The future, the past, and everything in-between is available to Batman fans this week as we get a new installment of Batman ’66, a brand-new Batman Beyond series, an issue of Batman & ___ dealing with the fallout of Damian’s death, and, of course, Trinity War continues in not one but two titles released this Wednesday.
Here are the review comics coming out this week, August 21st, graded on a scale of my own anticipation.
Hell no! – I’d rather not – Ambivalent – Interested – TAKE MY MONEY
Scroll to the bottom of the page and post in the comments section what books you’re most looking forward to this week!
Upcoming Comics: August 21st
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #23
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art by MIKEL JANIN
Cover by DOUG MANHKE
1:25 Variant cover by MIKAL JANIN
1:100 B&W Variant cover by DOUG MAHNKE
On sale AUGUST 21 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Anticipation Level: Ambivalent
It’s chapter 5 of 6 for the Trinity War event and I’m sorry to say that I’ve lost interest in this one. Trinity War has been horribly paced and stocked with too many characters who don’t really do anything. And all signs point to the real story not coming until September when the much larger-scale Forever Evil event begins. Hopefully in this issue the Justice League(s) will figure out who they are actually supposed to be fighting, but I’m sure after the way chapter 4 ended, the opening 5 or so pages will be spent watching everyone brawl with Wonder Woman. My guess is that Trinity War will end with all of the heroes gathering together to open Pandora’s box as one and their combined goodness will prove effective but it’ll also cause all the good guys in the DC universe to vanish (except for Batman because Batman sells really well). And that is me being cynical about crossover events, ladies and gentlemen!
TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA #3
Written by RAY FAWKES
Art by DANIEL SAMPERE and VICENTE CIFUENTES
Cover by RYAN SOOK
1:25 B&W Variant cover by RYAN SOOK
On sale AUGUST 21 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Anticipation Level: Ambivalent
By consulting my handy-dandy Trinity War Reading List it looks as though this issue should be read before Justice League Dark #23, but I’ll let you know on Wednesday if that’s really the case. The most recent tie-in came from Phantom Stranger and that was actually pretty good and it supplemented the Trinity War story rather well. Perhaps we’ll get that same level of quality from Pandora this week.
BATMAN AND NIGHTWING #23
Written by PETER J. TOMASI
Art and cover by PATRICK GLEASON and MICK GRAY
On sale AUGUST 21 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Anticipation Level: Interested
This is the stage of grief I’ve been looking forward to the most because A) It’s the last one and B) It will guest star Nightwing! Seeing as how this stage is referred to as “Acceptance” and features the side-kick with arguably the most compassion, let’s hope that Tomasi captures the same amount of heart that issue #18 and the Annual had and he ends this so-far-disappointing arc with a bang.
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #23
Written by JAMES TYNION IV
Art by JULIUS GOPEZ
Cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA
On sale AUGUST 21 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Anticipation Level: I’d rather not
Last month’s issue ended in totally 90s style with Roy Harper breaking into the League of Assassins camp wearing so much weaponry that it would make Rob Liefeld blush. The League wants Red Hood to leave, Red Hood can’t remember anything about his past still, and there’s some sort of magic war going on between the League, The Untitled, and those other guys whose names escape me… or something. I don’t know. As you can tell I’m not terribly invested in this arc and just wish Jason would have his memories returned and we can move past all of this ancient cult nonsense and show this trio actually behaving like outlaws.
BATMAN ’66 #2
Written by JEFF PARKER
Art by RUBEN PROCOPIO and DEAN HASPIEL
Cover by MICHAEL ALLRED
1:25 Variant cover by CULLY HAMNER
On sale AUGUST 21 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • DIGITAL FIRST
Anticipation Level: TAKE MY MONEY
The first issue was everything I wanted it to be and more! However, this issue won’t have Jonathan Case doing the art and that’s a HUGE bummer because his illustrations were what made that book sing. Still, Parker’s writing was top quality and we should have faith that Ruben Procopio and Dean Haspiel can deliver the same level of campy fun and vibrant, pop-art style that Case did. The solicits for this issue claim that it will be a battle with King Tut and introduce an all new 1966 interpretation of Killer Croc, but if you look at Comixology you’ll see that the issue that came after #1 actually featured Penguin and Mr. Freeze so I’m not sure which match-up we’re getting exactly.
BATMAN BEYOND UNIVERSE #1
Written by KYLE HIGGINS and CHRISTOS N. GAGE
Art by THONY SILAS and IBAN COELLO
Cover by SEAN MURPHY
1:25 Variant cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE
On sale AUGUST 21 • 48 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • DIGITAL FIRST
Anticipation Level: Interested
Two all-new creative teams relaunch Batman Beyond and Justice League Beyond. You can check out my interview with Christos N. Gage and Kyle Higgins by clicking HERE. In the first Justice League story, the team must stop Superman when his powers rage out of control (doesn’t sound like the most original JL plot, but we’ll see) and Batman Beyond 2.0 takes place 1 year after the end of Beechen’s run to show us a Terry McGinnis who has recently enrolled in Gotham University so that should make for a fresh new look at Batman Beyond’s world.
Graphic Novel Watch!
There aren’t any Batman-related graphic novels coming out this week.
