For example, the cover on the recent release of Aquaman: War for the Throne, which repackaged various Aquaman comics by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis and others from Johns' runs on Aquaman and Justice League, go so far as just straight-up redesign the character into Jason Momoa on the cover (despite the fact that inside the book, Aquaman was clean-shaven, short-haired and as blonde as he's ever been).
Here on this variant cover for August's issue of Aquaman by Joshua Middleton, we see that Aquaman now has tattoos like Momoa, which, unless the character has spent substantial time in a tattoo parlor since I've seen him last during "Drowned Earth", is more of a "Hey, this is the comic book the movie starring Jason Momoa wass based on!" move than it is content-accurate. Which reminds me of a minor nitpick of the film! If bullets can't pierce Aquaman's impenetrable skin, how on Earth did the tattoo needle get through it over and over and over...?
Of course, then I remembered why I liked the costume so much: It reminded me of Dean Trippe's old redesign for Spoiler's costume, blending her original costume with the one she wore during her brief stint as Robin:
written by BRYAN HILL
art by DEXTER SOY
cover by TYLER KIRKHAM
...
At last—the Outsiders take off on their mission to rescue Sofia from none other than Ra’s al Ghul! But Ra’s has other ideas for the quartet, and with the aid of Lex Luthor’s mysterious gift, they are playing right into his hand.
ON SALE 08.14.19
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES
FC | RATED T+
Ugh, Ra's al Ghul again...? I am so sick of seeing that dude. I'm not sure why that is; like, I don't know if he necessarily appears more often than The Joker or The Penguin or Bane or if it just feels like he does to me personally. Maybe it's because of some formula; like, he is the least interesting Batman villain who shows up the most, or something like that.
In addition to appearing in Batman and The Outsiders, Ra's is also featuring prominently in a new Neal Adams miniseries starting this month, which I didn't pull out to highlight, because nothing about a new Neal Adams miniseries featuring Ra's al ghul excites me at all.
BATMAN: THE CAPED CRUSADER VOL. 3 TP
written by MARV WOLFMAN, PETER MILLIGAN and others
art by JIM APARO, KIERON DWYER and others
cover by NORM BREYFOGLE
This new collection of 1990s Batman stories takes the Dark Knight behind the Iron Curtain to battle the mysterious Demon. Then, the Penguin exploits a disfigured genius for his latest evil scheme, but Batman helps turn his tech skills to the side of good. And The Joker goes on a new killing spree—but is it really the Clown Prince of Crime, or is this a case of a copycat killer? Plus, the Riddler returns in the three-part story “Dark Knight, Dark City.” Collects Batman #445-454, Detective Comics #615 and Batman Annual #14.
ON SALE 09.18.19
$29.99 US | 328 PAGES
This, on the other hand, excites me very much. Looking at what is listed above, this includes some Wolfman/Aparo comics, the three-part Penguin story in which the archfiend pulls a Hitchcock and weaponizes the birds by a variety of creators, the excellent Peter Milligan-written, Kieron Dwyer-pencilled "Dark Knight, Dark City" (featuring Mike Mignola on covers!) that was the first real "dark" take on The Riddler since his semi-retirement in 1989's Secret Origins Special #1; and that annual is a decent-ish Two-Face story written by Andrew Helfer and penciled by Chris Sprouse.
I've read maybe about half of the comics in there, mostly our of order and out-of-context--"Dark Knight, Dark City" being the only one I've read start to finish--and so I'm looking forward to this. These collections are great for filling in the gaps in ones collection, and helping to downsize my comics midden. Like, once this is sitting on my bookshelf, I'll feel secure it losing six to ten comics from a longbox.
For a newer reader, I think this is probably a pretty appealing collection, too. While certainly not the very best Batman comics of the early '90s, from what I've seen of it, this collection ranges from pretty good to great, and features The Joker (sorta), The Penguin, Two-Face and The Riddler.
written by MEG CABOT
art and cover by CARA McGEE
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Princess Diaries comes Black Canary: Ignite, Meg Cabot’s first graphic novel! With expressive and energetic art by Cara McGee to match the trademark attitude and spunk of Meg Cabot’s characters and dialogue, this mother-daughter story embraces the highs and lows of growing up without growing out of what makes us unique.
