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The DC Comics Spring 2018 catalog seems a little slow to fully unroll, but in the meantime Justice League Task Force is only the start of another spate of solicitations that's turned up from online vendors. There's plenty of Rebirth releases here, and I covered earlier what we can learn here about Action Comics #1,000, but also we see now a potential replacement for the cancelled Superman: Man of Tomorrow books, details on what the Batman: New Gotham collections will turn out to be, details on the new Green Lantern: Earth One, early post-Crisis Aquaman and Wonder Woman material, and more.
The new listings are below, and don't miss my first list of DC Comics's Early 2018 trades, including Hawkworld and Peter David's Aquaman.
Justice League Task Force. As I live and breathe ...
• All-Star Batman Vol. 2: Ends of the Earth
Paperback release of the hardcover, due out the same time as the hardcover of Scott Snyder's All-Star Batman Vol. 3. Collects issues #6-9, with art by Jock, Tula Lotay, and Giuseppe Camuncoli, plus the "Cursed Wheel" backups.
• All-Star Batman Vol. 3: First Ally
Collects issues #10-14, the final volume of Scott Snyder's All-Star. This is the "First Ally" Alfred spotlight story with art by Rafael Albuquerque.
• Aquaman: The Legend of Aquaman
Though I tend to think of Peter David's Time and Tide as the post-Crisis origin of Aquaman a la Longbow Hunters and Road Home, it's probably actually Robert Loren Fleming and Keith Giffen's Aquaman special and five-issue miniseries, with art by Curt Swan. I'll say this for the various Justice League movies, we sure are getting a lot of collections of long-lost material.
• Batgirl: Stephanie Brown Vol. 2
The second volume of the new "omnibus" collections of Bryan Q. Miller's Stephanie Brown Batgirl series collects stories from the Flood and Lesson trades, issue #13-24, including a Supergirl, Squire, and Klarion guest appearances and the superlative final issue. Newly included now is the Bruce Wayne: The Long Road Home: Batgirl special.
• Batgirl Vol. 3: Summer of Lies
The third Rebirth volume by Hope Larson collects issues #12-17 and includes an appearance by Catwoman.
• Batman '66 Meets Wonder Woman '77
The six issue miniseries by Marc Andreyko and Jeff Parker.
• Batman Arkham: Hugo Strange
Hugo Strange is a Batman villain used so rarely, and sometimes so inconsistently, that I'm always riveted when he's on the scene. Certainly Gotham has done the character a good turn lately, as did Rebirth. I'll be curious to see what's collected here; there's some Gotham Knights material to mine, I think.
• Batman: Detective Comics Vol. 5
The fifth volume of James Tynion's Detective Comics collects issues #963-968, the two-part "Longer Chains" Spoiler story, plus "A Lonely Place of Living" that takes place concurrent to Superman's "Oz Effect."
• Batman by Neal Adams Book One
I'm pretty sure most of what's collected here has been collected before, but I'm not sure if this is in some way spotlighting something different for Neal Adams or if it's a new edition of an already-published book. Collects Batman #219, Detective Comics #395, 397, 400, 402, 405, and 407, The Brave and the Bold #79-86, and World's Finest Comics #175-176.
• Batman: New Gotham Vol. 2
It would seem then that the Batman: New Gotham collections are just going to collect Greg Rucka's Detective Comics (not that there's anything wrong with that), as this includes issues #755-765. That jumps over issue #754, not included in the last volume -- the individual part of Officer Down -- and continues with Rucka's work from there. It runs right up into Batman: Murderer/Fugitive, after which Rucka left the title (until his Batwoman work), so I'd bet that's probably it for this collection series.
• Batman Noir: The Dark Knight Strikes Again
Admittedly it's been a long time since I read Dark Knight Strikes Again, I didn't really get it the first time, and it basically put me off the whole Dark Knight saga. I have a sense that's probably true for most people. I wonder how this might read differently without the bold, sometimes purposefully-absurd coloring.
