DC solicits Fall 2012 trade collections

On the Source yesterday, DC Comics Publicity Manager Pamela Mullins announced a host of new trade collections and graphic novels for the rest of 2012. This, on the heels of DC re-announcing the first DC New 52 collections -- this is, for the most part, everything not DC 52 for the year.

I've included some highlights below; I would mention that I am not completely blown away by this list. Green Lantern: Sector 2814 is unexpected, but the rest of these are expected -- additional volumes in reprint series, gargantuan omnibuses of dated material, and so on. In a post another time, I'll look at some DC material I'd still like to see collected -- if this is it for DC for 2012, seems to me they're not stretching themselves too far, in favor of letting the DC New 52 collections shine for the year.

(Would love to see a comics blog get some votes for a Shorty Award, by the way, if you'd like to help out.)

Here's what I noticed:

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL VOL. 3 – KNIGHTSEND TP NEW EDITION
Writers: Doug Moench, Alan Grant, Chuck Dixon, Mary Jo Duffy and Dennis O’Neil
Artists: Mike Manley, Dick Giordano, Bret Blevins, Graham Nolan, Scott Hanna, Ron Wagner, Tom Grummett, Jim Balent, Rick Burchett, Barry Kitson, Mike Vosburg, Mike Gustovich, Lee Weeks, Joe Rubinstein, Phil Jimenez and others
Collects: BATMAN #509, 510, 512-514, BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #29, 30, 32-34, DETECTIVE COMICS #676, 677, 679-681, BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #62 and 63, ROBIN #8, 9, 11-13, CATWOMAN #12, 13 and SHOWCASE 94 #10
$29.99 US, 652 pg

This collection also doesn't collect the "Knightfall: The Search" chapters that we talked about earlier; since Knightfall Vol. 2 has some of those "Search" chapters and not all of them, I still believe there's a mis-print somewhere and Legends of the Dark Knight #59-61, at least, will be collected in one of these volumes.

This volume does however, include Batman: Prodigal, the story where Dick Grayson becomes Batman the first time around. I know why DC's including this, as fans have been clamoring for another shot at Prodigal ever since Dick became Batman after RIP -- but if you're reading the Knightfall saga for the first time, Prodigal is terribly anti-climactic. You've had three volumes of Bruce Wayne beaten and fighting to reclaim the Batman mantle, he returns and defeats Azrael -- and then disappears for twelve entire issues while Dick fumbles around as Batman.

If the four-part "Troika" storyline that followed had also been included, which has Bruce back in a new costume, that might bring this book full circle; take it from me, however, that Prodigal ends on a cliffhanger, and if you've been following the story since the beginning of Knightfall, I'm pretty sure you'll be saying "Is that it?"

THE DC COMICS ART OF AMANDA CONNER HC
Writers: Barbara Kesel, Chuck Dixon, Jai Nitz, Terry Moore, Geoff Johns, Jimmy Palmiotti, Judd Winick,
Artists: Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti
Collects: SUPERMAN: LOIS LANE #1, BIRDS OF PREY #47-49, JSA CLASSIFIED #1-4, SUPERGIRL #12, WEDNESDAY COMICS #1-12, and stories from SECRET ORIGINS 80-PAGE GIANT #1, JOKER: LAST LAUGH SECRET FILES #1, the GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY WEDDING SPECIAL #1 and WONDER WOMAN #600
$39.99 US, 304 pg

This is a wacky collection in part because it's got an otherwise-uncollected Birds of Prey story in it that took place between Chuck Dixon and Gail Simone's runs. Also nice to see the uncollected material from Wonder Woman #600 surface here and there.

PENGUIN: PAIN AND PREJUDICE TP
Writers: Gregg Hurwitz and Jason Aaron
Artists: Szymon Kudranski and Jason Pearson
Collects: PENGUIN: PAIN AND PREJUDICE and JOKER’S ASYLUM: PENGUIN #1
$14.99 US, 144 pg

I've said before I think we need a Penguin miniseries like a hole in the head, not that that should dampen your enjoyment of it. That DC pads this post-Flashpoint Penguin origin with a pre-Flashpoint Penguin one-shot leaves me scratching my head.

