DC Trade Solicitations for August 2020 - Post-Crisis Flash by Baron and Messner-Loebs, Robin: 80 Years, Power of Shazam! by Ordway, Green Lantern: Earth One Vol. 2, Batman: Road to No Man's Land Omnibus, Aquaman by Skeates/Aparo
Among those regular series are Justice League Odyssey Vol. 3: Final Frontier (is it bad I still haven't decided if I like this book?) and Wonder Twins Vol. 2, really kind of some slim pickings for this month (maybe I'll get around to finally finishing Mind MGMT!).
Which is not to say there's not some cool ones among the "reprints" — the long awaited post-Crisis Flash: Savage Velocity, the first Power of Shazam! collection (finally!), and Aquaman: Deadly Waters, completing a trilogy of Silver/Bronze Age Aquaman books. Books Of Magic gets a nice omnibus collection, as does Batman: The Road to No Man’s Land ... y'know, it's not nothing, but it's not a whole lot, either.
Let's take a closer look.
• Absolute Transmetropolitan Vol. 1 HC New Edition
Released under the DC Black Label imprint; no contents listed, but the original printing collected Transmetropolitan #1-18, Transmetropolitan: I Hate It Here, and Vertigo: Winter's Edge #2.
• Aquaman: Deadly Waters Deluxe Edition HC
Continuing and finishing the Steve Skeates/Jim Aparo run with issues #49-56, following the previous Search for Mera volume; #56 would end that series. Three years after these issues, Aquaman would appear in back-up stories in Adventure Comics and then regain his own series numbered starting with #57, which would be the storyline collected in Death of a Prince. This is a nice trilogy of Silver Age Aquaman that I'd be interested to read all together.
• Batman: The Demon Trilogy HC
Have Batman: Birth of the Demon, Batman: Bride of the Demon, and Batman: Son of the Demon been collected together before? Seems only logical.
• Batman: The Road to No Man’s Land Omnibus HC
Omnibus of the previous two-volume paperback Road to No Man's Land series. Contents are about the same give or take an issue if the solicitations are to be believed. Said to contain Azrael: Agent of the Bat #40, Azrael: Agent of the Bat #47-52 (previous solicit only went to #50), Batman #554-562, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #73-82, Detective Comics #719-722, Detective Comics #724-729, Catwoman #56-57, Robin #52-54, The Batman Chronicles #12, The Batman Chronicles #14-15, Nightwing #19-20, Batman: Arkham Asylum - Tales of Madness #1, Batman: Blackgate - Isle of Men #1, and Batman: Huntress/Spoiler - Blunt Trauma #1.
• Blackest Night Brightest Day Box Set
Twelve hardcovers at $300 total, collecting two enjoyable but pretty gosh darn out of continuity event miniseries; if there's an audience for this, God bless. Not only does it include all of the below, but also nine plastic Corps rings — where those fit in the box, I'm not sure.
- Blackest Night: Prelude collects Green Lantern #26-28 and 36-43 and Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns #1
- Blackest Night collects Blackest Night #0-8 and pages from Untold Tales of the Blackest Night #1
- Blackest Night: Green Lantern collects Green Lantern #44-52
- Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps collects Green Lantern Corps #39-47
- Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Book 1 collects Blackest Night: Batman #1-3, Blackest Night: Superman #1-3, and Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1-3
- Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Book 2 collects Blackest Night: The Flash #1-3, Blackest Night: JSA #1-3 and Blackest Night: Titans #1-3
- Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns collects The Atom & Hawkman #48, Phantom Stranger #42, Green Arrow #30, Adventure Comics #7, Starman #81, The Question #37, Catwoman #83, Weird Western Tales #71, and The Power of Shazam! #38
- Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps collects Blackest Night: Tales of the Black Lanterns #1-3, Adventure Comics #4-5, Untold Tales of the Blackest Night #1, stories from Green Lantern #18-20, 40, and 49, Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps: Secret Files, Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime, and pages from Blackest Night #0
- Brightest Day: Green Lantern collects Green Lantern #53-62
- Brightest Day Book 1 collects Brightest Day #0-11
- Brightest Day Book 2 collects Brightest Day #0-11 [obviously TBD]
- The Book of the Black collects sketch material (both previously released and new), series proposals, variant covers, posters, all or at least most of the Blackest Night outline scripts, and a few other things
• Booster Gold: Future Lost HC
Collects the second half of Dan Jurgen's 1980s Booster Gold series, issues #13-25. Also included is Action Comics #594 and Secret Origins #35, which appeared in the Showcase Presents: Booster Gold black-and-white collection, "pages from" Millennium #3-7 (previously this was listed as the whole issues, but probably this makes more sense), and "more." The previous solicitation suggested the Booster entry from Who’s Who Update 1987 #1 might be there too.
