Shane Talks Previews: September 2009 - DC Comics

Oh hey, right, I should post in the blog.  September previews are here, and apparently the previews magazine is out too, although I haven't gotten mine in the mail yet.  But you'll all have likely seen this, so I'll start commenting on it.

Magog #1

DC launches another ongoing book, Magog, spinning out of Kingdom Come and Justice Society of America.  I recently re-read Kingdom Come (in beautiful Absolute format), and I've read the first two hardcovers of the JSA arc "Thy Kingdom Come", enjoying both, so I'm pleasantly surprised to see this--especially the creative team.  I sing the praises of Keith Giffen all the time, but Howard Porter, too?  This is going to be a good book.  I'm sure it'll be canceled before long, unless it picks up some miraculously strong audience, but for the few issues it lasts, I'll almost certainly be there.  The only thing keeping me away will be waiting to buy the collection--I'm debating.

The Web #1 and The Shield #1

Immediately after the Red Circle "miniseries" ends, we see the launch of two new ongoing books, The Web and The Shield.  It's the latter that has the most impressive writer (Eric Trautmann has proven himself with me, especially for a book like this), but from what I hear, the rest of the crew is at least halfway decent (Marco Rudy's certainly good, and I've already gushed about the team of Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz).  The Web also features one of DC's new African American female writers, which shouldn't be a big deal but is.  Lots of press there, which may help these titles find a footing--but, regardless of quality, I'm not too optimistic for the long-term success of these books.  Still, having a co-feature, and launching right after the Red Circle event (while the characters are still hot) should help.

The Brave and the Bold #27

It's a shame that J. Michael Straczynski wasn't able to continue on with the Red Circle characters after the miniseries, but he makes his long-teased debut on this book soon, paired with exceptional artist Jesus Saiz.  So this book?  It's going to be very good again.  On par with the Waid/Perez launch?  We'll see, but I'm very optimistic.  Some of the announced pairings for the book are really intriguing, too, and it's nice to see Dial H For Hero show up again.

Teen Titans #75

Finally, some (theoretical) stability to the title.  I mentioned one African American female writer earlier, and here's another.  I don't know too much about her, but some people seem excited about it, and a fresh perspective certainly can't hurt, right?  At the very least, Joe Bennett is a talented artist, so it'll look good.  And I've heard only good things about the Ravager co-feature, believe it or not.  It looks like Sean McKeever's finally back in good form.

In other news, Red Tornado gets a six-issue miniseries.  It might have rated a picture-spot up there, but the thoroughly unimpressive creative team and the lack of a spotlight on the book bumped it down.

Speaking of seemingly-random books, the Solomon Grundy miniseries draws to a close, perhaps tying in with Blackest Night?  I've actually heard some really good things about this book, and with Scott Kolins as illustrator, it'll at least look great.  With luck, he's a good writer, as well.  Those reading it--thoughts?

The Superman titles continue their build to the mega event of 2010, which intrigues me.  New Krypton was mostly ignored in favor of the Battle for the Cowl, Blackest Night and Final Crisis, so it'll be interesting to see Superman really go into the spotlight once again.  Unfortunately, despite the strong quality of these books, sales aren't looking so good.  Believe it or not, people apparently don't want to read a Superman title without Superman in it.

Wednesday Comics draws to a close, looking great as ever.  I can't wait for my first issues to arrive in the mail.

The big and unusual news for this round of solicits, though, is Wonder Woman: Rise of the Olympian.  They're releasing both a hardcover and softcover.  On the same day.  That's unheard of, right?  I'm glad to see that it's getting the hardcover treatment still--Amazon was only showing softcover for awhile, which disappointed me, because I liked collecting the book in hardcover.  But plenty of people are going to like getting an earlier softcover edition.  I suspect that it's a test run to see which format to continue the book in, but it means that I'll get at least one more hardcover for my shelf before being forced to switch to softcover.

That's all for DC.  I didn't take a look at Vertigo or Wildstorm this time, because nothing's sticking out in my mind, but if there's anything from DC, Vertigo or Wildstorm that you think is noteworthy, comment on it, let's get some discussion going!

I'll see you all at Gary's tonight!