DC's January previews reviewed

Yes! It's that time of the month again—super-easy, this-shit-writes-itself content time! Just what a comics blogger currently running on fumes needs!

So, DC has released their solicitations for comics shipping in January today. You can see them in several places, but I'd reccomend doing it here, which is conveniently located near this week's Best Shots column. And you can see what caught my eye and drew my scorn here...




BATMAN #673
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Tony Daniel & Jonathan Glapion
Cover by Daniel
In the wake of Ra’s al Ghul’s recent resurrection, Batman’s body lies near death in a heart-stopped coma. Meanwhile, his delirious mind travels back to a defining adventure in the life of young Bruce Wayne…the hunt for his parents’ killer! This special flashback tale also revisits Batman’s life-changing Thogal ritual in the caves of Nanda Parbat!

Well it’s about time that someone did something with this particular Infinite Crisis retcon…




BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #13
Written by Tony Bedard
Art and cover by Rags Morales & Mark Farmer
Beginning the 4-part arc "Wrath Child," with art by Rags Morales (IDENTITY CRISIS)! Batman and Nightwing become embroiled in the return of a major nemesis who was thought to be dead long ago: The Wrath has returned!


Oh man, this is going to be a tough decision, come January. The fact that it’s an issue of Confidential and that it’s written by DC’s go-to fill-in arc writer Tony Bedard makes me think “pass,” but the fact that it’s drawn by Morales (Fun Fact: I own a complete run of Forgotten Realms) and will feature The Wrath makes me think “awesome!”







I've only seen a handful of episodes of the animated series this book is based on (one featuring The Joker, another The Penguin), but in general I've disliked the character designs its employed for villains. But I really like this Poison Ivy...she looks cuter and more floral than usual. In general, Ivy's played as a vampy femme fatale type, and looks all elongated and curvy, even in the other cartoon series. Not that there's anything wrong with it. This design just really stands out in how different it is from all the other Ivy designs. I think this might be my second favorite Poison Ivy of them all, right below Tim Sale's scary-ass version.





BIRDS OF PREY #114
Written by Sean McKeever
Art by Nicola Scott & Doug Hazlewood
Cover by Stephane Roux
Oracle delves into the mystery of Misfit while Lady Blackhawk and Huntress hash out their differences!


If that’s Blackhawks villain and super-pirate Killer Shark, pilot of the triphibious Shark Jet and co-emperor of the Empire of Death, color me excited. No, super-excited. I wonder why he looks so young, though….





BOOSTER GOLD #6
Written by Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz
Art and cover by Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund
“52 Pick-Up” concludes as Booster Gold journeys back in time to save the best friend he ever had – the Blue Beetle! But can Booster stop Maxwell Lord before someone else dies in Ted Kord’s place? And will Ted Kord let that happen?


I really hope Blue Beetle does get saved thanks to Booster and company's time-traveling shenanigans. Mostly because someone’s going to bring Blue Beetle back somehow eventually, and this would probably be the best way to do a resurrection of Ted Kord story.




CONNOR HAWKE: DRAGON’S BLOOD TP Written by Chuck Dixon. Art and cover by Derec Donovan. In this volume collecting the 6-issue miniseries, an archery contest beckons Oliver Queen's bow-bending son Connor Hawke to the far end of the globe. Accompanied by his old pal Eddie Fyers, Connor accepts the invitation. But a much darker game is afoot, and Connor's life will never be the same!

Come on, Whoever's Responsible For DC’s Trade Collection Program. No one bought this thing in singles (except for me and 22 other people), and I’m pretty sure it’s not because the rest of the Direct Market was waiting for this trade. Nor is this something that’s going to take the bookstore market by storm. If you had to release a Conor Hawke story in trade, shouldn’t you maybe have started at the beginning of the characters’ fictional history, like when he and the other Green Arrow were in the same stories at the same time? And if you had to release this book right here in trade, couldn’t you at least have retitled it Green Arrow: Dragon’s Blood?





CRAYON SHINCHAN VOL. 1
Written and illustrated by Yoshito Usui
CMX. The star of the hit late-night Adult Swim series comes to CMX. He’s rude, he’s crude, and adults tremble whenever he’s around. His inappropriate comments and obsession with body parts and bodily functions make life stressful for his struggling parents.
No one is safe from Shinchan’s verbal outbursts…and now, neither are you! Fans around the world have been following Shinchan’s offensive adventures for years, and now he’s enjoying wider exposure here in the USA. CRAYON SHINCHAN will appeal to fans of The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy. CMX brings you the original manga in all its uncensored glory.


