DC's August previews reviewed

Aquaman 80th Anniversary Special #1 is a 100-page "super spectacular" featuring many creators who have worked on the amazing Atlantean's adventures before, including Dan Jurgens, Geoff Johns and Jeff Parker (but sadly no Peter David and Martin Egeland, and no Phil Jimenez), likely in the sort of anthology of short stories format we should be familiar with from similar specials.  There are various decade-specific variant covers available, but I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want the Ramona Fradon one over all the others (although that Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez variant is pretty tempting, too). 

I like the way Randy Elliott draws Huntress' usually goofy-looking mask on the cover of The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #5. 

Given the success of Batman '66 and Batman Beyond, it's genuinely kind of shocking that it took DC this long to do a series based on the movie continuity (or hell, any movie continuity, really), especially given the high regard that first film is held in, and how many creators would have volunteered for the assignment (like artist Joe Quinones, who has actually tweeted out fan art of a hypothetical Batman '89 series before). 

Well, whatever the reason they waited so long to release the series, August will see the release of Batman '89 #1, and one could hardly ask for a better team, with the aforementioned Quinones handling art and Batman screenwriter Sam Hamm returning to comics to write new stories based in the world of the original film (and Jerry Ordway, who drew the original adaptation to the film in 1989, handling a variant cover debuting the version of Two-Face that might have emerged if the producers went with original Harvey Dent Billy Dee Williams rather than hiring Tommy Lee Jones for the third movie). 

I didn't love Hamm's previous comics work, "Blind Justice" in Detective Comics #588-600, although it did read like a movie (just not the kind of movie that Batman and Batman Returns were; rather a more generic action movie starring Batman, the way that so many of Chuck Dixon's plots read), but when I think of what I liked most about those films it wasn't necessarily the plotting so much as the aesthetic: The set designs, the costume designs, the music. So I hope Quinones really brings it with the exaggerated architecture and pop gothic, arch, action/comedy/fantasy look feel of the films. I have a feeling he's going to have to do all of the heavy lifting to really make this feel like a Tim Burton movie, rather than just a Sam Hamm script, if that makes sense (and I do hope that's the goal). 

Please note on the covers that Quinones draws the (superior) comic book-style bat-symbol on Batman's chest, while Ordway draws the movie-accurate symbol, with the extra black points near the bottom. That's one deviation from the films I approve of.

This month will also see the release of Superman '78 #1 by writer Robert Venditti and artist Wilfredo Torres. I'm kind of surprised they didn't get Richard Donner himself and/or Geoff Johns and Gary Frank for this one, given that they essentially tried to Donner-ize the extant Superman line for a bit back there in the mid-00s, with Frank drawing Superman to resemble Christopher Reeves more than ever.   

I suppose it was only a matter of time before Jeffrey Brown did something for DC Comics. Batman and Robin and Howard looks like one of their original graphic novels for kids, premised around current Robin Damian Wayne (wearing a costume that looks like Dick's original paired with sensible slacks) being sent to a new school, where the know-it-all meets and becomes fierce rivals with the smartest, most athletic boy in his class, Howard. Nice scenario, and Brown's great at what he does, so this should be a lot of fun.

You know, I was just thinking the other day how little Batman comics have ever really addressed the idea of Batman and Bruce Wayne having a child and being single parents; like, where do the people of Gotham think Damian came from, and who his mom really is? And what's up with Damian's secret identity, is it even managed in the way that Dick's or Tim's was? Like, does he go to school? Outside of Peter Tomasi's writing on various titles, there wasn't a lot of exploration of Damian Wayne as a person living in Gotham City, and I think the last I knew, he was attending school in Metropolis and in Jonathan Kent's class...but that was before Jonathan went through his accelerated aging.

Anyway, I really like the Damian character, and think he should get a status quo at some point. Maybe he has one in his new title, although that sure seems to be focused on the whole al Ghul lineage thing yet again. Personally, I wish he would enroll in Gotham Academy and be Maps' reluctant best friend...

This is a nice drawing of Catwoman by Riley Rossmo on the cover of Harley Quinn #6.  

Okay, Hardware: Season One #1, presenting a new, rebooted Hardware series in a new, rebooted Milestone Universe. That's fine. But can we get the original series collected in trade, please (Along with the original Icon series, and maybe that big Milestone/Superman family crossover event series?). Because  that's what I would really like to read, in terms of Milestone content.

I should note that I just read the big Milestone Returns #0 special this week, and it too really just made me curious about the original comics (which I didn't read the first time around, as I was just a little kid with a limited budget), rather than excited about the new series.

By the way, last time I made fun of Icon and Rocket: Season One #1 for putting the "Season One" right there in the title, as if they were desperate for a TV adaptation, but I see that they're making a Naomi TV series based on the 2019 six-issue Naomi miniseries, which was collected as Naomi: Season One (two years later, there's still no "season two" of the character's book). 

My mind is sincerely thoroughly boggled that there is a TV show based on the six-issue Naomi miniseries, especially given the fact that there's no real story to those six issues, or even a premise beyond "here's a new superhero in the DC Universe"; it's just 120-pages of people explaining secret origins to one another. If they can make a TV show out of that, then, well, a "200-year-old black Superman and his sassy teenage sidekick" show based on a 42-issue '90s comic should be a slam dunk. So too with Hardware or Static Shock.

That's a pretty amazing cover by Evan "Doc" Shaner for Superman: Red & Blue #6, although I'm obviously also drawn to Kevin Eastman's Superman cover, which is maybe the grittiest drawing of Superman I have ever seen (and Eastman drawing corporate superhero types is still a new enough experience for me that I think it's incredibly exciting to see DC's flagship character in his signature style).

See, this is the reason one needs to trade-wait these series. The strength of the variant covers all but demands it. 

It's nice to see Mirka Andolfo getting a pretty swell assignment like Superman Vs. Lobo. She's a great and, I think, underrated artist. 

It's not entirely clear whose responsible for this variant cover for Wonder Woman: Black and Gold #3—Janaina Medieros is the best bet—but it's quite lovely.