• DC Poster Portfolio: Clay Mann TP
Includes covers from Action Comics #959, #961, #964-969, and #983; Batman #36, #50, #78, and #79; Batman Eternal #28, DC Nation #0, Doom Patrol/Justice League Special #1, Harley Quinn #1, Heroes in Crisis #1, Justice League #46, Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death #2, and Trinity #3-4 and #12, printed on card stock at 12 x 16.
• The Flash: Savage Velocity TP
Solicited before and cancelled, but I'm glad to see it finally on the schedule. Collects Mike Baron's and William Messner-Loebs' Flash immediately post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, issues #1-18 and the first annual, with ties to Millennium. This'll fit real well with the Superman by Byrne books, the new post-Crisis Batman books, Wonder Woman by Perez, and so on. Includes Wally vs. Kilg%re, Velocity 9 (which later appeared in the CW Flash TV series), and Vandal Savage.
• gen:LOCK TP
Based on the web show, the comic is written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly and drawn by Carlo Barbieri, among others. Collects issues #1-7.
• Green Lantern: Earth One Vol. 2 HC
Been a while since we've seen an Earth One volume; here's a sequel to Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko's Green Lantern: Earth One. John Stewart and Yellow Lanterns join the fray.
• Hellblazer Vol. 23: No Future TP
Collects Hellblazer #261-266, Hellblazer Special: Papa Midnite #1-5, and the Hellblazer: Pandemonium graphic novel.
• JLA by Grant Morrison Omnibus HC
Well, this is the big 'un, all 41 issues of Grant Morrison's JLA plus at least the JLA One Million miniseries and the JLA: Earth 2 graphic nove. (We should maybe quibble that Morrison's first JLA: Classified arc should be in there, maybe a Secret Files but oh, well.) Those JLA issues are #1-17, #22-26, #28-31, #34, #36-#41.
• Justice League Odyssey Vol. 3: Final Frontier TP
Third collection of the Dan Abnett series; collects #13-18, including "Year of the Villain" issues.
• Justice League Unlimited: Galactic Justice TP
One of a couple animated Justice League Unlimited collections solicited lately; this is issues #4, #6, #18, #24, #34, and #46, with Green Lantern John Stewart, Martian Manhunter, Adam Strange, Sinestro, and Space Cabbie.
• Lucifer Omnibus Vol. 2 HC
Issues #36-75 by Mike Carey, with the DC Black Label branding (previously this was supposed to say "Sandman Universe" on it, but I'm not sure if that's the case any more).
• The Power of Shazam! Book 1: In the Beginning HC
Glad all that waiting paid off — finally, finally, we get the first-ever collection of Jerry Ordway's superlative Captain Marvel series, the longest-running and most substantial Captain Marvel series of the post-Crisis era. Running almost 50 issues, Ordway's Power of Shazam series was tonally similar to his Superman Triangle Titles work, attacking head-on everything from Mr. Mind to Tawky Tawny in ways that preserved the absurdity but updated the concepts for the modern era (without being grim and gritty). All that and one of the few series to directly cross over with James Robinson's Starman. This will have the Power of Shazam graphic novel that started it all off, plus issues #1-12 and a Captain Marvel story from Superman & Batman Magazine #4. Twelve issues per book would finish this off in four books. In hardcover in August.
• Robin: 80 Years of the Boy Wonder HC
Said to collect Batman #368, Batman #410, Batman #411, Batman #466, Detective Comics #38, Detective Comics #165, Detective Comics #394-395, Detective Comics #535, Detective Comics #796, Robin #25-26, Batman Chronicles: The Gauntlet #1, World’s Finest Comics #141, Star Spangled Comics #65 and #124, Teen Titans #14, Batman and Robin #0. Mentioned in previous solicitations was Batman Incorporated #1, and Super Sons #5.
• RWBY TP
By Marguerite Bennett and Mirka Andolfo, based on the anime series; collects issues #1-7.
