An auspicious month on the way in the DC Comics May 2021 hardcover and trade paperback solicitations. Can't argue with what's a nicely slimmed-down monthly comics line from DC; a quick skim of the solicitations sees no less than the Milestone characters, Stargirl, Midnighter, Loose Cannon and Gangbuster, some classic Outsiders, Grifter, and Huntress, plus more of Future State intersecting with the present DCU. Yeah, things still feel tentative, but that's a lineup that suggests to me creative teams familiar with DC's rich history, not dismissive of it.
And that's altogether before a strong collections slate. Probably most anticipated are the trio of Future State books: Future State: Justice League, Future State: Superman, and Future State: The Next Batman, plus the interstitial DC Comics: Generations. Not much in terms of regular series (nearly nothing, reflecting the Future State interruption), but some "Elseworlds" I'm looking forward to: Batman: Earth One Vol. 3, DCeased: Hope at World’s End, and Batman: White Knight Presents Harley Quinn. The forthcoming Suicide Squad movie brings us Keith Giffen's Suicide Squad: Casualties of War; the collections of Mark Waid's Flash conclude with never-before-collected "Dark Flash Saga"; and the DC crossover Genesis sees a collection with the Fourth World by John Byrne Omnibus. Shouldn't hopefully be lacking too much for books to read this month.
For those keeping track at home, remaining to be released for Future State are:
Future State: Dark Detective, collecting Future State: Dark Detective #1-4, Future State: Catwoman #1-2, Future State: Harley Quinn #1-2, Future State: Robin Eternal #1-2, and Future State: Batman/Superman #1-2
Future State: Suicide Squad, collecting Future State: Suicide Squad #1-2, Future State: Teen Titans #1-2, Future State: Shazam! #1-2, and Future State: Swamp Thing #1-2
Future State: Wonder Woman, collecting Future State: Wonder Woman #1-2, Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman #1-2, and Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman #1-2
(Though, where's the Endless Winter collection?)
Let's take a look at the full listings:
• Absolute Swamp Thing by Alan Moore Vol. 3 HC
Alan Moore's Swamp Thing issues #51-64, being the final issues of Moore's run, and DC Comics Presents #85, by Moore and Rick Veitch teaming Swamp Thing with Superman. (I have come to find this issue was collected in a couple Alan Moore-centric volumes but omitted from the original Saga of the Swamp Thing hardcover series, which seems a real shame.)
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Recent DC Comics Trade Solicitations |
Collects stories from the Walmart Aquaman Giants #1-4 and the digital Aquaman: Deep Dives #4, 6-7, and #9, written by the likes of Geoff Johns, Steve Orlando, Tom Taylor, Cecil Castellucci, and Marv Wolfman.
• Batman Vol. 3: Ghost Stories HC
James Tynion collecting Batman #101-105, a story from Detective Comics #1027, and Batman Annual #5. In hardcover in June, because Batman still warrants it.
Paperback collection of the Black Label series by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo. And in case you’re wondering, the solicitation says “collects the revised miniseries,” so that answers that, plus sketches and other bonus material.
Third volume of Batman: Earth One by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, coming in hardcover in June. Buoyed by a really good Green Lantern: Earth One Vol. 2, I'm excited for this one (and to read the first two books over again). Wonder if they'd ever do a Black Label Earth One book and how that would turn out.
• Batman: White Knight Presents Harley Quinn HC
Spin-off of Sean Murphy's Batman books by Katana Collins, collecting Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn #1-6 and a story from the Harley Quinn Black + White + Red digital Chapter 6. Sean Murphy's Batman: Curse of the White Knight sequel was really good, and I have high hopes for this.
Thirty dollars US, 184 pages, hardcover, and apparently collecting only Generations Shattered #1, Generations Forged #1, and the "Generations Fractured" story from Detective Comics #1027. I guess that page count lines up, but still this seems like a big price for not a lot of contents. I'll be reading it, of course.
• DCeased: Hope at World’s End HC
In hardcover, collecting the 15 digital chapters. Given just how good DCeased: Unkillables was, I'd read Tom Taylor writing DCeased: The Phone Book. Another one that'll be a fun June read.
• The Flash by Mark Waid Book Eight TP
The end of Mark Waid’s original Flash run, the “Dark Flash Saga,” which has never been collected before. These collections of Mark Waid’s Flash have been great, but this one, collecting never-collected material, makes it really worth it. This is Flash #151–162, Flash Annual #12 (”JLApe”), and material from Flash Secret Files #2.
• Fourth World by John Byrne Omnibus HC
Y'know, I'd venture not every part of this was great, but I've got to give it to DC for including Genesis in this, a crossover I didn't entirely understand likely because I had not been reading all of John Byrne's other Fourth World work. Even again if Genesis struggled, this is a mighty attractive collection. Said to include New Gods #12-15, Jack Kirby's Fourth World #1-20, and Genesis #1-4.
• Future State: Justice League TP
Collects Future State: Justice League #1–2 (with Justice League Dark), Future State: The Flash #1–2, and Future State: Green Lantern #1–2 (including, we assume, Last Lanterns and Tales of the Green Lantern Corps), and Future State: Aquaman #1–2 (omitted from earlier solicitations but included here). In June in paperback.
Collects Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1–2 (including we assume Guardian and Mister Miracle), Future State: Superman: Worlds of War #1–2 (including we assume Midnighter and Black Racer), Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1–2, Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1–2, _Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes _#1–2, and Future State: House of El #1. In June in paperback.
