Happy Pride! DC Pride 2022 kicked off the celebration for us this year!
The News
Another month where sadly the biggest news is the passing of one of DC Comics’ art legends. On June 16, Batman: The Long Halloween and Superman: For All Seasons artist Tim Sale passed away. Sale’s work with Jeph Loeb on Batman has provided inspiration for both the Chris Nolan and the Matt Reeves Batman movie franchises, along with inspiring the last two decades of fans and creators alike. It’s another hard blow for the comics community in such a short time.
Highlights
DC Pride 2022 #1
Enrica Eren Angliolini (artist), Jadzia Axelrod (writer), Aditya Bidikar (letters), J. Bone (artist), Tamra Bonvillain (colors), Ted Brandt (writer and artist), Evan Cagle (artist), Ivan Cohen (writer), Kevin Conroy (writer), Frank Cvetkovic (letters), Samantha Dodge (artist), Triona Farrell (colors), Dani Fernandez (writer), W. Scott Forbes (artist), Lucas Gattoni (letters), Devin Grayson (writer), Megahan Hetrick (artist), Tini Howard (writer), Phil Jimenez (cover), Jeremy Lawson (colors), Greg Lockard (writer), Danny Lore (writer), Marissa Louise (colors), Giulio Macaione (artist), Ariana Maher (letters), Travis G. Moore (writer and artist), Stephanie Phillips (writer), Arif Prianto (cover colors), Nick Robles (artist), Ro Stein (writer and artist), Zoe Thorogood (artist), Brittney Williams (artist), Stephanie Williams (writer), Alyssa Wong (writer), Lynne Yoshii (artist)
June 7, 2022
I can’t say enough how much I appreciate that the Pride initiative has become something that DC Comics has dedicated itself to. For DC at least, the Pride logo isn’t something they just slap on books in June and call it a day, they actually set things up to maintain that visibility and representation throughout the year. Last year we saw their Pride selection lead to acclaimed series like Aquaman: The Becoming and Crush & Lobo, both of which went well beyond June. This year we see the initiative continue in Multiversity: Teen Justice, Dark Crisis: Young Justice, Poison Ivy, and Nubia: Queen of the Amazons as well as the upcoming Tim Drake: Robin series. Not only that, but it’s become evident that DC plans to utilize these anthology books to springboard new talent into their creative pool, moving creators onto mini-series and ongoings before the next year’s special so that new creators keep getting opportunities. DC Pride 2022 is special solely because it’s starting to not be so special.
Grade: A+
Dark Crisis: Young Justice #1
Laura Braga (artist), Pat Brosseau (letters), Max Dunbar (cover), Meghan Fitzmartin (writer), Luis Guerrero (colors and cover)
June 21, 2022
Anyone who knows me knows I hate the writing of Peter David (he’s also a noted anti-Romani bigot). I’ve often found his humor to be trying too hard at it’s best or actively offensive at it’s worst (remember when he won a GLAAD Award for a book that included Supergirl getting disgusted at the idea of gender-fluid people? Pepperidge Farm remembers). A lot of my distaste for Peter David’s writing stems back to 1998’s Young Justice #1. I was 14, I loved both Robin and Superboy. A team-up book seemed like a natural fit. But that first issue turned me off of the series so hard that it was years before I tried it again (and still hated every minute of it). In that first issue, David introduces a throw-away character named Nina Dowd. She was a nerdy scientist who gets transformed by New Gods technology into a super-villain. Her power? Hypnosis through her brand new big honkin’ titties. She was now the Mighty Endowed because David has never met a pun that he doesn’t immediately overuse. But how do three teenage boys defeat this new titillating villainess? Why by letting her new center of gravity do the work for them. You see because she’s so top-heavy now that she falls over. Hahaha isn’t sexism funny? Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that after 24 years, Nina Dowd has returned to the comic page Fitzmartin and Braga bring her back just to make fun of how incredibly poorly thought out the whole character was and give a woman’s perspective on David’s outright sexism. This issue won me over with that almost immediately.
Grade: A
Milestones in History #1
Andworld Design (letters), Michael Atiyeh (colors), Steven Barnes (writer), Eric Battle (artist), Justin Birch (letters), Dan Brown (colors), Pat Charles (writer), Leon Chills (writer), Amy Chu (writer), Melody Cooper (writer), Denys Cowan (pencils), Andrew Dalhouse (colors), Eva De La Cruz (colors), Tananarive Due (writer), Francesco Francavilla (artist), Mike Gustovich (inks), Ray-Anthony Height (artist), Hi-Fi (colors), Reginald Hudlin (writer), Don Hudson (pencils), Arvell Jones (artist), Jahnoy Lindsay (artist), Emilio Lopez (colors), Carlos M. Mangual (letters), Jose Marzan, Jr. (inks), Karyn Parsons (writer), Alice Randall (writer), Josh Reed (letters), Maria Laura Sanapo (artist), Chris Sotomayor (colors), John Stanisci (inks), Dominike “Domo” Stanton (artist), Touré (writer), Steve Wands (letters), Ron Wilson (pencils)
June 21, 2022
This is both a very clever idea and really well-executed. Having POC creators tell some often overlooked stories from Black History (and as the introduction of this book makes clear, doing so without just telling stories that start with slavery) is a great way to get those stories out to an audience that may not normally be taught them (especially right now with such topics being banned by American public school districts). My favorite stories in this were the short Prince biography by Touré and Ray-Anthony Height which really delves into the icon’s growth as a musician and how he adapted to take over rock and rol; and “Sky’s the Limit” about Bessie Coleman and Mae Jemmison. These Black women broke barriers to become the first Black woman pilot and astronaut respectively, and in doing so they inspired millions.
