DC's June previews reviewed

Despite the fact that my nephew is obsessed with it, I'm not entirely sure what Fortnite is, exactly; as near as I can tell, it's something of a cross between Minecraft and Battle Royale that desensitizes middle-schoolers to gun violence and teaches them dance moves. Both of which would seem to make Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point something of a surprise. At least to me. Not my nephew, though; he started asking his mom and I about it a full week before the solicitations were released. 

The six-issue miniseries plops an amnesiac Batman into the world of Fortnite, and it will naturally parallel the presence of the Dark Knight and some supporting characters in the game as well. It's being penciled by Reilly Brown and inked by a Nelson Faro DeCastro, but as to who's writing it, well, there's no writer listed for the solicitations, just a "story consultant and concept by" credit for a Donald Mustard. The first name credited on the covers, however,  is "Gage," which makes me suspect Christos Gage is writing it , maybe...?  (Yes, according to the press release; Christos Gage and Reilly Brown sound like a pretty okay creative team for a Batman comics, Fortnite or no).

There's a possibility that I may actually read this series, as it is definitely on my pull-list and will pass through my hands at some point, as it has fallen to me to supply my nephew with copies of it. 

Okay, I do want to see Batman fight Snake Eyes, which is apparently something that will happen in Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #6, as Snake Eyes and some G.I. Joe characters have previously been introduced into the world of Fortnite (which I know because I started receiving texts from my sister asking me questions about Snake Eyes a few weeks back, questions like whether or not he could talk, what his face looked like and what his relationship to Storm Shadow was).  

Normally, I'd say that Snake Eyes could probably take Batman in a fair fight, but Batman could likely come out on top by cheating, which is what I would expect him to do. However, this is an amnesiac Batmanm so that would seem to give Snake Eyes a further edge.

I'd much prefer to see these two trade punches in a Batman/G.I. Joe or Justice League/G.I. Joe crossover, though, as such stories are among those that I've actively fantasized about and probably written and re-written in my head multiple times over the years of being fans of both, going back to the mid 1980s, when I would watch G.I. Joe five nights a week after school and  The Super Powers Team  on Saturday mornings (Now that I am thinking about Batman interacting with G.I. Joe characters again, I think that rather than the whole League teaming up with the Joes to fight some hybrid threats like, say,  Professor Ivo and Doctor Mindbender's power-stealing Battle Amazo Trooper or T.O.Morrow and Destro's Weather Dominator android that looked like a blue Red Tornado, the easiest thing to do would be some sort of G.I. Joe crossover with a new version of the Batman and The Outsiders concept, with Batman allies like Nightwing, Batgirl, The Signal and company replacing the likes of Geo-Force, Halo, Looker and company; after all, they tackled the ruthless terrorist organization Kobra-with-a-K, so it wouldn't be too hard to mash-up the two settings so that both the Joes and Batman and his allies were aligned against ruthless terrorist organization Cobra-with-a-C...)

Anyway, the point is, I really want to read a Batman/G.I. Joe crossover, preferably one that is set in an original, hybridized setting rather than the more common alternate dimension type ones that DC and IDW have done so far. And if Transformers Vs. G.I. Joe and Super Powers artist Tom Scioli could create it, that would be ideal. 

I don't begrudge the kids getting their Batman vs. Snake Eyes comic, but that doesn't mean I don't want my own too, you know?

Garth Ennis! Liam Sharp! Batman! It's going to be awfully hard trade-waiting Batman: Reptilian, a six-issue miniseries by about as ideal a creative team as one could wish for on a superhero comic.  

I can't remember the last time I read an issue of a Catwoman comic, but I ordered Catwoman 2021 Annual #1 (um, does it need both the year, the number and the word "annual" in the title, does it? How many Catwoman annuals are they planning on publishing in 2021...?) because Kyle Hotz is doing both the cover and the interiors. Hotz is an ideal Batman artist, as he proved during his two-issue Spectre team-up in Detective Comics recently, so I imagine he's also a pretty good Catwoman artist. 

Wow, check out Dan Hipp's cover for Crush & Lobo #1. Hipp's such a great artist, although I feel that his chibi style is so familiar it sometimes eclipses the fact that he can draw in other styles too, and do so quite well. I like how his Lobo has a very Simon Bisley feel to his physique here, but with the more abstracted, cartoon-ier look of Hipp. 

I also dig the anti-Etrigan patch on the back of his vest; man, when was the last time those two crossed paths...? 

The interior art is by an Amancay Nahuelpan; I would expect a much more traditional-looking DC super-comic style. Which is kind of too bad. I would buy the hell out of a Hipp-drawn Lobo comic, I think....

Looks like Alan Scott came out to his kids just in time to make the cover of DC Pride #1, a $9.99, 80-page one-shot "celebrating a parade of LGBTQIA+ characters & creators!" 

As with May's DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration, the cover inadvertently reveals how relatively few characters the publisher has fitting the description being celebrated, and how little used they are. Of the nine characters on the cover, only one has her own ongoing series (Harley Quinn), or appear regularly in any of the publisher's titles (Poison Ivy, Batwoman and Renee Montoya, at least in her civilian identity, are at least Batman supporting characters, and pop up in cameos and guest-starring appearances here and there; Midnighter and Alan Scott will at least be appearing in future comics, though...) The Flash character and the one I didn't recognize are new ones, The Flash being the one from the "Future State" setting and the other character being Supergirl's Dreamer, making her comics debut (I learned on Twitter).

