I’ve been writing this column for years now, and I can barely remember a month with less obvious choices to write about than May 2024. Part of that is the Free Comic Book Day issue was solicited last month, and another part of that is that DC’s big summer event, “Absolute Power” won’t start until June. So, this month is a bit of a weird column, but we’ll still have some fun. Let’s do it.
10. Get ready for the movie
Of all of the film and television projects coming from James Gunn and his revamped DC Studios, no specific comic has been cited more frequently than “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” as something that will be directly adapted. It’s not hard to see why; this is a self-contained story with a beginning, middle, and end, that can be as integrated into the rest of the film slate as they want, or kept totally separate.
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t much care for this series when I first read it. The Tom King of it all was a bit much more me, but I’ve been thinking that I should re-read it between now and the film’s release later this decade. Maybe this re-release will be the time for me to do that.
SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW THE DELUXE EDITION
Written by TOM KING
Art and cover by BILQUIS EVELY
$49.99 US | 264 Pages | 7 1/16″ x 10 7/8″ | Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-77952-607-6
ON SALE 7/23/24Her planet was destroyed. Sent to Earth to protect a baby cousin who never needed saving. Forever living in his shadow. The “Supergirl” to his Superman. But when Kara is sought out by an alien seeking revenge on those who destroyed her world, everything changes. She will need to embark on a mission across space to find herself, defy her pasts, and face her future.
From Tom King and Bilquis Evely comes a character-defining cosmic masterpiece for the ages. Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow The Deluxe Edition collects the complete saga (issues #1-8) and features a brand-new introduction by Tom King, a brand-new cover by Bilquis Evely, the never-before-published alternate script for issue #6, and a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes artwork from Evely.
9. The Omnibi Continue
“The Batman Adventures” was the first comic to be based off of Batman: The Animated Series. “The Batman and Robin Adventures” continued that trend, and those books are finally being collected in an omnibus. Now, these stories feel a little slight compared to both the animated series that inspired it and also the contemporary Bat-comics it was coming out alongside. But beyond that, these are simply fun, and if you like this type of story, this is worthy of your time.
THE BATMAN AND ROBIN ADVENTURES OMNIBUS
Written by TY TEMPLETON, PAUL DINI, HILARY J. BADER,
and KELLEY PUCKETT
Art by TY TEMPLETON, RICK BURCHETT, and others
Cover by ERIC RADOMSKI
$75.00 US | 904 pages | 7 1/16″ x 10 7/8″ | Hardcover | ISBN: 978-1-77952-737-0
ON SALE 7/9/24The Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder return for another rousing round of adventures in this companion volume to The Batman Adventures Omnibus. Collects The Batman & Robin Adventures #1-25, The Batman & Robin Adventures Annual #1-2, The Batman Adventures: The Lost Years #1-5, and The Batman & Robin Adventures: Sub-Zero #1, and more!
8. Let’s play soothsayer
A lot of times, when DC does things like new editions, facsimiles, etc, it is because there’s something coming up that DC wants to capitalize on. This month, there are two old-school war comics being reprinted in facsimile editions, and I’m not really sure why. One of the good ideas that were poorly executed during the New 52 was the attempt to bring back a couple of war comics to the DC stable. It didn’t work for a number of reasons, but I applaud the effort.
So, why is DC reprinting some war books this month? My guess is that the June solicits announce some sort of new Sgt. Rock title. My real guess? Tom King is writing it. But let’s not get too far in the weeds here. I’m legitimately curious what it would take for a war book to succeed in 2024. Does DC have the stones to give it a go? We’ll find out.
Continued belowMILITARY COMICS #1 FACSIMILE EDITION
Written by WILL EISNER
Art and cover by CHUCK CUIDERA
$6.99 US | 64 pages
ON SALE 5/21/24“Hawk-a-a-a!” The legendary Blackhawk and his squadron take to the air against the Nazis for the very first time in this full-facsimile reprint of the action-packed first issue of Military Comics from 1941.
7. Put your hands on the wheel
In the mid 90s, DC decided it was time to focus on the Golden Age characters in more than a cursory way for the first time in a long time. “JSA: The Golden Age” was one of the first DC titles from James Robinson to feel special, and the first time that the JSA had been used in more than half a decade in a way that didn’t feel like it was background chatter around the DCU.
This was probably on the books for awhile, as Geoff Johns’s “Justice Society of America” was supposed to have been long wrapped up by May 2024. But with issue #9 coming out 16 months after #1, who knows when that series will actually slow down. Was this supposed to be the first of a series of JSA reprints to announce whatever is next after Johns’s maxiseries? Or did someone just decide this needed a new edition?