• Future State: The Next Batman TP
Collects Future State: The Next Batman #1–4 (including we assume Outsiders, Arkham Knights, Batgirls, and Gotham City Sirens) and Future State: Nightwing #1–2. The solicitation also mentions "select stories" from Future State: Dark Detective #1–4. In June in paperback.
• Green Lantern: John Stewart — A Celebration of 50 Years HC
Assuredly a deserved recognition of this character, and also a book that will skew more modern (and to my tastes) than the celebrations with early Superman or Batman stories. Includes Green Lantern Vol. 2 #87 (first appearance), #182, and #185 (serving as Earth’s primary Green Lantern); Green Lantern Vol. 3 #74 (John as a Darkstar) and #156 (spotlight issue in Judd Winick’s Kyle Rayner run); Green Lantern Vol. 4 #49 (Blackest Night issue); Green Lantern: Mosaic #18; and Justice League of America #110 (from 1974, with John subbing for Hal Jordan) — among others, possibly.
I'm not necessarily the audience for these DC young adult books, but the premise of Detective Comics' Mariko Tamaki's I Am Not Starfire is precious, about Starfire's high school-age goth daughter. To see their family dynamics alone, I might have to flip through this one.
• Justice League of America: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 3 HC
Collects Justice League of America #147–182 (previously listed as #147-181), Super-Team Family #11-14, DC Special #27, DC Special Series #6, Secret Society of Super-Villains #15, DC Comics Presents #17, and pages from Amazing World of DC Comics #14. Includes appearances by the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Justice Society, Jonah Hex, Enemy Ace, the Viking Prince, Phantom Stranger, Black Lighting, and more.
• Suicide Squad: Casualties of War TP
Collects all 12 issues of the early 2000s Keith Giffen series that followed the “Superman: Our Worlds at War” event. I thought this had been collected before but it seems it hasn’t, and now I’m not sure if I read it or not; I might be thinking of the John Ostrander miniseries from 2008, following Infinite Crisis.
• Tales From the DC Dark Multiverse II HC
In hardcover in June 2021, this sequel collection includes Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Batman: Hush #1, Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Flashpoint #1, Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Wonder Woman: War of the Gods #1, Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Crisis on Infinite Earths #1, and Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Dark Nights: Metal #1.
Also said to be included is Batman #619 (the end of "Hush"; this was previously solicited with Batman #608, the beginning of "Hush"), Flashpoint #1, Wonder Woman: War of the Gods #4 (instead of, previously solicited, Wonder Woman #8, which didn't necessarily make sense), Crisis on Infinite Earths #12, and Dark Nights: Metal #6. Interesting that the previous Tales from the Dark Multiverse volume collected mostly first issues alongside the specials (Blackest Night #1, Infinite Crisis #1), but this one has mostly last issues.
• Transmetropolitan Book Five TP
Issues #49-60.
Flash by Waid (natch), probably all the Future State books, and Suicide Squad. Not a bad month, but we're still far below my normal pull list on collections.
ReplyDeleteI have a list of stuff I'd buy no questions asked, DC, if you want to know . . .
And if things seem sparse now, wait till we get to the point where there's just collections of the thin monthly list coming out right now! I might eventually have to start that post-Crisis re-read ...
DeleteI have a feeling that this summer will include a lot of re-reads for me. Between the solicitations, Edelweiss, and PRH catalogs, I don't see almost anything of great interest, and I'm just wildly pessimistic that DC will have any follow through on recent collections (Winick's GL, Green Arrow by Grell v2, finishing Simone's BOP, etc).
DeleteOn the plus side, I've got NML/New Gotham/Murderer/Fugitive all lined up (with the last GK collection coming out this week) for a big re-read, and I'm going to fill some holes in my reading list (Ostrander's Suicide Squad), so I'll survive.
I feel your pain. There is nothing that screams "buy me" all the way through August releases. I keep checking Edelweiss+ to see if the new PRH catalog is up, but nothing yet. I have probably 10 collections that I would buy in a heartbeat, mostly pre-Crisis. Stuff like Mr. and Mrs. Superman (1978-82), Blackhawk (1982-84), the 1992 Justice Society series by Strazewski and Parobeck, Nathaniel Dusk, Nemesis by Burkett and Spiegle, All-Star Squadron, Infinity, Inc., Starman (Prince Gavyn), and that's off the top of my head. :)
DeleteStill waiting for JSA '92 by Strazewski and Parobeck myself. I had hoped that if "Demise of Justice" sold well, that'd be next.
Delete"Blackhawk (1982-84)"
DeleteHas the Evanier/Spiegle stuff ever been collected? If DC put this out, I would fight my way to the front of the line to buy a copy...
The Evanier/Spiegle Blackhawk run hasn't been collected that I know of. Definitely it in the U.S.
DeleteEdit to my last comment: Definitely NOT in . . .. (Maybe I should try commenting when I'm more awake. Lol)
DeleteThat Fourth World book has been a dream book for me for a few years now. It leads into the Orion series by Walt Simonson. I can't wait to get my hands on it.
ReplyDeleteIt is also really exciting to finally see the Dark Flash Saga collected. Now that Mark Waid's whole Flash run will be collected it would be great to see DC go back and finish collecting Peter David's Supergirl run.
Really glad to see the JLA Bronze Age Omnibus but so much of it was already released in that Atom wedding JLA book last year. I'll double dip, still.
ReplyDeleteI read the wedding book last year and was disappointed to find I didn't really care for the Gerry Conway stories as much as I did when originally published. I loved the JLA/JSA/LSH crossover and the Englehart stories (that's another collection I'd buy, the Englehart JLA).
Delete