DC Preview review for October Part 2 of 2

Continued from Wednesday

DC COMICS: THE NEW 52 HC

Written by VARIOUS Art by VARIOUS Cover by JIM LEE
On sale DECEMBER 7 • 1,216 pg, FC, $150.00 US
In September, DC Comic will launch 52 new #1 issues starring the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes! In December, to commemorate this incredible event, DC is collecting every one of these debut issues in a once-in-a-lifetime massive hardcover that includes:

• JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee
• ACTION COMICS #1 by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales
• BATMAN #1 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo
• GREEN LANTERN #1 by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke
• SWAMP THING #1 by Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette
• STORMWATCH #1 by Paul Cornell and Miguel Sepulveda
• TEEN TITANS #1 by Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth
• And 45 more!

Jim: You have to be frelling kidding me. Any book this size is unreadable and serves better as a doorstop or a blunt instrument to be used to kill someone. Plus the only unifying theme is that it is all the number ones published in September, why would I buy it? It has no hook for me, cost too much and is a lousy format. As a historical memento of an event it has some sort of place, just not in my collection.

Gwen: Yes! An excellent instrument of death! But, seriously, I wouldn't even know what to do with this book.

TALES OF THE BATMAN: DON NEWTON VOL. 1 HC
Written by BOB ROZAKIS, DENNIS O’NEIL, MARTIN PASKO and others Art by DON NEWTON and others • Cover by DON NEWTON
On sale DECEMBER 7 • 272 pg, FC, $39.99 US
In these tales from BATMAN #305-306, DETECTIVE COMICS #480 and 483- 492 and BRAVE AND BOLD #153-165, Batman revisits “The Curse of Crime Alley,” meets Maxie Zeus and wages war on the League of Assassins.

Jim: I liked Don Newton’s art, but this collection of so-so stories that may or may not tell a complete story has no compelling reason for me to buy this book. Look the New 52 HC before, I need a hook. If it is going to be an art book, do in a better format. If it is a collection celebrating Don Newton’s work that should be the focus, but the price and format indicate they collected Don’s work and shoved it into a normal DC hard cover format, doing nothing to enhance the experience to enjoy Don’s work. How about adding a 10 page bio, director commentary by the writers of what Don brought to the party, other artist commenting on various pages and panels about what made his work so good, that I would buy.

Gwen: I don't buy art books anyway so I can't say that would be much of a hook for me. I need a story hook. I like Dennis O'Neil's work but I'm not even sure what stories are collected in this volume.

THE STEVE DITKO OMNIBUS VOL. 2 HC
Written by STEVE DITKO, LEN WEIN, PAUL LEVITZ, MARK MILLAR and others • Art by STEVE DITKO and others • Cover by STEVE DITKO
On sale DECEMBER 14 • 384 pg, FC, $59.99 US
Collecting tales by artist Steve Ditko from SHOWCASE #75, THE HAWK AND THE DOVE #1-2, MAN-BAT #1, DETECTIVE COMICS #483-485 and 487, ADVENTURE COMICS #467-468, LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #267, 268, 274, 276 and 281, OUTSIDERS #13, LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE 80-PAGE GIANT #1 and the TALES OF THE NEW GODS TP.

Jim: I love Ditko, so I’m buying this book. Some of this material was weak and pure trash; some was Ditko at his best. No one has ever been able to really imitate his style. Alan Davis is about the closest one, but he captures the fluid nature of Ditko’s work, but not the insane storytelling and page design of Steve. A unique talent, a shame his personal beliefs eschew him from ever getting a true biography done.

Gwen: Again, not an art book person. Some of the material does look intriguing though but that's what borrowing from Jim's bookshelf is for.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ARCHIVES VOL. 13 HC
Written by JIM SHOOTER, PAUL LEVITZ and GERRY CONWAY Art by MIKE GRELL, MICHAEL NETZER, JOE STATON, JIM SHERMAN and others • Cover by MIKE GRELL
ADVANCE SOLICITED • On sale MARCH 21 • 240 pg, FC, $59.99 US
In these stories, collected from SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #224-233, the 30th century teens battle Stargrave, The Fatal Five and the intergalactic conspiracy known as The Dark Circle.

