November continues the trend we’ve seen in both September and October of DC rolling out new series, killing off some underperforming ones, and continuing to double down on their all-ages efforts. Let’s get to it.
10. A great pun to kick us off
Kids have, and should always be, the heart of comics, and so it is always a good thing when a publisher makes a book that is aimed squarely at a child’s sensibilities. The Joker’s dog wanting to be a good boy is a perfect starting point for this comic. These books tend to be more clever than they have any real need to be, but the adults who wind up reading them with our kids are thankful for that.
BARKHAM ASYLUM
Written by YEHUDI MERCADO
Art and cover by YEHUDI MERCADO
$9.99 US | 160 pages | 5 1/2″ x 8″ | Softcover | ISBN: 978-1-77950-500-2
ON SALE 2/6/24Who’s a good boy? Jester is. Well, he wants to be. Maybe he is? He’s The Joker’s dog, so of course he’s funny, but his sense of humor is about to be put to the test. Because when the super-villains of Gotham get thrown into Arkham, their henchpets go to the maximum-security pound known as Barkham Asylum.
Being the Clown Prince of Crime’s dog doesn’t win Jester any friends behind bars, especially after he gets a tough-talking stray cat named Penny tossed into lockup with him. But they’ll have to work together to figure out what the evil Warden Shar Pei’s helper, Dr. Hugo Mange, is up to. And the only way to stop this terrifying team-up is to win the talent show and get visitation with their masters at Arkham on the hill. Because The Joker is sure to help!
What could go wrong with that plan? And where does Gotham’s premier playboy Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred fit in?
9. An early look into the holiday spirit
These anthologies are usually a pretty good time, and it’s interesting to see who DC taps to be a part of them. Michael W. Conrad gets his (I think?) first solo credit at DC, while old friend Sholly Fisch returns to the fold as well. Also, if we have to suffer through Bat-Mite, this is a perfect place to do so.
DC’S ’TWAS THE ’MITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS #1
Written by NATALIE ABRAMS, MICHAEL W. CONRAD, JOSH TRUJILLO, ETHAN SACKS, ZIPPORAH SMITH, ROB LEVIN, SHOLLY FISCH, and JILLIAN GRANT
Art by MARCUS SMITH, GAVIN GUIDRY, ANDREW DRILON, SOO LEE, JUAN BOBILLO, and others
Cover by BEN CALDWELL
Variant cover by MITCH GERADS
1:25 variant cover by SAOWEE
$9.99 US | 80 pages | Prestige | One-shot | (all covers are card stock)
ON SALE 12/12/23’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a…Bat-Mite?!
Join all your DC favorites as they take on eight classic holiday stories! From Constantine and Lex Luthor’s Dickensian tale to Batwoman’s puzzling Hanukkah hijinks to your classic cocoa-swilling Christmas romance switch with Harley and Amethyst, this book is a perfect companion for cookies by the fire and extra sour cream on your latkes. So pull up a sled and get ready for plenty of ho-ho-holiday hope to get you in the spirit of the season!
8. More holiday hijinks
Does the world really need a Batman/Santa Claus team up? No, no it does not. However, Jeff Parker writing a story where Batman trained with Santa Claus, and now his mentor is seeking his help sounds absolutely wonderful. This is why comics are the best, you guys.
Continued belowBATMAN – SANTA CLAUS: SILENT KNIGHT #1
Written by JEFF PARKER
Art by MICHELE BANDINI
Cover by DAN MORA
Variant cover by DERRICK CHEW
Variant cover by OTTO SCHMIDT
1:25 variant cover by TONY SHASTEEN
1:50 variant cover by DAN MORA
Rub and Smell variant cover by BEN OLIVER ($5.99 US)
$3.99 US | 32 pages | 1 of 4 | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 12/5/23SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN!
The four-part crossover event of a generation begins when a not-so-jolly St. Nick hits Gotham City to investigate a brutal crime in the days leading up to Christmas…What manner of man or beast could have committed such atrocities?! With the help of his former student, Batman, Santa will team up with the heroes of the DC Universe to right this wrong—or the world wakes up to coal in their stockings! A brutal, two-fisted holiday tale of hope, wonder, and monster hunting is the perfect treat to ring in the holidays—it’s Claus in canon.
7. A not-so-fond farewell
As a writer/podcaster, I try to be fair when talking about a book that doesn’t work for me. A writer I really enjoy cornered a fellow Multiversity staffer a few years ago and lamented how my podcast, the DC3cast, kept shitting on his book each month. “Why don’t they just stop reading it?” was his response, and since then, I’ve really tried to not dog on books more than I need to in order to get a point across.
I say that to say this: “WildC.A.T.S.” has enticed me with solicits like this one – Seven Soldiers? Court of Owls? – but has left me entirely cold whenever I’ve paged through an issue, after absolutely hating the first issue. This appears to be the final issue, based on both the solicitation and the cover, and that’s probably a good thing. The Wildstorm integration into the DC Universe is spotty at best, and with other books trying it (more on that in a moment), letting this one take a breather makes a lot of sense.
