Upcoming Comics: August 10, 2016

I have a confession… I LOVE watching the summer Olympics! My DVR is working overtime at the moment because I’m recording anything involving swimming, gymnastics, soccer, rugby, judo, and more. And just as I did during world cup, all I can think about is, “What if DC characters were competing?” Can you imagine Bruce and Cassandra dominating judo? Or a Men’s U.S. gymnastics team with Dick Grayson as the team captain? A women’s team with Selina Kyle and Harley Quinn? Actually… can you imagine a Harley Quinn at the Olympics, period? Come on DC! Where’s that special? I know I’ve openly discussed having some Harley fatigue, but I’d definitely read that!

Speaking of Harley, we debuted a new post this past week: This Week In Comics. This is something Brian will post each Friday, and it will recap our reviews for that week’s titles. The most exciting thing about this post though… is that it’s posting to the home page!!! AKA: The comics section is getting some “prime time coverage” on Batman-News.com! If you missed it, you can check it out here. Be sure to circle back each week to comment on your favorite titles for the week!

Also, if you’re a fan of our cover polls, then we’ve got a lot for you to participate in this week! In addition to our weekly poll, we have three other polls: July Variant Cover Poll, Justice League #1 Variant Cover Poll, and Harley Quinn #1 Variant Cover poll!

Alright, on to business! This week’s releases are listed in order of what I’m most excited to read, to what I’m least excited to read. For each title, I’ll include the official solicitation, the talent credits, more of my randomness, and the Batman News team member that will be reviewing each book. After that, you’ll find a poll for this week’s best cover! Should you have trouble picking one cover, no worries! The poll is open so you can select as many covers as you’d like. Then, as always, you’ll find graphic novels scheduled for release this week, along with their cover as well (note: graphic novel covers will not be included in the poll for best cover). And of course, I (we) want to hear from you in the comments section! What titles are you picking up? What do you hope to see? And what are your thoughts about the order of my list? So, without further ado…

 

August 10^th

Detective Comics #938
“Rise of the Batmen” part five! Batman, Batwoman, and the entire team take the fight to the deadly Colony! Those highly trained operatives took the Bat-team apart on their own turf…so how will they fare when the Colony is in its element, with all their weapons trained on our heroes?

Written by James Tynion IV
Pencils by Alvaro Martinez
Inks by Raul Fernandez
Cover by Raul Fernandez, Alvaro Martinez, and Tomeu Morey

Random Blurb of Excitement: Everything about Tynion’s run so far has been nearly perfect! It’s incredibly fun, action packed, and reminds me of the Batman stories I loved from the 90’s and 2000’s! I can only imagine how good this book will be as it continues to build upon itself over the next few arcs!

Batman News Critic: Brandon

 

 

All Star Batman #1
“My Own Worst Enemy” part one! Superstar writer Scott Snyder explodes into an all-new Batman series alongside legendary artist John Romita Jr., reimagining some of the Dark Knight’s greatest villains. First up: Two-Face! Batman must take Two-Face to a destination out of Gotham City, but the duplicitous villain has a two of spades up his sleeve. Every assassin, bounty hunter and ordinary citizen with something to hide is on their tails with one goal: kill Batman! Handcuffed together on the road to hell, this is Batman and Two-Face as you’ve never seen them before!

Written by Scott Snyder
Pencils John Romita Jr. and Declan Shalvey
Inks by Danny Miki and Declan Shalvey
Colored by Jordie Bellaire and Dean White
Cover by Danny Miki, John Romita Jr., and Dean White

Random Blurb of Excitement: At SDCC, Snyder gave away quite a bit of information about this book and it’s first arc. There’s a really interesting story involving Harvey Dent and the information he gained before becoming Two Face, and I’m extremely excited to see how it plays out. That being said, Snyder has openly admitted that he has some interesting takes on villains lined up, and if Calendar Man was any sign of what’s to come… then I’m quite nervous. I think Snyder is an excellent writer, but I do think he could serve to show some restraint at times. Considering he’ll probable have more freedom with this title than he did with the flagship Batman, I’m not sure if this will be a winning combination… We’ll have to wait and see.

Batman News Critic: Jay

 

 

Red Hood & the Outlaws #1
“Dark Trinity” part one! When a turf war puts Black Mask in Red Hood’s crosshairs, Jason discovers that the False Face Society is not what it seems, and that the organization is about to auction off a powerful weapon. As criminals from all over the globe descend on Gotham City, Jason must prove that he belongs amongst the city’s worst in order to gain access to this Dark Summit!

Written by Scott Lobdell
Pencils and Inks by Dexter Soy
Colored by Veronica Gandini
Cover by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, and Dean White

Random Blurb of Excitement: I’ve made it quite clear that I’m not a fan of Lobdell. More often than not, his stories tend to fall on the “terrible” side of the spectrum, but beyond that, he’s conducted himself quite poorly in interviews and panels in the past… Now, his Red Hood Rebirth #1 was REALLY GOOD! If you didn’t read it, then you need to! I’ve found that when he sticks to the basics with Jason and keeps him at a “street level,” he does a damn good job. If he can maintain that throughout this run, then you’ll start to see more favorable comments from me for future issues.

