Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Batwoman

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – May 15 2024

by

It’s the 20th new comic book day of the new year! This post covers DC Comics May 15 2024 releases, which actually hit comic stores on Tuesday May 14 2024. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering DC Comics May 8 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: all-new iconic Superman villains, an all-in Justice League omnibus, best-ever Poison Ivy, Blue Beetle swings big, Outsiders after the reveal, the House of Brainiac continues, Batman & Dylan Dog concludes, Hal reunites with the Corps, 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 15 2024 Collected EditionsAdventures of Superman: George Pérez 2024 hardcover, a DC Comics May 15 2024 new release

Adventures of Superman: George Pérez
(2024 hardcover, ISBN 978-1779525871/ digital)
See Guide to Action Comics (Post-Crisis, 1987 – Present) or Guide to Superman (Post-Crisis, 1987 – Present). This collects George Pérez’s work on Superman from two different transitional periods – from Action Comics in 1989 just after the year of “Action Comics Weekly” (and just before the Triangle Era), and his launch of Superman (2011) for DC New 52.

The late-80s material is much more compelling, but it’s just starting to be covered in omnibus right now – so the only reason to pick this up is if you’re a major George Pérez fan rather than a huge Super-fan.

Batman: Fortress
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1779525086 / digital)
DC’s solicit text calls this Gary Whitta & Darick Robertson mini-series an “Elsewords-style” story about Batman breaking into the Fortress of Solitude, which means it’s not in current DC continuity.

As a result, I haven’t caught up on this one – but I’ve seen it savaged by fans online. While we should all make up our own minds (when do I ever agree with fans online?), there’s also a surplus of fantastic Batman material right now – both in and out of continuity. For an easy-to-pick up Batman series, check out my rapturous reaction to Batman / Dylan Dog (2023), below.

Justice League International Omnibus Vol. 3
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1779525642)
See Guide to Justice League. This isn’t just an International omnibus, it’s a dream League omnibus. That’s because as this omnibus line has pressed on past the initial run of Justice League International it has collected everything Justice League in the Post-Crisis era. It collects Justice League America (1989), Justice League Europe (1989), and Justice League Quarterly (1990).

This volume adds some 00s era material by Keith Giffen, John Dematteis, & Kevin Maguire, which makes me slightly nervous this is a final volume. Fingers crossed that DC keeps up this all-in omnibus line – you can see the mapping in my Justice League Omnibus Mapping post from earlier this week!

[Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – May 15 2024

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – April 10 2024

by

It’s the 15th new comic book day of the new year, but it’s my first ever DC Comics New Releases post!! This post covers DC Comics April 10 2024 releases, which actually hit comic stores on Tuesday April 9 2024.

(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 it becomes official.)

This week in DC Comics: Rebirth Flash in Omnibus, House of Brainiac begins, the delightfully macabre Dylan Dog, Lanzing & Kelly’s Outsiders swings big, Dreamer vs Amanda Waller, and more!

These DC New Releases posts will be a work in progress. I’m 30 months behind on my DC reading, and some of my DC Guides are twice that far behind on updates. I thought it might be a good idea to do all my reading and updating before beginning this series of posts, but there’s no better way to catch up on all of that than diving deep into New Releases! Sometimes you’ve got to build the plane while you are flying it!

This list includes every comic and digital comic out from DC Comics April 10 2024, plus collected editions in omnibus, hardcover, paperback, and digest-sized formats. For each 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 April 10 2024 Collected EditionsThe Flash Omnibus by Joshua Williamson Vol. 1, released by DC Comics April 10 2024

DC vs. Vampires Vol. 2 [paperback]
(2023 hardcover, ISBN 978-1779521248 / 2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1779520296 /  digital)
Collects DC vs Vampires #7-12, part of James Tynion & Matthew Rosenberg’s vampire-focused Elseworld.

Detective Comics – Batman: Detective Comics Vol. 4 Riddle Me This [paperback]
(2023 hardcover, ISBN 978-1779520678 / paperback 2024, ISBN 978-1779524867 / digital)
See Guide to Detective Comics (Post-Crisis). DC still has a select number of titles where they released an initial hardcover and have a paperback staggered behind by nearly a year. That means this Detective Comics collection is still collecting material from before Ram V took over the book. Detective Comics (1937) #1059-1061 feature the arc directly following Mariko Tamaki’s weekly run of the entire Bat-Family (minus Bruce) starring in the book, plus a Sina Grace back-up story.

The Flash By Joshua Williamson Omnibus Vol.1
(2024 oversize hardcover, ISBN 978-1779526984)
See Guide to Flash. I really enjoyed this DC Rebirth Flash series, although after the first year of double-shipping it began to chase its own tail a bit. However, this omnibus collects just some of that first year burst of brilliant fun from Flash: Rebirth (2016) Rebirth & #1-35, the “The Button” crossover with Batman (2016) #21-22, plus Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (2016) #32, Justice League (2016) #32-33, and a story from DC Holiday Special 2017 #1.

Tales of The Titans
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1779527141 / digital)
I do have a Guide to Teen Titans, Titans, & Young Justice, but it hasn’t been updated for 2024 yet. I’ll tackle it when the next issue of Titans hits! This collects the brief Tales of the Titans (2023) #1-4 featuring solo stories of the team, itself a wink at a similarly-named title that’s now nearly 40yrs old.

