Updated on June 3, 2022
Here’s a look at what graphic novels of interest are coming out in June 2021.
(Disclosure: The blog is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, and will earn a commission for purchases made through Bookshop links.)
Boom! Studios
A full list of solicitations is available here.
DC Comics
A full list of solicitations is available here.
- Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero, on sale Sept. 7, $17 (Amazon, Bookshop)
- Poison Ivy: Thorns, on sale June 1, $17 (Amazon, Bookshop)
Comments
Archie had plans to release in June a miniseries featuring Rob Liefeld (of 90s comics fame) doing a revamp of their patriotic superhero, the Shield. However, Liefeld left the book after a leaked variant cover showed a major spoiler for the book. Archie plans to still release the comic (now as a one-shot) with a new writer.
“Lumberjanes”‘s 19th volume collects #73 and #74, which were extra-length issues. No indication if the final issue, #75, will be included (and was left out of the solicitations by mistake), or if there’ll be a 20th trade paperback collecting it (and the series-ending special).
“Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero” sounds interesting (with a slightly odd premise). It features a teenage girl named Willow who moves to Gotham, adopts a dog named Lebowitz, and tries to help her family. To quote part of the solicitation:
In desperation, she reconnects with her estranged “uncle” Edward, and he opens the door to an easier life. Through simple jobs, such as hosting his private poker nights with Gotham City’s elites, she is able to keep her family afloat—and afford critical medical treatments for her mother. Then one night, Willow and Lebowitz collide with the monstrous Killer Croc and get injured, waking up able to understand each other.
But when Willow discovers that Edward and his friends are actually some of Gotham’s most corrupt criminals, she must make a choice: remain loyal to the man who kept her family together, or use her new powers to be a voice for her community.
I wonder how an encounter with a mutated crocodile-like man leads to being able to communicate with one’s dog. Then again, Gotham City (and the DCU in general) has enough weird stuff to lead to superhuman abilities as it is…
Pride Month at the Big Two
DC and Marvel are both cashing in heavily on Pride Month this year. Both superhero publishers are releasing one-shot specials featuring some of their most prominent LGBTQ characters:
Of course, DC and Marvel both have more LGBTQ characters than the ones on the covers… and it’s a good thing that the roster of such characters at the Big Two has grown to that point.
There’s also variant covers on some of the regular books (such as “Batman”) highlighting the companies’ LGBTQ heroes.
In DC’s case, they’re re-releasing a few relevant graphic novels, including “Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass” and “You Brought Me the Ocean.” This month’s “Poison Ivy: Thorns” also ties into Pride Month, with the solicitation describing a possible romance for a teenage Ivy (someone that isn’t Harley). I enjoyed “You Brought Me the Ocean,” a Young Adult graphic novel about the current Aqualad (Jackson Hyde, a Black youth).
Image from “Lumberjanes,” vol. 19 TPB. Art by Kat Leyh. (Boom! Studios)