What?! DC has acquired Crayon Shinchan? There’s a cartoon of it on Adult Swim? Why wasn’t I informed of this? I like how the solicitation totally anticipated my major concern to, as they go ahead and say “uncensored” right in the copy.




DIANA PRINCE: WONDER WOMAN VOL. 1 TP Written by Dennis O’Neil & Mike Sekowsky. Art and cover by Sekowsky & Dick Giordano. In this volume, featuring stories that have never been collected before from issues #178-184 and SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE #93, Wonder Woman faces Mars, god of war, the murderous Dr. Cyber, and more! Advance-solicited; on sale February 6 • 176 pg, FC, $19.99 US

Aw man, I was hoping these would appear in an eventual Showcase collection, not on their own for $20. Wonder who the audience is for this, exactly…





GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #4
Written by Judd Winick
Art and cover by Cliff Chiang
The second story arc of this hit new series begins with a tragedy for Oliver Queen!


Words cannot express how incredibly pissed off I’ll be if that’s going to end up being the corpse of Connor Hawke in the white space on that cover. Of course, it looks like Connor Hawke is in the background of the same cover, but since they changed Roy Harper's costume to resemble Connor's from the shoulder up, and most of Roy’s current teammates are on the cover too, Connor seems like a safer bet for the white space. Plus, they’d totally kill Connor before Roy. And not bring him back to life later. Like they’ve done to Ollie. Twice now.

If it is a dead body, that will make it twice in less than five months that Winick has resorted to seemingly killing a character in the pages of this very series.

And if it is the corpse of Connor Hawke, that will mean Judd Winick will have brought Jason Todd back to life, and killed off Connor Hawke , which will make me despise his DC body of work even more than I already do ("Hmm, what our comics need is for a guy who died 20 years ago and whose death and mourning has been an integral part of decades worth of Batman comics to come back as a sort of retarded version of Nightwing, to be written as either the Punisher or a quippy Spider-Man type, depending on the book he appears in...but this half-Asian, vegan, raised-as-a-monk, awkward around women kid who provides a counter-balance to the Green Arrow cast and all the other heroes his age in the DCU? Him we can do without").

And I'm already convinced Winick is the absolute worst thing that's ever happened to DC Comics*.





JLA CLASSIFIED #50-51
Written by Roger Stern
Art by John Byrne & Mark Farmer
Covers by Joshua Middleton
The first two parts of a 5-part epic reuniting the legendary Roger Stern/John Byrne team! The Justice League faces a new foe who seems to remember them well enough to want revenge. But when have they faced off before? Meet a mysterious new foe again…for the first time!
Issue #50 on sale January 23


Covers not matching the interiors are nothing new in super-comics of course, but good God, can you have a bigger mismatch than Joshua Middleton art on the cover, and John Byrne art on the interiors?





JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL HC Written by Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis_Cover by Maguire & Austin_Art by Kevin Maguire, Terry Austin and Al Gordon_A new hardcover collecting the classic JUSTICE LEAGUE #1-6 and JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #7 from the late 1980s! Can an unlikely new Justice League line-up work as a unit to stop terrorists at the U.N., a brigade of Rocket Reds, the Royal Flush Gang, and other threats — or will they succumb to in-fighting and bad jokes?_Advance-solicited; in stores March 12 • FC, 192 pg, $24.99 US

This is kind of a weird animal.

I already have this is in trade, and probably won’t buy this version, but at the same time, I hope it sells like gangbusters (which it would be more likely to do in a trade paperback than a hardcover, I think), because this handful of issues are the only ones from the JLI period so far. And it’s such a damn shame. Giffen and DeMatteis’ run, drawn by a series of great artists, many of whom you rarely see doing interior work anymore (I mean, Adam fucking Hughes on pencils!) crafted probably the best, biggest and longest Justice League run ever, and they did it without the benefit of being able to use the heroes we typically think of when we hear the words “Justice League” (although Batman’s around through much of it).

Their work on JLI, JLE and the sundry spin-offs (Annuals, Justice League Quarterly) comprises a gigantic page count, and most of them are really good pages—funny, yes, but they did melodrama and action as well as any of their peers. I know fans of some characters bristle at the way Giffen, DeMatteis and company may have portrayed their favorites, but it's thanks in large part to these guys that Booster Gold, Blue Beetle and Guy Gardner weren't just New Blood-like a footnotes in DC history, or that Oberon, Big Barda and Mister Miracle appeared somewhere other than a quickly aborted attempt to make Kirby's New Gods work without Kirby, or that Ralph and Sue Dibny remained players in the DCU after their Detroit Era bow. The world-building they did, the new characters they added...the DCU of the '90s was pretty much built by these guys, and for all the editiorial attempts to move the fictional universe back into the Bronze Age of late, the DCU still owes a lot to the work Giffen and DeMatteis put into molding it back then**.

