DC Solicits for December 2003
DC has released its solicitations for December 2003. I'm sure you can find them several places, but I always prefer viewing them at
ToonZone: No annoying popups. No gaudy flashing banner ads. Just the solicitations, and they're even broken up into nice little sections.
Anyway, on with the snarky comments:
- The solicits are promising "an exciting new direction!" for ROBIN based on the new creative team of Bill Willingham and Rick Mays. I like Mays' art, but I'm not so sure about Willingham's writing. FABLES has started to bore me recently. Since Robin's not a character I find particularly interesting, I'll probably pass on this and maybe check it out if it ever hits the bargain bins.
- Gail Simone has a new mini-series coming out, ROSE & THORN. I was thinking of checking this out, but two things are putting me off: (1) The $2.95 price tag; and (2) judging from the cover by Adam Hughes, Thorn's costume seems to have gotten even skimpier. I'll wait to check out what reviewers have to say about this series and maybe check it out if DC collects it.
- SUPERGIRL ARCHIVES VOL. 2. Yes. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed the goofy charm of the stories in the first volume, so I'll be getting this followup volume as well.
- SUPERMAN #200: It's only hitting #200 just now? It feels like decades since Byrne (who is back to contribute to #200 - nice touch) revamped the Man of Steel.
- I'm looking at the cover for SUPERMAN/BATMAN #5 and I have no idea who a couple of these characters are. Who's the robo-gal carrying a cross between Daredevil's billy club and Thor's hammer? Who's the female character in the black leotard and blue bath towel? Is that the new look for Tomorrow Woman (from Morrison's JLA)? And is that H.E.R.B.I.E. behind the new Batgirl?? Maybe it has been decades since they revamped Superman. Time for a new reboot?
- Judd Winick on the dramatic changes in store for Metamorpho in OUTSIDERS #7: "I can say with complete and absolute confidence that his life will never ever be the same." You hear that, comic creators? The gauntlet has been thrown. Time to get in line waiting for Winick to leave the book so you can invalidate all of his changes. John Byrne, I'm looking at you...
- Re: The cover to AVENGERS/JLA #4: OK, I admit it - I did have a fangasm when I saw that image.
- Love the solicitation for H-E-R-O #11: "Metropolis archaeologists find some rather unusual ancient cave art featuring what looks to be a prehistoric super-hero. Go back thousands of years to those thrilling bygone days of early man and see what happens when the H-Dial falls into the hands of a Cro-Magnon!" Captain Caveman?
- Is it just me or is WW looking a lot like Monica from Friends in this cover? Maybe it is Monica, and the guy whose eyeballs have melted out of their sockets is supposed to be Chandler.
- MASKS: TOO HOT FOR TV! could be fun: Camera crews catching superheroes in their "off" moments is a premise with possibilities. And the talent lined up (Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke ; Marc Andreyko and Richard Corben; Patton Oswalt and Amanda Conner; Jill Thompson and Tony Akins; and Judd Winick and Whilce Portacio) isn't too shabby.
- Look! It's two concepts whose appeal faded long ago together in THE AUTHORITY/LOBO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL! I'm not sure what mathematical operation I perform here to determine how much this will suck. Add? Multiply? Raise to the power of infinity?
- ASTRO CITY/ARROWSMITH: This special collects two prelude stories, one for the upcoming ASTRO CITY: THE DARK AGE mini, and the ARROWSMITH preview that originally appeared online. Plus "maps, behind-the-scenes sketchbook art by Ross, Anderson and Pacheco, and an interview with Busiek about the future of both series." This is actually a nice way to release extras so that fans buying the single issues don't have to pick up the trades to see the new material. I'll be getting this.
- SLEEPER: OUT IN THE COLD: This TPB collects the first six issues of the outstanding Wildstorm series. I probably won't be getting this trade since I already have the individual issues, but everyone else who hasn't read this criminally under-ordered series should definitely try the trade.
- TOM STRONG #24: This issue is written by Peter Hogan, not Alan Moore, which means I may pass. I haven't been enjoying Hogan's TERRA OBSCURA much, but maybe I'll like his work better on characters I'm already fond of. I think Hogan did the TESLA STRONG one-shot and I did enjoy that.
Snarky comments aside, I do enjoy DC's solicits much more than Marvel's. DC's covers are consistently more interesting than Marvel's, and the copy is generally more readable as well. In the interests of fairness, I'll try to pick through Marvel's next round of solicits whenever they go up.
