Why hello DC fans, and Happy 2023! We’re a few weeks late on these solicits due to Multiversity’s holiday break, so let’s get to it!
10. I’m Your Fann
I try to include some of DC’s books aimed at younger audiences in these columns because I truly believe that this is one of the most effective ways to bring new readers into the fold. Whereas I got random issues as a kid and loved them, my 6-year old has a hard time jumping straight into superhero comics. Something like this, while not a traditional Batman story by any means, may be the spark that ignites a kid’s love of comics. That’s more important than whatever event is currently going on.
FANN CLUB: BATMAN SQUAD
Written and illustrated by JIM BENTON
$12.99 US | 160 pages | 5 1/2″ x 8″ | Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-77950-889-8
ON SALE 6/6/23
ERNEST FANN IS THE WORLD’S BIGGEST BATMAN…FAN!
And as the most knowledgeable about all things super-heroic, it is up to Ernest to recruit the finest crime-fighters on Earth! Together with his babysitter, Harriet, his best friend, Jack, and his faithful fido, Ernest is ready to teach his recruits all about secret identities, the best ways to lurk, and how to stop crime…maybe? Join New York Times bestselling writer-illustrator Jim Benton (Catwad, Franny K. Stein) for the laugh-out-loud adventure of a lifetime!
9. Revenge of the Gods IV: Gods in Love
Every event nowadays has a miniseries or two that echoes out from its conclusion, and this one is focusing on the gods of both Shazam and Wonder Woman. The good here is that it is helping to re-establish both Shazam and the various pantheons of deities as important pieces of the current DC product. The bad news is that it continues the run of Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad’s snoozer of a “Wonder Woman” run. That said, G. Willow Wilson’s limited DC work has been interesting, and Cian Tormey and Alitha Martinez are both very good artists, so this may very well be worth a shot.
LAZARUS PLANET: REVENGE OF THE GODS #1
Written by G. WILLOW WILSON, BECKY CLOONAN, and MICHAEL W. CONRAD
Art by CIAN TORMEY and ALITHA MARTINEZ
Cover by GUILLEM MARCH
Variant cover by SIMONE DI MEO
1:25 variant cover by MICHAEL CHO
1:50 foil cover by DANIEL SAMPERE
$4.99 US | 40 pages | 1 of 4 | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 3/14/23
After the events of Lazarus Planet, the gods of the Multiverse have decided to take down the heroes they once called champions and the world they’ve sworn to protect. For years the gods sat idle atop their mountains as their legends faded into obscurity along with their bodies. Now is their time to remind the selfish mortals of their existence and take back the world with something more powerful than belief…fear. Only the brave heroes Wonder Woman and Shazam stand in their way, but will their combined powers be enough?
8. To be fair, what doesn’t Harley screw up?
DC sometimes positions writers with particular characters or, in this case, subsets of particular characters. Right now, Frank Tieri is the ‘Harley in the Multiverse’ guy. Whenever Harley is given something outside of the normal monthly stories – an Archie crossover, the ‘gang of Harleys,’ etc – Tieri gets the call. Now, it makes total sense for DC to want to both maximize their Harley content and also use her as a character to do some multiversal shenanigans with, as her fourth wall breaking and generally comical attitude are a good match.
That said, Tieri is a relatively safe writer who doesn’t take these things as far or go as wacky as these concepts sometimes deserve. Hopefully, this can be the time that Tieri puts the pedal to the floor and really goes for it.
Continued belowMULTIVERSITY: HARLEY SCREWS UP THE DCU #1
Written by FRANK TIERI
Art by LOGAN FAERBER
Cover by AMANDA CONNER
Variant cover by LOGAN FAERBER
1:25 variant cover by RILEY ROSSMO
1:50 variant cover by CHAD HARDIN
$4.99 US | 32 pages | 1 of 6 | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 3/14/23
Harley’s back in Coney for a long-overdue reunion with old friends, old haunts, and…an old time machine? You heard right! A mysterious benefactor has left Harley a time machine, and after giving it about a half second of thought, she decides to take it for a joyride. What could go wrong, right? Funny you should ask. Turns out a quick trip through time can screw up a few things…namely, the entire DC Universe
7. The finale, 9 years in the making
Jeff Lemire’s “Animal Man” closed out in 2014, and after many delays, the ‘sequel’ series, “Swamp Thing: Green Hell” is about to wrap up as well. While more of an epilogue than a sequel, “Green Hell” #3 looks to introduce ‘the Animal Woman’ who, readers of “Animal Man” can probably infer the identity of. I revisited this run about a year ago, and rekindled my appreciation for it, so I’m very excited to see how this concludes.
