Absolute editions

It’s the 18th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers DC Comics May 8 2024 releases, which actually hit comic stores on Tuesday May 7 2024. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering DC Comics May 1 2024 new releases.

(DC is still releasing their comics on Tuesday until the start of July, but I think most folks think of Wednesday as release day, so that’s how I’m labelling my posts until then.)

This week in DC Comics: spotlight on Steel, the mystery of Birds of Prey, the end of Poison Ivy begins, Zod lost in space, Shazam gets silly again, a massive Dick (Grayson) Compendium, and more!

This list includes every comic and digital comic out from DC this week, plus collected editions including omnibus, hardcover, paperback, and digest-sized formats. I recap and review every new single issue. Plus, for every new release, I’ll point you to the right guide within my Crushing Comics Guide to DC Comics to find out how to collect each character in full – and, if a guide is linked from this post, that means it is updated through the present day!

DC Comics May 8 2024 Collected Editions

52 Volume One
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1779525857 /  digital)
See Guide to DC Universe Events – Trinity, 52, and One Year Later. This is a straight reprint of a 2016 recollection of this 52-issue weekly anthology series that collected exactly half of its run.

The 52 (2006) series was a delightful sampler platter of slightly more obscure DC heroes, who would largely disappear from view from 2011-2020. If you enjoy the idea of a grab-bag of smaller DC characters operating in a vacuum where Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman won’t be saving the day, this is for you.

Nightwing: A Knight in Blüdhaven Compendium Book One
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1779525864)
See Guide to Nightwing. Ah, the DC collected editions “strategy” strikes again. DC is rolling out these 1,000-page hulks of paperback collections with 40-ish issues each. Great way to collect huge swaths of DC’s endless catalog in a uniform format, right? These massive doorstops could cruise across all of DC’s major superhero title lines, and even the hugest ones like Action/Superman and Detective/Batman could be knocked out over time if DC kept at it. And, single title heroes like Nightwing could be totally collected in just 4-5 volumes.

Well, at the same time DC are also rolling out their new “DC Finest” line which are effectively DC’s version of Epic Collections. These books are 16-25 issue paperbacks that… do the exact same thing as the Compendiums in a seemingly identical format, just at half the length.

Now we’re all left with a decision. Do we want to buy this Nightwing Compendium, which collects the first third of Pre-Flashpoint solo Nightwing all in one book? Ah, but before you answer, note that Catwoman – a character also in the Batman line with similar scope and length of solo series that crosses over with Batman just as much as Nightwing does – is getting a “DC Finest” trade and not a compendium.

Basically: DC’s strategy doesn’t make a lick of sense.

What would make more sense is using compendiums to knock through runs that could never be collected completely in 20-issue chunks – namely, Pre-Crisis Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age. Then, use the “DC Finest” line for everything Post-Crisis – a much smaller scope than Marvel’s Epic Collection is covering.

Alas, we already have DC Finest collections announced for Golden and Silver material, and Compendiums announced for the 90s and 00s. It looks like these two formats will be competing with each other, sometimes within the same line or even across the same titles. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – May 8 2024

It’s the 18th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers DC Comics May 1 2024 releases, which actually hit comic stores on Tuesday April 30 2024. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering DC Comics April 24 2024 new releases.

(DC is still releasing their comics on Tuesday until the start of July, but I think most folks think of Wednesday as release day, so that’s how I’m labelling my posts until then – which means this is the DC Comics May 1 2024 New Releases post… for releases on April 30 😂 )

Unlike Marvel, who likes to fill every week to the brim with new releases, in a month with five new comic book days, DC treats the fifth one as a free play to release one-shots an annuals. That’s because their books tend to have a fixed schedule of what week(s) of the month they arrive.

This week in DC Comics: an absolutely stunning Dini & Ross collection, Spurrier’s Flash family squad gets bigger, the secret history of Nightwing’s pirate queen, Harley cruises with Zatanna, a House of Brainiac special, and more!

This list includes every comic and digital comic out from DC this week, plus collected editions in omnibus, hardcover, paperback, and digest-sized formats. I recap and review every new single issue. Plus, for every new release, I’ll point you to the right guide within my Crushing Comics Guide to DC Comics to find out how to collect each character in full – and, if a guide is linked from this post, that means it is updated through the present day!

DC Comics May 1 2024 Collected Editions

Absolute Justice League: The World’s Greatest Superheroes
(2024 slipcased oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1779526311)
This is a definitive oversize collection of the Paul Dini & Alex Ross collaborations on DC Comics original graphic novels from 1998 to 2003. Together, they wrote definitive stories for DC’s Trinity, Shazam, and the Justice League.

They are all collected here in order: Superman: Peace on Earth (1998) OGN, Batman: War On Crime (1999) OGN, Shazam!: Power of Hope (2000) OGN, Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth (2001) OGN, JLA: Secret Origins (2002) OGN, and JLA: Liberty And Justice (2003) OGN

Read on for a summary of all of the DC Comics May 1 2024 single issue and digital releases! [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – May 1 2024