• The Sandman: The Books of Magic Omnibus Vol. 1 HC
A variety of the appearances of kid mage Tim Hunter collected in one place, though the contents don't mention the original Neil Gaiman miniseries. Collects The Books of Magic #1-32 (of 75 issues total, of which only #1-50 are previously collected), The Children’s Crusade #1-2, Vertigo Preview #1, Vertigo Visions - Doctor Occult #1, Arcana Annual #1, Mister E #1-4, and The Books of Faerie: Auberon’s Tale #1-3. (Earlier solicitations also had Vertigo Gallery: Dreams and Nightmares #1 and Who’s Who #15. This was also previously branded "Sandman Universe: The Books of Magic Omnibus," not just "Sandman: Books of Magic ...")
• Super Sons Omnibus HC Expanded Edition
The adventures of Jon Kent and Damian Wayne, all collected together and now including the final twelve issue miniseries. This is Superman #10-11, Superman #37-38, Teen Titans #15, Super Sons #1-16, DC Rebirth Holiday Special #1, Super Sons Annual #1, the Super Sons/Dynomutt Special, and the Adventures of the Super Sons miniseries #1-12.
• Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade TP New Edition
New printing of the Landry Q. Walker miniseries collection, now targeted to DC's kids imprint.
• Superman vs. Wonder Woman (Tabloid Edition) HC
A team-up, first printed as I understand it in Limited Collectors' Edition #C-54 from 1978, by Gerry Conway and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. Set during World War II with, I believe, the Superman and Wonder Woman of Earth-2.
• Teen Titans: Raven and Beast Boy HC Box Set
Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo's two young adult graphic novels, in hardcover for the first time.
• Wonder Twins Vol. 2: The Fall and Rise of the Wonder Twins TP
Issues #7-12 by Mark Russell and Stephen Byrne as part of Brian Michael Bendis' Wonder Comics imprint; the end of the series unless they renew it.
• Wonder Woman Vol. 2: Love Is a Battlefield TP
Paperback by G. Willow Wilson, Cary Nord, and others, following the hardcover. Issues #66-73; the book flips over to #750+ numbering after issue #80.
I'll be getting JLA by Morrison for sure (and cross my fingers for a Waid JLA omni in the near future to fill in most of the gaps there). I'm liking JLO, so that's an easy pick-up, as is Wonder Twins v2.
ReplyDeleteProbably Flash by Baron/WML, GL: E1 v2, and Power of Shazam.
I'm going to have to think long and hard about RNML - I have all the collections and the trade dress across them matches so well. I'll also have to check contents to see if I'm getting or losing anything of substance if I switch.
There indeed was a paperback called Batman: Birth of the Demon that collected the same three graphic novels.
ReplyDeleteWasn't JLA/Wildcats also by Morrison and missing here?
I was under the impression that Savage Velocity just collects the Mike Baron run. Now it seems that it extends into the Loebs run. Hoping for more Loebs Flash and Wonder Woman trades.
There have been a few people who were sure the Savage Velocity contents was wrong and it would just be a Baron collection. They were very vocal, at least on the CBR forums, so that might be where that came from.
DeleteThe Superman vs Wonder Woman story was collected in the Superman by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez HC a few years ago. It's not bad, and as this was published when Wonder Woman's tv show was set in WW2, so is this story.
ReplyDeleteAs Aalok said, the Demon Trilogy had already been collected before in a TPB, but this is the first time the three graphic novels are collected together in their original dimensions.
ReplyDeleteAnd the JLA by Grant Morrison Omnibus remains an enigma to me. I tried adding up JLA Secret Files #1, JLA/Wildcats, New Year's Evil: Prometheus, DC One Million #1-4 and JLA Classified #1-3 to its solicited contents and still couldn't hit 1,300 pages, so I have no idea how they will fill 1,504 pages.
I wasn't aware about the original dimensions and remember being irritated about too much blank space at the top and bottom (given the aspect ratios of the original pages). Just might buy this one now.
DeleteAnything else that could maybe be added to the JLA Omnibus? The One million issue of JLA I think? What about the Aztek series co-written by Morrison? As far as I remember Aztek did play some role in some arc.
I am quite disappointed with the blackest night box set. It doesn’t include a lot of the crossover issues (Doom Patrol, Rebels, Booster gold, etc.). If it was up to me, (and it isn’t) I’ll leave out the brightest day books and have a crossover volume.
ReplyDelete