Hello and welcome back to Upcoming Comics! I hope you’ve all had an excellent week! There’s been quite a few new adventures to enjoy released lately, with the latest Guardians of the Galaxy movie and of course, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s. I haven’t had a chance to see Guardians yet, but I’ve heard great things about it. As for Zelda, I’m taking a break from playing it right now to write this article. I hope you all are enjoying it as much as I have been! I’d love to share some thoughts on it, but it is both far too new for me to be willing to spoil anything, and we’re here to chat about the latest comics being released by DC, not games released by Nintendo (however, if you’d like to share your thoughts on Zelda in the comments I won’t say no to seeing them).
So, in that vein, let’s get back to chatting about comics. Batgirls has its penultimate issue this week. There are also three new titles dropping: Titans, The Vigil, and Batman: the Brave and the Bold. Out of the three, I’m most interested in Batman, most curious about The Vigil, and most hesitant about Titans, but we’ll have to see the issues themselves to really determine what to think of them.
Upcoming Comics
Batman: The Brave and the Bold #1
Coming off the spectacular success of Batman – One Bad Day: The Riddler, the Eisner Award-winning team of Tom King and Mitch Gerads reunite for a horrifying four-part retelling of the first bloody clash between The Joker and the Batman. A tale of loathing, lies, and laughter, this may be the most frightening Joker story in a generation. Everyone is going to be shocked. Everyone is going to be talking about it. The Justice League may be gone, but its enemies aren’t. Who’ll protect the world from the worst of the worst? Ed Brisson and Jeff Spokes pick up the story started in the Wildstorm 30th Anniversary Special as Director Bones and his new covert StormWatch team travel the globe on black-ops missions to take super-powered weapons of mass destruction off the board. But this is StormWatch, and as always, not all is as it seems. “Down with the Kings” starts here! Superstar artist Dan Mora (Batman/Superman: World’s Finest, Detective Comics) makes his writing debut kicking off a new series of Batman Black & White short stories. In a Gotham City overrun by the cybernetic henchmen of The Joker, the only person who can save us is the mysterious motorcycle-riding, bat-costumed hero of urban legend… In “The Order of the Black Lamp-Part I,” from writer Christopher Cantwell (Halt and Catch Fire co-creator, Briar, Iron Man) and artist Javier Rodríguez (Daredevil, Defenders), Superman finds a decoder ring with a secret message-“Save me”-which sends him on a quest to solve a mystery with ties to the Man of Steel’s past.
- Written By: Tom King, Ed Brisson, Christopher Cantwell, Dan Mora
- Penciled By: Dan Mora, Mitch Gerads, Jeff Spokes, Javier Rodriguez
- Inks By: Dan Mora, Mitch Gerads, Jeff Spokes, Javier Rodriguez
- Colors By: Mitch Gerads, Jeff Spokes, Javier Rodriguez
- Cover By: Simone Di Meo
Thoughts: I love these kinds of collections of adventures, and this one has a few teasers for stories I’m looking forward to, like seeing Dan Mora’s writing chops. It’ll be interesting to see what this has to offer.
Batman News Critic: Jackson
Titans #1
The Dark Crisis is over, and the Justice League is no more. Now, a new team must rise and protect the Earth…Titans, go! The Teen Titans are ready to grow up. Each member joined as a much younger hero, certain that one day they’d be invited to join the Justice League. But the time has come for them not to join the League…but to replace it! Are the no-longer-teen heroes ready for the big leagues? Danger lurks around every corner as heroes and villains alike challenge the new team before they’ve even begun. Will the DCU ever be the same? Find out in this landmark first issue brought you by the all-star creative team of Tom Taylor (Nightwing, DCeased) and Nicola Scott (Wonder Woman Historia, Earth 2)!
- Written By: Tom Taylor
- Pencils & Inks: Nicola Scott
- Colors By: Annette Kwok
- Cover By: Nicola Scott, Annette Kwok
Thoughts: I’m not super on board the whole “Titans replacing the League” idea, mostly because I don’t think it will actually stick. It’d be interesting to see, but frankly I don’t see how it will, making it a less than sturdy backbone to build a series off of.