Thirteen-year-old Dinah Lance knows exactly what she wants, who she is, and where she’s going. First, she’ll win the battle of the bands with her two best friends, then she’ll join the Gotham City Junior Police Academy so she can solve crimes just like her dad. Who knows, her rock star group of friends may even save the world, but first they’ll need to agree on a band name.
When a mysterious figure keeps getting in the way of Dinah’s goals and threatens her friends and family, she’ll learn more about herself, her mother’s secret past, and navigating the various power chords of life.
Black Canary: Ignite is an inspirational song that encourages readers to find their own special voices to sing along with Black Canary!
ON SALE 10.30.19
$9.99 US | 5.5” x 8” | 160 PAGES
Same complaint here as with the previous DC Ink original graphic novels: Writer Meg Cabot's name is gigantic on the cover, while artist Cara McGee's is tiny and afterthought-y, and, according to the cover, this book is "illustrated by" McGee, and maybe I'm just splitting hairs differently than the ways that others might split those particular hairs, but there's a world of difference between illustration and drawing a comic.
Again, I understand why DC is highlighting the popular YA prose author who wrote the script for the original graphic novel they commissioned specifically to appeal to YA prose readers who aren't necessarily already comics readers, but it's still uncool, and I'm still going to say so every time they do it.
I'm not familiar with Cabot's writing, other than knowing her name from seeing it in libraries and bookstores all the time, but I suspect this particular Ink ogn could have some real potential to surprise, given how relatively little comic book Black Canary's history is known at all, let alone set in stone. She's been one of those characters more effected by the various crises and reboots and rejiggering than others, and sometimes reconciling the various versions can be hilariously complicated, with Black Canary basically kinda sorta becoming her own mom post-Crisis...or, at least, the two Black Canaries being split into two different characters, one of whom was the mother of the other.
Anyway, this is one I'm curious about mainly to see what the heck a teenage Dinah Lance and her life might be like, as it's not something we've seen repeatedly, as with, say Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, etc.
written by TOM TAYLOR
art by CULLY HAMNER
cover by MITCH GERADS
Black Mask was one of Gotham City’s most ruthless crime lords. He had money, power and respect. But after months in the Teen Titans’ secret prison, Roman Sionis is finally free. Given a new purpose and new abilities thanks to Lex Luthor’s offer, he’s found a new racket. Corporate crime not only pays better, but it’s far less dangerous. At least until Batwoman discovers what he’s up to and plans to put an end to Black Mask’s latest power grab. Is Black Mask the same crime boss he’s always been, or has time and a new approach made him something far more unstoppable than he’s ever been?
ON SALE 08.14.19
$4.99 US | 40 PAGES
FC | RATED T+
Normally I would think it odd that a relatively C-List Batman villain like Black Mask would get a one-shot special with his name in the title, but then, I guess he is going to be the villain of the upcoming Birds of Prey movie, which seems to feature a rather unusual hodgepodge of various Gotham City-related characters.
I'm not sure what his "new abilities" might be, nor can I imagine what a super-powered Black Mask might be like and what he might do. Shoot eye beams out of his mask? Change his face to impersonate others? Melt people's faces off with a corrosive touch, leaving only their charred, black skulls...?
While there don't seem to be quite as many "Year of The Villain" references in this month's solicitations, most of those I've seen really seem to be something of an Underworld Unleashed retread, only with a reborn, Perputa-empowered Luthor in the role of Neron. This is one of two character-specific specials sub-titled Year of The Villain; the other features Sinestro.
BOOSTER GOLD: THE BIG FALL HC
written by DAN JURGENS
art by DAN JURGENS and MIKE DeCARLO
cover by DAN JURGENS
These are the 1980s tales that introduced Booster Gold, the glory-hungry hero who traveled back in time from the 25th century to become a superhero called Goldstar—but manages to mangle both his mission and his name, winding up with the oddball name by which he is known. In these stories, while battling rad 1980s super-villains, Booster attempts to line up endorsement deals with limited success. Collects BOOSTER GOLD #1-12 in color for the first time, plus design material, unpublished story pages and more.
