Not with a bang, but with confusion and an unreliable narrator, that’s how Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #8 ended, but luckily Joker #12 is setting up a much better conclusion in February’s DC releases.
The News
When James Tynion left Batman last fall, it was assumed that Josh Williamson was likely not to be the long-term replacement with the other projects he’s currently juggling, and with the announcements of Dark Crisis and his Justice League run, that became more evident. Sure enough, Chip Zdarsky is taking over the mainline Batman book, which is great news because Zdarsky’s Batman stuff has been fantastic so far, and I’m excited to see what he does with the mainline book.
Highlights
The Joker #12
Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils and cover), Romulo Fajardo, Jr. (colors), Tom Napolitano (letters), Arif Prianto (colors and cover), Cam Smith (inks and cover), James Tynion IV (writer)
This series has been one of my surprise favorites from the start, with Tynion turning expectations on their head and writing a “Joker” book that is actually a Jim Gordon book. What’s followed has been an exhilarating private eye story with minimal focus on the title character, mostly using him as a boogeyman and a plot device, and it’s worked immensely well. So well in fact, that I was completely floored by the twist at the end of this issue as we head into the finale of the series.
Grade: A+
Detective Comics #1051-1054
Luis Guerrero (colors), Ariana Maher (letters), Max Raynor (art), Irvin Rodriguez (cover), Mariko Tamaki (writer)
Speaking of books that aren’t focused on their title characters (yes yes I know his name isn’t actually in the title but we all know Detective is a Batman comic, so hush). This weekly story in Detective Comics has been absolutely incredible. The two times in recent memory that Detective has been the best have been when it focused on the Bat-family rather than Batman, and what Tamaki is doing in this current run is stellar. The way she’s playing with time and flashbacks is superb, and the twists that she’s written into the mystery have been great. Raynor’s art is also incredible, only a slight step down from the Reis art that started this arc.
Grade: A
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #8
Clayton Cowles (letters), Bilquis Evely (art and cover), Tom King (writer), Matheus Lopes (colors and cover)
I said everything I need to about this comic over at ComicsBeat. At least it looked pretty.
Grade: F
Grades
A+
The Joker #12
A
Action Comics #1040
Aquamen #1
Batgirls #3
Catwoman #40
Detective Comics #1051-1054
I Am Batman #6
Monkey Prince #1
B
Aquaman: The Becoming #6
Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target #5
Arkham City: The Order of the World #5
Batman : The Knight #2
Batman: Urban Legends #12
Black Manta #6
DC vs. Vampires #5
Hardware: Season One #4
Harley Quinn #12
Harley Quinn: The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour #6
Nightwing #89
Nubia & the Amazons #5
Refrigerator Full of Heads #4
Robin #11
Strange Love Adventures #1
Suicide Squad #12
Suicide Squad: Blaze #1
Superman: Son of Kal-El #8
The Flash #779
Wonder Woman #784
Wonder Woman: Evolution #4
World of Krypton #3
C
Batman #120
Batman vs. Bigby! A Wolf in Gotham #6
Batman/Catwoman #10
Blue & Gold #7
Dark Knights of Steel #4
DC Horror Presents: Soul Plumber #5
Deathstroke Inc. #6
Future State: Gotham #10
Green Lantern #11
Justice League #72
Justice League 2022 Annual
Justice League Incarnate #4
One-Star Squadron #3
Pennyworth #7
Robins #4
Suicide Squad: King Shark #6
Task Force Z #5
Teen Titans Academy #12
D
The Human Target #5
Titans United #6
F
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #8
Solicitation Situation
Aquaman: Andromeda #1
- Written by RAM V
- Art and cover by CHRISTIAN WARD
- Variant cover by BRYAN HITCH
- 1:25 variant cover by ANAND RK
- 1:50 foil variant cover by CHRISTIAN WARD
- $6.99 US | 48 pages | 1 of 3 | Prestige Plus
- 8 1/2″ x 10 7/8″ (All covers are card stock)
- ON SALE 6/7/22
- 17+
Deep in the Pacific Ocean, at the farthest possible distance from any land, sits Point Nemo: the spaceship graveyard. Since the dawn of the space race, the nations of the world have sent their crafts there on splashdown, to sink beneath the silent seas. But there is something…else at Point Nemo. A structure never made by human hands. And that structure seems to be…waking up. The crew of the experimental submarine Andromeda, powered by a mysterious black-hole drive, have been chosen to investigate this mystery. But they aren’t the only ones pursuing it. Anything of value beneath the ocean is of value to the master pirate Black Manta…and anything that attracts Black Manta attracts Arthur Curry, his lifelong foe, the Aquaman! But heaven help them all when the doors of the mystery at Point Nemo swing wide to admit them…
Bringing a bracing cosmic-horror sensibility to the world of Aquaman, rising superstars Ram V (Venom, The Swamp Thing) and Christian Ward (Thor, Invisible Kingdom) team up to put Arthur Curry through an exercise in psychological terror that could break the will of even a king!
This book looks rad as hell. Cosmic horror and Aquaman are a perfect fit and Ram V has been doing great things with horror in the DC Universe with Swamp Thing and Justice League Dark. And Christian Ward is going to make this book beautiful and terrifying.
Absolute Swamp Thing By Len Weing and Bernie Wrightson
- Written by LEN WEIN
- Art by BERNIE WRIGHTSON and NESTOR REDONDO
- Cover by BERNIE WRIGHTSON
- $100.00 US | 336 pages | 8 1/8″ x 12 1/4″ | Hardcover
- ISBN: 978-1-77951-730-2
- ON SALE 11/8/22
At long last, DC Comics is proud to present the original early appearances of Swamp Thing in prestigious Absolute format. Created by comics legends Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, the muck monster from the bayou would go on to become one of DC’s premier horror characters. This oversize edition includes Swamp Thing’s first appearance in The House of Secrets #92 plus Swamp Thing #1-13.
Listen, do I need this? No, I already have the Bronze Age Omnibus. But do I need this to go along with my Absolute Editions of the Alan Moore run? Still probably no. Am I going to buy it anyway because I’m a sap? Yes.
That’s it for the shortest month of the year (see you later this month for March’s Pubwatch). Will The Joker #13 pay off what issue #12 setup? Let’s hope so!
