Comic Book Resources

Be mine, Star Sapphire: DC Entertainment Comic-Book Solicitations for February 2010

Grumpy Old Fan

February finds DC's superhero books gearing up for various endgames. The month begins with the end of the World Of New Krypton miniseries and ends with the final issue of Cry For Justice. Blackest Night and Superman: Secret Origin present their penultimate issues, Titans reaches a stopping point, and the revamped Batman line closes out its third quarter. Given the publisher's track record, I suppose that means a month or two of relative calm before the next round of character-specific events starts. (The 700th issues of Superman and Batman are right around the corner, relatively speaking.)

But that's still in the future, and just like a box of chocolates or a big pile of valentines, there's a lot right here....
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No Blackest Night in the darkest month: DC Entertainment comic-book solicitations for January, 2010

Grumpy Old Fan

Time once again for the monthly ritual of parsing DC's solicitations. This batch is special, not because it's the first of a new year. (That would require the calendar to mean something to superhero comics, like it does at least superficially to TV and movies.) No, January '10 finds DC's superhero books taking a break from Blackest Night to … pretty much continue the same amount of Blackest Night coverage.

Anyway, grab your wallet and fire up your spreadsheet, because it's a decent month regardless.
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The Fifth Color - Marvel Solicitations for Dec '09

Walking into the local Borders bookstore, I noticed that the rack by the front is already starting to stock Christmas cards.  This surprised me as much as seeing the latest and (as always) greatest next event brewing on the horizon for the Marvel U.  Remember, Dark Reign is supposed to be over by the end of the year, so let pick up a pack of Santas and go look at the end of a banner title.

Oh, Dark Reign!  How will miss you!  Your only vaguely reasonable introduction brought us a bevy of brand new teams that make me ponder when Force Works is going to pop up next.  You dismantled SHIELD in favor of his own private army 'HAMMER', an acronym that not only hasn't been explained, but hasn't really done much when you think of all those 'dark' superhero teams at Osborn's disposal.  And they haven't really done much when you consider that Clint Barton ran amuck through Osborn's hand-picked Avengers team in their own base until he got to the God of War.  And Ares.

Really, what has Osborn done for us besides hand out frustration and stalemates and have to use a crappy acronym like GRANPA for a global supernatural/superhuman monitoring organization (like the Weird Happenings Organization wasn't doing anything)?  He's been a fantastic and obnoxiously unbeatable object of hate, a red-haired target for all our heroes as he held are the cards.  Perhaps Spaceballs was right, perhaps evil will always triumph because good is dumb.

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Silent night, blackest night: DC Entertainment comic-book solicitations for December 2009

Grumpy Old Fan

I'll be honest here, folks: I'm not terribly excited about the December solicits. This is not to say that I am "bored with comics" -- heaven forbid! -- just that there is little in these adverts which really thrills me. It's like this year's Emmys. I'm glad "Mad Men" won, but there were a lot of repeat winners.

Maybe the missing week is to blame. Would Ambush Bug Year None or All Star Batman have come out on December 30? We'll never know.

Anyway, here come the highlights.
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The Fifth Color - TIMECRASH! November 2009 Solicitations

Our pal, the EEK in charge Joe Quesada has been very clear with us that Dark Reign won't last out this year (God, willing, the creek don't rise and shipping schedules don't fail us).  At SDCC's Cup O' Joe he was asked this pretty directly and all on the panel sort of nodded calmly to the inevitable fact that whatever madness that got Norman Osborn to be in charge of national security would be put away by the end of 2009.

I know, direct, huh?  Not exactly like our extravagant exaggerators and hold-out experts to just give us a timeline and shrug as they'll meet you at the finish line.  Where's the panache?  The bells?  The whistles?  The hows and whys and hey, look.  November's solicitations.  Maybe we'll find some answers here, at the second to last month of year when it all ends for Dark Reign.

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Cornucopia of DEATH! DC Comics Solicitations for November, 2009

Grumpy Old Fan

While pulling together my notes on DC's November solicitations, I saw that I was talking about Blackest Night a lot. Big shocker, right?

Well, it kinda was. See, BN's actual presence doesn't increase that much in November, but the event seems to have a bit more impact this time out.

As always, though, DC's set its table with more than just a (reanimated, cosmically-powered) big bird. Let's see what else is on the plate, shall we?

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Never mind Comic-Con, here are the DC Comics solicitations for October 2009

Grumpy Old Fan

We aging superhero fans have a reputation for being stuck in the past, but I'm looking back at what I wrote last year about Comic-Con, and … well, 2008 looks a whole lot more exciting by comparison.

Last year, DC announced Neil Gaiman's Batman story, Flash: Rebirth, new spotlights on the Milestone and Red Circle characters, the revamped Supergirl (which helped set up the "New Krypton" mega-arc), and a Zatanna ongoing series.  While we're still waiting on Zatanna, I think it's safe to say the rest have each been pretty important to DC in one way or another.

This year, though? Pretty quiet. Oh sure, there were new Flash and Justice Society titles announced, plus the integration of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents into the DC lineup and Astro City going monthly. These are all noteworthy, and I do not mean to diminish any of them. I'm just saying that overall, they don't make as big of a splash. I thought DC's Comic-Con news would overshadow last week's October solicitations, and it kinda didn't.

