written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
art and cover by STEVE EPTING
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One by one they fall: A.R.G.U.S.! The D.E.O.! The Kobra Cult! And now, Spyral! Clark Kent and Lois Lane go undercover to find out who is behind all of the attacks on the top-secret and underground organizations of the DC Universe! Is it the rise of a new power in the DCU called Leviathan? Named one of the best comics of the year by Paste magazine!
ON SALE 04.24.19
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES
FC | RATED T
"Leviathan"...? The name of the secret criminal entity run by Talia al Ghul in the later chapters of Grant Morrison's run on the Batman character...? Or is this a "new power in the DCU" that has the exact same name as an old power in DCU? Because that would be weird.
written by PETER J. TOMASI
art by SCOTT GODLEWSKI
cover by DAN MORA
Takron-Galtos, the prison planet, may be behind them—but in order to beat the Gang and get home, the boys must saddle up to survive a wild wild world of the west! An unlikely guide on this lawless planet might just help Superboy and Robin survive…but what in the west world is Jonah Hex doing out here in space?! Hold on to your hats, this one’s going to be a bucking good time!
ON SALE 04.03.19
$3.99 US | 9 of 12 | 32 PAGES
FC | RATED T
There was a lot I liked--no, loved--about the Batman: The Brave and The Bold animated series, but one particular thing I loved was one of Jonah Hex's appearances, wherein he was transported to his own far-flung future/Batman's present, given some ray guns and hired as a bounty hunter. Given that the plot of Hex, the post-Crisis, post-apocalyptic Jonah Hex comic, featured the Western hero in the 21st Century, there's really no reason not to have our present be Jonah's post-apocalyptic future, right? (Tom Peyer, Val Semeiks and company's excellent DC 2000 miniseries played with the idea that the Golden Age JSA would have considered the world of the JLA circa 2000 as a nightmarish future that must be stopped at all costs, which I suppose is similar-ish).
...
Hey, now that I am thinking about Jonah Hex in the context of a Super-comic, I'm curious: Has Hex ever faced off against Terra-Man...? That seems like one of those things that one could describe with the cover blurb "It had to happen!"
written by MAIRGHREAD SCOTT
art by PAUL PELLETIER and NORM RAPMUND
cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
variant cover by JOSHUA MIDDLETON
When Barbara Gordon confronts her father about James Jr.’s return to Gotham City, the stress between them causes the two to finally break apart. As a result, Babs has to move into her own apartment…but her celebration is cut short when her check bounces! Batgirl returns to Burnside to find out if you really can go home again—spoiler alert: you can’t when the Terrible Trio has taken over!
ON SALE 04.24.19
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES
FC | RATED T
The Terrible Trio! I rather like those guys. They are recurring villains, but so minor that every time they pop up in comics or in cartoons they appear to be a new version, so it's always interesting to see the various takes on the concept of three bad guys in animals masks various creators have. I'm not sure if they have appeared in The New 52 yet outside of Gotham Academy's take, but given that there have been so many goddam Bat-books since Flashpoint, I assume they must have appeared somewhere.
Here's the variant cover for this issue:
written by TOM KING
art and cover by AMANDA CONNER
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Batman is making his way to the end of his Knightmares, but his unseen enemy has a few more tricks up his sleeve. It’s time once again to stick a knife into the Caped Crusader’s broken heart, letting the groom-that-could-have-been peer in on the bachelorette (or should that be “Catchelorette”?) party that never was. Artist Amanda Conner (Harley Quinn) rejoins the Bat-family for this month’s special story—because who else you gonna invite to a shindig like this?
ON SALE 04.03.19
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES
FC | RATED T
At least two of those weird hero vs. villain one-shots that have since been collected in Batman: Preludes to the Wedding (which, in retrospect, did not at all line-up to the "wedding" in Batman) included scenes from the fringes of Catwoman's bachelorette party and...it didn't look anything like what Conner draws on the cover here, but then, I suppose that this is a dream of some kind, and therefore it's all in Batman's head, so it doesn't matter if this lines up with those or not (and, again, the preludes didn't line up with Batman at all).