SWAMP THING: GREEN HELL #3
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art and cover by DOUG MAHNKE
Variant cover by CHRISTIAN WARD
1:25 variant cover by TRAVEL FOREMAN
$6.99 US | 48 pages | 3 of 3 | Prestige Plus | 8 1/2″ x 10 7/8″
(all covers are card stock)
ON SALE 3/14/23
One former avatar wasn’t enough to take down the savage champion the Green created to wipe out the last of humanity…so another avatar will have to do what Alec Holland couldn’t! It’s time to unleash the Animal Woman!
6. What is this, The Late Show with David Letterman?
Alan Moore’s Wildstorm era is somewhat forgotten in the discussion of his career, which usually goes: DC work, “Supreme,” “League of Extraordinary Gentleman,” retirement. But DC’s bottom line never forgets, and so they are putting out this softcover compendium of the entire “Top 10” run. I’m not super familiar with this book – Moore’s post-“Watchmen” career is one of my biggest blindspots – but when you’ve got Gene Ha and Zander Cannon as the main artists, you know you’ve got something worth checking out.
TOP 10 COMPENDIUM
Written by ALAN MOORE, ZANDER CANNON, KEVIN CANNON, and others
Art by GENE HA, ZANDER CANNON, and others
Cover by ALEX ROSS
$59.99 US | 832 pages | 6 5/8″ x 10 3/16″ | Softcover | ISBN: 978-1-77952-168-2
ON SALE 4/11/23
From writer Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta) and artist Gene Ha (Justice League) comes this sci-fi epic following the exploits of the police officers of Precinct 10—or Top 10—as they contend with science villains and super-crimes in the vast city of Neopolis and beyond. This softcover compendium collects the entire Eisner Award-winning series and its spin-offs, including Top Ten #1-12, America’s Best Comics Special #1, Smax #1-5, Top Ten: The Forty-Niners, Top Ten: Beyond the Farthest Precinct #1-5, Top Ten: Season Two #1-4, and Top Ten: Season Two Special #1.
5. The punny holiday titles will continue until morale improves
DC’s holiday anthologies are hit or miss affairs, but are always a great excuse to get new and underused talent a byline or fringy characters a spotlight. While I still think $10 is a lot to ask fans to shell out for a book like this, for fas of Captain Carrot or the Floronic Man, where else are you going to get stories like these? Plus, Hayden Sherman and Travis Moore art rarely disappoint.
DC’S LEGION OF BLOOM #1
Written by ASHLEY ALLEN, JULIO ANTA, CALVIN KASULKE, TRAVIS MOORE, KENNY PORTER, CAVAN SCOTT, and ZAC THOMPSON
Art by ISAAC GOODHART, BRIAN LEVEL, TRAVIS MOORE, JACOBY SALCEDO, HAYDEN SHERMAN, ATAGUN ILHAN, and more!
Cover by JUAN GEDEON
Variant cover by DERRICK CHEW
Variant cover by MIKE PERKINS
1:25 Variant cover by VASCO GEORGIEV
$9.99 US | 80 pages | One-shot | Prestige
ON SALE 3/21/23How do you announce winter is coming to an end? You spring it on them! Welcome the springtime with a celebration of DC’s greenest and greatest. As the flowers bloom, breathe in that Swamp Thing smell. Watch the Blue Beetles fly out from Titans West. Pick a Captain Carrot or two from Floronic Man’s garden, but make sure to avoid the Poison Ivy. The season may go by in a Flash, but don’t worry—stories like these last forever. Oh, and Wonder Woman will be there, too!
4. The best of the ‘dumbing down’ Shazam reboots
Since DC acquired Fawcett Comics, there have been a handful of attempts to reboot the characters into a more streamlined story. Only two of these – the Jerry Ordway “Powers of Shazam” series and Geoff Johns’s “Justice League” backups – tried to give readers something that wasn’t a slimmer, more simple cast and mythology. However, only one of these worked well, and that is Jeff Smith of “Bone” fame, whose “The Monster Society of Evil” put all the pieces for a classic Marvel family story on the table without sacrificing anything in terms of quality or heart. Given a second miniseries, Smith likely could’ve built out this world even more, but this stands as, perhaps, the best standalone Shazam story in the 40+ years at DC. This is well worth your time and money.
Continued belowSHAZAM!: THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL
Written by JEFF SMITH
Art and cover by JEFF SMITH
$39.99 US | 272 pages | 6 5/8″ x 10 3/16″ | Hardcover | ISBN: 978-1-77952-155-2
ON SALE 5/2/23
Jeff Smith, the award-winning writer and illustrator of Bone, brings his talent for crafting stories with adventure, humor, and gorgeous artwork to DC Comics with this nostalgic reimagining of Shazam! When young orphan Billy Batson follows a mysterious stranger onto the subway, he never imagines he’s entering a bizarre world of powerful wizards, talking tigers, kid-eating monsters, giant robots, political intrigue, and mysterious villains. But Billy encounters all that and more when the wizard gives him a magic word that transforms him into the World’s Mightiest Mortal! Collects Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil #1-4.