WILDC.A.T.S #12
Written by MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Art by STEPHEN SEGOVIA and TOM DERENICK
Cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA
Variant cover by JAY ANACLETO
1:25 variant cover by CHUMA HILL
$3.99 US | 40 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 11/14/23In a final, climactic battle for control of HALO and all its secrets, it’s the WildC.A.T.s versus the Seven Soldiers versus the Court of Owls! Winner take all!
6. [John Williams’s Superman score plays]
If you had to give me two Superman approaches to mix together, I’m not sure I would’ve picked Richard Donner’s Christopher Reeve era and “Superman: Red Son,” but that appears to be what Robert Venditti and Gavin Guidry are doing here and, I must say, I’m intrigued. While, yes, this is not exactly the same story as “Red Son,” the Reeve Superman films left politics almost entirely out of them. And yet, they were released in the heat of the Cold War, and so it makes some sense. Regardless, I’m glad to see DC keeping this style of Superman styles alive, though I am still waiting for my black and white “Superman ’52” book.
SUPERMAN ’78: THE METAL CURTAIN #1
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art and cover by GAVIN GUIDRY
Variant cover by WILFREDO TORRES
1:25 variant cover by DOUG BRAITHWAITE
1:50 variant cover by ADRIAN GUTIERREZ
Blank sketch variant
McFarlane Action Figure variant
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 11/7/23When the planet Krypton exploded, its last son was rocketed across the cosmos and came to settle in a small town in Kansas. But what else came with him, and what if a piece of his home landed somewhere we never knew about? As Superman has become a symbol of strength and pride for America, the Soviet Union looks to crush that image with a creation of their own, built by their own might and forged by their own power! Robert Venditti returns to the Man of Steel with new artist Gavin Guidry!
5. [Danny Elfman’s Batman score plays]
“Batman ’89” is a much more linear progression from Batman to here than the similar “Superman ’78” books are, and so the two titles feel totally different. Whereas “Superman ’78” feels like an attempt to recapture a feeling, “Batman ’89,” no doubt because of Sam Hamm’s writing, feels like an uninterrupted continuation of that film. After the first series, focusing on Two-Face, we are now getting a version of the Scarecrow in that world, and it is a character that, in a good way, I can’t easily place into Tim Burton’s Gotham City. I’m excited to see how Joe Quinones, one of the best working today, combines those visuals together.
Continued belowBATMAN ’89: ECHOES #1
Written by SAM HAMM
Art and cover by JOE QUINONES
Variant cover by RILEY ROSSMO
1:25 variant cover by DOUG BRAITHWAITE
1:50 variant cover by BALDEMAR RIVAS
Blank sketch variant
McFarlane Action Figure variant
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 11/28/23You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts! After Harvey Dent’s crusade against Gotham and Batman, the Caped Crusader has disappeared without a trace. In his place, ordinary citizens have taken to the streets to root out crime. As innocents get hurt, the question on everyone’s mind is the same: Where is Batman? Sam Hamm, screenwriter of the 1989 Batman movie, and Joe Quinones reunite for another tale in Gotham!
4. It’s a Beast World, we’re just living in it
Tom Taylor has been building to this crossover for some time now, and with “Titans,” “Nightwing,” and the recently wrapped “Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent” all pointing in this direction. Taylor has been the most consistently exciting writer at DC for over a year now, and so a crossover by him, illustrated by Ivan Reis, is a win, even if it is focusing on Beast Boy, objectively the most annoying Titan.
What I’m more excited about is what will come out of the other side of this, but that’s a problem with how I read comics. I’m always looking ahead, instead of enjoying what is happening right in front of me. Slow down, Brian, enjoy this book.
TITANS: BEAST WORLD #1
Written by TOM TAYLOR
Art and cover by IVAN REIS and DANNY MIKI
Variant covers by BJORN BARENDS, BRUNO REDONDO, and STANLEY “ARTGERM” LAU
Lenticular variant cover ($7.99 US)
$5.99 US | 48 pages | Variant $6.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 11/28/23Clawing its way out of the pages of Titans comes an unprecedented threat to the DC Universe. Superman, Wonder Woman, Starfire –all are powerless to stop the Necrostar from ending all life on Earth. The only hero who can save the world is…Beast Boy?!
With Nightwing, Raven, Cyborg, and the Titans beside him, can Garfield Logan rise to battle an ancient evil? What will Amanda Waller do to take advantage of the situation as millions of people are changed into rampaging creatures? Can humanity survive all-powerful heroes and villains transformed into ferocious beasts? Friends will fall. Heroes will rise. And nothing will ever be the same again. Earth is about to become…Beast World.
DC proudly presents the Titans’ first crossover as the world’s premier superhero team, with universe-shattering repercussions. Brought to you by the all-star creative team of writer Tom Taylor and artist Ivan Reis, this story promises to be an epic one that sets the stage for what’s to come for the DCU!
