December 2019 solicitations

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Man, Action Comics' cover is horrendous. I've liked Romita elsewhere but I really hate his work on Superman.

Not much of note otherwise, aside for another DKR one-shot and confirmation that Doomsday Clock may well actually end this year. All my usuals look good, though, and I'm curious where they're going to go with the Superman reveal.

[Darkcrusade25]

No birds of prey?

[SiegePerilous02]

No birds of prey?

That and where's Wonder Woman?

[Pohzee]

I usually try not to be that guy, since I always think there's a story out there for everyone, but all of this sounds dreadful. This year of the villain event sounds awful, the jokerized heroes is terrible, and I was tired of the Dark Multiverse the second it was announced. But instead of going away, these crappy ideas are taking over the whole line.

[Fuzzy Barbarian]

I usually try not to be that guy, since I always think there's a story out there for everyone, but all of this sounds dreadful. This year of the villain event sounds awful, the jokerized heroes is terrible, and I was tired of the Dark Multiverse the second it was announced. But instead of going away, these crappy ideas are taking over the whole line.

Competely agree. Snyder's big stories after Batman have all felt like random ideas he didn't really think through before just implementing them. They all feel like they're trying too hard to be either "kewl" or epic and just end up feeling like either a discount version of Donny Cates or a discount version of Jonathan Hickman. What makes it worse is that they're just EVERYWHERE.

[Fuzzy Barbarian]

I've REALLY not been enjoying DC's recent stuff. The few ongoings I do like (Hawkman and Deathstroke) are series I am completely fine trade-waiting so there is like nothing for me, not helped by the crossover tie-ins. It's mostly down to random series here and there like the Hill House stuff and Hellblazer to get me to read anything monthly once Doomsday Clock is done.

Definitely:
DOOMSDAY CLOCK #12 - I'm curious how the whole Rebirth thing was going to go down if Johns hadn't left to work on movies, because I have no doubt it would've been better than the current Crisis on Infinite Earths II build-up, so this is going to be a bittersweet read at best.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS VOL. 1: LESSER GODS TP - First two issues didn't do much for me, but I like Hill and the cast and the Detective Comics arc leading into this was good.
GREEN ARROW BY MIKE GRELL OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC - ****. Yes. I missed out on the trades so... **** yeah. And such a big boy too!
HELLBLAZER VOL. 22: REGENERATION TP - Ugh, "DC Black Label" on the spine is going to annoy me. Especially given that this is the last of Hellblazer before they killed it.


Maybe:
SUICIDE SQUAD #1 - I like the more B-list team. Taylor's an okay writer and Injustice had a decent bodycount, but that was essentially an out of continuity story, so... we'll see.
WONDER WOMAN: DEAD EARTH #1 - I enjoyed most of Extremity and this sounds interesting, but I might just trade-wait it.
FLASH FORWARD #4 - It's Lobdell and Booth, which turns me off, but... it's Wally. The baton does help the multiverse patroller image though.
GREEN LANTERN: BLACKSTARS #2 - Giving this one issue, because Morrison's GL has been a very mixed bag.
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #2 - Depending on the first issue, but Millennium #1 killed a lot of my enthusiasm.
SUPERGIRL #37 - Oh hey, I didn't know Houser was writing Supergirl! I loved her Supergirl: Being Super miniseries, and with all the space stuff done, this might make me hop on board this series at last!
BASKETFUL OF HEADS #3 - If the first issue is good, which I really hope it is.
THE DOLLHOUSE FAMILY #2 - ^, except I don't care as much because the concept doesn't sound as interesting.
JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER #2 - Depending on the one-shot.
THE LAST GOD #3 - Depending on the first issue.
FAR SECTOR #2 - ^

SHADOW OF THE BATGIRL TP - Some Cass Batgirl sounds good and I'm interested how she's reinterpreted.
THE BAT AND THE CAT: 80 YEARS OF ROMANCE HC - I'm interested, but may FINISH THE SOLICITATION BEFORE SENDING IT OUT? Not final image sure, but not even the issues included? I can guess some thanks to the credits, but... the issues ideally are how you know who to credit, right? Seriously... wtf.
BATMAN BY NEAL ADAMS BOOK THREE TP
BIRDS OF PREY: MURDER & MYSTERY TP - Glad this is getting put into trade, even though reading it a few years back made me think "oh ****, Simone's dialogue and narration was just as awkward back then". Oh, but... Greg Land cover? Really?
HARLEEN HC - Depending on what I hear about it.
HIGH LEVEL TP - I dug the first issue.
INFINITE CRISIS OMNIBUS HC NEW EDITION - I keep forgetting to get this when it comes out. Also... I feel like Johns' name should be first? Is this industry beef and another implication that DC really didn't like him in his position?
NIGHTWING BY PETER J. TOMASI TP - I didn't like the last issue of this series, but I like Tomasi's Bat-stuff so might give it a go.

