The end is near ...No, of course I don't mean the end of the world (that was last September). I'm talking about how collections from DC's final month of DC New 52 are already showing up in the DC Comics September 2012 solicitations. We waited so long for the DC New 52 collections to arrive, and even though we're just a month-or-so into them, the end of the first round of volumes is already in sight. It might be as soon as next month that we start to see solicitations for the volume twos ... Batman Vol. 2: Night of the Owls, anyone?
We also see what seems like a slight increase in the number of "old" DC Universe collections in these new trade solicitations -- my pet theory is that a number of these were held, not in the least James Robinson's final Justice League collection, so as not to confuse or conflict with the DC New 52 collection releases; now that we come to the end of that, we see things like Justice League and Birds of Prey paperbacks. Fingers crossed that none of these suddenly disappear before publication.
Zero Month Redux
Those of us who actually bought all the zero issues that followed the original Zero Hour are feeling severe whiplash about now.
I don't usually comment on the single issues, but a couple of 'em caught my eye as I was looking over DC's September zero issue offerings. First, I know Judd Winick faced a lot of ire lately with his DC New 52 Catwoman, but I adored his early Green Arrow run and I'd be happy to see him back on the character. Four different writers for the DC New 52 Green Arrow in the span of thirteen issues is a bad sign (as it is, too, for Superman), but if Winick's on board that makes me more hopeful.
Two to watch will be Nightwing #0 and Teen Titans #0. Between the origins of Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, you'll basically know everything you need to know about what's lost and found in the DC New 52 universe. Though I have to say it seems to give the concept of an origin short shrift to do it in a single issue -- Tim Drake's journey from meeting Batman to donning the Robin costume took months if not years, and now they're going to do it in one issue? I don't want to say it can't stack up, but ...
It's been a bit since I read Batwoman: Elegy, but I don't remember Kate Kane needing to turn away from a "life of excess" as Batwoman #0 promises. One would hope DC won't remove her military service and discharge from her origins.
And as for Smallville Season 11 #5 -- I don't understand the licensing issues involved such that what's not OK onscreen is OK in the comic, but good on you, Bryan Miller; I don't know if there will be a "season 12," but way to leave it all on the field.
Next to the last DC New 52 Vol. 1 collections
* All-Star Western Vol. 1: Guns and Gotham
* Flash Vol. 1: Move Forward
* I, Vampire Vol. 1: Tainted Love
* Justice League Dark Vol. 1: In the Dark
* Nightwing Vol. 1: Traps and Trapezes
* Savage Hawkman Vol. 1: Darkness Rising
* Supergirl Vol. 1: Last Daughter of Krypton
* Superman Vol. 1: What Price Tomorrow?
The Nightwing volume I'm eager for, given it's ties to Batman: Court of the Owls; also Supergirl and Superman, titles I followed previously, though it seems almost besides the point to read Superman (and Hawkman, for that matter) knowing brand-new teams are along in the next volume. Six issues, I think, is too short a run for any writer not on a "short story" book like Superman/Batman; if one can't stay at least twelve issues/two volumes, a book seems almost skip-able.
* Huntress: Crossbow at the Crossroads
* Legion: Secret Origin
I think of these two as DC New 52 runners-up; I have no interest in the Penguin miniseries that also ran alongside the DC New 52 premieres, but these two series are both directly relevant. I'm surprised DC didn't market these stronger as DC New 52 titles, maybe to preserve the surprise on Huntress and because Legion: Secret Origin, I'm almost certain, started out as an "old" DC Universe title.
Various and Sundry
* Dc Comics: The Sequential Art of Amanda Conner
Amanda Conner's art deserves its own collection anyway, but kind of like the Showcase Presents: Amethyst collection, we know a little better now why DC might have a sudden interest in having a Conner collection out there than we did months ago when this was first solicited.
* 52 Omnibus
I adored 52, as did we all, and if you missed it the first time around, this will probably be the most cohesive reading experience of any of the recent omnibus collections DC has released lately -- an immediate, compressed, well-imagined story. My hope is that someone takes all the notes pages from between the chapters of the paperbacks and shunts them all to the end of the omnibus -- let the story speak for itself and then offer the explanatory material afterward.
* Justice League Of America: The Rise of Eclipso
Below are a handful of paperback reprints of previous "old" DC Universe hardcovers as the last of these reach the pipeline -- the last Batman collection, the last Birds of Prey collection, and so on. Most notable, however, is Justice League Of America: The Rise Of Eclipso, which was cancelled in hardcover probably so as not to be confused with Justice League: Origin. If I don't miss my guess, that makes James Robinson's Justice League: Eclipso the last-released mainstream collection of the "old" DC Universe, with the Dick Grayson Batman capping off that thirty-year period of comics. Really looking forward to this one; hope it arrives.
* Batman: Eye of the Beholder
* Birds Of Prey Vol. 2: The Death of Oracle
* Green Lantern Corps: The Weaponer
* Superman/Batman: Sorcerer Kings
* Showcase Presents: The Flash Vol. 4
Speed Force has intelligent things to say about the contents of this one.
So ... definite to pick up the 52 Omnibus? Fingers crossed for Justice League: Eclipso? What's your next most anticipated DC New 52 collection? What will you be buying for September?
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