Next week is the 10th new comic book day of 2025! This post covers DC Comics March 5 2025 new releases. Missed this week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering DC Comics February 26 2025 new releases.
This week in DC Comics: Dreamer joins the Secret Six, Shazam’s finale, a hunk of Tynion Batman in omnibus, Batgirl & The Birds of Prey, Teen Titans Go comes back, Plastic Man’s beginnings, Lakes vs Seas, and more!
The Krisis Pick of the Week: Despite my absolute fervor for The Nice House by the Sea (2024) #6, I have to give my pick to Shazam! (2023) #21 – the final issue of the series. Josie Campbell found the heart and humor in this title over the past year in a way that made me reconnect with a love I have for the Shazam family that I often can’t locate in DC’s sometimes cynical uses of the characters.
This post includes every comic out from DC Comics March 5 2025, plus collected editions in omnibus, hardcover, paperback, and digest-sized formats.
This isn’t the typical comic releases post you can find on other sites. Why? I explain each collection and review every in-continuity series with a new issue out this week. Plus, for most new releases, I’ll point you to a personally-curated guide within the Crushing Comics Guide to DC Comics to find out how to collect that title in full!
There’s no other website on the internet that can claim that.
And now, onto DC Comics March 5 2025 new releases!
DC Comics March 5 2025 Collected Editions
Batman by James Tynion IV Omnibus Vol. 1
(2025 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1799500636)
See Guide to Batman. I was already a James Tynion IV addict coming off of his extraordinarily good run on Detective Comics (1937 / 2016), but I fell fully in love with his writing on this sometimes divisive arc on Batman’s other flagship book.
I think this book often divided fans for a few reasons. First, it used Joker, who always splits fan opinions since everyone has a very specific conception of how he ought to be used. Second, it brought in a new young female antagonist – Punchline – who was deliberately a riff on modernizing Harley Quinn’s origins, which is the sort of thing that’s going to piss off Batfans.
But, beyond that, I think Tynion was playing with a long term of plotting and weaving in commentary on capitalism and queerness in a way that just didn’t resonate with the fandom that makes Batman the top-selling comic book most months out of every year.
This collects the first hunk of that run, through issue #100. I’d say things started heating up by issue #90, but a lot of my favorite material from this run is actual in the next volume.
Batman Vol. 4: Dark Prisons
(2025 hardcover, ISBN 978-1799500582 / 2025 paperback, ISBN 978-1799500674 / digital)
See Guide to Batman (1986 – Present). This collects the penultimate arc of Chip Zdarsky’s run, as well as a pair of Absolute Power (2024) tie-in issues.
If you’ve been hooked on the story of Zdarsky’s Failsafe robot, this resolves that tale and ties up its loose ends while also spinning it into a much larger conflict on Absolute Power. However, I wouldn’t read this on its own – it’s all conclusion, and without the emotional resonance of what came before I suspect it would fall a bit flat.
Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
(2025 paperback, ISBN 978-1799500643 / digital)
See Guide to DC Elseworlds & Alternate Earths. This is a reprint of the 2016 intercompany crosover mini-series written by James Tynion IV just as he began his ascent to superstardom, as illustrated by Freddie Williams .
DC Finest: Plastic Man [Vol. 1] – The Origin of Plastic Man
(2025 paperback, ISBN 978-1799500650)
See Guide to Plastic Man (eventually). Many people don’t realize that Plastic Man was one of the longest-running heroes of the Golden Age, with just as much content to his name as Wonder Woman logged in the same period!
This collects his initial stories from 1940 to 1944, and we’ll need at least another five volumes to complete his run through 1956 across both Police Comics (1941) and Plastic Man (1943).
Harley Quinn’s Bud & Lou: Trouble Times Two
(2025 paperback, ISBN 978-1799500612 / digital)
See Guide to Harley Quinn. An out-of-continuity Super-Pets team-up for Harley’s two pet hyenas.
Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga Deluxe Edition
(2025 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1799500667 / digital)
See Guide to Legion of Super-Heroes. Despite the Legion having been around for over 20 years by the point they finally attained their own titled comic book, this story is generally thought of as their first major saga and the beginning of the “modern” Legion as written by Paul Levitz.
