DC Preview Review For February Part 2 of 3

MILESTONE FOREVER #1
Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Art by John Paul Leon, MD Bright, Romeo Tanghal & others
Cover by Admira Wijaya
On sale February 3 • 1 of 2 • 48 pg, FC, $5.99 US
DC Comics and Milestone Media entered into an unprecedented creative partnership 16 years ago this month by producing 14 interlocking, creator-owned titles including HARDWARE, ICON, and the multimedia hit that would best be known as STATIC SHOCK. Now, nine Parents Choice Awards, four Eisner Award nominations, and one Emmy and Humanitas Award-winning hit TV series later, Milestone is back, its continuity mysteriously merged with the DCU. While we saw the DC side of the story in JUSTICE LEAGUE: WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, the 2-issue MILESTONE FOREVER gathers the original artists from Milestone’s launch titles – including John Paul Leon, Mark Bright, Chris Cross and Milestone founder Denys Cowan – to complete the tales told in the original runs of STATIC SHOCK, ICON, HARDWARE, SHADOW CABINET and BLOOD SYNDICATE. Milestone editor-in-chief Dwayne McDuffie reveals the final fate of each of Milestone’s launch characters in a bittersweet tale that chronicles the literal end of a universe and the birth of something new…with major consequences for the future of the DC Universe.

Jim: I’m real curious to see this after all the convoluted history with Dwayne and DC on this project. Will the Milestone heroes survive and become part of the DCU?
Lee: I hope the Milestone heroes survive, I just hope they don’t become part of the DCU. I thought they always worked better on their own. The problem becomes, do I want “untainted” heroes I very rarely see or do I want continuing adventures even if they are watered down in the DCU.
Gwen: I'm not too concerned with the Milestone Universe. You guys can let me know how good or bad it is and we'll see how intrigued I become.


BATMAN AND ROBIN DELUXE EDITION VOL. 1: BATMAN REBORN HC
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frank Quitely, Philip Tan & Jonathan Glapion
Cover by Frank Quitely
Advance-solicited • On sale April 7 • 160 pg, FC, 7.0625" x 10.875", $24.99 US
Batman and Robin hit the streets with a bang in their new flying Batmobile to face an assemblage of villains called the Circus of Strange and investigate the abduction of a child by the mysterious Domino Killer. But can this new Dynamic Duo find a way to work together? Find out in this new Deluxe hardcover collecting the first six issues of the hit series!

Jim: DC is ticking me off, Marvel takes their big names and does an Omnibus is something collection giving us the entire run of a creator on a book. I’m not sure DC will do that so I feel forced to pick up these hard covers as they come out. If they ever do a better collection, Gwen will get these.
Lee: I’m really on the fence with this book. On one hand, I really want it and on the other I’m worried it so bogged in continuity that I won’t be able to read it. I miss the days where you occasionally got a stand alone story.
Gwen: Ah, my Dad, always trying to encourage me to like Grant Morrison more than I do. Seriously, I actually have enjoyed this run so far.

DC COMICS CLASSICS LIBRARY: THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA BY GEORGE PEREZ VOL. 2 HC
Written by Gerry Conway
Art by George Pérez, Gil Kane, Brian Bolland, Joe Kubert & others
Cover by George Pérez
Advance-solicited • On sale April 28 • 192 pg, FC, $39.99 US
The second half of the 1980s JLA stories illustrated by George Pérez is collected from JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #193-197 and 200. Also includes select covers by Pérez!

Jim: Lee said he read volume 1 and it did not hold up as well as he hoped, I still remember this as some decent JLA stuff so I will pick up volume 2.
Lee: Volume 1 was fine. And I mean fine as in acceptable. It was expensive for the number of issues and incomplete stories. But, the art was nice, if a little crude. Perez was not well served by his inkers. This one will be much better. I still have all the original issues in question so I know how good they are. A three issue battle-supremo with the Injustice League and issue 200 make it well worth the price.
Gwen: Actually this stuff looks like it could be fun to read over.