ON SALE 09.25.19
$39.99 US | 320 PAGES
Forty bucks? Dammit; I should have picked up that Showcase Presents volume when I had the chance. How was I to know that DC would ever abandon that format for collecting old comics, the greatest format for collecting old comics ever conceived by man...?
CATWOMAN #14
written by RAM V
art by MIRKA ANDOLFO
cover by JOELLE JONES
...
A secret file out-lining the ins and outs of the criminal underworld of Villa Hermosa is on the streets, and every crook is after it. Whoever possesses this info can control everything, and some of the town’s hoods are even bringing in outside agents like Lock-Up and Gentleman Ghost to act as their champions—which, let’s face it, you’re going to need if you’re going to try to outsmart Catwoman. Making things even more dangerous for Selina Kyle, there is also a price on her head. If you can capture the database and kill the Catwoman, the payoff is double!
ON SALE 08.14.19
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES
...
FC | RATED T+
Rather disappointing that Joelle Jones left Batman to write and draw Catwoman. And then just write Catwoman while others drew it. And now just provide the cover art while someone else writes it and another someone else draws it. Maybe she's headed back to Batman, now that it's been announced that Tom King is taking the last year or so worth of his planned 100-issue storyline and publishing it under the new, limited title Batman/Catwoman...? (Huh; I can't imagine sales on Catwoman aren't going to take a substantial hit when there are suddenly two Catwoman titles on the rack each month, one of which co-stars Batman...)
Anyway, this issue has Lock-Up and Gentleman Ghost in it! Can you think of a more mismatched duo of villains? I really like the latter (although hopefully he'll have his pre-Flashpoint design, which is the greatest, and not his post-Flashpoint design, which is the worst), and really loathe the former, whom I think is maybe the single lamest Batman villain, who is lame in an uninteresting rather than lame in a compelling way (Although I would still be more excited to see him than fucking Ra's al Ghul again!).
written by GRANT MORRISON
art and cover by LIAM SHARP
...
Twelve parallel worlds! Twelve Green Lanterns! And one unstoppable menace! Hal Jordan joins the Green Lanterns of the Multiverse—including Bat-Lantern, Tangent Green Lantern and more—to save a dying Multiverse, defeat the relentless Anti-Man and embark upon their “Quest for the Cosmic Grail”! It’s another Morrison/Sharp science fantasy epic!
ON SALE 08.07.19
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES
...
FC | RATED T+
This title is really good, right? Because it looks really good every month. I'm still waiting on the trade...
GREEN LANTERN BY GEOFF JOHNS BOOK TWO TP
written by GEOFF JOHNS
art by IVAN REIS, OCLAIR ALBERT, ETHAN VAN SCIVER and others
cover by SIMONE BIANCHI
Hal Jordan has much to atone for. Possessed by an alien entity, Jordan once dismantled the entire Green Lantern Corps, killing many friends in the process. Now he has regained the trust of his friends and allies and is rebuilding his life as a member of the Corps, a defender of Earth and a human being. But fate won’t let Jordan move beyond his past. The Green Lanterns Jordan thought he had killed may still be alive...and crying for his blood! Collects GREEN LANTERN #4-20.
ON SALE 09.18.19
$39.99 US | 400 PAGES
If you buy this book, you help support Ethan Van Sciver financially, and who wants to do that these days...? It's rather too bad too, as Johns' Green Lantern work was at its strongest near the beginning of the run, I think. In fact, it seems like by the time he conceived of the emotional spectrum, Johns lost all interest in the premise for the book he established in the first few issues, and, for most of the rest of Johns' run, Hal Jordan would be doing space stuff in space, and only rarely checking in on Earth...
written by STEVE ENGLEHART and GERRY CONWAY
art by DICK DILLIN, GEORGE TUSKA, ARVELL JONES and others
cover by DICK DILLIN
In these 1970s tales, Dr. Light makes his dramatic return—and so does Snapper Carr, who’s now turned traitor to the League! Ultraa, hero of Earth-Prime, joins the League in their battle with the Injustice Gang, while the Phantom Stranger assists the team against a family of ancient gods! Plus, the Atom and Jean Loring get married—but will the power of her mind destroy the Earth? Collects JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #149-158 and SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #13-14.
