ADVENTURE COMICS #527 Written by PAUL LEVITZ Art by GERALDO BORGES and MARLO ALQUIZA Cover by EDUARDO PANSICA and EBER FERREIRA
A “Legion Academy” single-issue story starring the enthusiastic (and sometimes ditzy) Legionnaire-in-training, Comet Queen! We learn her origin tale and the tragedies she has endured on her path to graduation. On sale JUNE 1 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #14 Written by PAUL LEVITZ Art and cover by YILDIRAY CINAR and JONATHAN GLAPION
The Legion of Super-Villains gains the upper hand in their fight with the Legion on Colu! Will the LSV and the powerful entity behind them prevail? On sale JUNE 15 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Jim: In spite of myself I find I’m slowly getting pulled back into the Legion. What I still don’t understand is exactly what iteration of the Legion is this? I guess it is the classic version with some variations on a theme, but that makes it all the harder to figure out what is what and who is who.
Gwen: I would have been fine with just knowing which Legion this was supposed to be because I still get upset at certain liberties taken with some of the characters. It was different with Waid and Kitson’s Legion as it was presented as an very different Legion than any previous version. But if you have already established versions of characters I think changing them to the point where they don’t even seem to be the same original concept is dumb.
DC COMICS PRESENTS: SUPERMAN - INFESTATION #1 Written by JOE KELLY and MARV WOLFMAN Art by PACO MEDINA, WALDEN WONG and JUAN VLASCO Cover by DALE KEOWN
Worlds are dying! A cosmic virus has entered our galaxy infecting entire planets. And before it’s done, the Man of Steel will have to travel to the ends of the universe to rescue Lois Lane from its corruption. Reprinted from ACTION COMICS #778, SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #113, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #591 and SUPERMAN #169. On sale JUNE 1 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US DC COMICS PRESENTS: IMPULSE #1 Written by TODD DEZAGO Art by ETHAN VAN SCIVER, WALTER SIMONSON, ANGEL UNZUETA and others • Cover by ETHAN VAN SCIVER and WAYNE FAUCHER It’s Batman vs. The Joker – with Impulse caught in the middle! Plus, Impulse battles Kalibak, son of Darkseid – and meets Inertia, the Reverse-Impulse! Featuring art by Ethan Van Sciver, from IMPULSE #50-53! On sale JUNE 8 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US
DC COMICS PRESENTS: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA – BLACK BAPTISM #1 Written by RUBEN DIAZ and SEAN SMITH Art by JESUS SAIZ and KEITH CHAMPAGNE • Cover by TIM BRADSTREET When the World’s Greatest Heroes learn that a family of mobster demons called the Diablos have declared a gang war on the Sentinels of Magic (Dr. Fate, Zatanna, Deadman, and others), the JLA split up to protect the mages of the DC Universe. Collecting the four-issue miniseries from 2001. On sale JUNE 15 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US
Jim: I do not understand the point of these reprints from DC. I’m wondering if it is more a formatting for putting together more or less complete stories and using the direct market to underwrite the work, but it is really targeted at the digital audience. I’m just guessing but none of these titles are appealing to me and I have yet to buy one.
Gwen: This seems like really random material to be reprinting - nothing terribly significant or even all that individually intriguing. Although the universe virus Superman story looks amusing.
THE NEW TEEN TITANS OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC Written by MARV WOLFMAN Art by GEORGE PEREZ, CURT SWAN, ROMEO TANGHAL and others Cover by GEORGE PEREZ
In 1980, writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez introduced a timeless team including Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Cyborg, Changeling, Raven and Starfire – young heroes with great powers and strong personalities who learned their way in the world through the strength of their friendship and the adventures they shared. This first omnibus edition collects the team’s debut in DC COMICS PRESENTS #26, plus the first sixteen issues of their smash-hit monthly series, including the first appearances of foes including Deathstroke and Trigon, as well as a confrontation with The Justice League of America. On sale AUGUST 24 • 464 pg, FC, $75.00 US
Jim: I have the archives edition and that is just fine for me. While this collects 17 issues of the New Teen Titans, I have no desire to get this book in yet another format. In fact I wish DC had a real policy behind their hard cover program which seems to have no rhyme or reason behind it anymore.
Gwen: I also already have these issues as regular trades. These were good stories but I don’t think I’d want them in an omnibus format. I like them in the easily accessible format I currently have on my shelves. They’re also easier to loan out that way.