MultiVersus: Collision Detected
(2025 paperback, ISBN 978-1799500599 / digital)
See Guide to DC Elseworlds & Alternate Earths. Based on the video game spanning WB and Cartoon Network properties including Adventure Time and Steve Universe.
Mystik U: Freshman Year Enchantments TP
(2025 paperback, ISBN 978-1799500629 / digital)
See Guide to DC Elseworlds & Alternate Earths. Collects the three-issue non-continuity “magic school” riff with Zatanna and other magical characters as teenagers from Alisa Kwitney, Mike Norton, Jordie Bellaire, & Deron Bennett.
Superman: Space Age
(2025 paperback, ISBN 978-1799500575 / digital)
See Guide to DC Elseworlds & Alternate Earths. One of a series of retro non-continuity series from Mark Russell, Mike Allred, & Laura Allred.
Read on for a summary of all of the DC Comics March 5 2025 single issue releases!
DC Comics March 5 2025 Physical Comic Releases
Batgirl (2024) #5 (digital) – See Guide to Batgirl (eventually). I have unfortunately grown to loathe this Tate Brombal Batgirl book centered on Cass Cain despite it having perhaps the best ever art from Takeshi Miyazawa. But, this issue might be the one to change my opinion!
Why the animosity? Because Brombal is leaning heavily into our willingness to stick around for a six-issue opening arc to tell a stretched out story, and I ain’t got time for that. We’ve now been through four issues of tense conversations, mistrustful conversations between Cass and her mother Lady Shiva against the backdrop of secret assassin societies.
Each issue included a pop of action in a different setting (a storefront, a train, a… different part of the same train), but all four scripts have felt essentially the same to me. “Can I trust mom?!” “Things I didn’t realize about these assassins!” “More assassins double-crossing these other assassins!”
I’m all for thematic consistency, but four months and $16 dollars later it feels like we haven’t accomplished a single thing narratively that we didn’t already have at the end of issue #1. Meanwhile, Birds of Prey (2023) has used Cass better the entire time – and adds insult to injury by occupying the same release week!
Why am I holding out a hope for this issue? Because the end of issue #4 finally broke us free of that repetitive status quo. Now Brombal has to do something new with this story, and I’m curious about where he’ll take it.
I’ve seen some thrilling stuff from Brombal in the past few years of comics, but I’ve also seen him waste a lot of panel time without progressing the plot – both here and on House of Slaughter and The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos (2023). He’s still early in his career, but I’m hoping this Tynion protege starts showing off some of Tynion’s better instincts instead of all of his worst ones.
Batman: Full Moon (2024) #4 (of 4) (digital) – See Guide to DC Elseworlds & Alternate Earths (for now). A Black Label Batman versus Werewolves series by Rodney Barnes.
Birds of Prey (2023) #19 (digital) – See Guide to Birds of Prey. Kelly Thompson is fully taking advantage of DC’s less dogmatic story arc requirements, hopping off of a first year mega-arc into a 4-issue arc and now a quick two-and-done story.
I think that’s the way to keep this team title alive, even as DC throws up impediments to its success like having another Cassandra Cain book on the same release week, having Big Barda in another title (Ram V’s The New Gods), and giving Tom King an out-of-continuity Black Canary Black Label series to split her fan support from this one.
Luckily, Thompson is writing the best version of Batgirl, Ram V is using Barda in a way that frequently references the fun she is having here, and Thompson’s story instincts for her leading ladies feel truer to their core than Tom King’s both here and in the Absolute Universe.
Last issue of Birds of Prey really felt like a return to form of the stellar first few scripts from late 2023. Thompson splits the team into dual objectives, letting her lean into Canary’s sisterly connection with Sin in a tense action sequence backed with double-entendre while Barda goes off to have a sillier adventure from Constantine.
Can we give Kelly Thompson a whole line of superhero books to plot and execute? Honestly, even with my quibbles over the decompression on Absolute Wonder Woman, no one is doing character voices or plot concepts quite like her at the Big Two right now.
JSA (2024) #5 (digital) – See Guide to Justice Society of America. This Jeff Lemire title continues to be a narrative mess, although I think the art on issue #4 went from ill-fitting to just anonymous.