HUNTRESS: CROSSBOW AT THE CROSSROADS TP
Writer: Paul Levitz
Artists: Marcos To and John Dell
Collects: HUNTRESS #1-6
$14.99 US, 144 pg

On the other hand, DC's not puffing this one up at all. As a backdoor pilot to DC's new Earth 2 endeavors, it'll likely sell itself.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: AMETHYST, PRINCESS OF GEMWORLD VOL. 1 TP
Writers: Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohen
Artists: Ernie Colon, Ric Estrada, Pablo Marcos, Alex Saviuk, Bob Smith, Gary Martin, Romeo Tanghal, Kurt Schaffenberger and Karl Kesel
Collects: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #298, AMETHYST, PRINCESS OF GEMWORLD #1-12, AMETHYST ANNUAL #1, DC COMICS PRESENTS #63 and AMETHYST #1-11
$19.99 US, 648 pg

I can't claim much of a touchstone for this series myself, but I recognize it as a long-uncollected DC classic and I'm sure someone is excited about this. No doubt this is coming out in part in conjunction with the upcoming Cartoon Network series.

THE 52 OMNIBUS HC
Writers: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid
Artists: Keith Giffen, Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose, Jack Jadson, Chris Batista, Jimmy Palmiotti, Ken Lashley, Eddy Barrows, Rob Stull, Shawn Moll, Tom Nguyen, Todd Nauck, Marlo Alquiza, Dale Eaglesham, Art Thibert, Patrick Olliffe, Drew Geraci, Ray Snyder, Phil Jimenez, Andy Lanning, Rodney Ramos, Dan Green, Tom Derenick, Jay Leisten, Jamal Igle, Keith Champagne, Andy Smith, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund and Darick Robertson
Collects: 52 #1-52
$150.00 US, 1216 pg

I've been calling this one for a while -- with DC's current emphasis on Omnibus editions, the weekly 52 series would seem ready-make for that kind of collection. One thousand, two hundred sixteen pages and $150 is a hefty, expensive book, however, at the same time DC is getting flak for the quality of their collections (see video via Kris Shaw below) -- I'm curious if this'll be worth the paper it's printed on, so to speak, or if at some point customers will start voting with their wallets against DC's poor bindings if they continue.

LEGION: SECRET ORIGIN TP
Writer: Paul Levitz
Artists: Chris Batista, Rich Perotta and Marc Deering
Collects: LEGION: SECRET ORIGIN #1-6
$14.99 US, 144 pg

Surprised to see DC go paperback on this. One person's opinion, I didn't think Legion really needed a "secret" origin -- maybe it hasn't sold so well that DC won't risk a hardcover on it.

STORMWATCH VOL. 2 HC
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artists: Tom Raney, Oscar Jimenez, Bryan Hitch, Paul Neary, Randy Elliot and others
Collects: STORMWATCH #48-50 and #1-11
$29.99 US, 384 pg

Glad to see this continuing. The first new Stormwatch hardcover collected the Stormwatch: Force of Nature (#37-42) and Lightning Strikes (#43-47) trades; this encompasses Change or Die, A Finer World, and Final Orbit. Not included here, troublingly, is the in-continuity WildCATS/Aliens story that ended Stormwatch and lead into Authority; maybe this will appear if DC keeps collecting WildCATS alongside this.

GREEN LANTERN: SECTOR 2814 VOL. 1 TP
Writer: Len Wein
Artists: Dave Gibbons, Dick Giordano, Mike DeCarlo and Mark Farmer
Collects: GREEN LANTERN #172-176, 178-183 and 185-186
$16.99 US, 192 pg

I'm rather enthused about this collection (series, it seems) of early 1980s, just-before-Crisis on Infinite Earths Green Lantern stories, which involve Hal Jordan in Earth-bound tales and eventually John Stewart taking over as Green Lantern. I imagine these will read as rather dated, and I don't think Hal comes off altogether well in them, but this is a significant period of DC history that lacks collections, especially these that are partially still in-continuity.