[Fuzzy Barbarian]

Random thoughts:

Man am I glad I stopped reading Justice League. All these tie-ins would be way too much for me, especially with how little I enjoyed that series.

I'm gonna say the Villain of the Year will go to the Joker.

Ocean Master, written by Dan WATTERS... so close.

Oh man... Frank Miller but with no Azzarello to filter him out... at least it's just a one-shot?

I dig Harley's look on that New Year's Evil cover. The harlequin suit doesn't even need the hat, just the body imo, so they can even keep the different coloured pigtails... but I guess it's not Hot Topic enough.

Oh thank God King's Batman run is ending. I know it'll continue to Batman/Catwoman, but the ongoing Batman title is free! I don't know if they're going to relaunch it under a different writer or let it rest for a while -- which I find highly unlikely -- but I'm curious who the new writer will be if it gets relaunched or keeps going. With the pattern set by Morrison, Snyder and King I want to say it's a less experimental writer.

Oh joy, Batman/Superman leads directly into a crossover thing... yaaaaaaay...

Genuinely didn't realise Catwoman was still going.

Oh man, Deathstroke ending... I was actually thinking of when it would end and that issue 50 would be a nice number, but I feel like there's so much still to explore. Maybe it gets relaunched under a new title or series, but I hope it keeps going because I think there's still a lot of stuff to tackle -- in addition to explaining the two Slades -- especially Rose's story.

For a second there I thought Tomasi was off 'Tec and was like, "oh no!" Then I realised... it wouldn't be that big a loss, and I'm a huge Tomasi fan.

Said it before and I'll say it again, artists need to decide what Barry's costume is actually made out of, armour or material.

Honestly, I think Mark Russell would be a good ongoing Harley Quinn writer. But oh well.

Shayera Hol still exists?! Um... okay... I guess the reincarnations overlap now... or time-travel? I read somewhere that it may have been implied that the reincarnations can now go BACK in time as well or even exist simultaneously somehow, but I never got that from reading and it sounds dumb, in addition to the multiverse being a part of the process now.

Man, I usually like Francis Manapul, but the Hawkgirl on that Justice League #38 cover looks like it was drawn by Jonboy Meyers (in a bad way). Also, I get that they want the League at the centre,m but Hawkman not being opposite Hawkgirl is just weird.

Man, sometimes I forget that Lois Lane has weirdly purple eyes. Also, that cover for issue 7 is great.

RIC GRAYSON, JUST END!

I just found out that, even though I dropped Shazam months ago, I haven't missed a single issue. Trade-waiting and I ahve no regrets

That Jimmy Olsen cover is great.

Seeing that Doom Patrol cover... I miss that team. But I refuse to not trade-wait after the clusterfuck that was the Way series' schedule.

I really need to give Titans: Burning Rage a read because, if it is in-continuity, then I like the idea of expanding on Dick's Titans team (though Dawn wasn't mean to be the Dove they knew, so I don't know).

I was just thinking about the J. H. Williams III Batwoman run and looking at my hardcovers. An omnibus of that would be great with how visually great that series is. But I don't care enough to get it.

Ngl, I was confused at that Birds of Prey: Black Canary cover at first before scrolling down and realising it's a movie cover. I was like "wait, is this one of her band members?" The movie outfit is gonna have, like, a leather jacket or something, right?

The chain on the movie Huntress I guess is meant to invoke the cross, but it just makes me think "um... kinky?"

Why did it take so fucking long for that Green Arrow vol. 8 trade to get solicited?!

I sure do love CREDIT's cover on that LoSH omnibus! Seriously, did the collected editions department put these together while playing WoW Classic or something?

Glad Omega Men is getting a hardcover, because that was a good little series other than Kyle forgetting, like, everything he can do with his ring except shoot lasers.

I wouldn't mind that Supergirl statue aside from the very Frank Cho build of Supergirl herself.

That Bombshells Huntress statue looks cool af.

THE DCAU Red Hood still looks hilarius to me.

[Pohzee]

The Walmart Titans is actually with Tim, dumbly enough.

[Fuzzy Barbarian]

The Walmart Titans is actually with Tim, dumbly enough.

Oh... yeah, that is dumb. There goes my interest, I guess.

[failo.legendkiller]

Still avoiding everything related to Scott Snyder and his batman who laughs, dark multiverse and justice league.

Doomsday Clock and King’s Batman at their final round have my highest attention.

Young justice
Wonder twins

A look to Red Hood for the return of Artemis and Bizarro.
Poor Donna she and us don’t deserve that too.

[Last Son of Krypton]

That and where's Wonder Woman?