Why am I so negative on this comic? Because Lemire refuses to play to the strengths of the JSA. Instead of leaning in the rich histories of these characters and their connections, he has splintered them from each other across multiple settings. Lemire isn’t exactly the king of intercutting between several plot beats, and you can really feel this book struggle to regain its momentum after every scene change.
Beyond that, I’d say the bigger problem is that Lemire isn’t leveraging that this is the home title for all of these characters. None of them have other books, and they barely even appear elsewhere. This is our one chance to spend time with classic characters like Alan Scott, Doctor Fate, and Hawkman, let alone all of the younger next generation cast of the JSA.
To spend so little time developing any of them for the sake of an ill-defined siege from their enemies feels like a complete misread of what has made JSA revivals work across the past 20 years of comics.
I might tend to dislike Lemire’s writing, but I don’t despise it. He’s won me over before on The Terrifics and some of his indie work. But, I’ve yet to see any indication that he has any big ideas to make this title sing.
Justice League: The Atom Project (2025) #3 (digital) – See Guide to Justice League (for now). I’m losing my patience for this Ryan Parrot & John Ridley Justice League spinoff about both Atoms investigating the power-swapping in the wake of Absolute Power (2024) – both in general and as it applies to Captain Atom in specific.
Parrot & Ridley’s time-fractured narrative of Captain Atom going from powerless to overpowered just isn’t making much sense. Casting him as both a victim and an antagonist here is making it hard to settle in to follow anyone’s perspective. And, ultimately, I just don’t think the story is all that interesting.
That’s a shame, not only because these are three under-utilized characters, but because I’m really enjoying Mike Perkins colored by Adriano Lucas.
The Nice House by the Sea (2024) #6 (of 12) (digital) – I am so incredibly obsessed with this James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez Beuno, & Jordie Bellaire series that my heart starts beating faster just from seeing its title written here.
Through this series and Nice House on the Lake before it, Tynion has cleverly blended influences like The War of the Worlds, The Big Chill, Lost, and even Friends (and, dare I say, The hunger Games?) into a single tangled narrative about spending the end of the world with your closest friends. That was arresting enough on its own. Yet, this sequel series – and last issue in particular – has delivered an unbelievable twist that has taken it from “clever” to “all-time-great” for me.
How can I share more of my excitement about that without spoiling everything?!
Here’s what I can say: Tynion avoids a “mystery box” trap phenomenon here by switching between both our protagonists and their antagonist, which not only slowly reveals both sides of the plot but also slowly grants his characters more agency over their world as they learn the same things we do as readers. Yet, 12 issues into the story he somehow managed to pull a twist on that twist by introducing more worldbuilding that was currently outside of the sphere of influence of the existing case. And then last issue he twisted things even more by revealing that the new worldbuilding wasn’t entirely outside of everyone’s sphere of influence with a killer retcon that was clearly planned all along.
Also, it’s super queer. Amongst many gay subplots, the main protagonist is trans and her transition journey is critical to the background of the plot. Yet, the critical nature of it has nothing to do with the trauma of her past gender dysphoria or sensationalizing her time spent living as a boy. It’s simply that she got swept up into this plot at the same time she was fully realizing her gender. She’s not a trope, she’s a thrillingly complex and fully-rounded character.
Truly, I have goosebumps just writing that vague, spoiler-free summary for you. This books remains entrenched in my personal Top 10 of 2025. I think it’s the best of many Tynion series at the moment – and maybe even his all time best because the concept is so audaciously huge and thrillingly realized.
It would make a killer TV show.
Poison Ivy (2022) #31 (digital) – See Guide to Harley Quinn (for now). As of last month’s “special” flipbook issue of Poison Ivy it truly feels like this G Willow Wilson title has completely lost its verve.
This series began with no assurances it would make it past the six issue mark. As the book picked up word of mouth, Wilson continued to spin out Pamela Isley’s story across an initial four story arcs that wound up forming one operatic whole with deep ties both to Ivy’s recent story history and her origins.