SUPERMAN: GROUNDED VOL. 2 TP
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Roberson
Artists: Eddy Barrows, Allan Goldman, JP Mayer and others
Collects: SUPERMAN #707-711 and 713-714
$14.99 US, 168 pg

Wouldn't it have been a riot if they'd decided to stick Superman #712 in the paperback?

That's my picks -- you can see the full list at the Source. What jumps out at you on the list?

(Video courtesy Kris Shaw)

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Review: Hulk Vol. 3: Hulk No More hardcover/paperback (Marvel Comics)

[Guest reviewer Zach King blogs about movies as The Cinema King]

Halfway through Jeph Loeb's run on Hulk, I'm finding this whole thing to be a bit of a mixed bag. Maybe it's a case of parts being more than their sum, but for every high point I'm finding I have to wade through a few chapters that just don't hit it for me. Volume 3, Hulk No More, has a fantastic ending, but it's a rebound after a problematic and ultimately lackluster opener.

Hulk No More, like its predecessor Red and Green, is divided roughly in half, although the division isn't as neat. Hulk No More begins with a three-parter in which Hulk and Red Hulk are pitted against each other in a cosmic game of "who's tougher," sponsored by The Grandmaster and The Collector. The stakes? Hulk, Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, and Namor have all been ripped from the most tragic times in their histories to fight for the lives of the women they love, while Red Hulk and his team of baddies (Terrax, Baron Mordo, and Tiger Shark) stand in their way, apparently just for the hell of it. Then Hulk and Red Hulk square off once more, this time in MODOK's secret government laboratory. It's here that Red Hulk drains Hulk of his gamma energy, stranding him as Bruce Banner and seemingly ending the Hulk's career -- for good.

Ed McGuinness rejoins Jeph Loeb for this volume, and while Art Adams and Frank Cho weren't terrible fill-ins, the return of McGuinness feels like stepping into familiar and inviting territory. McGuinness's bold pencils make the Grandmaster/Collector chapters feel appropriately larger than life, a return to the smackdown style of Red Hulk with every flying fist and bulging bicep rendered in double-page spreads and exhilarating action. When inkers Mark Farmer and Tom Palmer step in on the latter chapters, they bring a softer edge to McGuinness than his usual collaborator Dexter Vines, but the change-up (especially with Palmer's inks) is a welcome and intriguing one.

There's nothing terribly original about the Grandmaster/Collector storyline, nothing we haven't seen before -- two characters forced to do battle with a team of A-listers behind them, cosmic stakes afoot, cameos by plenty of heavy-hitters (i.e., Galactus, Dormammu) -- and even the ending is fairly standard. At the risk of spoiling it, nothing comes of this storyline. The Grandmaster and the Collector leave, restore any damage done to the characters, and wipe the memory of all involved. DC readers would look at this as an experiment in Elseworlds, a deus ex machina that whitewashes over any continuity problems the story might create.

If this were a Hulk miniseries I'd be fine with that, but it's not. As part of the main story, this battle royale ends up taking space away from the main narrative. It's exciting to see Red Hulk dueling Silver Surfer and absorbing his cosmic energy (especially as illustrated by Ed McGuinness), but Loeb has a great thing going here with the mystery of the Red Hulk and his apparently long reach within the Marvel Universe; unfortunately, this plot (like the Wendigo plot from the last volume) is simply a distraction, one that erases itself from continuity, at that.

This self-contradiction is exacerbated by the opening pages of the story proper in Hulk No More, in which the reader plays catch-up with Ben Urich, who's writing a story about the government's cover-up on the existence of the Red Hulk. It's an effective technique, but it's highlighted by the fact that we've spent three chapters/issues away from our main storyline. Fortunately, this second half of the book is more relevant and therefore a greater payoff. When Red Hulk drains Hulk and there's no Collector to reset continuity, it portends greater things to come. And with Spider-Man and Norman Osborn both conscious of this change in the Hulk's fate, there's a kind of ripple effect that lets us know Loeb isn't messing around anymore. With confirmation that Hulk is out of the picture, I'm excited to see where this is all going.