That's just the cover, of course. As for the interior, the characters featured inside the book will also include Aqualad, Obsidian, Pied Piper and, believe it or not, Extrano, the New Guardian that Steve Orlando has tried to rehabilitate into a Doctor Strange type in some of his comics. 

The book will also include pin-ups and profiles of a half-dozen characters from "DCTV" and the actors who play them. Among the creators contributing are many you would expect from a DC anthology of this type (James Tynion IV, Vita Ayala, Mariko Tamaki, the aforementioned Orlando), but also some pretty exciting contributors not known for their work with the publisher (like Kris Anka, Sophie Campbell and Trung Le Nguyen).

Now put Obsidian back in the Justice League, DC.

Call me crazy, but I think they should have hired a comics artist for this comic book series, Event Leviathan: Checkmate. Instead, the Brian Michael Bendis-written series will have Alex Maleev attached as "artist," but most of his DC art to late has looked more like re-purposed and rejiggered illustration work with dialogue balloons added. 

So this is where Alan Scott will be appearing, following the events of Infinite Horizon #0. Infinite Frontier #1 kicks off a six-issue series by writer Joshua Williamson and artist Xermanico, featuring an unlikely group of heroes exploring the current state of the Multiverse following the latest cosmic continuity rejiggerings and, one imagines, following up on various plot-points from Infinite Horizon, based on the characters on the cover (Speaking of whom...who's the blonde lady in the suit...?). 

I'm interested in reading this, mostly because of Alan Scott and his kids, but I'll be trade-waiting it. I did pre-order the accompanying Infinite Frontier: Secret Files #1 special to tide me over though. I just love secret files...!

 

Man, look at all these white people on Dan Panosian's variant cover for Justice League #63, one of the two issues of the Bendis-written JLA scheduled for release in June. 

I thought the new line-up rather ho-hum upon announcement (Green Arrow and Black Canary rejoining the team again, Black Adam joining forces with a team of heroes with the word "Justice" in their name again, Hippolyta filling-in for her daughter Wonder Woman on the Justice League again). But I am much more disappointed in it after having read Infinite Horizon, and seeing just how close we got to having Nubia fill in for Wonder Woman instead, which would have been something we haven't seen before and, I think, much more meaningful (In addition to making the League a bit more colorful than it is at present).

Then I read Nubia: Real One, and was more disappointed still. 

I've been enjoying DC's collections of issues from Justice League Unlimited, Superman Adventures and Batman Adventures and related comics. Those were all great comics that I've only come to appreciate more and more in the decades since they were originally released, as DC and Marvel have gotten worse and worse at producing all-ages, kid-friendly comics featuring their heroes, instead catering exclusively to adult fans (to the point that Marvel has licensed their characters to IDW to make kid-friendly comics for them; DC's manages solid kids comics, but now does so only in original graphic novel format).

The latest Justice League Unlimited collection, and I'm hoping they manage the whole series eventually, is the somewhat unfortunately titled Justice League Unlimited: Girl Power. According to the solicitation copy, the collection will be 150 pages long, but then there are some 16 issue numbers listed, so I suspect there are some typos (the hyphens should be commas, right?).

It will definitely include #20, as that issue's cover is apparently going to be the cover for the collection (In that story, by Paul D. Storrie and Rick Burchett, Mary Marvel meets the League for the first time, and teams up with the likes of Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Hawkgirl, Dr. Light, Black Canary and Fire).

Assuming the hyphens on the listed issues are the typos, then this should also contain stories from Justice League Unlimited starring Gypsy and Natasha Irons and Wonder Woman; an issue of Justice League Adventures in which the Amazons go to war against the League; and stories from Steve Vance, John Delaney and Ron Boyd's excellent Adventures in The DC Universe series, starring Wonder Woman and Black Canary.

I'm glad to see this material being collected, although I do kinda wish DC would just publish a complete collection of Adventures in The DC Universe in addition to using it as a source to pull material from for their thematic Justice League collections.

The New 52: 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is here to remind us that it has already been ten full years since the publisher made one of its worst, most baffling publishing decisions in its long history. Ten years! Have I really been complaining about the New 52 for that long already? Huh. Time flies when you're second-guessing Dan DiDio, I guess...

Suicide Squad Case Files 1-2 are obviously only seeing publication because of the upcoming film, but, whatever the reason, I'll be glad to get them. Each hardcover volume collects "debuts and key appearances" by Amanda Waller, Blackguard, Bloodsport, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, Javelin, King Shark, Mongal, Peacemaker, Polka-Dot Man, Rick Flag, Savant, The Thinker, Ratcatcher and Weasel.  

Nice John Romita JR cover for Superman: Red & Blue #4. 

There's a solicitations for an original graphic novel entitled Whistle A New Gotham City Hero by writer E. Lockhart and artist Manuel Preitano, which didn't have a cover image accompanying it. This is excellent news, as Gotham City desperately needs a new hero. Right now, the only heroes it has are Batman, Robin, Red Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, The Next Batman, Batwoman, Batwing, Batgirl, the other Batgirl, The Signal, The Huntress, Spoiler, Bluebird, Azrael, Catwoman and Harley Quinn. Oh, and Ghostmaker and Clownhunter, I guess. 

I'm not so sure about the color scheme or the title, but I'm definitely interested in seeing what the various creators come up with for Wonder Woman: Black & Gold.