It's April, barely spring, and DC Comics already has books in their solicitations for July 2013 that won't actually come out until October. Comics, everyone!• Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family
From the "striking while the iron is hot" department, the biggest headline on DC Comics's July 2013 trade paperback and collections solicitations is the Batman: Death of the Family collection. Collected Editions originally broke the news about many of these collections a few weeks ago, but now here they are officially on DC's solicitations list. It's nice to see the Batman collection released first and the Joker collection of tie-ins released second, which I think is more proper, versus the tie-in Night of the Owls collection that was released before the main Batman collection.
Oh, an apparently an acetate jacket with "the horror that is The Joker’s skinless skull" underneath? Charming.
• Justice League Vol. 3: Throne of Atlantis
The second biggie, the collection of the Justice League/Aquaman crossover, is now solicited for September. Adding to the ongoing confusion about what the individual Justice League and Aquaman books will collect, here's another new set of contents for the Justice League volume: JL #13-17 and Aquaman #15-16. This omits Aquaman #14, which had previously been listed as included in that volume. The good news is, that's another issue the Aquaman trade can recover separate from the Justice League volume; the bad news is, the JL trade now seems to be down an issue, but holding at the same price as before.
• Batman: The Court of Owls Book and Mask Set
I'm curious if anyone's buying this. I liked this story and all, and the photos of the people on owl masks at the cons have been cool, but I'm not sure I necessarily need an owl mask hanging around. At first listing it seems the price of this is not more than if you had bought the Batman: Court of Owls hardcover on its own, so maybe if you missed it the first time, might as well get a mask out of it.
• Nightwing: Old Friends, New Enemies TP
Among other things, this collection of Nightwing/Speedy Roy Harper team-ups is the first time, I'm pretty sure, DC has collected any parts of when Action Comics became Action Comics Weekly. I'll be exicted to add this one to the DC Trade Paperback Timeline, if indeed it makes it to print (you never can tell with these trades of older material, though a Nightwing book has a better-than-average chance).
• Green Lantern: Sector 2814 Vol. 2 TP
Elsewhere on the site we had been discussing how these Sector 2814 collections are getting nearer and nearer to intersecting with Crisis on Infinite Earths, and then to the post-Crisis Green Lantern Corps collections, in which some of the characters still remembered pre-Crisis continuity (those stories are also in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Vol. 3). Anyway, hopefully the continuance of these John Stewart-focused Green Lantern trades suggest DC intends to keep the character around for a while, despite what rumors may suggest.
• Legends of The Dark Knight: Jim Aparo Vol. 2 HC
Based on your feedback, these artist focused editions have been very popular; this volume collects self-contained stories from Brave and the Bold, which should cut down on some of the strangeness where these books collect stories with no beginning or ending because the spotlighted artist only handled one part.
And your New 52 collections for July:
• DC Universe Presents: Vandal Savage TP
Rather excited for this one, both for the short stories in the DC Universe Presents zero issue, and also because James Robinson's take on a serial killer Savage and his criminal profilier daughter sounds like an epic combination.
• Sword of Sorcery Vol. 1: Amethyst TP
Equally glad to see this done-in-one -- I really only wanted to sample the adventures of Amethyst, not delve into them long-term, so I'm glad it worked out (good for me, bad for the title, I guess).
• Batwoman Vol. 3: World’s Finest HC
• Captain Atom Vol. 2: Genesis TP
• Green Lantern: Rise of the Third Army
• Legion Lost Vol. 2: The Culling TP
• Shazam! Vol. 1
• Talon Vol. 1: Scourge of The Owls TP
• Wonder Woman Vol. 3: Iron
Six months and counting till October ... What's on your must-read list for July?
Vol. 2 of Supergirl, Justice League Dark, and Nightwing are all out in July, so I'll be picking those up.
ReplyDeleteI've actually read the contents of Supergirl Vol. 2 digitally, but I also wanted to pick up the trade. In terms of content, I think it's better than the first volume (which I really enjoyed), so I'll be happy to have that in my collection.
I believe the second volume of JLD will collect Peter Milligan's final issue (I want to say that he stopped after #7) and then Jeff Lemire's run begins. I've really loved what Lemire's done so far in the New 52, and I'll be excited to read his take on Constantine, Shade, Zatanna, and the like.
Nightwing is also a title that I've really liked. It kind of reminds me of the Chuck Dixon/Scott McDaniel run: nothing flashy or groundbreaking, but consistently enjoyable.
Lately, I've also been going back and re-reading Waid's Flash run. Afterwards, I might hit up the Morrison/Millar run, which, I believe, might be out of print? It's not terribly expensive on Amazon right now, but I'm also considering just reading it on Comixology. Anyone have any recommendations one way or the other?
On Amazon it says that Wonder Woman Vol. 3 will include issues 0 and 13-17. I hope this is wrong and that they include issue 18 as well as that finishes off this current arc. It would feel like a bit of a cop out if they left it out for the next collection.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how the Vandal Savage story in DCP ties into "Demon Knights". Speaking of which, did that book ever tie into the Daemonite invasion from some of the other books? That was my theory, but I stopped reading the titles involved before it happened.
