November 2013 DC Comics Diamond Previews Review
While Marvel has allot up their sleeves it looks like DC Comics is delivering more of the same in January. Forever Evil continues along with the fifth of seven issues shipping in January. Lex Luther and his squad of villains, and Batman makes their move and apparently the consequences will be “devastating” for the DC Universe. The big two should stay away from such grandiose statements because when they are used on such a regular basis they begin to lose their impact.
Forever Evil continues in Justice League #27, Justice League of America #11, Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger #15, Constantine #10, Trinity of Sin: Pandora #7, Justice League Dark #27, Forever Evil: ARGUS #4 (of 6), Forever Evil: Arkham War #4 (of 6), Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion #4 (of 6), and Suicide Squad #27.
Detective Comics #27 is a mega-sized anniversary issue that has a creative roster that is quite impressive. Writers include John Layman, Scott Snyder, Paul Dini, Brad Meltzer, and many more while the art side has Neal Adams, Dustin Nguyen, Frank Miller, and many more. This brings us stories of the past while also kicking off the next Batman crossover, Gothtopia. Judging from the solicitation this is all new material, and no reprints, which is a nice change. I find that the companies reprint stories partially to give back story but mainly to pad page counts so that a higher price tag doesn’t seem unreasonable. An oversized issue with all new material? Sign me up. I may not pick up allot of Bat related titles but with the abundance of talent in these pages I need to order this for my reading pile.
Speaking of Gothtopia, it crosses over into Batgirl #27, Batwing #27, Birds of Prey #27, and Catwoman #27. It’s an interesting twist having a crossover apparently affect the ancillary titles as opposed to the main books. Is this a way to boost numbers on lower selling titles or a genuine story meant to grow the characters? Time will tell.
Art Baltazar (W), Franco (W), and Ig Guara (A) bring an end to The Green Team: Teen Trillionaires with issue #8. It’s related title, The Movement is still continuing on but one has to question how long that title will last. My statements have little to do with the quality of the titles but more about the buying habits of the comic book readership. It seems that unless a title has Justice, Batman, or Superman in the title, fans do not feel willing to give it a shot. The same can be said of Marvel who is close to putting Avengers or an X in every title they publish.
Injustice fans will have a reason to rejoice, Injustice Year Two #1 by Tom Taylor (W), and Bruno Redondo (A) kicks off. Superman still has his Kryptonian grip tightly on the Earth but will he be able to put aside his differences and help defend the Earth from approaching fear? Fear you say? I believe the Sinestro Corps might be paying a visit to the troubled and torn world of Injustice. I am looking forward to my first Injustice collection and will get this put aside for me so I can see how the story continues.
Another digital first title hits print for the first time and that is the Vampire Diaries #1. The creative team is Colleen Doran (W) and Tony Shasteen (A). While I appreciate Colleen Doran as a writer, this book has no appeal for me. I do not believe that the fans of the television show are also comic book readers but sales will be the deciding factor.
The Unwritten Vol. 2: Apocalypse #1 by Mike Carey (W) and Peter Gross (A) brings us back to the world of Tom Taylor. Tom Taylor is a character that has had everything taken from him, including his childhood. Volume 1 ended with Tom coming back to the real world but while living in the unwritten scenes of all of the world’s stories he may not be able to pay a toll that could lead to the destruction of everything and everyone, hence the Apocalypse tag-line.
Well that is the end of our look at DC Comics for merchandise shipping beginning in January of 2014. Not an overly exciting month for the distinguished competition but here’s hoping that they can get their groove back in the coming months.