• Batman: Tales of the the Man-Bat
This collects Chuck Dixon and Flint Henry's Showcase '94 #11 and Man-Bat miniseries, and then Bruce Jones's unrelated Man-Bat miniseries from about ten years later that involved the Gotham Knights-era Hush.
• Bug! The Adventures of Forager
Collects issues #1-6 of the Young Animal series by Lee Allred and Mike Allred. I'm not grooving on this one necessarily; I'm leaning more toward the Shade and Mother Panic urban horror than some of Young Animal's wackier material.
• DC Comics: The Art of Darwyn Cooke
No word on the contents yet but we know it's going to be gorgeous.
• DC Universe by Brian K. Vaughan
No question why it behooves DC to have as many collections out there with Brian K. Vaughan's name on it as possible, but this is a pretty eclectic collection. There's Titans #14, a Tempest story; Sins of Youth: Wonder Girl from the middle of that fifth week event; Young Justice #22, a "day in the life" story; the JLA Annual #4 from the 2000 "Planet DC" event; and parts, but not all, of the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern: Circle of Fire story.
• Flash by Mark Waid Book Four
Solicitations have issues #80-94, which is the contents of Book Three. I'm still thinking something like #95-107, which will collect "Terminal Velocity" and go right up to the "Dead Heat" crossover with Impulse.
• Flash Vol. 5
Collects issues #28-32 and #34, skipping the DC Metal tie-in issue #33.
• Future Quest Presents Vol. 1
Collects issues #1-7 of Jeff Parker and Ariel Olivetti's new Future Quest series.
• Green Lantern: Earth One Vol. 1
Here's the solicitation as listed:
Hal Jordan yearns for the thrill of discovery, but the days when astronaut and adventure were synonymous are long past. His gig prospecting asteroids for Ferris Galactic is less than fulfilling -- but least he's not on Earth, where technology and culture have stagnated. He might be a nobody, but he's in space.
When Jordan finds a powerful ring, he also finds a destiny to live up to. There are worlds beyond his own, unlike anything he ever imagined. But revelation comes with a price: the Green Lantern Corps has fallen, long since murdered by ruthless killing machines known as Manhunters. The odds against reinstating the Corps are nearly impossible ... but doing the impossible is exactly what an astronaut like Hal Jordan was trained to do.
From creator Gabriel Hardman, the critically acclaimed author of INVISIBLE REPUBLIC, comes a soaring new epic original graphic novel in the tradition of the best-selling WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE VOL. 1 by Grant Morrison and BATMAN: EARTH ONE VOL. 1 by Geoff Johns! GREEN LANTERN: EARTH ONE VOL. 1 is a radical look at the Lantern mythology and a great entry point for new readers.
• Green Lanterns Vol. 5
Collects issues #22-27. Issues #22-25 are the "Lost in Space" storyline, and issues #26-27 are the first parts of the ongoing "Out of Time" story. That doesn't end until issue #31, so maybe they're splitting it between two volumes.
• Hawk & Dove: The Silver Age
Collects Showcase #75, Hawk and Dove #1-6, and Teen Titans #21 from the 1960s, with work by Steve Skeates, Steve Ditko, Gil Kane, Neal Adams, and Dick Giordano.
• Hellblazer Vol. 3
Issues #13-18 sees John Constantine framed for murder -- unless he's the murderer himself!
• Justice League of America: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 2
I tend to find Bronze Age material more readable than Golden and Silver Age, so this piques my interest. Collects Justice League of America #114-146 and DC Super-Stars #10, including team-ups with the Marvel Family, the Freedom Fighters, and the Justice Society.
• Justice League of America Vol. 3: Panic in the Microverse
You've got to love a book called "Panic in the Microverse." Steve Orlando's Rebirth JLA gets small in the third collection, issues #12-17.
• Justice League: The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 2
The second deluxe hardcover collection of Bryan Hitch's Justice League includes issues #12-25, the third and fourth paperbacks. Hitch, if you hadn't heard, is leaving Justice League, though he's still on the book through issue #31 at least.