ON SALE 02.05.19
$69.99 US | 416 PAGES
Wow, what a bizarre way to reveal the superhero identities of the civilians in the wedding party there; it looks like their souls are escaping their bodies.
written by GEOFF JOHNS
art by DALE EAGLESHAM
cover by MARK BUCKINGHAM
variant cover by KAARE ANDREWS
After their terrifying adventure through the Darklands, Billy and the rest of the Shazam family find themselves going over the rainbow and through the looking glass into the upside-down, topsy-turvy world of the Wozenderlands! It’s a magical, multicolored metropolis where it’s always time for a cup of tea, a game of croquet or even a stroll down the Blue Brick Road—but it’s also ruled by the mysterious Wizard of Wozenderland, desperate for the power of the six champions!
ON SALE 08.21.19
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES
FC | RATED T
Such a nice-looking cover by Mark Buckingham...although it really does demonstrate how poor the Shazam costume redesign is. Like, imagine how much better that image would look without the field of electric Kirby dots in Captain Marvel's sigil, or those weird boots...
I sort of appreciate Johns collapse of Oz, Wonderland and maybe even Neverland into "Wozenderland," but I'm not sure why there's a blue brick one there instead of a yellow. L. Frank Baum's Oz books are all public domain now, yes?
STARGIRL BY GEOFF JOHNS TP
written by GEOFF JOHNS and others
art by LEE MODER, DAN DAVIS, SCOTT KOLINS, FREDDIE E. WILLIAMS II and others
photo cover
When teenage Courtney Whitmore learns that her stepfather was the sidekick of the original Star Spangled Kid, she finds his old gear, dons the costume and becomes the all-new Star-Spangled Kid! Seeing no other alternative, Pat constructs an eight-foot-tall armored mechanical suit and takes on the codename S.T.R.I.P.E. to show her the ropes in the super-hero game! Collects STARS AND S.T.R.I.P.E. #0-14 and JSA ALL STARS #4.
ON SALE 09.18.19
$34.99 US | 416 PAGES
I imagine he might disagree, but I really do think this was some of the best--if not the best--of Geoff Johns' comics writing. Stars and STRIPE was a very fun comic book series that allowed the writer to indulge in the sort of continuity clean-up and extrapolation that he excelled at, while it was far enough removed from most of the bigger, more popular and thus more thoroughly-explored DC superheroes that Johns was rarely if ever in danger in over-writing any other of his peers' earlier, often better work. Additionally, its family sitcom-esque set-up kept him from the sort of off-putting violent or gory content that made so much of his later DCU work seem so head-spinningly strange. I recall really liking Lee Moder's art on the series, too.
I read all of these comics in single issue format, serially as they were published, but I wouldn't mind re-reading them in a single sitting in the way that this new collection would make more easily done.
written by DAN JURGENS
art by SCOT EATON and WAYNE FAUCHER
cover by DAN JURGENS and NORM RAPMUND
Available to comics shops for the first time! Hawk and Dove lead ordinary citizens in an uprising against the rich—but former Doom Patrol member Mento is pulling their strings! It’s up to the Titans to uncover his sinister purpose before someone gets killed! These stories were originally published in TITANS GIANT #1 and 2.
ON SALE 08.28.19
$4.99 US | 1 OF 7 | 32 PAGES
FC | RATED T
I guess this is a reprinting of the original material that originally appeared in the Walmart-exclusive collection, and while I'm pretty sure I've flipped through one or two of the Titans ones in a Walmart before, I don't think I realized the particular make-up of this Titans team before. Because it looks like Beast Boy, Starfire, Raven and Robin Dick Grayson on that cover, and I didn't think that was a line-up that was supposed to have existed, post-Flashpoint...? Like, I was 90% sure Dick and Starfire were never actually on a Titans line-up. But that looks like Dick's post-Flashpoint, retconned, more Tim Drake-y costume? And DC Universe: Rebirth did seem to alter the Titans' timeline rather specifically....?
