After taking some time off for the holidays, we are back with a look at the books from March and April from DC. I must say, it is nice having two months of titles to draw from, so let’s get right to these ten upcoming releases.
10. Let the mystery envelope you
There is very little we know about DC’s Free Comic Book Day offering, other than the ‘major event’ it is teasing. While it seems like DC has major events all the time, this seems like a level of hype for an event that DC hasn’t done in a little while. There have been rumors of a Mark Waid-written event, a Scott Snyder-led ‘Ultimate DC’ universe, and more, so I’m very curious to see which is the one that DC is going with for their FCBD title.
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY
DC MAJOR EVENT 2024 FCBD SPECIAL EDITION
32 pages
ON SALE: 5/4/24The prelude to the biggest DC Comics event of 2024 is here! It’s a story 30 years in the making… and in this special Free Comic Book Day tale, the final domino to fall in an epic scheme comes tumbling down, and the DC Universe will never be the same. More details coming soon!
9. 300 issues
“Nightwing” is the latest DC title to get the legacy numbered special issue, but there’s something different about how “Nightwing” got there. For most of the titles that DC celebrates in this way, the series started during the Silver Age, or even the Golden Age, and so the milestones feel like they have always existed.
But for “Nightwing,” which has had three ongoing volumes since 1996, has only not had an ongoing for 2 years and only because the character’s name was changed to, you know, Batman, for that time, this milestone is an admission of the character’s ascent into the highest echelon of DC’s characters. There’s no other character since the 90s to come even close to this many issues, nor who has been published this consistently. This isn’t even counting when Dick Grayson’s book was called simply “Grayson” and not his character’s name.
All of this is to say that I feel impossibly old that an ongoing series 14 years younger than I am has reached this milestone.
NIGHTWING #113/LEGACY #300
Written by TOM TAYLOR
Art by VARIOUS
Backup written by MICHAEL W. CONRAD
Backup art by HOWARD PORTER
Cover by BRUNO REDONDO
Variant cover by DAN MORA
Variant cover by JAMAL CAMPBELL
Variant cover by SERG ACUÑA
1:25 variant cover by BRUNO REDONDO
Artist Spotlight variant cover by JIM LEE
$4.99 US | 40 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 4/16/24Since the 1940’s, you’ve seen him go from acrobat to orphan; from Dick Grayson to Robin; from Robin to Nightwing. You’ve seen him work alongside the universe’s most powerful heroes, against existence’s most sinister villains. You have seen Dick Grayson do so many things, but now, in his 300th issue, you will see him…well, you’ll just have to pick up the issue and find out. Join us for this legacy 300 milestone!
8. Let’s try to figure this out
So, back in 2020, DC published a graphic novel called “Primer.” In 2024, “Primer” is a four issue miniseries by the same creative team with the same cover and the same solicit text. Is this just a reprint scenario? I presume so, but it is a move that DC has rarely made before. The OGN is not on DC Universe, but it seems like a weird move to reprint the series in singles only to recollect it again, or to keep the full volume in print during its singles run. I always wanted to check out the book, but I didn’t think that this is how I would.
Continued belowPRIMER #1
Written by JENNIFER MURO and THOMAS KRAJEWSKI
Art and cover by GRETEL LUSKY
$3.99 US | 40 pages
ON SALE 3/26/24With a father in prison, Ashley Rayburn has bounced from foster home to foster home and represents a real challenge to the social workers who try to help her—not because she’s inherently bad, but because trouble always seems to find her. But her luck might just be changing when a new couple offers to take her in.
7. Viva Italia
We reported on this crossover back in 2019, when the plan seemed to be an Italian-language series of crossovers between DC and RW Edizioni characters. Now, it looks like the first of that series, featuring the detectives of both universes, is seeing an English-language printing.
For those unaware, Dylan Dog is basically a paranormal/supernatural detective, so the pairing makes a ton of sense. I’ve always wanted to read more of the Dylan Dog stuff than the Dark Horse reissues I had paged through at NYCC 2010 or 2011, so I’m going to take this opportunity to do so before the crossover with the Bat begins next month.
BATMAN/DYLAN DOG #1
Written by ROBERTO RECCHIONI
Art by GIGI CAVENAGO and WERTHER DELL’EDERA
Cover by GIGI CAVENAGO
Variant cover by GIGI CAVENAGO
1:25 variant cover by GIGI CAVENAGO
$4.99 US | 88 pages | 1 of 3 | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 3/12/24See how the fates of Batman and Dylan Dog intertwined in the past through their lethal nemeses: The Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime of Gotham City, and Professor Xabaras, a mad genius with a taste for bringing the dead back to life!