I wonder who "his unseen enemy" here is...? First, most obvious guess would be The Scarecrow, who I don't think King has written yet, but it would be kind of cool if it were Narcosis, the Alan Grant-created villain from Shadow of The Bat #50-#52, but I highly doubt it is. It would be cooler still if King created his own new villain, instead of just playing the hits over and over and over and over during his run.
written by PETER J. TOMASI
art and cover by BRAD WALKER and ANDREW HENNESSY
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After 1,000 issues, you’d think Batman could finally have a break…but no: as a new era dawns, he’s facing the most dangerous threat of his career! The Arkham Knight has arrived in Gotham City with an entire round table of deadly allies, and their first encounter will leave Batman shaken to his core!
ON SALE 04.10.19
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES
FC | RATED T
When I first saw this cover, I thought Alpha Centurion was getting some kind of update in a Batman comic for some reason, but apparently that's "The Arkham Knight." That's a character from a 2015 video game who turns out to be Jason Todd in a new identity--kinda like when he returned as The Red Hood, but different--which seems like a weird thing to do as 'Tec passes the 1,000-issue mark. I mean, the book and the character have now been around like 80 years, and you're going to mark the occasion by doing something with a character from a recent video game spin-off?
A cooler idea would have been to resurrect characters from the first 26 issues of 'Tec, like the scary-looking racist stereotype on the cover of the first issue of the series, but then they already did that in New Super-Man...
written by GARTH ENNIS
art by JOHN McCREA, CARLOS EZQUERRA and STEVE PUGH
cover by JOHN McCREA
Hitman is back! On the back streets of Gotham City, ex-military operative Tommy Monaghan has set himself up as a hired gun. Surrounded by his own rat pack of friends and allies, the Hitman with a heart must deal with personal conflicts over honor and morals as he makes a living with a gun. But even with the telepathic ability to read his targets’ minds, he still finds himself in over his head when he runs into some of Gotham’s most notorious citizens, such as the Demon, The Joker and Batman. Collects HITMAN #1-8, THE DEMON ANNUAL #2, HITMAN ANNUAL #1 and a story from BATMAN CHRONICLES #4.
ON SALE 05.01.19
$24.99 US | 320 PAGES
FC | ISBN: 978-1-4012-8859-4
I've said it before, but I haven't said it lately: Hitman is one of the very best DC super-comics of all time, and is one of my all-time favorite comic book series from the publisher. If you haven't read it, you should. It's somewhat specific to its time, as all super-comics tend to be, but the character work, the humor and the broad criticisms and parodies of superhero comics are all timeless.
This collects Tommy Monaghan's introduction in Ennis and McCrea's The Demon contribution to the Bloodlines annual event series as well as a short story tied to the Batman line crossover "Contagion"--see what I mean about dated elements?--meaning it collects almost all of Tommy's earliest appearances, missing only a few pages of the Bloodbath miniseries that concluded the Bloodlines event and that Demon story arc involving the Tweedles, which you can find in two collections of Ennis and McCrea's Demon run, which you should also read, if you haven't.
written by JUDD WINICK
art by ALE GARZA, TOM RANEY, CHRISCROSS and others
cover by TOM RANEY and SCOTT HANNA
The Justice League is a bunch of pushovers. The Teen Titans are just kids. When the DC Universe calls for a more...aggressive approach, they call Nightwing, Arsenal and company: the Outsiders. A renegade Superman Robot goes on the rampage, and a long-standing member of the Teen Titans dies. Stricken with grief, old allies Nightwing and Arsenal decide that enough is enough: a more proactive approach to justice isn’t just needed—it’s necessary. This title collects TITANS/YOUNG JUSTICE: GRADUATION DAY #1-3, TEEN TITANS/OUTSIDERS SECRET FILES #1 and OUTSIDERS #1-7.
ON SALE 05.22.19
$24.99 US | 304 PAGES
FC | ISBN: 978-1-4012-8851-8
If Hitman was one of my favorite DC series, Winick's Outsiders was one of my least favorite. It holds a special place in my memory though, because this was a series I knew I should like, having then been a fan of Nightwing and Arsenal for so long, but I kept reading it month in and month out and was inevitably disappointed and it was--stupid as this sounds now--the first comics where I realized that "Hey, this is no good, I don't like it and I don't have to read it!" and I dropped it. It was one of the first DC Comics that, on paper, I should be interested in but actually didn't like.
I suppose the fact that it was one of the books that Young Justice and Titans was canceled to make way for only compounded my dislike for it.