HARDWARE: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE TP
Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Art by Denys Cowan, J.J. Birch & others
Cover by Denys Cowan
Advance-solicited : On sale March 24 : 192 pg, FC, $19.99 US This first-ever HARDWARE collection, featuring HARDWARE #1-8, introduces inventor/engineer Curt Metcalf whose high tech armor enables him to break free of his corrupt employer, mob connected businessman Edwin Alva.

Lee: I recently reread the Icon trade and loved it. And, I remember Hardware being even better than Icon. This is an awesome Iron Man type super hero story with great writing and art. I’m really looking forward to this.
Jim: The Milestone books had a lot of great elements in them and the first few years were great.
Gwen: I have no idea what this is. Before my time perhaps? Either way, the armor as a super power stuff is always a hard sell for me.


SHOWCASE PRESENTS: WORLD’S FINEST VOL.3
Written by Edmond Hamilton & others
Art by Curt Swan & others
Cover by Curt Swan & George Klein
Advance-solicited • On sale March 17 • 496 pg, B&W, $17.99 US
Collecting WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #146-160, 162-164 and 171-173.

Jim: I have had enough of these phone book collections. Still if your collection is not overloaded with these books this is a good one. It has some great work from the Silver Age. Edmond Hamilton always wrote entertaining stories and Curt Swan was the George Perez of his era.
Lee: Wow, this proves I know nothing about DC silverage! Edmond who? DC had a stable of corny writers during this period and I’m sure these are unintentionally laugh out loud funny, but I have enough of the phone books too so I’ll pass.
Gwen: I don't know. I've been passing a lot of this stuff along to my boss's little brother and he seems to enjoy it.


WEDNESDAY COMICS HC
Advance-solicited • On sale MAY 26 • 200 pg, 11"x17.5", $49.99 US
This is it! The oversized, hardcover collection of DC’s 2009 weekly comics sensation that USA Today called "cool, classic-looking." Featuring composite cover art, the WEDNESDAY COMICS HC includes:
• ADAM STRANGE written and illustrated by Paul Pope
• BATMAN written by Brian Azzarello with art by Eduardo Risso including additional panel art on each page!
• METAMORPHO written by Neil Gaiman with art by Michael Allred
• DEADMAN written by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck with art by Dave Bullock
• THE DEMON AND CATWOMAN written by Walter Simonson with art by Brian Stelfreeze
• THE FLASH written by Karl Kerschl and Brenden Fletcher with art by Karl Kerschl
• GREEN LANTERN written by Kurt Busiek with art by Joe Quinones
• HAWKMAN written and illustrated by Kyle Baker
• KAMANDI written by Dave Gibbons with art by Ryan Sook
• THE METAL MEN written by Dan DiDio with art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez & Kevin Nowlan
• SGT. ROCK written by Adam Kubert with art by Joe Kubert
• SUPERGIRL written by Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Amanda Conner
• SUPERMAN written by John Arcudi with art by Lee Bermejo
• TEEN TITANS written by Eddie Berganza with art by Sean Galloway
• WONDER WOMAN written and illustrated by Ben Caldwell
Plus: Don’t miss previously unpublished pages — one starring The Creeper (written by Keith Giffen with art by Eric Canete) and one starring Plastic Man (written by Evan Dorkin with art by Stephen DeStefano)! And, as if that weren’t enough, this can’t-miss collection also includes a bonus sketchbook section and intro by series editor Mark Chiarello!

Jim: Yeah, they did this collection justice with the size of it. Boo as it will be an odd duck on a bookshelf. Still I’m very happy that DC got this collection out so soon. I hope they try the newspaper comics again one day.
Lee: I cannot wait for this. It should be awesome. I wonder if they’ll collect the stories together or leave as printed so you’ll have to skip pages to read the next installment.
Gwen: I know Jim is excited about this. This was certainly a fun idea from DC. I had fun with the format.


PART 3 Tomorrow