Issue 83 shifted to Dec: https://www.newsarama.com/46946-wond...0th-issue.html

[Kai "the spy"]

That and where's Wonder Woman?

WW #83 is soloicited for November 27th, and they planned on going monthly in 2020. Considering the shift from G. Willow Wilson to Steve Orlando, maybe they made the switch to monthly early, but didn't want the book to come out between Christmas and New Year's?! I'm wildly speculating here, but if #84 was planned to be released in the first week of January, it would mean no WW in December without having a longer period in-between #83 and #84. And while I'm wildly speculating, since the new movie coming next summer is titled WW 1984, maybe they'll put some promotional stuff in issue #84.
Or, the intern putting out the solicitations goofed up.

Am I the only one thinking that James Tynion IV is a better writer than Scott Snyder? I loved his Detective Comics, I love his JL Dark, and when he's substituting for Snyder on JL proper, or an annual, I'm always glad about it. Snyder might be a fantastic idea guy, but just mediocre at execution, and Tynion seems to be able to make Snyder's ideas more coherent.

So, Tynion is why I'm giving Hell Arisen a chance. Him and Steve Epting.

Also getting that Ocean Master one-shot.

Leaving the DKR one-shot, as I have no interest in more from that universe (didn't read Master Race, either).

Skipping the Infected one-shots. I like these characters, but I don't care for the Batman Who Laughs and any of his stuff. And I'm sure not gonna treat it as Essential Reading for the Hell Arisen series.

The holiday books have been a pretty mixed bag, and while I loved stuff like the Paul Dini Mister Freeze story, and this one has Kurt Busiek and Dale Eaglesham, I just don't know if I want to keep spending ten bucks for an 80 page book where chances are I only enjoy eight of those.

Still no interest in the Dark Multiverse one-shots.

Trying out those Batwoman/Supergirl and Superman Giants.

Dead Earth, I'm so over post-apocalyptic right now. If it's not a new George Miller Mad Max movie, I don't care.

Have to agree with most here, while I love John Romita Jr on Batman and his Marvel stuff, his Superman looks ... off. He keeps trying, but he just doesn't get there.

Also glad that King's Batman run is ending, and I hope we can get back to normal quickly. My guess is they can't resurrect Alfred too quickly (though we all know that's going to happen at some point), but I sure hope they can finally bring Dick back soon.

Doomsday Clock, hopefully on time, but I'll get it whenever it comes out.

Gotham City Monsters, I won't get the single issues, but I'm so getting that trade.

I'm currently deciding whether to keep buying Hawkman or not. Return of Shayera is a pro, Shayera being Evil-infected is a very big con.

Justice/Doom War is ending, that's good. Very good that Snyder is getting help from Tynion on JL proper here.

JLO has gotten way better once Dan Abnett took over, and Jessica building a new team is interesting.

That change in Superman's status quo has me worried. I wouldn't like that to be a permanent thing.

New team on Supergirl. The only thing of Jody Houser I've read so far are her Stranger Things books over at Dark Horse, which were okay. I'm giving her a chance, though I hate to lose Andreyko. And that new direction, I mean, how long can this infected thing go on?

Noticed that Tim is still wearing his Robin duds on the YJ variant cover.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

I usually try not to be that guy, since I always think there's a story out there for everyone, but all of this sounds dreadful. This year of the villain event sounds awful, the jokerized heroes is terrible, and I was tired of the Dark Multiverse the second it was announced. But instead of going away, these crappy ideas are taking over the whole line.

I couldn't agree more but I find this crap extremely easy to avoid. It hasn't made much of an impact at all in the books I'm currently reading and, save for Supergirl, which I'll drop as long as it's part of Year of the Villain, they don't look to be in the future.

Snyder can be an excellent writer but as a line-wide ideas man for DC, he's even worse than Geoff Johns (again, good writer; didn't love many of his line-wide ideas).

[Devaishwarya]

I can't believe that Perpetua story is still ongoing. I love long-form story-telling but...I honestly got bored during the arc where giant Mytzplx shows up and promptly dropped it. Really...all the Doom/Dark stuff really sounds gawd-awful.

[JLH]

Am I the only one thinking that James Tynion IV is a better writer than Scott Snyder? I loved his Detective Comics, I love his JL Dark, and when he's substituting for Snyder on JL proper, or an annual, I'm always glad about it. Snyder might be a fantastic idea guy, but just mediocre at execution, and Tynion seems to be able to make Snyder's ideas more coherent.

I'm totally in that "boat"! I still remember the first time I really enjoyed an issue of Justice League, looked to see if Snyder was still writing, and was surprised (or maybe not so much) to see Tynion's name. I really enjoyed his Detective Comics and JL Dark is easily my favorite of the JL titles.