JSA: THE GOLDEN AGE (2024 EDITION)
Written by JAMES ROBINSON
Art by PAUL SMITH
Cover by PAUL SMITH
$24.99 US | 200 Pages | 6 5/8″ x 10 3/16″ | Softcover | ISBN: 978-1-77952-601-4
ON SALE 7/2/24Presenting the critically acclaimed and thought-provoking alternate history tale of the JSA. The heroes of WWII find themselves face to face with a new kind of oppression in McCarthy-Era America! What is a hero to do in a world that doesn’t want them? Collects JSA: The Golden Age #1-4.
6. An open mind
There’s something that we all do as comics fans, which is judge books based on the creators and what they’ve done in he past. I was a huge fan of the prior run of the book under Jeremy Adams, and with Adams professing that he had more stories to tell, I was coming into this book with preconceived notions. I have never loved the work that Mike Deodato Jr did; his work has always been a little stiff and posed for my tastes and, especially for a Flash book, Deodato seemed like a poor fit. But, I must say, what he and Si Spurrier are doing here is really interesting. This first volume is absolutely worth your time.
THE FLASH VOL. 1: STRANGE ATTRACTOR
Written by SIMON SPURRIER and others
Art and cover by MIKE DEODATO JR. and others
Direct Market variant cover by DAN MORA
$19.99 US | 200 pages | 6 5/8″ x 10 3/16″ | Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-77952-546-8
ISBN (Direct Market Exclusive): 978-1-77952-891-9
ON SALE 7/9/24Wally West has never been quicker, more fulfilled, more heroic. And yet…something is off.
Very off. His evolving understanding of his powers has opened Wally to new avenues of sci-fi adventure and attuned his senses to strange new ideas.
When something whispers from the dark vibrations beyond the Speed Force, Wally must experiment with creative new approaches to his powers when he encounters new realms, mysterious allies, and mind-shattering terrors! Plus, in Titans: Beast World Tour: Central City, both Central and Keystone City have been blasted with monstrous spores, and it’s all hands on deck for the Flash Family!
The Flash: Strange Attractor is the start of a new era from the team of writer Simon Spurrier (Coda, Damn Them All) and artist Mike Deodato Jr. (Avengers, Not All Robots), also featuring contributions from writers and artists across the Flash Family, including Alex Paknadel, A.L. Kaplan, Jarrett Williams, and Serg Acu.a! Collects The Flash #1-6, Titans: Beast World Tour: Central City #1, and a story from The Flash #800.
5. A year long review
DC is reprinting “Crisis on Infinite Earths” one month at a time as a celebration of the book’s fortieth anniversary (although it is starting in its 39th year for…reasons? Anyway, I think it’s going to be really interesting to read the book in the monthly format it was intended.
Continued belowCRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1 FACSIMILE EDITION
Written by MARV WOLFMAN
Plot by MARV WOLFMAN, LEN WEIN, and ROBERT GREENBERGER
Art by GEORGE PÉREZ and DICK GIORDANO
Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ
Foil variant cover by GEORGE PÉREZ
Blank variant cover
$3.99 US | 32 pages
ON SALE 4/16/24Heroes will live! Heroes will die! And the DC Universe will never again be the same! The premiere issue of the landmark series that forever transformed the DC Universe and the superhero landscape is faithfully reprinted in a vibrant full-facsimile edition.
4. Just say no to these types of stories
I’ve been enjoying “Green Arrow” quite a bit; I never really knew Sean Izaakse’s art beforehand, and it is a perfect fit for the story that Joshua Williamson is telling. However, I am really, really tired of these types of DC series. Let me know if this sounds familiar: a story that takes 6-12 issues to get a team together/reunite a family/build something new, and then the story ends before you get to enjoy the thing that’s been being built for the entire run of the title. That’s the situation with “Green Arrow;” we’ve been promised the Arrow family reunion, but we’ve only gotten glimpse. If this was an ongoing, I could better understand the need for this type of story, but even then, we spend way too much time across all media telling reunion stories instead of telling new stories, post-reunion. But the maxiseries exists just to get us to this moment, where maybe they’ll reunite. But we won’t get to spend any time with the reunited crew, and then we’re left in almost the same place we started from: no Arrow book.
It seems like Ollie might be a player in some big DCU stuff coming up, but I can’t imagine that Connor or Roy has huge plans upcoming. What about Red Arrow and Red Canary? These characters are interesting and good, and we’ve spent a year dancing around them doing cool shit together instead of seeing them do cool shit together. Le sigh.
GREEN ARROW #12
Written by JOSHUA WILLIAMSON
Art and cover by SEAN IZAAKSE
Variant cover by GLEB MELNIKOV
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 5/28/24This is it! For the last year, Oliver Queen has been on a mission to reunite his family and friends. Can the Emerald Archer overcome Merlyn’s final master move and get the family reunion we’ve all been dying to see?
3. A book we don’t talk about enough
I love that DC has been keeping an anthology going for a couple of years now, first with “Batman: Urban Legends” and now with “Batman: The Brave and the Bold.” It’s especially nice that, despite having Batman in the title, this really is a more all-purpose DC anthology. I wanted to highlight it this month because of a few fun curios from issue #13.