THE STEVE DITKO OMNIBUS VOL. 1 STARRING SHADE THE CHANGING MAN HC Written by STEVE DITKO, MICHAEL FLEISHER, PAUL LEVITZ and others Art by STEVE DITKO, WALLACE WOOD and others • Cover by STEVE DITKO
DC collects Steve Ditko’s 1970s comics SHADE, THE CHANGING MAN #1-8 and STALKER #1-4, along with stories from STRANGE ADVENTURES, PLOP, HOUSE OF MYSTERY, HOUSE OF SECRETS, WEIRD WAR TALES, SECRETS OF HAUNTED HOUSE, TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED, TIME WARP, GHOSTS and MYSTERY IN SPACE! On sale AUGUST 3 • 464 pg, FC, $59.99 US
Jim: This is a book I’m forced to buy as I’m a huge Steve Ditko fan. Why this can’t include his two issues on Hawk and Dove is beyond me, but it does say volume one, so who knows. I’m still waiting for the next Neal Adams stuff done in the general DCU. Steve Ditko is such an enigma because he has stayed away from every doing interviews or making public appearances. Born in 1927 Steve is 84, but John Severin is older than that and still cranking out work. It is a shame he never sat down and gave a wide ranging interview of his history in comics as he is an important figure in the history of comics and no one else has even drawn quite like Ditko.
Gwen: As much as I can appreciate Steve Ditko’s work I’m not as big of a fan as Jim. As far as large format books go I’m fairly happy with the ones currently on my shelf - my Sandman books and Kingdom Come.
THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS HC Written by GERRY CONWAY, PAUL LEVITZ and others • Art by Various Cover by RICH BUCKLER and JACK ABEL
Sinestro, Gorilla Grodd, Captain Cold and more star in stories from SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS #1-15, DC SPECIAL #27, DC SPECIAL SERIES #6, SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #13-14, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #166-168, CANCELLED COMICS CAVALCADE #2 and THE AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS #11. On sale AUGUST 17 • 208 pg, FC, $39.99 US
Jim: Okay I’m getting this as a pure guilty pleasure, plus it will never be printed again. I still don’t understand how DC chooses what to print from their archives.
Gwen: Hah, guilty pleasure. My guilty pleasure in comics would be buying a collection of super-pet stories if one was ever published.
AMERICAN VAMPIRE: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST #1 Written by SCOTT SNYDER Art and cover by SEAN MURPHY 1:10 Variant cover by CLIFF CHIANG
From the pages of the red-hot Vertigo series comes a five-issue spinoff miniseries! It’s World War II in Nazi-occupied Romania as vampire hunters Felicia Book and Cash McCogan (last seen in the critically acclaimed AMERICAN VAMPIRE story “Devil in the Sand”) go behind enemy lines with the secret organization known as the Vassals of the Morningstar in search of a rumored vampire cure. But their haunted, twisted past with Skinner Sweet makes the mission more difficult than they imagined. Superstar artist Sean Murphy (JOE THE BARBARIAN) joins Scott Snyder to tell a story of horror and history, expanding the American Vampire mythology in a way that changes this story forever. On sale JUNE 8 • 1 of 5, 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • Mature Readers
Jim: This is pretty cool. I get the feeling Scott had a ton of material that has been just waiting for the opportunity to actual publish his work. It is nice to see Scott become such an “overnight” sensation.
Gwen: I wonder if Scott ever gets a chance to sleep. I’m amazed at the sheer amount of good work he puts out in such a short time period.
THE ABSOLUTE SANDMAN BOOK FIVE HC Written by NEIL GAIMAN, P. CRAIG RUSSELL and MATT WAGNER Art by P. CRAIG RUSSELL, YOSHITAKA AMANO, TEDDY KRISTIANSEN, FRANK QUITELY, MILO MANARA and others • Cover by DAVE MCKEAN
The latest oversized deluxe slipcased SANDMAN hardcover collects the Eisner Award-winning THE SANDMAN: ENDLESS NIGHTS plus DREAM HUNTERS (both the prose novella and the comics adaptation) and the hard-to-find SANDMAN MIDNIGHT THEATRE, featuring Wesley Dodds! Advance-solicited • On sale NOVEMBER 2 • 512 pg, FC, $99.99 US • Mature Readers
Jim: This just strikes me as greedy. This has nothing to do with the actual Sandman series and is just collecting some ancillary material and then gouging fans for another $100.
Gwen: Yeah, I can’t say anything. I’d be suckered in for it if only for the Dream Hunter’s story especially since it’s the version with Yoshitaka Amano’s art. Which is gorgeous and deserves a large format - of course if would have been nicer if the Death story was included with this instead of in a separate Absolute entirely. In fact that’s what the should have done - Dream Hunters and Death the High Cost of Living. Endless Nights was decent but I already have a hardcover version!
Jim: So part 3 broke down into more of a normal preview review. What I’m trying to do is break out of the box that we have built for ourselves. The preview review has become, pick a book, rave about it or be snarky about it, but never really talk about the company we are reviewing or why a book strikes our fancy or why it looks like crap. Hopefully we have at least pushed the edges of the box apart.
Gwen: I felt that the formant was different - it makes more sense to talk about some of the comics in groups anyway.
How is the Superman in Infestation able to move? His muscels are so overwrought they're a disability.
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