I don't know. I lost any and all interest in the Titans franchise during the New 52-boot.
I didn't notice the price point on these serializations of the Walmart material previously, as I planned on just trade-waiting the one I was most interested in (Bendis and Nick Derington's Batman Universe), but they seem way too pricey. Assuming the 10-12 pages worth of ads that is usually in a DC comic book, they're charging an extra dollar over the already pricey $3.99/20-page price point of, say, Wilcats (see below).
Incidentally, you could get the whole Walmart Giant for the price of just one issue of this reprinting of the material. Sure, the giants featured like 80 pages of reprint material after the original content, but that's quite a value compared to this nonsense.
written by WARREN ELLIS
art by RAMON VILLALOBOS
cover by JIM CHEUNG
...
They have one job: to save the human race from the human race. And it’s going to kill them.
From the pages of THE WILD STORM, the piratical covert team made up of rogue specialists, extraterrestrial soldiers and a mad astronaut, run by a tech mogul and disguised alien king, all here to stop us from destroying ourselves. Case in point: the secret space program Skywatch has been performing medical experiments on abducted innocents for decades. One of those experiments is about to explode—revealing whole new worlds in the battle for sanity that the wild CAT has been fighting. WILDCATS thought their world was strange, but they’re about to find out how strange...and how high the stakes really are.
ON SALE 08.28.19
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES
FC | RATED T+
I'll be honest: At first glance I thought that the guy in the suit behind Grifter was Barack Obama on Jim Cheung's cover.
Ramon Villalobos is an incredible talent, and with the talented and popular writer Warren Ellis attached, this seems like a pretty damn impressive team for such a relatively low-priority book for the publisher. If you were the boss of DC Comics, I imagine you'd want this team on a higher-profile book, where they could boost sales, rather than here, where they will just be keeping the book alive (Like, I'm fairly certain more people will buy this comic because they are Warren Ellis fans than because they are Wildcats or Grifter fans). Although, at this point, I think it's safe to assume that Ellis is writing these characters from Jim Lee's old Wildstorm line because he genuinely likes them, or at least wants to be writing them.
written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
art by PATRICK GLEASON, EMANUELA LUPACCHINO, VIKTOR BOGDANOVIC, JOHN TIMMS and others
cover by PATRICK GLEASON
Superboy! Wonder Girl! Robin! Impulse! Amethyst! They and other young heroes are united as Young Justice in this first collection of comics from the new Wonder Comics line!
When the nightmare dimension known as Gemworld invades Metropolis, these teen heroes will unite to deal with the situation—but they’re shocked to discover the battle may be the key to the return of Conner Kent, a.k.a. Superboy!
This debut title collects issues #1-6 of the hit series!
ON SALE 09.18.19
$24.99 US | 160 PAGES
Oh man, I was really looking forward to the first trade collection of Brian Michael Bendis and company's Young Justice revival, and this...is not it. This is the hardcover release, which is apparently coming out before the trade paperback release, as Marvel often did with collections of Bendis' work (at $3.99 a pop, six issues of Young justice would have run a reader $23.94, so there's no economic incentive to wait for the hardcover collection as there would be to wait for the trade).
The problem of going to hardcover before going to trade is, for me personally at least, that there's a damn good chance this hardcover is going to show up in my library, I am going to check it out and read it, and then I have no reason to actually buy the trade paperback any longer.
That's what happened with the first collections of Bendis' Action Comics and Superman runs. Now, I don't know how typical I am of a potential consumer of Bendis-written DC comics--I assume relatively few of us spend 40 hours a week in a public library, for example--but that's one sale on a Young Justice Vol. 1: Gemworld trade paperback that DC likely lost by releasing it in hardcover first.
As long as we're on the subject of Bendis' young Justice, how is it? I just read the first two issues, and liked those well enough, but they were largely fan service-y in the, "Hey, it's all your faves, back together again!" kinda way, and I haven't yet read the parts that explained how that was even possible yet, and/or what Bendis would be doing with all our faves. I'm a little troubled to see four artists and "and others" credited on the first issues, too...
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