The fact that the whole JLI run isn’t readily available in trade is pretty sad—particularly since so much of the universe-wid story of the DCU since Identity Crisis has been centered on the characters made popular in these runs—is, from a sell more comics to more people stand point, ridiculous. Is this the start of correcting it, finally? I sure hope so.

And that cover image? That's one of my all-time favorite comic book covers, in large part because of how much mileage Maguire and others have gotten out of doing riffs on it. Every new JLA line-up should really be required to pose for a cover like that.




JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #17
Written by Dwayne McDuffie and Alan Burnett
Art by Ed Benes, Jon Boy Meyer and Sandra Hope
Cover by Ethan Van Sciver
Double trouble for the League! First, in the lead story written by Alan Burnett, a mysterious and familiar team from beyond time has infiltrated the Hall of Justice looking for a weapon. Will Black Lightning be their first victim? And wait 'til you see who they are! Plus, writer Dwayne McDuffie begins a very special back-up story exploring what's wrong with Vixen's powers. And when her condition worsens, it leads to a new arc and major change for the Leaguer!

A fill-in story...already?!?! And DC's hasn't had much creative success with stories written by Alan Burnett or ones involving mysterious and familiar teams from beyond time lately, so this doesn't look very promising. Meanwhile, the series' "regular" writer, who will by January have only four issues under his belt, is relegated to a back-up story, batting clean-up for previous writer Brad Meltzer's Challenge-style I-have-no-intention-of-resolving-this plotting.




JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #41
Written by Grace Randolph
Art by Dario Brizuela
Cover by Zach Howard
The Joker is tired of waiting for Batman to show up, so he’s taking the fight to the Watchtower! But just because Batman’s not there, it doesn’t mean it’s unguarded!

Hey, this one looks like a good one! Will that be the debut of JLU Harley, or have we seen her somewhere else already?




NIGHTWING #140
Written by Peter Tomasi
Art by Rags Morales & Michael Bair
Cover by Michael Bair
Guest-starring Batman & Robin! A new era of Nightwing begins from writer Peter Tomasi (Black Adam: THE DARK AGE, Light Brigade) and the incredible art team of Rags Morales and Michael Bair (Identity Crisis)! When the bodies of nefarious villains and fallen heroes begin to disappear from their final resting places, Dick Grayson is drawn into a mysterious, life-altering adventure!

Hope this is better than the last few new eras of Nightwing by the last few creative teams. Morales art makes this an instant buy though, so Tomasi will have to work really, really hard to make this unreadble. I'm curious why Morales' star hasn't been on the rise more dramatically since Identity Crisis. Brad Meltzer went on to JLoA, paired with a pretty bad artist instead of his IC co-creator, while Morales did Wonder Woman fill-ins, was announced as the new TEC penciler before DC quietly changed their minds, and a (pretty damn good) JSA: Classified arc, and apparently a Batman Classified arc. Why isn't Morales on one of DC's top books yet, like, oh, I don't know, JLoA? He'd certainly have been a better fit than Benes, and, unlike Benitiz, Morales can really draw.




ROBIN #170
Written by Chuck Dixon
Art by Chris Batista
Cover by Freddie E. Williams II
With the return of new series writer Chuck Dixon (Robin, Nightwing, Batman) and art by fan-favorite Chris Batista (52, Legion of Superheroes), Robin #170 is the start of a new era no one will want to miss! After a life-changing battle with Ra's al Ghul in Nanda Parbat, Robin comes home to Gotham to find there's a new girl in town, wearing a color he can't ignore. The new vigilante calls herself Violet, and she steals from the rich to keep for herself…and Robin's going to find out that's not all she's playing for. Plus, the return of an old friend with something to hide!


Hope this is better than the last few new eras of Robin that no one will want to miss. As I may have noted before, there's never been a Robin creative team I've really, really liked, with the pre-monthly, series-of-miniseries team of Dixon and Tom Lyle being by far my favorite to work on the character consistently. Dixon sure is teasing the return of Spoiler awfully hard here, isn't he? If it's for real, I hope DC has Dean Trippe on the horn about costume design already...