Batman News Critic: Brian

 

 

Notes:

• Additional Rebirth releases this week: Action Comics #961, Deathstroke Rebirth #1, Hal Jordan & the Green Lantern Corps #2, New Superman #2, Superwoman #1, The Flash #4, and Wonder Woman #4.
• Suicide Squad’s Most Wanted: El Diablo and Boomerang #1 will be released this Wednesday, however we will not review the monthly issues, and trade-wait the series instead.
• Justice League of America #9 has been scheduled for August 17^th.
• Harley’s Little Black Book #4 has been pushed back to July 13^th August 3^rd August 24^th.
• The Dark Knight III: The Master Race #6 has been pushed back to August 24^th.
• Justice League of America #10 has been scheduled for August 31^st.
• Harley Quinn & Her Gang of Harleys #5 has been pushed back to August 31^st.
• Justice League of America #11 has been scheduled for September 14^th.
• Justice League of America #12 has been scheduled for September 28^th.
• Justice League of America Annual #1 has been scheduled for November 30^th.

 

 

Cover of the Week:

Now, with all of this week’s releases listed above, it’s time for you to sound off! What’s the best cover that is being released this week? If you’re like me, and can’t decide on just one, then you can select multiple if you would like. Vote using the poll below, and we’ll announce the winner next week.

Last week’s results can be found in the spoiler tag.

 

Graphic Novel Watch:

Batman: The Golden Age Vol. 1 – American popular culture has produced few heroic figures as famous and enduring as that of the Batman. The dark, mysterious hero who debuted in 1939’s DETECTIVE COMICS #27 as the lone “Bat-man” quickly grew into the legend of the Caped Crusader. After his landmark debut and origin story the Dark Knight was given many seminal elements including his partner in crime-fighting Robin, the Boy Wonder, and such adversaries as the Joker, Hugo Strange and Catwoman.

BATMAN: THE GOLDEN AGE VOLUME ONE collects all of the Dark Knight Detective’s first-ever adventures from DETECTIVE COMICS #27-45, BATMAN #1-3 and NEW YORK WORLD’S FAIR COMICS #2.

 

Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 2 – This second Golden Age collection includes stories from the early 1940s in which the Dynamic Duo battle evildoers including the Penguin, the Joker, Two-Face, the Scarecrow and many more. Collects DETECTIVE COMICS #57-74, BATMAN #8-15 and WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #4-9.

 

Batman/ Superman Vol. 5: Truth Hurts – THESE ARE NOT THE WORLD’S FINEST…

Batman and Superman—separately, they’re two of the greatest heroes the world has ever seen. Together, they’re an incredible team…and the greatest of friends. *But Batman and Superman have never teamed up like this before.

This is a Superman who’s lost most of his powers and had his identity revealed to the entire world. Someone is coordinating a series of attacks against him that have brought him to the brink of destruction, and he needs the world’s greatest detective to help him put the clues together.

But this Batman isn’t Bruce Wayne. Jim Gordon now protects Gotham as the robot-suited Batman, and he has no reason to trust Superman…especially when his presence in Gotham seems to have brought on a war with a race of super-powered subterranean beings!

They may not be the Batman and Superman who have done amazing things together in the past. But if they can’t learn to work together now, there may no longer be a Gotham City to protect!

Spinning off of the events of BATMAN VOL. 8: SUPER HEAVY and SUPERMAN VOL. 1: TRUTH, acclaimed writer Greg Pak (ACTION COMICS) and artists Ardian Syaf (GREEN LANTERN) and Cliff Richards (LOBO) chronicle the first meeting between two very changed heroes, with guest appearances by Batgirl, Aquaman, Red Hood and more! Collects BATMAN/SUPERMAN #21-27.

 

Deathstroke Vol. 3: Suicide Run – Nobody defeats Deathstroke. Slade Wilson has killed a Titan, held his own against the God of War and gone punch for punch with Superman and lived to tell the tale.

But someone has found the one chink in Deathstroke’s armor…

Now his daughter, Rose, has gone missing, taken by none other than Harley Quinn. Harley intends to force Slade to make good on an old promise, and her ultimatum is simple: to find his daughter, he’ll have to kill Amanda Waller, head of the Suicide Squad and Harley’s jailor.

But how far can anyone trust the unbalanced Harley? When Deathstroke’s intel pits him against everyone from Lex Luthor’s army of Bizarros to Red Hood, it’s clear that there’s more to this puzzle than meets the eye. Deathstroke wants answers, but more importantly, he wants his daughter back. And he’s not about to let anyone stand in his way!

Writers James Bonny (THE SAVAGE HAWKMAN) and Tony S. Daniel (DETECTIVE COMICS) and artists Tyler Kirkham (TEEN TITANS) and Paolo Pantalena (RED HOOD/ARSENAL) set Deathstroke on his most important mission yet in DEATHSTROKE VOL. 3: SUICIDE RUN! Collects issues #11-16.

 

JULY VARIANT COVER POLL

Below you’ll find a list of variant covers from the month of July, followed by the Best July Variant cover poll. The top cover will be announced in next week’s Upcoming Comics post, and will advance to the Best Cover of Q-3 2016 cover poll.

 

JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 VARIANT COVER POLL

Below you’ll find a list of variant covers for Justice League #1, followed by the Best Justice League #1 Variant cover poll. The top cover will be announced in next week’s Upcoming Comics post, and will advance to the Best Cover of Q-3 2016 cover poll.

 

HARLEY QUINN #1 VARIANT COVER POLL

Below you’ll find a list of variant covers for Harley Quinn #1, followed by the Best Harley Quinn #1 Variant cover poll. The top four covers will be announced in next week’s Upcoming Comics post, and will advance to the Best Cover of Q-3 2016 cover poll.