3. On the outside, looking in
Remember when I said that the Wildstorm integration into the DC Universe hasn’t worked out all that well? They’re trying again!
This book is clearly a riff on Stormwatch, which DC has tried a few times before, but it is also playing with the idea of Batman, Inc, as well as the multiverse, continuity, Crises, and more. I should be over the moon with this concept, but there are a few impediments. One is the aforementioned issues at blending Wildstorm and DC, but the bigger one is that the writing team of Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, who I refuse to call Hivemind, have never written anything at DC that I’ve really enjoyed. Their work is usually quite safe, and this book needs gonzo. This sounds like a Grant Morrison book, written by the team behind Alyssa Milano’s “Hacktivist.”
Whenever I write blurbs like this, I make sure to include this caveat: prove me wrong. I want to love this. I want this to be awesome, and live up to its hype. I don’t think that’ll happen, but I’m ready to eat crow on this. Prove me wrong.
Continued belowOUTSIDERS #1
Written by JACKSON LANZING and COLLIN KELLY
Art by ROBERT CAREY
Cover by ROGER CRUZ
Variant cover by JOHN CASSADAY
Variant cover by DAN MORA
1:25 variant cover by CHRISTIAN WARD
1:50 variant cover by ROGER CRUZ
$4.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 11/14/23“Never the End.”
A universe of secrets is about to come to light.
Batman protects Gotham City from evil. Batman Inc. protects the rest of the known world. But what of the unknown world? What of the ancient evils in hidden tombs and forgotten tragedies from a magic-and-mad-sciencefueled super-heroic century? Using his fortune, Luke Fox launches a new organization dedicated to shining light into the world’s darkest corners. His first recruit: Kate Kane, the Batwoman—who will re-embrace her military background to protect Luke’s dream and encounter every bit of strangeness the DCU has to offer. And just wait until you meet the Third Man…or learn what universe-shattering secret they’ve discovered buried under Antarctica. Outsiders is the return of comic book archaeology, digging into all the forgotten corners of DC’s history to preserve, record, and better understand the true nature of the DC Multiverse…and the forgotten stories that make up its fabric.
2. Feel the need
Pre-‘Flashpoint,’ there was supposed to be a Geoff Johns-written Flash family book called “Speed Force,” and I haven’t shut up about it since it didn’t actually happen. While this is clearly not that book – neither of the lead characters existed in 2010 – I am thrilled that we’re getting a secondary Flash book. I hope that this book isn’t just focused on Wallace and Avery for long, but I understand the desire to give the book a smaller focus, but there are so many speedsters we just don’t get to spend much time with. Hopefully, this allows for others to show up (specifically, it would be great to see Max Mercury adopt his teaching persona again), and that the very new to DC creative team can do something really special with these characters.
SPEED FORCE #1
Written by JARRETT WILLIAMS
Art and cover by DANIELE DI NICUOLO
Variant cover by LEIRIX
1:25 variant cover by MIKE DEODATO JR.
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 11/14/23Wallace West and Avery Ho: the young speedsters have been Teen Titans, Justice Leaguers, and above all, members of the Flash Family. As they become aware of mysterious changes happening to the Speed Force, they race to Keystone City, where they encounter old friends, new threats, and a chance to forge their own paths. Spinning out of the pages of The Flash, the team of Jarrett Williams (Super Pro K.O., Rick & Morty) and Daniele DiNicuolo (Nightwing, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), bring the next generation of Speedsters into the Dawn of DC!
1. Another architect makes his way to DC
First it was Bendis, then it was Fraction, and now Jason Aaron has found his way to DC. DC is not doing “Aaron is coming!” ads in their books or giving him two titles and his own imprint to start, but rather, Aaron is doing a space-based Batman series illustrated by Doug Mahnke. While many of us are already making their wishlists for Aaron – Green Lantern Corps, Superman, Aquaman – starting with Batman seems like a good testing of the DC waters.
It is always tricky to bring in a creator that is so closely associated with the competition, and their work will always be compared to their work elsewhere, but Aaron has been, perhaps, the most consistent of the Marvel Architects in terms of their superhero work over the past 13 years since that designation was given. I think Aaron at DC is a very fun idea, and this sounds like an appropriate first move.
BATMAN: OFF-WORLD #1
Written by JASON AARON
Art and cover by DOUG MAHNKE
Variant cover by LEIRIX
Variant cover by DAVID FINCH
1:25 variant cover by BEN OLIVER
1:50 variant cover by PETE WOODS
1:100 variant cover by DOUG MAHNKE
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 11/21/23A routine night in Gotham City for a young Batman proves to be anything but routine when the crime-fighter is confronted with a sort of foe he’s never faced before—one from beyond the stars! A universe of possible alien threats leads Batman to make a daring decision—to venture alone into the far reaches of the cosmos for the very first time, where the Dark Knight will face the fight of his life! Superstar writer Jason Aaron delivers his first Batman story ever, partnered with blockbuster artist Doug Mahnke for a unique, brutal tale!
For the full solicitations, check out Newsarama.