SHOWCASE PRESENTS: ENEMY ACE VOL. 1 TP Written by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert_Art by Kubert, John Severin, Howard Chaykin, Neal Adams and others_Take to the skies in this thrilling volume collecting OUR ARMY AT WAR #151, 153, 155, SHOWCASE #57-58, STAR-SPANGLED WAR STORIES #138-152 , 158, 181-183, and 200, DETECTIVE COMICS #404, MEN AT WAR #1-3, 8-10, 12-14, 19-20, THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER #252-253, 260-261, 265-267 and DC SPECIAL #26!Advance-solicited; on sale February 13 • 552 pg, B&W, $16.99 US

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERMAN FAMILY VOL. 2 TPWritten by Otto Binder, Jerry Coleman, Leo Dorfman and others_Art by Curt Swan, Wayne Boring, Kurt Schaffenberger and others_The spotlight shines on Superman's girlfriend Lois Lane and pal Jimmy Olsen in this volume collecting stories from SUPERMAN’S PAL Jimmy Olsen #23-34, Showcase #10 and SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND Lois Lane #1-7!_Advance-solicited; on sale February 27 • 520 pg, B&W, $16.99 US

I buy all of these—save the Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Hawkman ones (I hate those guys!)—and am so far behind that my To Read stack of them are literally a small tower in my living room. And I’m totally putting these two on top of that tower.





THE SPIRIT #14
Written by Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier
Art by Mike Ploog
Cover by Jordi Bernet
Join the new SPIRIT creative team of writers Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier (MGroo the Wanderer) and Mike Ploog (Abadazad) for a case of murder! A string of killings is plaguing Central City…and the Spirit — with Commissioner Dolan — is on the case!

I’m kind of surprised that DC is going to keep publishing this without Darwyn Cooke, since the fact that an Eisner-less Spirit worked at all, let alone worked as well as it did, is completely due to Cooke. The odds of it working were like a million to one, but it did work, and work well—now, what are the odds of it working again, with a different creative team? I like the work of all of the people involved with this, certainly enough to give the first few issues a trie, and yet I can’t help but despair—already we’ve got from one cartoonist writing, penciling and producing the covers for the series to two writers, an interior artist and a cover artist. That alone seems like a pretty big step away from the Eisner and Cooke versions of The Spirit.




SUPERGIRL #25
Written by Kelley Puckett
Art and cover by Drew Johnson & Ray Snyder
Supergirl and Superman must work together to defeat the nuclear menace of Neutron! But when Superman tries to teach her the hardest lesson of all, he learns that Supergirl has something to teach him! And wait until you see the startling new direction the book takes!

A startling new direction for Supergirl? Is it just me, or does every single solicit for Supergirl mention a startling new direction?





SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #11
Written by B. Clay Moore
Art and cover by Phil Hester & Ande Parks
B. Clay Moore (Hawaiian Dick) teams with Phil Hester & Ande Park (GREEN ARROW) to shed light on the origins of the Jimmy Olsen/Superman relationship in Part 1 of a 3-part story, in which Superman invents a way for Jimmy to signal him, and Metropolis deals with giant, murderous...toys?


Origins of the Jimmy Olsen/Superman relationship, Superman invents a way for Jimmy to signal him…didn’t I just read this exact same story in one of the main Superman books?

(And shouldn’t that be “the Jimmy Olsen/Superman friendship” instead of “relationship?” Sounds a little gay this way, if you ask me.)





SUPERMAN/BATMAN #45
Written by Michael Green
Art and cover by Shane Davis & Matt Banning
The Man of Steel’s and the Dark Knight’s quest to rid the world of Kryptonite hits a roadblock when they realize not everyone’s willing to hand over the deadly substance. One of those unwilling is Aquaman — and the result is a brutal undersea battle!

Hmm…that doesn’t look anything like Aquaman II (the hair’s too short, the costume design is off), but Aquaman I is dead. Soooo what the fuck DC? Is this just a terrible drawing, or is Aquaman’s status quo still a complete mystery to you guys? Is all to be revealed on Wednesday, when the current Aquaman book wraps up?




TEEN TITANS #55
Written by Sean McKeever
Art by Eddy Barrows & Rob Hunter
Following up the epic "Titans of Tomorrow" storyline, we catch the Titans in a moment of quiet before the next storm. As one Titan leaves forever, Wonder Girl and Robin explore their newfound feelings for each other as Ravager enjoys herself by pitting Blue Beetle against Kid Devil. And watch out for the introduction of the new Clock King, a modern-day Fagin out to create a villainous team of his own. Fan-favorite writer Sean McKeever continues to deliver his own special blend of excitement and angst sure to keep this book on the top of your must-read pile!

