DC Comics New Releases

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – June 5 2024

June 1, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 23rd new comic book day of the new year! This post covers DC Comics June 5 2024 releases, which actually hit comic stores on Tuesday June 4 2024. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering DC Comics May 29 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: DC debuts Compact Comics for Batman & Watchmen, Dawn of DC collections for Hal Jordan & Shazam, climaxes for Zdarsky Batman & GWW Ivy, a My Adventures with Superman cartoon comic 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 June 5 2024 Collected Editions

Barda
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1779511133 / digital)
A new out-of-continuity Big Barda graphic novel exploring her origins and relationship to Scott Free from author/illustrator. Ngozi Ukazu.

Batman: The Court of Owls Saga – DC Compact Comics Edition
(2024 smaller-than-digest-size paperback, ISBN 978-1779527271 / digital)
See Guide to Batman. DC’s new Compact Comics are upon us! These are chunky paperbacks that collect 10+ issues of massive hit runs for just $10 in a format that is slightly smaller than “digest” size. It’s a bane for old eyeballs like mine, but a perfect format for newer fans and manga readers! This book collects the first 11 issues of Scott Snyder’s New 52 Batman run, possibly the single best Batman book to hand to someone curious about the character’s in-continuity adventures.

Green Lantern Vol. 1: Back In Action
See Guide to Green Lantern – Hal Jordan. I disliked this opening Hal Jordan arc from Jeremy Adams, Xermánico, Romulo Fajardo Jr., & Dave Sharpe, but not for any deficiency in their craftsmanship. I didn’t like it because it gets Hal Jordan so right, and Hal is my least favorite main character in all of Big Two comics! In fact, you could almost say I loved to hate it, because the level of craft was pretty damned great on every issue.

Adams leans in to writing a Hal Jordan as a man without a ring and with no redeeming qualities other than his willpower. Quarantined to Earth and with no powers or influence left to his name, Hal leans heavily into his privilege to get exactly what he wants – from demanding a job flying test planes to forcing himself into moments alone with Carol Ferris.

Along the way, we really do see how Hal’s willpower makes him one of the most formidable Lanterns. There are moments of this where I feel like we’re on the knife’s edge between Hal Jordan being a “nice guy” who always gets what he wants versus him turning into a full on villain and sexual predator.

For me, that clearly echos his previous downfall as Parallax, which in a way brings this around from being hate-worth back to being intriguing. Is Adams playing these beats deliberately to try to show us how Hal’s willfulness brings him right to the edge of villainy? Or, is Adams writing Hal totally straight, thinking we would all root for him to get everything he wants?

Either way, I think if you are fascinated by Hal Jordan and want to see him tackling a new set of challenges, this book could work for you. And, beneath that, there is a tickle of mystery about why Hal is ringless on Earth and what the Green Lantern Corps are like under new management. Despite my hatred, I’m still reading every month! [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – June 5 2024

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – May 29 2024

May 24, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 22nd new comic book day of the new year! This post covers DC Comics May 29 2024 releases, which actually hit comic stores on Tuesday May 28 2024. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering DC Comics May 22 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: The Knight and Danger street collected, DC Pride, Brave Nightwing & Bold Deadman, Ram V’s Detective Comics crescendo, Spurrier’s deeply weird Flash, Power Girl and Crush, Green Arrow’s archer-off, and more!

DC Comics May 29 2024 Collected Editions

Batman: The Knight
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1779525079 / digital)
See Guide to Batman (Post-Crisis, 1987 – Present). This collects all 10 issues of Chip Zdarsky’s “Year One” style of prelude story that set up many of themes of his ongoing run on the Batman flagship title.

Danger Street Vol. 2
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1779524959 / digital)
This is the first I’m hearing of this Black Label prestige book from Tom King, Jorge Fornés, Dave Stewart, and Clayton Cowles, which exists out of continuity and focuses on the journeys of several unlikely characters towards joining the Justice League.

Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1779525185 / digital)
The paperback collection of DC’s 2022 mega-event, Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths. Much of the Dawn of DC status quo emerges from this event, although you don’t need to read it to understand what is currently happening in the DC Universe. This paperback professes to collect only issued #1-7, but a previous hardcover also included issue #0 and Justice League (2018) #75.

DC Pride: Better Together [AKA “Brave and Bold”]
(2024 hardcover, ISBN 978-1779525062 / digital)
This hardcover collects Collects the DC Pride (2023) #1 Pride month special along with exclusively collecting the Alan Scott story from DC Pride: Through the Years (2023) #1 – which was mostly reprints. It also add the first appearance of of Circuit Breaker from In Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate (2023) #1, which has been collected elsewhere).

Read on for a summary of all of the DC Comics May 29 2024 single issues. [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – May 29 2024

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – May 22 2024

May 19, 2024 by krisis

It’s the 21st new comic book day of the new year! This post covers DC Comics May 22 2024 releases, which actually hit comic stores on Tuesday May 21 2024. Missed last week’s releases? Check out last week’s post covering DC Comics May 15 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: Waid’s World’s Finest, oversize Fables, House of Brainiac continues, JL vs Godzilla vs Kong concludes, Taylor’s final Nightwing arc begins, Joker’s best friend, Constantine’s road trip continues, many WebToons in physical format, and more!

DC Comics May 22 2024 Collected Editions

Barkham Asylum
(2024 digest-size paperback, ISBN 978-1779505002 / digital)
This is a non-continuity OGN aimed at 8-12 year-old readers about Joker’s dog Jester being locked up in the pet equivalent of Arkham Asylum. Can this bad dog find a good streak, or is he doomed to heed the call of his villainous master? It sounds silly but super-cute! I might try to get it from the library for Kid Krisis.

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures Vol. 4
(2024 paperback, ISBN 978-1779526915)
Speaking of non-continuity Batman adventures, this volume continues to collect the hit non-continuity WebToon about the extended BatFamily. Y’all know it is an enduring mystery to me why anyone reads non-continuity stories, but I hear from many friends that this is a fun book!

Perhaps the popularity of this run is a part of why every single one of DC’s major heroes are currently leading their own families of characters of every age, gender, and sexual orientation (which is a big part of what I love about DC right now).

DC Pride: Love and Justice
(2024 hardcover, ISBN 978-1779525918 / digital)
This anthology of anthologies claims to collect all of DC Pride (2021) #1, plus selected (or all?) stories (presumably all from LGBTQA* characters) from Mysteries of Love in Space (2019) #1, New Year’s Evil (2019) #1, and Young Monsters in Love (2018) #1.

The real mystery in space is trying to figure how how and where DC collects all of these stories from single issue anthologies into collections, often years after the fact!

Batman: Black Mirror The Deluxe Edition
(2024 deluxe hardcover, ISBN 978-1779525895 / digital)
A brand new deluxe hardcover of Scott Snyder’s first major foray into Batman from just prior to Pre-Flashpoint with artists Jock and Francesco Francavilla, which is certainly a factor in what landed him his iconic New 52 Batman run! [Read more…] about New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – May 22 2024

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

May 10, 2024 by krisis

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!

DC Comics May 15 2024 Collected Editions

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!

New Comics & Collected Editions Releases: DC Comics – May 8 2024

May 4, 2024 by krisis

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!

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