Grade: A
Batman/Catwoman #12
Clayton Cowles (letters), Tom King (writer), Clay Mann (art and cover), Tomeu Morey (colors)
June 28, 2022
God what an absolute mess this book turned out to be. This book was pretty well doomed from the start because it was trying to be too clever by half for the artist that King selected to work with. The book was predicated on telling the story through three distinct eras of the Batman and Catwoman relationship, but Clay Mann was not great at actually making those three eras visually distinct from each other. Which just means it was really hard to keep track of what era you were in, and when you were supposed to have a scene shift. The constant delays didn’t help, nor did the fill-in issues when Mann couldn’t manage to get issues out and Liam Sharp had to do three issues. Anyway, this issue ended with the Vegas-style wedding of Batman and Catwoman (but with an Adam West-style Batman instead of Elvis), but don’t worry, this is all out of continuity so it didn’t matter at all anyway.
Grade: F
Grades
A+
DC Pride 2022 #1
A
Action Comics #1044
Aquaman & the Flash: Voidsong #1
Batman: The Knight #6
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #4
Catwoman #44
Dark Crisis #1
Dark Crisis: Young Justice #1
Milestones in History #1
Poison Ivy #1
B
Aquaman: Andromeda #1
Aquamen #5
Batgirls #7
Batman #124
Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #3
Batman: Fortress #2
Batman: Urban Legends #16
Black Adam #1
DC Pride: Tim Drake Special #1
Deathstroke Inc. #10
Detective Comics #1061
Earth-Prime: Crossover #6
Harley Quinn #16
I Am Batman #10
Monkey Prince #5
Multiversity: Teen Justice #1
Nightwing #93
Nubia: Queen of the Amazons #1
Robin #15
Superman: Son of Kal-El #12
Task Force Z #9
The Flash #783
The Jurassic League #2
The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country #3
The Swamp Thing #14
Wonder Woman #788
C
Batman: Killing Time #4
Blood Syndicate: Season One #2
Dark Knights of Steel #7
DC vs. Vampires – Killers #1
DUO #2
Earth-Prime: Flash #5
Fables #152
Future State: Gotham #14
Naomi: Season Two #4
D
Batman: Beyond the White Knight #4
F
Batman/Catwoman #12
Solicitation Situation
Tim Drake: Robin #1
- Written by MEGHAN FITZMARTIN
- Art by RILEY ROSSMO
- Cover by RICARDO LÓPEZ ORTIZ
- One Year Later Era variant cover by JORGE JIMENEZ
- Harley 30th variant cover by DAVID BALDEON
- Debut Era 1:25 variant cover by SWEENEY BOO
- Young Justice Era 1:50 variant cover by DAN MORA
- Teen Titans Era 1:100 variant cover by JAMAL CAMPBELL
- $3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
- ON SALE 9/27/22
Step aside, Damian—the world’s favorite Robin has got this! That’s right, after years away, Tim Drake is taking center stage in a brand-spanking-new Robin series of his very own!
A mystery over a year in the making takes shape, as a new villain who’s been hounding Tim from afar decides to take things up close and personal, putting Bernard and everyone else Tim cares about in peril as things go from bad to worse for the world’s oldest and canonically tallest Robin [no, I will not be fact-checking that]. All that and Tim finally carves out a corner of Gotham City just for himself, and sets up shop in his very own…murder shack boat? Fan-favorite writer Meghan Fitzmartin teams up with beloved Harley Quinn artist Riley Rossmo to define the next chapter in Tim’s life.
And as if that wasn’t enough, break out your skateboards and motorcycles cuz we’ve assembled a murderer’s row of artists to draw the 1990s’ One True Robin™ in his various looks from over the years!
I’ve been a huge Tim Drake fan for years, and I’m very excited to see him get a new ongoing series. Fitzmartin has done a great job with the character in Urban Legends and the Pride one-shot, and as I said above I loved her version of Young Justice, so I’m very happy to see this coming.
DC Poster Portfolio: George Pérez
- Art and cover by GEORGE PÉREZ
- $24.99 US | 42 pages | 12″ x 16″ | Softcover
- ISBN: 978-1-77952-095-1
- ON SALE 11/1/22
DC Comics is proud to present this poster portfolio of covers celebrating the prolific career of renowned artist George Pérez. Featuring artwork from The New Teen Titans, Wonder Woman, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and more, this collection spotlights George’s penchant for crafting some of the most iconic and unforgettable images in comics.
The posters in this volume present but a fraction of the work by this beloved illustrator whose art has touched the hearts of comics fans around the world for generations.
A poster book filled with art from my favorite artist to celebrate his life and career? Yeah, not passing on this one.
Dreamer comes to the DC Universe in next month’s Pubwatch (set before her brief cameo in DC Pride 2022)! See you then!