Hmm, I haven't seen enough of McKeever's Titans to form a real opinion on it, but I feel a little nervous that it's not going to be good. "Art by Eddy Barrows" doesn't sound too promising—are there no monthly artists left in comics?. That's at least three different artists on McKeever's just-started run so far. I'm not feeling the words "new Clock King" (you can't beat a classic), and "modern-day Fagin" makes me think of that great Runaways two-parter where Molly was almost inducted into a modern-day Fagin's gang. And "out to create a villainous team of his own" is especially depressing, since we're currently reading a story by McKeever about the Titans fighting a villainous team, and a few issues before that we saw Deathstroke creating a villainous team of his own, for what was easily the worst Titans story of all time.





TEEN TITANS: YEAR ONE #1
Written by Amy Wolfram
Art by Karl Kerschl & Serge Lapointe
Cover by Kerschl
Writer Amy Wolfram (Teen Titans animated series) joins rising star artist Karl Kerschl (ALL-FLASH #1, ROBIN) for a colorful reimagining of how the Teen Titans came together! See how these teammates bonded, and overcame the sheer awkwardness of being teenagers in this explosive 6-issue miniseries that guest-stars the Justice League of America! You may think you know Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Aqualad…but you don't really know the original Teen Titans!


The last time a writer from the Teen Titans toon started working in the DCU, it lead to a series of disasters, so that parenthetical credit really sort of sinks my heart (particularly since any origin of the Teen Titans is going to mean dealing with one of the stickiest wickets in the DCU, Wonder Girl's history...and how that's changed again now that Wonder Woman's history was changed again hasn't been addressed anywhere).

But even if Wolfram turns out to be the second comicng of Adam Beechen, Kerschl's doing interior art on this thing and man, just look at that cover! This thing is going to rule!

(Plus, the Titans as a franchise have had pretty good luck with writers possessing the syllable "wolf" in their surnames...)





TEEN TITANS: THE LOST ANNUAL
Written by Bob Haney
Art by Jay Stephens & Mike Allred
Cover by Nick Cardy
Don’t miss the TEEN TITANS LOST ANNUAL, featuring the original Teen Titans: Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy and Aqualad! Classic Teen Titans writer Bob Haney sends the Titans into space to rescue President John F. Kennedy in this story illustrated by Jay Stephens (The Land of Nod) & Mike Allred (Madman, X-Statix)! Meet new alien races, witness a startling betrayal, and more! It’s a secret space adventure that couldn’t be told…‘til now!


See Christopher Hitchens, there is too a God, and he loves awesome comics.





Wow, Geo-Force is everywhere all of a sudden, isn't he?

Oddly, his is one of the few superhero costumes that is so terrible that adding cargo pants to it actually vastly improves it.





TIME MASTERS TP Written by Bob Wayne & Lewis Shiner. Art and cover by Art Thibert & José Marzan Jr. Collecting the often-requested TIME MASTERS #1-8 and material from SECRET ORIGINS #43, featuring 52’s Rip Hunter! Hunter forges alliances with DC heroes including Cave Carson, Metal Men creator Doctor Will Magnus, Dr. Fate, the Viking Prince, Arion and others to stop the threats of immortal super-villains including Vandal Savage and his Illuminati. Advance-solicited; on sale February 13 • 224 pg, FC, $19.99 US

Behold the power of 52!

I bet you could get the contents of this $20 trade in back-issue bins for $4-$8, if you look through enough of 'em.




TRIALS OF SHAZAM #11
Written by Judd Winick
Art & Cover by Mauro Cascioli
The trials continue with Freddy losing ground in his quest for the ultimate abilities and power of Shazam…to the now equally powered Sabina! To find Mercury he may need the help of Shadowpact and the Justice League!

Fun fact: This 12-part monthly maxiseries launched in October of 2006. So it should have wrapped up this month. Now it looks like it will wrap up in February of next year, at the earliest.

Does this entire thing take place before the start of Countdown?






*Oh sure, go ahead and bring up Chuck Austen or Erik Larsen or Brad Meltzer or Countdown or Amazons Attack or "War Games"/"War Crimes" if you want; those other bad writers (on DC Comics; I've enjoyed things Austen and Larsen have written outside the DCU) and those terrible stories certainly did their damage to the structure of the DCU as a shared setting, but nothing and nobody has done more longer and sustained damage than Winick.



**This isn't nostalgia speaking. The Morrison/Porter/Dell run was my first introduction to the wonderful world of the Justice League. I found all the Giffen/DeMatteis books in back-issue bins at Mid-Ohio Con. And let me tell you, sitting down to read, say, all of Justice League Europe or all of "Breakdowns" in an evening is the perfect way to experience these stories.