Batman” writer put in a good word for him to get this gig and he took it because the profile boost would do him good after a few years away in Hollywood and writing the occasional issue of “Adventureman.” Fortunately, if I do check this out, these solicitations indicate that I won’t have to wait for it to migrate to paperback. Simultaneous hardcover/paperback releases are the new order of the day at DC.
Red Hood #1: Writer Gretchen Felker-Martin and artist Jeff Spokes give us a Jason Todd who has decided to up and leave Gotham for the crime-infested environs of New Angelique. Which just so happens to be dealing with a superpowered serial killer. This development may or may not spoil what will ultimately happen to Jason in the pages of “Hush 2,” which has been delayed. To the point where the above-mentioned new volume of “Batman” will be launching before the old one is complete. If I say that this kind of lateness feels charming and nostalgic coming from a high profile creative team, that’s because I’ve not reading “Hush 2” in single issue form, and will be waiting for a “complete edition” if I even read it at all.
Superman #30, Justice League Unlimited #11, Immortal Legend Batman #2: What do these three comics all have in common? Two-and-a-half of them feature art by Dan Mora (Erica D’urso co-illustrates “Immortal Legend”). That’s an astounding output for any artist in this day and age where most struggle to deliver comics on a monthly basis. DC fans won’t be able to enjoy this level of prolificacy from Mora for much longer, as it’s been announced that he’s the new artist on “Transformers” over at Image. That’s too bad for DC, but the Autobots couldn’t ask for a better replacement.
Adventures of Superman: Book of El #1: Phillip Kennedy Johnson didn’t just write one of the best recent “Superman” stories with “The Warworld Saga,” he also established a future continuity for the House of El in the pages of “Future State.” Those stories were also collected in that aforementioned volume, and they were pretty good as they showed a new generation of Super-folks trying to live up to the standard set by the man himself. While they weren’t left unresolved, Johnson, with artist Scott Godlewski is getting a chance to go back to tie a bow on things with this new miniseries. After everything he’s done with the Man of Steel, and how good it’s been, I’ll be there for this one too.
C.O.R.T.: Children of the Round Table #1: An elite force known as the Camelot Corps has spent centuries safeguarding weapons used by knights of old until they were needed again. That time is now and a group of children have been chosen to wield these weapons… which have their own, squabbling minds of their own. That sure sounds like a premise for a superhero comic, and one where my interest would be highly dependent on the creative team attached to it. Fortunately for “C.O.R.T.,” this is coming from the “Seven Secrets” team of writer Tom Taylor and artist Daniele Di Nicuolo. Both creators have done stellar work individually, even though their creator-owned title was a far better showcase for its artist than its writer. Let’s see if they can even the scales with this new effort.
DC’s Zatannic Panic #1: Points for the title if nothing else. This is an 80-page, $10, anthology one-shot featuring spooky stories for the season (it’s advance-solicited for October 1st). Among the creators involved is Andrew MacLean, creator of “Head Lopper.” I don’t doubt that his contribution will be worth reading based on what I’ve seen from him before. Though it would be nice if we could get a new volume of “Head Lopper” in the near future. Or next year?
Absolute Martian Manhunter vol. 1: Martian Vision: FBI agent John Jones has a problem. His brain has been infected by an alien consciousness calling itself The Martian. Now he’s got to do his day job while dealing with the presence of a mind who perceives reality in a way that humans can’t understand. Meanwhile, my problem is that while this is being illustrated by the immensely talented Javier Rodriguez, it’s written by Deniz Camp who has written a lot of stories that other people have liked that I have been, at best, lukewarm on. If nothing else, I’ll probably pick this up to see if it finally tips the scales to the point where I can safely ignore whatever else he does in the future. Like I do for that guy who writes “Absolute Flash,” Jeff whatshisname.
Justice League Unlimited/World’s Finest: We Are Yesterday: When you’re writing two different titles for the same superhero comic publisher, you’re obligated to have them cross over at some point. That’s a little difficult for these two Mark Waid-written titles as while “JLU” is set in the present day, “World’s Finest” has been set in the Recent Past. So if they’re going to cross over, Waid is going to have to do some extra work and have a good reason for it. Enter Gorilla Grodd who’s now being called the Gorilla God and has a plan to conquer both eras of these titles, as well as all time and space. Yeah, that works.
Batman: The Long Halloween – The Last Halloween: Billed as the last chapter of “The Long Halloween” saga, which is complete bullshit since the previous installments have all been self-contained stories. This is original writer Jeph Loeb playing the hits again as he’s doing with “Hush 2” right now. While he’s assembled a murderer’s row of talent for this series – Eduardo Risso, Matteo Scalera, and Bill Sienkiewicz are just some of the artists contributing to this – there hasn’t been a good explanation yet as to why this series needs to exist. Part of me is morbidly curious to see what the writer’s doing here, and to see if this winds up as a proper tribute to original artist Tim Sale. Or this could wind up being a front-runner for Worst of the Year for the podcast. Can’t really imagine any middle ground here…