The problem with the last few months of the title is feels like there’s no long anything driving the story. Sure, there’s a group of ecoterrorists acting in Ivy’s name. And, she’s having deep (possibly hallucinated?) conversations with members of The Green and The Grey. Yet, I couldn’t tell you what the conflict is in this current run – what we’re moving towards or away from.
There’s still some pleasure to be found there in Wilson’s inner voice for Ivy, which feels specific and lived-in. I don’t know if any other Big Two book is making better use of character narration right now. But, at the moment it feels like every issue simply exists in service of that narration (and some lovely colors from Arif Prianto).
Secret Six (2025) #1 (digital) – See Guide to Secret Six (eventually). Nicole Maines continues her run of trying her TV character, Dreamer, out on a number of different team-ups and existing groups.
Last year that was Suicide Squad, which was an odd fit but allowed her to be a major player in Absolute Power (2024). This year it’s in a revived Secret Six, which is mostly known as Gail Simone’s baby after a popular run that DC finally started collecting in omnibus.
Here, Maines is paired with Stephen Segovia (who has been incredible on Spawn Universe titles) plus colorist Rain Beredo and letterer Steve Wands (both of whom I reliably enjoy).
I know that some of Dreamer’s ongoing sales power comes from her being a widely-seen TV character written by her actor, but I still think it’s cool to DC go this hard in support of a new hero – especially a trans character by a trans creator! Maines has shown some real comic writing chops over the past few years (when not saddled less-exciting comics pros as co-writers) and I’m always happy to read more from her.
Shazam! (2023) #21 (digital) – See Guide to Shazam! I was seriously bummed to see the news that this Josie Campbell Shazam family series ends with this issue. I’d hold it up alongside Dan Slott’s Spider-Boy (2023) as a delightful comic for younger fans of Big Two continuity.
That said, last month’s one-shot Jon Kent story from Sina Grace was total garbage. I tried to articulate my thoughts on Crushing Comics Live last month, and even if it was an imperfect accounting enough other folks chimed in with support that I think I got my point across.
I really mourn that the current market simply doesn’t seem willing to support many simple runs of young heroes just being courageous and silly. I think it’s a sign of pretty poor health of modern day comics that these books can’t exist unless they have a breakout new star or are constantly teasing the speculator market with potential value (both of which Spider-Boy (2023) is currently doing).
Teen Titans Go! (2025) #1 (digital) – See Guide to DC Elseworlds & Alternate Earths. This is an all-new relaunch of a comic that lines up with the much-love kids’ cartoon just as it comes back to air next week.
Two-Face (2024) #4 (of 6) (digital) – See Guide to Detective Comic (1987 – Present). Things got complex for Harvey Dent last issue, which raised the question of which of his two faces was double-crossing the other as she stays under the radar in Gotham’s underworld.
This series definitely holds some intrigue for major Two-Face fans (that’s a thing, right?) who have been following Harvey’s journey since his curious appearances in Ram V’s run on Detective Comics (1937 / 2016). However, I’m not sure if I’m convinced artist-turned-writer Christian Ward has made the case for this series to be compelling enough as a standalone tale. Despite a few stylish flourishes, right now it feels like a footnote to another run that’s already over.
Unfortunately, DC didn’t extend this beyond the initial 6-issue pitch despite some hints it could go a full 12 issues, so it will end in May.
That’s for DC Comics March 5 2025 new releases! What were you already pulling? And, did I convince you to check out anything new? Sound off in the comments below.
Hi! I did send you an email a few weeks ago about the updated contents of the Batman by Tynion omnibus, but I’m not sure if you got it
The final contents of the omnibus is:
BATMAN #86-105, BATMAN ANNUAL #5, BATMAN 2021 ANNUAL #1, BATMAN: THE JOKER WAR ZONE #1, BATMAN: SECRET FILES #3, BATMAN: PENNYWORTH R.I.P. #1, PUNCHLINE #1, THE JOKER #1-4, and stories from BATMAN #85, BATMAN #107-111, INFINITE FRONTIER #0, THE JOKER: 80TH ANNIVERSARY 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR #1, and THE JOKER #14,
Therefore it goes up to #105, with a lot of extra Tynion material also include.
I hope this helps!