– Kelley Jones doing a Nightwing and Deadman story written by Tim Seeley is a perfect pairing of creators and characters.
– I can’t believe this Jurassic League stuff is continuing outside of the “APE-ril” special
– Batman and Guy Gardner teaming up?
Fun stuff like this needs a consistent place in the DC landscape. I’m truly glad this book exists.
Continued belowBATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #13
Written by TIM SEELEY, MARK RUSSELL, DELILAH S. DAWSON,
JOSHUA HALE FIALKOV, JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER, RODNEY BARNES
Art by KELLEY JONES, JON MIKEL, SERG ACUÑA,
LISANDRO ESTHERREN, JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER
Cover by SIMONE DI MEO
Variant cover by FRANCESCO MATTINA
Variant cover by JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER
$7.99 US | 64 pages | Prestige | (all covers are card stock)
ON SALE 5/28/24Brave and the Bold enters its second year with five tremendous tales! Nightwing and Deadman face the ghosts of the circus, as presented in spectacularly horrific detail by Kelley Jones! Booster Gold (allegedly) causes a disaster that must be fixed by…the JURASSIC LEAGUE?! Artemis’s quest comes to its stunning conclusion! Batman and Guy Gardner face high strangeness when a UFO crashes in Gotham! And finally, Jason Shawn Alexander brings his legendary talents to Batman Black and White!
2. A slow (green) burn
“Green Lantern” had the misfortune of debuting at a time when it was almost entirely derailed by ‘Knight Terrors’ and took a little while to find its footing. However, the last few issues and, spoiler alert, next issue in particular, have really ramped up the storytelling and is letting Jeremy Adams cook. Xermanico’s art continues to impress, and the book is starting to feel like something unique, breaking new ground instead of just rehashing the last two decades’ worth of Lantern lore.
Specifically, trying to get Carol and Hal’s relationship either into a place where they can be together or truly separate is a tough order, but Adams seems up to the task. While this series has been somewhat hindered by the Earth-focus of the action, the Carol stuff has felt as fresh and vibrant as the best Hal stories of recent vintage. I hope Adams can make some headway here and give these kids something new to do instead of the constant on and off thing.
GREEN LANTERN #11
Written by JEREMY ADAMS
Art by XERMANICO and KEVIN MAGUIRE
Cover by XERMANICO
Variant covers by EVAN “DOC” SHANER and DAVE JOHNSON
1:25 variant cover by IAN CHURCHILL
$4.99 US | 40 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 5/14/24How do you move on from the person you’ve loved your entire life? How do you start over? Carol wrestles with her feelings as she makes a choice that will change her and Hal’s lives forever. Meanwhile, Hal faces off against the United Planets, hoping to bring to light its corrupt members and reestablish the Green Lantern Corps once and for all! Plus, Guy Gardner has caught his man…or has he? Things go from bad to worse to exponentially strange as Guy attempts to get his prisoner and himself back to Oa in one piece!
1. A real swing
DC doesn’t often take big swings anymore. This is true of comics in general it seems, but things have seemed safer for a few years now. But here, DC is giving a Robin series to Juni Ba, and I couldn’t be more hyped for it. Ba is an artist with a totally unique style that doesn’t fit into the DC ‘house’ system at all. And while, yes, I wish this were in continuity so Ba could play with more characters, and yes, I wish this wasn’t a Damian Wayne story because we’ve seen a ton of those in the last decade, I’m just so glad that DC is giving Ba the keys to a major character to take for a spin. This is a MUST buy, my friends.
THE BOY WONDER #1
Written by JUNI BA
Art and cover by JUNI BA
Variant cover by CLIFF CHIANG
1:25 variant cover by JUNI BA
$5.99 US | 32 pages | 1 of 5
ON SALE 5/7/24The young prince Damian Wayne was raised to be the heir to the fearsome League of Assassins—to follow in the footsteps of his deadly mother, Talia, and the Demon’s Head himself, his grandfather Ra’s al Ghul. But everything changed when his father, the Batman, reclaimed him and brought him back to Gotham City. As Robin, young Damian suddenly discovered he was merely one of a number of princes, preceded in the role by his “brothers” Nightwing, Red Hood, and Red Robin…and Damian doesn’t care to be merely anything. But when his father is forced to leave the city on urgent business, and a rash of abductions is accompanied by whispers of a demon stalking Gotham’s dark alleys, Damian will find himself battling alongside his adoptive brothers—and in the process, learning what the mantle of Robin really means!
Visionary writer/artist Juni Ba makes his mark on the timeless story of Batman and Robin, synthesizing the characters’ complex history into an accessible and heartrending fairy tale!
You can find the full solicits by using your search engine of choice.