Batman News Critic: Aaron
The Vigil #1
/…/ /Who Are The Vigil? The shipping vessel Eastwind was taken captive by pirates off the coast of Thailand. 24 hours after the crew had been taken hostage, before communications had been established or any demands made, the crew reported an intervention by a group of unknown individuals. Amid other bizarre claims by the crew, are reports of an individual who changed his appearance at will and a woman who seemingly dodged bullets. Once the pirates were taken out, no attempts were made at rescuing the crew. There have long been rumors rogue metahumans targeting weaponized illegal technology. With some hinting that they call themselves The Vigil. What were they after? Why did they intervene? Are there metas among us? Stay tuned for more/ /…/ d/you are being watched./
- Written By: Ram V
- Pencils & Inks By: Lalit Kumar Sharma
- Colors By: Rain Beredo
- Cover By: Sumit Kumar, Romulo Fajardo
Thoughts: With Ram V at the helm of this, I wouldn’t be surprised if The Vigil show up more in Detective comics, so I’ll have my eye on this series for a little while.
Batman News Critic: William
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #15
The rise of Ultra-Morpho! Years ago, Professor Anthony Ivo built Amazo, a killer android who could duplicate the powers of the Justice League. But now an even deadlier android stalks the DC Universe: Ultra-Morpho! Able to transform into any element, including Kryptonite, Ultra-Morpho can kill Batman, Superman, Robin, and Metamorpho in one fell swoop! But who created him? Who does he work for? And what has he done to Will Magnus, inventor of the Metal Men?!
- Written By: Mark Waid
- Pencils & Inks By: Dan Mora
- Colors By: Tamra Bonvillain
- Cover By: Dan Mora
Thoughts: This series continues to be something I’m having a ton of fun reading, and equally telling all my friends to read. You too, just check it out, it’s a delight.
Batman News Critic: Casper
Catwoman #55
Fresh out of lockup, Selina Kyle is ready to make new moves. She won’t be working alone, as more and more Gotham criminals are drawn to her philosophy, but she’s not the only Cat on the streets. Eiko Hasigawa’s got a Catsuit of her own, and their plans to change Gotham forever won’t work if they can’t get along. Did someone say catfight?
- Written By: Tini Howard
- Pencils & Inks By: Nico Leon
- Colors By: Veronica Gandini
- Cover By: David Nakayama
Batman News Critic: Michael
Justice Society of America #4
Helena’s journey through time continues! Each new time period gives her one more piece of the puzzle, but is Degaton too far ahead in his quest to eradicate the JSA to be stopped? Is this truly the end of the Justice Society?
- Written By: Geoff Johns
- Pencils & Inks By: Mikel Janin
- Colors By: Jordie Bellaire
- Cover By: Mikel Janin
Batman News Critic: Cam
Batgirls #18
The Saints are back-well, one of them is, and he’s out for revenge on the Batgirls by putting Mr. D, Alysia Yeoh, and all their other friends in danger. Turns out they have history from long before the Saints, and no one holds a grudge longer than a man scorned. Is it enough to run the Batgirls out of town?
- Written By: Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad
- Pencils & Inks By: Robbi Rodriguez
- Colors By: Rico Renzi
- Cover By: Jorge Corona, Sarah Stern
Thoughts: At this point, I’m really hoping this last arc is a positive send off for the series, and that this issue fits snugly into that idea.
Batman News Critic: Matina
Beyond the Bat
Welcome back to Beyond the Bat! Here we take a look at titles being published by DC that aren’t totally Batman related. This week we get a primer for Dawn of DC, along with Cyborg #1. There’s a new Wonder Woman issue out as well, which brings me to another piece of news we got this week: the announcement of Diana’s daughter appearing in not this month, but next month’s issue of the title! I’m tentatively interested, though I can’t say I’m totally sold on the idea. I’ve also heard mixed responses to the announcement so far, so I’m curious to see what you all think, drop your thoughts in a comment below!
Ratings
Most Excited: Batman: The Brave and the Bold #1- Most excited in this case is probably most interested. I’m curious to see what this title has to offer, and in the variety of creative teams with stories inside.
Least Excited: Batgirls #18- Batgirls has been struggling for consistency most of its run, and here near the end I am really just ready for it to wrap up.
Wild Card: Titans #1- It’s another relaunch for Titans and that could be really good, or not so great. I’d love to see them taking on a variety of interesting challenges, and the story focused on a positive team dynamic, but we’ll just have to wait to see if that all pans out.
That’s all for this week’s Upcoming Comics! Thanks for taking time out to check out the titles slated for this week, I’m sure many of you are as distracted by Tears of the Kingdom as I am. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend, and happy Mother’s day to all you moms who have stopped in to read this article!