The book seems to have set aside the mystery of Red Hulk's identity for now, but I'm not so sure that's a bad thing. Ben Urich hangs a lantern when he asks She-Hulk, "Who is the Red Hulk?" and there might be a red herring that Norman Osborn is the Red Hulk (or maybe I'm just reading too much into the close-up of Osborn's enormous hands), but for the most part Loeb seems to be prioritizing momentum over mystery. Keep the action coming, keep the giants clobbering, keep the plot advancing. After a stumble with the cosmic battle royale, the volume quickly rebounds.

Is Hulk No More a great book overall? Not really, considering half of the book is a well-drawn waste of time. But am I going to keep reading? You bet your gamma ray shorts I am. Especially if it means I'm going to get more of Audrey Loeb's Lil' Hulks.

Zach intrigued.

Up next, Red Hulk takes center stage as he meets up with The Punisher, Deadpool, Wolverine, and the rest of X-Force -- and a certain lady in Red ...

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Number 1097


We love Lucey


Harry Lucey was one of the best Archie artists. While Bob Montana was THE artist of the Archie newspaper comic strip, Lucey was the main artist for years on the comic books. He could tell a lot with an expression or a pose.

Sam Hill, Private Eye was another short-lived attempt by the publishers of Archie to supplement their teenage line with other comic book fare. Sam Hill lasted for seven issues in 1950-51, which is about par for Archie. Other comics, such as The Dover Boys, which I showed in Pappy's #870, also drawn by Lucey, had an even shorter run, only two issues. Since this issue of Sam Hill is the only one I have I can't tell you if it's typical of the series, but there really isn't anything in this comic, except for Harry Lucey's artwork, which makes it stand out for me from the run-of-the-mill private eye stories in popular fiction, comic books, radio or television.

Sam Hill seems especially tame when compared to Lucey's earlier work. Consider this Hangman story from Pappy's #572 or the first story in the first issue of Crime Does Not Pay in Pappy's #786.

From Sam Hill, Private Eye #4, 1951:

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Number 1096


"You may be a lover, but you ain't no dancer..."


April Dancer (catchy name) was the "Girl" from The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., an NBC television series that was a spin-off of the popular Man From U.N.C.L.E.. Stephanie Powers, in all her youthful pulchritude, played April. The show lasted 29 episodes in 1966-'67. The comic wasn't much more successful, going for five issues. This issue, #2, was illustrated by Phantom artist Bill Lignante, who drew three of the five.

As a reviewer observed, April got into messes and was rescued by her coworker, Mark Slate, played by Noel Harrison. Harrison had a career that included this series and a couple of hit songs, including the outrageously campy "A Young Girl."*

In this comic notice the character, Miss Harshley. This was the 1960s, and a manlike woman wouldn't be a caricature of a sexual stereotype, especially not in cleancut Gold Key comics...not overtly, of course, but inferences can be drawn.































*I recall my girlfriend at the time loved this song. I, being Pappy, just in a younger body, made fun of it whenever I could. I thought the song was stupid, but I was also jealous of modish and handsome Noel Harrison.

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Video: hot cheeky girls in the dorm

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Video: let me study first then ill suck your cock!

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Video: Friend with benefits!!

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Number 1095


Jasper Fudd steps up to the plate


Jasper Fudd appeared in issues two and three of Boody Rogers' teenage comic, Dudley. Too bad there were only three issues because I think it's good. Jasper (and no, I don't know if he's related to Elmer Fudd) is a hick who moves to an urban high school, and needs to prove himself. It reminded me of what happened to me in a similar situation (oh lordy, another memoir from Pappy)...my family moved and I joined a fifth grade class which had been in session for a couple of months. I was tested on the baseball field during a phys ed class. I couldn't run, field, catch or play base, but Big Pappy had taught me how to bat, to step into a pitch and hit a long ball. That's what I did. I hit home runs. It was the same story with basketball. Big Pappy taught me to make free throws. I couldn't run, guard, or make a basket while moving, but I could hit free throws. So if there were ever teams that needed a guy to do one thing, and do it well, I would have been perfect. Alas. Fifth grade was the pinnacle of my career as a jock.

You can get the second Jasper story in Craig Yoe's book, Boody, still available from your favorite booksellers. This is the first Jasper Fudd story from Dudley #2, 1950:

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