Joker is in London to seal a hellish pact with Dylan Dog’s nemesis, the Mephistophelian Xabaras! The doorbell of Craven Road No. 7 screams, and beyond the doorway Bruce Wayne appears. For the Nightmare Investigator, an incredible adventure begins side by side with the Dark Knight. They’ll have to forge an uneasy alliance, putting aside their differences in order to successfully confront and defeat an evil that comes from the past…
6. Going ape
Let’s acknowledge something out in the open: ape comics are equal parts dumb and fun. DC likes to do these every few years, and that’s fine. But here’s what’s weird: neither John Layman or Joshua Hale Fialkov have written for DC in years, and their first work back is this “Ape-Ril” special, featuring the Jungle League?
I have to say, I’m intrigued, but mostly because of just how weird this whole thing is. Truly, truly bizarre.
APE-RIL SPECIAL
Written by JOHN LAYMAN, JOSHUA HALE FIALKOV,
and GENE YANG
Art by KARL MOSTERT, PHIL HESTER, and BERNARD CHANG
Cover by DAN MORA
Variant cover by BERNARD CHANG
Banana Scent Variant cover by HAYDEN SHERMAN ($7.99 US)
$5.99 US | 48 pages | Variant $6.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 3/19/24CAUTION: An ape-surd amount of bad ape puns are incoming.
Please be ape-vised.Gorilla Grodd’s recent incarcer-ape-tion in the pages of The Flash has left a void that Monsieur Mallah is more than happy to fill. Ape-sembling a group of the DCU’s most sinister simians, Mallah forms the Legion of D(oo-oo-ah-ah)m, with an eye toward world domin-ape-tion. But the world won’t be conquered that easily! Enter the all-ape JUNGLE L(ee-ee)gue. Can this team of hero-eek anthropoids be the salv-ape-tion we need, or will Mallah’s team of maniacal monkeys bring forth the ape-pocalypse?
Get ready to go bananas as we honor DC’s storied history with mankind’s closest relatives in this ape-ic adventure! It’s gonna be orangu-tastic, so heat up a capuchin-o, prepare a batch of chocolate chimp cookies, and get ready to r(ee-ee)d the one comic b(oo-oo)k this year that’s guaranteed to make you go…APE!
5. The Big One
DC’s all-ages offerings are finally starting to move past the iconic characters that every grandma and uncle buying Christmas gifts will recognize, and having a book simply titled “Barda” is probably the boldest title yet in that category. Landing a creator like Ngozi Ukazu is always going to be a big deal, and so this seems like, perhaps, the “Check, Please!” author expressed a desire to work with this character. Or maybe DC just thought this would be a good pitch, and so Ukazu signed on. Regardless, it’s an exciting partnership with a great character, breaking new ground in kids comics. What’s not to get excited about?
Continued belowBARDA
Written and drawn by NGOZI UKAZU
$16.99 US | 208 pages | 6″ x 9″ | Softcover | ISBN: 978-1-77951-113-3
ON SALE 6/4/24Join New York Times bestselling writer-artist Ngozi Ukazu (Check, Please!) as she takes readers on an unforgettable journey of self-discovery, deep friendships, and first loves!
Darkseid is…and life on Apokolips is tough—but then, it is hell, after all. And no one knows this better than Barda, Granny Goodness’s right-hand warrior.
But Barda has a secret…she is in love. Or she is drawn to the idea of it, anyway, whether it be the beauty of a flower; her affection for her closest friend, Aurelie; or the mysterious and fierce enemy warrior Orion, who is the only match for Barda’s strength.
When Granny decides Barda is becoming too soft, she assigns Barda a task that might be more than she can handle—to break the seemingly unbreakable Scott Free. And as Barda questions why Scott has such hope and what he might have done to provoke such hatred from Granny, she finds herself drawn to him in a way she never expected.
The only thing is, we do not speak of love on Apokolips…
4. Life is but a dream
After languishing in the world of backups and anthology stories for most of their comic life, it is nice to see Dreamer get a turn on a team and an opportunity for greater integration into the DC Universe. Similarly, it’s nice to see Nicole Maines continue to stretch her writing career into longer stories featuring more characters. The only downside of this is the continued Suicide Squad fatigue that has affected this writer severely and, presumably, has affected you too, dear reader. But maybe a new team from a new creative team will make this less clichéd and more surprising. Dreamer is a fun, interesting character, so at least it is starting from someplace a little more unexpected.
SUICIDE SQUAD: DREAM TEAM #1
Written by NICOLE MAINES
Art and cover by EDDY BARROWS and EBER FERREIRA
Variant covers by RICCARDO FEDERICI and SWEENEY BOO
1:25 variant cover by GLEB MELNIKOV
Foil variant cover by EDDY BARROWS and EBER FERREIRA ($6.99 US)
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 3/12/24When Amanda Waller makes her move to seize ultimate power in the DCU, nothing will stand in her way—not even the future. Spinning out of the events of Titans: Beast World comes the story of Dreamer—the precog dream-walker who has run afoul of the most power-hungry villain in DCU history. With a super-powered hero who can see the future on her side, is Waller’s Suicide Squad finally unstoppable? Join Harley Quinn, Bizarro, Clock King, Black Alice, and Deadeye for the fight for DC’s future…and the next big step toward the cataclysmic event of 2024!