• Justice League Task Force Vol. 1
I have truly now seen everything. This should collect JLTF issues #1-12 with material by such notable writers as David Michelinie, Chuck Dixon, Michael Jan Friedman, Dennis O'Neil, Peter David, and Jeph Loeb. These wonderfully oddball stories of a Justice League of rotating members led by the Martian Manhunter includes appearances by Nightwing and the "Bloodlines" New Bloods, a tie in to Batman: Knightquest, and an all-female Justice League -- including J'onn J'onzz! With issue #13-14, JLTF was part of the "Judgment Day" crossover that should be collected in the next Wonder Woman and the Justice League collection, and after that this becomes more of a "farm team" Justice League title, though notably with the Ray on the team, and written by Mark Waid and Christopher Priest.
• Justice League Vol. 5: Legacy
Collects issues #26-31; as stated before, possibly this could be Bryan Hitch's final volume of the series. DC is really pushing the Justice League movie in these solicitations.
• Kamandi by Jack Kirby Omnibus
Collects all 40 issues of Jack Kirby's Kamandi run now in one omnibus instead of two.
• Planetary Book Two
Collects issues #15-27, Planetary/JLA, and Planetary/Batman. These have been collected plenty of times before but if you haven't seen it, DC's got a nice new "Wildstorm Classic" trade dress for their newest Wildstorm collections.
• Suicide Squad Vol. 5
Collects issues #21-25 of the Rob Wiliams Rebirth series.
• Supergirl Vol. 3
The third collection of Steve Orlando's Supergirl includes issues #12-14, with appearances by the Legion of Super-Heroes' Emerald Empress and New Super-Man Kong Kenan.
• Superman: Action Comics Vol. 5
• Superman: Action Comics Vol. 6
As I detailed earlier, the fifth Rebirth Action Comics collection is said to have issues #993-999, and the sixth should have issues #1,001-1006(!). That skips #985-992 between Vols. 4-5, and also of course skips Action Comics #1,000, but now at least we know DC will continue the title's numbering after #1,000.
• Superman: Exile Omnibus
I was sorry to see the Superman: Man of Tomorrow collection cancelled some months ago, which seemed to collect the post-John Byrne proto-"Triangle Titles" stories on the way to "Death of Superman" and beyond. We see now thankfully a new hardcover collection, dubbed Superman: Exile Omnibus, though the contents are still uncertain. This is supposed to be Superman #23-27, Adventures of Superman #445-459, Action Comics #643-646, and Action Comics Annual #2; that's the "Exile" story and then some for Adventures and Action, but Superman should be through about issue #36 to keep up with the rest. (Man of Tomorrow had Superman through #27, like this, Adventures through #450, and no Action).
This book would end kind of in the middle of things, so maybe we can hope that DC is ditching the Man of Tomorrow Book One, Book Two, etc. for a series of individual, sequential volumes, like the next one might be Superman: Day of the Krypton Man Omnibus or Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite.
• Superman Vol. 5: Imperious Lex
No contents on the fifth Rebirth Superman volume, but it ought start with issue #27 and the "Imperious Lex" storyline goes through at least issue #33.
• Superman: The Many Worlds of Krypton
Collects Superman #233, #236, #238, #240, #248, #257 & #266, Superman Family #182, World of Krypton (1979) #1-3, and World of Krypton (1987) #1-4. Paul Kupperberg writes and Howard Chaykin draws the earlier miniseries; John Byrne and Mike Mignola did the latter.
• Wonder Woman: Forgotten Legends
Another uprooting of popular post-Crisis on Infinite Earths mythos, this collects the Legend of Wonder Woman miniseries by Kurt Busiek and Trina Robbins that bridged the gap between the end of Crisis and George Perez's seminal run. Robbins here also became the first woman to draw Wonder Woman for publication. Also Busiek's Wonder Woman #318, another by Robbins from Wonder Woman Annual #2, and Wonder Woman Gallery.
• Wonder Woman by George Perez Vol. 3
The next paperback collection of the George Perez series collects issues #25-35, within the midst of the Omnibus Vol. 2.
Justice League Task Force! Can you believe it? What're the collections you're most looking forward to these days?
Posted in: Collected Editions
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