Jim: I thought DC has abandoned Archives and now we get this? Soon I will end up with an entire run of Legion through the entire Levitz era. I’m not really complaining but the recent collections of Levitz/Giffen and Levitz alone and the Legion Lost book are all in different size formats. They should know that when collectors are trying to get something we like a uniformed format. I think Gwen has all of this in the original comics.

Gwen: YES! More Legion worth reading. And Jim's right - I have most if not all of this but collections like this are so much easier to read.

SPACEMAN #1
Written by BRIAN AZZARELLO Art by EDUARDO RISSO Cover by DAVE JOHNSON
On sale OCTOBER 26 • 1 of 9, 32 pg, FC, $1.00 US •
MATURE READERS
Writer BRIAN AZZARELLO and artist EDUARDO RISSO – the Eisner Award-winning creators of 100 BULLETS – return to Vertigo with a new 9-issue miniseries, kicking off with a debut issue priced at just $1.00!
Set in a post-apocalyptic near future, SPACEMAN tells the story of Orson – a hulking, lonely loser who spends his days collecting scrap metal and dreaming of the startrekking life he was promised.
That is, until he finds himself at the center of a celebrity child kidnapping case. Seeing his chance to be a hero, Orson takes matters into his own hands...but will his actions only cause more heartbreak?

Jim: Azz and Risso means I’m buying it, but I hope the story line is a little more straightforward then much of Azz’s work. It sounds like an odd duck, but at nine issues long it should be interesting.

Gwen: This is a book worth looking into. The story sounds intriguing and, as a bonus, unique.

THE ANNOTATED SANDMAN VOL. 1 HC
Written by LESLIE S. KLINGER THE SANDMAN written by NEIL GAIMAN Art by SAM KIETH, MIKE DRINGENBERG, MICHAEL ZULLI, KELLEY JONES, CHARLES VESS and COLLEEN DORAN and others • Cover by DAVE McKEAN
On sale DECEMBER 28 • 560 pg, B&W, 11.75” x 11.75”, $49.99 US • MATURE READERS
In-depth, informative and entertaining, THE ANNOTATED SANDMAN is a fascinating look at the New York Times best-selling series by Neil Gaiman.
Edited by and with an introduction and notes by Leslie S. Klinger, the expert researcher and editor behind the Edgar®-winning New Annotated Sherlock Holmes and the critically acclaimed New Annotated Dracula, THE ANNOTATED SANDMAN is a panel-by-panel journey through every issue of THE SANDMAN. Beginning with issues #1-#20, this volume provides commentary, historical and contemporary references, hidden meanings and more, presented side-by-side with the series’ art and text. Using scripts and hours of conversation with Gaiman, Klinger reveals fascinating details of THE SANDMAN’s hundreds of unforgettable characters and its place in literary history.
The first of an incredible four volume series, the ANNOTATED SANDMAN Vol. 1 is a must-have for every Sandman fan!

Jim: I love the concept and think it has potential, but the B&W format of a color comic is a little off putting and I’m worried the type of paper maybe low grade. I would like to see it before I buy it. This is the type of stuff that should be going on with a lot of hard covers and certainly with digital formats. I keep thinking no one is doing digital comics right at this point. Just taking a comic and making it readable on a digital format is not even scratching the potential of a digital format. Can you imagine an option that shows the work as pencils only, then adds the inkers work, then adds the colors and finally adds the lettering.

Gwen: This does look pretty cool - although I actually have a book that goes through a lot of the historical and literary references in the Sandman books. It was actually a really neat read even though most of the literary references I can catch myself from my short stint as a literature major.

Jim: Well that wraps up October, by the time we are doing November the new #1’s will almost be here.

Gwen: And nothing Halloween oriented - how sad :(