3. Let’s hope for a Smoke Monster and hatch
Every 5 years, DC makes a meal out of another milestone anniversary for Superman, and 2023’s 85th anniversary is no different. However, if all of these mean that the creative team behind “Deathstroke” gets to tell a 10-issue story with an aged Superman who feels out of place in his world and marriage, then sign me up for these celebrations not just every five years, but every year.
Priest has been doing mostly the darker characters in the DCU since he came back with ‘Rebirth’ – aside from his brief, unremarkable “Justice League” run – and so it will be interesting to see him working on a character that is more hopeful and less fatalistic for awhile.
SUPERMAN: LOST #1
Written by CHRISTOPHER PRIEST
Art and cover by CARLO PAGULAYAN and JASON PAZ
Variant covers by JOE QUESADA and LEE WEEKS
1:25 B&W variant cover by JOE QUESADA
1:50 foil variant cover by CARLO PAGULAYAN and JASON PAZ
$4.99 US | 32 pages | 1 of 10 | Variant $5.99 US
ON SALE 3/14/23
SUPERMAN’S ODYSSEY OF SOLITUDE!
After Superman is called away on a routine Justice League mission, Lois Lane awakens to find a complete stranger standing in her living room. The Man of Steel, home much sooner than expected, reveals he has, in fact, been lost in space for 20 years. Nothing and no one seem familiar to him anymore, and the timeless bond between them has been severed…or has it? Can love conquer all? Superman’s 85th anniversary celebration continues with this all new blockbuster 10-issue series from the creators of the Eisner-nominated Deathstroke series!
2. He’s electric! Boogie woogie woogie woo!
Spinning out of both “Lazarus Planet” and a recent teaser in “Action Comics,” as well as his just ended ongoing series, this miniseries sees Jon Kent have some new powers to play with, as well as a multiversal affair that brings back both Val Zod from the back half of the New 52 “Earth 2” series, but also elements of Brian Bendis’s Kent stories with Ultraman. While it is a bit of a bummer that there won’t be a Jon Kent ongoing for a little while, I like Tom Taylor, who has emerged as the Jon Kent writer of record, getting to play with so many of the disparate Superman pieces and help shape Jon’s story into the next phase which, hopefully, means a new ongoing or team book with him at the helm.
Continued belowADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN: JON KENT #1
Written by TOM TAYLOR
Art and cover by CLAYTON HENRY
Variant covers by ZU ORZU, RAFAEL SARMENTO, YASMIN FLORES MONTANEZ, A.L. KAPLAN, CLAYTON HENRY, and
MEGAN HUANG
1:25 variant cover by JORDI TARRAGONA
1:50 foil variant cover by CLAYTON HENRY
1:100 design variant spot gloss cover by DAN MORA
Shazam! Fury of the Gods movie variant cover by LEE WEEKS
$3.99 US | 32 pages | 1 of 6 | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 3/7/23
ANOTHER SUPERMAN HAS FALLEN.
Across the Multiverse, Kal-Els are being murdered. Val-Zod, the Superman of Earth-2, believes only one man can help stop the killing—Kal-El’s son, Jon Kent! Jon will have to step across dimensions and face the killer of the Kal-Els, the monstrous Ultraman, the man who kidnapped and tortured him for years. And Val-Zod is not acting alone in trying to save the Supermen. Who is the mysterious woman alongside him? And what is her shocking connection to the Super-Family?
1. A new adjective describes an old team!
Again, I don’t love that this new series is only a miniseries, but this seems like a book, like “Poison Ivy,” that could easily be extended if the first run goes well. Positioning the Doom Patrol as the catchers in the “Lazarus Plant” rye, saving new metahumans and helping them find their place in the world is a fun concept to start from, and Chris Burnham on interior art is always an exciting proposition. With the television series in its fourth season, it is worth a try to get folks to pick up a new Doom Patrol book again. They are one of DC’s most unique and unusual teams, and should be more in the spotlight than they’ve been for the past decade.
UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL #1
Written by DENNIS CULVER
Art and cover by CHRIS BURNHAM
Variant cover by NATHAN SZERDY
1:25 variant cover by DENNIS CULVER
1:50 foil variant cover by NATHAN SZERDY
Scratch-off variant covers by CHRIS BURNHAM
$3.99 US | 32 pages | 1 of 6 | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 3/28/23THE WORLD’S STRANGEST HEROES ARE BACK IN THE DC UNIVERSE!
After the events of Lazarus Planet, more people than ever have active metagenes! Most of these new metahumans have become misfits, shunned and imprisoned by a fearful society. They are hidden away in the dark, lost to a system that only sees them as weapons or guinea pigs—ticking time bombs that can only be defused by the Unstoppable Doom Patrol! Robotman, Elasti-Woman, and Negative Man are joined by their brand-new teammates Beast Girl and Degenerate and led by Crazy Jane’s mysterious new alter, the Chief, on a mission of saving the world by saving the monsters!
For the full solicits, check out Newsarama.
