Updated on December 10, 2021
At long last, here’s the most-anticipated solicitations of the year—the September 2011 DC Comics solicitations, which debuts the new-and-“improved”(?) DC Universe. I’m *not* typing “DCnU” spelled as-is, by the way… what a stupid and awkward acronym. It sounds like something some marketing minion thought up…
Anyway, here we go:
Comics I’ll be buying
- Mister Terrific #1, on sale Sept. 14, $3
- Action Comics #1, on sale Sept. 7, $4
- Superman #1, on sale Sept. 28, $3
- The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #11, on sale Sept. 14, $3
- Tiny Titans #44, on sale Sept. 21, $3
Comics I might buy
- Justice League #1, on sale Aug. 31, $4
- Static Shock #1, on sale Sept. 7, $3
Comments
This’ll be a long one this time… going by characters-of-note:
Justice League: Might buy this one just to get an overview of this reboot. Though I gather we’re seeing the origin of the JL (no “of A”) here? New-reader-friendly, I guess, though I wonder how long this world has had superheroes…
Aquaman: Glad to see the Sea King is keeping his Arthur Curry identity (and *both* hands intact, and a clean-shaven look) in this new universe. Wonder if this one was raised by a lighthouse keeper and his Atlantean wife (the Silver Age origin I grew up on), or has the more-convoluted modern backstories that’s harder to keep track of…
Hawkman: Sounds like some mix of the Golden Age (Carter Hall archaeologist alter-ego) and Silver Age (“alien ruins”… Thanagar?) versions. Either way, still way easier to understand/more new-reader-friendly than the “Hawkworld”/”Hawk spy”/”Hawkgod” post-Crisis stuff…
Mister Terrific: The description sounds interesting… hopefully it’ll be that *and* fun.
Superman/Superboy: Still not big on the Superman covers, or his new costume. Though this Superman #1 cover looks better than the *last* Superman #1 cover we got (Supes lying on the ground while the caption reads “it’s your first issue, Superman… and it could be your last!” Uh-huh…). Though a first issue of Superman should make him look more, well, inspiring (versus angry-looking). Still, I hope classic writers like Grant Morrison on “Action” and George Perez on “Superman” will make for decent stories. Which is more optimism than I have for the rebooted-Superboy, which doesn’t sound too appealing to me (his origin or his hideous-looking “costume”; the jeans-and-t-shirt look looked better than this, and I thought *that* was a lame “costume”). The reboot-Supergirl also doesn’t sound like much fun; from the solicitation: “Meet Supergirl. She’s got the unpredictable behavior of a teenager, the same powers as Superman – and none of his affection for the people of Earth. So don’t piss her off!” The description makes her sound more of an anti-hero than, well, Supergirl, and I’m not sure the term “piss her off” should be used for a Superman-related title, especially one meant to attract new readers…
Batman: Sounds like more of the same (that cover for “Detective Comics” #1 doesn’t look very new-reader-friendly either, unless they like horror films…). Pass…
Batgirl: Barbara’s back as Batgirl, which has some (OK, a *lot* of) fans riled up, though not this one—given my exposure to Babs is from seeing her in TV shows/cartoons/movies. Virtually every non-comics version of Barbara’s used her as Batgirl, not Oracle, thus the general public still thinks of her as the superhero… which might explain the change by DC here. I also hated “The Killing Joke.” Thus, no attachment to Oracle from me…
Stormwatch: Gay heroes (and still a couple?) Apollo and Midnighter are still around, though more integrated into the DCU.
Men of War: Apparently a revival of old war comic title “All-American Men of War,” though like the other war/horror/western comics, forcibly integrated into the superhero-centric DCU.
Static Shock: He’s still around in the new DCU, only here he’s moved from Dakota to New York City, works at S.T.A.R. Labs, and fights crime in the Big Apple. I assume his origin story/back story is similar to the Milestone version, but this sounds like a big change, setting-wise…
In other observations, apparently all the DCU comics are *still* deemed “unsuitable” for youths under 13 (per all the books only having “T” ratings). Between that and the descriptions of some of the issues (Green Arrow, Hawkman, etc.), I have to wonder how different tone-wise this new reality will be, or if it’s just going to be more “Joker chainsaw massacre”-style violence that we’ve seen from DC lately. If so, count me out…
No crossovers have so far been announced (being all #1’s). Good. Note to DC: crossovers *aren’t* new-reader-friendly (or even old-reader-friendly, unless said readers apparently are foregoing grocery money this month…).
This month’s “Showcase” is “Ghosts,” one of DC’s 70s-era horror titles.
Fortunately, the Johnny DC line is unscathed (though it could use more attention as a line). “Batman:TBATB” is a time-travel story (involving Jonah Hex), while “Tiny Titans” sees a version of the Doom Patrol show up.
This is probably the most I’ve been willing to spend on a line of DC comics in quite awhile! Will I be back for #2, 3, etc.? We’ll see…