Oddly enough, as terrible as this book was, the Outsiders franchise just got worse and worse and worse as it went on, changing creative teams and being rebooted and relaunched.
Man, I am getting irritated the longer I think about it, and remember things about it, like Roy's stupid soul patch, or the fact that they introduced a "new" character named Shift that was just Metamorpho wearing pants who eventually turned out to just be Metamorpho wearing pants the whole time or some shit and ARRRGH I HAVE TO MOVE ON NOW!!!
But! Then the New 52 happened, Roy Harper and so many other characters were "rebooted" out of their own histories, and my affection for DC superhero characters based on all the comics stories I had read then in evaporated and whether or not I read a DC comic based on the character became a near non-existent factor.
...
This seems like a good time to go re-watch the Speed Racer trailer for the ten thousandth time.
...
Okay, I'm back. I never get sick of watching that trailer.
written by DENNIS O’NEIL, OTTO BINDER, ELLIOT S. MAGGIN, E. NELSON BRIDWELL and others
art by C.C. BECK, KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, DAVE COCKRUM, BOB OKSNER and others
cover by MICHAEL CHO
The 1970s adventures of Shazam—now the star of his very own movie—are collected in color for the first time! These new adventures combined the cartoony art of C.C. Beck, the original artist from the best-selling comics of the 1940s, with the modern, tongue-in-cheek sensibility of writers including Dennis O’Neil as the entire Marvel family reunite for all-new adventures. Collects SHAZAM! #1-18.
ON SALE 05.29.19
$49.99 US | 336 PAGES
FC | ISBN: 978-1-4012-8839-6
I would be super-excited about this, if I didn't have all of these comics--and more--in the 2006 black-and-white Showcase Presents: Shazam Vol. 1. If you don't have, or can't find, that volume, which is now out of print like the rest of that wonderful line, then you should probably get this though, because these are some great goddam comics.
This is probably a good time to again say out loud that I wish DC would publish a Shazam Chronicles series, similar to their Chronicles collection of Golden Age Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman comics (I think they also have ones starring those Silver Age lame-os Hal Jordan and Barry Allen). I would also like a Plastic Man Chronicles and Uncle Sam Chronicles, but given that they are in a Shazam-publishing mood (thanks to the movie) and that those Golden Age Captain Marvel comics are among the best comics of that era, they should really get on that ASAP.
written by JOHN OSTRANDER and KIM YALE
art by GEOF ISHERWOOD and ROBERT CAMPANELLA
cover by GEOF ISHERWOOD and KARL KESEL
Batman, Superman and Aquaman suspect that Amanda Waller had a hand in the death of Ray Palmer, but when they seek to question the Squad, they find resistance from the Jihad and Hayoth. Can the world’s most dangerous criminals take on a trio of the most powerful Justice League members? We’ll give you one guess! Collects SUICIDE SQUAD #59-66.
ON SALE 05.15.19
$19.99 US | 192 PAGES
FC | ISBN: 978-1-4012-8953-9
Gasp! This is it! If DC goes ahead and publishes this volume in May, the entirety of John Ostrander and company's Suicide Squad, by far the best volume of the title, will be available in trade paperback! Huzzah!
written by MARK RUSSELL
art and cover by STEPHEN BYRNE
...
Exiled from their homeworld and still trying to adjust to life on Earth as normal teenage high school students and interns for the Justice League, Zan and Jayna find themselves attacked in their own home by the League of Annoyance. Now separated and unable to use their amazing powers of transformation, the twins find themselves forced to rely on Zan’s new pet monkey Gleek for help—but does the plucky purple primate even like his new owner enough to give a monkey’s butt about these young heroes?
ON SALE 04.10.19
$3.99 US | 3 of 6 | 32 PAGES
FC | RATED T
"Plucky purple primate"... Gleek is clearly blue on that cover, right? And he was blue in Tom Scioli's Super Powers back-ups in Cave Carson, right? And in all of those Super Friends cartoons...? Or am I suffering from some kinda color-blindness I never realized I had...?
That said, this, the cover of Wonder Woman #68...isn't exactly what I would have expected.
I read the first issue of G. Willow Wilson's run, and then decided I'd check back when it starts getting collected. Have any of you guys been reading? How is it, so far...?
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