Therefore, let's try to sort it all out.

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The Fifth Color | Marvel Solicitations for September 2009

Okay guys, this is September. Time to get serious. The summer blockbusters are either put to rest or coming to an end, and we have 11 different #1 issues to sort through, not to mention the other 11 #2 issues that are kicking it into high gear from last month. And what about the eight issues we know NOTHING about?? Pencils down, kids. The Marvel U just got real.

Or kind of ridiculous in regards to the ongoing narrative. But don't be afraid, not everything is all new and different. Let's take a gander at the September solicitations for the House of Ideas and see what we can look forward to hearing about when we're darn good and ready.

Okay, no joke, there are indeed 11 #1 issues coming out, from the benign Thor and Punisher Annuals (I actually find myself missing when they used to number annuals by the year they came out) to the long-awaited Spider-Woman #1 and Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size #1. There's even the ridiculous, but I'll get to that later. Point is, this is just as much a month for starts of things to come as August, which tips the scales at 14 #1 issues. Marvel may tout their 600th Captain America, Spider-Man or Incredible Hulk, but let's face it: #1 on a cover gives the book that delectable little collector's spice.

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Brought to you by the color red: DC Comics Solicitations for September 2009

Grumpy Old Fan

The September solicitations are here, bringing with them another month's worth of teases and puffery.  There are ongoing series for the Red Circle characters, a new edition of Red Son, and a paperback featuring a Communist Lady Blackhawk.  As if that weren't enough, this batch includes the start of a long-awaited Superman miniseries, the highly-anticipated conclusion of Flash:  Rebirth, and a couple of minor characters in desperate need of some salesmanship.  I'm also fairly sure that DC has made some kind of history in its writing corps.

Before we get to that, though, a non-solicitation item.  I'm pretty happy that DC will be putting at least part of Wednesday Comics in a newspaper, even if it's just the first installment of the Superman strip in one issue of USA Today. You may remember a couple of months ago that I went off on a little tirade about DC not supporting Wednesday Comics sufficiently, and while this isn't quite what I had in mind, it may be pretty effective.

Now then...
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Dead and loving it: DC Comics Solicitations for August, 2009

Grumpy Old Fan

August will be a busy month for DC's superhero line. Blackest Night rolls on, the Archie/Red Circle characters finally get their moments in the sun, there's an inter-title Superman crossover, and the Bat-line continues to grow. Let's get right to it, shall we?

BLACKEST NIGHT

There's a similarity to the various Blackest Night tie-ins, and it has to do with the "How Can [Hero] Fight [Deceased Loved One(s)]?" theme running through them. BN: Batman and BN: Superman feature dead parents; dead significant others are on the agenda for BN: Titans and Green Lantern #45; and dead Green Lanterns take the stage in GL Corps #39. We've all seen this story before, haven't we? The zombies have the upper hand thanks to the emotional hold they still exert over our heroes. Indeed, these folks' deaths helped shape our heroes' characters -- because that's what death in comics does, right?

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Paint it black: DC Comics solicitations for July 2009

Grumpy Old Fan

July should be an interesting month for DC Comics. Its latest big event arrives at last, and it launches a distinctive weekly throwback to the comics pages of yore. One seems like a license to print money, and the other may end up being simply an exercise in novelty printing. Still, I'm looking forward to both, and I'm cautiously optimistic about each.

Onward!
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Bustin’ out all over: DC Comics Solicitations for June 2009

Grumpy Old Fan

There’s a decent amount of good middle-of-the-road fare in the new batch of DC solicitations. Wonder Woman’s “Rise of the Olympian” arc concludes, as do Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye and Mysterius. Mon-El takes a victory lap around the world, we learn more about Nightwing and Flamebird, and we inch closer to Blackest Night. All of these developments are designed to maintain your interest in the individual books, but they’re not particularly noteworthy in and of themselves.

Instead, the big news looks to be in the shotgun-blast of relaunched Bat-titles, as well as with the “co-features,” DC’s latest experiment with formats and pricing. Those projects even overlap, perhaps not surprisingly, with Detective Comics and Streets of Gotham.

Anyway, let’s get to it, shall we?
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Rite of spring: DC Comics Solicitations for May 2009

Grumpy Old Fan

There’s a good deal of setup in the May solicitations. Battle for the Cowl wraps up, but it already feels like a foregone conclusion. Blackest Night #0 arrives for Free Comic Book Day, although BN won’t start for at least another month (and there’s no issue of Green Lantern solicited for May, either). It all combines to make May sound rather uneventful, because the real action has yet to begin. Now, that may not be entirely fair to the comics themselves, but it makes talking about their hype that much more difficult.

Nevertheless…

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The cruellest month: DC Comics Solicitations for April 2009

Grumpy Old Fan

This is going to be an odd round of solicit-talk for me. I skipped the March solicitations because we Robot Sixers were on a break; and I’m writing this post having spent most of the day in the car. Therefore, I ask for a little bit of slack in this look at DC’s April books.

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