Well, I’m stuffed, how about you? And not just on good American Thanksgiving staples, but also on another great batch of DC Comics, including The Blue Wall #2 which continues the top billing for the second straight month.
The News
Literally the day we went to press last month Walter Hameda’s replacements were named. James Gunn and Peter Safran will be helming DC Studios as Co-CEOs. Gunn has shown a great love for the DC Universe in both The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, so I am very excited about this news.
In less happy news, both Carlos Pacheco and Kevin Conroy passed away this month. Pacheco was known as an artist on Superman, Green Lantern and Superman/Batman along with lots of Marvel work over the years. Conroy was, of course, the definitive voice of Batman for the last three decades.
Highlights
GCPD: The Blue Wall #2
Brad Anderson (colors), Ariana Maher (letters), Reiko Murakami (cover), Stefano Raffaele (art), John Ridley (writer)
November 15, 2022
Honestly, there’s not a lot more I can say about this book beyond what I did last month. It continues to tackle extremely sensitive subject matter in a way that doesn’t shy away from how painful and dark it is but doesn’t beat you over the head with it either. The thing this issue did that the first issue didn’t though was start to tie the four different stories together. By making these different plots all connect, we start to see Ridley’s sense of world-building, and it’s pretty incredible to watch it develop in slow motion.
Grade: A+
Superman: Son of Kal-El #17
Tamra Bonvillain (cover), Ruairí Coleman (art), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colors), Travis Moore (cover), Dave Sharpe (letters), Tom Taylor (writer), Cian Tormey (art)
November 8, 2022
I’ve been waiting for this issue since Jon Kent came out a year ago. This is the one where he tells his dad who he’s in love with, and honestly? Taylor hit a homerun with this interaction. We see Clark struggling, because he knows, how can he not know, his son is famous and kissed his boyfriend in public. But Jon hadn’t told him. And we see Jon’s struggle. That despite knowing who his father is, despite knowing the kind of man he is, Jon is still scared that this will be disappointing to his father. This is a struggle dealt with every day by queer kids, a fear that the love and acceptance of their parents may in fact be fleeting. And of course it was a silly thought with regards to Superman, but it’s still one that would nag at you.
Grade: A
Justice Society of America #1
Jordie Bellaire (colors), Jordan Boyd (colors), Mikel Janín (art and cover), Geoff Johns (writer), John Kalisz (colors), Scott Kolins (art), Rob Leigh (letters), Steve Lieber (art), Jerry Ordway (art), Brandon Peterson (art)
November 29, 2022
Here’s the thing about Geoff Johns comics in 2022: they all come off as being mad that other people are playing with his toys. We saw it in Flashpoint when he went out of his way to both trivialize and spoil the events of Dark Crisis, and we see that in Justice Society when he goes out of his way to just grab his action figures back from Tom King’s hands. I’m clearly not the biggest Tom King fan out there, but even so, I don’t see the point in writing this story this way to just be so absolutely petty about the characterization of a character people haven’t seen in nearly forty years. Johns is mad that he’s no longer the golden child at DC anymore, and it makes everything he touches lately come with a bitter aftertaste.
Grade: F
Grades
A+
GCPD: The Blue Wall #2
A
Batgirls #12
Batgirls 2022 Annual #1
Batman – One Bad Day: Mr. Freeze #1
Batman #129
Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #6
Dark Crisis: Young Justice #6
Nightwing #98
Poison Ivy #6
Superman: Kal-El Returns Special #1
Superman: Son of Kal-El #17
The Death of Superman: 30th Anniversary Special #1
The New Champion of Shazam! #3
The Nice House on the Lake #11
Wonder Woman #793
B
Action Comics #1049
Batman & The Joker: The Deadly Duo #1
Batman Incorporated #2
Batman vs. Robin #3
Batman: Fortress #7
Batman: Urban Legends #21
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #9
Black Adam #6
Blue Beetle: Graduation Day #1
Catwoman #49
DC’s Grifter Got Run Over by A Reindeer #1
Detective Comics #1066
Detective Comics 2022 Annual #1
Harley Quinn #24
I Am Batman #15
Monkey Prince #8
Multiversity: Teen Justice #6
Nightwing 2022 Annual #1
Nubia & the Justice League Special #1
Sword of Azrael #4
The Flash #788
The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #2
Tim Drake: Robin #3
WildC.A.T.s #1
Wildstorm 30th Anniversary Special #1
C
Blood Syndicate: Season One #6
Dark Crisis: The Dark Army #1
Dark Crisis: Worlds Without a Justice League-Batman #1
Dark Knights of Steel #8
DC Horror Presents: Sgt. Rock vs. the Army of the Dead #3
DC vs. Vampires #11
DC vs. Vampires: All-Out War #5
DC: Mech #5
DCeased: War of the Undead Gods #4
Deathstroke Inc. #15
Gotham City: Year One #2
Punchline: The Gotham Game #2
Stargirl: The Lost Children #1
The Human Target #9
D
The New Golden Age #1
F
Justice Society of America #1
Solicitation Situation
BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #12
- Written by MARK WAID
- Art by EMA LUPACCHINO
- Cover by DAN MORA
- Variant cover by DAVE JOHNSON
- 1:25 variant cover by MAX DUNBAR
- 1:50 variant cover by SWEENEY BOO
- $3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
- ON SALE 2/21/23
The secret behind the Supergirl-Robin feud, revealed! On a day not too long ago, a meeting between the Boy Wonder and the Girl of Steel began sweetly, became awkward, and ended so catastrophically, horrifically, jaw-droppingly, car-crashingly disastrously that, among the Superman and Batman families, it is now enshrined as the world’s finest example of How Not to Team Up!
THE DATE ISSUE. WE GET TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT HORRIBLE DATE. I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE THIS TRAINWRECK!
LAZARUS PLANET: OMEGA #1
- Written by MARK WAID and GENE LUEN YANG
- Art by RICCARDO FEDERICI, BILLY TAN, and more
- Cover by DAVID MARQUEZ and ALEJANDRO SANCHEZ
- Variant covers by LEE GARBETT, BEN OLIVER, ARIEL COLÓN, FELIPE MASSAFERA, and JEN BARTEL
- 1:25 variant cover by PETE WOODS
- 1:50 variant cover by HÉLÈNE LENOBLE
- 1:100 foil variant cover by DAVID MARQUEZ and ALEJANDRO SANCHEZ
- Team variant cover by TIAGO DA SILVA ($8.99 US)
- Lucky Red Envelope variant cover by BERNARD CHANG
- Black History Month variant cover by EDWIN GALMON
- $5.99 US | 48 pages | Variant $6.99 US (card stock)
- ON SALE 2/21/23
FATE AND FURY.
The Devil Nezha and his son are at war—with all of humanity caught in the middle! The Lazarus storms are intensifying worldwide, Earth’s superheroes are on the ropes, and Batman is living on borrowed time. It’s up to Zatanna, the Spectre, the Demon, Klarion, and the rest of the DCU’s magic users to join Damian Wayne and set things right—but to do that, they’ll have to uncover Nezha’s final, explosive secret! Plus: Dreamer has rescued Doctor Fate’s helmet from destruction…but why does it keep glowing like that? The Dawn of the DCU begins as the Lazarus Planet saga crashes to a close!
ANOTHER JEN BARTELL DREAMER COVER WHAT UP!
Next month we’ll close out the year to name not only December’s top book, but also the yearly awards! See you then!