ReplyDeleteThe GL: Sector 2814 book is listed as 232 pages, but it only covers seven issues, most or all of which were probably 16 or 17 pages, because they had backup Tales of the GLC stories, which don't seem to be included. That would make for a very short book. Anybody know the real story?
ReplyDelete>>Elsewhere on the site we had been discussing how these Sector 2814 collections are getting nearer and nearer to intersecting with Crisis on Infinite Earths, ...
ReplyDeleteIt's me again. If anyone knows where that discussion is, please let me know; perhaps it contains info (or informed speculation) on the actual contents of vol. 2. I searched the site for "Sector 2814" but couldn't find it. Thanks.
Perry -- I meant this thread, though that may or may not answer what you were asking.
DeleteThanks--that did help. It lead me to the listing for vol. 3, which reportedly starts with #194. Adding issues #190-193 to vol. 2, with the last three being full-issue stories (no backup story) makes for a much more plausible package, though I'm guess closer to 200 pages than the listed 232. (Do they just make up issue counts and page numbers in these advance solicitations??)
Deletedoes anybody know if DC collects the backup stories in their trades????
ReplyDeleteA definite "sometimes." They collected the backups from Batman in Batman Vol. 2: City of Owls and they collected the backups from Men of War and All-Star Western in both of those titles' first collections. Pre-52, they weren't as consistent about collecting backups (never saw that Teen Titans backup with Zachary Zatara and Traci 13, for instance), and it's hard to say what'll happen going forward.
Deletethanks a lot! and it's great that you respond so fast...keep up those great reviews
DeleteI think they want to collect them all now, and if they don't, it's in order to collect them in a separate title, such as "Shazam" (which collects only the backup stories from Justice League...).
DeleteMarvel Solicits: (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=44846)--I'll do a separate post for when Image, IDW and Dark Horse are posted.
ReplyDelete*Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 1--Here it is, the core of the Marvel Universe, all in one place. It's great to see this get a reprint. But speaking of F4 omnibi...
*Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 1--Hey, look, the universe finally heard my call for this! It'll be at least two books, which is pretty impressive.
*Avengers Assemble: Science Bros TPB--AA is now the "funny" Avengers book, which isn't a slam on it at all. Kelly Sue DeConnick does amazing work with this book.
*Fearless Defenders Vol. 1: Doom Maidens TPB--The all-female Defenders seems like an interesting concept, and I'll check it out.
*Deadpool Vol. 2: Soul Hunter TPB--I was able to get the first issue of the new run in the big "free first issue" rush, and if the whole series is that good, I'll be sure to keep reading it.
*First X-Men TPB--I sort of forgot about this, even though the HC has been out since January. I definitely need to go back and read it.
*Thor by Walter Simonson TPB Vol. 1--From the solicit, it sounds like these are reprinting the updated pages from the omnibus. In either case, if you don't own the Visionaries versions, BUY THESE BOOKS.
*Avengers: Heavy Metal TPB--More Roger Stern-era Avengers? I can't argue with that, especially since, unless I'm mistaken, these feature the unsung hero Stingray! Oh, and Dr. Druid.
*Dr. Strange and Dr. Doom: Triumph and Torment TPB--Speaking of Stern... I was actually going to skip over this, but a Google search shows that this is a pretty widely-acclaimed story, so I'll give it a look.
IDW: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/idw-july-2013-solicitations.html
ReplyDelete*Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror HC--The Rocketeer has swiftly become one of IDW's best licenses thanks to their great work in snagging creators for it. Dave Stevens would be proud. Also, there's an upcoming Mark Waid/Paul Smith "Rocketeer/Spirit" crossover, which could be the greatest idea ever.
*Ghostbusters Vol. 1 TP--Between requests on the suggestion post on Facebook and my best friend Larry being a Ghostbusters fanatic, this is going on the buy list for sure.
*Transformers Classics Vol. 5 TP--I'm not as big on the old TF comics as I am on Joe comics, but this is the switchover from Budiansky to Furman and the start of the really good issues (i.e. Primus, Thunderwing and Bludgeon, for starters).
*Transformers MTMTE Vol. 4 TP--Having just read the issues that make up this trade, I believe the words "gut punch" come to mind.
Image: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=44861
*Glory Vol. 2: War Torn TP--Well, I have to get Vol. 1 first, but I'm interested to be sure.
*Invincible Vol. 18: The Death of Everyone TP--Holy crap, Invincible's at 102! I really do need to go back and do a massive catch-up... the last time I did that, I reached issue 60.
Dark Horse: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dark-horse-july-2013-solicitations.html
*Star Wars: In The Shadow Of Yavin TP--While we wait to see what happens with the Star Wars comics post-Disney buyout, from what I've heard, this is fantastic... and more to the point, it's a story that hasn't been spoiled for me by the Essential Guides.
*Trigun Omnibus TP--I'm sorry, 700 pages for twenty bucks?! This may end up being the first manga review for CE (or second if I do a Guyver overview post).