The Vigil
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1779523433 / digital)
This is part of the “We Are Legends” line of new comics focused on Asian heroes that launched in the wake of 2023’s Lazarus Planet mini-event. This book was from superstar writer Ram V and artist Lalit Kumar Sharma. It followed a team of vigilante metahumans trying to disrupt trade of next-gen weaponry. This collects the full series, The Vigil (2023) #1-6.

Read on for a summary of all of the DC Comics April 10 2024 single issue and digital releases! [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – April 10 2024

Batwoman Book Club, Week 4 of 4: Detective Comics #934-940 & 948-948 + Batwoman (2017) Rebirth & #1-6

by

Welcome to the final week of Batwoman Book Club!

Today we discuss the newest appearances of Batwoman – her run in DC Rebirth’s Detective Comics and the subsequent second volume of her solo series. This embed is the first of two parts of our Week 4 discussion – each video ends with a link to the next part.

Want to catch up with the reading assignments? Here’s our full schedule for the month – visit the Guide to Batwoman to learn how to collect these issues.

Batwoman Book Club, Week 3 of 4: Batwoman (2011) #12-24 & 0

by

Welcome to the penultimate week of Batwoman Book Club!

Today we discuss the latter half of the J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman New 52 run on Batwoman! FanGirl and I both felt like the wheels came off this run after a weirdly stoic story-book plot with Wonder Woman and a muddled climax battling the mythical Medusa in Gotham.

This embed is the first of two parts of our Week 2 discussion – each video ends with a link to the next part.

Want to catch up with the reading assignments? Here’s our full schedule for the month – visit the Guide to Batwoman to learn how to collect these issues.

The Pull List: Action Comics, Avengers, Eternity Girl, Infidel, Judas, Marvel Two-in-One, Vampironica, & more!

by

The Pull List was slightly lighter this week than the past three, partially due to me not managing to pick up any additional ongoings from Marvel or DC. I made a heroic effort to catch all the way up with Doctor Strange, but fell an arc short.

This week’s comics felt a little ho-hum for me, with even typical standouts like Flash and Paradiso falling flat. However, it also brought not one but two near-perfect comics, plus one unexpectedly great debut.

Here’s The Pull List for the 14th of March, 2018. New adds to the pull list are marked with *; dropped titles are marked with #.

Artwork from Infidel #1 cover by Aaron Campbell & José Villarrubia

  • DC Comics
    • Action Comics (2016) #999
    • Batgirl and The Birds of Prey (2016) #20
    • Detective Comics (2016) #976
    • *Eternity Girl (2018) #1
    • The Flash (2016) #42
    • Mister Miracle (2017) #7
    • Sideways (2018) #2
    • Suicide Squad (2016) #37
    • Titans (2016) #21
    • Trinity (2016) #19
    • Wonder Woman (2016) #42
  • Image Comics
    • Bonehead (2018) #3
    • *#Dry County (2018) #1
    • *Infidel (2018) #1
    • Paradiso (2017) #4
    • #Sleepless (2017) #4
    • Slots (2017) #6
    • VS (2018) #2
  • Marvel Comics
    • All-New Wolverine (2016) #32
    • Astonishing X-Men (2017) #9
    • Avengers (2017) #684
    • Marvel Two-in-One (2018) #4
    • New Mutants – Dead Souls (2018) #1
    • Old Man Logan (2016) #36
    • Weapon X (2017) #15
    • X-Men: Blue (2017) #23
  • Smaller Publishers: Aftershock Comics, Archie Comics, Black Mask Studios, & Boom! Studios
    • Judas (2017) #4, Boom! Studios
    • *Come Into Me (2018) #1, Black Mask Studios
    • *Vampironica (2018) #1, Archie Comics
    • *Betrothed (2018) #1, Aftershock Comics

Before we begin, a reminder that 2.5 stars on my rating scale is an average comic book and my bell curve distribution peaks at 3/5 stars! Don’t freak out and assume a comic book is terrible because it has 2 stars. That means it’s just a hair below average (and there are a lot of those this week)

Picks of the Pull

Big Two (Marvel/DC) Pick of the Week:
Action Comics (2016) #999, DC Comics

Dan Jurgens leaves us with a truly perfect, contemplative issue of Superman that puts a wrap on his stellar Rebirth run but also addresses his writing from over 25 years ago, as beautifully rendered by artist Will Conrad and colorist Ivan Nunes.

In Metropolis, Lois is newly reunited with her estranged Army General father after saving him from execution in the last arc. It’s his first time meeting Jon (sort of), but General Lane isn’t in on the Superman secret, so he thinks Jon is a regular kid. That makes it even more tense as Lois and her father square off across the dinner table about the philosophy of Superman. Jon has never been exposed to this kind of hatred and xenophobia about his father before – which is also, by extension, aimed at him.

Meanwhile, Superman is in space dealing with a routine chore of breaking up an asteroid that will stray a bit too close to Earth for STAR Labs liking. Superman is thinking about fathers – General Lane, his own father Jor-El, as well as Zod – all of whom were tangled in the cross-time plot he just wrapped with Booster Gold.

Superman can see the errors in the ways of each of those parents and they in turn reflect his errors back upon him. Clark Kent is good-natured to a fault, but he’s not always right. General Lane isn’t entirely wrong about him – sometimes his absolute power corrupts him, both in how he metes out justice and in how he isn’t accustomed to apologizing for his actions.

As a result, Superman decides to put right two wrongs. One is with Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman, who he currently has imprisoned in the Phantom Zone. The other, eventually is General Lane. [Read more…] about The Pull List: Action Comics, Avengers, Eternity Girl, Infidel, Judas, Marvel Two-in-One, Vampironica, & more!