3. Put your hands on the wheel, let the dark age begin
“Superman: Space Age” was one of the best miniseries in recent memory, and the crew behind it is back for another go round, this time with Batman at the center. Like “Space Age,” this will have more ‘real history’ components, which is usually a sign for me to check out of a comic, but Mark Russell and Mike Allred did such a fine job with “Space Age,” as well as being two incredibly adept creators, so I’m willing to let them go back to the well with this technique and still check it out.
Let’s play a quick game: what will the Wonder Woman one be subtitled? Superman is from space, Batman is the Dark Knight…I’m going to guess it’ll be set in the time of women’s liberation and be called “Equality Age” or something of the like. You heard it here first.
BATMAN: DARK AGE #1
Written by MARK RUSSELL
Art and cover by MIKE ALLRED
Variant covers by YANICK PAQUETTE and FRANK QUITELY
1:25 variant cover by MIKE ALLRED
$5.99 US | 48 pages | Variant $6.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 3/26/24Meet Bruce Wayne, Gotham’s favorite delinquent son. In an origin story like no other, witness the boy become a dark knight shaped by a city in turmoil as it marches towards its prophesied doom.
Set against the backdrop of actual historical events, Gotham comes alive, filled with the iconic characters who’ve loved and hated Batman over the years like you’ve never seen them before. Spinning out of the Eisner-nominated Superman: Space Age, Mark Russell and Mike Allred return to give audiences a look at Batman as a figure in American history fighting for justice in a world gone mad.
2. Who’s house?
The ‘Year of Brainiac’ has been teased since, I believe, “Superman” #1 over a year ago, and seems to be the lynchpin of what Joshua Williamson is trying to do on “Superman” and, now, “Action Comics” as part of the ‘Superman Superstars’ initiative. While I don’t love the ‘Superstars’ format already including additional titles crossing over (wasn’t the whole idea for “Action” to be the place for these stories?), a good Brainiac story is something I won’t besmirch, and a larger concept for the Superman titles is (seemingly) finally in the works for DC after a few decades of trying to limit, not expand, the Superman corner of the DCU. This feels like the most complete era of Superman books since ‘New Krypton,’ which seemed to be the fullest line since the triangle numbering era of a decade before. Let’s hope the trend continues.
Continued belowACTION COMICS #1064
Written by JOSHUA WILLIAMSON
Art and cover by RAFA SANDOVAL
Variant covers by JORGE JIMÉNEZ, PAOLO RIVERA, and MICHAEL WALSH
1:25 variant cover by ARIEL COLÓN
$4.99 US | 40 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 4/9/24HOUSE OF BRAINIAC PART ONE!
BRAINIAC ATTACKS! Brainiac’s Lobo army invades Metropolis in an action-packed oversized issue! The Super family and all the heroes of Metropolis join the fight, but will they be enough to hold off Brainiac’s lethal and crazed soldiers?! Can Superman and Lex learn what Brainiac is searching for? He’s not bottling Metropolis, so what is he collecting instead?!
1. New Champion / New Creator
After a fun but relatively unambitious nine issues by Mark Waid and Dan Mora, the writer of “The New Champion of Shazam,” Josie Campbell, is taking over this book with the great Emmanuela Lupacchino on board. My guess from Campbell’s past work (and current work writing “Amazons Attack”) is that we’ll see Mary and the rest of the Shazam family become a larger part of the story and, perhaps, see some of their powers reinstated. But if nothing else, I’m excited to see what these two creators do for this book. I’ve recently said on the DC3cast that I don’t think Waid can really write a bad comic, and his “Shazam” run had some really fun moments. But this character hasn’t had an ongoing that felt like a vital piece of the DC Universe, and not just a side-quest for a siloed character, in many, many years. It’s time to bring that back, and hopefully Campbell and Lupacchino are up to that challenge.
SHAZAM! #10
Written by JOSIE CAMPBELL
Art by EMANUELA LUPACCHINO
Cover by DAN MORA
Variant covers by BERNARD CHANG and RICARDO LÓPEZ ORTIZ
Foil variant cover by MIGUEL MERCADO ($5.99)
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 4/2/24Moving Day! After destroying the family home during an epic battle with Black Adam, Billy has hired the gods who grant him his powers to rebuild it. What surprises await the Shazam Family as they enter their new abode? Find out as a new run brought to you by fan-favorites Josie Campbell (The New Champion of Shazam!) and Emanuela Lupacchino (World’s Finest: Teen Titans) begins!
For the full solicits, use Google.
